George Meredith
Beauchamps Career
Chapter I
The Champion of His Country
When young Nevil Beauchamp was throwing off his midshipmans jacket for a
holiday in the garb of peace we had across Channel a host of dreadful military
officers flashing swords at us for some critical observations of ours upon their
sovereign threatening Africs fires and savagery The case occurred in old days
now and again sometimes upon imagined provocation more furiously than at
others We were unarmed and the spectacle was distressing We had done nothing
except to speak our minds according to the habit of the free and such an
explosion appeared as irrational and excessive as that of a powdermagazine in
reply to nothing more than the light of a spark It was known that a valorous
General of the Algerian wars proposed to make a clean march to the capital of
the British Empire at the head of ten thousand men which seems a small quantity
to think much about but they wore wide red breeches blown out by Fame big as
her cheeks and a ten thousand of that sort would never think of retreating
Their spectral advance on quaking London through Kentish hopgardens Sussex
cornfields or by the pleasant hills of Surrey after a gymnastic leap over the
riband of salt water haunted many pillows And now those horrid shouts of the
legions of Cæsar crying to the inheritor of an invading name to lead them
against us as the origin of his title had led the army of Gaul of old
gloriously scared sweet sleep We saw them in imagination lining the opposite
shore eagle and standardbearers and gallifers brandishing their fowls and
their banners in a manner to frighten the decorum of the universe Where were
our men
The returns of the census of our population were oppressively satisfactory
and so was the condition of our youth We could row and ride and fish and shoot
and breed largely we were athletes with a fine history and a full purse we had
firstrate sporting guns unrivalled parkhacks and hunters promising babies to
carry on the renown of England to the next generation and a wonderful Press
and a Constitution the highest reach of practical human sagacity But where were
our armed men where our great artillery where our proved captains to resist a
sudden sharp trial of the national mettle Where was the first line of Englands
defence her navy These were questions and Ministers were called upon to
answer them The Press answered them boldly with the appalling statement that
we had no navy and no army At the most we could muster a few old ships a
couple of experimental vessels of war and twentyfive thousand soldiers
indifferently weaponed
We were in fact as naked to the Imperial foe as the merely painted Britons
This being apprehended by the aid of our own shortness of figures and the
agitated images of the redbreeched only waiting the signal to jump and be at
us there ensued a curious exhibition that would be termed in simple language
writing to the newspapers for it took the outward form of letters in reality
it was the deliberate saddling of our ancient nightmare of Invasion putting the
postillion on her and trotting her along the highroad with a winding horn to
rouse old Panic Panic we will for the sake of convenience assume to be of the
feminine gender and a spinster though properly she should be classed with the
large mixed race of mental and moral neuters which are the bulk of comfortable
nations She turned in her bed at first like the sluggard of the venerable
hymnist but once fairly awakened she directed a stare toward the terrific
foreign contortionists and became in an instant all stormy nightcap and fingers
starving for the bellrope Forthwith she burst into a series of shrieks howls
and high piercing notes that caused even the parliamentary Opposition in the
heat of an assault on a parsimonious Government to abandon its temporary
advantage and be still awhile Yet she likewise performed her part with a
certain deliberation and method as if aware that it was a part she had to play
in the composition of a singular people She did a little mischief by dropping
on the stockmarkets in other respects she was harmless and inasmuch as she
established a subject for conversation useful
Then lest she should have been taken too seriously the Press which had
kindled proceeded to extinguish her with the formidable engines called leading
articles which fling fire or water as the occasion may require It turned out
that we had ships ready for launching and certain regiments coming home from
India hedges we had and a spirited body of yeomanry and we had pluck and
patriotism the father and mother of volunteers innumerable Things were not so
bad
Panic however sent up a plaintive whine What country had anything like
our treasures to defend countless riches beautiful women an inviolate soil
True and it must be done Ministers were authoritatively summoned to set to
work immediately They replied that they had been at work all the time and were
at work now They could assure the country that though they flourished no
trumpets they positively guaranteed the safety of our virgins and coffers
Then the people rather ashamed abused the Press for unreasonably
disturbing them The Press attacked old Panic and stripped her naked Panic
with a desolate scream arraigned the parliamentary Opposition for having
inflated her to serve base party purposes The Opposition challenged the
allegations of Government pointed to the trimness of army and navy during its
term of office and proclaimed itself watchdog of the country which is at all
events an office of a kind Hereupon the ambassador of yonder ireful soldiery
let fall a word saying by the faith of his Master there was no necessity for
watchdogs to bark an ardent and a reverent army had but fancied its beloved
chosen Chief insulted the Chief and chosen held them in he despite obloquy
discerned our merits and esteemed us
So then Panic or what remained of her was put to bed again The
Opposition retired into its kennel growling The People coughed like a man of
two minds doubting whether he has been divinely inspired or has cut a
ridiculous figure The Press interpreted the cough as a warning to Government
and Government launched a big ship with hurrahs and ordered the
recruitingsergeant to be seen conspicuously
And thus we obtained a moderate reinforcement of our arms
It was not arrived at by connivance all round though there was a look of
it Certainly it did not come of accident though there was a look of that as
well Nor do we explain much of the secret by attributing it to the working of a
complex machinery The housewifes remedy of a good shaking for the invalid who
will not arise and dance away his gout partly illustrates the action of the
Press upon the country and perhaps the country shaken may suffer a comparison
with the family chariot of the last century built in a previous one
commodious furnished agreeably being all that the inside occupants could
require of a conveyance until the report of horsemen crossing the heath at a
gallop sets it dishonourably creaking and complaining in rapid motion and the
squire curses his miserly purse that would not hire a guard and his dame says
I told you so Foolhardy man to suppose because we have constables in the
streets of big cities we have dismissed the highwayman to limbo And here he
is and he will cost you fifty times the sum you would have laid out to keep him
at a miles respectful distance But see the wretch is bowing he smiles at our
carriage and tells the coachman that he remembers he has been our guest and
really thinks we need not go so fast He leaves word for you sir on your peril
to denounce him on another occasion from the magisterial Bench for that albeit
he is a gentleman of the road he has a mission to right society and succeeds
legitimately to that bold Good Robin Hood who fed the poor Fresh from this
polite encounter the squire vows money for his personal protection and he
determines to speak his opinion of Sherwoods latest captain as loudly as ever
That he will I do not say It might involve a large sum per annum
Similes are very well in their way None can be sufficient in this case
without levelling a finger at the taxpayer nay directly mentioning him He is
the key of our ingenuity He pays his dues he will not pay the additional penny
or two wanted of him that we may be a step or two ahead of the day we live in
unless he is frightened But scarcely anything less than the wild alarum of a
tocsin will frighten him Consequently the tocsin has to be sounded and the
effect is woeful past measure his hugging of his army his kneeling on the
shore to his navy his implorations of his yeomanry and his hedges are sad to
note His bursts of potvaliancy the male side of the maiden Panic within his
bosom are awful to his friends Particular care must be taken after he has
begun to cool and calculate his chances of security that he do not gather to
him a curtain of volunteers and go to sleep again behind them for they cost
little in proportion to the much they pretend to be to him Patriotic taxpayers
doubtless exist prophetic ones provident ones do not At least we show that
we are wanting in them The taxpayer of a free land taxes himself and his
disinclination for the bitter task save under circumstances of screaming
urgency as when the nightgear and bedlinen of old convulsed Panic are like
the churned Channel sea in the track of two hundred hostile steamboats let me
say is of the kind the gentle schoolboy feels when death or an expedition has
relieved him of his tyrant and he is entreated notwithstanding to go to his
books
Will you not own that the working of the system for scaring him and bleeding
is very ingenious But whether the ingenuity comes of native sagacity as it is
averred by some or whether it shows an instinct labouring to supply the
deficiencies of stupidity according to others I cannot express an opinion I
give you the position of the country undisturbed by any moralizings of mine The
youth I introduce to you will rarely let us escape from it for the reason that
he was born with so extreme and passionate a love for his country that he
thought all things else of mean importance in comparison and our union is one
in which following the counsel of a sage and seer I must try to paint for you
what is not that which I imagine This day this hour this life and even
politics the centre and throbbing heart of it enough when unburlesqued to
blow the down off the gossamerstump of fiction at a single breath I have heard
tell must be treated of men and the ideas of men which are it is policy
to be emphatic upon truisms are actually the motives of men in a greater
degree than their appetites these are my theme and may it be my fortune to
keep them at bloodheat and myself calm as a statue of Memnon in prostrate
Egypt He sits there waiting for the sunlight I here and readier to be musical
than you think I can at any rate be impartial and do but fix your eyes on the
sunlight striking him and swallowing the day in rounding him and you have an
image of the passive receptivity of shine and shade I hold it good to aim at if
at the same time I may keep my characters at bloodheat I shoot my arrows at a
mark that is pretty certain to return them to me And as to perfect success I
should be like the panicstricken shopkeepers in my alarm at it for I should
believe that genii of the air fly above our treetops between us and the
incognizable spheres catching those ambitious shafts they deem it a promise of
fun to play pranks with
Young Mr Beauchamp at that period of the panic had not the slightest feeling
for the taxpayer He was therefore unable to penetrate the mystery of our
roundabout way of enlivening him He pored over the journals in perplexity and
talked of his indignation nightly to his pretty partners at balls who knew not
they were lesser Andromedas of his dear Andromeda country but danced and
chatted and were gay and said they were sure he would defend them The men he
addressed were civil They listened to him sometimes with smiles and sometimes
with laughter but approvingly liking the lads quick spirit They were
accustomed to the machinery employed to give our land a shudder and to soothe
it and generally remarked that it meant nothing His uncle Everard and his
uncles friend Stukely Culbrett expounded the nature of Frenchmen to him
saying that they were uneasy when not periodically thrashed it would be cruel
to deny them their crow beforehand and so the pair of gentlemen poohpoohed the
affair agreeing with him however that we had no great reason to be proud of
our appearance and the grounds they assigned for this were the activity and the
prevalence of the ignoble doctrines of Manchester a power whose very existence
was unknown to Mr Beauchamp He would by no means allow the burden of our
national disgrace to be cast on one part of the nation We were insulted and
all in a poultryflutter yet no one seemed to feel it but himself Outside the
Press and Parliament which must necessarily be the face we show to the
foreigner absolute indifference reigned Navy men and redcoats were willing to
join him or anybody in sneers at a clipping and paring miserly Government but
they were insensible to the insult the panic the startledpoultry show the
shame of our exhibition of ourselves in Europe It looked as if the blustering
French Guard were to have it all their own way And what would they what could
they but think of us He sat down to write them a challenge
He is not the only Englishman who has been impelled by a youthful chivalry
to do that He is perhaps the youngest who ever did it and consequently there
were various difficulties to be overcome As regards his qualifications for
addressing Frenchmen a year of his præneptunal time had been spent in their
capital city for the purpose of acquiring French of Paris its latest
refinements of pronunciation and polish and the art of conversing He had read
the French tragic poets and Molière he could even relish the Gallicclassic
»Quil mourut« and he spoke French passably being quite beyond the Bullish
treatment of the tongue Writing a letter in French was a different undertaking
The one he projected bore no resemblance to an ordinary letter The briefer the
better of course but a tone of dignity was imperative and the tone must be
individual distinctive Nevil Beauchamps though not in his native language
First he tried his letter in French and lost sight of himself completely
»Messieurs de la Garde Française« was a good beginning the remainder gave him
a false air of a masquerader most uncomfortable to see it was Nevil Beauchamp
in moustache and imperial and bagbreeches badly fitting He tried English
which was really himself and all that heart could desire supposing he
addressed a body of midshipmen just a little loftily But the English when
translated was bald and blunt to the verge of offensiveness
»Gentlemen of the French Guard
I take up the glove you have tossed us I am an Englishman That
will do for a reason«
This might possibly pass with the gentlemen of the English Guard But read
»Messieurs de la Garde Française
Jaccepte votre gant Je suis Anglais La raison est suffisante«
And imagine French Guardsmen reading it
Mr Beauchamp knew the virtue of punctiliousness in epithets and phrases of
courtesy toward a formal people and as the officers of the French Guard were
gentlemen of birth he would have them to perceive in him their equal at a
glance On the other hand a bare excess of phrasing distorted him to a likeness
of Mascarille playing Marquis How to be English and think French The business
was as laborious as if he had started on the rough sea of the Channel to get at
them in an open boat
The lady governing his uncle Everards house Mrs Rosamund Culling entered
his room and found him writing with knitted brows She was young that is she
was not in her middleage and they were the dearest of friends each had given
the other proof of it Nevil looked up and beheld her lifted finger
»You are composing a loveletter Nevil« The accusation sounded like irony
»No« said he puffing »I wish I were«
»What can it be then«
He thrust pen and paper a hands length on the table and gazed at her
»My dear Nevil is it really anything serious« said she
»I am writing French maam«
»Then I may help you It must be very absorbing for you did not hear my
knock at your door«
Now could he trust her The widow of a British officer killed nobly
fighting for his country in India was a person to be relied on for active and
burning sympathy in a matter that touched the countrys honour She was a woman
and a woman of spirit Men had not pleased him of late Something might be hoped
from a woman
He stated his occupation saying that if she would assist him in his French
she would oblige him the letter must be written and must go This was uttered
so positively that she bowed her head amused by the funny semitone of defiance
to the person to whom he confided the secret She had humour and was ravished
by his English boyishness with the novel blush of the heroicalnonsensical in
it
Mrs Culling promised him demurely that she would listen objecting nothing
to his plan only to his French
»Messieurs de la Garde Française« he commenced
Her criticism followed swiftly
»I think you are writing to the Garde Impériale«
He admitted his error and thanked her warmly
»Messieurs de la Garde Impériale«
»Does not that« she said »include the noncommissioned officers the
privates and the cooks of all the regiments«
He could scarcely think that but thought it provoking the French had no
distinctive working title corresponding to gentlemen and suggested »Messieurs
les Officiers« which might Mrs Culling assured him comprise the barbers He
frowned and she prescribed his writing »Messieurs les Colonels de la Garde
Impériale« This he set down The point was that a stand must be made against
the flood of sarcasms and bullyings to which the country was exposed in
increasing degrees under a belief that we would fight neither in the mass nor
individually Possibly if it became known that the colonels refused to meet a
midshipman the gentlemen of our Household troops would advance a step
Mrs Cullings adroit efforts to weary him out of his project were
unsuccessful He was too much on fire to know the taste of absurdity
Nevil repeated what he had written in French and next the English of what
he intended to say
The lady conscientiously did her utmost to reconcile the two languages She
softened his downrightness passed with approval his compliments to France and
the ancient high reputation of her army and seeing that a loophole was left
for them to apologize asked how many French colonels he wanted to fight
»I do not want maam« said Nevil
He had simply taken up the glove they had again flung at our feet and he
had done it to stop the incessant revilings little short of positive contempt
which we in our indolence exposed ourselves to from the foreigner particularly
from Frenchmen whom he liked and precisely because he liked them he insisted
on forcing them to respect us Let his challenge be accepted and he would find
backers He knew the stuff of Englishmen they only required an example
»French officers are skilful swordsmen« said Mrs Culling »My husband has
told me they will spend hours of the day thrusting and parrying They are used
to duelling«
»We« Nevil answered »dont get apprenticed to the shambles to learn our
duty on the field Duelling is I know sickening folly We go too far in
pretending to despise every insult pitched at us A man may do for his country
what he wouldnt do for himself«
Mrs Culling gravely said she hoped that bloodshed would be avoided and Mr
Beauchamp nodded
She left him hard at work
He was a popular boy a favourite of women and therefore full of
engagements to Balls and dinners And he was a modest boy though his uncle
encouraged him to deliver his opinions freely and argue with men The little
drummer attached to wheeling columns thinks not more of himself because his
short legs perform the same strides as the grenadiers he is happy to be able
to keep the step and so was Nevil and if ever he contradicted a senior it was
in the interests of the country Veneration of heroes living and dead kept
down his conceit He worshipped devotedly From an early age he exacted of his
flattering ladies that they must love his hero Not to love his hero was to be
strangely in error to be in need of conversion and he proselytized with the
ardour of the Moslem His uncle Everard was proud of his good looks fire and
nonsense during the boys extreme youth He traced him by cousinships back to
the great Earl Beauchamp of Froissart and would have it so and he would have
spoilt him had not the young fellows mind been possessed by his reverence for
men of deeds How could he think of himself who had done nothing accomplished
nothing so long as he brooded on the images of signal Englishmen whose names
were historic for daring and the strong arm and artfulness all given to the
service of the country men of a magnanimity overcast with simplicity which
Nevil held to be pure insular English our type of splendid manhood not
discoverable elsewhere A method of enraging him was to distinguish one or other
of them as Irish Scottish or Cambrian He considered it a dismemberment of the
country And notwithstanding the pleasure he had in uniting in his person the
strong red blood of the chivalrous Lord Beauchamp with the hard and tenacious
Romfrey blood he hated the title of Norman We are EnglishBritish he said A
family resting its pride on mere ancestry provoked his contempt if it did not
show him one of his men He had also a disposition to esteem lightly the family
which having produced a man settled down after that effort for generations to
enjoy the countrys pay Boys are unjust but Nevil thought of the country
mainly arguing that we should not accept the countrys money for what we do not
ourselves perform These traits of his were regarded as characteristics hopeful
rather than the reverse none of his friends and relatives foresaw danger in
them He was a capital boy for his elders to trot out and banter
Mrs Rosamund Culling usually went to his room to see him and doat on him
before he started on his rounds of an evening She suspected that his necessary
attention to his toilet would barely have allowed him time to finish his copy of
the letter Certain phrases had bothered him The thrice recurrence of ma patrie
jarred on his ear Sentiments afflicted his acute sense of the declamatory
twice »Cest avec les sentiments du plus profond regret« and again »Je suis
bien sûr que vous comprendrez mes sentiments et maccorderez lhonneur que je
réclame au nom de ma patrie outragée« The word patrie was broadcast over the
letter and honneur appeared four times and a more delicate word to harp on
than the others
»Not to Frenchmen« said his friend Rosamund »I would put Je suis
convaincu it is not so familiar«
»But I have written out the fair copy maam and that alteration seems a
trifle«
»I would copy it again and again Nevil to get it right«
»No I d rather see it off than have it right« said Nevil and he folded
the letter
How the deuce to address it and what direction to write on it were further
difficulties He had half a mind to remain at home to conquer them by
excogitation
Rosamund urged him not to break his engagement to dine at the Halketts
where perhaps from his friend Colonel Halkett who would never imagine the
reason for the inquiry he might learn how a letter to a crack French regiment
should be addressed and directed
This proved persuasive and as the hour was late Nevil had to act on her
advice in a hurry
His uncle Everard enjoyed a perusal of the manuscript in his absence
Chapter II
Uncle Nephew and Another
The Honourable Everard Romfrey came of a race of fighting earls toughest of
men whose high stout Western castle had weathered our cyclone periods of
history without changeing hands more than once and then but for a short year or
two as if to teach the original possessors the wisdom of inclining to the
stronger side They had a queens chamber in it and a kings and they stood
well up against the charge of having dealt darkly with the king He died among
them how has not been told We will not discuss the conjectures here A savour
of North Sea foam and ballad pirates hangs about the early chronicles of the
family Indications of an ancestry that had lived between the wave and the cloud
were discernible in their notions of right and wrong But a settlement on solid
earth has its influences They were chivalrous knights bannerets and leaders in
the tented field paying and taking fair ransom for captures and they were good
landlords good masters blithely followed to the wars Sing an old battle of
Normandy Picardy Gascony and you celebrate deeds of theirs At home they were
vexatious neighbours to a town of burghers claiming privileges nor was it
unreasonable that the Earl should flout the pretensions of the town to read
things for themselves documents titleships rights and the rest As well
might the flat plain boast of seeing as far as the pillar Earl and town fought
the fight of Barons and Commons in epitome The Earl gave way the Barons gave
way Mighty men may thrash numbers for a time in the end the numbers will be
thrashed into the art of beating their teachers It is bad policy to fight the
odds inch by inch Those primitive schoolmasters of the million liked it and
took their pleasure in that way The Romfreys did not breed warriors for a
parade at Court wars though frequent were not constant and they wanted
occupation they may even have felt that they were bound in no common degree to
the pursuit of an answer to what may be called the parent question of humanity
Am I thy master or thou mine They put it to lords of other castles to town
corporations and sometimes brother to brother and notwithstanding that the
answer often unseated and once discastled them they swam back to their places
as born warriors urged by a passion for land are almost sure to do are indeed
quite sure so long as they multiply sturdily and will never take no from
Fortune A family passion for land that survives a generation is as effective
as genius in producing the object it conceives and through marriages and
conflicts the seizure of lands and brides bearing land these sharpfeeding
eagleeyed Earls of Romfrey spied few spots within their top towers wide circle
of the heavens not their own
It is therefore manifest that they had the root qualities the prime active
elements of men in perfection and notably that appetite to flourish at the
cost of the weaker which is the blessed exemplification of strength and has
been mans cheerfulest encouragement to fight on since his comparative
subjugation on the whole it seems complete of the animal world Byandby the
struggle is transferred to higher ground and we begin to perceive how much we
are indebted to the fighting spirit Strength is the brute form of truth No
conspicuously great man was born of the Romfreys who were better served by a
succession of able sons They sent undistinguished able men to army and
navylieutenants given to be critics of their captains but trustworthy for
their work In the later life of the family they preferred the provincial state
of splendid squires to Court and political honours They were renowned shots
longlimbed stalking sportsmen in field and bower fast friends intemperate
enemies handsome to feminine eyes resembling one another in build and mostly
of the Northern colour or betwixt the tints with an hereditary nose and mouth
that cried Romfrey from faces thrice diluted in cousinships
The Hon Everard Stephen Denely Craven Romfrey third son of the late
Earl had some hopes of the title and was in person a noticeable gentleman in
mind a mediæval baron in politics a crotchety unintelligible Whig He inherited
the estate of Holdesbury on the borders of Hampshire and Wilts and espoused
that of Steynham in Sussex where he generally resided His favourite in the
family had been the Lady Emily his eldest sister who contrary to the advice
of her other brothers and sisters had yielded her hand to his not wealthy
friend Colonel Richard Beauchamp After the death of Nevils parents he
adopted the boy being himself childless and a widower Childlessness was the
affliction of the family Everard having no son could hardly hope that his
brother the Earl and Craven Lord Avonley would have one for he loved the
prospect of the title Yet as there were no cousins of the male branch extant
the lack of an heir was a serious omission and to become the Earl of Romfrey
and be the last Earl of Romfrey was a melancholy thought however brilliant So
sinks the sun but he could not desire the end of a great day At one time he
was a hot Parliamentarian calling himself a Whig called by the Whigs a
Radical called by the Radicals a Tory and very happy in fighting them all
round This was during the decay of his party before the Liberals were defined
A Liberal deprived him of the seat he had held for fifteen years and the
clearness of his understanding was obscured by that black vision of popular
ingratitude which afflicts the free fighting man yet more than the malleable
public servant The latter has a clerkly humility attached to him like a second
nature from his habit of doing as others bid him the former smacks a
voluntarily sweating forehead and throbbing wounds for witness of his claim upon
your palpable thankfulness It is an insult to tell him that he fought for his
own satisfaction Mr Romfrey still called himself a Whig though it was Whig
mean vengeance on account of his erratic vote and voice on two or three
occasions that denied him a peerage and a seat in haven Thither let your good
sheep go your echoes your wagtail dogs your wealthy pursy manufacturers He
decried the attractions of the sublimer House and laughed at the transparent
Whiggery of his party in replenishing it from the upper shoots of the
commonalty »Dragging it down to prop it up swamping it to keep it swimming«
he said
He was nevertheless a vehement supporter of that House He stood for King
Lords and Commons in spite of his personal grievances harping the triad as
vigorously as bard of old Britain Commons he added out of courtesy or from
usage or policy or for emphasis or for the sake of the Constitutional number
of the Estates of the realm or it was because he had an intuition of the folly
of omitting them the same to some extent that builders have regarding bricks
when they plan a fabric Thus although King and Lords prove the existence of
Commons in days of the political deluge almost syllogistically the example of
not including one of the Estates might be imitated and Commons and King do not
necessitate the conception of an intermediate third while Lords and Commons
suggest the decapitation of the leading figure The united three however no
longer cast reflections on one another and were an assurance to this acute
politician that his birds were safe He preserved game rigorously and the
deduction was the work of instinct with him To his mind the gamelaws were the
cornerstone of Law and of a mans right to hold his own and so delicately did
he think the country poised that an attack on them threatened the structure of
justice The three conjoined Estates were therefore his head gamekeepers their
duty was to back him against the poacher if they would not see the country
tumble As to his undergamekeepers he was their intimate and their friend
saying with none of the misanthropy which proclaims the virtues of the faithful
dog to the confusion of humankind he liked their company better than that of
his equals and learnt more from them They also listened deferentially to their
instructor
The conversation he delighted in most might have been going on in any
century since the Conquest Grant him his not unreasonable argument upon his
property in game he was a liberal landlord No tenants were forced to take his
farms He dragged none by the collar He gave them liberty to go to Australia
Canada the Americas if they liked He asked in return to have the liberty to
shoot on his own grounds and rear the marks for his shot treating the question
of indemnification as a gentleman should Still there were grumbling tenants He
swarmed with game and though he was liberal his hares and his birds were
immensely destructive computation could not fix the damage done by them
Probably the farmers expected them not to eat »There are two parties to a
bargain« said Everard »and one gets the worst of it But if he was never
obliged to make it where s his right to complain« Men of sense rarely obtain
satisfactory answers they are provoked to despise their kind But the poacher
was another kind of vermin than the stupid tenant Everard did him the honour to
hate him and twice in a fray had he collared his ruffian and subsequently sat
in condemnation of the wretch for he who can attest a villany is best qualified
to punish it Gangs from the metropolis found him too determined and alert for
their sport It was the fractiousness of here and there an unbroken young
scoundrelly colt poacher of the neighbourhood a born thief a fellow damned in
an inveterate taste for game which gave him annoyance One night he took Master
Nevil out with him and they hunted down a couple of sinners that showed fight
against odds Nevil attempted to beg them off because of their boldness »I
dont set my traps for nothing« said his uncle silencing him But the boy
reflected that his uncle was perpetually lamenting the cowed spirit of the
common Englishformerly such fresh and merry men He touched Rosamund Cullings
heart with his description of their attitudes when they stood resisting and
bawling to the keepers »Come on we ll die for it« They did not die Everard
explained to the boy that he could have killed them and was contented to have
sent them to gaol for a few weeks Nevil gaped at the empty magnanimity which
his uncle presented to him as a remarkably big morsel At the age of fourteen he
was despatched to sea
He went unwillingly not so much from an objection to a naval life as from a
wish incomprehensible to grown men and boys and especially to his cousin
Cecil Baskelett that he might remain at school and learn »The fellow would
like to be a parson« Everard said in disgust No parson had ever been known of
in the Romfrey family or in the Beauchamp A legend of a parson that had been a
tutor in one of the Romfrey houses and had talked and sung blandly to a damsel
of the blood degenerate maid to receive a handsome trouncing for his pains
instead of the holy marriagetie he aimed at was the only connection of the
Romfreys with the parsonry as Everard called them He attributed the boys
feeling to the influence of his greataunt Beauchamp who would he said
infallibly have made a parson of him »I d rather enlist for a soldier« Nevil
said and he ceased to dream of rebellion and of his little property of a few
thousand pounds in the funds to aid him in it He confessed to his dear friend
Rosamund Culling that he thought the parsons happy in having time to read
history And oh to feel for certain which side was the wrong side in our Civil
War so that one should not hesitate in choosing Such puzzles are never he
seemed to be aware solved in a midshipmans mess He hated bloodshed and was
guilty of the cottonspinners babble abhorred of Everard in alluding to it
Rosamund liked him for his humanity but she too feared he was a slack Romfrey
when she heard him speak in precocious contempt of glory Somewhere somehow he
had got hold of Manchester sarcasms concerning glory a weedy word of the
newspapers had been sown in his bosom perhaps He said »I dont care to win
glory I know all about that Ive seen an old hat in the Louvre« And he would
have had her to suppose that he had looked on the campaigning headcover of
Napoleon simply as a shocking bad bald brownrubbed old tricorne rather than
as the nod of extinction to thousands the great orb of darkness the
stilltrembling gloomy quiver the brain of the lightnings of battles
Now this boy nursed no secret presumptuous belief that he was fitted for the
walks of the higher intellect he was not having his impudent boys fling at
superiority over the superior as here and there a subtleminded vain juvenile
will nor was he a parrot repeating a line from some Lancastrian pamphlet He
really disliked war and the sword and scorning the prospect of an idle life
confessing that his abilities barely adapted him for a sailors he was opposed
to the career opened to him almost to the extreme of shrinking and terror Or
that was the impression conveyed to a not unsympathetic hearer by his forlorn
efforts to make himself understood which were like the tappings of the stick of
a blind man mystified by his sense of touch at wrong corners His bewilderment
and speechlessness were a comic display tragic to him
Just as his uncle Everard predicted he came home from his first voyage a
pleasant sailor lad His features more than handsome to a woman so mobile they
were shone of sea and spirit the chance lights of the sea and the spirit
breathing out of it As to war and bloodshed a mans first thought must be his
country young Jacket remarked and Ich dien was the best motto afloat Rosamund
noticed the peculiarity of the books he selected for his private reading They
were not boys books books of adventure and the like His favourite author was
one writing of Heroes in so she esteemed it a style resembling either early
architecture or utter dilapidation so loose and rough it seemed a
windintheorchard style that tumbled down here and there an appreciable fruit
with uncouth bluster sentences without commencements running to abrupt endings
and smoke like waves against a seawall learned dictionary words giving a hand
to streetslang and accents falling on them haphazard like slant rays from
driving clouds all the pages in a breeze the whole book producing a kind of
electrical agitation in the mind and the joints This was its effect on the
lady To her the incomprehensible was the abominable for she had our countrys
high critical feeling but he while admitting that he could not quite master
it liked it He had dug the book out of a booksellers shop in Malta
captivated by its title and had since the day of his purchase gone at it
again and again getting nibbles of golden meaning by instalments as with a
solitary pick in a very dark mine until the illumination of an idea struck him
that there was a great deal more in the book than there was in himself This was
sufficient to secure the devoted attachment of young Mr Beauchamp Rosamund
sighed with apprehension to think of his unlikeness to boys and men among his
countrymen in some things Why should he hug a book he owned he could not quite
comprehend He said he liked a bone in his mouth and it was natural wisdom
though unappreciated by women A bone in a boys mind for him to gnaw and worry
corrects the vagrancies and promotes the healthy activities whether there be
marrow in it or not Supposing it furnishes only dramatic entertainment in that
usually vacant tenement or powdershell it will be of service
Nevil proposed to her that her next present should be the entire list of his
beloved Incomprehensibles published works and she promised and was not sorry
to keep her promise dangling at the skirts of memory to drop away in time For
that fireandsmoke writer dedicated volumes to the praise of a regicide Nice
reading for her dear boy Some weeks after Nevil was off again she abused
herself for her halfhearted love of him and would have given him anything
the last word in favour of the Country versus the royal Martyr for example had
he insisted on it She gathered bit by bit that he had dashed at his big
blustering cousin Cecil to vindicate her good name The direful youths fought in
the Steynham stables overheard by the grooms Everard received a fine account
of the tussle from these latter and Rosamund knowing him to be of the order of
gentlemen who whatsoever their sins will at all costs protect a womans
delicacy and a dependants man or woman did not fear to have her ears shocked
in probing him on the subject
Everard was led to say that Nevils cousins were bedevilled with womanfolk
From which Rosamund perceived that women had been at work and if so it was
upon the business of the scandalmonger and if so Nevil fought his cousin to
protect her good name from a babbler of the family gossip
She spoke to Stukely Culbrett her dead husbands friend to whose
recommendation she was indebted for her place in Everard Romfreys household
»Nevil behaved like a knight I hear«
»Your beauty was disputed« said he »and Nevil knocked the blind man down
for not being able to see«
She thought »Not my beauty Nevil struck his cousin on behalf of the only
fair thing I have left to me«
This was a moment with her when many sensations rush together and form a
knot in sensitive natures She had been very goodlooking She was goodlooking
still but she remembered the bloom of her looks in her husbands days the
tragedy of the mirror is one for a woman to write I am ashamed to find myself
smiling while the poor lady weeps she remembered his praises her pride his
death in battle her anguish then on her strange entry to this house her
bitter wish to be older and then the oppressive calm of her recognition of her
wishs fulfilment the heavy drop to dead earth when she could say or pretend
to think she could say I look old enough will they tattle of me now Nevils
championship of her good name brought her history spinning about her head and
threw a finger of light on her real position In that she saw the slenderness of
her hold on respect as well as felt her personal stainlessness The boy warmed
her chill widowhood It was written that her second love should be of the
pattern of mothers love She loved him hungrily and jealously always in fear
for him when he was absent even anxiously when she had him near For some
cause born one may fancy of the hour of her loves conception his image in
her heart was steeped in tears She was not happily one of the women who
betray strong feeling and humour preserved her from excesses of sentiment
Chapter III
Contains Baronial Views of the Present Time
Upon the word of honour of Rosamund the letter to the officers of the French
Guard was posted
»Post it post it« Everard said on her consulting him with the letter in
her hand »Let the fellow stand his luck« It was addressed to the Colonel of
the First Regiment of the Imperial Guard Paris That superscription had been
suggested by Colonel Halkett Rosamund was in favour of addressing it to
Versailles Nevil to the Tuileries but Paris could hardly fail to hit the mark
and Nevil waited for the reply half expecting an appointment on the French
sands for the act of posting a letter though it be to little short of the
Pleiades even will stamp an incredible proceeding as a matter of business so
ready is the ardent mind to take footing on the last thing done The flight of
Mr Beauchamps letter placed it in the common order of occurrences for the
youthful author of it Jack Wilmore a messmate offered to second him though
he should be dismissed the service for it Another second would easily be found
somewhere for as Nevil observed you have only to set these affairs going and
British blood rises we are not the people you see on the surface Wilmores
father was a parson for instance What did he do He could not help himself he
supplied the army and navy with recruits One son was in a marching regiment
the other was Jack and three girls had vowed never to quit the rectory save as
brides of officers Nevil thought that seemed encouraging we were evidently not
a nation of shopkeepers at heart and he quoted sayings of Mr Stukely
Culbretts in which neither his ear nor Wilmores detected the underring
Stukely was famous for as that England had saddled herself with India for the
express purpose of better obeying the Commandments in Europe and that it would
be a lamentable thing for the Continent and our doctrines if ever beef should
fail the Briton and such like »Depend upon it we re a fighting nation
naturally Jack« said Nevil »How can we submit however I shall not be
impatient I dislike duelling and hate war but I will have the country
respected« They planned a defence of the country drawing their strategy from
magazine articles by military pens reverberations of the extinct voices of the
daily and weekly journals customary after a panic and making bloody stands on
spots of extreme pastoral beauty which they visited by coach and rail looking
back on unfortified London with particular melancholy
Rosamunds word may be trusted that she dropped the letter into a London
postoffice in pursuance of her promise to Nevil The singular fact was that no
answer to it ever arrived Nevil without a doubt of her honesty proposed an
expedition to Paris he was ordered to join his ship and he lay moored across
the water in the port of Bevisham panting for notice to be taken of him The
slight of the total disregard of his letter now affected him personally it took
him some time to get over this indignity put upon him especially because of his
being under the impression that the country suffered not he at all The letter
had served its object ever since the transmission of it the menaces and insults
had ceased But they might be renewed and he desired to stop them altogether
His last feeling was one of genuine regret that Frenchmen should have behaved
unworthily of the high estimation he held them in With which he dismissed the
affair
He was rallied about it when he next sat at his uncles table and had to
pardon Rosamund for telling
Nevil replied modestly »I dare say you think me half a fool sir All I
know is I waited for my betters to speak first I have no dislike of
Frenchmen«
Everard shook his head to signify not half But he was gentle enough in his
observations »There s a motto Ex pede Herculem You stepped out for the dogs
to judge better of us It s an infernally tripping motto for a composite
structure like the kingdom of Great Britain and Manchester boy Nevil We can
fight foreigners when the time comes« He directed Nevil to look home and cast
an eye on the cottonspinners with the remark that they were binding us hand
and foot to sell us to the biggest buyer and were not Englishmen but »Germans
and Jews and quakers and hybrids diligent clerks and speculators and
commercial travellers who have raised a fortune from foisting drugged goods on
an idiot population«
He loathed them for the curse they were to the country And he was one of
the few who spoke out The fashion was to pet them We stood against them were
halfhearted and were beaten and then we petted them and bit by bit our
privileges were torn away We made lords of them to catch them and they grocers
of us by way of a return »Already« said Everard »they have knocked the
nations head off and dryrotted the bone of the people«
»Dont they« Nevil asked »belong to the Liberal party«
»I ll tell you« Everard replied »they belong to any party that upsets the
party above them They belong to the GEORGE FOXE party and my poultryroosts
are the mark they aim at You shall have a glance at the manufacturing district
some day You shall see the machines they work with You shall see the miserable
lankjawed halfstewed pantaloons theyve managed to make of Englishmen there
My blood s past boiling They work young children in their factories from
morning to night Their manufactories are spreading like the webs of the devil
to suck the blood of the country In that district of theirs an epidemic levels
men like a disease in sheep Skeletons cant make a stand On the top of it all
they sing Sunday tunes«
This behaviour of cornlaw agitators and protectors of poachers was an
hypocrisy too horrible for comment Everard sipped claret Nevil lashed his head
for the clear idea which objurgation insists upon implanting but batters to
pieces in the act
»Manchester s the belly of this country« Everard continued »So long as
Manchester flourishes we re a country governed and led by the belly The head
and the legs of the country are sound still I dont guarantee it for long but
the middle s rapacious and corrupt Take it on a question of foreign affairs
it s an alderman after a feast Bring it upon home politics you meet a wolf«
The faithful Whig veteran spoke with jolly admiration of the speech of a
famous Tory chief
»That was the way to talk to them Denounce them traitors Up whip and set
the ruffians capering Hit them facers Our men are always for the tooclever
trick They pluck the sprouts and eat them as if the loss of a sprout or two
thinned Manchester Your policy of absorption is good enough when you re
dealing with fragments It s a devilish unlucky thing to attempt with a
concrete mass You might as well ask your head to absorb a wall by running at it
like a pugnacious nigger I dont want you to go into Parliament ever You re a
fitter man out of it but if ever you re bitten and it s the curse of our
country to have politics as well as the other diseases dont follow a flag be
independent keep a free vote remember how Ive been tied and hold foot
against Manchester Do it blindfold you dont want counselling you re sure to
be right I ll lay you a bloodbrood mare to a cabstand skeleton you ll have
an easy conscience and deserve the thanks of the country«
Nevil listened gravely The soundness of the head and legs of the country he
took for granted The inflated state of the unchivalrous middle denominated
Manchester terrified him Could it be true that England was betraying signs of
decay and signs how ignoble Halfadozen crescent lines cunningly turned
sketched her figure before the world and the reflection for one ready to die
upholding her was that the portrait was no caricature Such an emblematic
presentation of the land of his filial affection haunted him with hideous
mockeries Surely the foreigner hearing our boasts of her must compare us to
showmen bawling the attractions of a Fat Lady at a fair
Swoln Manchester bore the blame of it Everard exulted to hear his young
echo attack the cottonspinners But Nevil was for a plan a system immediate
action the descending among the people and taking an initiative LEADING them
insisting on their following not standing aloof and shrugging
»We lead them in war« said he »why not in peace There s a front for
peace as well s war and that s our place rightly We re pushed aside why it
seems to me we re treated like oldfashioned ornaments The fault must be ours
Shrugging and sneering is about as honourable as blazing fireworks over your own
defeat Back we have to go that s the point sir And as for jeering the
cottonspinners I cant while theyve the lead of us We let them have it And
we have thrice the stake in the country I dont mean properties and titles«
»Deuce you dont« said his uncle
»I mean our names our histories I mean our duties As for titles the way
to defend them is to be worthy of them«
»Damned fine speech« remarked Everard »Now you get out of that trick of
prizeorationing I call it snuffery sir it s all to your own nose You re
talking to me not to a gallery Worthy of them Cæsar wraps his head in his
robe he gets his dig in the ribs for all his attitudinizing It s very well
for a man to talk like that who owns no more than his barebodkin life poor
devil Tall talk s his jewelry he must have his dandification in bunkum You
ought to know better Property and titles are worth having whether you are
worthy of them or a disgrace to your class The best way of defending them is to
keep a strong fist and take care you dont draw your forefoot back more than
enough«
»Please propose something to be done« said Nevil depressed by the
recommendation of that attitude
Everard proposed a fight for every privilege his class possessed »They
say« he said »a nobleman fighting the odds is a sight for the gods and I
wouldnt yield an inch of ground It s no use calling things by fine names
the country s ruined by cowardice Poursuivez I cry Haro at them The
biggest heart wins in the end I havent a doubt about that And I havent a
doubt we carry the tonnage«
»There s the people« sighed Nevil entangled in his uncles haziness
»What people«
»I suppose the people of Great Britain count sir«
»Of course they do when the battle s done the fight lost and won«
»Do you expect the people to look on sir«
»The people always wait for the winner boy Nevil«
The young fellow exclaimed despondingly »If it were a race«
»It s like a race and we re confoundedly out of training« said Everard
There he rested A mediæval gentleman with the docile notions of the twelfth
century complacently driving them to grass and wattling them in the nineteenth
could be of no use to a boy trying to think though he could set the youngster
galloping Nevil wandered about the woods of Steynham disinclined to shoot and
lend a hand to country sports The popping of the guns of his uncle and guests
hung about his ears much like their speech which was unobjectionable in itself
but not sufficient a little hard he thought a little idle He wanted
something and wanted them to give their time and energy to something that was
not to be had in a market The nobles he felt sure might resume their natural
alliance with the people and lead them as they did of old to the
battlefield How might they A comely Sussex lass could not well tell him how
Sarcastic reports of the troublesome questioner represented him applying to a
nymph of the country for enlightenment He thrilled surprisingly under the charm
of feminine beauty »The fellow s sound at bottom« his uncle said hearing of
his having really been seen walking in the complete form proper to his budding
age that is in two halves Nevil showed that he had gained an acquaintance
with the struggles of the neighbouring agricultural poor to live and rear their
children His uncles table roared at his enumeration of the sickly little
beings consumptive or bandylegged within a radius of five miles of Steynham
Action was what he wanted Everard said Nevil perhaps thought the same for he
dashed out of his mooning with a wave of the Tory standard delighting the
ladies though in that conflict of the Lion and the Unicorn which was a Tory
song he seemed rather to wish to goad the dear lion than crush the onehorned
intrusive upstart His calling on the crack corps of Peers to enrol themselves
forthwith in the front ranks and to anticipate opposition by initiating
measures and so cut out that funny old crazy old galleon the People from
under the batteries of the enemy highly amused the gentlemen
Before rejoining his ship Nevil paid his customary short visit of ceremony
to his greataunt Beauchamp a venerable lady past eighty hitherto divided
from him in sympathy by her dislike of his uncle Everard who had once been his
living hero That was when he was in frocks and still the tenacious fellow
could not bear to hear his uncle spoken ill of
»All the men of that family are heartless and he is a man of wood my dear
and a bad man« the old lady said »He should have kept you at school and sent
you to college You want reading and teaching and talking to Such a house as
that is should never be a home for you« She hinted at Rosamund Nevil defended
the persecuted woman but with no better success than from the attacks of the
Romfrey ladies with this difference however that these decried the womans
vicious arts and Mistress Elizabeth Mary Beauchamp put all the sin upon the
man Such a man she said »Let me hear that he has married her I will not
utter another word« Nevil echoed »Married« in a different key
»I am as much of an aristocrat as any of you only I rank morality higher«
said Mrs Beauchamp »When you were a child I offered to take you and make you
my heir and I would have educated you You shall see a greatnephew of mine
that I did educate he is eating his dinners for the bar in London and comes to
me every Sunday I shall marry him to a good girl and I shall show your uncle
what my kind of manmaking is«
Nevil had no desire to meet the other greatnephew especially when he was
aware of the extraordinary circumstance that a Beauchamp greatniece having no
money had bestowed her hand on a Manchester man defunct whereof this young
Blackburn Tuckham the lawyer was issue He took his leave of Mrs Elizabeth
Beauchamp respecting her for her constitutional health and brightness and
regretting for the sake of the country that she had not married to give England
men and women resembling her On the whole he considered her wiser in her
prescription for the malady besetting him than his uncle He knew that action
was but a temporary remedy College would have been his chronic medicine and
the old ladys acuteness in seeing it impressed him forcibly She had given him
a peaceable two days on the Upper Thames in an atmosphere of plain good sense
and justmindedness He wrote to thank her saying »My England at sea will be
your parlourwindow looking down the grass to the river and rushes and when you
do me the honour to write please tell me the names of those wildflowers
growing along the banks in Summer« The old lady replied immediately enclosing
a cheque for fifty pounds »Colonel Halkett informs me you are under a cloud at
Steynham and I have thought you may be in want of pocketmoney The
wildflowers are willowherb meadowsweet and loosestrife I shall be glad
when you are here in Summer to see them«
Nevil despatched the following »I thank you but I shall not cash the
cheque The Steynham tale is this I happened to be out at night and stopped
the keepers in chase of a young fellow trespassing I caught him myself but
recognized him as one of a family I take an interest in and let him run before
they came up My uncle heard a gun I sent the head gamekeeper word in the
morning to out with it all Uncle E was annoyed and we had a rough parting If
you are rewarding me for this I have no right to it«
Mrs Beauchamp rejoined »Your profession should teach you subordination if
it does nothing else that is valuable to a Christian gentleman You will receive
from the publisher the Life and Letters of Lord Collingwood whom I have it in
my mind that a young midshipman should task himself to imitate Spend the money
as you think fit«
Nevils ship commanded by Captain Robert Hall a most gallant officer one
of his heroes and of Lancashire origin strangely flew to the South American
station in and about Lord Cochranes waters then as swiftly back For like
the frail Norwegian bark on the edge of the maelström liker to a country of
conflicting interests and passions that is not mentally on a level with its
good fortune England was drifting into foreign complications A paralyzed
Minister proclaimed it The governing people which is looked to for direction
in grave dilemmas by its representatives and reflectors shouted that it had
been accused of pusillanimity No one had any desire for war only we really had
and it was perfectly true been talking gigantic nonsense of peace and of the
everlastingness of the exchange of fruits for money with angels waving
rawgroceries of Eden in joy of the commercial picture Therefore to correct
the excesses of that fit we held the standing by the Moslem on behalf of the
Mediterranean and the Moslem is one of our customers bearing an excellent
reputation for the payment of debts to be good granting the necessity We
deplored the necessity The Press wept over it That however was not the
politic tone for us while the Imperial berg of Polar ice watched us keenly and
the Press proceeded to remind us that we had once been bulldogs Was there not
an animal within us having a right to a turn now and then And was it not
Falstaff on a calm world was quoted for the benefit of our constitutions now
and then to loosen the animal Granting the necessity of course By dint of
incessantly speaking of the necessity we granted it unknowingly The lighter
hearts regarded our period of monotonously lyrical prosperity as a man sensible
of fresh morning air looks back on the snoring bolster Many of the graver were
glad of a change After all that maundering over the blessed peace which brings
the raisin and the currant for the pudding and shuts up the cannon with a
sheeps head it became a principle of popular taste to descant on the vivifying
virtues of war even as after ten months of moneymongering in smoky London
the citizen hails the seabreeze and an immersion in unruly brine despite the
cost that breeze and brine may make a man of him according to the doctors
prescription sweet is home but health is sweeter Then was there another
curious exhibition of us Gentlemen to the exact number of the Graces dressed
in drab of an ancient cut made a pilgrimage to the icy despot and besought him
to give way for Pietys sake He courteous colossal and immoveable waved
them homeward They returned and were hooted for belying the bellicose by their
mission and interpreting too well the peaceful They were the unparalyzed
Ministers of the occasion but helpless
And now came war the purifier and the pestilence
The cry of the English people for war was pretty general as far as the
criers went They put on their Sabbath face concerning the declaration of war
and told with approval how the Royal hand had trembled in committing itself to
the form of signature to which its action is limited If there was money to be
paid there was a bugbear to be slain for it and a bugbear is as obnoxious to
the repose of commercial communities as rivals are to kings
The cry for war was absolutely unanimous and a supremely national cry
Everard Romfrey said for it excluded the cottonspinners
He smacked his hands crowing at the vociferations of disgust of those
negrophiles and sweaters of Christians whose isolated clamour amid the popular
uproar sounded of gagged mouths
One of the halfstifled cottonspinners a notorious one a spouter of rank
sedition and hater of aristocracy a political poacher managed to make himself
heard He was tossed to the Press for a morsel and tossed back to the people in
strips Everard had a sharp return of appetite in reading the daily and weekly
journals They printed logic they printed sense they abused the treasonable
barking cur unmercifully They printed almost as much as he would have uttered
excepting the strong salt of his similes likening that rascal and his crew to
the American weed in our waters to the rotting wild bees nest in our trees to
the worm in our ships timbers and to lamentable afflictions of the human
frame and of sheep oxen honest hounds Manchester was in eclipse The world
of England discovered that the peaceparty which opposed was the actual cause of
the war never was indication clearer But my business is with Mr Beauchamp to
know whom and partly understand his conduct in afterdays it will be as well
to take a birdseye glance at him through the war
»Now« said Everard »we shall see what stuff there is in that fellow
Nevil«
He expected as you may imagine a true young BeauchampRomfrey to be
straining his collar like a leashhound
Chapter IV
A Glimpse of Nevil in Action
The young gentleman to whom Everard Romfrey transferred his combative spirit
despatched a letter from the Dardanelles requesting his uncle not to ask him
for a spark of enthusiasm He despised our Moslem allies he said and thought
with pity of the miserable herds of men in regiments marching across the steppes
at the bidding of a despot that we were helping to popularize He certainly
wrote in the tone of a jejune politician pardonable stuff to seniors
entertaining similar opinions but most exasperating when it runs counter to
them though one question put by Nevil was not easily answerable He wished to
know whether the English people would be so anxious to be at it if their man
stood on the opposite shore and talked of trying conclusions on their green
fields And he suggested that they had become so ready for war because of their
having grown rather ashamed of themselves and for the special reason that they
could have it at a distance
»The rascals liver s out of order« Everard said
Coming to the sentence »Who speaks out in this crisis There is one and
I am with him« Mr Romfreys compassionate sentiments veered round to irate
amazement For the person alluded to was indeed the infamous miauling
cottonspinner Nevil admired him He said so bluntly He pointed to that
traitorous GeorgeFoxite as the one heroical Englishman of his day declaring
that he felt bound in honour to make known his admiration for the man and he
hoped his uncle would excuse him »If we differ I am sorry sir but I should
be a coward to withhold what I think of him when he has all England against him
and he is in the right as England will discover I maintain he speaks wisely
I dont mind saying like a prophet and he speaks on behalf of the poor as well
as of the country He appears to me the only public man who looks to the state
of the poor I mean their interests They pay for war and if we are to have
peace at home and strength for a really national war the only war we can ever
call necessary the poor must be contented He sees that I shall not run the
risk of angering you by writing to defend him unless I hear of his being
shamefully mishandled and the bearer of an old name can be of service to him I
cannot say less and will say no more«
Everard apostrophized his absent nephew »You jackass«
I am reminded by Mr Romfreys profound disappointment in the youth that it
will be repeatedly shared by many others and I am bound to forewarn readers of
this history that there is no plot in it The hero is chargeable with the
official disqualification of constantly offending prejudices never seeking to
please and all the while it is upon him the narrative hangs To be a public
favourite is his last thought Beauchampism as one confronting him calls it
may be said to stand for nearly everything which is the obverse of Byronism and
rarely woos your sympathy shuns the statuesque pathetic or any kind of
posturing For Beauchamp will not even look at happiness to mourn its absence
melodious lamentations demoniacal scorn are quite alien to him His faith is
in working and fighting With every inducement to offer himself for a romantic
figure he despises the pomades and curlingirons of modern romance its shears
and its labels in fine every one of those positive things by whose aid and by
some adroit flourishing of them the nimbus known as a mysterious halo is
produced about a gentlemans head And a highly alluring adornment it is We are
all given to lose our solidity and fly at it although the faithful mirror of
fiction has been showing us latterly that a too superhuman beauty has disturbed
popular belief in the bare beginnings of the existence of heroes but this very
likely is nothing more than a fit of Republicanism in the nursery and a
deposition of the leading doll for lack of variety in him That conqueror of
circumstances will the dullest soul may begin predicting return on his
cockhorse to favour and authority Meantime the exhibition of a hero whom
circumstances overcome and who does not weep or ask you for a tear who
continually forfeits attractiveness by declining to better his own fortunes
must run the chances of a novelty during the interregnum Nursery Legitimists
will be against him to a man Republicans likewise after a queer sniff at his
pretensions it is to be feared For me I have so little command over him that
in spite of my nursery tastes he drags me whither he lists It is artless art
and monstrous innovation to present so wilful a figure but were I to create a
striking fable for him and set him off with scenic effects and contrasts it
would be only a momentary tonic to you to him instant death He could not live
in such an atmosphere The simple truth has to be told how he loved his
country and for another and a broader love growing out of his first passion
fought it and being small by comparison and finding no giant of the
Philistines disposed to receive a stone in his foreskull pummelled the
obmutescent mass to the confusion of a conceivable epic His indifferent
England refused it to him That is all I can say The greater power of the two
she seems with a quiet derision that does not belie her amiable passivity to
have reduced in Beauchamps career the boldest readiness for public action and
some good stout efforts besides to the flat result of an optically discernible
influence of our heros character in the domestic circle perhaps a
faintlyoutlined circle or two beyond it But this does not forbid him to be
ranked as one of the most distinguishing of her children of the day he lived in
Blame the victrix if you think he should have been livelier
Nevil soon had to turn his telescope from politics The torch of war was
actually lighting and he was not fashioned to be heedless of what surrounded
him Our diplomacy after dancing with all the suppleness of stilts gravely
resigned the gift of motion Our dauntless Lancastrian thundered like a tempest
over a gambling tent disregarded Our worthy people consenting to the doctrine
that war is a scourge contracted the habit of thinking it in this case the
dire necessity which is the sole excuse for giving way to an irritated
pugnacity and sucked the comforting caramel of an alliance with their
troublesome nextdoor neighbour profuse in comfits as in scorpions Nevil
detected that politic element of their promptitude for war His recollections of
dissatisfaction in former days assisted him to perceive the nature of it but he
was too young to hold his own against the hubbub of a noisy people much too
young to remain sceptical of a modern peoples enthusiasm for war while journals
were testifying to it down the length of their columns and letters from home
palpitated with it and shipmates yawned wearily for the signal and shiploads
of red coats and blue infantry cavalry artillery were singing farewell to
the girl at home and hurrah for anything in foreign waters He joined the
stream with a cordial spirit Since it must be so The wind of that haughty
proceeding of the Great Bear in putting a paw over the neutral brook brushed his
cheek unpleasantly He clapped hands for the fezzy defenders of the border
fortress and when the order came for the fleet to enter the old romantic sea of
storms and fables he wrote home a letter fit for his uncle Everard to read
Then there was the sailing and the landing and the march up the heights which
Nevil was condemned to look at To his joy he obtained an appointment on shore
and after that Everard heard of him from other channels The two were of a mind
when the savage winter advanced which froze the attack of the city and might be
imaged as the hoar god of hostile elements pointing a hand to the line reached
and menacing at one farther step Both blamed the Government but they divided
as to the origin of governmental inefficiency Nevil accusing the Lords guilty
of foulest sloth Everard the Quakers of dryrotting the country He passed with
a shrug Nevils puling outcry for the enemy as well as our own poor fellows »At
his steppes again« And he had to be forgiving when reports came of his nephews
turn for overdoing his duty »showfighting« as he termed it
»Braggadocioing in deeds is only next bad to mouthing it« he wrote very
rationally »Stick to your line Dont go out of it till you are ordered out
Remember that we want soldiers and sailors we dont want suicides« He
condescended to these italics considering impressiveness to be urgent In his
heart notwithstanding his implacably clear judgement he was passably well
pleased with the congratulations encompassing him on account of his nephews
gallantry at a period of dejection in Britain for the winter was dreadful
every kind heart that went to bed with cold feet felt acutely for our soldiers
on the frozen heights and thoughts of heroes were as good as warmingpans
Heroes we would have It happens in war as in wit that all the birds of wonder
fly to a flaring reputation He that has done one wild thing must necessarily
have done the other so Nevil found himself standing in the thick of a fame that
blew rank eulogies on him for acts he had not performed The Earl of Romfrey
forwarded hampers and a letter of praise »They tell me that while you were
facing the enemy temporarily attaching yourself to one of the regiments I
forget which though I have heard it named you sprang out under fire on an
eagle clawing a hare I like that I hope you had the benefit of the hare She
is our property and I have issued an injunction that she shall not go into the
newspapers« Everard was entirely of a contrary opinion concerning the episode
of eagle and hare though it was a case of a bird of prey interfering with an
object of the chase Nevil wrote home most entreatingly and imperatively like
one wincing begging him to contradict that and certain other stories and
prescribing the form of a public renunciation of his proclaimed part in them
»The hare« he sent word »is the property of young Michell of the Rodney and
he is the humanest and the gallantest fellow in the service I have written to
my Lord Pray help to rid me of burdens that make me feel like a robber and
impostor«
Everard replied
»I have a letter from your captain informing me that I am unlikely to see
you home unless you learn to hold yourself in I wish you were in another
battery than Robert Halls He forgets the force of example however much of a
dab he may be at precept But there you are and please clap a hundredweight on
your appetite for figuring will you Do you think there is any good in helping
to Frenchify our army I loathe a fellow who shoots at a medal I wager he is
easy enough to be caught by circumvention put me in the open with him Tom
Biggot the boxer went over to Paris and stood in the ring with one of their
dancing pugilists and the first round he got a crack on the chin from the
rogues foot the second round he caught him by the lifted leg and punished him
till pec was all he could say of peccavi Fight the straightforward fight Hang
élan Battle is a game of give and take and if our men get élanned we shall
see them refusing to come up to time This new crossing and medalling is the
devils own notion for upsetting a solid British line and tempting fellows to
get invalided that they may blaze it before the shopkeepers and their wives in
the city Give us an army none of your caperers Here are lots of circusy
heroes coming home to rest after their fatigues One was spouting at a public
dinner yesterday night He went into it upright and he ran out of it upright
at the head of his men and here he is feasted by the citizens and making a
speech upright and my boy fronting the enemy«
Everards involuntary breakdown from his veterans roughness to a touch of
feeling thrilled Nevil who began to perceive what his uncle was driving at when
he rebuked the coxcombry of the field and spoke of the description of
compliment your hero was paying Englishmen in affecting to give them examples of
bravery and preternatural coolness Nevil sent home humble confessions of guilt
in this respect with fresh praises of young Michell for though Everard as
Nevil recognized it was perfectly right in the abstract and generally right
there are times when an example is needed by brave men times when the fiery
furnace of deaths dragonjaw is not inviting even to Englishmen receiving the
word that duty bids them advance and they require a leader of the way A
national coxcombry that pretends to an independence of human sensations and
makes a motto of our dandiacal courage is more perilous to the armies of the
nation than that of a few heroes It is this coxcombry which has too often
caused disdain of the wise chiefs maxim of calculation for winners namely to
have always the odds on your side and which has bled shattered and
occasionally disgraced us Young Michells carrying powderbags to the assault
and when ordered to retire bearing them on his back and helping a wounded
soldier on the way did surely well nor did Mr Beauchamp himself behave so
badly on an occasion when the sailors of his battery caught him out of a fire of
shell that raised jets of dust and smoke like a range of geysers over the open
and hugged him as loving women do at a meeting or a parting He was penitent
before his uncle admitting first that the men were not in want of an example
of the contempt of death and secondly that he doubted whether it was contempt
of death on his part so much as pride a hatred of being seen running
»I dont like the fellow to be drawing it so fine« said Everard It sounded
to him a trifle parsonical But his heart was won by Nevils determination to
wear out the campaign rather than be invalided or entrusted with a holiday duty
»I see with shame admiration of them old infantry captains and colonels of
no position beyond their rank in the army sticking to their post« said Nevil
»and a lord and a lord and a lord slipping off as though the stuff of the man in
him had melted I shall go through with it« Everard approved him
Colonel Halkett wrote that the youth was a skeleton Still Everard
encouraged him to persevere and said of him
»I like him for holding to his work after the strains over That tells the
man«
He observed at his table in reply to commendations of his nephew
»Nevils leak is his political craze and that seems to be going I hope it
is You cant rear a man on politics When I was of his age I never looked at
the newspapers except to read the divorce cases I came to politics with a ripe
judgement He shines in action and he ll find that out and leave others the
palavering«
It was upon the close of the war that Nevil drove his uncle to avow a
downright undisguised indignation with him He caught a fever in the French
camp where he was dispensing vivers and provends out of English hampers
»Those French fellows are every man of them trained up to snappingpoint«
said Everard »You re sure to have them if you hold out long against them And
greedy dogs too they re for half our hampers and all the glory And there s
Nevil down on his back in the thick of them Will anybody tell me why the devil
he must be poking into the French camp They were ready enough to run to him and
beg potatoes It s all for humanity he does it mark that Never was a word
fitter for a quacks mouth than humanity Two syllables more and the parsons
would be riding it to sawdust Humanity Humanitomtity It s the best word of
the two for half the things done in the name of it«
A tremendously bracing epistle excellent for an access of fever was
despatched to humanitys curate and Everard sat expecting a hot rejoinder or
else a black sealed letter but neither one nor the other arrived Suddenly to
his disgust came rumours of peace between the mighty belligerents
The silver trumpets of peace were nowhere hearkened to with satisfaction by
the bulldogs though triumph rang sonorously through the music for they had
been severely mangled as usual at the outset and they had at last got their
grip and were in high condition for fighting
The most expansive panegyrists of our deeds did not dare affirm of the most
famous of them that England had embarked her costly cavalry to offer it for a
mark of artilleryballs on three sides of a square and the belief was universal
that we could do more businesslike deeds and play the great game of blunders
with an ability refined by experience Everard Romfrey was one of those who
thought themselves justified in insisting upon the continuation of the war in
contempt of our allies His favourite saying that constitution beats the world
was being splendidly manifested by our bearing He was very uneasy he would not
hear of peace and not only that the imperial gentleman soberly committed the
naïveté of sending word to Nevil to let him know immediately the opinion of the
camp concerning it as perchance an old Roman knight may have written to some
young aquilifer of the Prætorians
Allies however are of the description of twins joined by a membrane and
supposing that one of them determines to sit down the other will act wisely in
bending his knees at once and doing the same he cannot but be extremely
uncomfortable left standing Besides there was the Ottoman cleverly poised
again the Muscovite was battered fresh gilt was added to the military glory of
the Gaul English grumblers might well be asked what they had fought for if
they were not contented
Colonel Halkett mentioned a report that Nevil had received a slight
thighwound of small importance At any rate something was the matter with him
and it was naturally imagined that he would have double cause to write home and
still more so for the reason his uncle confessed that he had foreseen the
folly of a war conducted by milky cottonspinners and their adjuncts in
partnership with a throned gambler who had won his stake and now snapped his
fingers at them Everard expected he had prepared himself for the young naval
politicians crow and he meant to admit frankly that he had been wrong in
wishing to fight anybody without having first crushed the cotton faction But
Nevil continued silent
»Dead in hospital or a Turk hotel« sighed Everard »and no more to the
scoundrels over there than a body to be shovelled into slack lime«
Rosamund Culling was the only witness of his remarkable betrayal of grief
Chapter V
Renée
At last one morning arrived a letter from a French gentleman signing himself
Comte Cresnes de Croisnel in which Everard was informed that his nephew had
accompanied the son of the writer Captain de Croisnel on board an Austrian
boat out of the East and was lying in Venice under a returnattack of fever
not the count stated pointedly in the hands of an Italian physician He had
brought his own with him to meet his son who was likewise disabled
Everard was assured by M de Croisnel that every attention and affectionate
care were being rendered to his gallant and adored nephew »vrai type de tout
ce quil y a de noble et de chevaleresque dans la vieille Angleterre« from a
family bound to him by the tenderest obligations personal and national one as
dear to every member of it as the brother the son they welcomed with thankful
hearts to the Divine interposition restoring him to them In conclusion the
count proposed something like the embrace of a fraternal friendship should
Everard think fit to act upon the spontaneous sentiments of a loving relative
and join them in Venice to watch over his nephews recovery Already M Nevil
was stronger The gondola was a medicine in itself the count said
Everard knitted his mouth to intensify a peculiar subdued form of laughter
through the nose in hopeless ridicule of a Frenchmans notions of an
Englishmans occupations presumed across Channel to allow of his breaking
loose from shooting engagements at a minutes notice to rush off to a fetid
foreign city notorious for mud and mosquitoes and commence capering and
grimacing pouring forth a jugful of readymade extravagances with mon fils
mon cher neveu Dieu and similar fiddlededee These were matters for women to
do if they chose women and Frenchmen were much of a pattern Moreover he knew
the hotel this Comte de Croisnel was staying at He gasped at the name of it he
had rather encounter a grisly bear than a mosquito any night of his life for no
stretch of cunning outwits a mosquito and enlarging on the qualities of the
terrific insect he vowed it was damnation without trial or judgement
Eventually Mrs Cullings departure was permitted He argued »Why go the
fellow s comfortable getting himself together and you say the French are good
nurses« But her entreaties to go were vehement though Venice had no happy
place in her recollections and he withheld his objections to her going For
him the fields forbade it He sent hearty messages to Nevil and that was
enough considering that the young dog of humanity had clearly been running out
of his way to catch a jaundice and was bereaving his houses of the matronly
government deprived of which they were all of them likely soon to be at sixes
and sevens with disorderly lacqueys peccant maids and cooks in hysterics
Now if the master of his fortunes had come to Venice Nevil started the
supposition in his mind often after hope had sunk Everard would have seen a
young sailor and a soldier the thinner for wear reclining in a gondola half the
day fanned by a brunette of the fine lineaments of the good blood of France
She chattered snatches of Venetian caught from the gondoliers she was like a
delicate cup of crystal brimming with the beauty of the place and making one of
them drink in all his impressions through her Her features had the soft
irregularities which run to rarities of beauty as the ripple rocks the light
mouth eyes brows nostrils and bloomy cheeks played into one another
liquidly thought flew tongue followed and the flash of meaning quivered over
them like nightlightning Or oftener to speak truth tongue flew thought
followed her age was but newly seventeen and she was French
Her name was Renée She was the only daughter of the Comte de Croisnel Her
brother Roland owed his life to Nevil this Englishman proud of a French name
Nevil Beauchamp If there was any warm feeling below the unruffled surface of
the girls deliberate eyes while gazing on him it was that he who had saved her
brother must be nearly brother himself yet was not quite yet must be loved
yet not approached He was her brothers brotherinarms brotherinheart not
hers yet hers through her brother His French name rescued him from
foreignness He spoke her language with a piquant accent unlike the pitiable
English Unlike them he was gracious and could be soft and quick The
battlescarlet battleblack Rolands tales of him threw round him in her
imagination made his gentleness a surprise If then he was hers through her
brother what was she to him The question did not spring clearly within her
though she was alive to every gradual change of manner toward the convalescent
necessitated by the laws overawing her sex
Venice was the French girls dream She was realizing it hungrily revelling
in it anatomizing it picking it to pieces reviewing it comparing her work
with the original and the original with her first conception until beautiful
sad Venice threatened to be no more her dream and in dread of disenchantment
she tried to take impressions humbly really tasked herself not to analyze not
to dictate from a French footing not to scorn Not to be petulant with objects
disappointing her was an impossible task She could not consent to a compromise
with the people the merchandize the odours of the city Gliding in the gondola
through the narrow canals at low tide she leaned back simulating stupor with
one word »Venezia« Her brother was commanded to smoke »Fumez fumez
Roland« As soon as the steelcrested prow had pushed into her Paradise of the
Canal Grande she quietly shrouded her hair from tobacco and called upon
rapture to recompense her for her sufferings The black gondola was unendurable
to her She had accompanied her father to the Accademia and mused on the golden
Venetian streets of Carpaccio she must have an open gondola to decorate in his
manner gaily splendidly and mock at her efforts a warning to all that might
hope to improve the prevailing gloom and squalor by levying contributions upon
the Merceria Her most constant admiration was for the English lord who used
once to ride on the Lido sands and visit the Armenian convent a lord and a
poet
This was to be infinitely more than a naval lieutenant But Nevil claimed
her as little personally as he allowed her to be claimed by another The graces
of her freaks of petulance and airy whims her sprightly jets of wilfulness
fleeting frowns of contempt imperious decisions were all beautiful like
silvershifting waves in this lustrous planet of her pure freedom and if you
will seize the divine conception of Artemis and own the goddess French you
will understand his feelings
But though he admired fervently and danced obediently to her tunes Nevil
could not hear injustice done to a people or historic poetic city without trying
hard to right the mind guilty of it A newspaper correspondent a Mr John
Holles lingering on his road home from the army put him on the track of an
Englishmans books touching the spirit as well as the stones of Venice and
Nevil thanked him when he had turned some of the leaves
The study of the books to school Renée was pursued like the Bianchinas
sleep in gondoletta and was not unlike it at intervals A translated sentence
was the key to a reverie Renée leaned back meditating he forward the book on
his knee Roland left them to themselves and spied for the Bianchina behind the
windowbars The count was in the churches or the Galleries Renée thought she
began to comprehend the spirit of Venice and chided her rebelliousness
»But our Venice was the Venice of the decadence then« she said
complaining Nevil read on distrustful of the perspicuity of his own ideas
»Ah but« said she »when these Venetians were rough men chanting like our
Huguenots how cold it must have been here«
She hoped she was not very wrong in preferring the times of the great
Venetian painters and martial doges to that period of faith and stonecutting
What was done then might be beautiful but the life was monotonous she insisted
that it was Huguenot harsh nasal sombre insolent selfsufficient Her eyes
lightened for the flashing colours and pageantries and the threads of desperate
adventure crossing the rii to this and that palacedoor and balcony like faint
bloodstreaks the times of Venice in full flower She reasoned against the hard
eloquent Englishman of the books »But we are known by our fruits are we not
and the Venice I admire was surely the fruit of these stonecutters chanting
hymns of faith it could not but be and if it deserved as he says to die
disgraced I think we should go back to them and ask them whether their minds
were as pure and holy as he supposes« Her French wits would not be subdued
Nevil pointed to the palaces »Pride« said she He argued that the original
Venetians were not responsible for their offspring »You say it« she cried
»you of an old race Oh no you do not feel it« and the trembling fervour of
her voice convinced him that he did not could not
Renée said »I know my ancestors are bound up in me by my sentiments to
them and so do you M Nevil We shame them if we fail in courage and honour
Is it not so If we break a single pledged word we cast shame on them Why that
makes us what we are that is our distinction we dare not be weak if we would
And therefore when Venice is reproached with avarice and luxury I choose to say
what do we hear of the children of misers and I say I am certain that those
old cold Huguenot stonecutters were proud and grasping I am sure they were and
they shall share the blame«
Nevil plunged into his volume
He called on Roland for an opinion
»Friend« said Roland »opinions may differ mine is considering the
defences of the windows that the only way into these houses or out of them
bodily was the doorway«
Roland complimented his sister and friend on the prosecution of their
studies he could not understand a word of the subject and yawning he begged
permission to be allowed to land and join the gondola at a distant quarter The
gallant officer was in haste to go
Renée stared at her brother He saw nothing he said a word to the
gondoliers and quitted the boat Mars was in pursuit She resigned herself and
ceased then to be a girl
Chapter VI
Love in Venice
The air flashed like heaven descending for Nevil alone with Renée They had
never been alone before Such happiness belonged to the avenue of wishes leading
to golden mists beyond imagination and seemed coming on him suddenly
miraculous He leaned toward her like one who has broken a current of speech
and waits to resume it She was all unsuspecting indolence with gravely
shadowed eyes
»I throw the book down« he said
She objected »No continue I like it«
Both of them divined that the book was there to do duty for Roland
He closed it keeping a finger among the leaves a kind of anchorage in case
of indiscretion
»Permit me to tell you M Nevil you are inclined to play truant today«
»I am«
»Now is the very time to read for my poor Roland is at sea when we discuss
our questions and the book has driven him away«
»But we have plenty of time to read We miss the scenes«
»The scenes are green shutters wet steps barcaroli brown women striped
posts a scarlet nightcap a sick figtree an old shawl faded spots of
colour peeling walls They might be figured by a trodden melon They all
resemble one another and so do the days here«
»That s the charm I wish I could look on you and think the same You as
you are for ever«
»Would you not let me live my life«
»I would not have you alter«
»Please to be pathetic on that subject after I am wrinkled monsieur«
»You want commanding mademoiselle«
Renée nestled her chin and gazed forward through her eyelashes
»Venice is like a melancholy face of a former beauty who has ceased to
rouge or wipe away traces of her old arts« she said straining for common
talk and showing the strain
»Wait now we are rounding« said he »now you have three of what you call
your theatrebridges in sight The people mount and drop mount and drop I see
them laugh They are full of fun and goodtemper Look on living Venice«
»Provided that my papa is not crossing when we go under«
»Would he not trust you to me«
»Yes«
»He would And you«
»I do believe they are improvizing an operetta on the second bridge«
»You trust yourself willingly«
»As to my second brother You hear them How delightfully quick and
spontaneous they are Ah silly creatures they have stopped They might have
held it on for us while we were passing«
»Where would the naturalness have been then«
»Perhaps M Nevil I do want commanding I am wilful Half my days will be
spent in fits of remorse I begin to think«
»Come to me to be forgiven«
»Shall I I should be forgiven too readily«
»I am not so sure of that«
»Can you be harsh No not even with enemies Least of all with with
us«
Oh for the black gondola the little gliding dusky chamber for two
instead of this open flaunting gold and crimson cottonwork which exacted
discretion on his part and that of the mannerly gondoliers and exposed him to
window balcony bridge and borderway
They slipped on beneath a red balcony where a girl leaned on her folded
arms and eyed them coming and going by with Egyptian gravity
»How strange a power of looking these people have« said Renée whose
vivacity was fascinated to a steady sparkle by the girl »Tell me is she
glancing round at us«
Nevil turned and reported that she was not She had exhausted them while
they were in transit she had no minor curiosity
»Let us fancy she is looking for her lover« he said
Renée added »Let us hope she will not escape being seen«
»I give her my benediction« said Nevil
»And I« said Renée »and adieu to her if you please Look for Roland«
»You remind me I have but a few instants«
»M Nevil you are a preux of the times of my brothers patronymic And
there is my Roland awaiting us Is he not handsome«
»How glad you are to have him to relieve guard«
Renée bent on Nevil one of her singular looks of raillery She had hitherto
been fencing at a serious disadvantage
»Not so very glad« she said »if that deprived me of the presence of his
friend«
Roland was her tower But Roland was not yet on board She had peeped from
her citadel too rashly Nevil had time to spring the flood of crimson in her
cheeks bright as the awning she reclined under
»Would you have me with you always«
»Assuredly« said she feeling the hawk in him and trying to baffle him by
fluttering
»Always for ever and listen give me a title«
Renée sang out to Roland like a bird in distress and had some trouble not
to appear too providentially rescued Roland on board she resumed the attack
»M Nevil vows he is a better brother to me than you who dart away on an
impulse and leave us threading all Venice till we do not know where we are
naughty brother«
»My little sister the spot where you are« rejoined Roland »is precisely
the spot where I left you and I defy you to say you have gone on without me
This is the identical riva I stepped out on to buy you a packet of Venetian
ballads«
They recognized the spot and for a confirmation of the surprising
statement Roland unrolled several sheets of printed blottingpaper and rapidly
read part of a Canzonetta concerning Una Giovine who reproved her lover for his
extreme addiction to wine
»Ma sè ma sè
Cotanto bevè
Mi nò mi nò
No ve sposerò«
»This astounding vagabond preferred Nostrani to his hearts mistress I tasted
some of their Nostrani to see if it could be possible for a Frenchman to
exonerate him«
Rolands wry face at the mention of Nostrani brought out the chief
gondolier who delivered himself
»Signore there be hereditary qualifications One must be born Italian to
appreciate the merits of Nostrani«
Roland laughed He had covered his delinquency in leaving his sister and
was full of an adventure to relate to Nevil a story promising well for him
Chapter VII
An Awakening for Both
Renée was downcast Had she not coquetted The dear young Englishman had reduced
her to defend herself the which fair ladies like besieged garrisons cannot
always do successfully without an attack at times which when the pursuer is
ardent is followed by a retreat which is a provocation and these things are
coquettry Her still fresh conventconscience accused her of it pitilessly She
could not forgive her brother and yet she dared not reproach him for that
would have inculpated Nevil She stepped on to the Piazzetta thoughtfully Her
father was at Florians perusing letters from France »We are to have the
marquis here in a week my child« he said Renée nodded Involuntarily she
looked at Nevil He caught the look with a lovers quick sense of misfortune in
it
She heard her brother reply to him »Who the Marquis de Rouaillout It is a
jolly gaillard of fifty who spoils no fun«
»You mistake his age Roland« she said
»Fortynine then my sister«
»He is not that«
»He looks it«
»You have been absent«
»Probably my arithmetical sister he has employed the interval to grow
younger They say it is the way with green gentlemen of a certain age They
advance and they retire They perform the first steps of a quadrille
ceremoniously and we admire them«
»What s that« exclaimed the Comte de Croisnel »You talk nonsense Roland
M le marquis is hardly past forty He is in his prime«
»Without question mon père For me I was merely offering proof that he can
preserve his prime unlimitedly«
»He is not a subject for mockery Roland«
»Quite the contrary for reverence«
»Another than you my boy and he would march you out«
»I am to imagine then that his hand continues firm«
»Imagine to the extent of your capacity but remember that respect is always
owing to your own family and deliberate before you draw on yourself such a
chastisement as mercy from an accepted member of it«
Roland bowed and drummed on his knee
The conversation had been originated by Renée for the enlightenment of Nevil
and as a future protection to herself Now that it had disclosed its burden she
could look at him no more and when her father addressed her significantly
»Marquise you did me the honour to consent to accompany me to the Church of the
Frari this afternoon« she felt her selfaccusation of coquettry biting under
her bosom like a thing alive
Roland explained the situation to Nevil
»It is the mania with us my dear Nevil to marry our girls young to
established men Your established man carries usually all the signs visible to
the multitude or not of the stages leading to that eminence We cannot I
believe unless we have the good fortune to boast the paternity of Hercules
disconnect ourselves from the steps we have mounted not even the priests
inform us if we are ascending to heaven we carry them beyond the grave
However it seems that our excellent marquis contrives to keep them concealed
and he is ready to face marriage the Grandest Inquisitor next to Death Two
furious matchmakers our country beautiful France abounds in them met one
day they were a comtesse and a baronne and they settled the alliance The bell
was rung and Renée came out of school There is this to be said she has no
mother the sooner a girl without a mother has a husband the better That we are
all agreed upon I have no personal objection to the marquis he has never been
in any great scandals He is Norman and has estates in Normandy Dauphiny
Touraine he is hospitable luxurious Renée will have a fine hôtel in Paris
But I am eccentric I have read in our old Fabliaux of December and May Say the
Marquis is November say October he is still some distance removed from the
plump Spring month And we in our family have wits and passions In fine a bud
of a rose in an old gentlemans buttonhole it is a challenge to the whole
world of youth and if the bud should leap Enough of this matter friend Nevil
but sometimes a friend must allow himself to be bothered I have perfect
confidence in my sister you see I simply protest against her being exposed to
You know men I protest that is in the privacy of my cigarcase for I
have no chance elsewhere The affair is on wheels The very respectable
matchmakers have kindled the marquis on the one hand and my father on the
other and Renée passes obediently from the latter to the former In India they
sacrifice the widows in France the virgins«
Roland proceeded to relate his adventure Nevils inattention piqued him to
salt and salt it wonderfully until the old story of He and She had an exciting
savour in its introductory chapter but his friend was flying through the
circles of the Inferno and the babble of an ephemeral upper world simply
affected him by its contrast with the overpowering horrors repugnances
despairs pities rushing at him surcharging his senses Those that live much
by the heart in their youth have sharp foretastes of the issues imaged for the
soul St Marks was in a minute struck black for him He neither felt the
sunlight nor understood why column and campanile rose nor why the islands
basked and boats and people moved All were as remote little bits of mechanism
Nevil escaped and walked in the direction of the Frari down calle and
campiello Only to see her to compare her with the Renée of the past hour But
that Renée had been all the while a feast of delusion she could never be
resuscitated in the shape he had known not even clearly visioned Not a day of
her not an hour not a single look had been his own She had been sold when he
first beheld her and should he muttered austerely have been ticketed the
property of a middleaged man a wornout French marquis whom she had agreed to
marry unwooed without love the creature of a transaction But she was
innocent she was unaware of the sin residing in a loveless marriage and this
restored her to him somewhat as a drowned body is given back to mourners
After aimless walking he found himself on the Zattere where the lonely
Giudecca lies in front covering mud and marsh and laguneflames of later
afternoon and you have sight of the high mainland hills which seem to fling
forth one over other to a golden seacape
Midway on this unadorned Zattere with its young trees and spots of shade
he was met by Renée and her father Their gondola was below close to the riva
and the count said »She is tired of standing gazing at pictures There is a
Veronese in one of the churches of the Giudecca opposite Will you M Nevil
act as paradeescort to her here for half an hour while I go over Renée
complains that she loses the vulgar art of walking in her complaisant attention
to the fine Arts I weary my poor child«
Renée protested in a rapid chatter
»Must I avow it« said the count »she damps my enthusiasm a little«
Nevil mutely accepted the office
Twice that day was she surrendered to him once in his ignorance when time
appeared an expanse of many sunny fields On this occasion it puffed steam yet
after seeing the count embark he commenced the parade in silence
»This is a nice walk« said Renée »we have not the steps of the Riva dei
Schiavoni It is rather melancholy though How did you discover it I persuaded
my papa to send the gondola round and walk till we came to the water Tell me
about the Giudecca«
»The Giudecca was a place kept apart for the Jews I believe You have seen
their burialground on the Lido Those are I think the Euganean hills You are
fond of Petrarch«
»M Nevil omitting the allusion to the poet you have permit me to remark
the brevity without the precision of an accredited guide to notabilities«
»I tell you what I know« said Nevil brooding on the finished tone and
womanly aplomb of her language It made him forget that she was a girl entrusted
to his guardianship His heart came out
»Renée if you loved him I on my honour would not utter a word for
myself Your hearts inclinations are sacred for me I would stand by and be
your friend and his If he were young that I might see a chance of it«
She murmured »You should not have listened to Roland«
»Roland should have warned me How could I be near you and not But I am
nothing Forget me do not think I speak interestedly except to save the
dearest I have ever known from certain wretchedness To yield yourself hand and
foot for life I warn you that it must end miserably Your countrywomen You
have the habit in France but like what are you treated You none like you in
the whole world You consent to be extinguished And I have to look on Listen
to me now«
Renée glanced at the gondola conveying her father And he has not yet
landed she thought and said »Do you pretend to judge of my welfare better
than my papa«
»Yes in this He follows a fashion You submit to it His anxiety is to
provide for you But I know the system is cursed by nature and that means by
heaven«
»Because it is not English«
»O Renée my beloved for ever Well then tell me tell me you can say with
pride and happiness that the Marquis de Rouaillout is to be your there s the
word husband«
Renée looked across the water
»Friend if my father knew you were asking me«
»I will speak to him«
»Useless«
»He is generous he loves you«
»He cannot break an engagement binding his honour«
»Would you Renée would you it must be said consent to have it known to
him I beg for more than life that you are not averse that you support
me«
His failing breath softened the bluntness
She replied »I would not have him ever break an engagement binding his
honour«
»You stretch the point of honour«
»It is our way Dear friend we are French And I presume to think that our
French system is not always wrong for if my father had not broken it by
treating you as one of us and leaving me with you should I have heard «
»I have displeased you«
»Do not suppose that But I mean a mother would not have left me«
»You wished to avoid it«
»Do not blame me I had some instinct you were very pale«
»You knew I loved you«
»No«
»Yes for this morning «
»This morning it seemed to me and I regretted my fancy that you were
inclined to trifle as they say young men do«
»With Renée«
»With your friend Renée And those are the hills of Petrarchs tomb They
are mountains«
They were purple beneath a large brooding cloud that hung against the sun
waiting for him to enfold him and Nevil thought that a tomb there would be a
welcome end if he might lift Renée in one wild flight over the chasm gaping for
her He had no language for thoughts of such a kind only tumultuous feeling
She was immoveable in perfect armour
He said despairingly »Can you have realized what you are consenting to«
She answered »It is my duty«
»Your duty it s like taking up a dicebox and flinging once to certain
ruin«
»I must oppose my father to you friend Do you not understand duty to
parents They say the English are full of the idea of duty«
»Duty to country duty to oaths and obligations but with us the heart is
free to choose«
»Free to choose and when it is most ignorant«
»The heart ask it Nothing is surer«
»That is not what we are taught We are taught that the heart deceives
itself The heart throws your dicebox not prudent parents«
She talked like a woman to plead the cause of her obedience as a girl and
now silenced in the same manner that she had previously excited him
»Then you are lost to me« he said
They saw the gondola returning
»How swiftly it comes home it loitered when it went« said Renée »There
sits my father brimming with his picture he has seen one more We will
congratulate him This little boulevard is not much to speak of The hills are
lovely Friend« she dropped her voice on the gondolas approach »we have
conversed on common subjects«
Nevil had her hand in his to place her in the gondola
She seemed thankful that he should prefer to go round on foot At least she
did not join in her fathers invitation to him She leaned back nestling her
chin and half closing her eyes suffering herself to be divided from him borne
away by forces she acquiesced in
Roland was not visible till near midnight on the Piazza The promenaders
chiefly military of the garrison were few at that period of social
protestation and he could declare his disappointment aloud ringingly as he
strolled up to Nevil looking as if the cigar in his mouth and the fists
entrenched in his wide trowserspockets were mortally at feud His adventure had
not pursued its course luminously He had expected romance and had met
merchandize and his vanity was offended To pacify him Nevil related how he
had heard that since the Venetian rising of 49 Venetian ladies had issued from
the ordeal of fire and famine of another pattern than the famous old Benzon one
in which they touched earthiest earth He praised Republicanism for that The
spirit of the new and shortlived Republic wrought that change in Venice
»Oh if they re republican as well as utterly decayed« said Roland »I
give them up let them die virtuous«
Nevil told Roland that he had spoken to Renée He won sympathy but Roland
could not give him encouragement They crossed and recrossed the shadow of the
great campanile on the warmwhite stones of the square Nevil admitting the
weight of whatsoever Roland pointed to him in favour of the arrangement
according to French notions and indeed of aristocratic notions everywhere
saving that it was imperative for Renée to be disposed of in marriage early Why
rob her of her young springtime
»French girls« replied Roland confused by the nature of the explication in
his head »well they re not English they want a hand to shape them
otherwise they grow all awry My father will not have one of her aunts to live
with him so there she is But my dear Nevil I owe my life to you and I was
no party to this affair I would do anything to help you What says Renée«
»She obeys«
»Exactly You see Our girls are chesspieces until they re married Then
they have life and character sometimes too much«
»She is not like them Roland she is like none When I spoke to her first
she affected no astonishment never was there a creature so nobly sincere She
s a girl in heart not in mind Think of her sacrificed to this man thrice her
age«
»She differs from other girls only on the surface Nevil As for the man I
wish she were going to marry a younger I wish yes my friend« Roland squeezed
Nevils hand »I wish I m afraid it s hopeless She did not tell you to
hope«
»Not by one single sign« said Nevil
»You see my friend«
»For that reason« Nevil rejoined with the calm fanaticism of the passion
of love »I hope all the more because I will not believe that she so pure
and good can be sacrificed Put me aside I am nothing I hope to save her
from that«
»We have now« said Roland »struck the current of duplicity You are really
in love my poor fellow«
Lover and friend came to no conclusion except that so lovely a night was
not given for slumber A small round brilliant moon hung almost globed in the
depths of heaven and the image of it fell deep between San Giorgio and the
Dogana
Renée had the scene from her window like a dream given out of sleep She
lay with both arms thrown up beneath her head on the pillow her eyelids wide
open and her visage set and stern Her bosom rose and sank regularly but
heavily The fluctuations of a night stormy for her hitherto unknown had sunk
her to this trance in which she lay like a creature flung on shore by the
waves She heard her brothers voice and Nevils and the pacing of their feet
She saw the long shaft of moonlight broken to zigzags of mellow lightning and
wavering back to steadiness dark San Giorgio and the sheen of the Doganas
front But the visible beauty belonged to a night that had shivered repose
humiliated and wounded her destroyed her confident happy halfinfancy of heart
and she had flown for a refuge to hard feelings Her predominant sentiment was
anger an anger that touched all and enveloped none for it was quite
fictitious though she felt it and suffered from it She turned it on Nevil as
against an enemy and became the victim in his place Tears for him filled in
her eyes and ran over she disdained to notice them and blinked offendedly to
have her sight clear of the weakness but these interceding tears would flow it
was dangerous to blame him harshly She let them roll down figuring to herself
with quiet simplicity of mind that her spirit was independent of them as long as
she restrained her hands from being accomplices by brushing them away as
weeping girls do that cry for comfort Nevil had saved her brothers life and
had succoured her countrymen he loved her and was a hero He should not have
said he loved her that was wrong and it was shameful that he should have urged
her to disobey her father But this heros love of her might plead excuses she
did not know of and if he was to be excused he unhappy that he was had a
claim on her for more than tears She wept resentfully Forces above her own
swayed and hurried her like a lifeless body dragged by flying wheels they could
not unnerve her will or rather what it really was her sense of submission to
a destiny Looked at from the height of the palmwaving cherubs over the fallen
martyr in the picture she seemed as nerveless as a dreamy girl The raised arms
and bent elbows were an illusion of indifference Her shape was rigid from hands
to feet as if to keep in a knot the resolution of her mind for the second and
in that young season the stronger nature grafted by her education fixed her to
the religious duty of obeying and pleasing her father in contempt almost in
abhorrence of personal inclinations tending to thwart him and imperil his
pledged word She knew she had inclinations to be tender Her hands released
how promptly might she not have been confiding her innumerable perplexities of
sentiment and emotion to paper undermining selfgovernance selfrespect
perhaps Further than that she did not understand the feelings she struggled
with nor had she any impulse to gaze on him the cause of her trouble who
walked beside her brother below talking betweenwhiles in the nights grave
undertones Her trouble was too overmastering it had seized her too
mysteriously coming on her solitariness without warning in the first watch of
the night like a spark crackling serpentine along dry leaves to sudden flame A
thought of Nevil and a regret had done it
Chapter VIII
A Night on the Adriatic
The lovers met after Roland had spoken to his sister not exactly to advocate
the cause of Nevil though he was under the influence of that grave nights walk
with him but to sound her and see whether she at all shared Nevils view of her
situation Roland felt the awfulness of a French family arrangement of a
marriage and the impertinence of a foreign Cupids intrusion too keenly to
plead for his friend at the same time he loved his friend and his sister and
would have been very ready to smile blessings on them if favourable
circumstances had raised a signal if for example apoplexy or any other
cordial ex machinâ intervention had removed the middleaged marquis and
perhaps if Renée had shown the repugnance to her engagement which Nevil
declared she must have in her heart he would have done more than smile he
would have laid the case deferentially before his father His own opinion was
that young unmarried women were incapable of the passion of love being as it
were but halffeathered in that state and unable to fly and Renée confirmed
it The suspicion of an advocacy on Nevils behalf steeled her His tentative
observations were checked at the outset
»Can such things be spoken of to me Roland I am plighted You know it«
He shrugged said a word of pity for Nevil and went forth to let his friend
know that it was as he had predicted Renée was obedience in person like a
rightly educated French girl He strongly advised his friend to banish all hope
of her from his mind But the mind he addressed was of a curious order
farshooting tough persistent and when acted on by the spell of devotion
indomitable Nevil put hope aside or rather he clad it in other garments in
which it was hardly to be recognized by himself and said to Roland »You must
bear this from me you must let me follow you to the end and if she wavers she
will find me near«
Roland could not avoid asking the use of it considering that Renée however
much she admired and liked was not in love with him
Nevil resigned himself to admit that she was not »and therefore« said he
»you wont object to my remaining«
Renée greeted Nevil with as clear a conventional air as a woman could
assume
She was going she said to attend High Mass in the church of S Moïse and
she waved her devoutest Roman Catholicism to show the breadth of the division
between them He proposed to go likewise She was mute After some discourse she
contrived to say inoffensively that people who strolled into her churches for
the music or out of curiosity played the barbarian
»Well I will not go« said Nevil
»But I do not wish to number you among them« she said
»Then« said Nevil »I will go for it cannot be barbarous to try to be with
you«
»No that is wickedness« said Renée
She was sensible that conversation betrayed her and Nevils apparently
deliberate pursuit signified to her that he must be aware of his mastery and
she resented it and stumbled into pitfalls whenever she opened her lips It
seemed to be denied to them to utter what she meant if indeed she had a meaning
in speaking save to hurt herself cruelly by wounding the man who had caught her
in the toils and so long as she could imagine that she was the only one hurt
she was the braver and the harsher for it but at the sight of Nevil in pain her
heart relented and shifted and discovering it to be so weak as to be almost at
his mercy she defended it with an aggressive unkindness for which in charity
to her sweeter nature she had to ask his pardon and then had to fib to give
reasons for her conduct and then to pretend to herself that her pride was
humbled by him a most humiliating round constantly recurring the worse for
the reflection that she created it She attempted silence Nevil spoke and was
like the magical piper she was compelled to follow him and dance the round
again with the wretched thought that it must resemble coquettry Nevil did not
think so but a very attentive observer now upon the scene and possessed of his
half of the secret did and warned him Rosamund Culling added that the French
girl might be only an unconscious coquette for she was young The critic would
not undertake to pronounce on her suggestion whether the candour apparent in
merely coquettish instincts was not more dangerous than a battery of the arts of
the sex She had heard Nevils frank confession and seen Renée twice when she
tried in his service though not greatly wishing for success to stir the
sensitive girl for an answer to his attachment Probably she went to work
transparently after the insular fashion of opening a spiritual mystery with the
lancet Renée suffered herself to be probed here and there and revealed nothing
of the pain of the operation She said to Nevil in Rosamunds hearing
»Have you the sense of honour acute in your country«
Nevil inquired for the àpropos
»None« said she
Such pointed insolence disposed Rosamund to an irritable antagonism without
reminding her that she had given some cause for it
Renée said to her presently »He saved my brothers life« the àpropos being
as little perceptible as before
Her voice dropped to her sweetest deep tones and there was a supplicating
beam in her eyes unintelligible to the direct Englishwoman except under the
heading of a power of witchery fearful to think of in one so young and loved by
Nevil
The look was turned upon her not upon her hero and Rosamund thought »Does
she want to entangle me as well«
It was in truth a look of entreaty from woman to woman signifying need of
womanly help Renée would have made a confidante of her if she had not known
her to be Nevils and devoted to him »I would speak to you but that I feel
you would betray me« her eyes had said The strong sincerity dwelling amid
multiform complexities might have made itself comprehensible to the English lady
for a moment or so had Renée spoken words to her ears but belief in it would
hardly have survived the girls next convolutions »She is intensely French«
Rosamund said to Nevil a volume of insular criticism in a sentence
»You do not know her maam« said Nevil »You think her older than she is
and that is the error I fell into She is a child«
»A serpent in the egg is none the less a serpent Nevil Forgive me but
when she tells you the case is hopeless«
»No case is hopeless till a man consents to think it is and I shall stay«
»But then again Nevil you have not consulted your uncle«
»Let him see her let him only see her«
Rosamund Culling reserved her opinion compassionately His uncle would soon
be calling to have him home society panted for him to make much of him and
here he was cursed by one of his notions of duty in attendance on a captious
young French beauty who was the less to be excused for not dismissing him
peremptorily if she cared for him at all His career which promised to be so
brilliant was spoiling at the outset Rosamund thought of Renée almost with
detestation as a species of sorceress that had dug a trench in her heros road
and unhorsed and fast fettered him
The marquis was expected immediately Renée sent up a little note to Mrs
Cullings chamber early in the morning and it was with an air of
onedaymoreto that meeting her she entreated the English lady to join the
expedition mentioned in her note Roland had hired a big Chioggian fishingboat
to sail into the gulf at night and return at dawn and have sight of Venice
rising from the sea Her father had declined but M Nevil wished to be one of
the party and in that case Renée threw herself beseechingly into the
mute interrogation keeping both of Rosamunds hands They could slip away only
by deciding to and this rare Englishwoman had no taste for the petty overt
hostilities »If I can be of use to you« she said
»If you can bear seapitching and tossing for the sake of the loveliest
sight in the whole world« said Renée
»I know it well« Rosamund replied
Renée rippled her eyebrows She divined a something behind that remark and
as she was aware of the grief of Rosamunds life her quick intuition whispered
that it might be connected with the gallant officer dead on the battlefield
»Madame if you know it too well « she said
»No it is always worth seeing« said Rosamund »and I think mademoiselle
with your permission I should accompany you«
»It is only a whim of mine madame I can stay on shore«
»Not when it is unnecessary to forego a pleasure«
»Say my last day of freedom«
Renée kissed her hand
She is terribly winning Rosamund avowed Renée was in debate whether the
woman devoted to Nevil would hear her and help
Just then Roland and Nevil returned from their boat where they had left
carpenters and upholsterers at work and the delicate chance for an
understanding between the ladies passed by
The young men were like waves of ocean overwhelming it they were so full of
their boat and the scouring and cleaning out of it and provisioning and
making it worthy of its freight Nevil was surprised that Mrs Culling should
have consented to come and asked her if she really wished it really and
»Really« said Rosamund »certainly«
»Without dubitation« cried Roland »And now my little Renée has no more
shorequalms she is smoothly chaperoned and madame will present us tea on
board All the etcæteras of life are there and a mariners eye in me spies a
breeze at sunset to waft us out of Malamocco«
The count listened to the recital of their preparations with his usual
absent interest in everything not turning upon Art politics or social
intrigue He said »Yes good good« at the proper intervals and walked down
the riva to look at the busy boat said to Nevil »You are a sailor I confide
my family to you« and prudently counselled Renée to put on the dresses she
could toss to the deep without regrets Mrs Culling he thanked fervently for a
wonderful stretch of generosity in lending her presence to the madcaps
Altogether the day was a reanimation of external Venice But there was a
thunderbolt in it for about an hour before sunset when the ladies were
superintending and trying not to criticize the ingenious efforts to produce a
makebelieve of comfort on board for them word was brought down to the boat by
the counts valet that the Marquis de Rouaillout had arrived Renée turned her
face to her brother superciliously Roland shrugged »Note this my sister« he
said »an anticipation of dates in paying visits precludes the ripeness of the
sentiment of welcome It is however true that the marquis has less time to
spare than others«
»We have started we are on the open sea How can we put back« said Renée
»You hear François we are on the open sea« Roland addressed the valet
»Monsieur has cut loose his communications with land« François responded
and bowed from the landing
Nevil hastened to make this a true report but they had to wait for tide as
well as breeze and pilot through intricate mudchannels before they could see
the outside of the Lido and meanwhile the sun lay like a golden altarplatter
on mudbanks made bare by the ebb and curled in drowsy yellow links along the
currents All they could do was to push off and hang loose bumping to right and
left in the midst of volleys and countervolleys of fishy Venetian Chioggian
and Dalmatian quite as strong as anything ever heard down the Canalaggio The
representatives of these dialects trotted the decks and hung their bodies half
over the sides of the vessels to deliver fire flashed eyes and snapped fingers
not a whit less fierce than hostile crews in the old wars hurling an interchange
of stinkpots and then resumed the trot apparently in search of fresh
ammunition An Austrian sentinel looked on passively and a police inspector
peeringly They were used to it Happily the combustible import of the language
was unknown to the ladies and Nevils attempts to keep his crew quiet
contrasting with Rolands phlegm which a Frenchman can assume so
philosophically when his tongue is tied amused them During the clamour Renée
saw her father beckoning from the riva She signified that she was no longer in
command of circumstances the vessel was off But the count stamped his foot
and nodded imperatively Thereupon Roland repeated the eloquent demonstrations
of Renée and the count lost patience and Roland shouted »For the love of
heaven dont join this babel we re nearly bursting« The rage of the Babel
was allayed by degrees though not appeased for the boat was behaving wantonly
as the police officer pointed out to the count
Renée stood up to bend her head It was in reply to a salute from the
Marquis de Rouaillout and Nevil beheld his rival
»M le Marquis seeing it is out of the question that we can come to you
will you come to us« cried Roland
The marquis gesticulated »With alacrity« in every limb
»We will bring you back on tomorrow midnights tide safe we promise you«
The marquis advanced a foot and withdrew it Could he have heard correctly
They were to be out a whole night at sea The count dejectedly confessed his
incapability to restrain them the young desperadoes were ready for anything He
had tried the voice of authority and was laughed at As to Renée an English
lady was with her
»The English lady must be as mad as the rest« said the marquis
»The English are mad« said the count »but their women are strict upon the
proprieties«
»Possibly my dear count but what room is there for the proprieties on
board a fishingboat«
»It is even as you say my dear marquis«
»You allow it«
»Can I help myself Look at them They tell me they have given the boat the
fittings of a yacht«
»And the young man«
»That is the M Beauchamp of whom I have spoken to you the very pick of his
country fresh lively original and he can converse You will like him«
»I hope so« said the marquis and roused a doleful laugh »It would seem
that one does not arrive by hastening«
»Oh but my dear marquis you have paid the compliment you are like Spring
thrusting in a bunch of lilac while the winds of winter blow If you were not
expected your expeditiousness is appreciated be sure«
Roland fortunately did not hear the marquis compared to Spring He was
saying »I wonder what those two elderly gentlemen are talking about« and Nevil
confused his senses by trying to realize that one of them was destined to be the
husband of his now speechless Renée The marquis was clad in a white silken
suit and a dash of red round the neck set off his black beard but when he
lifted his broad straw hat a baldness of sconce shone There was elegance in
his gestures he looked a gentleman though an ultraGallican one that is too
scrupulously finished for our taste smelling of the valet He had the habit of
balancing his body on the hips as if to emphasize a juvenile vigour and his
general attitude suggested an idea that he had an oration for you Seen from a
distance his baldness and strong nasal projection were not winning features
the youthful standard he had evidently prescribed to himself in his dress and
his ready jerks of acquiescence and delivery might lead a forlorn rival to
conceive him something of an ogre straining at an Adonis It could not be
disputed that he bore his disappointment remarkably well the more laudably
because his position was within a step of the ridiculous for he had shot
himself to the mark despising sleep heat dust dirt diet and lo that
charming object was deliberately slipping out of reach proving his headlong
journey an absurdity
As he stood declining to participate in the lunatic voyage and bidding them
perforce good speed off the tips of his fingers Renée turned her eyes on him
and away She felt a little smart of pity arising partly from her antagonism to
Rolands covert laughter but it was the colder kind of feminine pity which is
nearer to contempt than to tenderness She sat still placid outwardly in fear
of herself so strange she found it to be borne out to sea by her sailor lover
under the eyes of her betrothed She was conscious of a tumultuous rush of
sensations none of them of a very healthy kind coming as it were from an
unlocked chamber of her bosom hitherto of unimagined contents and the marquis
being now on the spot to defend his own she no longer blamed Nevil it was
otherwise utterly All the sweeter side of pity was for him
He was at first amazed by the sudden exquisite transition Tenderness
breathed from her in voice in look in touch for she accepted his help that
he might lead her to the stern of the vessel to gaze well on setting Venice
and sent lightnings up his veins she leaned beside him over the vessels rails
not separated from him by the breadth of a fluttering riband Like him she
scarcely heard her brother when for an instant he intervened and with Nevil she
said adieu to Venice where the faint red Doges palace was like the fading of
another sunset northwestward of the glory along the hills Venice dropped lower
and lower breasting the waters until it was a thin line in air The line was
broken and ran in dots with here and there a pillar standing on opal sky At
last the topmost campanile sank
Renée looked up at the sails and back for the submerged city
»It is gone« she said as though a marvel had been worked and swiftly »we
have one night«
She breathed it half like a question like a petition catching her breath
The adieu to Venice was her assurance of liberty but Venice hidden rolled on
her the sense of the return and plucked shrewdly at her tether of bondage
They set their eyes toward the dark gulf ahead The night was growing
starry The softly ruffled Adriatic tossed no foam
»One night« said Nevil »one Why only one«
Renée shuddered »Oh do not speak«
»Then give me your hand«
»There my friend«
He pressed a hand that was like a quivering chord She gave it as though it
had been his own to claim But that it meant no more than a hand he knew by the
very frankness of her compliance in the manner natural to her and this was the
charm it filled him with her peculiar image and spirit and while he held it he
was subdued
Lying on the deck at midnight wrapt in his cloak and a coil of rope for a
pillow considerably apart from jesting Roland the recollection of that little
sanguine spot of time when Renées lifeblood ran with his began to heave under
him like a swelling sea For Nevil the starred black night was Renée Half his
heart was in it but the combative division flew to the morning and the deadly
iniquity of the marriage from which he resolved to save her in pure
devotedness he believed And so he closed his eyes She a girl with a heart
fluttering open and fearing felt only that she had lost herself somewhere and
she had neither sleep nor symbols nothing but a sense of infinite strangeness
as though she were borne superhumanly through space
Chapter IX
Morning at Sea Under the Alps
The breeze blew steadily enough to swell the sails and sweep the vessel on
smoothly The night air dropped no moisture on deck
Nevil Beauchamp dozed for an hour He was awakened by light on his eyelids
and starting up beheld the many pinnacles of grey and red rocks and shadowy high
white regions at the head of the gulf waiting for the sun and the sun struck
them One by one they came out in crimson flame till the vivid host appeared to
have stepped forward The shadows on the snowfields deepened to purple below an
irradiation of rose and pink and dazzling silver There of all the world you
might imagine Gods to sit A crowd of mountains endless in range erect or
flowing shattered and arid or leaning in smooth lustre hangs above the gulf
The mountains are sovereign Alps and the sea is beneath them The whole
gigantic body keeps the sea as with a hand to right and left
Nevils personal rapture craved for Renée with the second long breath he
drew and now the curtain of her tentcabin parted and greeting him with a half
smile she looked out The Adriatic was dark the Alps had heaven to themselves
Crescents and hollows rosy mounds white shelves shining ledges domes and
peaks all the towering heights were in illumination from Friuli into farthest
Tyrol beyond earth to the stricken senses of the gazers Colour was stedfast on
the massive front ranks it wavered in the remoteness and was quick and dim as
though it fell on beating wings but there too divine colour seized and shaped
forth solid forms and thence away to others in uttermost distances where the
incredible flickering gleam of new heights arose that soared or stretched
their white uncertain curves in sky like wings traversing infinity
It seemed unlike morning to the lovers but as if night had broken with a
revelation of the kingdom in the heart of night While the broad smooth waters
rolled unlighted beneath that transfigured upper sphere it was possible to
think the scene might vanish like a view caught out of darkness by lightning
Alp over burning Alp and around them a hueless dawn The two exulted they
threw off the load of wonderment and in looking they had the delicious
sensation of flight in their veins
Renée stole toward Nevil She was mystically shaken and at his mercy and
had he said then »Over to the other land away from Venice« she would have
bent her head
She asked his permission to rouse her brother and madame so that they
should not miss the scene
Roland lay in the folds of his military greatcoat too completely happy to
be disturbed Nevil Beauchamp chose to think and Rosamund Culling he told
Renée had been separated from her husband last on these waters
»Ah to be unhappy here« sighed Renée »I fancied it when I begged her to
join us It was in her voice«
The impressionable girl trembled He knew he was dear to her and for that
reason judging of her by himself he forbore to urge his advantage conceiving
it base to fear that loving him she could yield her hand to another and it was
the critical instant She was almost in his grasp A word of sharp entreaty
would have swung her round to see her situation with his eyes and detest and
shrink from it He committed the capital fault of treating her as his equal in
passion and courage not as metal ready to run into the mould under temporary
stress of fire
Even later in the morning when she was cooler and he had come to speak
more than her own strength was needed to resist him The struggle was hard The
boats head had been put about for Venice and they were among the duskyred
Chioggian sails in fishing quarters expecting momently a campanile to signal
the seacity over the level Renée waited for it in suspense To her it stood
for the implacable key of a close and stifling chamber so different from this
brilliant boundless region of air that she sickened with the apprehension but
she knew it must appear and soon and therewith the contraction and the gloom
it indicated to her mind He talked of the beauty She fretted at it and was
her petulant self again in an epigrammatic note of discord
He let that pass
»Last night you said one night« he whispered »We will have another sail
before we leave Venice«
»One night and in a little time one hour and next one minute and there s
the end« said Renée
Her tone alarmed him »Have you forgotten that you gave me your hand«
»I gave my hand to my friend«
»You gave it to me for good«
»No I dared not it is not mine«
»It is mine« said Beauchamp
Renée pointed to the dots and severed lines and isolated columns of the
rising city black over bright sea
»Mine there as well as here« said Beauchamp and looked at her with the
fiery zeal of eyes intent on minutest signs for a confirmation to shake that
sad negation of her face
»Renée you cannot break the pledge of the hand you gave me last night«
»You tell me how weak a creature I am«
»You are me myself more better than me And say would you not rather
coast here and keep the city under water«
She could not refrain from confessing that she would be glad never to land
there
»So when you land go straight to your father« said Beauchamp to whose
conception it was a simple act resulting from the avowal
»Oh you torture me« she cried Her eyelashes were heavy with tears »I
cannot do it Think what you will of me And my friend help me Should you not
help me I have not once actually disobeyed my father and he has indulged me
but he has been sure of me as a dutiful girl That is my source of selfrespect
My friend can always be my friend«
»Yes while it s not too late« said Beauchamp
She observed a sudden stringing of his features He called to the chief
boatman made his command intelligible to that portly capitano and went on to
Roland who was puffing his afterbreakfast cigarette in conversation with the
tolerant English lady
»You condescend to notice us signor Beauchamp« said Roland »The vessel is
up to some manoeuvre«
»We have decided not to land« replied Beauchamp »And Roland« he checked
the Frenchmans shout of laughter »I think of making for Trieste Let me speak
to you to both Renée is in misery She must not go back«
Roland sprang to his feet stared and walked over to Renée
»Nevil« said Rosamund Culling »do you know what you are doing«
»Perfectly« said he »Come to her She is a girl and I must think and act
for her«
Roland met them
»My dear Nevil are you in a state of delusion Renée denies «
»There s no delusion Roland I am determined to stop a catastrophe I see
it as plainly as those Alps There is only one way and that s the one I have
chosen«
»Chosen my friend But allow me to remind you that you have others to
consult And Renée herself «
»She is a girl She loves me and I speak for her«
»She has said it«
»She has more than said it«
»You strike me to the deck Nevil Either you are downright mad which
seems the likeliest or we are all in a nightmare Can you suppose I will let my
sister be carried away the deuce knows where while her father is expecting her
and to fulfil an engagement affecting his pledged word«
Beauchamp simply replied
»Come to her«
Chapter X
A Singular Council
The four sat together under the shadow of the helmsman by whom they were
regarded as voyagers in debate upon the question of some hours further on salt
water »No bora« he threw in at intervals to assure them that the obnoxious
wind of the Adriatic need not disturb their calculations
It was an extraordinary sitting but none of the parties to it thought of it
so when Nevil Beauchamp had plunged them into it He compelled them even Renée
and she would have flown had there been wings on her shoulders to feel
something of the life and death issues present to his soul and submit to the
discussion in plain language of the marketplace of the most delicate of human
subjects for her for him and hardly less for the other two An overmastering
fervour can do this It upsets the vessel we float in and we have to swim our
way out of deep waters by the directest use of the natural faculties without
much reflection on the change in our habits To others not under such an
influence the position seems impossible This discussion occurred Beauchamp
opened the case in a couple of sentences and when the turn came for Renée to
speak and she shrank from the task in manifest pain he spoke for her and no
one heard her contradiction She would have wished the fearful impetuous youth
to succeed if she could have slept through the storm he was rousing
Roland appealed to her »You my sister it is you that consent to this wild
freak enough to break your fathers heart«
He had really forgotten his knowledge of her character what much he knew
in the dust of the desperation flung about her by Nevil Beauchamp
She shook her head she had not consented
»The man she loves is her voice and her will« said Beauchamp »She gives me
her hand and I lead her«
Roland questioned her It could not be denied that she had given her hand
and her bewildered senses made her think that it had been with an entire
abandonment and in the heat of her conflict of feelings the deliciousness of
yielding to him curled round and enclosed her as in a cool humming seashell
»Renée« said Roland
»Brother« she cried
»You see that I cannot suffer you to be borne away«
»No do not«
But the boat was flying fast from Venice and she could have fallen at his
feet and kissed them for not countermanding it
»You are in my charge my sister«
»Yes«
»And now Nevil between us two« said Roland
Beauchamp required no challenge He seemed to Rosamund Culling twice older
than he was strangely adept yet more strangely wise of worldly matters and
eloquent too But it was the eloquence of frenzy madness in Rolands ear The
arrogation of a terrible foresight that harped on present and future to persuade
him of the righteousness of this headlong proceeding advocated by his friend
vexed his natural equanimity The argument was out of the domain of logic He
could hardly sit to listen and tore at his moustache at each end Nevertheless
his sister listened The mad Englishman accomplished the miracle of making her
listen and appear to consent
Roland laughed scornfully »Why Trieste I ask you why Trieste You cant
have a Catholic priest at your bidding without her fathers sanction«
»We leave Renée at Trieste under the care of madame« said Beauchamp »and
we return to Venice and I go to your father This method protects Renée from
annoyance«
»It strikes me that if she arrives at any determination she must take the
consequences«
»She does She is brave enough for that But she is a girl she has to fight
the battle of her life in a day and I am her lover and she leaves it to me«
»Is my sister such a coward« said Roland
Renée could only call out his name
»It will never do my dear Nevil« Roland tried to deal with his
unreasonable friend affectionately »I am responsible for her It s your own
fault if you had not saved my life I should not have been in your way Here I
am and your proposal cant be heard of Do as you will both of you when you
step ashore in Venice«
»If she goes back she is lost« said Beauchamp and he attacked Roland on
the side of his love for Renée and for him
Roland was inflexible Seeing which Renée said »To Venice quickly my
brother« and now she almost sighed with relief to think that she was escaping
from this hurricane of a youth who swept her off her feet and wrapt her whole
being in a delirium
»We were in sight of the city just now« cried Roland staring and frowning
»What s this«
Beauchamp answered him calmly »The boat s under my orders«
»Talk madness but dont act it« said Roland »Round with the boat at once
Hundred devils you havent your wits«
To his amazement Beauchamp refused to alter the boats present course
»You heard my sister« said Roland
»You frighten her« said Beauchamp
»You heard her wish to return to Venice I say«
»She has no wish that is not mine«
It came to Rolands shouting his command to the men while Beauchamp pointed
the course on for them
»You will make this a ghastly pleasantry« said Roland
»I do what I know to be right« said Beauchamp
»You want an altercation before these fellows«
»There wont be one they obey me«
Roland blinked rapidly in wrath and doubt of mind
»Madame« he stooped to Rosamund Culling with a happy inspiration
»convince him you have known him longer than I and I desire not to lose my
friend And tell me madame I can trust you to be truth itself and you can
see it is actually the time for truth to be spoken is he justified in taking
my sisters hand You perceive that I am obliged to appeal to you Is he not
dependent on his uncle And is he not therefore in your opinion bound in
reason as well as in honour to wait for his uncles approbation before he
undertakes to speak for my sister And since the occasion is urgent let me ask
you one thing more whether by your knowledge of his position you think him
entitled to presume to decide upon my sisters destiny She you are aware is
not so young but that she can speak for herself «
»There you are wrong Roland« said Beauchamp »she can neither speak nor
think for herself you lead her blindfolded«
»And you my friend suppose that you are wiser than any of us It is
understood I venture to appeal to madame on the point in question«
The poor ladys heart beat dismally She was constrained to answer and
said »His uncle is one who must be consulted«
»You hear that Nevil« said Roland
Beauchamp looked at her sharply angrily Rosamund feared She had struck
his hot brain with the vision of Everard Romfrey as with a bar of iron If
Rosamund had inclined to the view that he was sure of his uncles support it
would have seemed to him a simple confirmation of his sentiments but he was not
of the same temper now as when he exclaimed »Let him see her« and could
imagine give him only Renées love the world of men subservient to his wishes
Then he was dreaming he was now in fiery earnest for that reason
accessible to facts presented to him and Rosamunds reluctantly spoken words
brought his stubborn uncle before his eyes inflicting a sense of helplessness
of the bitterest kind
They were all silent Beauchamp stared at the lines of the deckplanks
His scheme to rescue Renée was right and good but was he the man that
should do it And was she moreover he thought speculating on her bent head
the woman to be forced to brave the world with him and poverty She gave him no
sign He was assuredly not the man to pretend to powers he did not feel himself
to possess and though from a personal and still more from a lovers inability
to see all round him at one time and accurately to weigh the forces at his
disposal he had gone far he was not a wilful dreamer nor so very selfish a
lover The instant his consciousness of a superior strength failed him he
acknowledged it
Renée did not look up She had none of those lightnings of primitive energy
nor the noble rashness and reliance on her lover which his imagination had
filled her with none That was plain She could not even venture to second him
Had she done so he would have held out He walked to the head of the boat
without replying
Soon after this the boat was set for Venice again
When he rejoined his companions he kissed Rosamunds hand and Renée
despite a confused feeling of humiliation and anger loved him for it
Glittering Venice was now in sight the dome of Sta Maria Salute shining
like a globe of salt
Roland flung his arm round his friends neck and said »Forgive me«
»You do what you think right« said Beauchamp
»You are a perfect man of honour my friend and a woman would adore you
Girls are straws It s part of Renées religion to obey her father That s why
I was astonished I owe you my life and I would willingly give you my
sister in part payment if I had the giving of her most willingly The case is
that she s a child and you«
»Yes I m dependent« Beauchamp assented »I cant act I see it That
scheme wants two to carry it out she has no courage I feel that I could carry
the day with my uncle but I cant subject her to the risks since she dreads
them I see it Yes I see that I should have done well I believe I should
have saved her«
»Run to England get your uncles consent and then try«
»No I shall go to her father«
»My dear Nevil and supposing you have Renée to back you supposing it I
say wont you be falling on exactly the same bayonetpoint«
»If I leave her« Beauchamp interjected He perceived the quality of Renées
unformed character which he could not express
»But we are to suppose that she loves you«
»She is a girl«
»You return my friend to the place you started from as you did on the
canal without knowing it In my opinion frankly she is best married And I
think so all the more after this mornings lesson You understand plainly that
if you leave her she will soon be pliant to the legitimate authorities and why
not«
»Listen to me Roland I tell you she loves me I am bound to her and when
if ever I see her unhappy I will not stand by and look on quietly«
Roland shrugged »The future not being born my friend we will abstain from
baptizing it For me less privileged than my fellows I have never seen the
future Consequently I am not in love with it and to declare myself candidly I
do not care for it one snap of the fingers Let us follow our usages and attend
to the future at the hour of its delivery I prefer the sagefemme to the
prophet From my heart Nevil I wish I could help you We have charged great
guns together but a family arrangement is something different from a hostile
battery There s Venice and as soon as you land my responsibility s ended
Reflect I pray you on what I have said about girls Upon my word I discover
myself talking wisdom to you Girls are precious fragilities Marriage is the
mould for them they get shape substance solidity that is to say sense
passion a will of their own and grace and tenderness delicacy all out of the
rude raw quaking creatures we call girls Paris my dear Nevil Paris It s
the book of women«
The grandeur of the decayed seacity where folly had danced Parisianly of
old spread brooding along the waters in morning light beautiful but with that
inner light of history seen through the beauty Venice was like a lowered banner
The great white dome and the campanili watching above her were still brave
emblems Would Paris leave signs of an ancient vigour standing to vindicate
dignity when her fall came Nevil thought of Renée in Paris
She avoided him She had retired behind her tentcurtains and reappeared
only when her fathers voice hailed the boat from a gondola The count and the
marquis were sitting together and there was a spare gondola for the voyagers
so that they should not have to encounter another Babel of the riva Salutes
were performed with lifted hats nods and bows
»Well my dear child it has all been very wonderful and uncomfortable«
said the count
»Wonderful papa splendid«
»No qualms of any kind«
»None I assure you«
»And madame«
»Madame will confirm it if you find a seat for her«
Rosamund Culling was received in the counts gondola cordially thanked and
placed beside the marquis
»I stay on board and pay these fellows« said Roland
Renée was told by her father to follow madame He had jumped into the spare
gondola and offered a seat to Beauchamp
»No« cried Renée arresting Beauchamp »it is I who mean to sit with papa«
Up sprang the marquis with an entreating »Mademoiselle«
»M Beauchamp will entertain you M le marquis«
»I want him here« said the count and Beauchamp showed that his wish was to
enter the counts gondola but Renée had recovered her aplomb and decisively
said »No« and Beauchamp had to yield
That would have been an opportunity of speaking to her father without a
formal asking of leave She knew it as well as Nevil Beauchamp
Renée took his hand to be assisted in the step down to her fathers arms
murmuring
»Do nothing nothing until you hear from me«
Chapter XI
Captain Baskelett
Our England meanwhile was bustling over the extinguished war counting the
cost of it with a rather rueful eye on Manchester and soothing the taxed by an
exhibition of heroes at brilliant feasts Of course the first to come home had
the cream of the praises She hugged them in a manner somewhat suffocating to
modest men but heroism must be brought to bear upon these excesses of maternal
admiration modesty too when it accepts the place of honour at a public
banquet should not protest overmuch To be just the earliest arrivals which
were such as reached the shores of Albion before her war was at an end did
cordially reciprocate the hug They were taught and they believed most
naturally that it was quite as well to repose upon her bosom as to have stuck
to their posts Surely there was a conscious weakness in the Spartans who were
always at pains to discipline their men in heroical conduct and rewarded none
save the standfasts A system of that sort seems to betray the sense of poverty
in the article Our England does nothing like it All are welcome home to her so
long as she is in want of them Besides she has to please the taxpayer You may
track a shadowy line or crazy zigzag of policy in almost every stroke of her
domestic history either it is the forethought finding it necessary to stir up
an impulse or else dashing impulse gives a lively pull to the afterthought
policy becomes evident somehow clumsily very possibly How can she manage an
enormous middleclass to keep it happy other than a little clumsily The
managing of it at all is the wonder And not only has she to stupefy the
taxpayer by a timely display of feastings and fireworks she has to stop all
that nonsense to quote a satiated man lightened in his purse at the right
moment about the hour when the old standfasts who have simply been doing duty
return poor jogtrot fellows and a complimentary motto or two is the utmost
she can present to them On the other hand it is true she gives her first
loves those early birds fully to understand that a change has come in their
island mothers mind If there is a balance to be righted she leaves that
business to society and if it be the season for the gathering of society it
will be righted more or less and if no righting is done at all perhaps the
Press will incidentally toss a leaf of laurel on a name or two thus in the
exercise of grumbling doing good
With few exceptions Nevil Beauchamps heroes received the motto instead of
the sweetmeat England expected them to do their duty they did it and she was
not dissatisfied nor should they be Beauchamp at a distance from the scene
chafed with customary vehemence concerning the unjust measure dealt to his
favourites Captain Hardist of the Diomed twenty years a captain still a
captain Young Michell denied the cross Colonel Evans Cuff on the heights from
first to last and not advanced a step But Prancer and Plunger and Lammakin
were thoroughly well taken care of this critic of the war wrote savagely
reviving an echo of a queer small circumstance occurring in the midst of the
high dolour and anxiety of the whole nation and which a politic country
preferred to forget as we will do for it was but an instance of strong family
feeling in high quarters and is not the unity of the country founded on the
integrity of the family sentiment Is it not certain which the master tells us
that a line is but a continuation of a number of dots Nevil Beauchamp was for
insisting that great Government officers had paid more attention to a dot or two
than to the line He appeared to be at war with his country after the peace So
far he had a lively ally in his uncle Everard but these remarks of his were a
portion of a letter whose chief burden was the request that Everard Romfrey
would back him in proposing for the hand of a young French lady she being
Beauchamp smoothly acknowledged engaged to a wealthy French marquis under the
approbation of her family Could mortal folly outstrip a petition of that sort
And apparently according to the wording and emphasis of the letter it was the
mature age of the marquis which made Mr Beauchamp so particularly desirous to
stop the projected marriage and take the girl himself He appealed to his uncle
on the subject in a reallyreally remonstrative tone quite overwhelming to
read »It ought not to be permitted by all the laws of chivalry I should
write to the girls father to interdict it I really am particeps criminis in a
sin against nature if I dont« Mr Romfrey interjected in burlesque of his
ridiculous nephew with collapsing laughter But he expressed an indignant
surprise at Nevil for allowing Rosamund to travel alone
»I can take very good care of myself« Rosamund protested
»You can do hundreds of things you should never be obliged to do while he s
at hand or I maam« said Mr Romfrey »The fellow s insane He forgets a
gentlemans duty Here s his humanity dogging a French frock and pooh the
age of the marquis Fifty A man s beginning his prime at fifty or there never
was much man in him It s the mark of a fool to take everybody for a bigger
fool than himself or he wouldnt have written this letter to me He cant come
home yet not yet and he doesnt know when he can Has he thrown up the
service I am to preserve the alliance between England and France by getting
this French girl for him in the teeth of her marquis at my peril if I refuse«
Rosamund asked »Will you let me see where Nevil says that sir«
Mr Romfrey tore the letter to strips »He s one of your fellows who cock
their eyes when they mean to be cunning He sends you to do the wheedling that
s plain I dont say he has hit on a bad advocate but tell him I back him in
no mortal marriage till he shows a pair of epaulettes on his shoulders Tell him
lieutenants are fledglings he s not marriageable at present It s a very
pretty sacrifice of himself he intends for the sake of the alliance tell him
that but a lieutenant s not quite big enough to establish it You will know
what to tell him maam And say it s the fellows best friend that advises
him to be out of it and home quick If he makes one of a French trio he s
dished He s too late for his luck in England Have him out of that mire we
cant hope for more now«
Rosamund postponed her mission to plead Her heart was with Nevil her
understanding was easily led to side against him and for better reasons than
Mr Romfrey could be aware of so she was assured by her experience of the
character of Mademoiselle de Croisnel A certain belief in her personal arts of
persuasion had stopped her from writing on her homeward journey to inform him
that Nevil was not accompanying her and when she drove over Steynham Common
triumphal arches and the odour of a roasting ox richly browning to celebrate the
heros return afflicted her mind with all the solid arguments of a commonsense
country in contravention of a wild lovers vaporous extravagances Why had he
not come with her The disappointed ox put the question in a wavering drop of
the cheers of the villagers at the sight of the carriage without their bleeding
hero Mr Romfrey at his halldoors merely screwed his eyebrows for it was
the quality of this gentleman to foresee most human events and his capacity to
stifle astonishment when they trifled with his prognostics Rosamund had left
Nevil fast bound in the meshes of the young French sorceress no longer leading
but submissively following expecting blindly seeing strange new virtues in the
lurid indication of what appeared to border on the reverse How could she plead
for her infatuated darling to one who was common sense in person
Everards pointed interrogations reduced her to speak defensively instead
of attacking and claiming his aid for the poor enamoured young man She dared
not say that Nevil continued to be absent because he was now encouraged by the
girl to remain in attendance on her and was more than half inspired to hope
and too artfully assisted to deceive the count and the marquis under the guise
of simple friendship Letters passed between them in books given into one
anothers hands with an audacious openness of the saddest augury for the future
of the pair and Nevil could be so lost to reason as to glory in Renées
intrepidity which he justified by their mutual situation and cherished for a
proof that she was getting courage In fine Rosamund abandoned her task of
pleading Nevils communications gave the case a worse and worse aspect Renée
was prepared to speak to her father she delayed it then the two were to part
they were unable to perform the terrible sacrifice and slay their last hope and
then Nevil wrote of destiny language hitherto unknown to him evidently the
tongue of Renée He slipped on from Italy to France His uncle was besieged by a
series of letters and his cousin Cecil Baskelett a captain in Englands grand
reserve force her Horse Guards of the Blue division helped Everard Romfrey
to laugh over them
It was not difficult alack Letters of a lover in an extremity of love
crying for help are as curious to cool strong men as the contortions of the
proved heterodox tied to a stake must have been to their chastening
ecclesiastical judges Why go to the fire when a recantation will save you from
it Why not break the excruciating faggotbands and escape when you have only
to decide to do it We naturally ask why Those martyrs of love or religion are
madmen Altogether Nevils adjurations and supplications his threats of wrath
and appeals to reason were an odd mixture »He wont lose a chance while there
s breath in his body« Everard said quite goodhumouredly though he deplored
that the chance for the fellow to make his heroparade in society and haply
catch an heiress was waning There was an heiress at Steynham on her way with
her father to Italy very anxious to see her old friend Nevil Cecilia Halkett
and very inquisitive this young lady of sixteen was to know the cause of his
absence She heard of it from Cecil
»And one morning last week mademoiselle was running away with him and the
next morning she was married to her marquis«
Cecil was able to tell her that
»I used to be so fond of him« said the ingenuous young lady She had to
thank Nevil for a Circassian dress and pearls which he had sent to her by the
hands of Mrs Culling a pretty present to a girl in the nursery she thought
and in fact she chose to be a little wounded by the cause of his absence
»He s a good creature really« Cecil spoke on his cousins behalf »Mad
he always will be mad A dear old savage always amuses me He does I get half
my entertainment from him«
Captain Baskelett was gifted with the art which is a fine and a precious
one of priceless value in society and not wanting a benediction upon it in our
elegant literature namely the art of stripping his fellowman and so posturing
him as to make every movement of the comical wretch puppetlike constrained
stiff and foolish He could present you heroical actions in that fashion for
example
»A longshanked trooper bearing the name of John Thomas Drew was crawling
along under fire of the batteries Out pops old Nevil tries to get the man on
his back It wont do Nevil insists that it s exactly one of the cases that
ought to be and they remain arguing about it like a pair of ninepins while the
Muscovites are at work with the bowls Very well Let me tell you my story It
s perfectly true I give you my word So Nevil tries to horse Drew and Drew
proposes to horse Nevil as at school Then Drew offers a compromise He would
much rather have crawled on you know and allowed the shot to pass over his
head but he s a Briton old Nevil the same but old Nevils peculiarity is
that as you are aware he hates a compromise wont have it retro Sathanas
and Drews proposal to take his arm instead of being carried pickaback disgusts
old Nevil Still it wont do to stop where they are like the cocoanut and the
pincushion of our friends the gipsies on the downs so they take arms and
commence the journey home resembling the best of friends on the evening of a
holiday in our native clime two steps to the right halfadozen to the left
etcætera«
Thus with scarce a variation from the facts with but a flowery chaplet
cast on a truthful narrative as it were Captain Baskelett could render
ludicrous that which in other quarters had obtained honourable mention Nevil
and Drew being knocked down by the wind of a ball near the battery »Confound
it« cries Nevil jumping on his feet »it s because I consented to a
compromise« a transparent piece of fiction this but so in harmony with the
character stripped naked for us that it is accepted Imagine Nevils loveaffair
in such hands Recovering from a fever Nevil sees a pretty French girl in a
gondola and immediately thinks »By jingo I m marriageable« He hears she is
engaged »By jingo she s marriageable too« He goes through a sum in addition
and the total is a couple so he determines on a marriage »You cant get it out
of his head he must be married instantly and to her because she is going to
marry somebody else Sticks to her follows her will have her in spite of her
father her marquis her brother aunts cousins religion country and the
young woman herself I assure you a perfect model of male fidelity She is
married He is on her track He knows his time will come he has only to be
handy You see old Nevil believes in Providence is perfectly sure he will one
day hear it cry out Where s Beauchamp Here I am And here s your marquise I
knew I should have her at last says Nevil calm as Mont Blanc on a reduced
scale«
The secret of Captain Baskeletts art would seem to be to show the automatic
human creature at loggerheads with a necessity that winks at remarkable
pretensions while condemning it perpetually to dolllike action You look on
men from your own elevation as upon a quantity of our little wooden images unto
whom you affix puny characteristics under restrictions from which they shall
not escape though they attempt it with the enterprising vigour of an extended
leg or a pair of raised arms or a head awry or a trick of jumping and some
of them are extraordinarily addicted to these feats but for all they do the end
is the same for necessity rules that exactly so under stress of activity must
the doll Nevil the doll Everard or the dolliest of dolls fair woman behave
The automatic creature is subject to the laws of its construction you perceive
It can this it can that but it cannot leap out of its mechanism One
definition of the art is humour made easy and that may be why Cecil Baskelett
indulged in it and why it is popular with those whose humour consists of a
readiness to laugh
The fun between Cecil Baskelett and Mr Romfrey over the doll Nevil
threatened an intimacy and community of sentiment that alarmed Rosamund on
behalf of her darlings material prospects She wrote to him entreating him to
come to Steynham Nevil Beauchamp replied to her both frankly and shrewdly »I
shall not pretend that I forgive my uncle Everard and therefore it is best for
me to keep away Have no fear The baron likes a man of his own tastes they may
laugh together if it suits them he never could be guilty of treachery and to
disinherit me would be that If I were to become his open enemy tomorrow I
should look on the estates as mine unless I did anything to make him
disrespect me You will not suppose it likely I foresee I shall want money As
for Cecil I give him as much rope as he cares to have I know very well Everard
Romfrey will see where the point of likeness between them stops I apply for a
ship the moment I land«
To test Nevils judgement of his uncle Rosamund ventured on showing this
letter to Mr Romfrey He read it and said nothing but subsequently asked
from time to time »Has he got his ship yet« It assured her that Nevil was not
wrong and dispelled her notion of the vulgar imbroglio of a rich uncle and two
thirsty nephews She was hardly less relieved in reflecting that he could read
men so soberly and accurately The desperation of the youth in love had rendered
her one little bit doubtful of the orderliness of his wits After this she
smiled on Cecils assiduities Nevil obtained his appointment to a ship bound
for the coast of Africa to spy for slavers He called on his uncle in London
and spent the greater part of the hours visit with Rosamund seemed cured of
his passion devoid of rancour glad of the prospect of a run among the slaving
hulls He and his uncle shook hands manfully at the full outstretch of their
arms in a way so like them to Rosamunds thinking that is in a way so
unlike any other possible couple of men so situated that the humour of the
sight eclipsed all the pleasantries of Captain Baskelett »Goodbye sir« Nevil
said heartily and Everard Romfrey was not behindhand with the cordial ring of
his »Goodbye Nevil« and upon that they separated Rosamund would have been
willing to speak to her beloved of his false Renée the Frenchwoman she termed
her ie generically false needless to name and one question quivered on her
tongues tip »How when she had promised to fly with you how could she the
very next day step to the altar with him now her husband« And if she had
spoken it she would have added »Your uncle could not have set his face against
you had you brought her to England« She felt strongly the mastery Nevil
Beauchamp could exercise even over his uncle Everard But when he was gone
unquestioned merely caressed it came to her mind that he had all through
insisted on his possession of this particular power and she accused herself of
having wantonly helped to ruin his hope a matter to be rejoiced at in the
abstract but what suffering she had inflicted on him To quiet her heart she
persuaded herself that for the future she would never fail to believe in him and
second him blindly as true love should and contemplating one so brave
farsighted and selfassured her determination seemed to impose the lightest
of tasks
Practically humane though he was and especially toward cattle and all kinds
of beasts Mr Romfrey entertained no profound fellowfeeling for the negro
and except as the representative of a certain amount of working power commonly
requiring the whip to wind it up he inclined to despise that black spot in the
creation with which our civilization should never have had anything to do So
he pronounced his mind and the long habit of listening to oracles might grow us
ears to hear and discover a meaning in it Nevils captures and releases of the
grinning freights amused him for awhile He compared them to strings of bananas
and presently put the vision of the whole business aside by talking of Nevils
bananawreath He desired to have Nevil out of it He and Cecil handed Nevil in
his bananawreath about to their friends Nevil in his bananawreath was set
preaching »humanitomtity« At any rate they contrived to keep the remembrance
of Nevil Beauchamp alive during the period of his disappearance from the world
and in so doing they did him a service
There is a pause between the descent of a diver and his return to the surface
when those who would not have him forgotten by the better world above him do
rightly to relate anecdotes of him if they can and to provoke laughter at him
The encouragement of the humane sense of superiority over an object of interest
which laughter gives is good for the object and besides if you begin to tell
sly stories of one in the deeps who is holding his breath to fetch a pearl or
two for you all you divert a particular sympathetic oppression of the chest
that the extremely sensitive are apt to suffer from and you dispose the larger
number to keep in mind a person they no longer see Otherwise it is likely that
he will very shortly after he has made his plunge fatigue the contemplative
brains above and be shuffled off them even as great ocean smoothes away the
dear vanished mans immediate circle of foam and rapidly confounds the rippling
memory of him with its other agitations And in such a case the apparition of
his head upon our common level once more will almost certainly cause a
disagreeable shock nor is it improbable that his first natural snorts in his
native element though they be simply to obtain his share of the breath of life
will draw down on him condemnation for eccentric behaviour and unmannerly and
this in spite of the jewel he brings unless it be an exceedingly splendid one
The reason is that our brave world cannot pardon a breach of continuity for any
petty bribe
Thus it chanced owing to the prolonged efforts of Mr Romfrey and Cecil
Baskelett to get fun out of him at the cost of considerable inventiveness that
the electoral Address of the candidate signing himself »R C S Nevil
Beauchamp« to the borough of Bevisham did not issue from an altogether
unremembered man
He had been cruising in the Mediterranean commanding the Ariadne the
smartest corvette in the service He had it was widely made known met his
marquis in Palermo It was presumed that he was dancing the round with her
still when this amazing Address appeared on Bevishams walls in anticipation
of the general Election The Address moreover was ultraRadical museums to be
opened on Sundays ominous references to the Land question etc no smooth
passing mention of Reform such as the Liberal become stately adopts in
speaking of that property of his but swinging blows on the heads of many a
denounced iniquity
Cecil forwarded the Address to Everard Romfrey without comment
Next day the following letter dated from Itchincope the house of Mr
Grancey Lespel on the borders of Bevisham arrived at Steynham
»I have despatched you the proclamation folded neatly The electors of
Bevisham are summoned like a town at the swords point to yield him their
votes Proclamation is the word I am your born representative I have completed
my political education on salt water and I tackle you on the Land question I
am the heir of your votes gentlemen I forgot and I apologize he calls them
fellowmen Fraternal and not so risky Here at Lespels we read the thing with
shouts It hangs in the smokingroom We throw open the curaçoa to the
intelligence and industry of the assembled guests we carry the right of the
multitude to our hosts cigars by a majority Cest un farceur que notre bon
petit cousin Lespel says it is sailorlike to do something of this sort after a
cruise Nevils Radicalism would have been clever anywhere out of Bevisham Of
all boroughs Grancey Lespel knows it He and his family were Bevishams Whig M
Ps before the day of Manchester In Bevisham an election is an arrangement
made by Providence to square the accounts of the voters and settle arrears
They reckon up the health of their two members and the chances of an appeal to
the country when they fix the rents and leases You have them pointed out to you
in the street with their figures attached to them like titles Mr Tomkins the
twentypound man an elector of uncommon purity I saw the ruffian yesterday He
has an extra breadth to his hat He has never been known to listen to a member
under £20 and is respected enormously like the lady of the Mythology who was
an intolerable Tartar of virtue because her price was nothing less than a god
and money down Nevil will have to come down on Bevisham in the Jupiter style
Bevisham is downright the dearest of boroughs vaultingboards as Stukely
Culbrett calls them in the kingdom I assume we still say kingdom
He dashed into the Radical trap exactly two hours after landing I believe
he was on his way to the Halketts at Mount Laurels A notorious old rascal
revolutionist retired from his licenced business of slaughterer one of your
gratis doctors met him on the highroad and told him he was the man Up went
Nevils enthusiasm like a bottle rid of the cork You will see a great deal
about faith in the proclamation faith in the future and my faith in you When
you become a Radical you have faith in any quantity just as an alderman gets
turtle soup It is your badge like a liveryservants cockade or a corporals
sleeve stripes your badge and your bellyful Calculations were gone through at
the Liberal newspaperoffice old Nevil adding up hard and he was informed that
he was elected by something like a topping eight or nine hundred and some
fractions I am sure that a fellow who can let himself be gulled by a pile of
figures trumped up in a Radical newspaperoffice must have great faith in the
fractions Out came Nevils proclamation
I have not met him and I would rather not I shall not pretend to offer you
advice for I have the habit of thinking your judgement can stand by itself We
shall all find this affair a nuisance Nevil will pay through the nose We shall
have the ridicule spattered on the family It would be a safer thing for him to
invest his money on the Turf and I shall advise his doing it if I come across
him
Perhaps the best course would be to telegraph for the marquise«
This was from Cecil Baskelett He added a postscript
»Seriously the mad commander has not an ace of a chance Grancey and I saw
some Working Men you have to write them in capitals king and queen small
they were reading the Address on a board carried by a rednosed man and
shrugging They are not such fools
By the way I am informed Shrapnel has a young female relative living with
him said to be a sparkler I bet you sir she is not a Radical Do you take
me«
Rosamund Culling drove to the railway station on her way to Bevisham within an
hour after Mr Romfreys eyebrows had made acute play over this communication
Chapter XII
An Interview with the Infamous Dr Shrapnel
In the High street of the ancient and famous town and port of Bevisham Rosamund
met the military governor of a neighbouring fortress General Sherwin once
colonel of her husbands regiment in India and by him as it happened she was
assisted in finding the whereabout of the young Liberal candidate without the
degrading recourse of an application at the newspaperoffice of his party The
General was leisurely walking to a place of appointment to fetch his daughter
home from a visit to an old schoolfriend a Miss Jenny Denham no other than a
ward or a niece or an adoption of Dr Shrapnels »A nice girl a great
favourite of mine« the General said Shrapnel he knew by reputation only as a
wrongheaded politician but he spoke of Miss Denham pleasantly two or three
times praising her accomplishments and her winning manners His hearer
suspected that it might be done to dissociate the idea of her from the ruffling
agitator »Is she pretty« was a question that sprang from Rosamunds intimate
reflections The answer was »Yes«
»Very pretty«
»I think very pretty« said the General
»Captivatingly«
»Clara thinks she is perfect she is tall and slim and dresses well The
girls were with a French Madam in Paris But if you are interested about her
you can come on with me and we shall meet them somewhere near the head of the
street I dont« the General hesitated and hummed »I dont call at
Shrapnels«
»I have never heard her name before today« said Rosamund
»Exactly« said the General crowing at the aimlessness of a womans
curiosity
The young ladies were seen approaching and Rosamund had to ask herself
whether the first sight of a person like Miss Denham would be of a kind to
exercise a lively influence over the political and other sentiments of a dreamy
sailor just released from shipservice In an ordinary case she would have said
no for Nevil enjoyed a range of society where faces charming as Miss Denhams
were plentiful as roses in the rosegarden But supposing him free of his
bondage to the foreign woman there was she thought and feared a possibility
that a girl of this description might capture a young mans vacant heart sighing
for a new mistress And if so further observation assured her Miss Denham was
likely to be dangerous far more than professedly attractive persons
enchantresses and the rest Rosamund watchfully gathered all the superficial
indications which incite women to judge of character profoundly This new object
of alarm was as the General had said of her tall and slim a friend of
neatness plainly dressed but exquisitely fitted in the manner of Frenchwomen
She spoke very readily not too much and had the rare gift of being able to
speak fluently with a smile on the mouth Vulgar archness imitates it She won
and retained the eyes of her hearer sympathetically it seemed Rosamund thought
her as little conscious as a woman could be She coloured at times quickly but
without confusion When that name the key of Rosamunds meditations chanced to
be mentioned a flush swept over Miss Denhams face The candour of it was
unchanged as she gazed at Rosamund with a look that asked »Do you know him«
Rosamund said »I am an old friend of his«
»He is here now in this town«
»I wish to see him very much«
General Sherwin interposed »We wont talk about political characters just
for the present«
»I wish you knew him papa and would advise him« his daughter said
The General nodded hastily »Byandby byandby«
They had in fact taken seats at a table of mutton pies in a pastrycooks
shop where dashing military men were restrained solely by their presence from a
too noisy display of fascinations before the fashionable waitingwomen
Rosamund looked at Miss Denham As soon as they were in the street the
latter said »If you will be good enough to come with me madam «
Rosamund bowed thankful to have been comprehended The two young ladies
kissed cheeks and parted General Sherwin raised his hat and was astonished to
see Mrs Culling join Miss Denham in accepting the salute for they had not been
introduced and what could they have in common It was another of the oddities
of female nature
»My name is Mrs Culling and I will tell you how it is that I am interested
in Captain Beauchamp« Rosamund addressed her companion »I am his uncles
housekeeper I have known him and loved him since he was a boy I am in great
fear that he is acting rashly«
»You honour me madam by speaking to me so frankly« Miss Denham answered
»He is quite bent upon this Election«
»Yes madam I am not as you can suppose in his confidence but I hear of
him from Dr Shrapnel«
»Your uncle«
»I call him uncle he is my guardian madam«
It is perhaps excuseable that this communication did not cause the doctor to
shine with added lustre in Rosamunds thoughts or ennoble the young lady
»You are not relatives then« she said
»No unless love can make us so«
»Not bloodrelatives«
»No«
»Is he not very extreme«
»He is very sincere«
»I presume you are a politician«
Miss Denham smiled »Could you pardon me madam if I said that I was«
The counterquestion was a fair retort enfolding a gentler irony Rosamund
felt that she had to do with wits as well as with vivid feminine intuitions in
the person of this Miss Denham
She said »I really am of opinion that our sex might abstain from politics«
»We find it difficult to do justice to both parties« Miss Denham followed
»It seems to be a kind of clanship with women hardly even that«
Rosamund was inattentive to the conversational slipshod and launched one of
the heavy affirmatives which are in dialogue full stops She could not have said
why she was sensible of anger but the sentiment of anger or spite if that be
a lesser degree of the same affliction became stirred in her bosom when she
listened to the ward of Dr Shrapnel A silly pretty puss of a girl would not
have excited it nor an avowed bloodrelative of the demagogue
Nevils hotel was pointed out to Rosamund and she left her card there He
had been absent since eight in the morning There was the probability that he
might be at Dr Shrapnels so Rosamund walked on
»Captain Beauchamp gives himself no rest« Miss Denham said
»Oh I know him when once his mind is set on anything« said Rosamund »Is
it not too early to begin to canvass I think is the word«
»He is studying whatever the town can teach him of its wants that is how
he may serve it«
»Indeed But if the town will not have him to serve it«
»He imagines that he cannot do better until that has been decided than to
fit himself for the post«
»Acting upon your advice I mean of course your uncles that is Dr
Shrapnels«
»Dr Shrapnel thinks it will not be loss of time for Captain Beauchamp to
grow familiar with the place and observe as well as read«
»It sounds almost as if Captain Beauchamp had submitted to be Dr Shrapnels
pupil«
»It is natural madam that Dr Shrapnel should know more of political ways
at present than Captain Beauchamp«
»To Captain Beauchamps friends and relatives it appears very strange that
he should have decided to contest this election so suddenly May I inquire
whether he and Dr Shrapnel are old acquaintances«
»No madam they are not They had never met before Captain Beauchamp
landed the other day«
»I am surprised I confess I cannot understand the nature of an influence
that induces him to abandon a profession he loves and shines in for politics
at a moments notice«
Miss Denham was silent and then said
»I will tell you madam how it occurred as far as circumstances explain
it Dr Shrapnel is accustomed to give a little country feast to the children I
teach and their parents if they choose to come and they generally do They are
driven to Northeden Heath where we set up a booth for them and try with cakes
and tea and games to make them spend one of their happy afternoons and evenings
We succeed I know for the little creatures talk of it and look forward to the
day When they are at their last romp Dr Shrapnel speaks to the parents«
»Can he obtain a hearing« Rosamund asked
»He has not so very large a crowd to address madam and he is much beloved
by those that come«
»He speaks to them of politics on those occasions«
»Adouci à leur intention It is not a political speech but Dr Shrapnel
thinks that in a socalled free country seeking to be really free men of the
lowest class should be educated in forming a political judgement«
»And women too«
»And women yes Indeed madam we notice that the women listen very
creditably«
»They can put on the air«
»I am afraid not more than the men do To get them to listen is something
They suffer like the men and must depend on their intelligence to win their way
out of it«
Rosamunds meditation was exclamatory What can be the age of this
pretentious girl
An afterthought turned her more conciliatorily toward the person but less
to the subject She was sure that she was lending ear to the echo of the
dangerous doctor and rather pitied Miss Denham for awhile reflecting that a
young woman stuffed with such ideas would find it hard to get a husband Mention
of Nevil revived her feeling of hostility
»We had seen a gentleman standing near and listening attentively« Miss
Denham resumed »and when Dr Shrapnel concluded a card was handed to him He
read it and gave it to me and said You know that name It was a name we had
often talked about during the war He went to Captain Beauchamp and shook his
hand He does not pay many compliments and he does not like to receive them
but it was impossible for him not to be moved by Captain Beauchamps warmth in
thanking him for the words he had spoken I saw that Dr Shrapnel became
interested in Captain Beauchamp the longer they conversed We walked home
together Captain Beauchamp supped with us I left them at halfpast eleven at
night and in the morning I found them walking in the garden They had not gone
to bed at all Captain Beauchamp has remained in Bevisham ever since He soon
came to the decision to be a candidate for the borough«
Rosamund checked her lips from uttering To be a puppet of Dr Shrapnels
She remarked »He is very eloquent Dr Shrapnel«
Miss Denham held some debate with herself upon the term
»Perhaps it is not eloquence he often no he is not an orator«
Rosamund suggested that he was persuasive possibly
Again the young lady deliberately weighed the word as though the nicest
measure of her uncle or adoptors quality in this or that direction were in
requisition and of importance an instance of a want of delicacy of perception
Rosamund was not sorry to detect For goodlooking refinedlooking
quickwitted girls can be grown but the nimble sense of fitness ineffable
lightningfooted tact comes of race and breeding and she was sure Nevil was a
man soon to feel the absence of that
»Dr Shrapnel is persuasive to those who go partly with him or whose
condition of mind calls on him for great patience« Miss Denham said at last
»I am only trying to comprehend how it was that he should so rapidly have
won Captain Beauchamp to his views« Rosamund explained and the young lady did
not reply
Dr Shrapnels house was about a mile beyond the town on a common of thorn
and gorse through which the firbordered highway ran A fence waisthigh
enclosed its plot of meadow and garden so that the doctor while protecting his
own might see and be seen of the world as was the case when Rosamund
approached He was pacing at long slow strides along the gravel walk with his
head bent and bare and his hands behind his back accompanied by a gentleman
who could be no other than Nevil Rosamund presumed to think but drawing nearer
she found she was mistaken
»That is not Captain Beauchamps figure« she said
»No it is not he« said Miss Denham
Rosamund saw that her companion was pale She warmed to her at once by no
means on account of the pallor in itself
»I have walked too fast for you I fear«
»Oh no I am accused of being a fast walker«
Rosamund was unwilling to pass through the demagogues gate On second
thoughts she reflected that she could hardly stipulate to have news of Nevil
tossed to her over the spikes and she entered
While receiving Dr Shrapnels welcome to a friend of Captain Beauchamp she
observed the greeting between Miss Denham and the younger gentleman It
reassured her They met like two that have a secret
The dreaded doctor was an immoderately tall man lean and wiry carelessly
clad in a long loose coat of no colour loose trowsers and huge shoes
He stooped from his height to speak or rather swing the stiff upper half of
his body down to his hearers level and back again like a ships mast on a
billowy sea He was neither rough nor abrupt nor did he roar bullmouthedly as
demagogues are expected to do though his voice was deep He was actually after
his fashion courteous it could be said of him except that his mind was too
visibly possessed by distant matters for Rosamunds taste she being accustomed
to drawingroom and hunting and military gentlemen who can be all in the words
they utter Nevertheless he came out of his lizardlike look with the
downdropped eyelids quick at a resumption of the dialogue sometimes gesturing
sweeping his arm round A stubborn tuft of irongrey hair fell across his
forehead and it was apparently one of his lifes labours to get it to lie amid
the mass for his hand rarely ceased to be in motion without an impulsive stroke
at the refractory forelock He peered through his eyelashes ordinarily but from
no infirmity of sight The truth was that the mans nature counteracted his
spirits intenser eagerness and restlessness by alternating a state of repose
that resembled dormancy and so preserved him Rosamund was obliged to give him
credit for straightforward eyes when they did look out and flash Their filmy
blue half overflown with grey by age was poignant while the fire in them
lasted Her antipathy attributed something electrical to the light they shot
Dr Shrapnels account of Nevil stated him to have gone to call on Colonel
Halkett a new resident at Mount Laurels on the Otley river He offered the
welcome of his house to the lady who was Captain Beauchamps friend saying
with extraordinary fatuity so it sounded in Rosamunds ears that Captain
Beauchamp would certainly not let an evening pass without coming to him
Rosamund suggested that he might stay late at Mount Laurels
»Then he will arrive here after nightfall« said the doctor »A bed is at
your service maam«
The offer was declined »I should like to have seen him today but he will
be home shortly«
»He will not quit Bevisham till this Elections decided unless to hunt a
stray borough vote maam«
»He goes to Mount Laurels«
»For that purpose«
»I do not think he will persuade Colonel Halkett to vote in the Radical
interest«
»That is the probability with a landed proprietor maam We must knock
whether the door opens or not Like« the doctor laughed to himself up aloft
»like a watchman in the night to say that he smells smoke on the premises«
»Surely we may expect Captain Beauchamp to consult his family about so
serious a step as this he is taking« Rosamund said with an effort to be civil
»Why should he« asked the impending doctor
His head continued in the interrogative position when it had resumed its
elevation The challenge for a definite reply to so outrageous a question
irritated Rosamunds nerves and loth though she was to admit him to the
subject she could not forbear from saying »Why Surely his family have the
first claim on him«
»Surely not maam There is no first claim A mans wife and children have
a claim on him for bread A mans parents have a claim on him for obedience
while he is a child A mans uncles aunts and cousins have no claim on him at
all except for help in necessity which he can grant and they require None
wife children parents relatives none has a claim to bar his judgement and
his actions Sound the conscience and sink the family With a clear conscience
it is best to leave the family to its own debates No man ever did brave work
who held counsel with his family The family view of a mans fit conduct is the
weak point of the country It is no other view than Better thy condition for
our sakes Ha In this way we breed sheep fatten oxen men are dying off
Resolution taken consult the family means waste your time Those who go to it
want an excuse for altering their minds The family view is everlastingly the
shopkeepers Purse pence ease increase of worldly goods personal importance
the pound the English pound Dare do that and you forfeit your share of Port
wine in this world you wont be dubbed with a title you ll be fingered at
Lord Lord is it the region inside a man or out that gives him peace Out
they say for they have lost faith in the existence of an inner They havent
it Airsucker bloodpump cooking machinery and a battery of trained
instincts aptitudes fill up their vacuum I repeat maam why should young
Captain Beauchamp spend an hour consulting his family They wont approve him
he knows it They may annoy him and what is the gain of that They cant move
him on that I let my right hand burn So it would be useless on both sides He
thinks so So do I He is one of the men to serve his country on the best field
we can choose for him In a ships cabin he is thrown away Ay ay War and he
may go aboard But now we must have him ashore Too few of such as he«
»It is matter of opinion« said Rosamund very tightly compressed scarcely
knowing what she said
How strange besides hateful it was to her to hear her darling spoken of by
a stranger who not only pretended to appreciate but to possess him A stranger
a man of evil with monstrous ideas A terribly strong inexhaustible man of a
magical power too or would he otherwise have won such a mastery over Nevil
Of course she could have shot a rejoinder to confute him with all the force
of her indignation save that the words were tumbling about in her head like a
world in disruption which made her feel a weakness at the same time that she
gloated on her capacity as though she had an enormous army quite overwhelming
if it could but be got to move in advance This very common condition of the
silentstricken unused in dialectics heightened Rosamunds disgust by causing
her to suppose that Nevil had been similarly silenced in his case vanquished
captured ruined and he dwindled in her estimation for a moment or two She
felt that among a sisterhood of gossips she would soon have found her voice and
struck down the demagogues audacious sophisms not that they affected her in
the slightest degree for her own sake Shrapnel might think what he liked and
say what he liked as far as she was concerned apart from the man she loved
Rosamund went through these emotions altogether on Nevils behalf and longed
for her affirmatizing inspiring sisterhood until the thought of them threw
another shade on him
What champion was she to look to To whom but to Mr Everard Romfrey
It was with a spasm of delighted reflection that she hit on Mr Romfrey He
was like a discovery to her With his strength and skill his robust common
sense and rough shrewd wit his prompt comparisons his chivalry his love of
combat his old knightly blood was not he a match and an overmatch for the
ramping Radical who had tangled Nevil in his rough snares She ran her mind over
Mr Romfreys virtues down even to his towering height and breadth Could she
but once draw these two giants into collision in Nevils presence she was sure
it would save him The method of doing it she did not stop to consider she
enjoyed her triumph in the idea
Meantime she had passed from Dr Shrapnel to Miss Denham and carried on a
conversation becomingly Tea had been made in the garden and she had politely
sipped half a cup which involved no step inside the guilty house and therefore
no distress to her antagonism The sun descended She heard the doctor reciting
Could it be poetry In her imagination the sombre hues surrounding an incendiary
opposed that bright spirit She listened smiling incredulously Miss Denham
could interpret looks and said »Dr Shrapnel is very fond of those verses«
Rosamunds astonishment caused her to say »Are they his own« a piece of
satiric innocency at which Miss Denham laughed softly as she answered »No«
Rosamund pleaded that she had not heard them with any distinctness
»Are they written by the gentleman at his side«
»Mr Lydiard No He writes but the verses are not his«
»Does he know has he met Captain Beauchamp«
»Yes once Captain Beauchamp has taken a great liking to his works«
Rosamund closed her eyes feeling that she was in a nest that had determined
to appropriate Nevil But at any rate there was the hope and the probability
that this Mr Lydiard of the pen had taken a long start of Nevil in the heart of
Miss Denham and struggling to be candid to ensure some meditative
satisfaction Rosamund admitted to herself that the girl did not appear to be
one of the wanton giddypated pusses who play two gentlemen or more on their
line Appearances however could be deceptive never pretend to know a girl by
her face was one of Rosamunds maxims
She was next informed of Dr Shrapnels partiality for music toward the hour
of sunset Miss Denham mentioned it and the doctor presently sauntering up
invited Rosamund to a seat on a bench near the open window of the drawingroom
He nodded to his ward to go in
»I am a fireworshipper maam« he said »The God of day is the father of
poetry medicine music our best friend See him there My Jenny will spin a
thread from us to him over the millions of miles with one touch of the chords
as quick as he shoots a beam on us Ay on her wretched tinkler called a piano
which tries at the whole orchestra and murders every instrument in the attempt
But it s convenient like our modern civilization a taming and a diminishing
of individuals for an insipid harmony«
»You surely do not object to the organ I fear I cannot wait though«
said Rosamund
Miss Denham entreated her »Oh do madam Not to hear me I am not so
perfect a player that I should wish it but to see him Captain Beauchamp may
now be coming at any instant«
Mr Lydiard added »I have an appointment with him here for this evening«
»You build a cathedral of sound in the organ« said Dr Shrapnel casting
out a league of leg as he sat beside his only halfpersuaded fretful guest »You
subject the winds to serve you that s a gain You do actually accomplish a
resonant imitation of the various instruments they sing out as your two hands
command them trumpet flute dulcimer hautboy drum storm earthquake
ethereal quire you have them at your option But tell me of an organ in the
open air The sublimity would vanish maam both from the notes and from the
structure because accessories and circumstances produce its chief effects Say
that an organ is a despotism just as your piano is the Constitutional
bourgeois Match them with the trained orchestral band of skilled individual
performers indoors or out where each grasps his instrument and each relies on
his fellow with confidence and an unrivalled concord comes of it That is our
republic each one to his work all in union There s the motto for us Then
you have music harmony the highest fullest finest Educate your men to form
a band you shame dexterous trickery and imitation sounds Then for the
difference of real instruments from clever shams Oh ay one will set your
organ going that is one in front with his couple of panting airpumpers
behind his ministers« Dr Shrapnel laughed at some undefined mental image
apparently careless of any laughing companionship »One will do it for you
especially if he s born to do it Born« A slap of the knee reported what
seemed to be an immensely contemptuous sentiment »But free mouths blowing into
brass and wood maam beat your bellows and your whifflers your artificial
choruses crash crash your unanimous plebiscitums Beat them There s no
contest we re in another world we re in the suns world yonder«
Miss Denhams opening notes on the despised piano put a curb on the doctor
She began a Mass of Mozarts without the usual preliminary rattle of the keys
as of a crier announcing a performance straight to her task for which Rosamund
thanked her liking that kind of composed simplicity she thanked her more for
cutting short the doctors fanatical nonsense It was perceptible to her that a
species of mad metaphor had been wriggling and tearing its passage through a
thornbush in his discourse with the furious urgency of a sheep in a panic but
where the ostensible subject ended and the metaphor commenced and which was
which at the conclusion she found it difficult to discern much as the sheep
would be when he had left his fleece behind him She could now have said »Silly
old man«
Dr Shrapnel appeared most placable He was gazing at his Authority in the
heavens tangled among gold clouds and purple his head bent acutely on one
side and his eyes upturned in dim speculation His great feet planted on their
heels faced him suggesting the stocks his arms hung loose Full many a hero of
the alehouse anciently amenable to legandfoot imprisonment in the grip of the
parish has presented as respectable an air His forelock straggled as it
willed
Rosamund rose abruptly as soon as the terminating notes of the Mass had been
struck
Dr Shrapnel seemed to be concluding his devotions before he followed her
example
»There maam you have a telegraphic system for the soul« he said »It is
harder work to travel from this place to this« he pointed at ear and breast
»than from here to yonder« a similar indication traversed the distance between
earth and sun »Mans aim has hitherto been to keep men from having a soul for
this world he takes it for something infernal He I mean they that hold
power They shudder to think the conservatism of the earth will be shaken by a
change they dread they wont get men with souls to fetch and carry dig root
mine for them Right what then Digging and mining will be done so will
harping and singing But then we have a natural optimacy Then on the one hand
we whip the manbeast and the mansloth on the other we seize that old fatted
iniquity that tyrant that tempter that legitimated swindler cursed of
Christ that palpable Satan whose name is Capital by the neck and have him
disgorging within three gasps of his life He is the villain Let him live for
he too comes of blood and bone He shall not grind the faces of the poor and
helpless that s all«
The comicality of her having such remarks addressed to her provoked a smile
on Rosamunds lips
»Dont go at him like Samson blind« said Mr Lydiard and Miss Denham who
had returned begged her guardian to entreat the guest to stay
She said in an undertone »I am very anxious you should see Captain
Beauchamp madam«
»I too but he will write and I really can wait no longer« Rosamund
replied in extreme apprehension lest a certain degree of pressure should
overbear her repugnance to the doctors dinnertable Miss Denhams look was
fixed on her but whatever it might mean Rosamunds endurance was at an end
She was invited to dine she refused She was exceedingly glad to find herself
on the highroad again with a prospect of reaching Steynham that night for it
was important that she should not have to confess a visit to Bevisham now when
she had so little of favourable to tell Mr Everard Romfrey of his chosen
nephew Whether she had acted quite wisely in not remaining to see Nevil was an
agitating question that had to be silenced by an appeal to her instincts of
repulsion and a further appeal for justification of them to her imaginary
sisterhood of gossips How could she sit and eat how pass an evening in that
house in the society of that man Her tuneful chorus cried »How indeed«
Besides it would have offended Mr Romfrey to hear that she had done so Still
she could not refuse to remember Miss Denhams marked intimations of there being
a reason for Nevils friend to seize the chance of an immediate interview with
him and in her distress at the thought Rosamund reluctantly but as if
compelled by necessity ascribed the young ladys conduct to a strong sense of
personal interests
»Evidently she has no desire he should run the risk of angering a rich
uncle«
This shameful suspicion was unavoidable there was no other opiate for
Rosamunds blame of herself after letting her instincts gain the ascendancy
It will be found a common case that when we have yielded to our instincts
and then have to soothe conscience we must slaughter somebody for a
sacrificial offering to our sense of comfort
Chapter XIII
A Superfine Conscience
However much Mr Everard Romfrey may have laughed at Nevil Beauchamp with his
bananawreath he liked the fellow for having volunteered for that African
coastservice and the news of his promotion by his admiral to the post of
commander through a death vacancy had given him an exalted satisfaction for as
he could always point to the cause of failures he strongly appreciated success
The circumstance had offered an occasion for the new commander to hit him hard
upon a matter of fact Beauchamp had sent word of his advance in rank but
requested his uncle not to imagine him wearing an additional epaulette and he
corrected the infallible gentlemans error which had of course been reported to
him when he was dreaming of Renée by Mrs Culling concerning a lieutenants
shoulder decorations most gravely informing him of the anchor on the
lieutenants pair of epaulettes and the anchor and star on a commanders and
the crown on a captains with a wellfeigned solicitousness to save his uncle
from blundering further This was done in the dry neat manner which Mr Romfrey
could feel to be his own turned on him
He began to conceive a vague respect for the fellow who had proved him wrong
upon a matter of fact Beauchamp came from Africa rather worn by the climate
and immediately obtained the command of the Ariadne corvette which had been
some time in commission in the Mediterranean whither he departed without
visiting Steynham allowing Rosamund to think him tenacious of his wrath as well
as of love Mr Romfrey considered him to be insatiable for service Beauchamp
during his absence had shown himself awake to the affairs of his country once
only in an urgent supplication he had forwarded for all his uncles influence
to be used to get him appointed to the first vacancy in Robert Halls naval
brigade then forming a part of our handful in insurgent India The fate of that
chivalrous Englishman that born sailorwarrior that truest of heroes
imperishable in the memory of those who knew him and in our annals young
though he was when death took him had wrung from Nevil Beauchamp such a letter
of tears as to make Mr Romfrey believe the naval crown of glory his highest
ambition Who on earth could have guessed him to be bothering his head about
politics all the while Or was the whole stupid business a freak of the moment
It became necessary for Mr Romfrey to contemplate his eccentric nephew in
the light of a mannikin once more Consequently he called to mind and bade
Rosamund Culling remember that he had foreseen and had predicted the mounting
of Nevil Beauchamp on his political horse one day or another and perhaps the
earlier the better And a donkey could have sworn that when he did mount he
would come galloping in among the Radical roughriders Letters were pouring
upon Steynham from men and women of Romfrey blood and relationship concerning
the positive tone of Radicalism in the commanders address Everard laughed at
them As a practical man his objection lay against the poor fools choice of
the peccant borough of Bevisham Still in view of the needfulness of his
learning wisdom and rapidly the disbursement of a lot of his money certain to
be required by Bevishams electors seemed to be the surest method for
quickening his wits Thus would he be acting as his own chirurgeon gaily
practising phlebotomy on his person to cure him of his fever Too much money was
not the origin of the fever in Nevils case but he had too small a sense of the
value of what he possessed and the diminishing stock would be likely to cry out
shrilly
To this effect never complaining that Nevil Beauchamp had not come to him
to take counsel with him the highminded old gentleman talked At the same
time while indulging in so philosophical a picture of himself as was presented
by a Romfrey mildly accounting for events and smoothing them under the
infliction of an offence he could not but feel that Nevil had challenged him
such was the reading of it and he waited for some justifiable excitement to
fetch him out of the magnanimous mood rather in the image of an angler it must
be owned
»Nevil understands that I am not going to pay a farthing of his expenses in
Bevisham« he said to Mrs Culling
She replied blandly and with innocence »I have not see him sir«
He nodded At the next mention of Nevil between them he asked »Where is it
he s lying perdu maam«
»I fancy in that town in Bevisham«
»At the Liberal Radical hotel«
»I dare say some place I am not certain «
»The rascal doctors house there Shrapnels«
»Really I have not seen him«
»Have you heard from him«
»I have had a letter a short one«
»Where did he date his letter from«
»From Bevisham«
»From what house«
Rosamund glanced about for a way of escaping the question There was none
but the door She replied »From Dr Shrapnels«
»That s the AntiGameLaw agitator«
»You do not imagine sir that Nevil subscribes to every thing the horrid
man agitates for«
»You dont like the man maam«
»I detest him«
»Ha So you have seen Shrapnel«
»Only for a moment a moment or two I cannot endure him I am sure I have
reason«
Rosamund flushed exceedingly red The visit to Dr Shrapnels house was her
secret and the worming of it out made her feel guilty and that feeling revived
and heated her antipathy to the Radical doctor
»What reason« said Mr Romfrey freshening at her display of colour
She would not expose Nevil to the accusation of childishness by confessing
her positive reason so she answered »The man is a kind of man I was not
there long I was glad to escape He « she hesitated for in truth it was
difficult to shape the charge against him and the effort to be reticent
concerning Nevil and communicative now that he had been spoken of as to the
detested doctor reduced her to some confusion She was also fatally anxious to
be in the extreme degree conscientious and corrected and modified her remarks
most suspiciously
»Did he insult you maam« Mr Romfrey inquired
She replied hastily »Oh no He may be a good man in his way He is one of
those men who do not seem to think a woman may have opinions He does not
scruple to outrage those we hold I am afraid he is an infidel His ideas of
family duties and ties and his manner of expressing himself shocked me that
is all He is absurd I dare say there is no harm in him except for those who
are so unfortunate as to fall under his influence and that I feel sure
cannot be permanent He could not injure me personally He could not offend me
I mean Indeed I have nothing whatever to say against him as far as I «
»Did he fail to treat you as a lady maam«
Rosamund was getting frightened by the significant pertinacity of her lord
»I am sure sir he meant no harm«
»Was the man uncivil to you maam« came the emphatic interrogation
She asked herself had Dr Shrapnel been uncivil toward her And so
conscientious was she that she allowed the question to be debated in her mind
for half a minute answering then »No not uncivil I cannot exactly explain
He certainly did not intend to be uncivil He is only an unpolished
vexatious man enormously tall«
Mr Romfrey ejaculated »Ha humph«
His view of Dr Shrapnel was taken from that instant It was that this
enormously big blustering agitator against the preservation of birds had
behaved rudely toward the lady officially the chief of his household and might
be considered in the light of an adversary one would like to meet The size of
the man increased his aspect of villany which in return added largely to his
giant size Everard Romfreys mental eye could perceive an attractiveness about
the man little short of magnetic for he thought of him so much that he had to
think of what was due to his pacifical disposition deeply believed in by him
to spare himself the trouble of a visit to Bevisham
The young gentleman whom he regarded as the Radical doctors dupe fell in
for a share of his view of the doctor and Mr Romfrey became less fitted to
observe Nevil Beauchamps doings with the Olympian gravity he had originally
assumed
The extreme delicacy of Rosamunds conscience was fretted by a remorseful
doubt of her having conveyed a just impression of Dr Shrapnel somewhat as
though the sleek fine coat of it were brushed the wrong way Reflection warned
her that her deliberative intensely sincere pause before she responded to Mr
Romfreys last demand might have implied more than her words She consoled
herself with the thought that it was the dainty susceptibility of her
conscientiousness which caused these noble qualms and so deeply does a refined
nature esteem the gift that her pride in it helped her to overlook her moral
perturbation She was consoled moreover up to the verge of triumph in her
realization of the image of a rivalling and excelling power presented by Mr
Romfrey though it had frightened her at the time Let not Dr Shrapnel come
across him She hoped he would not Ultimately she could say to herself
»Perhaps I need not have been so annoyed with the horrid man« It was on Nevils
account Shrapnels contempt of the claims of Nevils family upon him was
actually a piece of impudence impudently expressed if she remembered
correctly And Shrapnel was a black malignant the foe of the nations
Constitution deserving of punishment if ever man was with his ridiculous
metaphors and talk of organs and pianos orchestras and despotisms and flying
to the sun How could Nevil listen to the creature Shrapnel must be a shameless
hypocrite to mask his wickedness from one so clearsighted as Nevil and no
doubt he indulged in his impudence out of wanton pleasure in it His business
was to catch young gentlemen of family and to turn them against their families
plainly That was thinking the best of him No doubt he had his objects to gain
»He might have been as impudent as he liked to me I would have pardoned him«
Rosamund exclaimed Personally you see she was generous On the whole knowing
Everard Romfrey as she did she wished that she had behaved albeit perfectly
discreet in her behaviour and conscientiously just a shade or two differently
But the evil was done
Chapter XIV
The Leading Article and Mr Timothy Turbot
Nevil declined to come to Steynham clearly owing to a dread of hearing Dr
Shrapnel abused as Rosamund judged by the warmth of his written eulogies of the
man and an ensuing allusion to Game He said that he had not made up his mind
as to the Game Laws Rosamund mentioned the fact to Mr Romfrey »So we may
stick by our licences to shoot tomorrow« he rejoined Of a letter that he also
had received from Nevil he did not speak She hinted at it and he stared He
would have deemed it as vain a subject to discourse of India or Continental
affairs at a period when his house was full for the opening day of sport and
the expectation of keeping up his renown for great bags on that day so entirely
occupied his mind Good shots were present who had contributed to the fame of
Steynham on other opening days Birds were plentiful and promised not to be too
wild He had the range of the Steynham estate in his eye dotted with covers
and after Steynham Holdesbury which had never yielded him the same high
celebrity but both lay mapped out for action under the profound calculations of
the strategist ready to show the skill of the field tactician He could not
attend to Nevil Even the talk of the forthcoming Elections hardly to be
avoided at his table seemed a puerile distraction Ware the foe of his
partridges and pheasants be it man or vermin The name of Shrapnel was
frequently on the tongue of Captain Baskelett Rosamund heard him in her room
and his derisive shouts of laughter over it Cecil was a fine shot quite as
fond of the pastime as his uncle and always in favour with him while sport
stalked the land He was in gallant spirits and Rosamund brooding over Nevils
fortunes and sitting much alone as she did when there were guests in the
house gave way to her previous apprehensions She touched on them to Mr
Stukely Culbrett her husbands old friend one of those happy men who enjoy
perceptions without opinions and are not born to administer comfort to other
than themselves As far as she could gather he fancied Nevil Beauchamp was in
danger of something but he delivered his mind only upon circumstances and
characters Nevil risked his luck Cecil knew his game Everard Romfrey was the
staunchest of mankind Stukely had nothing further to say regarding the
situation She asked him what he thought and he smiled Could a reasonable head
venture to think anything in particular He repeated the amazed »You dont say
so« of Colonel Halkett on hearing the name of the new Liberal candidate for
Bevisham at the dinnertable together with some of Cecils waggish embroidery
upon the theme
Rosamund exclaimed angrily »Oh if I had been there he would not have
dared«
»Why not be there« said Stukely »You have had your choice for a number of
years«
She shook her head reddening
But supposing that she had greater privileges than were hers now The idea
flashed A taint of personal pique awakened by the fancied necessity for
putting her devotedness to Nevil to proof asked her if she would then be the
official housekeeper to whom Captain Baskelett bowed low with affected respect
and impertinent affability ironically praising her abroad as a wonder among
women that could at one time have played the deuce in the family had she
chosen to do so
»Just as you like« Mr Culbrett remarked It was his ironical habit of mind
to believe that the wishes of men and women women as well as men were
expressed by their utterances
»But speak of Nevil to Colonel Halkett« said Rosamund earnestly carrying
on what was in her heart »Persuade the colonel you do not think Nevil foolish
not more than just a little impetuous I want that marriage to come off Not on
account of her wealth She is to inherit a Welsh mine from her uncle you know
besides being an only child Recall what Nevil was during the war Miss Halkett
has not forgotten it I am sure and a good word for him from a man of the world
would I am certain counteract Captain Baskeletts are they designs At any
rate you can if you like help Nevil with the colonel I am convinced they are
doing him a mischief Colonel Halkett has bought an estate and what a
misfortune that is close to Bevisham I fancy he is Toryish Will you not
speak to him At my request I am so helpless I could cry«
»Fancy you have no handkerchief« said Mr Culbrett »and give up scheming
pray One has only to begin to scheme to shorten life to halfadozen hops and
jumps I could say to the colonel Young Beauchamp s a political cub he ought
to have a motherly wife«
»Yes yes you are right dont speak to him at all« said Rosamund feeling
that there must be a conspiracy to rob her of her proud independence since not
a soul could be won to spare her from taking some energetic step if she would
be useful to him she loved
Colonel Halkett was one of the guests at Steynham who knew and respected
her and he paid her a visit and alluded to Nevils candidature apparently not
thinking much the worse of him »We cant allow him to succeed« he said and
looked for a smiling approval of such natural opposition which Rosamund gave
him readily after he had expressed the hope that Nevil Beauchamp would take
advantage of his proximity to Mount Laurels during the contest to try the
hospitality of the house »He wont mind meeting his uncle« The colonels eyes
twinkled »My daughter has engaged Mr Romfrey and Captain Baskelett to come to
us when they have shot Holdesbury«
And Captain Baskelett thought Rosamund her jealousy whispering that the
mention of his name close upon Cecilia Halketts might have a nuptial
signification
She was a witness from her window a prisoners window her eager heart
could have termed it of a remarkable ostentation of cordiality between the
colonel and Cecil in the presence of Mr Romfrey Was it his humour to conspire
to hand Miss Halkett to Cecil and then to show Nevil the prize he had forfeited
by his folly The three were on the lawn a little before Colonel Halketts
departure The colonels arm was linked with Cecils while they conversed
Presently the latter received his afternoons letters and a newspaper He soon
had the paper out at a square stretch and sprightly information for the other
two was visible in his crowing throat Mr Romfrey raised the gun from his
shoulderpad and grounded it Colonel Halkett wished to peruse the matter with
his own eyes but Cecil could not permit it he must read it aloud for them and
he suited his action to the sentences Had Rosamund been accustomed to leading
articles which are the composition of men of an imposing vocabulary she would
have recognized and as good as read one in Cecils gestures as he tilted his
lofty stature forward and back marking his commas and semicolons with flapping
of his elbows and all but doubling his body at his periods Mr Romfrey had
enough of it halfway down the column his head went sharply to left and right
Cecils peculiar foppish slicing down of his hand pictured him protesting that
there was more and finer of the inimitable stuff to follow The end of the scene
exhibited the paper on the turf and Colonel Halketts hand on Cecils shoulder
Mr Romfrey nodding some sort of acquiescence over the muzzle of his gun
whether reflective or positive Rosamund could not decide She sent out a footman
for the paper and was presently communing with its eloquent large type quite
unable to perceive where the comicality or the impropriety of it lay for it
would have struck her that never were truer things of Nevil Beauchamp better
said in the tone befitting them This perhaps was because she never heard fervid
praises of him or of anybody delivered from the mouth and it is not common to
hear Englishmen phrasing great eulogies of one another Still as a rule they
do not object to have it performed in that region of our national eloquence the
Press by an Irishman or a Scotchman And what could there be to warrant Captain
Baskeletts malicious derision and Mr Romfreys nodding assent to it in an
article where all was truth
The truth was mounted on an unusually high wind It was indeed a leading
article of a bannerlike bravery and the unrolling of it was designed to stir
emotions Beauchamp was the theme Nevil had it under his eyes earlier than
Cecil The paper was brought into his room with the beams of day damp from the
presses of the Bevisham Gazette exactly opposite to him in the White Hart
Hotel and a glance at the paragraphs gave him a lively ardour to spring to his
feet What writing He was uplifted as »The heroical Commander Beauchamp of the
Royal Navy« and »Commander Beauchamp R N a gentleman of the highest
connections« he was »that illustrious Commander Beauchamp of our matchless
navy who proved on every field of the last glorious war of this country that
the traditional valour of the noble and indomitable blood transmitted to his
veins had lost none of its edge and weight since the battle of the Lords de
Romfrey ever to the fore clove the skulls of our national enemy on the wide
and fertile champaigns of France« This was pageantry
There was more of it Then the serious afflatus of the article condescended
as it were to blow a shrill and wellknown whistle the study of the science
of navigation made by Commander Beauchamp R N was cited for a jocose
warranty of a seamans aptness to assist in steering the Vessel of the State
After thus heeling over to tip a familiar wink to the multitude the leader
tone resumed its fit deportment Commander Beauchamp in responding to the
invitation of the great and united Liberal party of the borough of Bevisham
obeyed the inspirations of genius the dictates of humanity and what he rightly
considered the paramount duty as it is the proudest ambition of the citizen of
a free country
But for an occasional drop and bump of the sailing gasbag upon catchwords
of enthusiasm which are the rhetoric of the merely windy and a collapse on a
poetic line which too often signalizes the rhetoricians emptiness of his wind
the article was eminent for flight sweep and dash and sailed along far more
grandly than ordinary provincial organs for the promoting or seconding of public
opinion that are as little to be compared with the mighty metropolitan as are
the fife and bugle boys practising on their instruments round melancholy
outskirts of garrison towns with the regimental marching full band under the
presidency of its drummajor No signature to the article was needed for
Bevisham to know who had returned to the town to pen it Those longstretching
sentences comparable to the very ship Leviathan spanning two Atlantic billows
appertained to none but the renowned Mr Timothy Turbot of the Corn Law
campaigns Reform agitations and all manifestly popular movements requiring the
heavenendowed man of speech an interpreter of multitudes and a prompter Like
most men who have little to say he was an orator in print but that was a poor
medium for him his body without his fire Mr Timothys place was the
platform A wise discernment or else a lucky accident for he came hurriedly
from the soil of his native isle needing occupation set him on that side in
politics which happened to be making an established current and strong headway
Oratory will not work against the stream or on languid tides Driblets of
movements that allowed the world to doubt whether they were so much movements as
illusions of the optics did not suit his genius Thus he was a Liberal no
Radical fountain Liberalism had the attraction for the orator of being the
active force in politics between two passive opposing bodies the aspect of
either of which it can assume for a menace to the other Toryish as against
Radicals a trifle red in the eyes of the Tory It can seem to lean back on the
Past it can seem to be amorous of the Future It is actually the thing of the
Present and its urgencies therefore popular pouring forth the pure waters of
moderation strong in their copiousness Delicious and rapturous effects are to
be produced in the flood of a Liberal oration by a chance infusion of the
fierier spirit a flavour of Radicalism That is the thing to set an audience
bounding and quirking Whereas if you commence by tilting a Triton pitcher full
of the neat liquor upon them you have to resort to the natural element for the
orators art of variation you are diluted and that s bathos to quote Mr
Timothy It was a fine piece of discernment in him Let Liberalism be your
feast Radicalism your spice And now and then off and on for a change for
diversion for a new emotion just for half an hour or so now and then the
Sunday coat of Toryism will give you an air You have only to complain of the
fit to release your shoulders in a trice Mr Timothy felt for his art as poets
do for theirs and considered what was best adapted to speaking purely to
speaking Upon no creature did he look with such contempt as upon Dr Shrapnel
whose loose disjunct audiences he was conscious he could giving the doctor any
start he liked whirl away from him and have compact enchained at his first
flourish yea though they were composed of the poor man with a stomach for the
political distillery fit to drain relishingly every private bogside or
mountainside tap in old Ireland in its best days the illicit you understand
Further to quote Mr Timothys points of view the Radical orator has but
two notes and one is the drawling pathetic and the other is the ultrafurious
and the effect of the former we liken to the English working mans wifes
hobset queasy brew of wellmeant villany that she calls by the innocent name
of tea and the latter is to be blown asks to be blown and never should be
blown without at least seeming to be blown with an accompaniment of a house on
fire Sir we must adapt ourselves to our times Perhaps a spark or two does
lurk about our house but we have vigilant watchmen in plenty and the house has
been pretty fairly insured Shrieking in it is an annoyance to the inmates
nonsensical weeping is a sickly business The times are against Radicalism to
the full as much as great oratory is opposed to extremes These drag the orator
too near to the matter So it is that one Radical speech is amazingly like
another they all have the earthspots They smell too they smell of
brimstone Soaring is impossible among that faction but this they can do they
can furnish the Tory his opportunity to soar When hear you a thrilling Tory
speech that carries the country with it save when the incendiary Radical has
shrieked If there was envy in the soul of Timothy it was addressed to the fine
occasions offered to the Tory speaker for vindicating our ancient principles and
our sacred homes He admired the tone to be assumed for that purpose it was a
good note Then could the Tory delivering at the right season the Shakesperian
»This England « and Byronic »The inviolate Island « shake the frame as
though smiting it with the tail of the gymnotus electricus Ah and then could
he thump out his Horace the Torys mentor and his cordial with other great
ancient comic and satiric poets his old Port of the classical cellarage
reflecting veneration upon him who did but name them to an audience of good
dispositions The Tory possessed also an innate inimitably easy style of humour
that had the long reach the jolly lordly indifference the comfortable
masterfulness of the whip of a fourinhand driver capable of flicking and
stinging and of being ironically caressing Timothy appreciated it for he had
winced under it No professor of Liberalism could venture on it unless it were
in the remote district of a back parlour in the society of a cherishing friend
or two and with a slice of lemon requiring to be refloated in the glass
But gifts of this description were of a minor order Liberalism gave the
heading cry devoid of which parties are dogs without a scent orators mere
pumphandles The Torys cry was but a whistle to his pack the Radical howled
to the moon like any chained hound And no wonder for these parties had no
established current they were as hardbound waters the Radical being dyked and
dammed most soundly the Tory resembling a placid lake of the plains fed by
springs and no confluents For such good reasons Mr Timothy rejoiced in the
happy circumstances which had expelled him from the shores of his native isle to
find a refuge and a vocation in Manchester at a period when an orator happened
to be in request because dozens were wanted That centre of convulsions and
source of streams possessed the statistical orator the reasoning orator and
the inspired with others of quality and yet it had need of an everready
spontaneous imperturbable speaker whose bubbling generalizations and ability to
beat the drum humorous could swing halls of meeting from the grasp of an enemy
and then ascend on incalescent adjectives to the popular idea of the sublime He
was the artistic orator of Corn Law Repeal the Manchester flood before which
time Whigs were since which they have walked like spectral antediluvians or
floated as dead canine bodies that are sucked away on the ebb of tides and flung
back on the flow ignorant whether they be progressive or retrograde Timothy
Turbot assisted in that vast effort It should have elevated him beyond the
editorship of a country newspaper Why it did not do so his antagonists
pretended to know and his friends would smile to hear The report was that he
worshipped the nymph Whisky
Timothys article had plucked Beauchamp out of bed Beauchamps card in
return did the same for him
»Commander Beauchamp I am heartily glad to make your acquaintance sir
Ive been absent at work on the big business we have in common I rejoice to
say and am behind my fellow townsmen in this pleasure and lucky I slept here
in my room above where I dont often sleep for the row of the machinery it
s like a steamer that wont go though it s always starting ye« Mr Timothy
said in a single breath upon entering the back office of the Gazette like unto
those accomplished violinists who can hold on the bow to finger an incredible
number of notes and may be imaged as representing slow paternal Time that
rolls his capering dotheaded generation of mortals over the wheel hundreds to
the minute »You ll excuse my not shaving sir to come down to your summons
without an extra touch to the neckband«
Beauchamp beheld a middlesized round man with loose lips and pendant
indigo jowl whose eyes twinkled watery like pebbles under the shorewash and
whose neckband needed an extra touch from fingers other than his own
»I am sorry to have disturbed you so early« he replied
»Not a bit Commander Beauchamp not a bit sir Early or late and ay ready
with the Napiers I ll wash I ll wash«
»I came to speak to you of this article of yours on me They tell me in the
office that you are the writer Pray dont Commander me so much It s not
customary and I object to it«
»Certainly certainly« Timothy acquiesced
»And for the future Mr Turbot please to be good enough not to allude in
print to any of my performances here and there Your intentions are
complimentary but it happens that I dont like a public patting on the back«
»No and that s true« said Timothy
His appreciative and sympathetic agreement with these sharp strictures on
the article brought Beauchamp to a stop
Timothy waited for him then smoothing his prickly cheek remarked »If I
d guessed your errand Commander Beauchamp I d have called in the barber
before I came down just to make myself decent for a first introduction«
Beauchamp was not insensible to the slyness of the poke at him »You see I
come to the borough unknown to it and as quietly as possible and I want to be
taken as a politician« he continued for the sake of showing that he had
sufficient to say to account for his hasty and peremptory summons of the writer
of that article to his presence »It s excessively disagreeable to have ones
family lugged into notice in a newspaper especially if they are of different
politics I feel it«
»All would sir« said Timothy
»Then why the deuce did you do it«
Timothy drew a lading of air into his lungs »Politics Commander Beauchamp
involves the doing of lots of disagreeable things to ourselves and our
relations it s positive I m a soldier of the Great Campaign and who knows
it better than I sir It s climbing the greasy pole for the leg o mutton
that makes the mothers heart ache for the jacket and the nether garments she
mended neatly if she didnt make them Mutton or no mutton there s grease for
certain Since it s sure we cant be disconnected from the family the trick is
to turn the misfortune to a profit and allow me the observation that an old
family sir and a high and titled family is not to be despised for a
background of a portrait in naval uniform with medal and clasps and some small
smoke of powder clearing off over there that s if we re to act sagaciously
in introducing an unknown candidate to a borough that has a sneaking liking for
the kind of person more honour to it I m a political veteran sir I speak
from experience We must employ our weapons every one of them and all off the
grindstone«
»Very well« said Beauchamp »Now understand you are not in future to
employ the weapons as you call them that I have objected to«
Timothy gaped slightly
»Whatever you will but no puffery« Beauchamp added »Can I by any means
arrest purchase is it possible tell me to lay an embargo stop todays
issue of the Gazette«
»No more than the bite of a mad dog« Timothy replied before he had
considered upon the monstrous nature of the proposal
Beauchamp humphed and tossed his head The simile of the dog struck him
with intense effect
»There d be a second edition« said Timothy »and you might buy up that
But there ll be a third and you may buy up that but there ll be a fourth and
a fifth and so on ad infinitum with the advertisement of the sale of the
foregoing creating a demand like a rageing thirst in a shipwreck in Blighs
boat in the tropics I m afraid Com Captain Beauchamp sir there s no
stopping the Press while the people have an appetite for it and a Companys at
the back of it«
»Pooh dont talk to me in that way all I complain of is the figure you
have made of me« said Beauchamp fetching him smartly out of his nonsense »and
all I ask of you is not to be at it again Who would suppose from reading an
article like that that I am a candidate with a single political idea«
»An article like that« said Timothy winking and a little surer of his man
now that he suggested his possession of ideas »an article like that is the best
cloak you can put on a candidate with too many of em Captain Beauchamp I ll
tell you sir I came I heard of your candidature I had your sketch the
pattern of ye before me and I was told that Dr Shrapnel fathered you
politically There was my brief I had to persuade our constituents that you
Commander Beauchamp of the Royal Navy and the great family of the Earls of
Romfrey one of the heroes of the war and the recipient of a Royal Humane
Societys medal for saving life in Bevisham waters were something more than the
Radical doctors political son and sir it was to this end aim and object
that I wrote the article I am not ashamed to avow as mine and I do so sir
because of the solitary merit it has of serving your political interests as the
Liberal candidate for Bevisham by counteracting the unpopularity of Dr
Shrapnels name on the one part and of reviving the credit due to your valour
and high bearing on the field of battle in defence of your country on the
other so that Bevisham may apprehend in spite of party distinctions that it
has the option and had better seize upon the honour of making a M P of a
hero«
Beauchamp interposed hastily »Thank you thank you for the best of
intentions But let me tell you I am prepared to stand or fall with Dr
Shrapnel and be hanged to all that humbug«
Timothy rubbed his hands with an abstracted air of washing »Well
commander well sir they say a candidate s to be humoured in his infancy for
he has to do all the humouring before he s many weeks old at it only there s
the fact he soon finds out he has to pay for his first fling like the son of
a family sowing his oats to reap his Jews Credit me sir I thought it prudent
to counteract a bit of an apothecarys shop odour in the junior Liberal
candidates address I found the town sniffing they scented Shrapnel in the
composition«
»Every line of it was mine« said Beauchamp
»Of course it was and the address was admirably worded sir I make bold to
say it to your face but most indubitably it threatened powerful drugs for weak
stomachs and it blew cold on votes which are sensitive plants like nothing
else in botany«
»If they are only to be got by abandoning principles and by anything but
honesty in stating them they may go« said Beauchamp
»I repeat my dear sir I repeat the infant candidate delights in his
honesty like the babe in its nakedness the beautiful virgin in her innocence
So he does but he discovers it s time for him to wear clothes in a contested
election And what s that but to preserve the outlines pretty correctly whilst
he doesnt shock and horrify the optics A dash of conventionalism makes the
whole civilized world kin ye know That s the truth You must appear to be one
of them for them to choose you After all there s no harm in a dyers hand
and sir a candidate looking at his own when he has won the Election «
»Ah well« said Beauchamp swinging on his heel »and now I ll take my
leave of you and I apologize for bringing you down here so early Please attend
to what I have said it s peremptory You will give me great pleasure by dining
with me tonight at the hotel opposite Will you I dont know what kind of
wine I shall be able to offer you Perhaps you know the cellar and may help me
in that«
Timothy grasped his hand »With pleasure Commander Beauchamp They have a
bucellas over there that s old and a tolerable claret and a Port to be
inquired for under the breath in a mysteriously intimate tone of voice as one
says I know of your treasure and the corner under ground where it lies Avoid
the champagne tis the banqueting wine Ditto the sherry One can drink them
one can drink them«
»At a quarter to eight this evening then« said Nevil
»I ll be there at the stroke of the clock sure as the date of a bill«
said Timothy
And it s early to guess whether you ll catch Bevisham or you wont he
reflected as he gazed at the young gentleman crossing the road but female
Bevisham s with you if that counts for much Timothy confessed that without
the employment of any weapon save arrogance and a look of candour the commander
had gone some way toward catching the feminine side of himself
Chapter XV
Cecilia Halkett
Beauchamp walked down to the pier where he took a boat for H M S Isis to
see Jack Wilmore whom he had not met since his return from his last cruise and
first he tried the efficacy of a dive in salt water as a specific for
irritation It gave the edge to a fine appetite that he continued to satisfy
while Wilmore talked of those famous dogs to which the navy has ever been going
»We want another panic Beauchamp« said Lieutenant Wilmore »No one knows
better than you what a naval man has to complain of so I hope you ll get your
Election if only that we may reckon on a good lookout for the interests of the
service A regular Board with a permanent Lord High Admiral and a regular vote
of money to keep it up to the mark Stick to that Hardist has a vote in
Bevisham I think I can get one or two more Why arent you a Tory No Whigs nor
Liberals look after us half so well as the Tories It s enough to break a mans
heart to see the troops of dockyard workmen marching out as soon as ever a
Liberal Government marches in Then it s one of our infernal panics again and
patch here patch there every inch of it makebelieve I ll prove to you from
examples that the humbug of Government causes exactly the same humbugging
workmanship It seems as if it were a game of rascals all Let them sink us
but by heaven one cant help feeling for the country And I do say it s the
doing of those Liberals Skilled workmen mind you not to be netted again so
easily America reaps the benefit of our folly That was a lucky run of
yours up the Niger the admiral was friendly but you deserved your luck For
Gods sake dont forget the state of our service when you re one of our
cherubs up aloft Beauchamp This I ll say Ive never heard a man talk about
it as you used to in old midshipmite days whole watches through dont you
remember on the North American station and in the Black Sea and the
Mediterranean And that girl at Malta I wonder what has become of her What a
beauty she was I dare say she wasnt so fine a girl as the Armenian you
unearthed on the Bosphorus but she had something about her a fellow cant
forget That was a lovely creature coming down the hills over Granada on her
mule Ay weve seen handsome women Nevil Beauchamp But you always were lucky
invariably and I should bet on you for the Election«
»Canvass for me Jack« said Beauchamp smiling at his friends unconscious
doubleskeining of subjects »If I turn out as good a politician as you are a
seaman I shall do Pounce on Hardists vote without losing a day I would go to
him but Ive missed the Halketts twice They re on the Otley river at a place
called Mount Laurels and I particularly want to see the colonel Can you give
me a boat there and come«
»Certainly« said Wilmore »Ive danced there with the lady the handsomest
girl English style of her time And come come our English style s the best
It wears best it looks best Foreign women they re capital to flirt with
But a girl like Cecilia Halkett one cant call her a girl and it wont do to
say Goddess and queen and charmer are out of the question though she s both
and angel into the bargain but by George what a woman to call wife you say
and a man attached to a woman like that never can let himself look small No
such luck for me only I swear if I stood between a good and a bad action the
thought of that girl would keep me straight and Ive only danced with her
once«
Not long after sketching this rough presentation of the lady with a
masculine hand Wilmore was able to point to her in person on the deck of her
fathers yacht the Esperanza standing out of Otley river There was a gallant
splendour in the vessel that threw a touch of glory on its mistress in the minds
of the two young naval officers as they pulled for her in the ships gig
Wilmore sang out »Give way men«
The sailors bent to their oars and presently the schooners head was put to
the wind
»She sees we re giving chase« Wilmore said »She cant be expecting me so
it must be you No the colonel doesnt race her Theyve only been back from
Italy six months I mean the schooner I remember she talked of you when I had
her for a partner Yes now I mean Miss Halkett Blest if I think she talked of
anything else She sees us I ll tell you what she likes she likes yachting
she likes Italy she likes painting likes things old English awfully fond of
heroes I told her a tale of one of our men saving life Oh said she didnt
your friend Nevil Beauchamp save a man from drowning off the guardship in
exactly the same place And next day she sent me a cheque for three pounds for
the fellow Steady men I keep her letter«
The boat went smoothly alongside the schooner Miss Halkett had come to the
side The oars swung fore and aft and Beauchamp sprang on deck
Wilmore had to decline Miss Halketts invitation to him as well as his
friend and returned in his boat He left the pair with a ruffling breeze and a
sky all sail prepared it seemed to him to enjoy the most delicious youandI
on salt water that a sailor could dream of and placidly envying devoid of
jealousy there was just enough of fancy quickened in Lieutenant Wilmore to give
him pictures of them without disturbance of his feelings one of the conditions
of the singular visitation we call happiness if he could have known it
For a time his visionary eye followed them pretty correctly So long since
they had parted last such changes in the interval and great animation in
Beauchamps gaze and a blush on Miss Halketts cheeks
She said once »Captain Beauchamp« He retorted with a solemn formality
They smiled and immediately took footing on their previous intimacy
»How good it was of you to come twice to Mount Laurels« said she »I have
not missed you today No address was on your card Where are you staying in the
neighbourhood At Mr Lespels«
»I m staying at a Bevisham hotel« said Beauchamp
»You have not been to Steynham yet Papa comes home from Steynham tonight«
»Does he Well the Ariadne is only just paid off and I cant well go to
Steynham yet I « Beauchamp was astonished at the hesitation he found in
himself to name it »I have business in Bevisham«
»Naval business« she remarked
»No« said he
The sensitive prescience we have of a critical distaste of our proceedings
is the world is aware keener than our intuition of contrary opinions and for
the sake of preserving the sweet outward forms of friendliness Beauchamp was
anxious not to speak of the business in Bevisham just then but she looked and
he had hesitated so he said flatly »I am one of the candidates for the
borough«
»Indeed«
»And I want the colonel to give me his vote«
The young lady breathed a melodious »Oh« not condemnatory or reproachful
a sound to fill a pause But she was beginning to reflect
»Italy and our English Channel are my two Poles« she said »I am constantly
swaying between them I have told papa we will not lay up the yacht while the
weather holds fair Except for the absence of deep colour and bright colour
what can be more beautiful than these green waves and that dark forests edge
and the garden of an island The yachtingwater here is an unrivalled lake and
if I miss colour which I love I remind myself that we have temperate air here
not a sun that sends you under cover We can have our fruits too you see« One
of the yachtsmen was handing her a basket of hothouse grapes reclining beside
crisp homemade loaflets »This is my luncheon Will you share it Nevil«
His Christian name was pleasant to hear from her lips She held out a bunch
to him
»Grapes take one back to the South« said he »How do you bear compliments
You have been in Italy some years and it must be the South that has worked the
miracle«
»In my growth« said Cecilia smiling »I have grown out of my Circassian
dress Nevil«
»You received it then«
»I wrote you a letter of thanks and abuse for your not coming to
Steynham You may recognise these pearls«
The pearls were round her right wrist He looked at the blue veins
»They re not pearls of price« he said
»I do not wear them to fascinate the jewellers« rejoined Miss Halkett »So
you are a candidate at an Election You still have a tinge of Africa do you
know But you have not abandoned the navy«
»Not altogether«
»Oh no no I hope not I have heard of you but who has not We cannot
spare officers like you Papa was delighted to hear of your promotion
Parliament«
The exclamation was contemptuous
»It s the highest we can aim at« Beauchamp observed meekly
»I think I recollect you used to talk politics when you were a midshipman«
she said »You headed the aristocracy did you not«
»The aristocracy wants a head« said Beauchamp
»Parliament in my opinion is the best of occupations for idle men« said
she
»It shows that it is a little too full of them«
»Surely the country can go on very well without so much speechmaking«
»It can go on very well for the rich«
Miss Halkett tapped with her foot
»I should expect a Radical to talk in that way Nevil«
»Take me for one«
»I would not even imagine it«
»Say Liberal then«
»Are you not« her eyes opened on him largely and narrowed from surprise
to reproach and then to pain »are you not one of us Have you gone over to
the enemy Nevil«
»I have taken my side Cecilia but we on our side dont talk of an
enemy«
»Most unfortunate We are Tories you know Nevil Papa is a thorough Tory
He cannot vote for you Indeed I have heard him say he is anxious to defeat the
plots of an old Republican in Bevisham some doctor there and I believe he
went to London to look out for a second Tory candidate to oppose to the
Liberals Our present Member is quite safe of course Nevil this makes me
unhappy Do you not feel that it is playing traitor to ones class to join those
men«
Such was the Tory way of thinking Nevil Beauchamp said the Tories upheld
their Toryism in the place of patriotism
»But do we not owe the grandeur of the country to the Tories« she said
with a lovely air of conviction »Papa has told me how false the Whigs played
the Duke in the Peninsula ruining his supplies writing him down declaring
all the time he was fighting his first hard battles that his cause was hopeless
that resistance to Napoleon was impossible The Duke never never had loyal
support but from the Tory Government The Whigs papa says absolutely preached
submission to Napoleon The Whigs I hear were the Liberals of those days The
two Pitts were Tories The greatness of England has been built up by the Tories
I do and will defend them it is the fashion to decry them now They have the
honour and safety of the country at heart They do not play disgracefully at
reductions of taxes as the Liberals do They have given us all our heroes Non
fu mai gloria senza invidia They have done service enough to despise the
envious mob They never condescend to supplicate brute force for aid to crush
their opponents You feel in all they do that the instincts of gentlemen are
active«
Beauchamp bowed
»Do I speak too warmly« she asked »Papa and I have talked over it often
and especially of late You will find him your delighted host and your
inveterate opponent«
»And you«
»Just the same You will have to pardon me I am a terrible foe«
»I declare to you Cecilia I would prefer having you against me to having
you indifferent«
»I wish I had not to think it right that you should be beaten And now can
you throw off political Nevil and be sailor Nevil I distinguish between my old
friend and my our «
»Dreadful antagonist«
»Not so dreadful except in the shock he gives us to find him in the
opposite ranks I am grieved But we will finish our sail in peace I detest
controversy I suppose Nevil you would have no such things as yachts they are
the enjoyments of the rich«
He reminded her that she wished to finish her sail in peace and he had to
remind her of it more than once Her scattered resources for argumentation
sprang up from various suggestions such as the flight of yachts mention of the
shooting season sight of a royal palace and adopted a continually heightened
satirical form oddly intermixed with an undisguised affectionate friendliness
Apparently she thought it possible to worry him out of his adhesion to the wrong
side in politics She certainly had no conception of the nature of his political
views for one or two extreme propositions flung to him in jest he swallowed
with every sign of a perfect facility as if the Radical had come to regard
stupendous questions as morsels barely sufficient for his daily sustenance
Cecilia reflected that he must be playing and as it was not a subject for play
she tacitly reproved him by letting him be the last to speak of it He may not
have been susceptible to the delicate chastisement probably was not for when
he ceased it was to look on the beauty of her lowered eyelids rather with an
idea that the weight of his argument lay on them It breathed from him both in
the department of logic and of feeling in his plea for the poor man and his
exposition of the poor mans rightful claims he evidently imagined that he had
spoken overwhelmingly and to undeceive him in this respect for his own good
Cecilia calmly awaited the occasion when she might show the vanity of arguments
in their effort to overcome convictions He stood up to take his leave of her
on their return to the mouth of the Otley river unexpectedly so that the
occasion did not arrive but on his mentioning an engagement he had to give a
dinner to a journalist and a tradesman of the town of Bevisham by way of excuse
for not complying with her gentle entreaty that he would go to Mount Laurels and
wait to see the colonel that evening »Oh then your choice must be made
irrevocably I am sure« Miss Halkett said relying upon intonation and manner
to convey a great deal more and not without a minor touch of resentment for his
having dragged her into the discussion of politics which she considered as a
slime wherein men hustled and tussled no doubt worthily enough and as became
them not however to impose the strife upon the elect ladies of earth What
gentleman ever did talk to a young lady upon the dreary topic seriously Least
of all should Nevil Beauchamp have done it That object of her high imagination
belonged to the exquisite sphere of the feminine vision of the pure poetic and
she was vexed by the discord he threw between her longcherished dream and her
unanticipated realization of him if indeed it was he presenting himself to her
in his own character and not trifling or not passing through a phase of young
mans madness
Possibly he might be the victim of the latter and more pardonable state and
so thinking she gave him her hand
»Goodbye Nevil I may tell papa to expect you to
»Do and tell him to prepare for a fieldday«
She smiled »A sham fight that will not win you a vote I hope you will find
your guests this evening agreeable companions«
Beauchamp halfshrugged involuntarily He obliterated the piece of treason
toward them by saying that he hoped so as though the meeting them instead of
slipping on to Mount Laurels with her were an enjoyable prospect
He was dropped by the Esperanzas boat near Otley ferry to walk along the
beach to Bevisham and he kept eye on the elegant vessel as she glided swanlike
to her moorings off Mount Laurels park through dusky merchant craft colliers
and trawlers loosely shaking her towering snowwhite sails unchallenged in her
scornful supremacy an image of a refinement of beauty and of a beautiful
servicelessness
As the yacht so the mistress things of wealth owing their graces to
wealth devoting them to wealth splendid achievements of art both and
dedicated to the gratification of the superior senses
Say that they were precious examples of an accomplished civilization and
perhaps they did offer a visible ideal of grace for the rough world to aim at
They might in the abstract address a bit of a monition to the uncultivated and
encourage the soul to strive toward perfection in beauty and there is no
contesting the value of beauty when the soul is taken into account But were
they not in too great a profusion in proportion to their utility That was the
question for Nevil Beauchamp The democratic spirit inhabiting him temporarily
or permanently asked whether they were not increasing to numbers which were
oppressive And further whether it was good for the country the race ay the
species that they should be so distinctly removed from the thousands who fought
the grand and the grisly old battle with nature for bread of life Those grimy
sails of the colliers and fishingsmacks set them in a great sea would have
beauty for eyes and soul beyond that of elegance and refinement And do but look
on them thoughtfully the poor are everlastingly unrelievedly in the abysses
of the great sea
One cannot pursue to conclusions a line of meditation that is halfbuilt on
the sensations as well as on the mind Did Beauchamp at all desire to have those
idly lovely adornments of riches the Yacht and the Lady swept away Oh dear
no He admired them he was at home with them They were much to his taste
Standing on a point of the beach for a last look at them before he set his face
to the town he prolonged the look in a manner to indicate that the place where
business called him was not in comparison at all so pleasing and just as little
enjoyable were his meditations opposed to predilections Beauty plucked the
heart from his breast But he had taken up arms he had drunk of the questioning
cup that which denieth peace to us and which projects us upon the missionary
search of the How the Wherefore and the Why not ever afterward He questioned
his justification and yours for gratifying tastes in an illregulated world of
wrongdoing suffering sin and bounties unrighteously dispensed not
sufficiently dispersed He said byandby to pleasure battle today From his
point of observation and with the store of ideas and images his fiery yet
reflective youth had gathered he presented himself as it were saddled to that
hardriding force known as the logical impetus which spying its quarry over
precipices across oceans and deserts and through systems and webs and into
shops and cabinets of costliest china will come at it will not be refused let
the distances and the breakages be what they may He went like the meteoric man
with the mechanical legs in the song too quick for a cry of protestation and
reached results amazing to his instincts his tastes and his training not less
rapidly and naturally than tremendous Ergo is shot forth from the clash of a
syllogism
Chapter XVI
A Partial Display of Beauchamp in His Colours
Beauchamp presented himself at Mount Laurels next day and formally asked
Colonel Halkett for his vote in the presence of Cecilia
She took it for a playful glance at his new profession of politician he
spoke halfplayfully Was it possible to speak in earnest
»I m of the opposite party« said the colonel as conclusive a reply as
could be but he at once fell upon the rotten navy of a Liberal Government How
could a true sailor think of joining those Liberals The question referred to
the country not to a section of it Beauchamp protested with impending
emphasis Tories and Liberals were much the same in regard to the care of the
navy »Nevil« exclaimed Cecilia He cited beneficial Liberal bills recently
passed which she accepted for a concession of the navy to the Tories and she
smiled In spite of her dislike of politics she had only to listen a few
minutes to be drawn into the contest and thus it is that one hot politician
makes many among women and men of a people that have the genius of strife or
else in this case the young lady did unconsciously feel a deep interest in
refuting and overcoming Nevil Beauchamp Colonel Halkett denied the benefits of
those bills »Look« said he »at the scarecrow plight of the army under a
Liberal Government« This laid him open to the charge that he was for backing
Administrations instead of principles
»I do« said the colonel »I would rather have a good Administration than
all your talk of principles ones a fact but principles principles« He
languished for a phrase to describe the hazy things »I have mine and you have
yours It s like a dispute between religions There s no settling it except by
main force That s what principles lead you to«
Principles may be hazy but heavy artillery is disposable in defence of
them and Beauchamp fired some reverberating guns for the eternal against the
transitory with less of the gentlemanly fine taste the light and easy social
semiirony than Cecilia liked and would have expected from him However as to
principles no doubt Nevil was right and Cecilia drew her father to another
position »Are not we Tories to have principles as well as the Liberals Nevil«
»They may have what they call principles« he admitted intent on pursuing
his advantage over the colonel who said to shorten the controversy »It s a
question of my vote and my liking I like a Tory Government and I dont like
the Liberals I like gentlemen I dont like a party that attacks everything
and beats up the mob for power and repays it with sops and is dragging us down
from all we were proud of«
»But the country is growing the country wants expansion« said Beauchamp
»and if your gentlemen by birth are not up to the mark you must have leaders
that are«
»Leaders who cut down expenditure to create a panic that doubles the
outlay I know them«
»A panic Nevil« Cecilia threw stress on the memorable word
He would hear no reminder in it The internal condition of the country was
now the point for seriouslyminded Englishmen
»My dear boy what have you seen of the country« Colonel Halkett inquired
»Every time I have landed colonel I have gone to the mining and the
manufacturing districts the centres of industry wherever there was
dissatisfaction I have attended meetings to see and hear for myself I have
read the papers «
»The papers«
»Well they re the mirror of the country«
»Does one see everything in a mirror Nevil« said Cecilia »even in the
smoothest«
He retorted softly »I should be glad to see what you see« and felled her
with a blush
For an example of the mirror offered by the Press Colonel Halkett touched
on Mr Timothy Turbots article in eulogy of the great Commander Beauchamp »Did
you like it« he asked »Ah but if you meddle with politics you must submit to
be held up on the prongs of a fork my boy soaped by your backers and shaved by
the foe and there s a figure for a gentleman as your uncle Romfrey says«
Cecilia did not join this discussion though she had heard from her father
that something grotesque had been written of Nevil Her foolishness in blushing
vexed body and mind She was incensed by a silly compliment that struck at her
feminine nature when her intellect stood in arms Yet more hurt was she by the
reflection that a too lively sensibility might have conjured up the idea of the
compliment And again she wondered at herself for not resenting so rare a
presumption as it implied and not disdaining so outworn a form of flattery She
wondered at herself too for thinking of resentment and disdain in relation to
the familiar commonplaces of licenced impertinence Over all which hung a
darkened image of her spirit of independence like a moon in eclipse
Where lay his weakness Evidently in the belief that he had thought
profoundly But what minor item of insufficiency or feebleness was discernible
She discovered that he could be easily fretted by similes and metaphors they
set him staggering and groping like an ancient knight of faëry in a forest
bewitched
»Your specific for the country is then Radicalism« she said after
listening to an attack on the Tories for their want of a policy and indifference
to the union of classes
»I would prescribe a course of it Cecilia yes« he turned to her
»The Dr Dulcamara of a single drug«
»Now you have a name for me Tory arguments always come to epithets«
»It should not be objectionable Is it not honest to pretend to have only
one cure for mortal maladies There can hardly be two panaceas can there be«
»So you call me quack«
»No Nevil no« she breathed a rich contralto note of denial »but if the
country is the patient and you will have it swallow your prescription «
»There s nothing like a metaphor for an evasion« said Nevil blinking over
it
She drew him another analogy longer than was at all necessary so tedious
that her father struck through it with the remark
»Concerning that quack that s one in the background though«
»I know of none« said Beauchamp welladvised enough to forbear mention of
the name of Shrapnel
Cecilia petitioned that her stumbling ignorance which sought the road of
wisdom might be heard out She had a reserve entanglement for her argumentative
friend »You were saying Nevil that you were for principles rather than for
individuals and you instanced Mr Cougham the senior Liberal candidate of
Bevisham as one whom you would prefer to see in Parliament instead of Seymour
Austin though you confess to Mr Austins far superior merits as a politician
and servant of his country but Mr Cougham supports Liberalism while Mr Austin
is a Tory You are for the principle«
»I am« said he bowing
She asked »Is not that equivalent to the doctrine of election by Grace«
Beauchamp interjected »Grace election«
Cecilia was tender to his inability to follow her allusion
»Thou art a Liberal then rise to membership« she said »Accept my creed
and thou art of the chosen Yes Nevil you cannot escape from it Papa he
preaches Calvinism in politics«
»We stick to men and good men« the colonel flourished »Old English for
me«
»You might as well say old timber vessels when Iron s afloat colonel«
»I suspect you have the worst of it there papa« said Cecilia taken by the
unexpectedness and smartness of the comparison coming from wits that she had
been undervaluing
»I shall not own I m worsted until I surrender my vote« the colonel
rejoined
»I wont despair of it« said Beauchamp
Colonel Halkett bade him come for it as often as he liked »You ll be
beaten in Bevisham I warn you Tory reckonings are safest it s an admitted
fact and we know you cant win According to my judgement a man owes a duty to
his class«
»A man owes a duty to his class as long as he sees his class doing its duty
to the country« said Beauchamp and he added rather prettily in contrast with
the sententious commencement Cecilia thought that the apathy of his class was
proved when such as he deemed it an obligation on them to come forward and do
what little they could The deduction of the proof was not clearly consequent
but a meaning was expressed and in that form it brought him nearer to her
abstract idea of Nevil Beauchamp than when he raged and was precise
After his departure she talked of him with her father to be charitably
satirical over him it seemed
The critic in her ear had pounced on his repetition of certain words that
betrayed a dialectical stiffness and hinted a narrow vocabulary his use of
emphasis rather reminding her of his uncle Everard was in a young man a
little distressing »The apathy of the country papa the apathy of the rich a
state of universal apathy Will you inform me papa what the Tories are doing
Do we really give our consciences to the keeping of the parsons once a week and
let them dogmatize for us to save us from exertion We must attach ourselves to
principles nothing is permanent but principles Poor Nevil And still I am sure
you have as I have the feeling that one must respect him I am quite convinced
that he supposes he is doing his best to serve his country by trying for
Parliament fancying himself a Radical I forgot to ask him whether he had
visited his greataunt Mrs Beauchamp They say the dear old lady has influence
with him«
»I dont think he s been anywhere« Colonel Halkett half laughed at the
quaint fellow »I wish the other greatnephew of hers were in England for us to
run him against Nevil Beauchamp He s touring the world I m told he s
orthodox and a tough debater We have to take what we can get«
»My best wishes for your success and you and I will not talk of politics
any more papa I hope Nevil will come often for his own good he will meet his
own set of people here And if he should dogmatize so much as to rouse our
apathy to denounce his principles we will remember that we are British and can
be sweetblooded in opposition Perhaps he may change even tra le tre ore e le
quattro electioneering should be a lesson From my recollection of Blackburn
Tuckham he was a boisterous boy«
»He writes uncommonly clever letters home to his aunt Beauchamp She has
handed them to me to read« said the colonel »I do like to see tolerably solid
young fellows they give one some hope of the stability of the country«
»They are not so interesting to study and not half so amusing« said
Cecilia
Colonel Halkett muttered his objections to the sort of amusement furnished
by firebrands
»Firebrand is too strong a word for poor Nevil« she remonstrated
In that estimate of the character of Nevil Beauchamp Cecilia soon had to
confess that she had been deceived though not by him
Chapter XVII
His Friend and Foe
Looking from her window very early on a Sunday morning Miss Halkett saw
Beauchamp strolling across the grass of the park She dressed hurriedly and went
out to greet him smiling and thanking him for his friendliness in coming
He said he was delighted and appeared so but dashed the sweetness »You
know I cant canvass on Sundays«
»I suppose not« she replied »Have you walked up from Bevisham You must be
tired«
»Nothing tires me« said he
With that they stepped on together
Mount Laurels a fair broad house backed by a wood of beeches and firs lay
open to view on the higher grassed knoll of a series of descending turfy mounds
dotted with gorseclumps and faced Southwesterly along the run of the Otley
river to the gleaming broad water and its opposite border of forest beyond
which the downs of the island threw long interlopping curves Great ships passed
on the line of the water to and fro and a little mist of masts of the fishing
and coasting craft by Otley village near the rivers mouth was like a web in
air Cecilia led him to her dusky wood of firs where she had raised a bower for
a place of poetical contemplation and reading when the clear lapping salt river
beneath her was at high tide She could hail the Esperanza from that cover she
could step from her drawingroom window over the flowerbeds down the gravel
walk to the hard and be on board her yacht within seven minutes out on her
saltwater lake within twenty closing her wings in a French harbour by
nightfall of a summers day whenever she had the whim to fly abroad Of these
enviable privileges she boasted with some happy pride
»It s the finest yachtingstation in England« said Beauchamp
She expressed herself very glad that he should like it so much
Unfortunately she added »I hope you will find it pleasanter to be here than
canvassing«
»I have no pleasure in canvassing« said he »I canvass poor men accustomed
to be paid for their votes and who get nothing from me but what the baron would
call a parsonical exhortation I m in the thick of the most spiritless crew in
the kingdom Our southern men will not compare with the men of the north But
still even among these fellows I see danger for the country if our commerce
were to fail if distress came on them There s always danger in disunion That
s what the rich wont see They see simply nothing out of their own circle and
they wont take a thought of the overpowering contrast between their luxury and
the way of living that s halfstarving of the poor They understand it when
fever comes up from back alleys and cottages and then they join their efforts
to sweep the poor out of the district The poor are to get to their work anyhow
after a long mornings walk over the proscribed space for we must have poor
you know The wife of a parson I canvassed yesterday said to me Who is to work
for us if you do away with the poor Captain Beauchamp«
Cecilia quitted her bower and traversed the wood silently
»So you would blow up my poor Mount Laurels for a peaceoffering to the
lower classes«
»I should hope to put it on a stronger foundation Cecilia«
»By means of some convulsion«
»By forestalling one«
»That must be one of the new ironclads« observed Cecilia gazing at the
black smokepennon of a tower that slipped along the waterline »Yes You were
saying Put us on a stronger «
»It s I think the Hastings she broke down the other day on her trial
trip« said Beauchamp watching the ships progress animatedly »Peppel commands
her a capital officer I suppose we must have these costly big floating
barracks I dont like to hear of everything being done for the defensive The
defensive is perilous policy in war It s true the English dont wake up to
their work under half a year But no defending and looking to defences is bad
for the fighting power and there s half a million gone on that ship Half a
million Do you know how many poor taxpayers it takes to make up that sum
Cecilia«
»A great many« she slurred over them »but we must have big ships and the
best that are to be had«
»Powerful fast rams seaworthy and fit for running over shallows carrying
one big gun swarms of harryers and worriers known to be kept ready for
immediate service readiness for the offensive in case of war there s the
best defence against a declaration of war by a foreign State«
»I like to hear you Nevil« said Cecilia beaming »Papa thinks we have a
miserable army in numbers He says the wealthier we become the more difficult
it is to recruit ablebodied men on the volunteering system Yet the wealthier
we are the more an army is wanted both to defend our wealth and to preserve
order I fancy he half inclines to compulsory enlistment Do speak to him on
that subject«
Cecilia must have been innocent of a design to awaken the fireflash in
Nevils eyes She had no design but hostility was latent and hence perhaps the
offending phrase
He nodded and spoke coolly »An army to preserve order So then an army to
threaten civil war«
»To crush revolutionists«
»Agitators you mean My dear good old colonel I have always loved him
must not have more troops at his command«
»Do you object to the drilling of the whole of the people«
»Does not the colonel Cecilia I am sure he does in his heart and for
different reasons I do He wont trust the workingclasses nor I the middle«
»Does Dr Shrapnel hate the middleclass«
»Dr Shrapnel cannot hate He and I are of opinion that as the middleclass
are the party in power they would not if they knew the use of arms move an
inch farther in Reform for they would no longer be in fear of the class below
them«
»But what horrible notions of your country have you Nevil It is dreadful
to hear Oh do let us avoid politics for ever Fear«
»All concessions to the people have been won from fear«
»I have not heard so«
»I will read it to you in the History of England«
»You paint us in a condition of Revolution«
»Happily it s not a condition unnatural to us The danger would be in not
letting it be progressive and there s a little danger too at times in our
slowness We change our blood or we perish«
»Dr Shrapnel«
»Yes I have heard Dr Shrapnel say that And bytheway Cecilia will
you can you take me for the witness to his character He is the most
guileless of men and he s the most unguarded My good Rosamund saw him She is
easily prejudiced when she is a trifle jealous and you may hear from her that
he rambles talks wildly It may seem so I maintain there is wisdom in him when
conventional minds would think him at his wildest Believe me he is the
humanest the best of men tenderhearted as a child the most benevolent
simpleminded admirable old man the man I am proudest to think of as an
Englishman and a man living in my time of all men existing I cant overpraise
him«
»He has a bad reputation«
»Only with the class that will not meet him and answer him«
»Must we invite him to our houses«
»It would be difficult to get him to come if you did I mean meet him in
debate and answer his arguments Try the question by brains«
»Before mobs«
»Not before mobs I punish you by answering you seriously«
»I am sensible of the flattery«
»Before mobs« Nevil ejaculated »It s the Tories that mob together and cry
down every man who appears to them to threaten their privileges Can you guess
what Dr Shrapnel compares them to«
»Indeed Nevil I have not an idea I only wish your patriotism were large
enough to embrace them«
»He compares them to geese claiming possession of the whole common and
hissing at every foot of ground they have to yield They re always having to
retire and always hissing Retreat and menace that s the motto for them«
»Very well Nevil I am a goose upon a common«
So saying Cecilia swam forward like a swan on water to give the morning
kiss to her papa by the open window of the breakfastroom
Never did bird of Michaelmas fling off water from her feathers more
thoroughly than this fair young lady the false title she pretended to assume
»I hear you re of the dinner party at Grancey Lespels on Wednesday« the
colonel said to Beauchamp »You ll have to stand fire«
»They will papa« murmured Cecilia »Will Mr Austin be there«
»I particularly wish to meet Mr Austin« said Beauchamp
»Listen to him if you do meet him« she replied
His look was rather grave
»Lespel s a Whig« he said
The colonel answered »Lespel was a Whig Once a Tory always a Tory but
court the people and you re on quicksands and that s where the Whigs are
What he is now I dont think he knows himself You wont get a vote«
Cecilia watched her friend Nevil recovering from his short fit of gloom He
dismissed politics at breakfast and grew companionable with the charm of his
earlier day He was willing to accompany her to church too
»You will hear a long sermon« she warned him
»Forty minutes« Colonel Halkett smothered a yawn that was both retro and
prospective
»It has been fifty papa«
»It has been an hour my dear«
It was good discipline nevertheless the colonel affirmed and Cecilia
praised the Rev Mr Brisk of Urplesdon vicarage as one of our few remaining
Protestant clergymen
»Then he ought to be supported« said Beauchamp »In the dissensions of
religious bodies it is wise to pat the weaker party on the back I quote
Stukely Culbrett«
»Ive heard him« sighed the colonel »He calls the Protestant clergy the
social police of the English middleclass Those are the things he lets fly I
have heard that man say that the Church stands to show the passion of the human
race for the drama He said it in my presence And there s a man who calls
himself a Tory You have rather too much of that playing at grudges and dislikes
at Steynham with squibs nicknames and jests at things that well that our
stability is bound up in I hate squibs«
»And I« said Beauchamp Some shadow of a frown crossed him but Stukely
Culbretts humour seemed to be a refuge »Protestant parson not clergy« he
corrected the colonel »Cant you hear Mr Culbrett Cecilia The Protestant
parson is the policeman set to watch over the respectability of the
middleclass He has sharp eyes for the sins of the poor As for the rich they
support his church they listen to his sermon to set an example discipline
colonel You discipline the tradesman who s afraid of losing your custom and
the labourer who might be deprived of his bread But the people It s put down
to the wickedness of human nature that the parson has not got hold of the
people The parsons have lost them by senseless Conservatism because they look
to the Tories for the support of their Church and let the religion run down the
gutters And how many thousands have you at work in the pulpit every Sunday I
m told the Dissenting ministers have some vitality«
Colonel Halkett shrugged with disgust at the mention of Dissenters
»And those thirty or forty thousand colonel call the men that do the work
they ought to be doing demagogues The parsonry are a power absolutely to be
counted for waste as to progress«
Cecilia perceived that her father was beginning to be fretted
She said with a tact that effected its object »I am one who hear Mr
Culbrett without admiring his wit«
»No and I see no good in this kind of Steynham talk« Colonel Halkett said
rising »We re none of us perfect Heaven save us from political parsons«
Beauchamp was heard to utter »Humanity«
The colonel left the room with Cecilia muttering the Steynham tail to that
word »tomtity« for the solace of an aside repartee
She was on her way to dress for church He drew her into the library and
there threw open a vast placard lying on the table It was printed in blue
characters and red »This is what I got by the post this morning I suppose
Nevil knows about it He wants tickling but I dont like this kind of thing It
s not fair war It s as bad as using explosive bullets in my old game«
»Can he expect his adversaries to be tender with him« Cecilia simulated
vehemence in an underbreath She glanced down the page
»FRENCH MARQUEES« caught her eye
It was a page of verse And oh could it have issued from a Tory Committee
»The Liberals are as bad and worse« her father said
She became more and more distressed »It seems so very mean papa so base
Ungenerous is no word for it And how vulgar Now I remember Nevil said he
wished to see Mr Austin«
»Seymour Austin would not sanction it«
»No but Nevil might hold him responsible for it«
»I suspect Mr Stukely Culbrett whom he quotes and that smokingroom lot
at Lespels I distinctly discountenance it So I shall tell them on Wednesday
night Can you keep a secret«
»And after all Nevil Beauchamp is very young papa of course I can keep a
secret«
The colonel exacted no word of honour feeling quite sure of her
He whispered the secret in six words and her cheeks glowed vermilion
»But they will meet on Wednesday after this« she said and her sight went
dancing down the column of verse of which the following trotting couplet is a
specimen
»O did you ever hot in love a little British middy see
Like Orpheus asking what the deuce to do without Eurydice«
The middy is jilted by his FRENCH MARQUEES whom he did adore and in his wrath
he recommends himself to the wealthy widow Bevisham concerning whose choice of
her suitors there is a doubt but the middy is encouraged to persevere
»Up up my pretty middy take a draught of foaming Sillery
Go in and win the widdy with your Radical artillery«
And if Sillery will not do he is advised he being for superlatives to try the
sparkling Silliery of the Radical vintage selected grapes
This was but impudent nonsense But the reiterated apostrophe to »MY FRENCH
MARQUEES« was considered by Cecilia to be a brutal offence
She was shocked that her party should have been guilty of it Nevil
certainly provoked and he required hard blows and his uncle Everard might be
right in telling her father that they were the best means of teaching him to
come to his understanding Still a foul and stupid squib did appear to her a
debasing weapon to use
»I cannot congratulate you on your choice of a second candidate papa« she
said scornfully
»I dont much congratulate myself« said the colonel »Here s a letter from
Mrs Beauchamp informing me that her boy Blackburn will be home in a month
There would have been plenty of time for him However we must make up our minds
to it Those two ll be meeting on Wednesday so keep your secret It will be
out tomorrow week«
»But Nevil will be accusing Mr Austin«
»Austin wont be at Lespels And he must bear it for the sake of peace«
»Is Nevil ruined with his uncle papa«
»Not a bit I should imagine It s Romfreys fun«
»And this disgraceful squib is a part of the fun«
»That I know nothing about my dear I m sorry but there s pitch and tar
in politics as well as on shipboard«
»I do not see that there should be« said Cecilia resolutely
»We cant hope to have what should be«
»Why not I would have it I would do my utmost to have it« she flamed out
»Your utmost« Her father was glancing at her foregone mimicry of
Beauchamps occasional strokes of emphasis »Do your utmost to have your bonnet
on in time for us to walk to church I cant bear driving there«
Cecilia went to her room with the curious reflection awakened by what her
father had chanced to suggest to her mind that she likewise could be fervid
positive uncompromising who knows Radicalish perhaps when she looked eye
to eye on an evil For a moment or so she espied within herself a gulf of
possibilities wherein black nightbirds known as queries roused by shot of
light do flap their wings Her utmost to have be what should be And why not
But the intemperate feeling subsided while she was doing duty before her
mirror and the visionary gulf closed immediately
She had merely been very angry on Nevil Beauchamps behalf and had dimly
seen that a woman can feel insurgent almost revolutionary for a personal
cause Tory though her instinct of safety and love of smoothness make her
No reflection upon this casual piece of self or sex revelation troubled her
head She did however think of her position as the friend of Nevil in utter
antagonism to him It beset her with contradictions that blew rough on her
cherished serenity for she was of the order of ladies who by virtue of their
pride and spirit their port and their beauty decree unto themselves the rank
of princesses among women before our world has tried their claim to it She had
lived hitherto in upper air high above the clouds of earth Her ideal of a man
was of one similarly disengaged and lofty loftier Nevil she could honestly
say was not her ideal he was only her old friend and she was opposed to him
in his present adventure The striking at him to cure him of his mental errors
and excesses was an obligation she could descend upon him calmly with the
chastening rod pointing to the better way but the shielding of him was a
different thing it dragged her down so low that in her condemnation of the
Tory squib she found herself asking herself whether haply Nevil had flung off
the yoke of the French lady with the foolish excuse for the question that if
he had not he must be bitterly sensitive to the slightest public allusion to
her Had he And if not how desperately faithful he was or else how
marvellously seductive she
Perhaps it was a lovers despair that had precipitated him into the mire of
politics She conceived the impression that it must be so and throughout the
day she had an inexplicable unsweet pleasure in inciting him to argumentation
and combating him though she was compelled to admit that he had been
colloquially charming antecedent to her naughty provocation and though she was
indebted to him for his patient decorum under the weary wave of the Reverend Mr
Brisk Now what does it matter what a woman thinks in politics But he deemed it
of great moment Politically he deemed that women have souls a certain fire of
life for exercise on earth He appealed to reason in them he would not hear of
convictions He quoted the Bevisham doctor »Convictions are generally first
impressions that are sealed with later prejudices« and insisted there was
wisdom in it Nothing tired him as he had said and addressing woman or man no
prospect of fatigue or of hopeless effort daunted him in the endeavour to
correct an error of judgement in politics his notion of an error The value he
put upon speaking urging his views was really fanatical It appeared that he
canvassed the borough from early morning till near midnight and nothing would
persuade him that his chance was poor nothing that an entrenched Tory like her
father was not to be won even by an assault of all the reserve forces of
Radical pathos prognostication and statistics
Only conceive Nevil Beauchamp knocking at doors late at night the sturdy
beggar of a vote or waylaying workmen as he confessed without shame that he
had done on their way trooping to their midday meal penetrating malodoriferous
rooms of dismal tenpound cottagers to exhort bedraggled mothers and babes and
besotted husbands and exposed to rebuffs from impertinent tradesmen and
lampooned and travestied shouting speeches to roaring men pushed from shoulder
to shoulder of the mob
Cecilia dropped a curtain on her minds picture of him But the blinding
curtain rekindled the thought that the line he had taken could not but be the
desperation of a lover abandoned She feared it was she feared it was not
Nevil Beauchamps foe persisted in fearing that it was not his friend feared
that it was Yet why For if it was then he could not be quite in earnest and
might be cured Nay but earnestness works out its own cure more surely than
frenzy and it should be preferable to think him sound of heart sincere though
mistaken Cecilia could not decide upon what she dared wish for his healths
good Friend and foe were not further separable within her bosom than one tick
from another of a clock they changed places and next his friend was fearing
what his foe had feared they were inextricable
Why had he not sprung up on a radiant aquiline ambition whither one might
have followed him with eyes and prayers for him if it was not possible to do
so companionably At present in the shape of a canvassing candidate it was
hardly honourable to let imagination dwell on him save compassionately
When he rose to take his leave Cecilia said »Must you go to Itchincope on
Wednesday Nevil«
Colonel Halkett added »I dont think I would go to Lespels if I were you
I rather suspect Seymour Austin will be coming on Wednesday and that ll detain
me here and you might join us and lend him an ear for an evening«
»I have particular reasons for going to Lespels I hear he wavers toward a
Tory conspiracy of some sort« said Beauchamp
The colonel held his tongue
The untiring young candidate chose to walk down to Bevisham at eleven
oclock at night that he might be the readier to continue his canvass of the
borough on Monday morning early He was offered a bed or a conveyance and he
declined both the dogcart he declined out of consideration for horse and
groom which an owner of stables could not but approve
Colonel Halkett broke into exclamations of pity for so good a young fellow
so misguided
The night was moonless and Cecilia looking through the window said
whimsically »He has gone out into the darkness and is no light in it«
Certainly none shone She however carried a lamp that revealed him footing
on with a wonderful air of confidence and she was rather surprised to hear her
father regret that Nevil Beauchamp should be losing his good looks already
owing to that miserable business of his in Bevisham She would have thought the
contrary that he was looking as well as ever
»He dresses just as he used to dress« she observed
The individual style of a naval officer of breeding in which you see
neatness trifling with disorder or disorder plucking at neatness like the
breeze a trim vessel had been caught to perfection by Nevil Beauchamp
according to Cecilia It presented him to her mind in a cheerful and a very
undemocratic aspect but in realizing it the thought like something flashing
black crossed her how attractive such a style must be to a Frenchwoman
»He may look a little worn« she acquiesced
Chapter XVIII
Concerning the Act of Canvassing
Tories dread the restlessness of Radicals and Radicals are in awe of the
organization of Tories Beauchamp thought anxiously of the high degree of
confidence existing in the Tory camp whose chief could afford to keep aloof
while he slaved all day and half the night to thump ideas into heads like a
cooper on a cask an impassioned cooper on an empty cask if such an image is
presentable Even so enviously sometimes the writer and the barrister men
dependent on their active wits regard the man with a business fixed in an
office managed by clerks That man seems by comparison celestially seated But
he has his fits of trepidation for new tastes prevail and new habits are
formed and the structure of his business will not allow him to adapt himself to
them in a minute The secure and comfortable have to pay in occasional panics
for the serenity they enjoy Mr Seymour Austin candidly avowed to Colonel
Halkett on his arrival at Mount Laurels that he was advised to take up his
quarters in the neighbourhood of Bevisham by a recent report of his committee
describing the young Radicals canvass as redoubtable Cougham he did not fear
he could make a sort of calculation of the votes for the Liberal thumping on the
old drum of Reform but the number for him who appealed to feelings and
quickened the romantic sentiments of the common people now huddled within our
electoral penfold was not calculable Tory and Radical have an eye for one
another which overlooks the Liberal at all times except when he is as they
imagine playing the game of either of them
»Now we shall see the passions worked« Mr Austin said deploring the
extension of the franchise
He asked whether Beauchamp spoke well
Cecilia left it to her father to reply but the colonel appealed to her
saying »Inclined to dragoon one isnt he«
She did not think that »He speaks he speaks well in conversation I
fancy he would be liked by the poor I should doubt his being a good public
speaker He certainly has command of his temper that is one thing I cannot say
whether it favours oratory He is indefatigable One may be sure he will not
faint by the way He quite believes in himself But Mr Austin do you really
regard him as a serious rival«
Mr Austin could not tell No one could tell the effect of an extended
franchise The untried venture of it depressed him »Men have come suddenly on a
borough before now and carried it« he said
»Not a borough like Bevisham«
He shook his head »A fluid borough I m afraid«
Colonel Halkett interposed »But Ferbrass is quite sure of his district«
Cecilia wished to know who the man was of the mediævally sounding name
»Ferbrass is an old lawyer my dear He comes of five generations of
lawyers and he s as old in the county as Grancey Lespel Hitherto he has
always been to be counted on for marching his district to the poll like a
regiment That s our strength the professions especially lawyers«
»Are not a great many lawyers Liberals papa«
»A great many barristers are my dear«
Thereat the colonel and Mr Austin smiled together
It was a new idea to Cecilia that Nevil Beauchamp should be considered by a
man of the world anything but a wellmeaning moderately ridiculous young
candidate and the fact that one so experienced as Seymour Austin deemed him an
adversary to be grappled with in earnest created a small revolution in her
mind entirely altering her view of the probable pliability of his Radicalism
under pressure of time and circumstances Many of his remarks that she had
previously half smiled at came across her memory hard as metal She began to
feel some terror of him and said to reassure herself »Captain Beauchamp is
not likely to be a champion with a very large following He is too much of a
political mystic I think«
»Many young men are before they have written out a fair copy of their
meaning« said Mr Austin
Cecilia laughed to herself at the vision of the fiery Nevil engaged in
writing out a fair copy of his meaning How many erasures what footnotes
The arrangement was for Cecilia to proceed to Itchincope alone for a couple
of days and bring a party to Mount Laurels through Bevisham by the yacht on
Thursday to meet Mr Seymour Austin and Mr Everard Romfrey An early day of
the next week had been agreed on for the unmasking of the second Tory candidate
She promised that in case Nevil Beauchamp should have the hardihood to enter the
enemys nest at Itchincope on Wednesday at the great dinner and ball there she
would do her best to bring him back to Mount Laurels that he might meet his
uncle Everard who was expected there »At least he may consent to come for an
evening« she said »Nothing will take him from that canvassing It seems to me
it must be not merely distasteful «
Mr Austin replied »It s disagreeable but it s the practice I would
gladly be bound by a common undertaking to abstain«
»Captain Beauchamp argues that it would be all to your advantage He says
that a personal visit is the only chance for an unknown candidate to make the
people acquainted with him«
»It s a very good opportunity for making him acquainted with them and I
hope he may profit by it«
»Ah pah To beg the vote and wink the bribe« Colonel Halkett subjoined
abhorrently
»It well becomes the Whiggish tribe
To beg the vote and wink the bribe
Canvassing means intimidation or corruption«
»Or the mixture of the two called cajolery« said Mr Austin »and that was
the principal art of the Whigs«
Thus did these gentlemen converse upon canvassing
It is not possible to gather up in one volume of sound the rattle of the
knocks at Englishmens castlegates during election days so with the thunder
of it unheard the majesty of the act of canvassing can be but barely
appreciable and he therefore who would celebrate it must follow the candidate
obsequiously from door to door where like a cross between a postman delivering
a bill and a beggar craving an alms patiently he attempts the extraction of the
vote as little boys pick periwinkles with a pin
»This is your duty which I most abjectly entreat you to do« is pretty
nearly the form of the supplication
How if instead of the solicitation of the thousands by the unit the
meritorious unit were besought by rushing thousands as a mound of the plains
that is circumvented by floods and to which the waters cry Be thou our island
Let it be answered the questioner with no discourteous adjectives Thou fool
To come to such heights of popular discrimination and political ardour the
people would have to be vivified to a pitch little short of eruptive it would
be Boreas blowing Ætna inside them and we should have impulse at work in the
country and immense importance attaching to a mans whether he will or he wont
enough to womanize him We should be all but having Parliament for a sample of
our choicest rather than our likest and see you not a peril in that
Conceive for the fleeting instants permitted to such insufferable flights
of fancy our picked men ruling So despotic an oligarchy as would be there is
not a happy subject of contemplation It is not too much to say that a
domination of the Intellect in England would at once and entirely alter the face
of the country We should be governed by the head with a vengeance all the rest
of the country being base members indeed Spartans helots Criticism now so
helpful to us would wither to the root fun would die out of Parliament and
outside of it we could never laugh at our masters or command them and that
good oldfashioned shouldering of separate interests which if it stops
progress like a block in the pit entrance to a theatre proves us equal before
the law puts an end to the pretence of higher merit in the one or the other
and renders a stout build the safest assurance for coming through ultimately
would be transformed to a painful orderliness like a City procession under the
conduct of the police and to classifications of things according to their
public value decidedly no benefit to burly freedom None if there were no
shouldering and hustling could tell whether actually the fittest survived as
is now the case among survivors delighting in a broadchested fitness
And consider the freezing isolation of a body of our quintessential elect
seeing below them none to resemble them Do you not hear in imagination the
lands regrets for that amiable nobility whose pretensions were comically built
on birth acres tailoring style and an air Ah that these unchallengeable
new lords could be exchanged for those old ones These with the traditions of
how great people should look in our country these would pass among us like
bergs of ice a pure Polar aristocracy inflicting the woes of wintriness upon
us Keep them from concentrating At present I believe it to be their honest
opinion their wise opinion and the sole opinion common to a majority of them
that it is more salutary besides more diverting to have the fools of the
kingdom represented than not As professors of the sarcastic art they can easily
take the dignity out of the fools representative at their pleasure showing him
at antics while he supposes he is exhibiting an honourable and a decent series
of movements Generally too their archery can check him when he is for any of
his measures and if it does not check there appears to be such a property in
simple sneering that it consoles even when it fails to right the balance of
power Sarcasm we well know confers a title of aristocracy straightway and
sharp on the sconce of the man who does but imagine that he is using it What
then must be the elevation of these princes of the intellect in their own
minds Hardly worth bartering for worldly commanderships it is evident
Briefly then we have a system not planned but grown the outcome and
image of our genius and all are dissatisfied with parts of it but as each
would preserve his own the surest guarantee is obtained for the integrity of
the whole by a happy adjustment of the energies of opposition which you have
only to look to see goes far beyond concord in the promotion of harmony This
is our English system like our English pudding a fortuitous concourse of all
the sweets in the grocers shop but an excellent thing for all that and let
none threaten it Canvassing appears to be mixed up in the system at least I
hope I have shown that it will not do to reverse the process for fear of
changes leading to a sovereignty of the austere and antipathetic Intellect in
our England that would be an inaccessible tyranny of a very small minority
necessarily followed by tremendous convulsions
Chapter XIX
Lord Palmet and Certain Electors of Bevisham
Meantime the candidates raised knockers rang bells bowed expounded their
views praised their virtues begged for votes and greatly and strangely did
the youngest of them enlarge his knowledge of his countrymen But he had an
insatiable appetite and except in relation to Mr Cougham considerable
tolerance With Cougham he was like a young hound in the leash They had to run
as twins but Beauchamps conjunct would not run he would walk He imposed his
experience on Beauchamp with an assumption that it must necessarily be taken
for the law of Beauchamps reason in electoral and in political affairs and
this was hard on Beauchamp who had faith in his reason Beauchamps early
canvassing brought Cougham down to Bevisham earlier than usual in the days when
he and Seymour Austin divided the borough and he inclined to administer
correction to the Radicallydisposed youngster »Yes I have gone all over
that« he said in speech sometimes in manner perpetually upon the intrusion
of an idea by his junior Cougham also Cougham had passed through his Radical
phase as one does on the road to wisdom So the frog telleth tadpoles he too
has wriggled most preposterous of tails and he has shoved a circular flat head
into corners unadapted to its shape and that the undeveloped one should
dutifully listen to experience and accept guidance is devoutly to be hoped
Alas Beauchamp would not be taught that though they were yoked they stood at
the opposite ends of the process of evolution
The oddly coupled pair deplored among their respective friends the
disastrous Siamese twinship created by a haphazard improvident Liberal camp
Look at us they said Beauchamp is a young demagogue Cougham is chrysalis
Tory Such Liberals are the ruin of Liberalism but of such must it be composed
when there is no new cry to loosen floods It was too late to think of an
operation to divide them They held the heart of the cause between them were
bound fast together and had to go on Beauchamp with a furious tug of
Radicalism spoken or performed pulled Cougham on his beamends Cougham to
right himself defined his Liberalism sharply from the politics of the pit
pointed to France and her Revolutions washed his hands of excesses and
entirely overset Beauchamp Seeing that he stood in the Liberal interest the
junior could not abandon the Liberal flag so he seized it and bore it ahead of
the time there where Radicals trip their phantom dances like shadows on a fog
and waved it as the very flag of our perfectible race So great was the impetus
that Cougham had no choice but to step out with him brisklyvoluntarily as a man
propelled by a hand on his coatcollar A word saved him the word practical
»Are we practical« he inquired and shivered Beauchamps galloping frame with a
violent application of the stop abrupt for that question »Are we practical«
penetrates the bosom of an English audience and will surely elicit a response
if not plaudits Practical or not the good people affectingly wish to be
thought practical It has been asked by them If we re not practical what are
we Beauchamp talking to Cougham apart would argue that the daring and the
farsighted course was often the most practical Cougham extended a deprecating
hand »Yes I have gone over all that« Occasionally he was maddening
The melancholy position of the senior and junior Liberals was known abroad
and matter of derision
It happened that the gay and goodhumoured young Lord Palmet heir to the
earldom of Elsea walking up the High Street of Bevisham met Beauchamp on
Tuesday morning as he sallied out of his hotel to canvass Lord Palmet was one
of the numerous halffriends of Cecil Baskelett and it may be a revelation of
his character to you that he owned to liking Beauchamp because of his having
always been a favourite with the women He began chattering with Beauchamps
hand in his »Ive hit on you have I My dear fellow Miss Halkett was talking
of you last night I slept at Mount Laurels went on purpose to have a peep I
m bound for Itchincope Theyve some grand procession in view there Lespel
wrote for my team I suspect he s for starting some new October races He talks
of halfadozen drags He must have lots of women there I say what a splendid
creature Cissy Halkett has shot up She topped the season this year and will
next You re for the darkies Beauchamp So am I when I dont see a blonde
just as a fellow admires a girl when there s no married woman or widow in
sight And I say it cant be true youve gone in for that crazy Radicalism
There s nothing to be gained by it you know the women hate it A married
blonde of fiveandtwenty s the Venus of them all Mind you I dont forget
that Mrs WardourDevereux is a thoroughpaced brunette but upon my honour I
d bet on Cissy Halkett at forty A dark eye in woman if you like but blue and
auburn drive it into a corner«
Lord Palmet concluded by asking Beauchamp what he was doing and whither
going
Beauchamp proposed to him maliciously as one of our hereditary legislators
to come and see something of canvassing Lord Palmet had no objection »Capital
opportunity for a review of their women« he remarked »I map the places for
pretty women in England some parts of Norfolk and a spot or two in Cumberland
and Wales and the island over there I know thoroughly Those Jutes have turned
out some splendid fair women Devonshire s worth a tour My man Davis is in
charge of my team and he drives to Itchincope from Washwater station I m
independent I ll have an hour with you Do you think much of the women here«
Beauchamp had not noticed them
Palmet observed that he should not have noticed anything else
»But you are qualifying for the Upper House« Beauchamp said in the tone of
an encomium
Palmet accepted the statement »Though I shall never care to figure before
peeresses« he said »I cant tell you why There s a heavy sprinkling of the
old bird among them It isnt that There s too much plumage I think it must
be that A cloud of millinery shoots me off a mile from a woman In my opinion
witches are the only ones for wearing jewels without chilling the feminine
atmosphere about them Fellows think differently« Lord Palmet waved a hand
expressive of purely amiable tolerance for this question upon the most
important topic of human affairs was deep and no judgement should be hasty in
settling it »I m peculiar« he resumed »A rose and a string of pearls a
woman who goes beyond that s in danger of petrifying herself and her fellow
man Two women in Paris last winter set us on fire with pale thin gold
ornaments neck wrists ears ruche skirts all in a flutter and so were
you But you felt witchcraft The magical Orient Vivian Ducie called the
blonde and the dark beauty Young Endor«
»Her name« said Beauchamp
»A marquise I forget her name The other was Countess Rastaglione you must
have heard of her a towering witch an empress Helen of Troy though Ducie
would have it the brunette was Queen of Paris For French taste if you like«
Countess Rastaglione was a lady enamelled on the scroll of Fame »Did you
see them together« said Beauchamp »They werent together«
Palmet looked at him and laughed »You re yourself again are you Go to
Paris in January and cut out the Frenchmen«
»Answer me Palmet they werent in couples«
»I fancy not It was luck to meet them so they couldnt have been«
»Did you dance with either of them«
Unable to state accurately that he had Palmet cried »Oh for dancing the
Frenchwoman beat the Italian«
»Did you see her often more than once«
»My dear fellow I went everywhere to see her balls theatres promenades
rides churches«
»And you say she dressed up to the Italian to challenge her rival her«
»Only one night simple accident Everybody noticed it for they stood for
Night and Day both hung with gold the brunette Etruscan and the blonde
Asiatic and every Frenchman present was epigramizing up and down the rooms like
mad«
»Her husband s Legitimist he wouldnt be at the Tuileries« Beauchamp
spoke half to himself
»What then what« Palmet stared and chuckled »Her husband must have taken
the Tuileries bait if we mean the same woman My dear old Beauchamp have I
seen her then She s a darling The Rastaglione was nothing to her When you
do light on a grand smoky pearl the milky ones may go and decorate plaster
That s what I say of the loveliest brunettes It must be the same there cant
be a couple of dark beauties in Paris without a noise about them Marquise I
shall recollect her name presently«
»Here s one of the houses I stop at« said Beauchamp »and drop that
subject«
A scared servantgirl brought out her wizened mistress to confront the
candidate and to this representative of the sex he addressed his arts of
persuasion requesting her to repeat his words to her husband The contrast
between Beauchamp palpably canvassing and the Beauchamp who was the lover of the
Marquise of the forgotten name struck too powerfully on Palmet for his gravity
he retreated
Beauchamp found him sauntering on the pavement and would have dismissed him
but for an agreeable diversion that occurred at that moment A suavely smiling
unctuous old gentleman advanced to them bowing and presuming thus far he
said under the supposition that he was accosting the junior Liberal candidate
for the borough He announced his name and his principles Tomlinson
progressive Liberal
»A true distinction from some Liberals I know« said Beauchamp
Mr Tomlinson hoped so Never he said did he leave it to the man of his
choice at an election to knock at his door for the vote
Beauchamp looked as if he had swallowed a cordial Votes falling into his
lap are heavenly gifts to the candidate sick of the knocker and the bell Mr
Tomlinson eulogized the manly candour of the junior Liberal candidates address
in which he professed to see ideas that distinguished it from the address of the
sound but otherwise conventional Liberal Mr Cougham He muttered of plumping
for Beauchamp »Dont plump« Beauchamp said and a candidate if he would be an
honourable twin must say it Cougham had cautioned him against the heresy of
plumping
They discoursed of the poor and their beverages of pothouses of the
antiliquorites and of the duties of parsons and the value of a robust and
rightminded body of the poor to the country Palmet found himself following
them into a tolerably spacious house that he took to be the old gentlemans
until some of the apparatus of an Institute for literary and scientific
instruction revealed itself to him and he heard Mr Tomlinson exalt the memory
of one Wingham for the blessing bequeathed by him to the town of Bevisham
»For« said Mr Tomlinson »it is open to both sexes to all respectable
classes from ten in the morning up to ten at night Such a place affords us I
would venture to say the advantages without the seductions of a Club I rank it
next at a far remove but next the church«
Lord Palmet brought his eyes down from the busts of certain worthies ranged
along the top of the bookshelves to the cushioned chairs and murmured
»Capital place for an appointment with a woman«
Mr Tomlinson gazed up at him mildly with a fallen countenance He turned
sadly agape in silence to the busts the books and the range of scientific
instruments and directed a gaze under his eyebrows at Beauchamp »Does your
friend canvass with you« he inquired
»I want him to taste it« Beauchamp replied and immediately introduced the
affable young lord a proceeding marked by some of the dexterity he had once
been famous for as was shown by a subsequent observation of Mr Tomlinsons
»Yes« he said on the question of classes »yes I fear we have classes in
this country whose habitual levity sharp experience will have to correct I very
much fear it«
»But if you have classes that are not to face realities classes that look
on them from the boxseats of a theatre« said Beauchamp »how can you expect
perfect seriousness or any good service whatever«
»Gently sir gently No we can I feel confident expand within the limits
of our most excellent and approved Constitution I could wish that socially
that is all«
»Socially and politically mean one thing in the end« said Beauchamp »If
you have a nation politically corrupt you wont have a good state of morals in
it and the laws that keep society together bear upon the politics of a
country«
»True yes« Mr Tomlinson hesitated assent He dissociated Beauchamp from
Lord Palmet but felt keenly that the latters presence desecrated Winghams
Institute and he informed the candidate that he thought he would no longer
detain him from his labours
»Just the sort of place wanted in every provincial town« Palmet remarked by
way of a parting compliment
Mr Tomlinson bowed a civil acknowledgement of his having again spoken
No further mention was made of the miraculous vote which had risen
responsive to the candidates address of its own inspired motion so Beauchamp
said »I beg you to bear in mind that I request you not to plump«
»You may be right Captain Beauchamp Good day sir«
Palmet strode after Beauchamp into the street
»Why did you set me bowing to that old boy« he asked
»Why did you talk about women« was the rejoinder
»Oh aha« Palmet sang to himself »You re a Romfrey Beauchamp A blow for
a blow But I only said what would strike every fellow first off It is the
place the very place Pastrycooks shops wont stand comparison with it Dont
tell me you re the man not to see how much a woman prefers to be under the wing
of science and literature in a goodsized wellwarmed room with a book
instead of making believe with a red face over a tart«
He received a smart lecture from Beauchamp and began to think he had enough
of canvassing But he was not suffered to escape For his instruction for his
positive and extreme good Beauchamp determined that the heir to an earldom
should have a days lesson We will hope there was no intention to punish him
for having frozen the genial current of Mr Tomlinsons vote and interest and
it may be that he clung to one who had as he imagined seen Renée Accompanied
by a Mr Oggler a tradesman of the town on the Liberal committee dressed in a
peajacket and proudly nautical they applied for the vote and found it oftener
than beauty Palmet contrasted his repeated disappointments with the scoring of
two three four and more in the candidates list and informed him that he
would certainly get the Election »I think you re sure of it« he said »There
s not a pretty woman to be seen not one«
One came up to them the sight of whom counselled Lord Palmet to reconsider
his verdict She was addressed by Beauchamp as Miss Denham and soon passed on
Palmet was guilty of staring at her and of lingering behind the others for
a last look at her
They were on the steps of a voters house calmly enduring a rebuff from him
in person when Palmet returned to them exclaiming effusively »What luck you
have Beauchamp« He stopped till the applicants descended the steps with the
voice of the voter ringing contempt as well as refusal in their ears then
continued »You introduced me neck and heels to that undertakerly old Tomlinson
of Winghams Institute you might have given me a chance with that Miss Miss
Denham was it She has a bit of a style«
»She has a head« said Beauchamp
»A girl like that may have what she likes I dont care what she has there
s woman in her You might take her for a younger sister of Mrs
WardourDevereux Who s the uncle she speaks of She ought not to be allowed to
walk out by herself«
»She can take care of herself« said Beauchamp
Palmet denied it »No woman can Upon my honour it s a shame that she
should be out alone What are her people I ll run from you you know and
see her safe home There s such an infernal lot of fellows about and a girl
simply bewitching and unprotected I ought to be after her«
Beauchamp held him firmly to the task of canvassing
»Then will you tell me where she lives« Palmet stipulated He reproached
Beauchamp for a notorious Grand Turk exclusiveness and greediness in regard to
women as well as a disposition to run hard races for them out of a spirit of
pure rivalry
»It s no use contradicting it s universally known of you« reiterated
Palmet »I could name a dozen women and dozens of fellows you deliberately set
yourself to cut out for the honour of it What s that story they tell of you
in one of the American cities or wateringplaces North or South You would
dance at a ball a dozen times with a girl engaged to a man who drenched you
with a tumbler at the hotel bar and off you all marched to the sands and
exchanged shots from revolvers and both of you they say saw the body of a
drowned sailor in the water in the moonlight heaving nearer and nearer and
you stretched your man just as the body was flung up by a wave between you
Picturesque if you like«
»Dramatic certainly And I ran away with the bride next morning«
»No« roared Palmet »you didnt There s the cruelty of the whole affair«
Beauchamp laughed »An old messmate of mine Lieutenant Jack Wilmore can
give you a different version of the story I never have fought a duel and never
will Here we are at the shop of a tough voter Mr Oggler So it says in my
notebook Shall we put Lord Palmet to speak to him first«
»If his lordship will put his heart into what he says« Mr Oggler bowed
»Are you for giving the people recreation on a Sunday my lord«
»Trapbat and ball cricket dancing military bands puppetshows
theatres merrygorounds bosky dells anything to make them happy« said
Palmet
»Oh dear then I m afraid we cannot ask you speak to this Mr Carpendike«
Oggler shook his head
»Does the fellow want the people to be miserable«
»I m afraid my lord he would rather see them miserable«
They introduced themselves to Mr Carpendike in his shop He was a
flatchested sallow young shoemaker with a shelving forehead who seeing three
gentlemen enter to him recognized at once with a practised resignation that they
had not come to order shoeleather though he would fain have shod them being
needy but it was not the design of Providence that they should so come as he in
his blindness would have had them Admitting this he wished for nothing
The battle with Carpendike lasted threequarters of an hour during which he
was chiefly and most effectively silent Carpendike would not vote for a man
that proposed to open museums on the Sabbath day The striking simile of the
thin end of the wedge was recurred to by him for a damning illustration Captain
Beauchamp might be honest in putting his mind on most questions in his address
when there was no demand upon him to do it but honesty was no antidote to
impiety Thus Carpendike
As to Sunday museuming being an antidote to the pothouse no For the
people knew the frequenting of the pothouse to be a vice it was a temptation of
Satan that often in overcoming them was the cause of their flying back to grace
whereas museums and picture galleries were insidious attractions cloaked by the
name of virtue whereby they were allured to abandon worship
Beauchamp flew at this young monster of unreason »But the people are not
worshipping they are idling and sotting and if you carry your despotism
farther still and shut them out of every shop on Sundays do you suppose you
promote the spirit of worship If you dont revolt them you unman them and I
warn you we cant afford to destroy what manhood remains to us in England Look
at the facts«
He flung the facts at Carpendike with the natural exaggeration of them which
eloquence produces rather as a rule to assure itself in passing of the
overwhelming justice of the cause it pleads than to deceive the adversary
Brewers beer and publicans beer wifebeatings the homes and the blood of the
people were matters reviewed to the confusion of Sabbatarians
Carpendike listened with a bent head upraised eyes and brows wrinkling far
on to his poll a picture of a mind entrenched beyond the potentialities of
mortal assault He signified that he had spoken Indeed Beauchamps reply was
vain to one whose argument was that he considered the people nearer to holiness
in the indulging of an evil propensity than in satisfying a harmless curiosity
and getting a recreation The Sabbath claimed them if they were disobedient
Sin ultimately might scourge them back to the fold but never if they were
permitted to regard themselves as innocent in their backsliding and
rebelliousness
Such language was quite new to Beauchamp The parsons he had spoken to were
of one voice in objecting to the pothouse He appealed to Carpendikes humanity
Carpendike smote him with a text from Scripture
»Devilish cold in this shop« muttered Palmet
Two not flourishing little children of the emaciated Puritan burst into the
shop followed by their mother carrying a child in her arms She had a sad
look upon traces of a past fairness vaguely like a snow landscape in the thaw
Palmet stooped to toss shillings with her young ones that he might avoid the
womans face It cramped his heart
»Dont you see Mr Carpendike« said fat Mr Oggler »it s the happiness
of the people we want that s what Captain Beauchamp works for their
happiness that s the aim of life for all of us Look at me I m as happy as
the day I pray every night and I go to church every Sunday and I never know
what it is to be unhappy The Lord has blessed me with a good digestion healthy
pious children and a prosperous shop that s a competency a modest one but I
make it satisfy me because I know it s the Lords gift Well now and I hate
Sabbathbreakers I would punish them and I m against the publichouses on a
Sunday but aboard my little yacht say on a Sunday morning in the Channel I
dont forget I owe it to the Lord that he has been good enough to put me in the
way of keeping a yacht no I read prayers to my crew and a chapter in the
Bible Genesis Deuteronomy Kings Acts Paul just as it comes Alls good
that s there Then we re free for the day man boy and me we cook our
victuals and we must look to the yacht do you see But weve made our peace
with the Almighty We know that He dont mind the working of the vessel so long
as weve remembered him He put us in that situation exactly there latitude
and longitude do you see and work the vessel we must And a glass of grog and
a pipe after dinner cant be any offence And I tell you honestly and
sincerely I m sure my conscience is good and I really and truly dont know
what it is not to know happiness«
»Then you dont know God« said Carpendike like a voice from a cave
»Or nature or the state of the world« said Beauchamp singularly impressed
to find himself between two men of whom each perforce of his tenuity and the
evident leaning of his appetites one was for the barren black view of
existence the other for the fantastically bright As to the men personally he
chose Carpendike for all his obstinacy and sourness Ogglers genial piety made
him shrink with nausea
But Lord Palmet paid Mr Oggler a memorable compliment by assuring him that
he was altogether of his way of thinking about happiness
The frank young nobleman did not withhold a reference to the two or three
things essential to his happiness otherwise Mr Oggler might have been pleased
and flattered
Before quitting the shop Beauchamp warned Carpendike that he should come
again »Vote or no vote you re worth the trial Texts as many as you like I
ll make your faith active if it s alive at all You speak of the Lord loving
his own you make out the Lord to be your own and use your religion like a
drug So it appears to me That Sunday tyranny of yours has to be defended
Remember that for I for one shall combat it and expose it Good day«
Beauchamp continued in the street »Tyrannies like this fellows have made
the English the dullest and wretchedest people in Europe«
Palmet animadverted on Carpendike »The dog looks like a deadly fungus that
has poisoned the woman«
»I d trust him with a post of danger though« said Beauchamp
Before the candidate had opened his mouth to the next elector he was beamed
on MGilliper baker a floured brick face leaned on folded arms across his
counter and said in Scotch »My vote and he that asks me for my vote is the
man who when he was midshipman saved the life of a relation of mine from death
by drowning my wifes first cousin Johnny Brownson and held him up four to
five minutes in the water and never left him till he was out of danger There
s my hand on it I will and a score of householders in Bevisham the same« He
dictated precious names and addresses to Beauchamp and was curtly thanked for
his pains
Such treatment of a favourable voter seemed odd to Palmet
»Oh a vote given for reasons of sentiment« Beauchamp interjected
Palmet reflected and said »Well perhaps that s how it is women dont care
uncommonly for the men who love them though they like precious well to be
loved Opposition does it«
»You have discovered my likeness to women« said Beauchamp eyeing him
critically and then thinking with a sudden warmth that he had seen Renée
»Look here Palmet you re too late for Itchincope today come and eat fish
and meat with me at my hotel and come to a meeting after it You can run by
rail to Itchincope to breakfast in the morning and I may come with you You ll
hear one or two men speak well tonight«
»I suppose I shall have to be at this business myself some day« sighed
Palmet »Any women on the platform Oh but political women And the Tories get
the pick of the women No I dont think I ll stay Yes I will I ll go
through with it I like to be learning something You wouldnt think it of me
Beauchamp but I envy fellows at work«
»You might make a speech for me Palmet«
»No man better my dear fellow if it were proposing a toast to the poor
devils and asking them to drink it But a dry speech like leading them over the
desert without a well to cheer them no oasis as we used to call a fivepound
note and a holiday I havent the heart for that Is your Miss Denham a
Radical«
Beauchamp asserted that he had not yet met a woman at all inclining in the
direction of Radicalism »I dont call furies Radicals There may be women who
think as well as feel I dont know them«
»Lots of them Beauchamp Take my word for it I do know women They havent
a shift nor a trick I dont know They re as clear to me as glass I ll
wager your Miss Denham goes to the meetings Now doesnt she Of course she
does And there couldnt be a gallanter way of spending an evening so I ll try
it Nothing to repent of next morning That s to be said for politics
Beauchamp and I confess I m rather jealous of you A thoroughly goodlooking
girl who takes to a fellow for what he s doing in the world must have ideas of
him precious different from the adoration of six feet three and a fine seat in
the saddle I see that There s Baskelett in the Blues and if I were he I
should detest my cuirass and helmet for if he s half as successful as he
boasts it s the uniform«
Two notorious Radicals Peter Molyneux and Samuel Killick were called on
The first saw Beauchamp and refused him the second declined to see him He was
amazed and staggered but said little
Among the remainder of the electors of Bevisham roused that day to a sense
of their independence by the summons of the candidates only one man made
himself conspicuous by premising that he had two important questions to ask
and he trusted Commander Beauchamp to answer them unreservedly They were
first What is a FRENCH MARQUEES and second Who was EURYDICEY
Beauchamp referred him to the Tory camp whence the placard alluding to
those ladies had issued
»Both of them s ladies I guessed it« said the elector
»Did you guess that one of them is a mythological lady«
»I m not far wrong in guessing t others not much better I reckon Now
sir may I ask you is there any tale concerning your morals«
»No you may not ask you take a liberty«
»Then I ll take the liberty to postpone talking about my vote Look here
Mr Commander if the upper classes want anything of me and come to me for it I
ll know what sort of an example they re setting now that s me«
»You pay attention to a stupid Tory squib«
»Where there s smoke there s fire sir«
Beauchamp glanced at his notebook for the name of this man who was a
ragman and dustman
»My private character has nothing whatever to do with my politics« he said
and had barely said it when he remembered having spoken somewhat differently
upon the abstract consideration of the case to Mr Tomlinson »You re quite
welcome to examine my character for yourself only I dont consent to be
catechized Understand that«
»You quite understand that Mr Tripehallow« said Oggler bolder in taking
up the strange name than Beauchamp had been
»I understand that But you understand there s never been a word against
the morals of Mr Cougham Here s the point Do we mean to be a moral country
Very well then so let our representatives be I say And if I hear nothing
against your morals Mr Commander I dont say you shant have my vote I mean
to deliberate You young nobs capering over our heads I nail you down to
morals Politics secondary Adew as the dying spirit remarked to weeping
friends«
»Au revoir would have been kinder« said Palmet
Mr Tripehallow smiled roguishly to betoken comprehension
Beauchamp asked Mr Oggler whether that fellow was to be taken for a
humourist or a fivepoundnote man
»It may be both sir I know he s called Morality Joseph«
An all but acknowledged fivepoundnote man was the last they visited He
cut short the preliminaries of the interview by saying that he was a
fouroclock man ie the man who waited for the final bids to him upon the
closing hour of the election day
»Not one farthing« said Beauchamp having been warned beforehand of the
signification of the phrase by his canvassing lieutenant
»Then you re nowhere« the honest fellow replied in the mystic tongue of
prophecy
Palmet and Beauchamp went to their fish and meat smoked a cigarette or two
afterward conjured away the smell of tobacco from their persons as well as they
could and betook themselves to the assemblyroom of the Liberal party where
the young lord had an opportunity of beholding Mr Cougham and of listening to
him for an hour and forty minutes He heard Mr Timothy Turbot likewise And
Miss Denham was present Lord Palmet applauded when she smiled When she looked
attentive he was deeply studious Her expression of fatigue under the sonorous
ring of statistics poured out from Cougham was translated by Palmet into yawns
and sighs of a profoundly fraternal sympathy Her face quickened on the rising
of Beauchamp to speak She kept eye on him all the while as Palmet with the
skill of an adept in disguising his petty larceny of the optics did on her
Twice or thrice she looked pained Beauchamp was hesitating for the word Once
she looked startled and shut her eyes a hiss had sounded Beauchamp sprang on
it as if enlivened by hostility and dominated the factious note Thereat she
turned to a gentleman sitting beside her apparently they agreed that some
incident had occurred characteristic of Nevil Beauchamp for whom however it
was not a brilliant evening He was very well able to account for it and did
so after he had walked a few steps with Miss Denham on her homeward way
»You heard Cougham Palmet He s my senior and I m obliged to come second
to him and how am I to have a chance when he has drenched the audience for
close upon a couple of hours«
Palmet mimicked the manner of Cougham
»They cry for Turbot naturally they want a relief« Beauchamp groaned
Palmet gave an imitation of Timothy Turbot
He was an admirable mimic perfectly spontaneous without stressing any
points and Beauchamp was provoked to laugh his discontentment with the evening
out of recollection
But a grave matter troubled Palmets head
»Who was that fellow who walked off with Miss Denham«
»A married man« said Beauchamp »badly married more s the pity he has a
wife in the madhouse His name is Lydiard«
»Not her brother Where s her uncle«
»She wont let him come to these meetings It s her idea well intended
but wrong I think She s afraid that Dr Shrapnel will alarm the moderate
Liberals and damage Radical me«
Palmet muttered between his teeth »What queer things they let their women
do« He felt compelled to say »Odd for her to be walking home at night with a
fellow like that«
It chimed too consonantly with a feeling of Beauchamps to repress which he
replied »Your ideas about women are simply barbarous Palmet Why shouldnt
she Her uncle places his confidence in the man and in her Isnt that better
ten times more likely to call out the sense of honour and loyalty than the
distrust and the scandal going on in your class«
»Please to say yours too«
»Ive no class I say that the education for women is to teach them to rely
on themselves«
»Ah well I dont object if I m the man«
»Because you and your set are absolutely uncivilized in your views of
women«
»Common sense Beauchamp«
»Prey You eye them as prey And it comes of an idle aristocracy You have
no faith in them and they repay you for your suspicion«
»All the same Beauchamp she ought not to be allowed to go about at night
with that fellow Rich and rare were the gems she wore but that was in Erins
isle and if we knew the whole history she d better have stopped at home She
s marvellously pretty to my mind She looks a highbred wench Odd it is
Beauchamp to see a ladysmaid now and then catch the style of my lady No by
Jove Ive known one or two you couldnt tell the difference Not till you
were intimate I know one would walk a minuet with a duchess Of course all
the worse for her If you see that uncle of Miss Denhams upon my honour I
should advise him I mean counsel him not to trust her with any fellow but
you«
Beauchamp asked Lord Palmet how old he was
Palmet gave his age correcting the figures from sixandtwenty to one year
more »And never did a stroke of work in my life« he said speaking genially
out of an acute guess at the sentiments of the man he walked with
It seemed a farcical state of things
There was a kind of contrition in Palmets voice and to put him at his
ease as well as to stamp something in his own mind Beauchamp said »It s
common enough«
Chapter XX
A Day at Itchincope
An election in Bevisham was always an exciting period at Itchincope the large
and influential old estate of the Lespels which at one time with but a
ceremonious drive through the town sent you two good Whig men to Parliament to
sit at Reform banquets two unswerving party men blest subscribers to the right
Review and personally proud of its trenchancy Mr Grancey Lespel was the
survivor of them and well could he remember the happier day of his grandfather
his father and his own hot youth He could be carried so far by affectionate
regrets as to think of the Tories of that day benignly when his champion
Review of the orange and blue livery waved a wondrous sharp knife and stuck and
bled them proving to his party by trenchancy alone that the Whig was the
cause of Providence Then politics presented you a table whereat two parties
feasted with no fear of the intrusion of a third and your backs were turned on
the noisy lower world your ears were deaf to it
Apply we now the knocker to the door of venerable Quotation and call the
aged creature forth that he half choked by his eheu
»A sound between a sigh and bray«
may pronounce the familiar but respectable words the burialservice of a time
so happy
Mr Grancey Lespel would still have been sitting for Bevisham or politely
at this elective moment bowing to resume the seat had not those Manchester
jugglers caught up his cry appropriated his colours displaced and impersonated
him acting beneficent Whig on a scale approaching treason to the Constitution
leaning on the people in earnest instead of taking the popular shoulder for a
temporary lift all in high party policy for the clever manoeuvre to oust the
Tory and sway the realm See the consequences For power for no other
consideration those manufacturing rascals have raised Radicalism from its
primæval mire from its petty backslum booksellers shop and publichouse
backparlour effluvia of oratory to issue dictates in England and we
England formerly the oak are topsyturvy like onions our heels in the air
The language of party is eloquent and famous for being grand at
illustration but it is equally well known that much of it gives us humble ideas
of the speaker probably because of the naughty temper party is prone to which
while endowing it with vehemence lessens the stout circumferential view that
should be taken at least historically Indeed though we admit party to be the
soundest method for conducting us party talk soon expends its attractiveness
as would a summers afternoon given up to the contemplation of an encounter of
rams heads Let us be quit of Mr Grancey Lespels lamentations The Whig
gentleman had some reason to complain He had been trained to expect no other
attack than that of his hereditary adversaryram in front and a sham ram no
honest animal but a ramming engine rather had attacked him in the rear Like
Mr Everard Romfrey and other Whigs he was profoundly chagrined by popular
ingratitude »not the same man« his wife said of him It nipped him early He
took to proverbs sure sign of the sere leaf in a mans mind
His wife reproached the people for their behaviour to him bitterly The lady
regarded politics as a business that helped huntingmen a stage above sportsmen
for numbers of the politicians she was acquainted with were huntingmen yet
something more by virtue of the variety they could introduce into a conversation
ordinarily treating of sport and the qualities of wines Her husband seemed to
have lost in that Parliamentary seat the talisman which gave him notions
distinguishing him from country squires he had sunk and he no longer cared for
the months in London nor for the speeches she read to him to reawaken his mind
and make him look out of himself as he had done when he was a younger man and
not a suspended Whig Her own favourite reading was of loveadventures written
in the French tongue She had once been in love and could be so sympathetic
with that passion as to avow to Cecilia Halkett a tenderness for Nevil
Beauchamp on account of his relations with the Marquise de Rouaillout and
notwithstanding the demoniacal flamehalo of the Radical encircling him
The allusion to Beauchamp occurred a few hours after Cecilias arrival at
Itchincope
Cecilia begged for the French ladys name to be repeated she had not heard
it before and she tasted the strange bitter relish of realization when it
struck her ear to confirm a story that she believed indeed but had not quite
sensibly felt
»And it is not over yet they say« Mrs Grancey Lespel added while softly
flipping some spots of the colour proper to radicals in morals on the fame of
the French lady She possessed fully the grave judicial spirit of her
countrywomen and could sit in judgement on the personages of tales which had
entranced her to condemn the heroines it was impolitic in her sex to pity
females As for the men poor weak things As for Nevil Beauchamp in
particular his case this penetrating lady said was clear he ought to be
married »Could you make a sacrifice« she asked Cecilia playfully
»Nevil Beauchamp and I are old friends but we have agreed that we are
deadly political enemies« Miss Halkett replied
»It is not so bad for a beginning« said Mrs Lespel
»If one were disposed to martyrdom«
The older woman nodded »Without that«
»My dear Mrs Lespel wait till you have heard him He is at war with
everything we venerate and build on The wife you would give him should be a
creature rooted in nothing in seawater Simply two or three conversations
with him have made me uncomfortable ever since I can see nothing durable I
dream of surprises outbreaks dreadful events At least it is perfectly true
that I do not look with the same eyes on my country He seems to delight in
destroying ones peaceful contemplation of life The truth is that he blows a
perpetual gale and is all agitation« Cecilia concluded affecting with a smile
a slight shiver
»Yes one tires of that« said Mrs Lespel »I was determined I would have
him here if we could get him to come Grancey objected We shall have to manage
Captain Beauchamp and the rest as well He is sure to come late tomorrow and
will leave early on Thursday morning for his canvass our driving into Bevisham
is for Friday or Saturday I do not see that he need have any suspicions Those
verses you are so angry about cannot be traced to Itchincope My dear they are
a childish trifle When my husband stood first for Bevisham the whole of his
University life appeared in print What we have to do is to forewarn the
gentlemen to be guarded and especially in what they say to my nephew Lord
Palmet for that boy cannot keep a secret he is as open as a plate«
»The smokingroom at night« Cecilia suggested remembering her fathers
words about Itchincopes tobaccohall
»They have Captain Beauchamps address hung up there I have heard« said
Mrs Lespel »There may be other things another address though it is not yet
placarded Come with me For fifteen years I have never once put my head into
that room and now Ive a superstitious fear about it«
Mrs Lespel led the way to the deserted smokingroom where the stale reek
of tobacco assailed the ladies as does that dire place of Customs the stranger
visiting savage or toonatural potentates
In silence they tore down from the wall Beauchamps electoral Address
flanked all its length with satirical pen and pencil comments and sketches and
they consigned to flames the vast sheet of animated verses relating to the
FRENCH MARQUEES A quartersize chalkdrawing of a slippered pantaloon having a
duck on his shoulder labelled to say »Quackquack« and offering our nauseated
Dame Britannia or else it was the widow Bevisham a globe of a pill to swallow
crossed with the consolatory and reassuring name of Shrapnel they disposed of
likewise And then they fled chased forth either by the brilliancy of the
politically allusive epigrams profusely inscribed around them on the walls or
by the atmosphere Mrs Lespel gave her orders for the walls to be scraped and
said to Cecilia »A strange air to breathe was it not The less men and women
know of one another the happier for them I knew my superstition was correct as
a guide to me I do so much wish to respect men and all my experience tells me
the Turks know best how to preserve it for us Two men in this house would give
their wives for pipes if it came to the choice We might all go for a cellar of
old wine After forty men have married their habits and wives are only an item
in the list and not the most important«
With the assistance of Mr Stukely Culbrett Mrs Lespel prepared the house
and those of the company who were in the secret of affairs for the arrival of
Beauchamp The ladies were curious to see him The gentlemen not anticipating
extreme amusement were calm for it is an axiom in the world of buckskins and
billiardcues that one man is very like another and so true is it with them
that they can in time teach it to the fair sex Friends of Cecil Baskelett
predominated and the absence of so sprightly a fellow was regretted seriously
but he was shooting with his uncle at Holdesbury and they did not expect him
before Thursday
On Wednesday morning Lord Palmet presented himself at a remarkably
wellattended breakfasttable at Itchincope He passed from Mrs Lespel to Mrs
WardourDevereux and Miss Halkett bowed to other ladies shook hands with two
or three men and nodded over the heads of halfadozen accounting rather
mysteriously for his delay in coming it was thought until he sat down before a
plate of Yorkshire pie and said »The fact is Ive been canvassing hard With
Beauchamp«
Astonishment and laughter surrounded him and Palmet looked from face to
face equally astonished and desirous to laugh too
»Ernest how could you do that« said Mrs Lespel and her husband cried in
stupefaction »With Beauchamp«
»Oh it s because of the Radicalism« Palmet murmured to himself »I didnt
mind that«
»What sort of a day did you have« Mr Culbrett asked him and several
gentlemen fell upon him for an account of the day
Palmet grimaced over a mouthful of his pie
»Bad« quoth Mr Lespel »I knew it I know Bevisham The only chance there
is for five thousand pounds in a sack with a hole in it«
»Bad for Beauchamp Dear me no« Palmet corrected the error »He is
carrying all before him And he tells them« Palmet mimicked Beauchamp »they
shall not have one penny not a farthing I gave a couple of young ones a
shilling apiece and he rowed me for bribery somehow I did wrong«
Lord Palmet described the various unearthly characters he had inspected in
their dens Carpendike Tripehallow and the radicals Peter Molyneux and Samuel
Killick and the exmember for the borough Cougham posing to suit signboards
of Liberal inns with a hand thrust in his waistcoat and his head well up the
eyes running over the underlids after the traditional style of our
aristocracy but perhaps more closely resembling an urchin on tiptoe peering
above parkpalings Coughams remark to Beauchamp heard and repeated by Palmet
with the object of giving an example of the senior Liberals phraseology »I was
necessitated to vacate my town mansion to my material discomfort and that of my
wife whose equipage I have been compelled to take by your premature canvass of
the borough Captain Beauchamp and now I hear on undeniable authority that
no second opponent to us will be forthcoming« this produced the greatest
effect on the company
»But do you tell me« said Mr Lespel when the shouts of the gentlemen were
subsiding »do you tell me that young Beauchamp is going ahead«
»That he is They flock to him in the street«
»He stands there then and jingles a moneybag«
Palmet resumed his mimicry of Beauchamp »Not a stiver purity of election
is the first condition of instruction to the people Principles Then theyve
got a capital orator Turbot an Irishman I went to a meeting last night and
heard him never heard anything finer in my life You may laugh he whipped me
off my legs fellow spun me like a top and while he was orationing a donkey
calls Turbot aint you a flat fish and he swings round Not for a fools
hook and out they hustled the villain for a Tory I never saw anything like
it«
»That repartee wouldnt have done with a Dutchman or a Torbay trawler« said
Stukely Culbrett »But let us hear more«
»Is it fair« Miss Halkett murmured anxiously to Mrs Lespel who returned a
flitting shrug
»Charming women follow Beauchamp you know« Palmet proceeded as he
conceived to confirm and heighten the tale of success »There s a Miss Denham
niece of a doctor a Dr Shot Shrapnel a wonderfully goodlooking
cleverlooking girl comes across him in halfadozen streets to ask how he s
getting on and goes every night to his meetings with a man who s a writer and
has a mad wife a man named Lydia no that s a woman Lydiard It s rather
a jumble but you should see her when Beauchamp s on his legs and speaking«
»Mr Lydiard is in Bevisham« Mrs WardourDevereux remarked
»I know the girl« growled Mr Lespel »She comes with that rascally doctor
and a bobtail of teadrinking men and women and their brats to Northeden Heath
my ground There they stand and sing«
»Hymns« inquired Mr Culbrett
»I dont know what they sing And when it rains they take the liberty to
step over my bank into my plantation Some day I shall have them stepping into
my house«
»Yes it s Mr Lydiard I m sure of the mans name« Palmet replied to
Mrs WardourDevereux
»We met him in Spain the year before last« she observed to Cecilia
The we reminded Palmet that her husband was present
»Ah Devereux I didnt see you« he nodded obliquely down the table »By
the way what s the grand procession I hear my man Davis has come all right
and I caught sight of the top of your coachbox in the stableyard as I came in
What are we up to«
»Baskelett writes it s to be for tomorrow morning at ten the start«
Mr WardourDevereux addressed the table generally He was a fair huge
bushbearded man with a voice of unvarying bass a squire in his county and
energetic in his pursuit of the pleasures of hunting driving travelling and
tobacco
»Old Bask s the captain of us Very well but where do we drive the teams
How many are we What s in hand«
Cecilia threw a hurried glance at her hostess
Luckily some witling said »Foursinhand« and so dryly that it passed for
humour and gave Mrs Lespel time to interpose »You are not to know till
tomorrow Ernest«
Palmet had traced the authorship of the sally to Mr Algy Borolick and
crowned him with praise for it He asked »Why not know till tomorrow« A word
in a murmur from Mr Culbrett »Dont frighten the women« satisfied him though
why it should he could not have imagined
Mrs Lespel quitted the breakfasttable before the setting in of the
dangerous five minutes of conversation over its ruins and spoke to her husband
who contested the necessity for secresy but yielded to her judgement when it
was backed by Stukely Culbrett Soon after Lord Palmet found himself encountered
by evasions and witticisms in spite of the absence of the ladies upon every
attempt he made to get some light regarding the destination of the fourinhands
next day
»What are you going to do« he said to Mr Devereux thinking him the
likeliest one to grow confidential in private
»Smoke« resounded from the depths of that gentleman
Palmet recollected the ground of division between the beautiful brunette and
her lord his addiction to the pipe in perpetuity and deemed it sweeter to be
with the lady
She and Miss Halkett were walking in the garden
Miss Halkett said to him »How wrong of you to betray the secrets of your
friend Is he really making way«
»Beauchamp will head the poll to a certainty« Palmet replied
»Still« said Miss Halkett »you should not forget that you are not in the
house of a Liberal Did you canvass in the town or the suburbs«
»Everywhere I assure you Miss Halkett there s a feeling for Beauchamp
they re in love with him«
»He promises them everything I suppose«
»Not he And the odd thing is it isnt the Radicals he catches He wont go
against the game laws for them and he wont cut down army and navy So the
Radicals yell at him One confessed he had sold his vote for five pounds last
election you shall have it for the same says he for you re all humbugs
Beauchamp took him by the throat and shook him metaphorically you know But
as for the tradesmen he s their hero bakers especially«
»Mr Austin may be right then« Cecilia reflected aloud
She went to Mrs Lespel to repeat what she had extracted from Palmet after
warning the latter not in common loyalty to converse about his canvass with
Beauchamp
»Did you speak of Mr Lydiard as Captain Beauchamps friend« Mrs Devereux
inquired of him
»Lydiard why he was the man who made off with that pretty Miss Denham«
said Palmet »I have the greatest trouble to remember them all but it was not a
day wasted Now I know politics Shall we ride or walk You will let me have the
happiness I m so unlucky I rarely meet you«
»You will bring Captain Beauchamp to me the moment he comes«
»I ll bring him Bring him Nevil Beauchamp wont want bringing«
Mrs Devereux smiled with some pleasure
Grancey Lespel followed at some distance by Mr Ferbrass the Tory lawyer
stepped quickly up to Palmet and asked whether Beauchamp had seen Dollikins
the brewer
Palmet could recollect the name of one Tomlinson and also the calling at a
brewery Moreover Beauchamp had uttered contempt of the brewers business and
of the social rule to accept rich brewers for gentlemen The mans name might be
Dollikins and not Tomlinson and if so it was Dollikins who would not see
Beauchamp To preserve his political importance Palmet said »Dollikins to be
sure that was the man«
»Treats him as he does you« Mr Lespel turned to Ferbrass »I ve sent to
Dollikins to come to me this morning if he s not driving into the town I ll
have him before Beauchamp sees him I ve asked halfadozen of these country
gentlementradesmen to lunch at my table today«
»Then sir« observed Ferbrass »if they are men to be persuaded they had
better not see me«
»True they re my old supporters and mightnt like your Tory face« Mr
Lespel assented
Mr Ferbrass congratulated him on the heartiness of his espousal of the Tory
cause
Mr Lespel winced a little and told him not to put his trust in that
»Turned Tory« said Palmet
Mr Lespel declined to answer
Palmet said to Mrs Devereux »He thinks I m not worth speaking to upon
politics Now I ll give him some Beauchamp I learned lots yesterday«
»Then let it be in Captain Beauchamps manner« said she softly
Palmet obeyed her commands with the liveliest exhibition of his peculiar
faculty Cecilia rejoining them seemed to hear Nevil himself in his emphatic
political mood »Because the Whigs are defunct They had no root in the
people Whig is the name of a tribe that was You have Tory Liberal and
Radical There is no place for Whig He is played out«
»Who has been putting that nonsense into your head« Mr Lespel retorted
»Go shooting go shooting«
Shots were heard in the woods Palmet pricked up his ears but he was taken
out riding to act cavalier to Mrs Devereux and Miss Halkett
Cecilia corrected his enthusiasm with the situation »No flatteries today
There are hours when women feel their insignificance and helplessness I begin
to fear for Mr Austin and I find I can do nothing to aid him My hands are
tied And yet I know I could win voters if only it were permissible for me to go
and speak to them«
»Win them« cried Palmet imagining the alacrity of mens votes to be won by
her He recommended a gallop for the chasing away of melancholy and as they
were on the Bevisham high road which was bordered by strips of turf and heath
a few good stretches brought them on the firheights commanding views of the
town and broad water
»No I cannot enjoy it« Cecilia said to Mrs Devereux »I dont mind the
grey light cloud and water and halftones of colour are homely English and
pleasant and that opal where the sun should be has a suggestiveness richer than
sunlight I m quite northern enough to understand it but with me it must be
either peace or strife and that Election down there destroys my chance of
peace I never could mix reverie with excitement the battle must be over first
and the dead buried Can you«
Mrs Devereux answered »Excitement I am not sure that I know what it is
An Election does not excite me«
»There s Nevil Beauchamp himself« Palmet sang out and the ladies
discerned Beauchamp under a firtree down by the road not alone A man
increasing in length like a telescope gradually reaching its end for
observation and coming to the height of a landmark as if raised by ropes was
rising from the ground beside him »Shall we trot on Miss Halkett«
Cecilia said »No«
»Now I see a third fellow« said Palmet »It s the other fellow the Denham
Shrapnel Radical meeting Lydiard s his name writes books«
»We may as well ride on« Mrs Devereux remarked and her horse fretted
singularly
Beauchamp perceived them and lifted his hat Palmet made demonstrations for
the ladies Still neither party moved nearer
After some waiting Cecilia proposed to turn back
Mrs Devereux looked into her eyes »I ll take the lead« she said and
started forward pursued by Palmet Cecilia followed at a sullen canter
Before they came up to Beauchamp the longshanked man had stalked away
townward Lydiard held Beauchamp by the hand Some last words after the manner
of instructions passed between them and then Lydiard also turned away
»I say Beauchamp Mrs Devereux wants to hear who that man is« Palmet
said drawing up
»That man is Dr Shrapnel« said Beauchamp convinced that Cecilia had
checked her horse at the sight of the doctor
»Dr Shrapnel« Palmet informed Mrs Devereux
She looked at him to seek his wits and returning Beauchamps admiring
salutation with a little bow and smile said »I fancied it was a gentleman we
met in Spain«
»He writes books« observed Palmet to jog a slow intelligence
»Pamphlets you mean«
»I think he is not a pamphleteer« Mrs Devereux said
»Mr Lydiard then of course how silly I am How can you pardon me«
Beauchamp was contrite he could not explain that a long guess he had made at
Miss Halketts reluctance to come up to him when Dr Shrapnel was with him had
preoccupied his mind He sent off Palmet the bearer of a pretext for bringing
Lydiard back and then said to Cecilia »You recognized Dr Shrapnel«
»I thought it might be Dr Shrapnel« she was candid enough to reply »I
could not well recognize him not knowing him«
»Here comes Mr Lydiard and let me assure you if I may take the liberty of
introducing him he is no true Radical He is a philosopher one of the flirts
the butterflies of politics as Dr Shrapnel calls them«
Beauchamp hummed over some improvized trifles to Lydiard then introduced
him cursorily and all walked in the direction of Itchincope It was really the
Mr Lydiard Mrs Devereux had met in Spain so they were left in the rear to
discuss their travels Much conversation did not go on in front Cecilia was
very reserved Byandby she said »I am glad you have come into the country
early today«
He spoke rapturously of the fresh air and not too mildly of his pleasure in
meeting her Quite off her guard she began to hope he was getting to be one of
them again until she heard him tell Lord Palmet that he had come early out of
Bevisham for the walk with Dr Shrapnel and to call on certain rich tradesmen
living near Itchincope He mentioned the name of Dollikins
»Dollikins« Palmet consulted a perturbed recollection Among the entangled
list of new names he had gathered recently from the study of politics Dollikins
rang in his head He shouted »Yes Dollikins to be sure Lespel has him to
lunch today calls him a gentlemantradesman odd fish and told a fellow
called where is it now a name like brass or copper Copperstone
Brasspot told him he d do well to keep his Tory cheek out of sight It s
the names of those fellows bother one so All the rest s easy«
»You are evidently in a state of confusion Lord Palmet« said Cecilia
The tone of rebuke and admonishment was unperceived »Not about the facts«
he rejoined »I m for fair play all round no trickery I tell Beauchamp all I
know just as I told you this morning Miss Halkett What I dont like is Lespel
turning Tory«
Cecilia put a stop to his indiscretions by halting for Mrs Devereux and
saying to Beauchamp »If your friend would return to Bevisham by rail this is
the nearest point to the station«
Palmet bestnatured of men though generally prompted by some of his
peculiar motives dismounted from his horse leaving him to Beauchamp that he
might conduct Mr Lydiard to the station and perhaps hear a word of Miss
Denham at any rate be able to form a guess as to the secret of that art of his
which had in the space of an hour restored a happy and luminous vivacity to the
languid Mrs WardourDevereux
Chapter XXI
The Question As to the Examination of the Whigs and the Fine Blow Struck by Mr
Everard Romfrey
Itchincope was famous for its hospitality Yet Beauchamp when in the presence
of his hostess could see that he was both unexpected and unwelcome Mrs Lespel
was unable to conceal it she looked meaningly at Cecilia talked of the house
being very full and her husband engaged till late in the afternoon And Captain
Baskelett had arrived on a sudden she said And the luncheontable in the
diningroom could not possibly hold more
»We three will sit in the library anywhere« said Cecilia
So they sat and lunched in the library where Mrs Devereux served
unconsciously for an excellent ally to Cecilia in chatting to Beauchamp
principally of the writings of Mr Lydiard
Had the blinds of the windows been drawn down and candles lighted Beauchamp
would have been well contented to remain with these two ladies and forget the
outer world sweeter society could not have been offered him but glancing
carelessly on to the lawn he exclaimed in some wonderment that the man he
particularly wished to see was there »It must be Dollikins the brewer I ve
had him pointed out to me in Bevisham and I never can light on him at his
brewery«
No excuse for detaining the impetuous candidate struck Cecilia She betook
herself to Mrs Lespel to give and receive counsel in the emergency while
Beauchamp struck across the lawn to Mr Dollikins who had the squire of
Itchincope on the other side of him
Late in the afternoon a report reached the ladies of a furious contest going
on over Dollikins Mr Algy Borolick was the first to give them intelligence of
it and he declared that Beauchamp had wrested Dollikins from Grancey Lespel
This was contradicted subsequently by Mr Stukely Culbrett »But there s heavy
pulling between them« he said
»It will do all the good in the world to Grancey« said Mrs Lespel
She sat in her little blueroom with gentlemen congregating at the open
window
Presently Grancey Lespel rounded a projection of the house where the
drawingroom stood out »The maddest folly ever talked« he delivered himself in
wrath »The Whigs dead You may as well say I m dead«
It was Beauchamp answering »Politically you re dead if you call yourself
a Whig You couldnt be a live one for the party s in pieces blown to the
winds The country was once a chessboard for Whig and Tory but that game s at
an end There s no doubt on earth that the Whigs are dead«
»But if there s no doubt about it how is it I have a doubt about it«
»You know you re a Tory You tried to get that man Dollikins from me in the
Tory interest«
»I mean to keep him out of Radical clutches Now that s the truth«
They came up to the group by the open window still conversing hotly
indifferent to listeners
»You wont keep him from me I have him« said Beauchamp
»You delude yourself I have his promise his pledged word« said Grancey
Lespel
»The man himself told you his opinion of renegade Whigs«
»Renegade«
»Renegade Whig is an actionable phrase« Mr Culbrett observed
He was unnoticed
»If you dont like renegade take dead« said Beauchamp »Dead Whig
resurgent in the Tory You are dead«
»It s the stupid conceit of your party thinks that«
»Dead my dear Mr Lespel I ll say for the Whigs they would not be seen
touting for Tories if they were not ghosts of Whigs You are dead There is no
doubt of it«
»But« Grancey Lespel repeated »if there s no doubt about it how is it I
have a doubt about it«
»The Whigs preached finality in Reform It was their own funeral sermon«
»Nonsensical talk«
»I dont dispute your liberty of action to go over to the Tories but you
have no right to attempt to take an honest Liberal with you And that I ve
stopped«
»Aha Beauchamp the man s mine Come you ll own he swore he wouldnt
vote for a Shrapnelite«
»Dont you remember that s how the Tories used to fight you they stuck
an epithet to you and hooted to set the mob an example you hit them off to the
life« said Beauchamp brightening with the fine ire of strife and affecting a
sadder indignation »You traded on the ignorance of a man prejudiced by lying
reports of one of the noblest of human creatures«
»Shrapnel There I ve had enough« Grancey Lespel bounced away with both
hands outspread on the level of his ears
»Dead« Beauchamp sent the ghastly accusation after him
Grancey faced round and said »Bo« which was applauded for a smart retort
And let none of us be so exalted above the wit of daily life as to sneer at it
Mrs Lespel remarked to Mr Culbrett »Do you not see how much he is refreshed
by the interest he takes in this election He is ten years younger«
Beauchamp bent to her saying mockdolefully »I m sorry to tell you that
if ever he was a sincere Whig he has years of remorse before him«
»Promise me Captain Beauchamp« she answered »promise you will give us no
more politics today«
»If none provoke me«
»None shall«
»And as to Bevisham« said Mr Culbrett »it s the identical borough for a
Radical candidate for every voter there demands a division of his property and
he should be the last to complain of an adoption of his principles«
»Clever« rejoined Beauchamp »but I am under government« and he swept a
bow to Mrs Lespel
As they were breaking up the group Captain Baskelett appeared
»Ah Nevil« said he passed him saluted Miss Halkett through the window
then cordially squeezed his cousins hand »Having a holiday out of Bevisham
The baron expects to meet you at Mount Laurels tomorrow He particularly wishes
me to ask you whether you think all is fair in war«
»I dont« said Nevil
»Not The canvass goes on swimmingly«
»Ask Palmet«
»Palmet gives you twothirds of the borough The poor old Tory tortoise is
nowhere They ve been writing about you Nevil«
»They have And if there s a man of honour in the party I shall hold him
responsible for it«
»I allude to an article in the Bevisham Liberal paper a magnificent eulogy
upon my honour I give you my word I have rarely read an article so eloquent
And what is the Conservative misdemeanour which the one man of honour in the
party is to pay for«
»I ll talk to you about it byandby« said Nevil
He seemed to Cecilia too trusting too simple considering his cousins
undisguised tone of banter Yet she could not put him on his guard She would
have had Mr Culbrett do so She walked on the terrace with him near upon
sunset and said »The position Captain Beauchamp is in here is most unfair to
him«
»There s nothing unfair in the lions den« said Stukely Culbrett adding
»Now observe Miss Halkett he talks for effect He discovers that Lespel is a
Torified Whig but that does not make him a bit more alert It s to say smart
things He speaks but wont act as if he were among enemies He s getting too
fond of his bowwow Here he is and he knows the den and he chooses to act the
innocent You see how ridiculous That trick of the ingénu or peculiarly
heavenly messenger who pretends that he ought never to have any harm done to
him though he carries the lighted match is the way of young Radicals
Otherwise Beauchamp would be a dear boy We shall see how he takes his
thrashing«
»You feel sure he will be beaten«
»He has too strong a dose of fools honesty to succeed stands for the game
laws with Radicals for example He s loaded with scruples and crotchets and
thinks more of them than of his winds and his tides No public man is to be made
out of that His idea of the Whigs being dead shows a head that cant read the
country He means himself for mankind and is preparing to be the benefactor of
a country parish«
»But as a naval officer«
»Excellent«
Cecilia was convinced that Mr Culbrett underestimated Beauchamp
Nevertheless the confidence expressed in Beauchamps defeat reassured and
pleased her At midnight she was dancing with him in the midst of great matronly
country vessels that raised a wind when they launched on the waltz and exacted
an anxious pilotage on the part of gentlemen careful of their partners and why
I cannot say but contrasts produce quaint ideas in excited spirits and a
dancing politician appeared to her so absurd that at one moment she had to bite
her lips not to laugh It will hardly be credited that the waltz with Nevil was
delightful to Cecilia all the while and dancing with others a penance He
danced with none other He led her to a three oclock morning supper one of
those triumphant subversions of the laws and customs of earth which have the
charm of a form of present deification for all young people and she while
noting how the poor mans advocate dealt with costly pasties and sparkling
wines was overjoyed at his hearty comrades manner with the gentlemen and a
leadership in fun that he seemed to have established Cecil Baskelett
acknowledged it and complimented him on it »I give you my word Nevil I never
heard you in finer trim Here s to our drive into Bevisham tomorrow Do you
drink it I beg I entreat«
»Oh certainly« said Nevil
»Will you take a whip down there«
»If you re all insured«
»On my honour old Nevil driving a fourinhand is easier than governing
the country«
»I ll accept your authority for what you know best« said Nevil
The toast of the Drive into Bevisham was drunk
Cecilia left the suppertable mortified and feeling disgraced by her
participation in a secret that was being wantonly abused to humiliate Nevil as
she was made to think by her sensitiveness All the gentlemen were against him
excepting perhaps that chattering pie Lord Palmet who did him more mischief
than his enemies She could not sleep She walked out on the terrace with Mrs
WardourDevereux in a dream hearing that lady breathe remarks hardly less than
sentimental and an unwearied succession of shouts from the smokingroom
»They are not going to bed tonight« said Mrs Devereux
»They are mystifying Captain Beauchamp« said Cecilia
»My husband tells me they are going to drive him into the town tomorrow«
Cecilia flushed she could scarcely get her breath
»Is that their plot« she murmured
Sleep was rejected by her bed itself The drive into Bevisham had been
fixed for nine AM She wrote two lines on notepaper in her room but found
them overfervid and mysterious Besides how were they to be conveyed to
Nevils chamber
She walked in the passage for half an hour thinking it possible she might
meet him not the most ladylike of proceedings but her head was bewildered An
armchair in her room invited her to rest and think the mask of a natural
desire for sleep At eight in the morning she was awakened by her maid and at a
touch exclaimed »Have they gone« and her heart still throbbed after hearing
that most of the gentlemen were in and about the stables Cecilia was
downstairs at a quarter to nine The breakfastroom was empty of all but Lord
Palmet and Mr WardourDevereux one selecting a cigar to light out of doors
the other debating between two pipes She beckoned to Palmet and commissioned
him to inform Beauchamp that she wished him to drive her down to Bevisham in her
ponycarriage Palmet brought back word from Beauchamp that he had an
appointment at ten oclock in the town »I want to see him« she said so Palmet
ran out with the order Cecilia met Beauchamp in the entrancehall
»You must not go« she said bluntly
»I cant break an appointment« said he »for the sake of my own pleasure«
was implied
»Will you not listen to me Nevil when I say you cannot go«
A coachmans trumpet blew
»I shall be late That s Colonel Millingtons team He starts first then
WardourDevereux then Cecil and I mount beside him Palmet s at our heels«
»But cant you even imagine a purpose for their driving into Bevisham so
pompously«
»Well men with drags havent commonly much purpose« he said
»But on this occasion At an Election time Surely Nevil you can guess at
a reason«
A second trumpet blew very martially Footmen came in search of Captain
Beauchamp The alternative of breaking her pledged word to her father or of
letting Nevil be burlesqued in the sight of the town could no longer be dallied
with
Cecilia said »Well Nevil then you shall hear it«
Hereupon Captain Baskeletts groom informed Captain Beauchamp that he was
off
»Yes« Nevil said to Cecilia »tell me on board the yacht«
»Nevil you will be driving into the town with the second Tory candidate of
the borough«
»Which who« Nevil asked
»Your cousin Cecil«
»Tell Captain Baskelett that I dont drive down till an hour later« Nevil
said to the groom »Cecilia you re my friend I wish you were more I wish we
didnt differ I shall hope to change you make you come halfway out of that
citadel of yours This is my uncle Everard I might have made sure there d be a
blow from him And Cecil of all men for a politician Cecilia think of it
Cecil Baskelett I beg Seymour Austins pardon for having suspected him «
Now sounded Captain Baskeletts trumpet
Angry though he was Beauchamp laughed »Isnt it exactly like the baron to
spring a mine of this kind«
There was decidedly humour in the plot and it was a lusty quarterstaff blow
into the bargain Beauchamps head rang with it He could not conceal the
stunning effect it had on him Gratitude and tenderness toward Cecilia for
saving him at the cost of a partial breach of faith that he quite understood
from the scandal of the public entry into Bevisham on the Tory coachbox
alternated with his interjections regarding his uncle Everard
At eleven Cecilia sat in her ponycarriage giving final directions to Mrs
Devereux where to look out for the Esperanza and the schooners boat »Then I
drive down alone« Mrs Devereux said
The gentlemen were all off and every available maid with them on the
coachboxes a brilliant sight that had been missed by Nevil and Cecilia
»Why here s Lydiard« said Nevil supposing that Lydiard must be
approaching him with tidings of the second Tory candidate But Lydiard knew
nothing of it He was the bearer of a letter on foreign paper marked urgent
in Rosamunds hand and similarly worded in the wellknown hand which had
inscribed the original address of the letter to Steynham
Beauchamp opened it and read
»Château Tourdestelle
Eure
Come I give you three days no more
RENÉE«
The brevity was horrible Did it spring from childish imperiousness or tragic
peril
Beauchamp could imagine it to be this or that In moments of excited
speculation we do not dwell on the possibility that there may be a mixture of
motives
»I fear I must cross over to France this evening« he said to Cecilia
She replied »It is likely to be stormy tonight The steamboat may not
run«
»If there s a doubt of it I shall find a French lugger You are tired
from not sleeping last night«
»No« she answered and nodded to Mrs Devereux beside whom Mr Lydiard
stood »You will not drive down alone you see«
For a young lady threatened with a tempest in her heart as disturbing to
her as the one gathering in the West for ships at sea Miss Halkett bore herself
well
Chapter XXII
The Drive into Bevisham
Beauchamp was requested by Cecilia to hold the reins His fair companion in the
ponycarriage preferred to lean back musing and he had leisure to think over
the blow dealt him by his uncle Everard with so sure an aim so ringingly on the
head And in the first place he made no attempt to disdain it because it was
nothing but artful and heavyhanded after the mediæval pattern Of old he
himself had delighted in artfulness as well as boldness and the unmistakeable
hit Highly to prize generalship was in his blood though latterly the very
forces propelling him to his political warfare had forbidden the use of it to
him He saw the patient veteran laying his gun for a long shot to give as good
as he had received and in realizing Everard Romfreys perfectly placid bearing
under provocation such as he certainly would have maintained while preparing
his reply to it the raw fighting humour of the plot touched the sense of
justice in Beauchamp enough to make him own that he had been the first to
offend
He could reflect also on the likelihood that other offended men of his
uncles age and position would have sulked or stormed threatening the Parthian
shot of the vindictive testator If there was godlessness in turning to politics
for a weapon to strike a domestic blow manfulness in some degree signalized it
Beauchamp could fancy his uncle crying out Who set the example and he was not
at that instant inclined to dwell on the occult virtues of the example he had
set To be honest this elevation of a political puppet like Cecil Baskelett
and the starting him out of the same family which Turbot the journalist had
magnified into Bevisham with such pomp and flourish in opposition to the
serious young champion of popular rights and the Puritan style was ludicrously
effective Conscienceless of course But that was the way of the Old School
Beauchamp broke the silence by thanking Cecilia once more for saving him
from the absurd exhibition of the Radical candidate on the Tory coachbox and
laughing at the grimmish slyness of his uncle Everards conspiracy a something
in it that was halfsmile halfsneer not exactly malignant and by no means
innocent something made up of the simplicity of a lighted match and its
proximity to powder yet neither deadly in spite of a wicked twinkle nor at
all pretending to be harmless in short a specimen of old English practical
humour
He laboured to express these or corresponding views of it with tolerably
natural laughter and Cecilia rallied her spirits at his pleasant manner of
taking his blow
»I shall compliment the baron when I meet him tonight« he said »What can
we compare him to«
She suggested the Commander of the Faithful the Lord Haroun who likewise
had a turn for buffooneries to serve a purpose and could direct them loftily
and sovereignly
»No Everard Romfrey s a Northerner from the feet up« said Beauchamp
Cecilia compliantly offered him a sketch of the Scandinavian Troll much
nearer the mark he thought and exclaimed »Baron Troll I m afraid Cecilia
you have robbed him of the best part of his fun And you will owe it entirely to
him if you should be represented in Parliament by my cousin Baskelett«
»Promise me Nevil that you will when you meet Captain Baskelett not
forget I did you some service and that I wish I shall be so glad if you do not
resent certain things Very objectionable we all think«
He released her from the embarrassing petition »Oh now I know my man you
may be sure I wont waste a word on him The fact is he would not understand a
word and would require more and that I dont do When I fancied Mr Austin
was the responsible person I meant to speak to him«
Cecilia smiled gratefully
The sweetness of a lovespeech would not have been sweeter to her than this
proof of civilized chivalry in Nevil
They came to the firheights overlooking Bevisham Here the breezy beginning
of a Southwestern autumnal gale tossed the ponies manes and made threads of
Cecilias shorter locks of beautiful auburn by the temples and the neck
blustering the curls that streamed in a thick involution from the silken band
gathering them off her uncovered clearswept ears
Beauchamp took an impression of her side face It seemed to offer him
everything the world could offer of cultivated purity intelligent beauty and
attractiveness and »Wilt thou« said the winged minute Peace a good repute in
the mouths of men home and a trustworthy woman for mate an ideal English
lady the rarest growth of our country and friends and fair esteem were
offered Last night he had waltzed with her and the manner of this tall
graceful girl in submitting to the union of the measure and reserving her
individual distinction had exquisitely flattered his taste giving him an
auspicious image of her in partnership through the uses of life
He looked ahead at the low deadblue cloud swinging from across channel
What could be the riddle of Renées letter It chained him completely
»At all events I shall not be away longer than three days« he said
paused eyed Cecilias profile and added »Do we differ so much«
»It may not be so much as we think« said she
»But if we do«
»Then Nevil there is a difference between us«
»But if we keep our lips closed«
»We should have to shut our eyes as well«
A lovely melting image of her stole over him all the warmer for her
unwittingness in producing it and it awakened a tenderness toward the simple
speaker
Cecilias delicate breeding saved her from running on figuratively She
continued »Intellectual differences do not cause wounds except when very
unintellectual sentiments are behind them my conceit or your impatience
Nevil Noi veggiam come quei che ha mala luce I can confess my sight to be
imperfect but will you ever do so«
Her musical voice in Italian charmed his hearing
»What poet was that you quoted«
»The wisest Dante«
»Dr Shrapnels favourite I must try to read him«
»He reads Dante« Cecilia threw a stress on the august name and it was
manifest that she cared not for the answer
Contemptuous exclusiveness could not go farther
»He is a man of cultivation« Beauchamp said cursorily trying to avoid
dissension but in vain »I wish I were half as well instructed and the world
half as charitable as he You ask me if I shall admit my sight to be
imperfect Yes when you prove to me that priests and landlords are willing to
do their duty by the people in preference to their churches and their property
but will you ever shake off prejudice«
Here was opposition sounding again Cecilia mentally reproached Dr Shrapnel
for it
»Indeed Nevil really must not may I not ask you this must not every
one feel the evil spell of some associations And Dante and Dr Shrapnel«
»You dont know him Cecilia«
»I saw him yesterday«
»You thought him too tall«
»I thought of his character«
»How angry I should be with you if you were not so beautiful«
»I am immensely indebted to my unconscious advocate«
»You are clad in steel you flash back you wont answer me out of the
heart I m convinced it is pure wilfulness that makes you oppose me«
»I fancy you must be convinced because you cannot imagine women to have any
share of public spirit Nevil«
A grain of truth in that remark set Nevil reflecting
»I want them to have it« he remarked and glanced at a Tory placard
probably the puppets freshprinted address to the electors on one of the
wayside firtrees »Bevisham looks well from here We might make a Northwestern
Venice of it if we liked«
»Papa told you it would be money sunk in mud«
»Did I mention it to him Thoroughly Conservative So he would leave the
mud as it is They insist on our not venturing anything those Tories exactly
as though we had gained the best of human conditions instead of counting crops
of rogues malefactors egoists noxious and lumbersome creatures that deaden
the country Your town down there is one of the ugliest and dirtiest in the
kingdom it might be the fairest«
»I have often thought that of Bevisham Nevil«
He drew a visionary sketch of quays embankments bridged islands public
buildings magical emanations of patriotic architecture with a practical air
an absence of that enthusiasm which struck her with suspicion when it was not
applied to landscape or the Arts and she accepted it and warmed and even
allowed herself to appear hesitating when he returned to the similarity of the
state of mudbegirt Bevisham and our great sluggish England
Was he not perhaps to be pitied in his bondage to the Frenchwoman who could
have no ideas in common with him
The rare circumstance that she and Nevil Beauchamp had found a subject of
agreement partially overcame the sentiment Cecilia entertained for the foreign
lady and having now one idea in common with him she conceived the possibility
that there might be more There must be many for he loved England and she no
less She clung however to the topic of Bevisham preferring to dream of the
many more rather than run risks Undoubtedly the town was of an ignoble aspect
and it was declining in prosperity and it was consequently overpopulated And
undoubtedly so she was induced to coincide for the moment a Government acting
to any extent like a supervising head should aid and direct the energies of
towns and ports and trades and not leave everything everywhere to chance
schools for the people public morality should be the charge of Government
Cecilia had surrendered the lead to him and was forced to subscribe to an
equivalent of undoubtedly the Tories just as little as the Liberals had done
these good offices Party against party neither of them had a forethoughtful
head for the land at large They waited for the Press to spur a great imperial
country to be but defensively armed and they accepted the socalled volunteers
with a nominal onemonths drill per annum as a guarantee of defence
Beauchamp startled her actually kindled her mind to an activity of wonder
and regret with the statement of how much Government acting with some degree
of farsightedness might have won to pay the public debt and remit taxation by
originally retaining the lines of railway and fastening on the valuable land
adjoining stations Hundreds of millions of pounds
She dropped a sigh at the prodigious amount but inquired »Who has
calculated it«
For though perfectly aware that this kind of conversation was a special
compliment paid to her by her friend Nevil and dimly perceiving that it implied
something beyond a compliment in fact that it was his manner of probing her
for sympathy as other men would have conducted the process preliminary to
deadly flattery or to wooing her wits fenced her heart about the exercise of
shrewdness was an instinct of selfpreservation She had nothing but her poor
wits daily growing fainter to resist him with And he seemed to know it and
therefore assailed them never trying at the heart
That vast army of figures might be but a phantom army conjured out of the
Radical mists might it not she hinted And besides we cannot surely require a
Government to speculate in the future can we
Possibly not as Governments go Beauchamp said
But what think you of a Government of landowners decreeing the enclosure of
millions of acres of common land amongst themselves taking the property of the
people to add to their own Say is not that plunder Public property observe
decreed to them by their own lawmaking under the pretence that it was being
reclaimed for cultivation when in reality it has been but an addition to their
pleasuregrounds a flat robbery of pasture from the poor mans cow and goose
and his right of cutting furze for firing Consider that Beauchamps eyes
flashed democratic in reciting this injury to the objects of his warm solicitude
the man the cow and the goose But so must he have looked when fronting
Englands enemies and his aspect of fervour subdued Cecilia She confessed her
inability to form an estimate of such conduct
»Are they doing it still« she asked
»We owe it to Dr Shrapnel foremost that there is now a watch over them to
stop them But for him Grancey Lespel would have enclosed half of Northeden
Heath As it is he has filched bits here and there and he will have to put
back his palings«
However now let Cecilia understand that we English calling ourselves free
are under morally lawless rule Government is what we require and our means of
getting it must be through universal suffrage At present we have no Government
only shifting Party Ministries which are the tools of divers interests wealthy
factions to the sacrifice of the Commonwealth
She listened like Rosamund Culling overborne by Dr Shrapnel inwardly
praying that she might discover a man to reply to him
»A Despotism Nevil«
He hoped not declined the despot was English enough to stand against the
best of men in that character but he cast it on Tory Whig and Liberal
otherwise the Constitutionalists if we were to come upon the despot
»They see we are close on universal suffrage they ve been bidding each in
turn for the people and that has brought them to it and now they re alarmed
and accuse one another of treason to the Constitution and they dont accept the
situation and there s a fear that to carry on their present system they will
be thwarting the people or corrupting them and in that case we shall have our
despot in some shape or other and we shall suffer«
»Nevil« said Cecilia »I am out of my depth«
»I ll support you I can swim for two« said he
»You are very selfconfident but I find I am not fit for battle at least
not in the front ranks«
»Nerve me then will you Try to comprehend once for all what the battle
is«
»I am afraid I am too indifferent I am too luxurious That reminds me you
want to meet your uncle Everard and if you will sleep at Mount Laurels
tonight the Esperanza shall take you to France tomorrow morning and can wait
to bring you back«
As she spoke she perceived a flush mounting over Nevils face Soon it was
communicated to hers
The strange secret of the blood electrified them both and revealed the
burning undercurrent running between them from the hearts of each The light
that showed how near they were to one another was kindled at the barrier
dividing them It remained as good as a secret unchallenged until they had
separated and after midnight Cecilia looked through her chamber windows at the
driving moon of a hurricane scud and read clearly his honourable reluctance to
be wafted over to his French love by her assistance and Beauchamp on board the
tossing steamboat perceived in her sympathetic reddening that she had divined
him
This auroral light eclipsed the other events of the day He drove into a
town royally decorated and still humming with the ravishment of the Tory
entrance He sailed in the schooner to Mount Laurels in the society of Captain
Baskelett and his friends who finding him tamer than they expected bantered
him in the cheerfullest fashion He waited for his uncle Everard several hours
at Mount Laurels perused the junior Torys address to the Electors throughout
which there was not an idea safest of addresses to canvass upon perused
likewise at Captain Baskeletts request a broad sheet of an article
introducing the new candidate to Bevisham with the battleaxe Romfreys to back
him in high burlesque of Timothy Turbot upon Beauchamp and Cecil hoped his
cousin would not object to his borrowing a Romfrey or two for so pressing an
occasion All very funny and no doubt the presence of Mr Everard Romfrey would
have heightened the fun from the fountainhead but he happened to be delayed
and Beauchamp had to leave directions behind him in the town besides the
discussion of a whole plan of conduct with Dr Shrapnel so he was under the
necessity of departing without seeing his uncle really to his regret He left
word to that effect
Taking leave of Cecilia he talked of his return home within three or four
days as a certainty
She said »Canvassing should not be neglected now«
Her hostility was confused by what she had done to save him from annoyance
while his behaviour to his cousin Cecil increased her respect for him She
detected a pathetic meaning in his mention of the word home she mused on his
having called her beautiful whither was she hurrying Forgetful of her horror
of his revolutionary ideas forgetful of the elevation of her own she thrilled
secretly on hearing it stated by the jubilant young Tories at Mount Laurels as
a characteristic of Beauchamp that he was clever in parrying political thrusts
and slipping from the theme he who with her gave out unguardedly the thoughts
deepest in him And the thoughts were they not of generous origin Where so
true a helpmate for him as the one to whom his mind appealed It could not be so
with the Frenchwoman Cecilia divined a generous nature by generosity and set
herself to believe that in honour he had not yet dared to speak to her from the
heart not being at heart quite free She was at the same time in her remains of
pride cool enough to examine and rebuke the weakness she succumbed to in now
clinging to him by that which yesterday she hardly less than loathed still
deeply disliked
Chapter XXIII
Tourdestelle
On the part of Beauchamp his conversation with Cecilia during the drive into
Bevisham opened out for the first time in his life a prospect of home he had
felt the word in speaking it and it signified an end to the distractions
produced by the sex allegiance to one beloved respected woman and also a basis
of operations against the world For she was evidently conquerable and once
matched with him would be the very woman to nerve and sustain him Did she not
listen to him He liked her resistance That element of the barbarous which went
largely to form his emotional nature was overjoyed in wresting such a woman from
the enemy and subduing her personally She was a prize She was a splendid
prize cut out from under the guns of the fort He rendered all that was due to
his eminently good cause for its part in so signal a success but individual
satisfaction is not diminished by the thought that the individuals discernment
selected the cause thus beneficent to him
Beauchamps meditations were diverted by the sight of the coast of France
dashed in rainlines across a weedstrewn sea The three days granted him by
Renée were over and it scarcely troubled him that he should be behind the time
he detested mystery holding it to be a sign of pretentious feebleness often of
imposture it might be frivolity Punctilious obedience to the mysterious
brevity of the summons and not to chafe at it appeared to him as much as could
be expected of a struggling man This was the state of the case with him until
he stood on French earth breathed French air and chanced to hear the tongue of
France twittered by a lady on the quay The charm was instantaneous He reminded
himself that Renée unlike her countrywomen had no gift for writing letters
They had never corresponded since the hour of her marriage They had met in
Sicily at Syracuse in the presence of her father and her husband and so
inanimate was she that the meeting seemed like the conclusion of their history
Her brother Roland sent tidings of her by fits and sometimes a conventional
message from Tourdestelle Latterly her husbands name had been cited as among
the wildfires of Parisian quags in journals more or less devoted to those
unreclaimed spaces of the city Well if she was unhappy was it not the
fulfilment of his prophecy in Venice
Renées brevity became luminous She needed him urgently and knowing him
faithful to the death she because she knew him dispatched purely the words
which said she needed him Why those brief words were the poetry of noble
confidence But what could her distress be The lover was able to read that
»Come I give you three days« addressed to him was not language of a woman
free of her yoke
Excited to guess and guess Beauchamp swept on to speculations of a madness
that seized him bodily at last Were you loved Cecilia He thought little of
politics in relation to Renée or of home or of honour in the worlds eye or
of labouring to pay the fee for his share of life This at least was one of the
forms of love which precipitate men the sole thought in him was to be with her
She was Renée the girl of whom he had prophetically said that she must come to
regrets and tears His vision of her was not at Tourdestelle though he assumed
her to be there awaiting him she was under the seashadowing Alps looking up
to the red and goldrosed heights of a realm of morning that was hers
inviolably and under which Renée was eternally his
The interval between then and now was but the space of an unquiet sea
traversed in the night sad in the passage of it but featureless and it had
proved him right It was to Nevil Beauchamp as if the spirit of his old passion
woke up again to glorious hopeful morning when he stood in Renées France
Tourdestelle enjoyed the aristocratic privilege of being twelve miles from
the nearest railway station Alighting here on an evening of clear sky
Beauchamp found an English groom ready to dismount for him and bring on his
portmanteau The man said that his mistress had been twice to the station and
was now at the neighbouring Château Dianet Thither Beauchamp betook himself on
horseback He was informed at the gates that Madame la marquise had left for
Tourdestelle in the saddle only ten minutes previously The lodgekeeper had
been instructed to invite him to stay at Château Dianet in the event of his
arriving late but it would be possible to overtake Madame by a cut across the
heights at a turn of the valley Beauchamp pushed along the valley for this
visible projection a towering mass of woodland in the midst of which a narrow
roadway worn like the track of a torrent with heavy rain wound upward On his
descent to the farther side he was to spy directly below in the flat for
Tourdestelle He crossed the wooded neck above the valley and began descending
peering into gulfs of the twilight dusk Some paces down he was aided by a
brilliant halfmoon that divided the whole underlying country into sharp
outlines of dark and fair and while endeavouring to distinguish the château of
Tourdestelle his eyes were attracted to an angle of the downward zigzag where a
pair of horses emerged into broad light swiftly apparently the riders were
disputing or one had overtaken the other in pursuit Ridinghabit and plumed
hat signalized the sex of one Beauchamp sang out a gondoliers cry He fancied
it was answered He was heard for the lady turned about and as he rode down
still uncertain of her she came cantering up alone and there could be no
uncertainty
Moonlight is friendless to eyes that would make sure of a face long unseen
It was Renée whose hand he clasped but the story of the years on her and
whether she was in bloom or wan as the beams revealing her he could not see
Her tongue sounded to him as if it were loosened without a voice »You have
come That storm You are safe«
So phantomlike a sound of speech alarmed him »I lost no time But you«
»I am well«
»Nothing hangs over you«
»Nothing«
»Why give me just three days«
»Pure impatience Have you forgotten me«
Their horses walked on with them They unlocked their hands
»You knew it was I« said he
»Who else could it be I heard Venice« she replied
Her previous cavalier was on his feet all but on his knees it appeared
searching for something that eluded him under the roadside bank He sprang at
it and waved it leapt in the saddle and remarked as he drew up beside Renée
»What one picks from the earth one may wear I presume especially when we can
protest it is our property«
Beauchamp saw him planting a white substance most carefully at the breast
buttonhole of his coat It could hardly be a flower Some drooping exotic of the
conservatory perhaps resembled it
Renée pronounced his name »M le comte Henri dHenriel«
He bowed to Beauchamp with an extreme sweep of the hat
»Last night M Beauchamp we put up vows for you to the Marine God
beseeching an exemption from that horrible mal de mer Thanks to the storm I
suppose I have won I must maintain madame that I won«
»You wear your trophy« said Renée and her horse reared and darted ahead
The gentleman on each side of her struck into a trot Beauchamp glanced at
M dHenriels breastdecoration Renée pressed the pace and threading dense
covers of foliage they reached the level of the valley where for a couple of
miles she led them stretching away merrily now in shadow now in moonlight
between high land and meadow land and a line of poplars in the meadows winding
with the river that fed the vale and shot forth gleams of silvery disquiet by
rustic bridge and mill
The strangeness of being beside her not having yet scanned her face
marvelling at her voice that was like and unlike the Renée of old full of
her but in another key a mellow note maturer made the ride magical to
Beauchamp planting the past in the present like a perceptible ghost
Renée slackened speed saying »Tourdestelle spans a branch of our little
river This is our gate Had it been daylight I would have taken you by another
way and you would have seen the black tower burnt in the Revolution an
imposing monument I am assured However you will think it pretty beside the
stream Do you come with us M le comte«
His answer was inaudible to Beauchamp he did not quit them
The lamp at the lodgegates presented the young mans face in full view and
Beauchamp thought him supremely handsome He perceived it to be a ladys glove
that M dHenriel wore at his breast
Renée walked her horse up the parkdrive alongside the bright running
water It seemed that she was aware of the method of provoking or reproving M
dHenriel He endured some minutes of total speechlessness at this pace and
abruptly said adieu and turned back
Renée bounded like a vessel free of her load »But why should we hurry«
said she and checked her course to the walk again »I hope you will like our
Normandy and my valley You used to love France Nevil and Normandy they tell
me is cousin to the opposite coast of England in climate soil people it may
be in manners too A Beauchamp never can feel that he is a foreigner in
Normandy We claim you half French You have grander parks they say We can
give you sunlight«
»And it was really only the wish to see me« said Beauchamp
»Only and really One does not live for ever on earth and it becomes a
question whether friends should be shadows to one another before death I wrote
to you because I wished to see you I was impatient because I am Renée«
»You relieve me«
»Evidently you have forgotten my character Nevil«
»Not a feature of it«
»Ah« she breathed involuntarily
»Would you have me forget it«
»When I think by myself quite alone yes I would Otherwise how can one
hope that ones friend is friendship supposing him to read us as we are
minutely accurately And it is in absence that we desire our friends to be
friendship itself And and I am utterly astray I have not dealt in this
language since I last thought of writing a diary and stared at the first line
If I mistake not you are fond of the picturesque If moonlight and water will
satisfy you look yonder«
The moon launched her fairy silver fleets on a double sweep of the little
river round an island of reeds and two tall poplars
»I have wondered whether I should ever see you looking at that scene« said
Renée
He looked from it to her and asked if Roland was well and her father then
alluded to her husband but the unlettering elusive moon bright only in the
extension of her beams would not tell him what story this face once heaven to
him wore imprinted on it Her smile upon a parted mouth struck him as twoedged
in replying »I have good news to give you of them all Roland is in garrison at
Rouen and will come when I telegraph My father is in Touraine and greets you
affectionately he hopes to come They are both perfectly happy My husband is
travelling«
Beauchamp was conscious of some bitter taste unaware of what it was though
it led him to say undesigningly »How very handsome that M dHenriel is if
I have his name correctly«
Renée answered »He has the misfortune to be considered the handsomest young
man in France«
»He has an Italian look«
»His mother was Provençale«
She put her horse in motion saying »I agree with you that handsome men are
rarities And by the way they do not set our world on fire quite as much as
beautiful women do yours my friend Acknowledge so much in our favour«
He assented indefinitely He could have wished himself away canvassing in
Bevisham He had only to imagine himself away from her to feel the flood of joy
in being with her
»Your husband is travelling«
»It is his pleasure«
Could she have intended to say that this was good news to give of him as
well as of the happiness of her father and brother
»Now look on Tourdestelle« said Renée »You will avow that for an active
man to be condemned to seek repose in so dull a place after the fatigues of the
season in Paris it is considerably worse than for women so I am here to
dispense the hospitalities The right wing of the château on your left is new
The side abutting the river is inhabited by Dame Philiberte whom her husband
imprisoned for attempting to take her pleasure in travel I hear upon authority
that she dresses in white and wears a black crucifix She is many centuries
old and still she lives to remind people that she married a Rouaillout Do you
not think she should have come to me to welcome me She never has and possibly
of ladies who are disembodied we may say that they know best For me I desire
the interview and I am a coward I need not state it« She ceased presently
continuing »The other inhabitants are my sister Agnès dAuffray wife of a
general officer serving in Africa my sister by marriage and my friend the
baronne dOrbec a relation by marriage M dOrbec her son a guest and a
sportsman M Livret an erudite No young ladies I can bear much but not
their presence girls are odious to me I knew one in Venice«
They came within the rays of the lamp hanging above the unpretending
entrance to the château Renées broad grey Longueville hat curved low with its
black plume on the side farthest from him He was favoured by the gallant lift
of the brim on the near side but she had overshadowed her eyes
»He wears a glove at his breast« said Beauchamp
»You speak of M dHenriel He wears a glove at his breast yes it is
mine« said Renée
She slipped from her horse and stood against his shoulder as if waiting to
be questioned before she rang the bell of the château
Beauchamp alighted burning with his unutterable questions concerning that
glove
»Lift your hat let me beg you let me see you« he said
This was not what she had expected With one heave of her bosom and
murmuring »I made a vow I would obey you absolutely if you came« she raised
the hat above her brows and lightning would not have surprised him more for
there had not been a single vibration of her voice to tell him of tears running
nay the absence of the usual French formalities in her manner of addressing
him had seemed to him to indicate her intention to put him at once on an easy
friendly footing such as would be natural to her and not painful to him Now
she said »You perceive monsieur that I have my sentimental fits like others
but in truth I am not insensible to the picturesque or to gratitude and I thank
you sincerely for coming considering that I wrote like a Sphinx to evade
writing comme une folle«
She swept to the bell
Standing in the arch of the entrance she stretched her whip out to a black
mass of prostrate timber saying »It fell in the storm at two oclock after
midnight and you on the sea«
Chapter XXIV
His Holiday
A single day was to be the term of his holiday at Tourdestelle but it stood
forth as one of those perfect days which are rounded by an evening before and a
morning after giving him two nights under the same roof with Renée something
of a resemblance to three days of her anticipation and wonder filling the
first she the next the adieu the last every hour filled And the first day
was not over yet He forced himself to calmness that he might not fritter it
and walked up and down the room he was dressing in examining its foreign
decorations and peering through the window to quiet his nerves He was in her
own France with her The country borrowed hues from Renée and lent some This
chivalrous France framed and interlaced her image aided in idealizing her and
was in turn transfigured Not half so well would his native land have pleaded
for the forgiveness of a British damsel who had wrecked a young mans immoderate
first love That glorified selflove requires the touch upon imagination of
strangeness and an unaccustomed grace to subdue it and make it pardon an
outrage to its temples and altars and its happy reading of the heavens the
earth too earth foremost we ought perhaps to say It is an exacting heathen
best understood by a glance at what will appease it beautiful however as
everybody has proved and shall it be decried in a world where beauty is not
overcommon though it would slaughter us for its angry satisfaction yet can be
soothed by a tone of colour as it were by a novel inscription on a sweetmeat
The peculiarity of Beauchamp was that he knew the slenderness of the thread
which was leading him and foresaw it twisting to a coil unless he should hold
firm His work in life was much above the love of a woman in his estimation so
he was not deluded by passion when he entered the château it is doubtful
whether he would not hesitatingly have sacrificed one of the precious votes in
Bevisham for the pleasure of kissing her hand when they were on the steps She
was his first love and only love married and long ago forgiven married
that is to say she especially among women was interdicted to him by the
lingering shadow of the reverential love gone by and if the anguish of the
lovers worse than death survived in a shudder of memory at the thought of her
not solely lost to him but possessed by another it did but quicken a hunger
that was three parts curiosity to see how she who had suffered this bore the
change how like or unlike she might be to the extinct Renée what traces she
kept of the face he had known Her tears were startling but tears tell of a
mood they do not tell the story of the years and it was that story he had such
eagerness to read in one brief revelation an eagerness born only of the last
few hours and broken by fears of a tarnished aspect these again being partly
hopes of a coming disillusion that would restore him his independence and ask
him only for pity The slavery of the love of a woman chained like Renée was the
most revolting of prospects to a man who cherished his freedom that he might
work to the end of his time Moreover it swung a thundercloud across his
holiday He recurred to the idea of the holiday repeatedly and the more he did
so the thinner it waned He was exhausting the very air and spirit of it with a
mind that ran incessantly forward and back and when he and the lady of so much
speculation were again together an incapacity of observation seemed to have
come over him In reality it was the inability to reflect on his observations
Her presence resembled those dark sunsets throwing the spell of colour across
the world when there is no question with us of morning or of night but of that
sole splendour only
Owing to their arrival late at the château covers were laid for them in the
boudoir of Madame la marquise where he had his hostess to himself and
certainly the opportunity of studying her An English Navy List solitary on a
shelf and laid within it an extract of a paper announcing the return of the
Ariadne to port explained the mystery of her knowing that he was in England as
well as the correctness of the superscription of her letter to him »You see I
follow you« she said
Beauchamp asked if she read English now
»A little but the paper was dispatched to me by M Vivian Ducie of your
embassy in Paris He is in the valley«
The name of Ducie recalled Lord Palmets description of the dark beauty of
the fluttering pale gold ornaments She was now dressed without one decoration
of gold or jewel with scarcely a wave in the silk a modesty of style eloquent
of the pride of her form
Could those eyes fronting him under the lamp have recently shed tears They
were the living eyes of a brilliant unembarrassed lady shields flinging light
rather than welldepths inviting it
Beauchamp tried to compare her with the Renée of Venice and found himself
thinking of the glove she had surrendered to the handsomest young man in France
The effort to recover the younger face gave him a dead creature with the
eyelashes of Renée the cast of her mouth and throat misty as a shape in a
dream
He could compare her with Cecilia who never would have risked a glove
never have betrayed a tear and was the statelier lady not without language
but how much less vivid in feature and the gift of speech Renées gift of
speech counted unnumbered strings which she played on with a grace that clothed
the skill and was her natural endowment an art perfected by the education of
the world Who cannot talk but who can Discover the writers in a day when
all are writing It is as rare an art as poetry and in the mouths of women as
enrapturing richer than their voices in music
This was the fascination Beauchamp felt weaving round him Would you that
are separable from boys and mobs and the object malignly called the Briton
prefer the celestial singing of a woman to her excellently talking But not if
it were given you to run in unison with her genius of the tongue following her
verbal ingenuities and feminine silkflashes of meaning not if she led you to
match her fine quick perceptions with more or less of the discreet concordance
of the violoncello accompanying the viol It is not high flying which usually
ends in heavy falling You quit the level of earth no more than two birds that
chase from bush to bush to bill in air for mutual delight to make the concert
heavenly Language flowed from Renée in affinity with the pleasuregiving laws
that make the curves we recognize as beauty in sublimer arts Accept
companionship for the dearest of the good things we pray to have and what
equalled her Who could be her rival
Her girls crown of irradiated Alps began to tremble over her dimly as from
moment to moment their intimacy warmed and Beauchamp saw the young face
vanishing out of this flower of womanhood He did not see it appearing or
present but vanishing like the faint ray in the rosier Nay the blot of her
faithlessness underwent a transformation it affected him somewhat as the patch
cunningly laid on near a liquid dimple in fair cheeks at once allures and evades
a susceptible attention
Unused in his French of late he stumbled at times and she supplied the
needed phrase taking no note of a blunder Now men of sweet blood cannot be
secretly accusing or criticizing a gracious lady Domestic men are charged with
thinking instantly of dark death when an ordinary illness befalls them and it
may be so or not but it is positive that the gallant man of the world if he is
in the sensitive condition and not yet established as the lord of her feels
paralyzed in his masculine sense of leadership the moment his lady assumes the
initiative and directs him he gives up at once and thus have many
nimblewitted dames from one clear start retained their advantage
Concerning that glove well the handsomest young man in France wore the
glove of the loveliest woman The loveliest The very loveliest in the purity of
her French style the woman to challenge England for a type of beauty to
eclipse her It was possible to conceive her country wagering her against all
women
If Renée had faults Beauchamp thought of her as at sea breasting tempests
while Cecilia was a vessel lying safe in harbour untried however promising
and if Cecilia raised a steady light for him it was over the shores he had left
behind while Renée had really nothing to do with warning or rescuing or with
imperilling she welcomed him simply to a holiday in her society He associated
Cecilia strangely with the political labours she would have had him relinquish
and Renée with a pleasant state of indolence that her lightest smile disturbed
Shun comparisons
It is the tricksy heart which sets up that balance to jump into it on one
side or the other Comparisons come of a secret leaning that is sure to play
rogue under its mien of honest dealer so Beauchamp suffered himself to be
unjust to graver England and lost the strength she would have given him to
resist a bewitchment The case with him was that his apprenticeship was new he
had been trotting in harness as a veritable cabhorse of politics he by blood
a racer and his nature craved for diversions against his will against his
moral sense and born tenacity of spirit
Not a word further of the glove But at night in his bed the glove was a
principal actor in events of extraordinary magnitude and inconsequence
He was out in the grounds with the early morning light Coffee and sweet
French bread were brought out to him and he was informed of the hours of
reunion at the château whose mistress continued invisible She might be
sleeping He strolled about within view of the windows wondering at her
subservience to sleep Tourdestelle lay in one of those Norman valleys where the
river is the mother of rich pasture and runs hidden between double ranks of
sallows aspens and poplars that mark its winding line in the arms of trenched
meadows The high land on either side is an unwatered flat up to the horizon
little varied by dusty appletrees planted in the stubble here and there and
brown mud walls of hamlets a churchtop a copse an avenue of dwarf limes
leading to the threeparts farm quarter residence of an enriched peasant
striking new roots or decayed proprietor pinching not to be severed from
ancient Descending on the deep green valley in Summer is like a change of
climes The château stood square at a branch of the river tossing three light
bridges of pretty woodwork to park and garden Great bouquets of swelling blue
and pink hydrangia nestled at its feet on shaven grass An open window showed a
cloth of colour as in a reminiscence of Italy
Beauchamp heard himself addressed »You are looking for my sisterinlaw
M Beauchamp«
The speaker was Madame dAuffray to whom he had been introduced overnight
a lady of the aquiline French outline not ungentle
Renée had spoken affectionately of her he remembered There was nothing to
make him be on his guard and he stated that he was looking for Madame de
Rouaillout and did not conceal surprise at the information that she was out on
horseback
»She is a tireless person« Madame dAuffray remarked »You will not miss
her long We all meet at twelve as you know«
»I grudge an hour for I go tomorrow« said Beauchamp
The notification of so early a departure or else his bluntness astonished
her She fell to praising Renées goodness He kept her to it with lively
interrogations in the manner of a guileless boy urging for eulogies of his dear
absent friend Was it duplicity in him or artlessness
»Has she do you think increased in beauty« Madame dAuffray inquired an
insidious question to which he replied
»Once I thought it would be impossible«
Not so bad an answer for an Englishman in a country where speaking is
fencing the race being little famous for dialectical alertness but was it
artful or simple
They skirted the château and Beauchamp had the history of Dame Philiberte
recounted to him with a mixture of Gallic irony innuendo openness
touchingness ridicule and charity novel to his ears Madame dAuffray struck
the note of intimacy earlier than is habitual She sounded him in this way once
or twice carelessly perusing him and waiting for the interesting edition of
the Book of Man to summarize its character by showing its pages or remaining
shut It was done delicately like the tap of a fingernail on a vase He rang
clear he had nothing to conceal and where he was reserved that is in
speaking of the developed beauty and grace of Renée he was transparent She
read the sort of man he was she could also hazard a guess as to the mans
present state She ventured to think him comparatively harmless for the hour
for she was not the woman to be hoodwinked by mans dark nature because she
inclined to think well of a particular man nor was she one to trust to any man
subject to temptation The wisdom of the Frenchwomans fortieth year forbade it
A land where the war between the sexes is honestly acknowledged and is full of
instruction abounds in precepts but it ill becomes the veteran to practise
rigorously what she would prescribe to young women She may discriminate as
thus Trust no man Still this man may be better than that man and it is bad
policy to distrust a reasonably guileless member of the preying sex entirely
and so to lose his good services Hawks have their uses in destroying vermin
and though we cannot rely upon the taming of hawks one tied by the leg in a
garden preserves the fruit
»There is a necessity for your leaving us tomorrow M Beauchamp«
»I regret to say it is imperative madame«
»My husband will congratulate me on the pleasure I have and have long
desired of making your acquaintance and he will grieve that he has not been so
fortunate he is on service in Africa My brother I need not say will deplore
the mischance which has prevented him from welcoming you I have telegraphed to
him he is at one of the Baths in Germany and will come assuredly if there is
a prospect of finding you here None Supposing my telegram not to fall short of
him I may count on his being here within four days«
Beauchamp begged her to convey the proper expressions of his regret to M le
Marquis
»And M de Croisnel And Roland your old comrade and brotherinarms What
will be their disappointment« she said
»I intend to stop for an hour at Rouen on my way back« said Beauchamp
She asked if her bellesoeur was aware of the short limitation of his visit
He had not mentioned it to Madame la marquise
»Perhaps you may be moved by the grief of a friend Renée may persuade you
to stay«
»I came imagining I could be of some use to Madame la marquise She writes
as if she were telegraphing«
»Perfectly true of her For that matter I saw the letter Your looks betray
a very natural jealousy but seeing it or not it would have been the same she
and I have no secrets She was I may tell you strictly unable to write more
words in the letter Which brings me to inquire what impression M dHenriel
made on you yesterday evening«
»He is particularly handsome«
»We women think so Did you take him to be eccentric«
Beauchamp gave a French jerk of the shoulders
It confessed the incident of the glove to one who knew it as well as he but
it masked the weight he was beginning to attach to that incident and Madame
dAuffray was misled Truly the English man may be just such an exlover
uninflammable by virtue of his bloods native coldness endued with the frozen
vanity called pride which does not seek to be revenged Under wary espionage
he might be a young womans friend though male friend of a halfabandoned wife
should write himself down morally saint mentally sage medically incurable if
he would win our confidence
This lady of sharp intelligence was the guardian of Renée during the foolish
husbands flights about Paris and over Europe and for a proof of her
consummate astuteness Renée had no secrets and had absolute liberty And
hitherto no man could build a boast on her reputation The liberty she would
have had at any cost as Madame dAuffray knew and an attempt to restrict it
would have created secrets
Near upon the breakfasthour Renée was perceived by them going toward the
château at a walking pace They crossed one of the garden bridges to intercept
her She started out of some deep meditation and raised her whip hand to
Beauchamps greeting »I had forgotten to tell you monsieur that I should be
out for some hours in the morning«
»Are you aware« said Madame dAuffray »that M Beauchamp leaves us
tomorrow«
»So soon« It was uttered hardly with a tone of disappointment
The marquise alighted crying holà to the stables caressed her horse and
sent him off with a smack on the smoking flanks to meet the groom
»Tomorrow That is very soon but M Beauchamp is engaged in an Election
and what have we to induce him to stay«
»Would it not be better to tell M Beauchamp why he was invited to come«
rejoined Madame dAuffray
The sombre light in Renées eyes quickened through shadowy spheres of
surprise and pain to resolution She cried »You have my full consent« and left
them
Madame dAuffray smiled at Beauchamp to excuse the childishness of the
little story she was about to relate she gave it in the essence without a
commencement or an ending She had in fact but two or three hurried minutes
before the breakfastbell would ring and the fan she opened and shut and at
times shaded her head with was nearly as explicit as her tongue
He understood that Renée had staked her glove on his coming within a certain
number of hours to the briefest wording of invitation possible Owing to his
detention by the storm M dHenriel had won the bet and now insisted on
wearing the glove »He is the privileged young madman our women make of a
handsome youth« said Madame dAuffray
Where am I thought Beauchamp in what land he would have phrased it of
whirlwinds catching the wits and whipping the passions Calmer than they but
unable to command them and guessing that Renées errand of the morning by
which he had lost hours of her pertained to the glove he said quiveringly
»Madame la marquise objects«
»We« replied Madame dAuffray »contend that the glove was not loyally won
The wager was upon your coming to the invitation not upon your conquering the
elements As to his flaunting the glove for a favour I would ask you whom does
he advertize by that Gloves do not wear white which fact compromises none but
the wearer He picked it up from the ground and does not restore it that is
all You see a boy who catches at anything to placard himself There is a
compatriot of yours a M Ducie who assured us you must be with an uncle in
your county of Sussex Of course we ran the risk of the letter missing you but
the chance was worth a glove Can you believe it M Beauchamp it was I old
woman as I am I who provoked the silly wager I have long desired to meet you
and we have little society here we are desperate with loneliness half mad with
our whims I said that if you were what I had heard of you you would come to
us at a word They dared Madame la marquise to say the same I wished to see the
friend of Frenchmen as M Roland calls you not merely to see him to know
him whether he is this perfect friend whose absolute devotion has impressed my
dear sister Renées mind She respects you that is a sentiment scarcely
complimentary to the ideas of young men She places you above human creatures
possibly you may not dislike to be worshipped It is not to be rejected when
ones influence is powerful for good But you leave us tomorrow«
»I might stay « Beauchamp hesitated to name the number of hours He stood
divided between a sense of the bubbling shallowness of the life about him and a
thought grave as an eye dwelling on blood of sinister things below it
»I may stay another day or two« he said »if I can be of any earthly
service«
Madame dAuffray bowed as to a friendly decision on his part saying »It
would be a thousand pities to disappoint M Roland and it will be offering my
brother an amicable chance I will send him word that you await him at least
that you defer your departure as long as possible Ah now you perceive M
Beauchamp now you have become aware of our purely infantile plan to bring you
over to us how very ostensible a punishment it would be were you to remain so
short a period«
Having no designs he was neither dupe nor sceptic but he felt oddly
entangled and the dream of his holiday had fled like mornings beams as a
selfdeception will at a very gentle shaking
Chapter XXV
The Adventure of the Boat
Madame dAuffray passed Renée whispering on her way to take her seat at the
breakfasttable
Renée did not condescend to whisper »Roland will be glad« she said aloud
Her low eyelids challenged Beauchamp for a look of indifference There was
more for her to unbosom than Madame dAuffray had revealed but the comparative
innocence of her position in this new light prompted her to meet him defiantly
if he chose to feel injured He was attracted by a happy contrast of colour
between her dress and complexion together with a cavalierly charm in the sullen
brows she lifted and seeing the reverse of a look of indifference on his face
after what he had heard of her frivolousness she had a fear that it existed
»Are we not to have M dHenriel today he amuses me« the baronne dOrbec
remarked
»If he would learn that he was fashioned for that purpose« exclaimed little
M Livret
»Do not ask young men for too much head my friend he would cease to be
amusing«
»DHenriel should have been up in the fields at ten this morning« said M
dOrbec »As to his head I back him for a clever shot«
»Or a duellingsword« said Renée »It is a quality count it for what we
will Your favourite Madame la baronne is interdicted from presenting himself
here so long as he persists in offending me«
She was requested to explain and with the fair ingenuousness which
outshines innocence she touched on the story of the glove
Ah what a delicate what an exciting how subtle a question
Had M dHenriel the right to possess it and having that had he the right
to wear it at his breast
Beauchamp was dragged into the discussion of the case
Renée waited curiously for his judgement
Pleading an apology for the stormy weather which had detained him and for
his ignorance that so precious an article was at stake he held that by the
terms of the wager the glove was lost the claim to wear it was a matter of
taste
»Matters of taste monsieur are not I think decided by weapons in your
country« said M dOrbec
»We have no duelling« said Beauchamp
The Frenchman imagined the confession to be somewhat humbling and
generously added »But you have your volunteers a magnificent spectacle of
patriotism and national readiness for defence«
A shrewd pang traversed Beauchamps heart as he looked back on his country
from the outside and the inside thinking what amount of patriotic readiness the
character of the volunteering signified in the face of all that England has to
maintain Like a politic islander he allowed the patriotic spectacle to be
imagined reflecting that it did a sort of service abroad and had only to be
unmasked at home
»But you surrendered the glove marquise« The baronne dOrbec spoke
judicially
»I flung it to the ground that made it neutral« said Renée
»Hum He wears it with the dust on it certainly«
»And for how long a time« M Livret wished to know »does this amusing
young man proclaim his intention of wearing the glove«
»Until he can see with us that his Order of Merit is utter kid« said Madame
dAuffray and as she had spoken more or less neatly satisfaction was left
residing in the ear of the assembly and the glove was permitted to be swept
away on a fresh tide of dialogue
The admirable candour of Renée in publicly alluding to M dHenriels
foolishness restored a peep of his holiday to Beauchamp Madame dAuffray took
note of the effect it produced and quite excused her sisterinlaw for
intending to produce it but that speaking out the halftruth that we may put on
the mask of the whole is no new trick and believing as she did that Renée was
in danger with the handsome Count Henri the practice of such a kind of honesty
on her part appeared alarming
Still it is imprudent to press for confidences when our friends heart is
manifestly trifling with sincerity Who knows but that some foregone reckless
act or word may have superinduced the healthy shame which cannot speak which
must disguise itself and is honesty in that form but roughly troubled would
resolve to rank dishonesty So thought the patient lady wiser in that than in
her perceptions
Renée made a boast of not persuading her guest to stay avowing that she
would not willingly have him go Praising him equably she listened to praise of
him with animation She was dumb and statuelike when Count Henris name was
mentioned Did not this betray liking for one subjection to the other Indeed
there was an Asiatic splendour of animal beauty about M dHenriel that would be
serpent with most women Madame dAuffray conceived why not with the deserted
Renée who adored beauty of shape and colour and was compassionate toward a
rashness of character that her own unnatural solitariness and quick spirit made
her emulous of
Meanwhile Beauchamps day of adieu succeeded that of his holiday and no
adieu was uttered The hours at Tourdestelle had a singular turn for slipping
Interlinked and all as one they swam by brought evening brought morning
never varied They might have varied with such a division as when flame lights
up the night or a tempest shades the day had Renée chosen she had that power
over him She had no wish to use it perhaps she apprehended what it would cause
her to forfeit She wished him to respect her felt that she was under the
shadow of the glove slight though it was while it was nothing but a tale of a
lady and a glove and her desire like his was that they should meet daily and
dream on without a variation He noticed how seldom she led him beyond the
grounds of the château They were to make excursions when her brother came she
said Roland de Croisnels colonel Coïn de Grandchamp happened to be engaged
in a duel which great business detained Roland It supplied Beauchamp with an
excuse for staying that he was angry with himself for being pleased to have so
he attacked the practice of duelling and next the shrug wherewith M Livret
and M dOrbec sought at first to defend the foul custom or apologize for it
or plead for it philosophically or altogether cast it off their shoulders for
the literal interpretation of the shrug in argument is beyond human capacity it
is the point of speech beyond our treasury of language He attacked the shrug
as he thought very temperately but in controlling his native vehemence he
grew perforce of repression and of incompetency to deliver himself copiously
in French sarcastic In fine his contrast of the pretence of their noble
country to head civilization and its encouragement of a custom so barbarous
offended M dOrbec and irritated M Livret
The latter delivered a brief essay on Gallic blood the former maintained
that Frenchmen were the best judges of their own ways and deeds Politeness
reigned but politeness is compelled to throw off cloak and jacket when it steps
into the arena to meet the encounter of a bull Beauchamp drew on their word
solidaire to assist him in declaring that no civilized nation could be thus
independent Imagining himself in the France of brave ideas he contrived to
strike out sparks of Legitimist ire around him and found himself breathing the
atmosphere of the most primitive nursery of Toryism Again he encountered the
shrug and he would have it a verbal matter M dOrbec gravely recited the
programme of the country party in France M Livret carried the war across
Channel You English have retired from active life like the exhausted author
to turn critic the critic that sneers unless we copy you abjectly we are
execrable And what is that sneer Materially it is an acrid saliva withering
where it drops in the way of fellowship it is a corpseemanation As to wit
the sneer is the cloak of clumsiness it is the Pharisees incense the
hypocrites pity the post of exaltation of the fat citizen etc but said M
Livret the people using it should have a care that they keep powerful they
make no friends He terminated with this warning to a nation not devoid of
superior merit M dOrbec said less and was less consoled by his outburst
In the opinion of Mr Vivian Ducie present at the discussion Beauchamp
provoked the lash for in the first place a beautiful womans apparent
favourite should be particularly discreet in all that he says and next he
should have known that the Gallic shrug over matters political is volcanic it
is the heaving of the mountain and like the proverbial Russ leaps up Tartarly
at a scratch Our newspapers also had been fleabiting M Livret and his
countrymen of late and to conclude over in old England you may fly out
against what you will and there is little beyond a motherly smile a nurses
rebuke or a fools rudeness to answer you In quickblooded France you have
whip for whip sneer sarcasm claw fang tussle in a trice and if you choose
to comport yourself according to your insular notion of freedom you are bound
to march out to the measured ground at an invitation To begin by saying that
your principles are opposed to it naturally excites a malicious propensity to
try your temper
A further cause unknown to Mr Ducie of M Livrets irritation was that
Beauchamp had vexed him on a subject peculiarly dear to him The celebrated
Château Dianet was about to be visited by the guests at Tourdestelle In common
with some French philosophers and English matrons he cherished a sentimental
sad enthusiasm for royal concubines and when dilating upon one among them the
ruins of whose familys castle stood in the neighbourhood Agnès who was
really a kindly soul though not virtuous M Livret had been traversed by
Beauchamp with questions as to the condition of the people the peasantry that
were sweated in taxes to support these lovely frailties They came oddly from a
man in the fire of youth and a little old gentleman somewhat seduced by the
melting image of his theme might well blink at him to ask of what flesh are
you then His historic harem was insulted Personally too the fair creature
picturesquely soiled intrepid in her amorousness and ultimately absolved by
repentance a shuddering narrative of her sins under showers of salt drops
cried to him to champion her Excited by the supposed cold critical mind in
Beauchamp M Livret painted and painted this lady tricked her in casuistical
niceties scenes of pomp and boudoir pathos with many shifting sidelights and a
risky word or two until Renée cried out »Spare us the esprit Gaulois M
Livret« There was much to make him angry with this Englishman
»The esprit Gaulois is the sparkle of crystal common sense madame and may
we never abandon it for a Puritanism that hides its face to conceal its
filthiness like a stagnant pond« replied M Livret flashing
»It seems then that there are two ways of being objectionable« said
Renée
»Ah Madame la marquise your wit is French« he breathed low »keep your
heart so«
Both M Livret and M dOrbec had forgotten that when Count Henri dHenriel
was received at Tourdestelle the arrival of the Englishman was pleasantly
anticipated by them as an eclipse of the handsome boy but a foreign interloper
is quickly dispossessed of all means of pleasing save that one of taking his
departure and they now talked of Count Henris disgrace and banishment in a
very warm spirit of sympathy not at all seeing why it should be made to depend
upon the movements of this M Beauchamp as it appeared to be Madame dAuffray
heard some of their dialogue and hurried with a mouth full of comedy to Renée
who did not reproach them for silly beings as would be done elsewhere On the
contrary she appreciated a scene of such absolute comedy recognizing it
instantly as a situation plucked out of human nature She compared them to
republicans that regretted the sovereign they had deposed for a pretender to
start up and govern them
»Who hurries them round to the legitimate king again« said Madame
dAuffray
Renée cast her chin up »How my dear«
»Your husband«
»What of him«
»He is returning«
»What brings him«
»You should ask who my Renée I was sure he would not hear of M
Beauchamps being here without an effort to return and do the honours of the
château«
Renée looked hard at her saying »How thoughtful of you You must have made
use of the telegraph wires to inform him that M Beauchamp was with us«
»More I made use of them to inform him that M Beauchamp was expected«
»And that was enough to bring him He pays M Beauchamp a wonderful
compliment«
»Such as he would pay to no other man my Renée Virtually it is the highest
of compliments to you I say that to M Beauchamps credit for Raoul has met
him and whatever his personal feeling may be must know your friend is a man
of honour«
»My friend is yes I have no reason to think otherwise« Renée replied
Her husbands persistent and exclusive jealousy of Beauchamp was the singular
point in the character of one who appeared to have no sentiment of the kind as
regarded men that were much less than men of honour »So then my sister
Agnès« she said »you suggested the invitation of M Beauchamp for the purpose
of spurring my husband to return Apparently he and I are surrounded by
plotters«
»Am I so very guilty« said Madame dAuffray
»If that mad boy half idiot half panther were by chance to insult M
Beauchamp you would feel so«
»You have taken precautions to prevent their meeting and besides M
Beauchamp does not fight«
Renée flushed crimson
Madame dAuffray added »I do not say that he is other than a perfectly
brave and chivalrous gentleman«
»Oh« cried Renée »do not say it if ever you should imagine it Bid Roland
speak of him He is changed oppressed I did him a terrible wrong « She
checked herself »But the chief thing to do is to keep M dHenriel away from
him I suspect M dOrbec of a design to make them clash and you my dear will
explain why to flatter me Believe me I thirst for flattery I have had none
since M Beauchamp came and you so acute must have seen the want of it in my
face But you so skilful Agnès will manage these men Do you know Agnès
that the pride of a woman so incredibly clever as you have shown me you are
should resent their intrigues and overthrow them As for me I thought I could
command M dHenriel and I find he has neither reason in him nor obedience
Singular to say I knew him just as well a week back as I do now and then I
liked him for his qualities or the absence of any But how shall we avoid him
on the road to Dianet He is aware that we are going«
»Take M Beauchamp by boat« said Madame dAuffray
»The river winds to within a five minutes walk of Dianet we could go by
boat« Renée said musingly »I thought of the boat But does it not give the man
a triumph that we should seem to try to elude him What matter Still I do not
like him to be the falcon and Nevil Beauchamp the little bird So it is
because we began badly Agnès«
»Was it my fault«
»Mine Tell me the legitimate king returns when«
»In two days or three«
»And his rebel subjects are to address him how«
Madame dAuffray smote the point of a finger softly on her cheek
»Will they be pardoned« said Renée
»It is for him to kneel my dearest«
»Legitimacy kneeling for forgiveness is a painful picture Agnès Legitimacy
jealous of a foreigner is an odd one However we are women born to our lot If
we could rise en masse but we cannot Embrace me«
Madame dAuffray embraced her without an idea that she assisted in
performing the farewell of their confidential intimacy
When Renée trifled with Count Henri it was playing with fire and she knew
it and once or twice she bemoaned to Agnès dAuffray her abandoned state which
condemned her for the sake of the sensation of living to have recourse to
perilous pastimes but she was revolted as at a piece of treachery that Agnès
should have suggested the invitation of Nevil Beauchamp with the secret design
of winning home her husband to protect her This for one reason was because
Beauchamp gave her no notion of danger none therefore of requiring
protection and the presence of her husband could not but be hateful to him an
undeserved infliction To her it was intolerable that they should be brought
into contact It seemed almost as hard that she should have to dismiss Beauchamp
to preclude their meeting She remembered nevertheless a certain desperation
of mind scarce imaginable in the retrospect by which trembling
feversmitten scorning herself she had been reduced to hope for Nevil
Beauchamps coming as for a rescue The night of the storm had roused her heart
Since then his perfect friendliness had lulled his air of thoughtfulness had
interested it and the fancy that he who neither reproached nor
sentimentalized was to be infinitely compassionated stirred up remorse She
could not tell her friend Agnès of these feelings while her feelings were
angered against her friend So she talked lightly of »the legitimate king« and
they embraced a situation of comedy quite as true as that presented by the
humble admirers of the brilliant châtelaine
Beauchamp had the pleasure of rowing Madame la marquise to the short shaded
walk separating the river from Château Dianet whither M dOrbec went on
horseback and Madame dAuffray and M Livret were driven The portrait of Diane
of Dianet was praised for the beauty of the dame a softfleshed acutely
featured person a freshofthetoilette face of the configuration of head of
the cat relieved by a delicately aquiline nose and it could only be the cat of
fairy metamorphosis which should stand for that illustration brows and chin
made an acceptable triangle and eyes and mouth could be what she pleased for
mice or monarchs M Livret did not gainsay the impeachment of her by a great
French historian tender to women to frailties in particular yes she was
cold perhaps grasping but dwell upon her in her character of woman conceive
her existing to estimate the charm of her graciousness Name the two countries
which alone have produced THE WOMAN the ideal woman the woman of art whose
beauty grace and wit offer her to our contemplation in an atmosphere above the
ordinary conditions of the world these two countries are France and Greece
None other give you the perfect woman the woman who conquers time as she
conquers men by virtue of the divinity in her blood and she as little as
illustrious heroes is to be judged by the laws and standards of lesser
creatures In fashioning her nature and art have worked together in her
poetry walks the earth The question of good or bad is entirely to be put aside
it is a rustics impertinence a bourgeois vulgarity She is preeminent
voilà tout Has she grace and beauty Then you are answered such possessions
are an assurance that her influence in the aggregate must be for good Thunder
destructive to insects refreshes earth so she So sang the rhapsodist
Possibly a scholarly little French gentleman going down the grey slopes of
sixty to second childishness recovers a second juvenility in these enthusiasms
though what it is that inspires our matrons to take up with them is
unimaginable M Livrets ardour was a contrast to the young Englishmans vacant
gaze at Diane and the symbols of her goddesship running along the walls the
bed the cabinets everywhere that the chaste device could find frontage and a
corner
M dOrbec remained outside the château inspecting the fishponds When they
rejoined him he complimented Beauchamp semiironically on his choice of the
rivers quiet charms in preference to the dusty roads Madame de Rouaillout
said »Come M dOrbec what if you surrender your horse to M Beauchamp and
row me back« He changed colour hesitated and declined he had an engagement
to call on M dHenriel
»When did you see him« said she
He was confused »It is not long since madame«
»On the road«
»Coming along the road«
»And our glove«
»Madame la marquise if I may trust my memory M dHenriel was not in
official costume«
Renée allowed herself to be reassured
A ceremonious visit that M Livret insisted on was paid to the chapel of
Diane where she had worshipped and laid her widowed ashes which said M
Livret the fiends of the Revolution would not let rest
He raised his voice to denounce them
It was Roland de Croisnel that answered »The Revolution was our
grandmother monsieur and I cannot hear her abused«
Renée caught her brother by the hand He stepped out of the chapel with
Beauchamp to embrace him then kissed Renée and remarking that she was pale
fetched flooding colour to her cheeks He was hearty air to them after the
sentimentalism they had been hearing Beauchamp and he walked like loving
comrades at school questioning answering chattering laughing a beautiful
sight to Renée and she looked at Agnès dAuffray to ask her whether »this
Englishman« was not one of them in his frankness and freshness
Roland stopped to turn to Renée »I met dHenriel on my ride here« he said
with a sharp inquisitive expression of eye that passed immediately
»You rode here from Tourdestelle then« said Renée
»Has he been one of the company marquise«
»Did he ride by you without speaking Roland«
»Thus« Roland described a Spanish caballeros formallest salutation saying
to Beauchamp »Not the best sample of our young Frenchman womanspoiled Not
that the better kind of article need be spoiled by them heaven forbid that
Friend Nevil« he spoke lower »do you know you have something of the prophet
in you I remember much has come true An old spoiler of women is worse than
one spoiled by them Ah well and Madame Culling and your sevenfeet high
uncle And have you a fleet to satisfy Nevil Beauchamp yet You shall see a
trial of our new fieldguns at Rouen«
They were separated with difficulty Renée wished her brother to come in the
boat and he would have done so but for his objection to have his Arab
bestridden by a man unknown to him
»My love is a fourfoot and here s my love« Roland said going outside
the gilt gaterails to the graceful little beast that acknowledged his
ownership with an arch and swing of the neck round to him
He mounted and called »Au revoir M le capitaine«
»Au revoir M le commandant« cried Beauchamp
»Admiral and marshal each of us in good season« said Roland »Thanks to
your promotion I had a letter from my sister Advance a grade and I may get
another«
Beauchamp thought of the strange gulf now between him and the time when he
pined to be a commodore and an admiral The gulf was bridged as he looked at
Renée petting Rolands horse
»Is there in the world so lovely a creature« she said and appealed
fondlingly to the beauty that brings out beauty and bidding it disdain
rivalry rivalled it insomuch that in a moment of trance Beauchamp with his
bodily vision beheld her not there but on the Lido of Venice shining out of
the years gone
Old love reviving may be love of a phantom after all We can if it must
revive keep it to the limits of a ghostly love The ship in the Arabian tale
coming within the zone of the magnetic mountain flies all its bolts and bars
and becomes sheer timbers but that is the carelessness of the ships captain
and hitherto Beauchamp could applaud himself for steering with prudence while
Renées attractions warned more than they beckoned She was magnetic to him as
no other woman was Then whither his course but homeward
After they had taken leave of their host and hostess of Château Dianet
walking across a meadow to a line of charmilles that led to the riverside he
said »Now I have seen Roland I shall have to decide upon going«
»Wantonly won is deservedly lost« said Renée »But do not disappoint my
Roland much because of his foolish sister Is he not looking handsome And he is
young to be a commandant for we have no interest at this Court They kept him
out of the last war My father expects to find you at Tourdestelle and how
account to him for your hurried flight save with the story of that which
brought you to us«
»The glove I shall beg for the fellow to it before I depart marquise«
»You perceived my disposition to lightheadedness monsieur when I was a
girl«
»I said that I But the past is dust Shall I ever see you in England«
»That country seems to frown on me But if I do not go there nor you come
here except to imperious mysterious invitations which will not be repeated
the future is dust as well as the past for me at least Dust here dust there
if one could be like a silkworm and live lying on the leaf one feeds on it
would be a sort of answer to the riddle living out of the dust and in the
present I find none in my religion No doubt Madame de Brézé did why did you
call Diane so to M Livret«
She looked at him smiling as they came out of the shadow of the clipped
trees He was glancing about for the boat
»The boat is across the river« Renée said in a voice that made him seek
her eyes for an explanation of the dead sound She was very pale »You have
perfect command of yourself For my sake« she said
He looked round
Standing up in the boat against the opposite bank and leaning with crossed
legs on one of the sculls planted in the gravel of the river Count Henri
dHenriels handsome figure presented itself to Beauchamps gaze
With a dryness that smacked of his uncle Everard Romfrey Beauchamp said of
the fantastical posture of the young man »One can do that on fresh water«
Renée did not comprehend the sailorsarcasm of the remark but she also
commented on the statuesque appearance of Count Henri »Is the pose for
photography or for sculpture«
Neither of them showed a sign of surprise or of impatience
M dHenriel could not maintain the attitude He uncrossed his legs
deliberately drooped hat in hand and came paddling over apologized
indolently and said »I am not I believe trespassing on the grounds of
Tourdestelle Madame la marquise«
»You happen to be in my boat M le comte« said Renée
»Permit me madame« He had set one foot on shore with his back to
Beauchamp and reached a hand to assist her step into the boat
Beauchamp caught fast hold of the bows while Renée laid a finger on Count
Henris shoulder to steady herself
The instant she had taken her seat Count Henri dashed the sculls blade at
the bank to push off with her but the boat was fast His manoeuvre had been
foreseen Beauchamp swung on board like the last seaman of a launch and
crouched as the boat rocked away to the stream and still Count Henri leaned on
the scull not in a chosen attitude but for positive support He had thrown his
force into the blow to push off triumphantly and leave his rival standing It
occurred that the boats brief resistance and rocking away agitated his
artificial equipoise and by the operation of inexorable laws the longer he
leaned across an extending surface the more was he dependent so that when the
measure of the water exceeded the length of his failing support on land there
was no help for it he pitched in His grimace of chagrin at the sight of
Beauchamp securely established had scarcely yielded to the grimness of feature
of the man who feels he must go as he took the plunge and these two emotions
combined to make an extraordinary countenance
He went like a gallant gentleman he threw up his heels to clear the boat
dropping into about four feet of water and his first remark on rising was »I
trust madame I have not had the misfortune to splash you«
Then he waded to the bank scrambled to his feet and drew out his
moustachios to their curving ends Renée nodded sharply to Beauchamp to bid him
row He with less of wisdom having seized the floating scull abandoned by
Count Henri and got it ready for the stroke said a word of condolence to the
dripping man
Count Henris shoulders and neck expressed a kind of negative that like a
wet dogs shake of the head ended in an involuntary wholelength shudder
doglike and deplorable to behold He must have been conscious of this miserable
exhibition of himself he turned to Beauchamp »You are I am informed a
sailor monsieur I compliment you on your naval tactics our next meeting will
be on land Au revoir monsieur Madame la marquise I have the honour to salute
you«
With these words he retreated
»Row quickly I beg of you« Renée said to Beauchamp Her desire was to see
Roland and open her heart to her brother for now it had to be opened Not a
minute must be lost to prevent further mischief And who was guilty she Her
heart clamoured of her guilt to waken a cry of innocence A disdainful pity for
the superb young savage just made ludicrous relieved him of blame implacable
though he was He was nothing an accident a fool But he might become a
terrible instrument of punishment The thought of that possibility gave it an
aspect of retribution under which her cry of innocence was insufferable in its
feebleness It would have been different with her if Beauchamp had taken
advantage of her fever of anxiety suddenly appeased by the sight of him on the
evening of his arrival at Tourdestelle after the storm to attempt a renewal of
their old broken lovebonds Then she would have seen only a conflict between
two men neither of whom could claim a more secret right than the other to be
called her lover and of whom both were on a common footing and partly
despicable But Nevil Beauchamp had behaved as her perfect true friend in the
character she had hoped for when she summoned him The sense of her guilt lay in
the recognition that he had saved her From what From the consequences of
delirium rather than from love surely delirium founded on delusion love had
not existed She had said to Count Henri »You speak to me of love I was
beloved when I was a girl before my marriage and for years I have not seen or
corresponded with the man who loved me and I have only to lift my finger now
and he will come to me and not once will he speak to me of love« Those were
the words originating the wager of the glove But what of her if Nevil
Beauchamp had not come
Her heart jumped and she blushed ungovernably in his face as if he were
seeing her withdraw her foot from the rocks edge and had that instant rescued
her But how came it she had been so helpless She could ask she could not
answer
Thinking talking to her heart was useless The deceiver simply feigned
utter condemnation to make partial comfort acceptable She burned to do some act
of extreme selfabasement that should bring an unwonted degree of wrath on her
externally and so reentitle her to consideration in her own eyes She burned
to be interrogated to have to weep to be scorned abused and forgiven that
she might say she did not deserve pardon Beauchamp was too English evidently
too blind for the description of judgeaccuser she required one who would
worry her without mercy until disgraced by the excess of torture inflicted
he should reinstate her by as much as he had overcharged his accusation and a
little more Reasonably enough instinctively in fact she shunned the hollow of
an English ear A surprise was in reserve for her
Beauchamp gave up rowing As he rested on the sculls his head was bent and
turned toward the bank Renée perceived an overswollen monster gourd that had
strayed from a garden adjoining the river and hung sliding heavily down the
bank on one greenish yellow cheek in prolonged contemplation of its image in
the mirror below Apparently this obese Narcissus enchained his attention
She tapped her foot »Are you tired of rowing monsieur«
»It was exactly here« said he »that you told me you expected your
husbands return«
She glanced at the gourd bit her lip and colouring said »At what point
of the river did I request you to congratulate me on it«
She would not have said that if she had known the thoughts at work within
him
He set the boat swaying from side to side and at once the hugeous
reflection of that conceivably selfenamoured bulk quavered and distended and
was shattered in a thousand dancing fragments to reunite and recompose its
maudlin air of imaged satisfaction
She began to have a vague idea that he was indulging grotesque fancies
Very strangely the ridiculous thing in the shape of an overstretched
likeness that she never would have seen had he indicated it directly became
transfused from his mind to hers by his abstract halfamused observation of the
great dancing gourd that capering antiquity lumbering volatility wandering
self gross bald Cupid elatest of nondescripts Her senses imagined the
impressions agitating Beauchamps and exaggerated them beyond limit and when
he amazed her with a straight look into her eyes and the words »Better let it
be a youth and live than fall back to that« she understood him immediately
and together with her old fear of his impetuosity and downrightness came the
vivid recollection like a bright finger pointing upon darkness of what foul
destiny magnified by her present abhorrence of it he would have saved her from
in the days of Venice and Touraine and unto what loathly example of the hideous
grotesque she in spite of her lovers foresight on her behalf had become
allied
Face to face as they sat she had no defence for her scarlet cheeks her
eyes wavered
»We will land here the cottagers shall row the boat up« she said
»Somewhere anywhere« said Beauchamp »But I must speak I will tell you
now I do not think you to blame barely not in my sight though no man living
would have suffered as I should Probably some days more and you would have been
lost You looked for me Trust your instinct now I m with you as well as when I
m absent Have you courage that s the question You have years to live Can
you live them in this place with honour and alive really«
Renées eyes grew wide she tried to frown and her brows merely twitched
to speak and she was inarticulate His madness miraculous penetration and the
supermasculine charity in him unknown to the world of young men in their
treatment of women excited awed and melted her He had seen the whole truth
of her relations with M dHenriel the wickedness of them in one light the
innocence in another and without prompting a confession he forgave her Could
she believe it This was love and manly love
She yearned to be on her feet to feel the possibility of an escape from
him
She pointed to a landing He sprang to the bank »It could end in nothing
else« he said »unless you beat cold to me And now I have your hand Renée It
s the hand of a living woman you have no need to tell me that but faithful to
her comrade I can swear it for her faithful to a true alliance You are not
married you are simply chained and you are terrorized What a perversion of
you it is It wrecks you But with me Am I not your lover You and I are one
life What have we suffered for but to find this out and act on it Do I not
know that a woman lives and is not the rooted piece of vegetation hypocrites
and tyrants expect her to be Act on it I say own me break the chains come
to me say Nevil Beauchamp or death And death for you But you are poisoned
and thwarted dying as you live now worse shaming the Renée I knew Ah
Venice But now we are both of us wiser and stronger we have gone through fire
Who foretold it This day and this misery and perversion that we can turn to
joy if we will if you will No heart to dare is no heart to love answer
that Shall I see you cower away from me again Not this time«
He swept on in a flood uttered mad things foolish things and things of an
insight electrifying to her Through the cottagers garden across a field and
within the park gates of Tourdestelle it continued unceasingly and deeply was
she won by the rebellious note in all that he said deeply too by his disregard
of the vulgar arts of wooers she detected none He did not speak so much to win
as to help her to see with her own orbs Nor was it roughly or chidingly though
it was absolutely that he stripped her of the veil a wavering woman will keep
to herself from her hearts lord if she can
They arrived long after the boat at Tourdestelle and Beauchamp might
believe he had prevailed with her but for her forlorn repetition of the
question he had put to her idly and as a new idea instead of significantly
with a recollection and a doubt »Have I courage Nevil«
The grain of common sense in cowardice caused her to repeat it when her
reason was bedimmed and passion assumed the right to show the way of right and
wrong
Chapter XXVI
Mr Blackburn Tuckham
Some time after Beauchamp had been seen renewing his canvass in Bevisham a
report reached Mount Laurels that he was lame of a leg The wits of the opposite
camp revived the FRENCH MARQUEES but it was generally acknowledged that he had
come back without the lady she was invisible Cecilia Halkett rode home with
her father on a dusky Autumn evening and found the card of Commander Beauchamp
awaiting her He might have stayed to see her she thought Ladies are not
customarily so very late in returning from a ride on chill evenings of Autumn
Only a quarter of an hour was between his visit and her return The shortness of
the interval made it appear the deeper gulf She noticed that her father
particularly inquired of the manservant whether Captain Beauchamp limped It
seemed a piece of kindly anxiety on his part The captain was mounted the man
said Cecilia was conscious of rumours being abroad relating to Nevils
expedition to France but he had enemies and was at war with them and she held
herself indifferent to tattle This card bearing his name recently in his hand
was much more insidious and precise She took it to her room to look at it
Nothing but his name and naval title was inscribed no pencilled line she had
not expected to discover one The simple card was her dark light as a
handkerchief a flower a knot of riband has been for men luridly illuminated
by such small sparks to fling their beams on shadows and read the monstrous
things for truths Her purer virgin blood was not inflamed She read the
signification of the card sadly as she did clearly What she could not so
distinctly imagine was how he could reconcile the devotion to his country
which he had taught her to put her faith in with his unhappy subjection to
Madame de Rouaillout How could the nobler sentiment exist side by side with one
that was lawless Or was the wildness characteristic of his political views
proof of a nature inclining to disown moral ties She feared so he did not
speak of the clergy respectfully Reading in the dark she was forced to rely on
her social instincts and she distrusted her personal feelings as much as she
could for she wished to know the truth of him anything pain and heartrending
rather than the shutting of the eyes in an unworthy abandonment to mere emotion
and fascination Cecilias love could not be otherwise given to a man however
near she might be drawn to love though she should suffer the pangs of love
cruelly
She placed his card in her writingdesk she had his likeness there
Commander Beauchamp encouraged the art of photography as those that make long
voyages do in reciprocating what they petition their friends for Mrs Rosamund
Culling had a whole collection of photographs of him equal to a visual history
of his growth in chapters from boyhood to midshipmanship and to manhood The
specimen possessed by Cecilia was one of a couple that Beauchamp had forwarded
to Mrs Grancey Lespel on the day of his departure for France and was a present
from that lady purchased like so many presents at a cost Cecilia would have
paid heavily in gold to have been spared namely a public blush She was
allowed to make her choice and she chose the profile repeating a remark of
Mrs Cullings that it suggested an arrowhead in the upflight whereupon Mr
Stukely Culbrett had said »Then there is the man for he is undoubtedly a
projectile« nor were politicallyhostile punsters on an arrowhead inactive
But Cecilia was thinking of the sideface she less intently than Beauchamp at
hers had glanced at during the drive into Bevisham At that moment she fancied
Madame de Rouaillout might be doing likewise and oh that she had the portrait
of the French lady as well
Next day her father tossed her a photograph of another gentleman coming out
of a letter he had received from old Mrs Beauchamp He asked her opinion of it
She said »I think he would have suited Bevisham better than Captain Baskelett«
Of the original who presented himself at Mount Laurels in the course of the
week she had nothing to say except that he was very like the photograph very
unlike Nevil Beauchamp »Yes there I m of your opinion« her father observed
The gentleman was Mr Blackburn Tuckham and it was amusing to find an exuberant
Tory in one who was the reverse of the cavalier type Nevil and he seemed to
have been sorted to the wrong sides Mr Tuckham had a round head square flat
forehead and ruddy face he stood as if his feet claimed the earth under them
for his own with a certain shortness of leg that detracted from the majesty of
his resemblance to our Eighth Harry but increased his air of solidity and he
was authoritative in speaking »Let me set you right sir« he said sometimes to
Colonel Halkett and that was his modesty »You are altogether wrong« Miss
Halkett heard herself informed which was his courtesy He examined some of her
watercolour drawings before sitting down to dinner approved of them but
thought it necessary to lay a broad finger on them to show their defects On the
question of politics »I venture to state« he remarked in anything but the
tone of a venture »that no educated man of ordinary sense who has visited our
colonies will come back a Liberal« As for a man of sense and education being a
Radical he scouted the notion with a pooh sufficient to awaken a vessel in the
doldrums He said carelessly of Commander Beauchamp that he might think himself
one Either the Radical candidate for Bevisham stood selfdeceived or the
other supposition Mr Tuckham would venture to state that no English gentleman
exempt from an examination by order of the Commissioners of Lunacy could be
sincerely a Radical »Not a bit of it nonsense« he replied to Miss Halketts
hint at the existence of Radical views »that is those views are out of
politics they are matters for the police Dutch dykes are built to shut away
the sea from cultivated land and of course it s a part of the business of the
Dutch Government to keep up the dykes and of ours to guard against the mob but
that is only a political consideration after the mob has been allowed to
undermine our defences«
»They speak« said Miss Halkett »of educating the people to fit them «
»They speak of commanding the winds and tides« he cut her short with no
clear analogy »wait till we have a storm It s a delusion amounting to
dementedness to suppose that with the people inside our defences we can be
taming them and tricking them As for sending them to school after giving them
power it s like asking a wild beast to sit down to dinner with us he wants
the whole table and us too The best education for the people is government
They re beginning to see that in Lancashire at last I ran down to Lancashire
for a couple of days on my landing and I m thankful to say Lancashire is
preparing to take a step back Lancashire leads the country Lancashire men see
what this Liberalism has done for the Labourmarket«
»Captain Beauchamp considers that the political change coming over the minds
of the manufacturers is due to the large fortunes they have made« said Miss
Halkett maliciously associating a Radical prophet with him
He was unaffected by it and continued »Property is ballast as well as
treasure I call property funded good sense I would give it every privilege If
we are to speak of patriotism I say the possession of property guarantees it I
maintain that the lead of men of property is in most cases sure to be the safe
one«
»I think so« Colonel Halkett interposed and he spoke as a man of property
Mr Tuckham grew fervent in his allusions to our wealth and our commerce
Having won the race and gained the prize shall we let it slip out of our grasp
Upon this topic his voice descended to tones of priestlike awe for are we not
the envy of the world Our wealth is countless fabulous It may well inspire
veneration And we have won it with our hands thanks he implied it so to our
religion We are rich in money and industry in those two things only and the
corruption of an energetic industry is constantly threatened by the profusion of
wealth giving it employment This being the case either your Radicals do not
know the first conditions of human nature or they do and if they do they are
traitors and the Liberals opening the gates to them are fools and some are
knaves We perish as a Great Power if we cease to look sharp ahead hold firm
together and make the utmost of what we possess The word for the performance
of those duties is Toryism a word with an older flavour than Conservatism and
Mr Tuckham preferred it By all means let workmen be free men but a man must
earn his freedom daily or he will become a slave in some form or another and
the way to earn it is by work and obedience to right direction In a country
like ours open on all sides to the competition of intelligence and strength
with a Press that is the voice of all parties and of every interest in a
country offering to your investments three and a half and more per cent secure
as the firmament
He perceived an amazed expression on Miss Halketts countenance and »Ay«
said he »that means the certainty of food to millions of mouths and comforts
if not luxuries to half the population A safe percentage on savings is the
basis of civilization«
But he had bruised his eloquence for though you may start a sermon from
stones to hit the stars he must be a practised orator who shall descend out of
the abstract to take up a heavy lump of the concrete without unseating himself
and he stammered and came to a flat ending »In such a country well I
venture to say we have a right to condemn in advance disturbers of the peace
and they must show very good cause indeed for not being summarily held to
account for their conduct«
The allocution was not delivered in the presence of an audience other than
sympathetic and Miss Halkett rightly guessed that it was intended to strike
Captain Beauchamp by ricochet He puffed at the mention of Beauchamps name He
had read a reported speech or two of Beauchamps and shook his head over a
quotation of the stuff as though he would have sprung at him like a lion but
for his enrolment as a constable
Not a whit the less did Mr Tuckham drink his claret relishingly and he
told stories incidental to his travels now and then commended the fishing here
the shooting there and in some few places the cookery with much bright
emphasis when it could be praised it appeared to be an endearing recollection
to him Still as a man of progress he declared his belief that we English
would ultimately turn out the best cooks having indubitably the best material
»Our incomprehensible political pusillanimity« was the one sad point about us
we had been driven from surrender to surrender
»Like geese upon a common I have heard it said« Miss Halkett assisted him
to Dr Shrapnels comparison
Mr Tuckham laughed and half yawned and sighed »Dear me«
His laughter was catching and somehow more persuasive of the soundness of
the mans heart and head than his remarks
She would have been astonished to know that a gentleman so uncourtly if not
uncouth judged by the standard of the circle she moved in and so unskilled
in pleasing the sight and hearing of ladies as to treat them like junior
comrades had raised the vow within himself on seeing her You or no woman
The colonel delighted in him both as a strong and able young fellow and a
refreshingly aggressive recruit of his party who was for onslaught and invoked
common sense instead of waving the flag of sentiment in retreat a very
horseartillery man of Tories Regretting immensely that Mr Tuckham had not
reached England earlier that he might have occupied the seat for Bevisham
about to be given to Captain Baskelett Colonel Halkett set up a contrast of
Blackburn Tuckham and Nevil Beauchamp a singular instance of unfairness his
daughter thought considering that the distinct contrast presented by the
circumstances was that of Mr Tuckham and Captain Baskelett
»It seems to me papa that you are contrasting the idealist and the
realist« she said
»Ah well we dont want the idealist in politics« muttered the colonel
Latterly he also had taken to shaking his head over Nevil Cecilia dared not
ask him why
Mr Tuckham arrived at Mount Laurels on the eve of the Nomination day in
Bevisham An article in the Bevisham Gazette calling upon all true Liberals to
demonstrate their unanimity by a multitudinous show of hands he ascribed to the
writing of a child of Erin and he was highly diverted by the Liberals hiring
of Paddy to pen and spout for him »A Scotchman manages and Paddy does the
sermon for all their journals« he said offhand adding »And the English are
the compositors I suppose« You may take that for an instance of the national
spirit of Liberal newspapers
»Ah« sighed the colonel as at a case clearly demonstrated against them
A drive down to Bevisham to witness the ceremony of the nomination in the
townhall sobered Mr Tuckhams disposition to generalize Beauchamp had the
show of hands and to say with Captain Baskelett that they were a dirty
majority was beneath Mr Tuckhams verbal antagonism He fell into a studious
reserve noting everything listening to everybody greatly to Colonel Halketts
admiration of one by nature a talker and a thunderer
The show of hands Mr Seymour Austin declared to be the most delusive of
electoral auspices and it proved so A little later than four oclock in the
afternoon of the electionday Cecilia received a message from her father
telling her that both of the Liberals were headed »Beauchamp nowhere«
Mrs Grancey Lespel was the next herald of Beauchamps defeat She merely
stated the fact that she had met the colonel and Mr Blackburn Tuckham driving
on the outskirts of the town and had promised to bring Cecilia the final
numbers of the poll Without naming them she unrolled the greater business in
her mind
»A man who in the middle of an Election goes over to France to fight a duel
can hardly expect to win he has all the morality of an English borough opposed
to him« she said and seeing the young lady stiffen »Oh the duel is
positive« she dropped her voice »With the husband Who else could it be And
returns invalided That is evidence My nephew Palmet has it from Vivian Ducie
and he is acquainted with her tolerably intimately and the story is she was
overtaken in her flight in the night and the duel followed at eight oclock in
the morning but her brother insisted on fighting for Captain Beauchamp and I
cannot tell you how but his place in it I cant explain there was a beau
jeune homme and it s quite possible that he should have been the person to
stand up against the marquis At any rate he insulted Captain Beauchamp or
thought your hero had insulted him and the duel was with one or the other It
matters exceedingly little with whom if a duel was fought and you see we have
quite established that«
»I hope it is not true« said Cecilia
»My dear that is the Christian thing to do« said Mrs Lespel »Duelling is
horrible though those Romfreys and the Beauchamps were just as bad or
nearly Colonel Richard fought for a friends wife or sister But in these days
duelling is incredible It was an inhuman practice always and it is now worse
it is a breach of manners I would hope it is not true and you may mean that I
have it from Lord Palmet But I know Vivian Ducie as well as I know my nephew
and if he distinctly mentions an occurrence we may too surely rely on the truth
of it he is not a man to spread mischief Are you unaware that he met Captain
Beauchamp at the château of the marquise The whole story was acted under his
eyes He had only to take up his pen Generally he favours me with his French
gossip I suppose there were circumstances in this affair more suitable to
Palmet than to me He wrote a description of Madame de Rouaillout that set
Palmet strutting about for an hour I have no doubt she must be a very beautiful
woman for a Frenchwoman not regular features expressive capricious Vivian
Ducie lays great stress on her eyes and eyebrows and I think her hair With a
Frenchwomans figure that is enough to make men crazy He says her husband
deserves but what will not young men write It is deeply to be regretted that
Englishmen abroad women the same I fear get the Continental tone in morals
But how Captain Beauchamp could expect to carry on an Election and an intrigue
together only a head like his can tell us Grancey is in high indignation with
him It does not concern the Election you can imagine Something that man Dr
Shrapnel has done which he says Captain Beauchamp could have prevented
Quarrels of men I have instructed Palmet to write to Vivian Ducie for a
photograph of Madame de Rouaillout Do you know one has a curiosity to see the
face of the woman for whom a man ruins himself But I say again he ought to be
married«
»That there may be two victims« Cecilia said it smiling
She was young in suffering and thought as the unseasoned and inexperienced
do that a mask is a concealment
»Married settled to have him bound in honour« said Mrs Lespel »I had a
conversation with him when he was at Itchincope and his look and what I know
of his father that gallant and handsome Colonel Richard Beauchamp would give
one a kind of confidence in him supposing always that he is not struck with one
of those deadly passions that are like snakes like magic I positively believe
in them I have seen them And if they end they end as if the man were burnt
out and was ashes inside as you see Mr Stukely Culbrett all cynicism You
would not now suspect him of a passion It is true Oh I know it That is what
the men go to The women die Vera Winter died at twentythree Caroline Ormond
was hardly older You know her story everybody knows it The most singular and
convincing case was that of Lord Alfred Burnley and Lady Susan Gardiner wife of
the general and there was an instance of two similarly afflicted a very rare
case most rare they never could meet to part It was almost ludicrous It is
now quite certain that they did not conspire to meet At last the absolute
fatality became so well understood by the persons immediately interested You
laugh«
»Do I laugh« said Cecilia
»We should all know the world my dear and you are a strong head The
knowledge is only dangerous for fools And if romance is occasionally
ridiculous as I own it can be humdrum I protest is everlastingly so
Bytheby I should have told you that Captain Beauchamp was one hundred and
ninety below Captain Baskelett when the state of the poll was handed to me The
gentleman driving with your father compared the Liberals to a parachute cut away
from the balloon Is he army or navy«
»He is a barrister and some cousin of Captain Beauchamp«
»I should not have taken him for a Beauchamp« said Mrs Lespel and
resuming her worldly sagacity »I should not like to be in opposition to that
young man«
She seemed to have a fancy unexpressed regarding Mr Tuckham Reminding
herself that she might be behind time at Itchincope where the guests would be
numerous that evening and the song of triumph loud with Captain Baskelett to
lead it she kissed the young lady she had unintentionally been torturing so
long and drove away
Cecilia hoped it was not true Her heart sank heavily under the belief that
it was She imagined the world abusing Nevil and casting him out as those
electors of Bevisham had just done and impulsively she pleaded for him and
became drowned in criminal blushes that forced her to defend herself with a
determination not to believe the dreadful story though she continued mitigating
the wickedness of it as if by a singular inversion of the fact her clear good
sense excused and it was her heart that condemned him She dwelt fondly on an
image of the »gallant and handsome Colonel Richard Beauchamp« conjured up in
her mind from the fervour of Mrs Lespel when speaking of Nevils father whose
chivalry threw a light on the sons and whose errors condoned by time and
with a certain brilliancy playing above them interceded strangely on behalf of
Nevil
Chapter XXVII
A Short Sidelook at the Election
The brisk Electionday unlike that wearisome but instructive canvass of the
Englishman in his castle vicatim teaches little and its humours are those of a
badlymanaged Christmas pantomime without a columbine old tricks no graces
Nevertheless things hang together so that it cannot be passed over with a bare
statement of the fact of the LiberalRadical defeat in Bevisham the day was not
without fruit in time to come for him whom his commiserating admirers of the
nonvoting sex all round the borough called the poor dear commander Beauchamps
holiday out of England had incited Dr Shrapnel to break a positive restriction
put upon him by Jenny Denham and actively pursue the canvass and the harangue
in person by which conduct as Jenny had foreseen many temperate electors were
alienated from Commander Beauchamp though no doubt the Radicals were made
compact for they may be the skirmishing faction poor scattered fragments
none of them sufficiently downright for the other each outstripping each
rudimentary emperors elementary prophets inspired physicians
nostrumdevouring patients whatsoever you will and still here and there a man
shall arise to march them in close columns if they can but trust him in
perfect subordination a model even for Tories while they keep shoulder to
shoulder And to behold such a disciplined body is intoxicating to the eye of a
leader accustomed to count ahead upon vapourish abstractions and therefore
predisposed to add a couple of noughts to every tangible figure in his grasp
Thus will a realized fifty become five hundred or five thousand to him the very
sense of number is instinct with multiplication in his mind and those years far
on in advance which he has been looking to with some fatigue to the optics
will suddenly and rollickingly roll up to him at the shutting of his eyes in a
temporary fit of gratification So by looking and by not looking he achieves
his phantom victory embraces his cloud
Dr Shrapnel conceived that the day was to be a Radical success and he a
citizen aged and exercised in reverses so rounded by the habit of them indeed
as to tumble and recover himself on the wind of the blow that struck him was
it must be acknowledged staggered and cast down when he saw Beauchamp drop
knowing full well his regiment had polled to a man Radicals poll early they
would poll at cockcrow if they might they dance on the morning As for their
chagrin at noon you will find descriptions of it in the poets Inferno They
are for lifting our clay soil on a lever of Archimedes and are not great
mathematicians They have perchance a foot of our earth and perpetually do they
seem to be producing an effect perpetually does the whole land roll back on
them You have not surely to be reminded that it hurts them the weight is
immense Dr Shrapnel however speedily looked out again on his vast horizon
though prostrate He regained his height of stature with no mans help Success
was but postponed for a generation or two Is it so very distant Gaze on it
with the eye of our parent orb »I shall not see it here you may« he said to
Jenny Denham and he fortified his outlook by saying to Mr Lydiard that the
Tories of our time walked or rather stuck in the track of the Radicals of a
generation back Note then that Radicals always marching to the triumph
never taste it and for Tories it is Dead Sea fruit ashes in their mouths
Those Liberals those temporisers compromisers a concourse of atoms glorify
themselves in the animal satisfaction of sucking the juice of the fruit for
which they pay with their souls They have no true cohesion for they have no
vital principle
Mr Lydiard being a Liberal bade the doctor not to forget the work of the
Liberals who touched on Tory and Radical with a pretty steady swing from side
to side in the manner of the pendulum of a clock which is the clocks life
remember that The Liberals are the professors of the practicable in politics
»A suitable image for timeservers« Dr Shrapnel exclaimed intolerant of
any mention of the Liberals as a party especially in the hour of Radical
discomfiture when the fact that compromisers should exist exasperates men of a
principle »Your Liberals are the band of Pyrrhus an army of bastards
mercenaries professing the practicable for pay They know us the motive force
the Tories the resisting power and they feign to aid us in battering our enemy
that they may stop the shock We fight they profit What are they Stranded
Whigs crotchetty manufacturers dissentient religionists the halfminded the
harehearted the I would and I would not shifty creatures with youths
enthusiasm decaying in them and a purse beginning to jingle fearing lest we do
too much for safety our enemy not enough for safety They a party Let them
take action and see We stand a thousand defeats they not one Compromise begat
them Once let them leave sucking the teats of compromise yea once put on the
air of men who fight and die for a cause they fly to pieces And whither the
fragments Chiefly my friend into the Tory ranks Seriously so I say You
between future and past are for the present but with the hunted look behind of
all godless livers in the present You Liberals are Tories with foresight
Radicals without faith You start in fear of Toryism on an errand of
Radicalism and in fear of Radicalism to Toryism you draw back There is your
pendulumswing«
Lectures to this effect were delivered by Dr Shrapnel throughout the day
for his private spiritual solace it may be supposed unto Lydiard Turbot
Beauchamp or whomsoever the man chancing to be near him and never did Sir
Oracle wear so extraordinary a garb The favourite missiles of the day were
flourbags Dr Shrapnels uncommon height and his outrageous long brown coat
would have been sufficient to attract them without the reputation he had for
desiring to subvert everything old English The first discharges gave him the
appearance of a thawing snowman Drenchings of water turned the flour to ribs of
paste and in colour at least he looked legitimately the cooks own spitted
hare escaped from her basting ladle elongated on two legs It ensued that
whenever he was caught sight of as he walked unconcernedly about the young
streetprofessors of the decorative arts were seized with a frenzy to add their
share to the whitening of him until he might have been taken for a miller that
had gone bodily through his meal The popular cry proclaimed him a ghost and he
walked like one impassive blanched and silent amid the uproar of mobs of
jolly ruffians for each of whom it was a point of honour to have a shy at old
Shrapnel Clad in this preparation of piecrust he called from time to time at
Beauchamps hotel and renewed his monologue upon that Radical empire in the
future which was for ever in the future for the pioneers of men yet not the
less their empire »Do we live in our bodies« quoth he replying to his fiery
interrogation »Ay the Tories the Liberals« They lived in their bodies Not
one syllable of personal consolation did he vouchsafe to Beauchamp He did not
imagine it could be required by a man who had bathed in the pure springs of
Radicalism and it should be remarked that Beauchamp deceived him by imitating
his air of happy abstraction or subordination of the faculties to a distant
view comparable to a ships crew in difficulties receiving the report of the
man at the masthead Beauchamp deceived Miss Denham too and himself by saying
as if he cherished the philosophy of defeat besides the resolution to fight on
»It s only a skirmish lost and that counts for nothing in a battle without
end it must be incessant«
»But does incessant battling keep the intellect clear« was her memorable
answer
He glanced at Lydiard to indicate that it came of that gentlemans
influence upon her mind It was impossible for him to think that women thought
The idea of a pretty woman exercising her mind independently and moreover
moving him to examine his own made him smile Could a sweetfaced girl the
nearest to Renée in grace of manner and in feature of all women known to him
originate a sentence that would set him reflecting He was unable to forget it
though he allowed her no credit for it
On the other hand his admiration of her devotedness to Dr Shrapnel was
unbounded There shone a strictly feminine quality according to the romantic
visions of the sex entertained by Commander Beauchamp and by others who would
be the objects of it But not alone the passive virtues were exhibited by Jenny
Denham she proved that she had high courage No remonstrance could restrain Dr
Shrapnel from going out to watch the struggle and she went with him as a matter
of course on each occasion Her dress bore witness to her running the gauntlet
beside him
»It was not thrown at me purposely« she said to quiet Beauchamps wrath
She saved the doctor from being roughly mobbed Once when they were surrounded
she fastened his arm under hers and by simply moving on with an unswerving air
of serenity obtained a passage for him So much did she make herself respected
that the gallant rascals became emulous in dexterity to avoid powdering her by
loudly execrating any but dead shots at the detested one and certain boys were
maltreated for an ardour involving clumsiness A young genius of this horde
conceiving in the spirit of the inventors of our improved modern ordnance that
it was vain to cast missiles which left a thing standing hurled a stone wrapped
in paper It missed its mark Jenny said nothing about it The day closed with a
comfortable fight or two in byquarters of the town probably to prove that an
undaunted English spirit spite of fickle Fortune survived in our muscles
Chapter XXVIII
Touching a Young Ladys Heart and Her Intellect
Mr Tuckham found his way to Dr Shrapnels cottage to see his kinsman on the
day after the election There was a dinner in honour of the Members for Bevisham
at Mount Laurels in the evening and he was five minutes behind military time
when he entered the restive drawingroom and stood before the colonel No sooner
had he stated that he had been under the roof of Dr Shrapnel than his
unpunctuality was immediately overlooked in the burst of impatience evoked by
the name
»That pestilent fellow« Colonel Halkett ejaculated »I understand he has
had the impudence to serve a notice on Grancey Lespel about encroachments on
common land«
Some one described Dr Shrapnels appearance under the flour storm
»He deserves anything« said the colonel consulting his mantelpiece clock
Captain Baskelett observed »I shall have my account to settle with Dr
Shrapnel« He spoke like a man having a right to be indignant but excepting
that the doctor had bestowed nicknames upon him in a speech at a meeting no one
could discover the grounds for it He nodded briefly A Radical apple had struck
him on the left cheekbone as he performed his triumphal drive through the town
and a slight disfigurement remained to which his hand was applied
sympathetically at intervals for the cheekbone was prominent in his
countenance and did not well bear enlargement And when a fortunate gentleman
desiring to be still more fortunate would display the winning amiability of his
character distension of one cheek gives him an afflictingly false look of
sweetness
The bent of his mind nevertheless was to please Miss Halkett He would be
smiling and intimately smiling Aware that she had a kind of pitiful sentiment
for Nevil he smiled over Nevil poor Nevil »I give you my word Miss Halkett
old Nevil was off his head yesterday I daresay he meant to be civil I met him
I called out to him Good day cousin I m afraid you re beaten and says he
I fancy you ve gained it uncle He didnt know where he was all abroad poor
boy Uncle to me«
Miss Halkett would have accepted the instance for a proof of Nevils
distraction had not Mr Seymour Austin who sat beside her laughed and said to
her »I suppose uncle was a chance shot but it s equal to a poetic epithet in
the light it casts on the story« Then it seemed to her that Nevil had been
keenly quick and Captain Baskeletts impenetrability was a sign of his density
Her mood was to think Nevil Beauchamp only too quick too adventurous and
restless one that wrecked brilliant gifts in a too general warfare a lover of
hazards a hater of laws Her eyes flew over Captain Baskelett as she imagined
Nevil addressing him as uncle and to put aside a spirit of mockery rising
within her she hinted a wish to hear Seymour Austins opinion of Mr Tuckham
He condensed it in an interrogative tone »The other extreme« The Tory extreme
of Radical Nevil Beauchamp She assented Mr Tuckham was at that moment
prophesying the Torification of mankind not as the trembling venturesome idea
which we cast on doubtful winds but as a ship is launched to ride the waters
with huzzas for a thing accomplished Mr Austin raised his shoulders
imperceptibly saying to Miss Halkett »The turn will come to us as to others
and go Nothing earthly can escape that revolution We have to meet it with a
policy and let it pass with measures carried and our hands washed of some of
our party sins I am I hope true to my party but the enthusiasm of party I do
not share He is right however when he accuses the nation of cowardice for the
last ten years One third of the Liberals have been with us at heart and dared
not speak and we dared not say what we wished We accepted a compact that
satisfied us both satisfied us better than when we were opposed by Whigs
that is the Liberal reigned and we governed and I should add a very clever
juggler was our common chief Now we have the consequences of hollow
peacemaking in a suffrage that bids fair to extend to the wearing of hats and
boots for a qualification The moral of it seems to be that cowardice is even
worse for nations than for individual men though the consequences come on us
more slowly«
»You spoke of party sins« Miss Halkett said incredulously
»I shall think we are the redoubtable party when we admit the charge«
»Are you alluding to the landowners«
»Like the land itself they have rich veins in heavy matter For instance
the increasing wealth of the country is largely recruiting our ranks and we
shall be tempted to mistake numbers for strength and perhaps again be reading
Conservatism for a special thing of our own a fortification That would be a
party sin Conservatism is a principle of government the best because the
safest for an old country and the guarantee that we do not lose the wisdom of
past experience in our struggle with what is doubtful Liberalism stakes too
much on the chance of gain It is uncomfortably seated on halfadozen horses
and it has to feed them too and on varieties of corn«
»Yes« Miss Halkett said pausing »and I know you would not talk down to
me but the use of imagery makes me feel that I am addressed as a primitive
intelligence«
»That s the fault of my trying at condensation as the hieroglyphists put
an animal for a paragraph I am incorrigible you see but the lecture in prose
must be for byandby if you care to have it«
»If you care to read it to me Did a single hieroglyphic figure stand for so
much«
»I have never deciphered one«
»You have been speaking to me too long in earnest Mr Austin«
»I accept the admonition though it is wider than the truth Have you ever
consented to listen to politics before«
Cecilia reddened faintly thinking of him who had taught her to listen and
of her previous contempt of the subject
A political exposition devoid of imagery was given to her next day on the
sunny Southwestern terrace of Mount Laurels when it was only by mentally
translating it into imagery that she could advance a step beside her
intellectual guide and she was ashamed of the volatility of her ideas She was
constantly comparing Mr Austin and Nevil Beauchamp seeing that the senior and
the junior both talked to her with the familiar recognition of her understanding
which was a compliment without the gross corporeal phrase But now she made
another discovery that should have been infinitely more of a compliment and it
was bewildering if not repulsive to her could it be credited Mr Austin was
a firm believer in new and higher destinies for women He went farther than she
could concede the right of human speculation to go he was in fact as Radical
there as Nevil Beauchamp politically and would not the latter innovator stare
perchance frown conservatively at a prospect of woman taking council in
council with men upon public affairs like the women in the Germania Mr
Austin if this time he talked in earnest deemed that Englishwomen were on the
road to win such a promotion and would win it ultimately He said soberly that
he saw more certain indications of the reality of progress among women than any
at present shown by men And he was professedly temperate He was but for
opening avenues to the means of livelihood for them and leaving it to their
strength to conquer the position they might wish to win His belief that they
would do so was the revolutionary sign
»Are there points of likeness between Radicals and Tories« she inquired
»I suspect a cousinship in extremes« he answered
»If one might be present at an argument« said she
»We have only to meet to fly apart as wide as the Poles« Mr Austin
rejoined
But she had not spoken of a particular person to meet him and how then
had she betrayed herself She fancied he looked unwontedly arch as he resumed
»The end of the argument would see us each entrenched in his party Suppose
me to be telling your Radical friend such truisms as that we English have not
grown in a day and were not originally made free and equal by decree that we
have grown and must continue to grow by the aid and the development of our
strength that ours is a fairly legible history and a fair example of the good
and the bad in human growth that his landowner and his peasant have no clear
case of right and wrong to divide them one being the descendant of strong men
the other of weak ones and that the former may sink the latter may rise
there is no artificial obstruction and if it is difficult to rise it is easy
to sink Your Radical friend who would bring them to a level by proclamation
could not adopt a surer method for destroying the manhood of a people he is for
doctoring wooden men and I for not letting our stout English be cut down short
as Laplanders he would have them in a forcing house and I in open air as
hitherto Do you perceive a discussion and you apprehend the nature of it We
have nerves That is why it is better for men of extremely opposite opinions not
to meet I dare say Radicalism has a function and so long as it respects the
laws I am ready to encounter it where it cannot be avoided Pardon my prosing«
»Recommend me some hard books to study through the Winter« said Cecilia
refreshed by a discourse that touched no emotions as by a febrifuge Could
Nevil reply to it She fancied him replying with that wild head of his
wildest of natures She fancied also that her wish was like Mr Austins not to
meet him She was enjoying a little rest
It was not quite generous in Mr Austin to assume that her Radical friend
had been prompting her However she thanked him in her heart for the calm he
had given her To be able to imagine Nevil Beauchamp intellectually erratic was
a tonic satisfaction to the proud young lady ashamed of a bondage that the
bracing and pointing of her critical powers helped her to forget She had always
preferred the society of men of Mr Austins age How old was he Her father
would know And why was he unmarried A light frost had settled on the hair
about his temples his forehead was lightly wrinkled but his mouth and smile
and his eyes were lively as a young mans with more in them His age must be
something less than fifty O for peace she sighed When he stepped into his
carriage and stood up in it to wave adieu to her she thought his face and
figure a perfect example of an English gentleman in his prime
Captain Baskelett requested the favour of five minutes of conversation with
Miss Halkett before he followed Mr Austin on his way to Steynham
She returned from that colloquy to her father and Mr Tuckham The colonel
looked straight in her face with an elevation of the brows To these points of
interrogation she answered with a placid fall of her eyelids He sounded a note
of approbation in his throat
All the company having departed Mr Tuckham for the first time spoke of his
interview with his kinsman Beauchamp Yesterday evening he had slurred it as if
he had nothing to relate except the finding of an old schoolfellow at Dr
Shrapnels named Lydiard a man of ability fool enough to have turned author on
no income But that which had appeared to Miss Halkett a want of observancy
became attributable to depth of character on its being clear that he had waited
for the departure of the transient guests of the house to pour forth his
impressions without holding up his kinsman to public scorn He considered
Shrapnel mad and Beauchamp mad No such grotesque old monster as Dr Shrapnel
had he seen in the course of his travels He had never listened to a madman
running loose who was at all up to Beauchamp At a loss for words to paint him
he said »Beauchamp seems to have a head like a firework manufactory he s
perfectly pyrocephalic« For an example of Dr Shrapnels talk »I happened«
said Mr Tuckham »casually meaning no harm and not supposing I was throwing a
lighted match on powder to mention the word Providence I found myself
immediately confronted by Shrapnel overtopped I should say He is a lank
giant of about seven feet in height the kind of show man that used to go about
in caravans over the country and he began rocking over me like a poplar in a
gale and cries out Stay there away with that Providence Can you set a
thought on Providence not seeking to propitiate it And have you not there the
damning proof that you are at the foot of an Idol The old idea about a
special Providence I suppose These fellows have nothing new but their
trimmings And he went on with Ay invisible and his arm chopping but an
Idol an Idol I was to think of nought but Laws He admitted there might be
one above the Laws To realize him is to fry the brains in their pan says he
and struck his forehead a slap and off he walked down the garden with his
hands at his coattails I venture to say it may be taken for a proof of
incipient insanity to care to hear such a fellow twice And Beauchamp holds him
up for a sage and a prophet«
»He is a very dangerous dog« said Colonel Halkett
»The best of it is and I take this for the strongest possible proof that
Beauchamp is mad Shrapnel stands for an advocate of morality against him I
ll speak of it «
Mr Tuckham nodded to the colonel who said »Speak out My daughter has
been educated for a woman of the world«
»Well sir it s nothing to offend a young ladys ears Beauchamp is for
socially enfranchising the sex that is all Quite enough Not a whit
politically Love is to be the test and if a lady ceases to love her husband
if she sets her fancy elsewhere she s bound to leave him The laws are
tyrannical our objections are cowardly Well this Dr Shrapnel harangued about
society and men as well as women are to sacrifice their passions on that altar
If he could burlesque himself it would be in coming out as a cleric the old
Pagan«
»Did he convince Captain Beauchamp« the colonel asked manifestly for his
daughter to hear the reply which was »Oh dear no«
»Were you able to gather from Captain Beauchamps remarks whether he is much
disappointed by the result of the election« said Cecilia
Mr Tuckham could tell her only that Captain Beauchamp was incensed against
an elector named Tomlinson for withdrawing a promised vote on account of lying
rumours and elated by the conquest of a Mr Carpendike who was reckoned a
tough one to drag by the neck »The only sane people in the house are a Miss
Denham and the cook I lunched there« Mr Tuckham nodded approvingly »Lydiard
must be mad What he s wasting his time there for I cant guess He says he s
engaged there in writing a prefatory essay to a new publication of Harry
Denhams poems whoever that may be And why writing it there I dont like it
He ought to be earning his bread He ll be sure to be borrowing money
byandby We ve got ten thousand too many fellows writing already and they
ve seen a few inches of the world on the Continent He can write But it s
all unproductive dead weight on the country these fellows with their
writings He says Beauchamps praise of Miss Denham is quite deserved He tells
me that at great peril to herself and she nearly had her arm broken by a
stone she saved Shrapnel from rough usage on the electionday«
»Hum« Colonel Halkett grunted significantly
»So I thought« Mr Tuckham responded »One doesnt want the man to be hurt
but he ought to be put down in some way My belief is he s a Fireworshipper I
warrant I would extinguish him if he came before me He s an incendiary at any
rate«
»Do you think« said Cecilia »that Captain Beauchamp is now satisfied with
his experience of politics«
»Dear me no« said Mr Tuckham »It s the opening of a campaign He s off
to the North after he has been to Sussex and Bucks He s to be at it all his
life One thing he shows common sense in If I heard him once I heard him say
halfadozen times that he must have money I must have money And so he must
if he s to head the Radicals He wants to start a newspaper Is he likely to
get money from his uncle Romfrey«
»Not for his present plan of campaign« Colonel Halkett enunciated the
military word sarcastically »Lets hope he wont get money«
»He says he must have it«
»Who is to stand and deliver then«
»I dont know I only repeat what he says unless he has an eye on my Aunt
Beauchamp and I doubt his luck there if he wants money for political
campaigning«
»Money« Colonel Halkett ejaculated
That word too was in the heart of the heiress
Nevil must have money Could he have said it Ordinary men might say or
think it inoffensively Captain Baskelett for instance but not Nevil
Beauchamp
Captain Baskelett as she had conveyed the information to her father for his
comfort in the dumb domestic language familiar between them on these occasions
had proposed to her unavailingly Italian and English gentlemen were in the list
of her rejected suitors and hitherto she had seen them come and go one might
say from a watchtower in the skies None of them was the ideal she waited for
what their feelings were their wishes their aims she had not reflected on
They dotted the landscape beneath the unassailable heights busy after their
fashion somewhat quaint much like the pigmy husbandmen in the fields were to
the giants daughter who had more curiosity than Cecilia But Nevil Beauchamp
had compelled her to quit her lofty station pulled her low as the littlest of
women that throb and flush at one mans footstep and being well able to read
the nature and aspirations of Captain Baskelett it was with the knowledge of
her having been proposed to as heiress of a great fortune that she chanced to
hear of Nevils resolve to have money If he did say it And was anything
likelier was anything unlikelier His foreign love denied to him why now he
devoted himself to money money the last consideration of a man so
singlemindedly generous as he But he must have money to pursue his contest
But would he forfeit the truth in him for money for any purpose
The debate on this question grew as incessant as the thought of him
Was it not to be supposed that the madness of the pursuit of his political
chimaera might change his character
She hoped he would not come to Mount Laurels thinking she should esteem him
less if he did knowing that her defence of him on her own behalf against
herself depended now on an esteem lodged perhaps in her wilfulness Yet if he
did not come what an Arctic world
He came on a November afternoon when the woods glowed and no sun The day
was narrowed in mist from earth to heaven a moveless and possessing mist It
left space overhead for one wreath of high cloud mixed with touches of washed
red upon moist blue still as the mist insensibly passing into it Wet webs
crossed the grass chill in the feeble light The last flowers of the garden
bowed to decay Dead leaves red and brown and spotted yellow fell straight
around the stems of trees lying thick The glow was universal and the chill
Cecilia sat sketching the scene at a window of her study on the level of
the drawingroom and he stood by outside till she saw him He greeted her
through the glass then went round to the hall door giving her time to recover
if only her heart had been less shaken
Their meeting was like the features of the day she set her brush to picture
characteristic of a season rather than cheerless in tone though it breathed
little cheer Is there not a pleasure in contemplating that which is
characteristic Her unfinished sketch recalled him after he had gone he lived
in it to startle her again and bid her heart gallop and her cheeks burn The
question occurred to her May not one love not craving to be beloved Such a
love does not sap our pride but supports it increases rather than diminishes
our noble selfesteem To attain such a love the martyrs writhed up to the crown
of saints For a while Cecilia revelled in the thought that she could love in
this most saintlike manner How they fled the sordid ideas of him which accused
him of the worlds one passion and were transferred to her own bosom in
reproach that she should have imagined them existing in his He talked simply
and sweetly of his defeat of time wasted away from the canvass of loss of
money and he had little to spare he said The watercolour drawing interested
him He said he envied her that power of isolation and the eye for beauty in
every season She opened a portfolio of Mr Tuckhams watercolour drawings in
every clime scenes of Europe Asia and the Americas and he was to be excused
for not caring to look through them His remark that they seemed hard and
dogged was not so unjust she thought smiling to think of the critic
criticized His wonderment that a young man like his Lancastrian cousin should
be an unmitigated Tory was perhaps natural
Cecilia said »Yet I cannot discern in him a veneration for aristocracy«
»That s not wanted for modern Toryism« said Nevil »One may venerate old
families when they show the blood of the founder and are not dead wood I do
And I believe the blood of the founder though the man may have been a savage
and a robber had in his day finer elements in it than were common But let me
say at a meeting that I respect true aristocracy I hear a growl and a hiss
beginning why Dont judge them hastily because the people have seen the
aristocracy opposed to the cause that was weak and only submitting to it when
it commanded them to resist at their peril clinging to traditions and not
anywhere standing for humanity much more a herd than the people themselves Ah
well we wont talk of it now I say that is no aristocracy if it does not head
the people in virtue military political national I mean the qualities
required by the times for leadership I wont bother you with my ideas now I
love to see you paintbrush in hand«
Her brush trembled on the illumination of a scarlet maple »In this country
we were not originally made free and equal by decree Nevil«
»No« said he »and I cast no blame on our farthest ancestors«
It struck her that this might be an outline of a reply to Mr Austin
»So you have been thinking over it« he asked
»Not to conclusions« she said trying to retain in her mind the evanescent
suggestiveness of his previous remark and vexed to find herself upon nothing
but a devious phosphorescent trail there
Her forehead betrayed the unwonted mental action He cried out for pardon
»What right have I to bother you I see it annoys you The truth is I came for
peace I think of you when they talk of English homes«
She felt then that he was comparing her home with another a foreign home
After he had gone she felt that there had been a comparison of two persons She
remembered one of his observations »Few women seem to have courage« when his
look at her was for an instant one of scrutiny or calculation Under a look like
that we perceive that we are being weighed She had no clue to tell her what it
signified
Glorious and solely glorious love that has risen above emotion quite
independent of craving That is to be the bird of upper air poised on his
wings It is a home in the sky Cecilia took possession of it systematically
not questioning whether it would last like one who is too enamoured of the
habitation to object to be a tenantatwill If it was cold it was in
recompense immeasurably lofty a stargirdled place and dwelling in it she
could avow to herself the secret which was now working selfdeception and still
preserve her pride unwounded Her womanly pride she would have said in
vindication of it but Cecilia Halketts pride went far beyond the merely
womanly
Thus she was assisted to endure a journey down to Wales where Nevil would
surely not be She passed a Winter without seeing him She returned to Mount
Laurels from London at Easter and went on a visit to Steynham and back to
London having sight of him nowhere still firm in the thought that she loved
ethereally to bless forgive direct encourage pray for him impersonally
She read certain speeches delivered by Nevil at assemblies of Liberals or
Radicals which were reported in papers in the easy irony of the style of here
and there a sentence here and there a summary salient quotations interspersed
with running abstracts a style terrible to friends of the speaker so reported
overwhelming if they differ in opinion yet her charity was a match for it She
was obliged to have recourse to charity it should be observed Her father drew
her attention to the spectacle of R C S Nevil Beauchamp Commander R N
fighting those reporters with letters in the newspapers and the dry editorial
comment flanked by three stars on the left He was shocked to see a gentleman
writing such letters to the papers »But one thing hangs on another« said he
»But you seem angry with Nevil papa« said she
»I do hate a turbulent restless fellow my dear« the colonel burst out
»Papa he has really been unfairly reported«
Cecilia laid three privatelyprinted full reports of Commander Beauchamps
speeches very carefully corrected by him before her father
He suffered his eye to run down a page »Is it possible you read this
this trash dangerous folly I call it«
Cecilias reply »In the interests of justice I do« was meant to express
her pure impartiality By a toleration of what is detested we expose ourselves
to the keenness of an adverse mind
»Does he write to you too« said the colonel
She answered »Oh no I am not a politician«
»He seems to have expected you to read those tracts of his though«
»Yes I think he would convert me if he could« said Cecilia
»Though you re not a politician«
»He relies on the views he delivers in public rather than on writing to
persuade that was my meaning papa«
»Very well« said the colonel not caring to show his anxiety
Mr Tuckham dined with them frequently in London This gentleman betrayed
his accomplishments one by one He sketched and was no artist he planted and
was no gardener he touched the piano neatly and was no musician he sang and
he had no voice Apparently he tried his hand at anything for the privilege of
speaking decisively upon all things He accompanied the colonel and his daughter
on a days expedition to Mrs Beauchamp on the Upper Thames and they agreed
that he shone to great advantage in her society Mrs Beauchamp said she had
seen her greatnephew Nevil but without a comment on his conduct or his person
grave silence Reflecting on it Cecilia grew indignant at the thought that Mr
Tuckham might have been acting a sinister part Mrs Beauchamp alluded to a
newspaper article of her favourite greatnephew Blackburn written Cecilia knew
through her father to controvert some tremendous proposition of Nevils That
was writing Mrs Beauchamp said »I am not in the habit of fearing a conflict
so long as we have stout defenders I rather like it« she said
The colonel entertained Mrs Beauchamp while Mr Tuckham led Miss Halkett
over the garden Cecilia considered that his remarks upon Nevil were insolent
»Seriously Miss Halkett to take him at his best he is a very good fellow
I dont doubt I am told so and a capital fellow among men a good friend and
not a bad boonfellow and for that matter the smokingroom is a better test
than the drawingroom all he wants is emphatically school school school I
have recommended the simple iteration of that one word in answer to him at his
meetings and the printing of it as a footnote to his letters«
Cecilias combative spirit precipitated her to say »I hear the mob in it
shouting Captain Beauchamp down«
»Ay« said Mr Tuckham »it would be setting the mob to shout wisely at
last«
»The mob is a wild beast«
»Then we should hear wisdom coming out of the mouth of the wild beast«
»Men have the phrase fair play«
»Fair play I say is not applicable to a man who deliberately goes about to
stir the wild beast He is laughed at plucked hustled and robbed by those
who deafen him with their plaudits their roars Did you see his advertisement
of a greatcoat lost at some rapscallion gathering down in the North near my
part of the country A greatcoat and a packet of letters He offers a reward of
£10 But that s honest robbery compared with the bleeding he ll get«
»Do you know Mr Seymour Austin« Miss Halkett asked him
»I met him once at your fathers table Why«
»I think you would like to listen to him«
»Yes my fault is not listening enough« said Mr Tuckham
He was capable of receiving correction
Her father told her he was indebted to Mr Tuckham past payment in coin for
services rendered by him on a trying occasion among the miners in Wales during
the first spring month »I dare say he can speak effectively to miners« Cecilia
said outvying the contemptuous young man in superciliousness but with effort
and not with satisfaction
She left London in July two days before her father could be induced to
return to Mount Laurels Feverish and strangely subject to caprices now she
chose the longer way round by Sussex and alighted at the station near Steynham
to call on Mrs Culling whom she knew to be at the Hall preparing it for Mr
Romfreys occupation In imitation of her father she was Rosamunds fast friend
though she had never quite realized her position and did not thoroughly
understand her Would it not please her father to hear that she had chosen the
tedious route for the purpose of visiting this lady whose champion he was So
she went to Steynham and for hours she heard talk of no one of nothing but
her friend Nevil Cecilia was on her guard against Rosamunds defence of his
conduct in France The declaration that there had been no misbehaviour at all
could not be accepted but the news of Mr Romfreys having installed Nevil in
Holdesbury to manage that property and of his having mooted to her father the
question of an alliance between her and Nevil was wonderful Rosamund could not
say what answer her father had made hardly favourable Cecilia supposed since
he had not spoken of the circumstance to her But Mr Romfreys influence with
him would certainly be powerful
It was to be assumed also that Nevil had been consulted by his uncle
Rosamund said fullheartedly that this alliance had for years been her lifes
desire and then she let the matter pass nor did she once look at Cecilia
searchingly or seem to wish to probe her Cecilia disagreed with Rosamund on an
insignificant point in relation to something Mr Romfrey and Captain Baskelett
had done and as far as she could recollect subsequently there was a packet of
letters or a pocketbook containing letters of Nevils which he had lost and
which had been forwarded to Mr Romfrey for the pocketbook was originally his
and his address was printed inside But among these letters was one from Dr
Shrapnel to Nevil a letter so horrible that Rosamund frowned at the
reminiscence of it holding it to be too horrible for the quotation of a
sentence She owned she had forgotten any three consecutive words Her known
dislike of Captain Baskelett however was insufficient to make her see that it
was unjustifiable in him to run about London reading it with comments of the
cruellest Rosamunds greater detestation of Dr Shrapnel blinded her to the
offence committed by the man she would otherwise have been very ready to scorn
So small did the circumstance appear to Cecilia notwithstanding her gentle
opposition at the time she listened to it that she never thought of mentioning
it to her father and only remembered it when Captain Baskelett with Lord
Palmet in his company presented himself at Mount Laurels and proposed to the
colonel to read to him »a letter from that scoundrelly old Shrapnel to Nevil
Beauchamp upon women wives thrones republics British loyalty et cætera«
an et cætera that rolled a series of tremendous reverberations down the list of
all things held precious by freeborn Englishmen
She would have prevented the reading But the colonel would have it
»Read on« said he »Mr Romfrey saw no harm«
Captain Baskelett held up Dr Shrapnels letter to Commander Beauchamp at
about half a yards distance on the level of his chin as a bigchested singer
in a concertroom holds his musicscroll
Chapter XXIX
The Epistle of Dr Shrapnel to Commander Beauchamp
Before we give ear to the recital of Dr Shrapnels letter to his pupil in
politics by the mouth of Captain Baskelett it is necessary to defend this
gentleman as he would handsomely have defended himself from the charge that he
entertained ultimate designs in regard to the really abominable scrawl which
was like a childs drawing of ocean with here and there a sail capsized and
excited his disgust almost as much as did the contents his great indignation He
was prepared to read it and stood blown out for the task but it was
temporarily too much for him »My dear Colonel look at it I entreat you« he
said handing the letter for exhibition after fixing his eyeglass and
dropping it in repulsion The common sentiment of mankind is offended by
heterodoxy in mean attire for there we see the selfconvicted villain the
criminal caught in the act we try it and convict it by instinct without the
ceremony of a jury and so thoroughly aware of our promptitude in this respect
has our archenemy become since his mediæval disgraces that his particular
advice to his followers is now to scrupulously copy the world in externals
never to appear poorly clothed nor to impart deceptive communications in bad
handwriting We can tell black from white and our sagacity has taught him a
lesson
Colonel Halkett glanced at the detestable penmanship Lord Palmet did the
same and cried »Why it s worse than mine«
Cecilia had protested against the reading of the letter and she declined to
look at the writing She was entreated adjured to look in Captain Baskeletts
peculiarly pursuing fashion a nay but you shall that she had been subjected
to previously and would have consented to run like a schoolgirl to escape from
To resume the defence of him he was a man incapable of forming plots
because his head would not hold them He was an impulsive man who could impale
a character of either sex by narrating fables touching persons of whom he
thought lightly and that being done he was devoid of malice unless by chance
his feelings or his interests were so aggrieved that his original haphazard
impulse was bent to embrace new circumstances and be the parent of a line of
successive impulses in the main resembling an extremely farsighted plot
whereat he gazed back with fondness all the while protesting sincerely his
perfect innocence of anything of the kind Circumstances will often interwind
with the moods of simply irritated men In the present instance he could just
perceive what might immediately come of his reading out of this atrocious
epistle wherein Nevil Beauchamp was displayed the dangling puppet of a
mountebank wirepuller infidel agitator leveller and scoundrel Cognizant of
Mr Romfreys overtures to Colonel Halkett he traced them to that scheming
woman in the house at Steynham and he was of opinion that it was a friendly and
good thing to do to let the old colonel and Cissy Halkett know Mr Nevil through
a bit of his correspondence This then was a matter of business and duty that
furnished an excuse for his going out of his way to call at Mount Laurels on the
old familiar footing so as not to alarm the heiress
A warrior accustomed to wear the burnished breastplates between London and
Windsor has we know more need to withstand than to discharge the shafts of
amorous passion he is indeed as an object of beauty notoriously compelled to
be of the fair sex in his tactics and must practise the arts and whims of
nymphs to preserve himself and no doubt it was the case with the famous Captain
Baskelett in whose mind sweet ladies held the place that the pensive politician
gives to the masses dreadful in their hatred almost as dreadful in their
affection But an heiress is a distinct species among women he hungered for the
heiress his elevation to Parliament made him regard her as both the ornament
and the prop of his position and it should be added that his pride all the
habits of thought of a conqueror of women had been shocked by that stupefying
rejection of him which Cecilia had intimated to her father with the mere
lowering of her eyelids Conceive the highest bidder at an auction hearing the
article announce that it will not have him Captain Baskelett talked of it
everywhere for a month or so the girl could not know her own mind for she
suited him exactly and he requested the world to partake of his astonishment
Chronicles of the season in London informed him that he was not the only fellow
to whom the gates were shut She could hardly be thinking of Nevil However let
the epistle be read »Now for the Shrapnel shot« he nodded finally to Colonel
Halkett expanded his bosom or natural cuirass as beforementioned and was
vocable above the common pitch
»My brave Beauchamp On with your mission and never a summing of
results in hand nor thirst for prospects nor counting upon harvests
for seed sown in faith day by day is the nightly harvest of the soul
and with the soul we work With the soul we see«
Captain Baskelett intervened »Ahem I beg to observe that this delectable
rubbish is underlined by old Nevils pencil« He promised to do a little roaring
whenever it occurred and continued with ghastly false accentuation an
intermittent sprightliness and depression of tone in the wrong places
»The soul et cætera Here we are Desires to realize our gains are akin to
the passion of usury these are tricks of the usurer to grasp his gold in act
and imagination Have none of them Work at the people At them remark
Moveless do they seem to you Why so is the earth to the sowing husbandman and
though we cannot forecast a reaping season we have in history durable
testification that our seasons come in the souls of men yea as a planet that
we have set in motion and faster and faster are we spinning it and firmer and
firmer shall we set it to regularity of revolution That means life Shrapnel
roars you will have Nevil in a minute Recognize that now we have bare life
at best for the bulk of men the Saurian lizards broad back soaking and roasting
in primeval slime or say in the socalled teachers of men as much of life as
pricks the frog in March to stir and yawn and up on a flaccid leap that rolls
him over some three inches nearer to the ditchwater besought by his instinct
I ask you did you ever hear The flaccid frog But on we go
Professors prophets masters each hitherto has had his creed and system to
offer good mayhap for the term and each has put it forth for the truth
everlasting to drive the dagger to the heart of time and put the axe to human
growth that one circle of wisdom issuing of the experience and needs of their
day should act the despot over all other circles for ever so where at first
light shone to light the yawning frog to his wet ditch there with the
necessitated revolution of mens minds in the course of ages darkness radiates
That s old Nevil Upon my honour I havent a notion of what it all means
and I dont believe the old rascal Shrapnel has himself And pray be patient my
dear colonel You will find him practical presently I ll skip if you tell me
to Darkness radiates does it
The creed that rose in heaven sets below and where we had an angel we have
clawfeet and fangs Ask how that is The creed is much what it was when the
followers diverged it from the Founder But humanity is not where it was when
that creed was food and guidance Creeds will not die not fighting We cannot
root them up out of us without blood
He threatens blood Ours my Beauchamp is the belief that humanity
advances beyond the limits of creeds is to be tied to none We reverence the
Master in his teachings we behold the limits of him in his creed and that is
not his work We truly are his disciples who see how far it was in him to do
service not they that made of his creed a straitjacket for humanity So in
our prayers we dedicate the world to God not calling him great for a title no
showing him we know him great in a limitless world lord of a truth we tend
to have not grasped I say Prayer is good I counsel it to you again and again
in joy in sickness of heart The infidel will not pray the creedslave prays
to the image in his box«
»I ve had enough« Colonel Halkett ejaculated
»We« Captain Baskelett put out his hand for silence with an ineffable look
of entreaty for here was Shrapnels hypocrisy in full bloom »we make prayer a
part of us praying for no gifts no interventions through the faith in prayer
opening the soul to the undiscerned And take this my Beauchamp for the good
in prayer that it makes us repose on the unknown with confidence makes us
flexible to change makes us ready for revolution for life then He who has
the fountain of prayer in him will not complain of hazards Prayer is the
recognition of laws the souls exercise and source of strength its thread of
conjunction with them Prayer for an object is the cajolery of an idol the
resource of superstition There you misread it Beauchamp We that fight the
living world must have the universal for succour of the truth in it Cast forth
the soul in prayer you meet the effluence of the outer truth you join with the
creative elements giving breath to you and that crust of habit which is the
souls tomb and custom the souls tyrant and pride our volcanopeak that
sinks us in a crater and fear which plucks the feathers from the wings of the
soul and sits it naked and shivering in a vault where the passing of a common
hodmans foot above sounds like the king of terrors coming you are free of
them you live in the day and for the future by this exercise and discipline of
the souls faith Me it keeps young everlastingly like the fountain of «
»I say I cannot sit and hear any more of it« exclaimed the colonel chafing
out of patience
Lord Palmet said to Miss Halkett »Isnt it like what we used to remember of
a sermon«
Cecilia waited for her father to break away but Captain Baskelett had
undertaken to skip and was murmuring in singsong some of the phrases that
warned him off »History Bible of Humanity Permanency enthusiasts
dream despots aim clutch of dead mens fingers in live flesh Man
animal man angel man rooted man winged Really all this is too bad Ah
here we are At them with outspeaking Beauchamp Here we are colonel and you
will tell me whether you think it treasonable or not At them et cætera We
have signed no convention to respect their he speaks of Englishmen Colonel
Halkett their passive idolatries a people with whom a mute conformity is as
good as worship but a word of dissent holds you up to execration and only for
the freedom won in foregone days their hate would be active As we have them in
their present stage old Nevils mark We are not parties to the tacit
agreement to fill our mouths and shut our eyes We speak because it is better
they be roused to lapidate us than soused in their sty with none to let them
hear they live like swine craving only not to be disturbed at the trough The
religion of this vast English middleclass ruling the land is Comfort It is
their central thought their idea of necessity their sole aim Whatsoever
ministers to Comfort seems to belong to it pretends to support it they yield
their passive worship to Whatsoever alarms it they join to crush There you get
at their point of unity They will pay for the security of Comfort calling it
national worship or national defence if too much money is not subtracted from
the means of individual comfort if too much foresight is not demanded for the
comfort of their brains Have at them there Speak Moveless as you find them
they are not yet all gross clay and I say again the true word spoken has its
chance of somewhere alighting and striking root Look not to that Seeds perish
in nature good men fail Look to the truth in you and deliver it with no
afterthought of hope for hope is dogged by dread we give our courage as
hostage for the fulfilment of what we hope Meditate on that transaction Hope
is for boys and girls to whom nature is kind For men to hope is to tremble
Let prayer the souls overflow the hearts resignation supplant it
Pardon colonel I forgot to roar but old Nevil marks all down that page
for encomium« said Captain Baskelett »Oh here we are English loyalty is the
subject Now pray attend to this colonel Shrapnel communicates to Beauchamp
that if ten Beauchamps were spouting over the country without intermission he
might condescend to hope So on to British loyalty We are so long as our
sovereigns are wellconducted persons and we cannot unseat them observe he
is eminently explicit the old traitor we are to submit to the outward forms
of respect but we are frankly to say we are Republicans he has the impudence
to swear that England is a Republican country and calls our thoroughgoing
loyalty yours and mine colonel disloyalty Hark Where kings lead it is to
be supposed they are wanted Service is the noble office on earth and where
kings do service let them take the first honours of the State but hark at
this the English middleclass which has absorbed the upper and despises
when it is not quaking before it the lower will have nothing above it but a
ricketty ornament like that you see on a confectioners twelfthcake«
»The man deserves hanging« said Colonel Halkett
»Further my dear colonel and Nevil marks it pretty much throughout This
loyalty smacks of a terrible perfidy Pass the lords and squires they are old
trees old foundations or joined to them whether old or new they naturally
apprehend dislocation when a wind blows a river rises or a man speaks that
comes of age or aping age their hearts are in their holdings For the loyalty
of the rest of the land it is the shopkeepers loyalty which is to be computed
by the exact annual sum of his net profits It is now at high tide It will last
with the prosperity of our commerce The insolent old vagabond Let
commercial disasters come on us and what of the loyalty now paying its hundreds
of thousands and howling down questioners In a day of bankruptcies how much
would you bid for the loyalty of a class shivering under deprivation of
luxuries with its God Comfort beggared Ay my Beauchamp the most offensive
thing to me is that my Beauchamp but old Nevil has evidently given himself up
hand and foot to this ruffian ay when you reflect that fear of the socalled
rabble ie the people the unmoneyed class which knows not Comfort tastes
not of luxuries is the main component of their noisy frigid loyalty and that
the people are not with them but against and yet that the people might be won
by visible forthright kingly service to a loyalty outdoing theirs as the sun the
moon ay that the people verily thirst to love and reverence and that their
love is the only love worth having because it is disinterested love and
endures and takes heat in adversity reflect on it and wonder at the
inversion of things So with a Church It lives if it is at home with the poor
In the arms of enriched shopkeepers it rots goes to decay in vestments
vestments flakes of mummywraps for it or else they use it for one of their
political truncheons to awe the ignorant masses I quote them So Not much
ahead of ancient Egyptians in spirituality or in priestcraft They call it
statesmanship O for a word for it Let Palsy and Cunning go to form a word
Deadmanship I call it To quote my uncle the baron this is lunatic dribble
Parsons and princes are happy with the homage of this huge passive fleshpot
class It is enough for them Why not The taxes are paid and the tithes Whilst
commercial prosperity lasts«
Colonel Halkett threw his arms aloft
»Meanwhile note this the people are the Power to come Oppressed
unprotected abandoned left to the ebb and flow of the tides of the market now
taken on to work now cast off to starve committed to the shifting laws of
demand and supply slaves of Capital the whited name for old accursed Mammon
and of all the ranked and blackuniformed host no pastor to come out of the
association of shepherds and proclaim before heaven and man the primary claim
of their cause they are I say the power worth the seduction of by another
Power not mighty in England now and likely in time to set up yet another Power
not existing in England now What if a passive comfortable clergy hand them over
to men on the models of Irish pastors who will succour console enfold
champion them what if when they have learnt to use their majority sick of
deceptions and the endless pulling of interests they raise ONE representative
to force the current of action with an authority as little fictitious as their
preponderance of numbers The despot and the priest There I see our danger
Beauchamp You and I and some dozen labour to tie and knot them to manliness We
are few they are many and weak Rome offers them real comfort in return for
their mites in coin and poor souls mites in conscience many of them A
Tyrant offers them to be directly their friend Ask Beauchamp why they should
not have comfort for pay as well as the big round « Captain Baskelett stopped
and laid the letter out for Colonel Halkett to read an unmentionable word
shamelessly marked by Nevils pencil »bellyclass« Ask too whether the
comfort they wish for is not approaching divine compared with the stagnant
fleshliness of that fat shopkeepers Comfort
»Warn the people of this Ay warn the clergy It is not only the poor that
are caught by ranters Endeavour to make those accommodating shepherds
understand that they stand a chance of losing rich as well as poor It should
awaken them The helpless poor and the uneasy rich are alike open to the
seductions of Romish priests and intoxicated ranters I say so it will be if
that band of forty thousand go on slumbering and nodding They walk in a dream
The flesh is a dream The soul only is life
Now for you colonel
No extension of the army no A thousand times no Let India go then Good
for India that we hold India Ay good but not at such a cost as an extra tax
or compulsory service of our working man If India is to be held for the good of
India throw open India to the civilized nations that they help us in a task
that overstrains us At present India means utter perversion of the policy of
England Adrift India rather than England redcoated We dissent Beauchamp
For byandby
That is« Captain Baskelett explained »byandby Shrapnel will have old
Nevil fast enough«
»Is there more of it« said Colonel Halkett flapping his forehead for
coolness
»The impudence of this dog in presuming to talk about India eh colonel
Only a paragraph or two more I skip a lot Ah here we are« Captain
Baskelett read to himself and laughed in derision »He calls our Constitution a
compact unsigned by the larger number involved in it What s this A band of
dealers in fleshpottery Do you detect a gleam of sense He underscores it Then
he comes to this« Captain Baskelett requested Colonel Halkett to read for
himself »The stench of the trail of Ego in our History«
The colonel perused it with an unsavoury expression of his features and
jumped up
»Oddly Mr Romfrey thought this rather clever« said Captain Baskelett and
read rapidly »Trace the course of Ego for them first the king who conquers and
can govern In his egoism he dubs him holy his family is of a selected blood
he makes the crown hereditary Ego Son by son the shame of egoism increases
valour abates hereditary Crown no hereditary qualities The Barons rise They
in turn hold sway and for their order Ego The traders overturn them each
class rides the classes under it while it can It is ego ego the fountain
cry origin sole source of war Then death to ego I say If those traders had
ruled for other than ego power might have rested with them on broad basis
enough to carry us forward for centuries The workmen have ever been too anxious
to be ruled Now comes on the workmans era Numbers win in the end proof of
small wisdom in the world Anyhow with numbers there is rough natures wisdom
and justice With numbers ego is interdependent and dispersed it is
universalized Yet these may require correctives If so they will have it in a
series of despots and revolutions that toss mix and bind the classes together
despots revolutions panting alternations of the quickened heart of humanity
marked by our friend Nevil in notes of admiration«
»Mad as the writer« groaned Colonel Halkett »Never in my life have I heard
such stuff«
»Stay colonel here s Shrapnel defending Morality and Society« said
Captain Baskelett
Colonel Halkett vowed he was under no penal law to listen and would not
but Captain Baskelett persuaded him »Yes here it is I give you my word
Apparently old Nevil has been standing up for every mans right to run away with
Yes really I give you my word and here we have Shrapnel insisting on
respect for the marriage laws Do hear this here it is in black and white
Society is our one tangible gain our one roofing and flooring in a world of
most uncertain structures built on morasses Toward the laws that support it men
hopeful of progress give their adhesion If it is martyrdom what then Let the
martyrdom be Contumacy is animalism And attend to me says Shrapnel the truer
the love the readier for sacrifice A thousand times yes Rebellion against
Society and advocacy of Humanity run counter Tell me Society is the whited
sepulchre that it is blotched hideous hollow and I say add not another
disfigurement to it add to the purification of it And you if you answer what
can only one I say that is the animals answer and applies also to politics
where the question what can one put in the relapsing tone shows the country
decaying in the individual Society is the protection of the weaker therefore a
shield of women who are our temple of civilization to be kept sacred and he
that loves a woman will assuredly esteem and pity her sex and not drag her down
for another example of their frailty Fight this out within you But you are
right colonel we have had sufficient I shall be getting a democratic orators
twang or a crazy parsons if I go on much further He covers thirtytwo pages
of letter The conclusion is Jenny sends you her compliments respects and
best wishes and hopes she may see you before she goes to her friend Clara
Sherwin and the General«
»Sherwin Why General Sherwin s a perfect gentleman« Colonel Halkett
interjected and Lord Palmet caught the other name »Jenny That s Miss Denham
Jenny Denham an amazingly pretty girl beautiful thick brown hair real hazel
eyes and walks like a yacht before the wind«
»Perhaps colonel Jenny accounts for the defence of society« said Captain
Baskelett »I have no doubt Shrapnel has a scheme for Jenny The old communist
and socialist« He folded up the letter »A curious composition is it not Miss
Halkett«
Cecilia was thinking that he tempted her to be the apologist of even such a
letter
»One likes to know the worst and what s possible« said the colonel
After Captain Baskelett had gone Colonel Halkett persisted in talking of
the letter and would have impressed on his daughter that the person to whom the
letter was addressed must be partly responsible for the contents of it Cecilia
put on the argumentative air of a Court of Equity to discuss the point with him
»Then you defend that letter« he cried
Oh no she did not defend the letter she thought it wicked and senseless
»But« said she »the superior strength of men to women seems to me to come from
their examining all subjects shrinking from none At least I should not
condemn Nevil on account of his correspondence«
»We shall see« said her father sighing rather heavily »I must have a talk
with Mr Romfrey about that letter«
Chapter XXX
The Baiting of Dr Shrapnel
Captain Baskelett went down from Mount Laurels to Bevisham to arrange for the
giving of a dinner to certain of his chief supporters in the borough that they
might know he was not obliged literally to sit in Parliament in order to pay a
close attention to their affairs He had not distinguished himself by a speech
during the session but he had stored a political precept or two in his memory
and as he told Lord Palmet he thought a dinner was due to his villains »The
way to manage your Englishman Palmet is to dine him« As the dinner would
decidedly be dull he insisted on having Lord Palmets company They crossed
over to the yachting island where portions of the letter of Commander
Beauchamps correspondent were read at the Club under the verandah and the
question put whether a man who held those opinions had a right to wear his
uniform
The letter was transmitted to Steynham in time to be consigned to the
pocketbook before Beauchamp arrived there on one of his rare visits Mr
Romfrey handed him the pocketbook with the frank declaration that he had read
Shrapnels letter »All is fair in war sir« Beauchamp quoted him ambiguously
The thieves had amused Mr Romfrey by their scrupulous honesty in returning
what was useless to them while reserving the coat but subsequently seeing the
advertized reward they had written to claim it and according to Rosamund
Culling he had been so tickled that he had deigned to reply to them very
briefly but very comically
Speaking of the matter with her Beauchamp said so greatly was he
infatuated with the dangerous man that the reading of a letter of Dr
Shrapnels could do nothing but good to any reflecting human creature he
admitted that as the lost pocketbook was addressed to Mr Romfrey it might
have been by mistake that he had opened it and read the topmost letter lying
open But he pressed Rosamund to say whether that one only had been read
»Only Dr Shrapnels letter« Rosamund affirmed »The letter from Normandy
was untouched by him«
»Untouched by anybody«
»Unopened Nevil You look incredulous«
»Not if I have your word maam«
He glanced somewhat contemptuously at his uncle Everards anachronistic
notions of what was fair in war
To prove to him Mr Romfreys affectionate interest in his fortunes
Rosamund mentioned the overtures which had been made to Colonel Halkett for a
nuptial alliance between the two houses and she said »Your uncle Everard was
completely won by your manly way of taking his opposition to you in Bevisham He
pays for Captain Baskelett but you and your fortunes are nearest his heart
Nevil«
Beauchamp hung silent His first remark was »Yes I want money I must have
money« By degrees he seemed to warm to some sense of gratitude »It was kind of
the baron« he said
»He has a great affection for you Nevil though you know he spares no one
who chooses to be antagonistic All that is over But do you not second him
Nevil You admire her You are not adverse«
Beauchamp signified the horrid intermixture of yes and no frowned in pain
of mind and walked up and down »There s no living woman I admire so much«
»She has refused the highest matches«
»I hold her in every way incomparable«
»She tries to understand your political ideas if she cannot quite
sympathize with them Nevil And consider how hard it is for a young English
lady bred in refinement to understand such things«
»Yes« Beauchamp nodded »yes Well more s the pity for me«
»Ah Nevil that fatal Renée«
»Maam I acquit you of any suspicion of your having read her letter in this
pocketbook She wishes me to marry You would have seen it written here She
wishes it«
»Fly clipped wing« murmured Rosamund and purposely sent a buzz into her
ears to shut out his extravagant talk of Renées friendly wishes
»How is it you women will not believe in the sincerity of a woman« he
exclaimed
»Nevil I am not alluding to the damage done to your election«
»To my candidature maam You mean those rumours those lies of the enemy
Tell me how I could suppose you were alluding to them You bring them forward
now to justify your charge of fatal against her She has one fault she wants
courage she has none other not one that is not excuseable We wont speak of
France What did her father say«
»Colonel Halkett I do not know He and his daughter come here next week
and the colonel will expect to meet you here That does not look like so
positive an objection to you«
»To me personally no« said Beauchamp »But Mr Romfrey has not told me
that I am to meet them«
»Perhaps he has not thought it worth while It is not his way He has asked
you to come You and Miss Halkett will be left to yourselves Her father assured
Mr Romfrey that he should not go beyond advising her His advice might not be
exactly favourable to you at present but if you sued and she accepted and she
would I am convinced she would she was here with me talking of you a whole
afternoon and I have eyes then he would not oppose the match and then I
should see you settled the husband of the handsomest wife and richest heiress
in England«
A vision of Cecilia swam before him gracious in stateliness
Two weeks back Renées expression of a wish that he would marry had seemed
to him an idle sentence in a letter breathing of her own intolerable situation
The marquis had been struck down by illness What if she were to be soon
suddenly free But Renée could not be looking to freedom otherwise she never
would have written the wish for him to marry She wrote perhaps hearing
temptation whisper perhaps wishing to save herself and him by the aid of a tie
that would bring his honour into play and fix his loyalty He remembered Dr
Shrapnels written words »Rebellion against society and advocacy of humanity
run counter« They had a stronger effect on him than when he was ignorant of his
uncle Everards plan to match him with Cecilia He took refuge from them in the
image of that beautiful desolate Renée born to be beloved now wasted worse
than trodden under foot perverted a life that looked to him for direction and
resuscitation She was as good as dead in her marriage It was impossible for
him ever to think of Renée without the surprising thrill of his enchantment with
her and tender pity that drew her closer to him by darkening her brightness
Still a man may love his wife A wife like Cecilia was not to be imagined
coldly Let the knot once be tied it would not be regretted could not be hers
was a character and hers a smile firmly assuring him of that
He told Mr Romfrey that he should be glad to meet Colonel Halkett and
Cecilia Business called him to Holdesbury Thence he betook himself to Dr
Shrapnels cottage to say farewell to Jenny Denham previous to her departure for
Switzerland with her friend Clara Sherwin She had never seen a snowmountain
and it was pleasant to him to observe in her eyes which he had known weighing
and balancing intellectual questions more than he quite liked a childlike
effort to conjure in imagination the glories of the Alps She appeared very
happy only a little anxious about leaving Dr Shrapnel with no one to take care
of him for a whole month Beauchamp promised he would run over to him from
Holdesbury only an hour by rail as often as he could He envied her the sight
of the Alps he said and tried to give her an idea of them from which he broke
off to boast of a famous little Jersey bull that he had won from a rival an
American deeply in love with the bull cutting him out by telegraph by just
five minutes The latter had examined the bull in the island and had passed on
to Paris not suspecting there would be haste to sell him Beauchamp seeing the
bull advertized took him on trust galloped to the nearest telegraph station
forthwith and so obtained possession of him and the bull was now shipped on
the voyage But for this precious bull however and other business he would
have been able to spend almost the entire month with Dr Shrapnel he said
regretfully Miss Denham on the contrary did not regret his active occupation
The story of his rush from the breakfasttable to the stables and gallop away
to the station while the American Quaker gentleman soberly paced down a street
in Paris on the same errand in invisible rivalry touched her risible fancy
She was especially pleased to think of him living in harmony with his uncle
that strange lofty powerful man who by plot or by violence punished
opposition to his will but who must be kind at heart as well as forethoughtful
of his nephews good the assurance of it being that when the conflict was at
an end he had immediately installed him as manager of one of his estates to
give his energy play and make him practically useful
The day before she left home was passed by the three in botanizing some
miles distant from Bevisham over sand country marsh and meadow Dr Shrapnel
deep in the science on one side of her and Beauchamp requiring instruction in
the names and properties of every plant and simple on the other It was a day
of summer sweetness gentle laughter conversation and the happiest homeliness
The politicians uttered barely a syllable of politics The dinner basket was
emptied heartily to make way for herb and flower and at night the expedition
homeward was crowned with stars along a road refreshed by midday
thundershowers and smelling of the rain in the dust past meadows keenly
scenting gardens giving out their innermost balm and odour Late at night they
drank tea in Jennys own garden They separated a little after two in the
morning when the faded Western light still lay warm on a bow of sky and on the
level of the East it quickened Jenny felt sure she should long for that
yesterday when she was among foreign scenes even among high Alps those
mysterious eminences which seemed in her imagination to know of heaven and have
the dawn of a new life for her beyond their peaks
Her last words when stepping into the railway carriage were to Beauchamp »
Will you take care of him« She flung her arms round Dr Shrapnels neck and
gazed at him under troubled eyelids which seemed to be passing in review every
vision of possible harm that might come to him during her absence and so she
continued gazing and at no one but Dr Shrapnel until the bend of the line cut
him from her sight Beauchamp was a very secondary person on that occasion and
he was unused to being so in the society of women unused to find himself
entirely eclipsed by their interest in another He speculated on it wondering
at her concentrated fervency for he had not supposed her to possess much
warmth
After she was fairly off on her journey Dr Shrapnel mentioned to Beauchamp
a case of a Steynham poacher whom he had thought it his duty to supply with
means of defence It was a common poaching case
Beauchamp was not surprised that Mr Romfrey and Dr Shrapnel should come to
a collision the marvel was that it had never occurred before and Beauchamp
said at once »Oh my uncle Mr Romfrey would rather see them stand their ground
than not« He was disposed to think well of his uncle The Jersey bull called
him away to Holdesbury
Captain Baskelett heard of this poaching case at Steynham where he had to
appear in person when he was in want of cheques and the Bevisham dinner
furnished an excuse for demanding one He would have preferred a positive sum
annually Mr Romfrey however though he wrote his cheques out like the lord he
was by nature exacted the request for them a system that kept the gallant
gentleman on his good behaviour probably at a lower cost than the regular
stipend In handing the cheque to Cecil Baskelett Mr Romfrey spoke of a
poacher of an old poaching family called the Dicketts who wanted punishment
and was to have it but Mr Romfreys local lawyer had informed him that the man
Shrapnel was as usual supplying the means of defence For his own part Mr
Romfrey said he had no objection to one rascals backing another and Shrapnel
might hit his hardest only perhaps Nevil might somehow get mixed up in it and
Nevil was going on quietly now he had in fact just done capitally in lassoing
with a shot of the telegraph a splendid little Jersey bull that a Yankee was
after and on the whole it was best to try to keep him quiet for he was mad
about that man Shrapnel Shrapnel was his joss and if legal knocks came of this
business Nevil might be thinking of interfering »Or he and I may be getting to
exchange a lot of shindy letters« Mr Romfrey said »Tell him I take Shrapnel
just like any other man and dont want to hear apologies and I dont mix him
up in it Tell him if he likes to have an explanation from me I ll give it him
when he comes here You can run over to Holdesbury the morning after your
dinner«
Captain Baskelett said he would go He was pleased with his cheque at the
time but hearing subsequently that Nevil was coming to Steynham to meet Colonel
Halkett and his daughter he became displeased considering it a very silly
commission The more he thought of it the more ridiculous and unworthy it
appeared He asked himself and Lord Palmet also why he should have to go to
Nevil at Holdesbury to tell him of circumstances that he would hear of two or
three days later at Steynham There was no sense in it The only conclusion for
him was that the scheming woman Culling had determined to bring down every man
concerned in the Bevisham election and particularly Mr Romfrey on his knees
before Nevil Holdesbury had been placed at his disposal and the use of the
house in London which latter would have been extremely serviceable to Cecil as
a place of dinners to the Parliament of Great Britain in lieu of the
speechmaking generally expected of Members and not so effectively performed
One would think the baron had grown afraid of old Nevil He had spoken as if he
were
Cecil railed unreservedly to Lord Palmet against that woman Mistress
Culling as it pleased him to term her and who could be offended by his calling
her so His fine wit revelled in bestowing titles that were at once batteries
directed upon persons he hated and entrenchments for himself
At four oclock on a sultry afternoon he sat at table with his Bevisham
supporters and pledged them correspondingly in English hotel champagne sherry
and claret At seven he was rid of them but parched and heated as he deserved
to be he owned for drinking the poison It would be a good subject for
Parliament if he could get it up he reflected
»And now« said he to Palmet »we might be crossing over to the Club if I
hadnt to go about that stupid business to Holdesbury tomorrow morning We
shall miss the race or at least the start«
The idea struck him »Ten to one old Nevil s with Shrapnel« and no idea
could be more natural
»We ll call on Shrapnel« said Palmet »We shall see Jenny Denham He gives
her out as his niece Whatever she is she s a brimming little beauty I assure
you Bask you seldom see so pretty a girl«
Wine which has directed mens footsteps upon more marvellous adventures
took them to a chemists shop for a cooling effervescent draught and thence
through the town to the address furnished to them by the chemist of Dr
Shrapnel on the common
Bad wine which is responsible for the fate of half the dismal bodies
hanging from trees weltering by rocks grovelling and bleaching round the
bedabbled mouth of the poets Cave of Despair had rendered Captain Baskeletts
temper extremely irascible so when he caught sight of Dr Shrapnel walking in
his garden and perceived him of a giants height his eyes fastened on the
writer of the abominable letter with an exultation peculiar to men having a
devil inside them that kicks to be out The sun was low blazing among the
thicker branches of the pollard forest trees and through sprays of hawthorn
Dr Shrapnel stopped facing the visible master of men at the end of his walk
before he turned his back to continue the exercise and some discourse he was
holding aloud either to the heavens or bands of invisible men
»Ahem Dr Shrapnel« He was accosted twice the second time imperiously
He saw two gentlemen outside the gardenhedge
»I spoke sir« said Captain Baskelett
»I hear you now sir« said the doctor walking in a parallel line with
them
»I desired to know sir if you are Dr Shrapnel«
»I am«
They arrived at the gardengate
»You have a charming garden Dr Shrapnel« said Lord Palmet very affably
and loudly with a steady observation of the cottage windows
Dr Shrapnel flung the gate open
Lord Palmet raised his hat and entered crying loudly »A very charming
garden upon my word«
Captain Baskelett followed him bowing stiffly
»I am« he said »Captain Beauchamps cousin I am Captain Baskelett one of
the Members for the borough«
The doctor said »Ah«
»I wish to see Captain Beauchamp sir He is absent«
»I shall have him here shortly sir«
»Oh you will have him« Cecil paused
»Admirable roses« exclaimed Lord Palmet
»You have him I think« said Cecil »if what we hear is correct I wish to
know sir whether the case you are conducting against his uncle is one you have
communicated to Captain Beauchamp I repeat I am here to inquire if he is privy
to it You may hold family ties in contempt Now sir I request you abstain
from provocations with me«
Dr Shrapnel had raised his head with something of the rush of a rocket
from the stooping posture to listen and his frown of nonintelligence might be
interpreted as the coming on of the fury Radicals are prone to by a gentleman
who believed in their constant disposition to explode
Cecil made play with a pacifying hand »We shall arrive at no understanding
unless you are good enough to be perfectly calm I repeat my cousin Captain
Beauchamp is more or less at variance with his family owing to these doctrines
of yours and your extraordinary MichaelScottthewizard kind of spell you seem
to have cast upon his common sense as a man of the world You have him as you
say I do not dispute it I have no doubt you have him fast But here is a case
demanding a certain respect for decency Pray if I may ask you be still be
quiet and hear me out if you can I am accustomed to explain myself to the
comprehension of most men who are at large and I tell you candidly I am not to
be deceived or diverted from my path by a show of ignorance«
»What is your immediate object sir« said Dr Shrapnel chagrined by the
mystification within him and a fear that his patience was going
»Exactly« Cecil nodded He was acute enough to see that he had established
the happy commencement of fretfulness in the victim which is equivalent to a
hook well struck in the mouth of your fish and with an anglers joy he prepared
to play his man »Exactly I have stated it And you ask me But I really must
decline to run over the whole ground again for you I am here to fulfil a duty
to my family a highly disagreeable one to me I may fail like the lady who
came here previous to the Election for the result of which I am assured I ought
to thank your eminently disinterested services I do You recollect a lady
calling on you«
Dr Shrapnel consulted his memory »I think I have a recollection of some
lady calling«
»Oh you think you have a recollection of some lady calling«
»Do you mean a lady connected with Captain Beauchamp«
»A lady connected with Captain Beauchamp You are not aware of the situation
of the lady«
»If I remember she was a kind of confidential housekeeper some one said
to Captain Beauchamps uncle«
»A kind of confidential housekeeper She is recognized in our family as a
lady sir I can hardly expect better treatment at your hands than she met with
but I do positively request you to keep your temper whilst I am explaining my
business to you Now sir what now«
A trifling breeze will set the tall tree bending and Dr Shrapnel did
indeed appear to display the agitation of a fulldriving storm when he was but
harassed and vexed
»Will you mention your business concisely if you please« he said
»Precisely it is my endeavour I supposed I had done so To be frank I
would advise you to summon a member of your household wife daughter
housekeeper any one you like to whom you may appeal and I too whenever your
recollections are at fault«
»I am competent« said the doctor
»But in justice to you« urged Cecil considerately
Dr Shrapnel smoothed his chin hastily »Have you done«
»Believe me the instant I have an answer to my question I have done«
»Name your question«
»Very well sir Now mark I will be plain with you There is no escape for
you from this You destroy my cousins professional prospects I request you to
listen you blast his career in the navy it was considered promising He was
a gallant officer and a smart seaman Very well You set him up as a politician
to be knocked down to a dead certainty You set him against his class you
embroil him with his family «
»On all those points« interposed Dr Shrapnel after dashing a hand to
straighten his forelock but Cecil vehemently entreated him to control his
temper
»I say you embroil him with his family you cause him to be in everlasting
altercation with his uncle Mr Romfrey materially to his personal detriment
and the question of his family is one that every man of sense would apprehend on
the spot for we you should know have sir an opinion of Captain Beauchamps
talents and abilities forbidding us to think he could possibly be the total
simpleton you make him appear unless to the seductions of your political
instructions other seductions were added You apprehend me I am sure«
»I dont« cried the doctor descending from his height and swinging about
forlornly
»Oh yes you do you do indeed you cannot avoid it you quite apprehend
me it is admitted that you take my meaning I insist on that I have nothing to
say but what is complimentary of the young lady whoever she may turn out to be
bewitching no doubt and to speak frankly Dr Shrapnel I and I am pretty
certain every honest man would think with me I take it to be ten times more
creditable to my cousin Captain Beauchamp that he should be under a ladys
influence than under yours Come sir I ask you You must confess that a
gallant officer and great admirer of the sex does not look such a donkey if he
is led in silken strings by a beautiful creature And mark stop mark this
Dr Shrapnel I say to the lady we can all excuse a good deal and at the same
time you are to be congratulated on firstrate diplomacy in employing so
charming an agent I wish I really wish you did it generally I assure you
only mark this I do beg you to contain yourself for a minute if possible I
say my cousin Captain Beauchamp is fair game to hunt and there is no law to
prevent the chase only you must not expect us to be quiet spectators of your
sport and we have I say undoubtedly a right to lay the case before the lady
and induce her to be a peaceagent in the family if we can Very well«
»This garden is redolent of a ladys hand« sighed Palmet poetical in his
dejection
»Have you taken too much wine gentlemen« said Dr Shrapnel
Cecil put this impertinence aside with a graceful sweep of his fingers »You
attempt to elude me sir«
»Not I You mention some lady«
»Exactly A young lady«
»What is the name of the lady«
»Oh You ask the name of the lady And I too What is it I have heard two
or three names«
»Then you have heard villanies«
»Denham Jenny Denham Miss Jenny Denham« said Palmet rejoiced at the
opportunity of trumpeting her name so that she should not fail to hear it
»I stake my reputation I have heard her called Shrapnel Miss Shrapnel«
said Cecil
The doctor glanced hastily from one to the other of his visitors »The young
lady is my ward I am her guardian« he said
Cecil pursed his mouth »I have heard her called your niece«
»Niece ward she is a lady by birth and education in manners
accomplishments and character and she is under my protection« cried Dr
Shrapnel
Cecil bowed »So you are for gentle birth I forgot you are for morality
too and for praying exactly I recollect But now let me tell you entirely
with the object of conciliation my particular desire is to see the young lady
in your presence of course and endeavour to persuade her as I have very little
doubt I shall do assuming that you give me fair play to exercise her
influence on this occasion contrary to yours and save my cousin Captain
Beauchamp from a fresh misunderstanding with his uncle Mr Romfrey Now sir
now there«
»You will not see Miss Denham with my sanction ever« said Dr Shrapnel
»Oh Then I perceive your policy Mark sir my assumption was that the
young lady would on hearing my representations exert herself to heal the
breach between Captain Beauchamp and his family You stand in the way You treat
me as you treated the lady who came here formerly to wrest your dupe from your
clutches If I mistake not she saw the young lady you acknowledge to be your
ward«
Dr Shrapnel flashed back »I acknowledge Mercy and justice is there no
peace with the man You walk here to me I cant yet guess why from a town
where I have enemies and every scandal flies touching me and mine and you «
He stopped short to master his anger He subdued it so far as to cloak it in an
attempt to speak reasoningly as angry men sometimes deceive themselves in
doing despite the good maxim for the wrathful speak not at all »See« said
he »I was never married My dear friend dies and leaves me his child to
protect and rear and though she bears her fathers name she is most wrongly
and foully made to share the blows levelled at her guardian Ay have at me all
of you as much as you will Hold off from her Were it true the cowardice
would be not a whit the smaller Why casting a stone like that were it the
size of a pebble and the weight of a glance is to toss the whole cowardly world
on an innocent young girl And why suspect evil You talk of that lady who paid
me a visit here once and whom I treated becomingly I swear I never do
otherwise She was a handsome woman and what was she The housekeeper of
Captain Beauchamps uncle Hear me if you please To go with the world I have
as good a right to suppose the worst of an attractive lady in that situation as
you regarding my ward better warrant for scandalizing I think to go with
the world But now «
Cecil checked him ejaculating »Thank you Dr Shrapnel I thank you most
cordially« with a shining smile »Stay sir no more I take my leave of you
Not another word No buts I recognize that conciliation is out of the question
you are the natural protector of poachers and you will not grant me an
interview with the young lady you call your ward that I may represent to her
as a person we presume to have a chance of moving you how easily I am
determined you shall hear me Dr Shrapnel how easily the position of Captain
Beauchamp may become precarious with his uncle Mr Romfrey And let me add but
and but me till Doomsday sir if you were I do hear you sir and you shall
hear me if you were a younger man I say I would hold you answerable to me
for your scandalous and disgraceful insinuations«
Dr Shrapnel was adroitly fenced and overshouted He shrugged stuttered
swayed wagged a bulrushhead flapped his elbows puffed like a swimmer in the
breakers tried many times to expostulate and finding the effort useless for
his adversary was copious and commanding relapsed eyeing him as an object far
removed
Cecil rounded one of his perplexingly empty sentences and turned on his
heel
»War then« he said
»As you like« retorted the doctor
»Oh Very good Good evening« Cecil slightly lifted his hat with the short
projection of the head of the stately peacock in its walk and passed out of the
garden Lord Palmet deeply disappointed and mystified went after him leaving
Dr Shrapnel to shorten his garden walk with enormous long strides
»I m afraid you didnt manage the old boy« Palmet complained »They re
people who have tea in their gardens we might have sat down with them and
talked the best friends in the world and come again tomorrow might have
called her Jenny in a week She didnt show her pretty nose at any of the
windows«
His companion poohpoohed and said »Foh I m afraid I permitted myself to
lose my selfcommand for a moment«
Palmet sang out an amorous couplet to console himself Captain Baskelett
respected the poetic art for its magical power over womans virtue but he
disliked hearing verses and they were illsuited to Palmet He abused his
friend roundly telling him it was contemptible to be quoting verses He was
irritable still
He declared himself nevertheless much refreshed by his visit to Dr
Shrapnel »We shall have to sleep tonight in this unhallowed town but I
neednt be off to Holdesbury in the morning I ve done my business I shall
write to the baron tonight and we can cross the water tomorrow in time for
operations«
The letter to Mr Romfrey was composed before midnight It was a long one
and when he had finished it Cecil remembered that the act of composition had
been assisted by a cigar in his mouth and Mr Romfrey detested the smell of
tobacco There was nothing to be done but to write the letter over again
somewhat more briefly it ran thus
»Thinking to kill two birds at a blow I went yesterday with Palmet after
the dinner at this place to Shrapnels house where as I heard I stood a
chance of catching friend Nevil The young person living under the mans
protection was absent and so was the poor dear commander perhaps attending on
his bull Shrapnel said he was expecting him I write to you to confess I
thought myself a cleverer fellow than I am I talked to Shrapnel and tried hard
to reason with him I hope I can keep my temper under ordinary circumstances
You will understand that it required remarkable restraint when I make you
acquainted with the fact that a ladys name was introduced which as your
representative in relation to her I was bound to defend from a gratuitous and
scoundrelly aspersion Shrapnels epistle to brave Beauchamp is Church
hymnification in comparison with his conversation He is indubitably one of the
greatest ruffians of his time
I took the step with the best of intentions and all I can plead is that I
am not a diplomatist of sixty His last word was that he is for war with us As
far as we men are concerned it is of small importance I should think that the
sort of society he would scandalize a lady in is not much to be feared I have
given him his warning He tops me by about a head and loses his temper every
two minutes I could have drawn him out deliciously if he had not rather
disturbed mine By this time my equanimity is restored The only thing I
apprehend is your displeasure with me for having gone to the man I have done no
good and it prevents me from running over to Holdesbury to see Nevil for if
shindy letters as you call them are bad shindy meetings are worse I should
be telling him my opinion of Shrapnel he would be firing out I should retort
he would yell I should snap my fingers and he would go into convulsions I am
convinced that a cattlebreeder ought to keep himself particularly calm So
unless I have further orders from you I refrain from going
The dinner was enthusiastic I sat three hours among my Commons they on me
for that length of time fatiguing but a duty«
Cecil subscribed his name with the warmest affection toward his uncle
The brevity of the second letter had not brought him nearer to the truth in
rescinding the picturesque accessories of his altercation with Dr Shrapnel but
it veraciously expressed the sentiments he felt and that was the palpable truth
for him
He posted the letter next morning
Chapter XXXI
Showing a Chivalrous Gentleman Set in Motion
About noon the day following on board the steamyacht of the Countess of Menai
Cecil was very much astonished to see Mr Romfrey descending into a boat hard
by from Grancey Lespels hired cutter Steam was up and the countess was off
for a cruise in the Channel as it was not a raceday but seeing Mr Romfreys
hand raised she spoke to Cecil and immediately gave orders to wait for the
boat This lady was a fervent admirer of the knightly gentleman and had reason
to like him for he had once been her champion Mr Romfrey mounted the steps
received her greeting and beckoned to Cecil He carried a goldheaded horsewhip
under his arm Lady Menai would gladly have persuaded him to be one of her
company for the days voyage but he said he had business in Bevisham and
moving aside with Cecil put the question to him abruptly »What were the words
used by Shrapnel«
»The identical words« Captain Baskelett asked He could have tripped out
the words with the fluency of ancient historians relating what great kings
ambassadors or Generals may well have uttered on State occasions but if you
want the identical words who is to remember them the day after they have been
delivered He said »Well as for the identical words I really and I was
tolerably excited sir and upon my honour the identical words are rather
difficult to « He glanced at the horsewhip and pricked by the sight of it to
proceed thought it good to soften the matter if possible »I dont quite
recollect I wrote off to you rather hastily I think he said but Palmet
was there«
»Shrapnel spoke the words before Lord Palmet« said Mr Romfrey austerely
Captain Baskelett summoned Palmet to come near and inquired of him what he
had heard Shrapnel say suggesting »He spoke of a handsome woman for a
housekeeper and all the world knew her character«
Mr Romfrey cleared his throat
»Or knew she had no character« Cecil pursued in a fit of gratified spleen
in scorn of the woman »Dont you recollect his accent in pronouncing
housekeeper«
The menacing thunder sounded from Mr Romfrey He was patient in appearance
and waited for Cecils witness to corroborate the evidence
It happened and here we are in one of the circles of small things producing
great consequences which have inspired diminutive philosophers with ironical
visions of history and the littleness of man it happened that Lord Palmet the
humanest of young aristocrats welldisposed toward the entire world especially
to women also to men in any way related to pretty women had just lit a cigar
and it was a cigar that he had been recommended to try the flavour of and
though he having his wits about him was fully aware that shipboard is no good
place for a trial of the delicacy of tobacco in the leaf he had begun puffing
and sniffing in a critical spirit and scarcely knew for the moment what to
decide as to this particular cigar He remembered however Mr Romfreys
objection to tobacco Imagining that he saw the expression of a profound
distaste in that gentlemans more than usually serious face he hesitated
between casting the cigar into the water and retaining it He decided upon the
latter course and held the cigar behind his back bowing to Mr Romfrey at
about a couple of yards distance and saying to Cecil »Housekeeper yes I
remember hearing housekeeper I think so Housekeeper yes oh yes«
»And handsome housekeepers were doubtful characters« Captain Baskelett
prompted him
Palmet laughed out a single »Ha« that seemed to excuse him for lounging
away to the forepart of the vessel where he tugged at his fine specimen of a
cigar to rekindle it and discharged it with a wry grimace so delicate is the
flavour of that weed and so adversely ever is it affected by a breeze and a
moist atmosphere He could then return undivided in his mind to Mr Romfrey and
Cecil but the subject was not resumed in his presence
The Countess of Menai steamed into Bevisham to land Mr Romfrey there »I
can be out in the Channel any day it is not every day that I see you« she
said in support of her proposal to take him over
They sat together conversing apart from the rest of the company until they
sighted Bevisham when Mr Romfrey stood up and a little crowd of men came
round him to enjoy his famous racy talk Captain Baskelett offered to land with
him He declined companionship Dropping her hand in his the countess asked him
what he had to do in that town and he replied »I have to demand an apology«
Answering the direct look of his eyes she said »Oh I shall not speak of
it«
In his younger days if the rumour was correct he had done the same on her
account
He stepped into the boat and presently they saw him mount the piersteps
with the ridingwhip under his arm his head more than commonly bent a
noticeable point in a man of his tall erect figure The ladies and some of the
gentlemen thought he was looking particularly grave even sorrowful
Lady Menai inquired of Captain Baskelett whether he knew the nature of his
uncles business in Bevisham the town he despised
What could Cecil say but no His uncle had not imparted it to him
She was flattered in being the sole confidante and said no more
The sprightly ingenuity of Captain Baskeletts mind would have informed him
of the nature of his uncles expedition we may be sure had he put it to the
trial for Mr Romfrey was as plain to read as a rudimentary sum in arithmetic
and like the tracings of a pedigreemap his preliminary steps to deeds were seen
pointing on their issue in lines of straight descent But Cecil could protest
that he was not bound to know and considering that he was neither bound to know
nor to speculate he determined to stand on his right So effectually did he
accomplish the task that he was frequently surprised during the evening and the
night by the effervescence of a secret exultation rising implike within him
that was he assured himself perfectly unaccountable
Chapter XXXII
An Effort to Conquer Cecilia in Beauchamps Fashion
The day after Mr Romfreys landing in Bevisham a full Southwester stretched
the canvas of yachts of all classes schooner cutter and yawl on the lively
green water between the island and the forest shore Cecilias noble schooner
was sure to be out in such a ringing breeze for the pride of it as well as the
pleasure She landed her father at the Club steps and then bore away Eastward
to sight a cutter race the breeze beginning to stiffen Looking back against
sun and wind she saw herself pursued by a saucy little 15ton craft that had
been in her track since she left the Otley river before noon dipping and
straining with every inch of sail set as mad a stern chase as ever was
witnessed and who could the man at the tiller clad capàpie in tarpaulin be
She led him dancing away to prove his resoluteness and laugh at him She had
the powerful wings and a glory in them coming of this pursuit her triumph was
delicious until the occasional sparkle of the tarpaulin was lost the small
boat appeared a motionless object far behind and all ahead of her exceedingly
dull though the race hung there and the crowd of sail
Cecilias transient flutter of coquettry created by the animating air and
her queenly flight was over She fled splendidly and she came back graciously
But he refused her open hand as it were He made as if to stand across her
tack and reconsidering it evidently scorned his advantage and challenged the
stately vessel for a beat up against the wind It was as pretty as a Court
minuet But presently Cecilia stood too far on one tack and returning to the
centre of the channel found herself headed by seamanship He waved an ironical
salute with his souwester Her retort consisted in bringing her vessel to the
wind and sending a boat for him
She did it on the impulse had she consulted her wishes she would rather
have seen him at his post where he seemed in his element facing the spray and
cunningly calculating to get wind and tide in his favour Partly with regret she
saw him stripped of his tarpaulin jump into her boat as though she had once
more to say farewell to sailor Nevil Beauchamp farewell the bright youth the
hero the true servant of his country
That feeling of hers changed when he was on board The stirring cordial day
had put new breath in him
»Should not the flag be dipped« he said looking up at the peak where the
white flag streamed
»Can you really mistake compassion for defeat« said she with a smile
»Oh before the wind of course I hadnt a chance«
»How could you be so presumptuous as to give chase And who has lent you
that little cutter«
Beauchamp had hired her for a month and he praised her sailing and
pretended to say that the race was not always to the strong in a stiff breeze
»But in point of fact I was bent on trying how my boat swims and had no
idea of overhauling you Today our saltwater lake is as fine as the
Mediterranean«
»Omitting the islands and the Mediterranean colour it is I have often told
you how I love it I have landed papa at the Club Are you aware that we meet
you at Steynham the day after tomorrow«
»Well we can ride on the downs The downs between three and four of a
summers morning are as lovely as anything in the world They have the softest
outlines imaginable and remind me of a friends upper lip when she deigns to
smile«
»Is one to rise at that hour to behold the effect And let me remind you
further Nevil that the comparison of natures minor work beside her mighty is
an error if you will be poetical«
She cited a wellknown instance of degradation in verse
But a young man who happens to be intimately acquainted with a certain dark
eye in woman will not so lightly be brought to consider that the comparison of
tempestuous night to the flashing of those eyes of hers topples the scene
headlong from grandeur And if Beauchamp remembered rightly the scene was the
Alps at night
He was prepared to contest Cecilias judgement At that moment the breeze
freshened and the canvas lifted from due South the yacht swung her sails to
drive toward the West and Cecilias face and hair came out golden in the
sunlight Speech was difficult admiration natural so he sat beside her
admiring in silence
She said a good word for the smartness of his little yacht
»This is my first trial of her« said Beauchamp »I hired her chiefly to
give Dr Shrapnel a taste of salt air I ve no real right to be idling about
His ward Miss Denham is travelling in Switzerland the dear old man is alone
and not quite so well as I should wish Change of scene will do him good I
shall land him on the French coast for a couple of days or take him down
Channel«
Cecilia gazed abstractedly at a passing schooner
»He works too hard« said Beauchamp
»Who does«
»Dr Shrapnel«
Some one else whom we have heard of works too hard and it would be happy
for mankind if he did not
Cecilia named the schooner an American that had beaten our crack yachts
Beauchamp sprang up to spy at the American
»That s the Corinne is she«
Yankee craftiness on salt water always excited his respectful attention as a
spectator
»And what is the name of your boat Nevil«
»The fool of an owner calls her the Petrel It s not that I m
superstitious but to give a boat a name of bad augury to sailors appears to me
however I ve argued it with him and I will have her called the Curlew
Carrying Dr Shrapnel and me Petrel would be thought the proper title for her
isnt that your idea«
He laughed and she smiled and then he became overcast with his political
face and said »I hope I believe you will alter your opinion of him Can it
be an opinion when it s founded on nothing You know really nothing of him I
have in my pocket what I believe would alter your mind about him entirely I do
think so and I think so because I feel you would appreciate his deep sincerity
and real nobleness«
»Is it a talisman that you have Nevil«
»No it s a letter«
Cecilias cheeks took fire
»I should so much like to read it to you« said he
»Do not please« she replied with a dash of supplication in her voice
»Not the whole of it an extract here and there I want you so much to
understand him«
»I am sure I should not«
»Let me try you«
»Pray do not«
»Merely to show you «
»But Nevil I do not wish to understand him«
»But you have only to listen for a few minutes and I want you to know what
good reason I have to reverence him as a teacher and a friend«
Cecilia looked at Beauchamp with wonder A confused recollection of the
contents of the letter declaimed at Mount Laurels in Captain Baskeletts absurd
singsong surged up in her mind revoltingly She signified a decided negative
Something of a shudder accompanied the expression of it
But he as little as any member of the Romfrey blood was framed to let the
word no stand quietly opposed to him And the no that a woman utters It calls
for wholesome tyranny Those old those hoarold duellists Yes and No have
rarely been better matched than in Beauchamp and Cecilia For if he was
obstinate in attack she had great resisting power Twice to listen to that
letter was beyond her endurance Indeed it cast a shadow on him and disfigured
him and when affecting to plead he said »You must listen to it to please me
for my sake Cecilia« she answered »It is for your sake Nevil I decline to«
»Why what do you know of it« he exclaimed
»I know the kind of writing it would be«
»How do you know it«
»I have heard of some of Dr Shrapnels opinions«
»You imagine him to be subversive intolerant immoral and the rest all
that comes under your word revolutionary«
»Possibly but I must defend myself from hearing what I know will be certain
to annoy me«
»But he is the reverse of immoral and I intend to read you parts of the
letter to prove to you that he is not the man you would blame but I and that
if ever I am worthier worthier of you as I hope to become it will be owing
to this admirable and good old man«
Cecilia trembled she was touched to the quick Yet it was not pleasant to
her to be wooed obliquely through Dr Shrapnel
She recognized the very letter crowned with many stamps thick with many
pages in Beauchamps hands
»When you are at Steynham you will probably hear my uncle Everards version
of this letter« he said »The baron chooses to think everything fair in war
and the letter came accidentally into his hands with the seal broken well he
read it And Cecilia you can fancy the sort of stuff he would make of it
Apart from that I want you particularly to know how much I am indebted to Dr
Shrapnel Wont you learn to like him a little Wont you tolerate him I
could almost say for my sake He and I are at variance on certain points but
taking him altogether I am under deeper obligations to him than to any man on
earth He has found where I bend and waver«
»I recognize your chivalry Nevil«
»He has done his best to train me to be of some service Where s the
chivalry in owning a debt He is one of our true warriors fearless and
blameless I have had my heroes before You know how I loved Robert Hall his
death is a gap in my life He is a light for fighting Englishmen who fight
with the sword But the scale of the war the cause and the end in view raise
Dr Shrapnel above the bravest I have ever had the luck to meet Soldiers and
sailors have their excitement to keep them up to the mark praise and rewards
He is in his eightandsixtieth year and he has never received anything but
obloquy for his pains Half of the small fortune he has goes in charities and
subscriptions Will that touch you But I think little of that and so does he
Charity is a common duty The dedication of a mans life and whole mind to a
cause there s heroism I wish I were eloquent I wish I could move you«
Cecilia turned her face to him »I listen to you with pleasure Nevil but
please do not read the letter«
»Yes a paragraph or two I must read«
She rose
He was promptly by her side »If I say I ask you for one sign that you care
for me in some degree«
»I have not for a moment ceased to be your friend Nevil since I was a
child«
»But if you allow yourself to be so prejudiced against my best friend that
you will not hear a word of his writing are you friendly«
»Feminine and obstinate« said Cecilia
»Give me your eyes an instant I know you think me reckless and lawless now
is not that true You doubt whether if a lady gave me her hand I should hold to
it in perfect faith Or perhaps not that but you do suspect I should be
capable of every sophism under the sun to persuade a woman to break her faith
if it suited me supposing some passion to be at work Men who are open to
passion have to be taught reflection before they distinguish between the woman
they should sue for love because she would be their best mate and the woman who
has thrown a spell on them Now what I beg you to let me read you in this
letter is a truth nobly stated that has gone into my blood and changed me It
cannot fail too in changeing your opinion of Dr Shrapnel It makes me
wretched that you should be divided from me in your ideas of him I you see
and I confess I think it my chief title to honour reverence him«
»I regret that I am unable to utter the words of Ruth« said Cecilia in a
low voice She felt rather tremulously opposed only to the letter and the
writer of it not at all to Beauchamp except on account of his idolatry of the
wicked revolutionist Far from having a sense of opposition to Beauchamp she
pitied him for his infatuation and in her lofty mental serenity she warmed to
him for the seeming boyishness of his constant and extravagant worship of the
man though such an enthusiasm cast shadows on his intellect
He was reading a sentence of the letter
»I hear nothing but the breeze Nevil« she said
The breeze fluttered the lettersheets they threatened to fly Cecilia
stepped two paces away
»Hark there is a military band playing on the pier« said she »I am so
fond of hearing music a little off shore«
Beauchamp consigned the letter to his pocket
»You are not offended Nevil«
»Dear me no You havent a mind for tonics that s all«
»Healthy persons rarely have« she remarked and asked him smiling softly
whether he had a mind for music
His insensibility to music was curious considering how impressionable he
was to verse and to songs of birds He listened with an oppressed look as to
something the particular secret of which had to be reached by a determined
effort of sympathy for those whom it affected He liked it if she did and said
he liked it reiterated that he liked it clearly trying hard to comprehend it
as unmoved by the swell and sigh of the resonant brass as a man could be while
her romantic spirit thrilled to it and was bountiful in glowing visions and in
tenderness
There hung her hand She would not have refused to yield it The hero of her
childhood the friend of her womanhood and her hero still might have taken her
with half a word
Beauchamp was thinking She can listen to that brass band and she shuts her
ears to this letter
The reading of it would have been a prelude to the opening of his heart to
her at the same time that it vindicated his dear and honoured master as he
called Dr Shrapnel To speak without the explanation of his previous reticence
which this letter would afford seemed useless even the desire to speak was
absent passion being absent
»I see papa he is getting into a boat with some one« said Cecilia and
gave orders for the yacht to stand in toward the Club steps »Do you know
Nevil the Italian common people are not so subject to the charm of music as
other races They have more of the gift and I think less of the feeling You do
not hear much music in Italy I remember in the year of Revolution there was
danger of a rising in some Austrian city and a colonel of a regiment commanded
his band to play The mob was put in good humour immediately«
»It s a soporific« said Beauchamp
»You would not rather have had them rise to be slaughtered«
»Would you have them waltzed into perpetual servility«
Cecilia hummed and suggested »If one can have them happy in any way«
»Then the day of destruction may almost be dated«
»Nevil your terrible view of life must be false«
»I make it out worse to you than to any one else because I want our minds
to be united«
»Give me a respite now and then«
»With all my heart And forgive me for beating my drum I see what others
dont see or else I feel it more I dont know but it appears to me our
country needs rousing if it s to live There s a division between poor and
rich that you have no conception of and it cant safely be left unnoticed I
ve done«
He looked at her and saw tears on her underlids
»My dearest Cecilia«
»Music makes me childish« said she
Her father was approaching in the boat Beside him sat the Earl of Lockrace
latterly classed among the suitors of the lady of Mount Laurels
A few minutes remained to Beauchamp of his lost opportunity Instead of
seizing them with his usual promptitude he let them slip painfully mindful of
his treatment of her last year after the drive into Bevisham when she was
England and Renée holiday France
This feeling he fervently translated into the reflection that the bride who
would bring him beauty and wealth and her especial gift of tender womanliness
was not yet so thoroughly mastered as to grant her husband his just prevalence
with her or even indeed his complete independence of action without which life
itself was not desireable
Colonel Halkett stared at Beauchamp as if he had risen from the deep
»Have you been in that town this morning« was one of his first questions to
him when he stood on board
»I came through it« said Beauchamp and pointed to his little cutter
labouring in the distance »She s mine for a month I came from Holdesbury to
try her« and then he stated how he had danced attendance on the schooner for a
couple of hours before any notice was taken of him and Cecilia with her
graceful humour held up his presumption to scorn
Her father was eyeing Beauchamp narrowly and appeared troubled
»Did you see Mr Romfrey yesterday or this morning« the colonel asked him
mentioning that Mr Romfrey had been somewhere about the island yesterday at
which Beauchamp expressed astonishment for his uncle Everard seldom visited a
yachting station
Colonel Halkett exchanged looks with Cecilia Hers were inquiring and he
confirmed her sideglance at Beauchamp She raised her brows he nodded to
signify that there was gravity in the case Here the signalling stopped short
she had to carry on a conversation with Lord Lockrace one of those men who
betray the latent despot in an exhibition of discontentment unless they have all
a ladys hundred eyes attentive to their discourse
At last Beauchamp quitted the vessel
When he was out of hearing Colonel Halkett said to Cecilia »Grancey Lespel
tells me that Mr Romfrey called on the man Shrapnel yesterday evening at six
oclock«
»Yes papa«
»Now come and see the fittings below« the colonel addressed Lord Lockrace
and murmured to his daughter »And soundly horsewhipped him«
Cecilia turned on the instant to gaze after Nevil Beauchamp She could have
wept for pity Her fathers emphasis on soundly declared an approval of the
deed and she was chilled by a sickening abhorrence and dread of the cruel brute
in men such as awakened by she knew not what had haunted her for a year of
her girlhood
»And he deserved it« the colonel pursued on emerging from the cabin at
Lord Lockraces heels »I ve no doubt he richly deserved it The writer of that
letter we heard Captain Baskelett read the other day deserves the very worst he
gets«
»Baskelett bored the Club the other night with a letter of a Radical
fellow« said Lord Lockrace »Men who write that stuff should be strung up and
whipped by the common hangman«
»It was a private letter« said Cecilia
»Public or private Miss Halkett«
Her mind flew back to Seymour Austin for the sense of stedfastness when she
heard such language as this which taken in conjunction with Dr Shrapnels
seemed to uncloak our Constitutional realm and show it boiling up with the
frightful elements of primitive societies
»I suppose we are but half civilized« she said
»If that« said the earl
Colonel Halkett protested that he never could quite make out what Radicals
were driving at
»The rents« Lord Lockrace observed in the conclusive tone of brevity He
did not stay very long
The schooner was boarded subsequently by another nobleman an Admiral of the
Fleet and exminister of the Whig Government Lord Croyston who was a friend of
Mr Romfreys and thought well of Nevil Beauchamp as a seaman and naval
officer but shook an old head over him as a politician He came to beg a
passage across the water to his marine Lodge an accident having happened early
in the morning to his yacht the Lady Violet He was able to communicate the
latest version of the horsewhipping of Dr Shrapnel from which it appeared that
after Mr Romfrey had handsomely flogged the man he flung his card on the
prostrate body to let men know who was responsible for the act He expected
that Mr Romfrey would be subjected to legal proceedings »But if there s a
pleasure worth paying for it s the trouncing of a villain« said he and he had
been informed that Dr Shrapnel was a big one Lord Croystons favourite country
residence was in the neighbourhood of old Mrs Beauchamp on the Upper Thames
Speaking of Nevil Beauchamp a second time he alluded to his relations with his
greataunt said his prospects were bad that she had interdicted her house to
him and was devoted to her other greatnephew
»And so she should be« said Colonel Halkett »That s a young man who s an
Englishman without French gunpowder notions in his head He works for us down at
the mine in Wales a good part of the year and has tided us over a threatening
strike there gratuitously I cant get him to accept anything I cant think
why he does it«
»He ll have plenty« said Lord Croyston levelling his telescope to sight
the racing cutters
Cecilia fancied she descried Nevils Petrel dubbed Curlew to Eastward and
had a faint gladness in the thought that his knowledge of his uncle Everards
deed of violence would be deferred for another two or three hours
She tried to persuade her father to wait for Nevil and invite him to dine
at Mount Laurels and break the news to him gently Colonel Halkett argued that
in speaking of the affair he should certainly not commiserate the man who had
got his deserts and saying this he burst into a petty fury against the epistle
of Dr Shrapnel which appeared to be growing more monstrous in proportion to
his forgetfulness of the details as mountains gather vastness to the eye at a
certain remove Though he could not guess the reason for Mr Romfreys visit to
Bevisham he was he said quite prepared to maintain that Mr Romfrey had a
perfect justification for his conduct
Cecilia hinted at barbarism The colonel hinted at high police duties that
gentlemen were sometimes called on to perform for the protection of society »In
defiance of its laws« she asked and he answered »Women must not be judging
things out of their sphere« with the familiar accent on women which proves
their inferiority He was rarely guilty of it toward his daughter Evidently he
had resolved to back Mr Romfrey blindly That epistle of Dr Shrapnels merited
condign punishment and had met with it he seemed to rejoice in saying and this
was his abstract of the same »An old charlatan who tells his dupe to pray every
night of his life for the beheading of kings and princes and scattering of the
clergy and disbanding the army that he and his rabble may fall upon the
wealthy and show us numbers win and he ll undertake to make them moral«
»I wish we were not going to Steynham« said Cecilia
»So do I Well no I dont« the colonel corrected himself »no it s an
engagement I gave my consent so far We shall see whether Nevil Beauchamp s a
man of any sense«
Her heart sank This was as much as to let her know that if Nevil broke with
his uncle the treaty of union between the two families which her father
submitted to entertain out of consideration for Mr Romfrey would be at an end
The wind had fallen Entering her river Cecilia gazed back at the smooth
broad water and the band of golden beams flung across it from the evening sun
over the forest No little cutter was visible She could not write to Nevil to
bid him come and concert with her in what spirit to encounter his uncle Everard
at Steynham And guests would be at Mount Laurels next day Lord Lockrace Lord
Croyston and the Lespels she could not drive down to Bevisham on the chance of
seeing him Nor was it to be acknowledged even to herself that she so greatly
desired to see him and advise him Why not Because she was one of the
artificial creatures called women with the accent who dare not be spontaneous
and cannot act independently if they would continue to be admirable in the
worlds eye and who for that object must remain fixed on shelves like other
marketable wares avoiding motion to avoid shattering or tarnishing This is
their fate only in degree less inhuman than that of Hellenic and Trojan
princesses offered up to the Gods or pretty slaves to the dealers Their
artificiality is at once their bane and their source of superior pride
Seymour Austin might have reason for seeking to emancipate them she
thought and blushed in thought that she could never be learning anything but
from her own immediate sensations
Of course it was in her power to write to Beauchamp just as it had been in
his to speak to her but the fire was wanting in her blood and absent from his
mood so they were kept apart
Her father knew as little as she what was the positive cause of Mr
Romfreys chastisement of Dr Shrapnel »Cause enough I dont doubt« he said
and cited the mephitic letter
Cecilia was not given to suspicions or she would have had them kindled by a
certain wilfulness in his incessant reference to the letter and exoneration if
not approval of Mr Romfreys conduct
How did that chivalrous gentleman justify himself for condescending to such
an extreme as the use of personal violence Was there a possibility of his
justifying it to Nevil She was most wretched in her reiteration of these
inquiries for with a heart subdued she had still a mind whose habit of
independent judgement was not to be constrained and while she felt that it was
only by siding with Nevil submissively and blindly in this lamentable case that
she could hope for happiness she foresaw the likelihood of her not being able
to do so as much as he would desire and demand This she took for the protest of
her pure reason In reality grieved though she was on account of that Dr
Shrapnel her captive heart resented the anticipated challenge to her to espouse
his cause or languish
Chapter XXXIII
The First Encounter at Steynham
The judge pronouncing sentence of condemnation on the criminal is proverbially a
sorrowfullyminded man and still more would he be so had he to undertake the
part of executioner as well This is equivalent to saying that the simple
pleasures are no longer with us it must be a personal enemy now to give us any
satisfaction in chastising and slaying Perhaps byandby that will be
savourless we degenerate There is nevertheless ever and let nature be
praised for it a strong sustainment in the dutiful exertion of our physical
energies and Mr Everard Romfrey experienced it after he had fulfilled his
double office on the person of Dr Shrapnel by carrying out his own decree His
conscience approved him cheerlessly as it is the habit of that secret monitor
to do when we have no particular advantage coming of the act we have performed
but the righteous labour of his arm gave him high breathing and an appetite
He foresaw that he and Nevil would soon be having a wrestle over the matter
hand and thigh but a gentleman in the right engaged with a fellow in the wrong
has nothing to apprehend is in fact in the position of a gamepreserver with a
poacher The nearest approach to gratification in that days work which Mr
Romfrey knew was offered by the picture of Nevils lamentable attitude above his
dirty idol He conceived it in the mockmediæval style of our caricaturists
Shrapnel stretched at his length half a league in slashed yellows and blacks
with his bauble beside him and prodigious pointed toes Nevil in particoloured
tights on one leg raising his fists in imprecation to a nose in the firmament
Gentlemen of an unpractised imaginative capacity cannot vision for
themselves exactly what they would being unable to exercise authority over the
proportions and the hues of the objects they conceive which are very much at
the mercy of their sportive caprices and the state of mind of Mr Romfrey is
not to be judged by his ridiculous view of the pair In the abstract he could be
sorry for Shrapnel As he knew himself magnanimous he promised himself to be
forbearing with Nevil
Moreover the month of September was drawing nigh he had plenty to think
of The entire land signifying all but all of those who occupy the situation of
thinkers in it may be said to have been exhaling the same thought in connection
with September Our England holds possession of a considerable portion of the
globe and it keeps the world in awe to see her bestowing so considerable a
portion of her intelligence upon her recreations To prosecute them with her
whole heart is an ingenious exhibition of her power Mr Romfrey was of those
who said to his countrymen »Go yachting go cricketing go boatracing go
shooting go horseracing nine months of the year while the other Europeans go
marching and drilling« Those occupations he considered good for us and our
much talking writing and thinking about them characteristic and therefore
good And he was not one of those who do penance for that sweating indolence in
the fits of desperate panic Beauchamps argument that the rich idler begets the
idling vagabond the rich wagerer the brutal swindler the general thirst for a
mad round of recreation a generallyincreasing disposition to avoid serious
work and the unbraced moral tone of the country an indifference to national
responsibility an argument doubtless extracted from Shrapnel talk tall as the
very demagogue when he stood upright Mr Romfrey laughed at scornfully
affirming that our manufactures could take care of themselves As for invasion
we are circled by the sea Providence has done that for us and may be relied on
to do more in an emergency The children of wealth and the children of the sun
alike believe that Providence is for them and it would seem that the former can
do without it less than the latter though the former are less inclined to give
it personification
This year however the array of armaments on the Continent made Mr Romfrey
anxious about our navy Almost his first topic in welcoming Colonel Halkett and
Cecilia to Steynham was the rottenness of navy administration for if Providence
is to do anything for us it must have a seaworthy fleet for the operation How
loudly would his contemptuous laughter have repudiated the charge that he
trusted to supernatural agency for assistance in case of need But so it was
and he owned to believing in English luck Partly of course he meant that steady
fire of combat which his countrymen have got heated to of old till fortune
blessed them
»Nevil is not here« the colonel asked
»No I suspect he s gruelling and plastering a doctor of his acquaintance«
Mr Romfrey said with his nasal laugh composed of scorn and resignation
»Yes yes I ve heard« said Colonel Halkett hastily
He would have liked to be informed of Dr Shrapnels particular offence he
mentioned the execrable letter
Mr Romfrey complacently interjected »Drugvomit« and after an interval
»Gallows«
»That man has done Nevil Beauchamp a world of mischief Romfrey«
»We ll hope for a cure colonel«
»Did the man come across you«
»He did«
Mr Romfrey was mute on the subject Colonel Halkett abstained from pushing
his inquiries
Cecilia could only tell her father when they were alone in the drawingroom
a few minutes before dinner that Mrs Culling was entirely ignorant of any cause
to which Nevils absence might be attributed
»Mr Romfrey had good cause« the colonel said emphatically
He repeated it next day without being a bit wiser of the cause
Cecilias happiness or hope was too sensitive to allow of a beloved fathers
deceiving her in his opposition to it She saw clearly now that he had fastened
on this miserable incident expecting an imbroglio that would divide Nevil and
his uncle and be an excuse for dividing her and Nevil O for the passionate
will to make head against what appeared as a fate in this matter She had it
not
Mr and Mrs WardourDevereux Sir John and Lady Baskelett and the Countess
of Welshpool another sister of Mr Romfreys arrived at Steynham for a day and
a night Lady Baskelett and Lady Welshpool came to see their brother not to
countenance his household and Mr WardourDevereux could not stay longer than a
certain number of hours under a roof where tobacco was in evil odour From her
friend Louise his wife Cecilia learnt that Mr Lydiard had been summoned to
Dr Shrapnels bedside as Mrs Devereux knew by a letter she had received from
Mr Lydiard who was no political devotee of that man she assured Cecilia but
had an extraordinary admiration for the Miss Denham living with him This was
kindly intended to imply that Beauchamp was released from his attendance on Dr
Shrapnel and also that it was not he whom the Miss Denham attracted
»She is in Switzerland« said Cecilia
»She is better there« said Mrs Devereux
Mr Stukely Culbrett succeeded to these visitors He heard of the case of
Dr Shrapnel from Colonel Halkett and of Beauchamps missing of his chance with
the heiress from Mr Romfrey
Rosamund Culling was in great perplexity about Beauchamps prolonged
absence for he had engaged to come he had written to her to say he would be
sure to come and she feared he was ill She would have persuaded Mr Culbrett
to go down to Bevisham to see him she declared that she could even persuade
herself to call on Dr Shrapnel a second time in spite of her horror of the
man Her anger at the thought of his keeping Nevil away from good fortune and
happiness caused her to speak in resentment and loathing of the man
»He behaved badly when you saw him did he« said Stukely
»Badly is no word He is detestable« Rosamund replied
»You think he ought to be whipped«
She feigned an extremity of vindictiveness and twisted her brows in comic
apology for the unfeminine sentiment as she said »I really do«
The feminine gentleness of her character was known to Stukely so she could
afford to exaggerate the expression of her anger and she did not modify it
forgetful that a woman is the representative of the sex with cynical men and
escapes from contempt at the cost of her sisterhood
Looking out of an upper window in the afternoon she beheld Nevil Beauchamp
in a group with his uncle Everard the colonel and Cecilia and Mr Culbrett
Nevil was on his feet the others were seated under the great tuliptree on the
lawn
A little observation of them warned her that something was wrong There was
a vacant chair Nevil took it in his hand at times stamped it to the ground
walked away and sharply back fronting his uncle speaking vehemently she
perceived and vainly as she judged by the cast of his uncles figure Mr
Romfreys head was bent and wagged slightly as he screwed his brows up and
shot his eyes queerly at the agitated young man Colonel Halketts arms crossed
his chest Cecilias eyelids drooped their lashes Mr Culbrett was balancing on
the hindlegs of his chair No one appeared to be speaking but Nevil
It became evident that Nevil was putting a series of questions to his uncle
Mechanical nods were given him in reply
Presently Mr Romfrey rose thundering out a word or two without a gesture
Colonel Halkett rose
Nevil flung his hand out straight to the house
Mr Romfrey seemed to consent the colonel shook his head Nevil insisted
A footman carrying a teatray to Miss Halkett received some commission and
swiftly disappeared making Rosamund wonder whether sugar milk or cream had
been omitted
She met him on the first landing and heard that Mr Romfrey requested her
to step out on the lawn
Expecting to hear of a piece of misconduct on the part of the household
servants she hurried forth and found that she had to traverse the whole space
of the lawn up to the tuliptree Colonel Halkett and Mr Romfrey had resumed
their seats The colonel stood up and bowed to her
Mr Romfrey said »One question to you maam and you shall not be
detained Did not that man Shrapnel grossly insult you on the day you called on
him to see Captain Beauchamp about a couple of months before the Election«
»Look at me when you speak maam« said Beauchamp
Rosamund looked at him
The whiteness of his face paralyzed her tongue A dreadful levelling of his
eyes penetrated and chilled her Instead of thinking of her answer she thought
of what could possibly have happened
»Did he insult you at all maam« said Beauchamp
Mr Romfrey reminded him that he was not a crossexamining criminal
barrister
They waited for her to speak
She hesitated coloured betrayed confusion her senses telling her of a
catastrophe her conscience accusing her as the origin of it
»Did Dr Shrapnel to your belief intentionally hurt your feelings or your
dignity« said Beauchamp and made the answer easier
»Not intentionally surely not I certainly do not accuse him«
»Can you tell me you feel that he wounded you in the smallest degree And if
so how I ask you this because he is anxious if he lives to apologize to you
for any offence that he may have been guilty of he was ignorant of it I have
his word for that and his commands to me to bear it to you I may tell you I
have never known him injure the most feeble thing anything alive or wish to«
Beauchamps voice choked Rosamund saw tears leap out of the stern face of
her dearest now in wrath with her
»Is he ill« she faltered
»He is You own to a strong dislike of him do you not«
»But not to desire any harm to him«
»Not a whipping« Mr Culbrett murmured
Everard Romfrey overheard it
He had allowed Mrs Culling to be sent for that she might with a bare
affirmative silence Nevil when his conduct was becoming intolerable before the
guests of the house
»That will do maam« he dismissed her
Beauchamp would not let her depart
»I must have your distinct reply and in Mr Romfreys presence say that
if you accused him you were mistaken or that they were mistaken who supposed
you had accused him I must have the answer before you go«
»Sir will you learn manners« Mr Romfrey said to him with a rattle of the
throat
Beauchamp turned his face from her
Colonel Halkett offered her his arm to lead her away
»What is it Oh what is it« she whispered scarcely able to walk but
declining the colonels arm
»You ought not to have been dragged out here« said he »Any one might have
known there would be no convincing of Captain Beauchamp That old rascal in
Bevisham has been having a beating that s all And a very beautiful day it is
a little too hot though Before we leave you must give me a lesson or two in
gardening«
»Dr Shrapnel Mr Romfrey« said Rosamund half audibly under the
oppression of the more she saw than what she said
The colonel talked of her renown in landscapegardening He added casually
»They met the other day«
»By accident«
»By chance I suppose Shrapnel defends one of your Steynham poaching
vermin«
»Mr Romfrey struck him for that Oh never« Rosamund exclaimed
»I suppose he had a long account to settle«
She fetched her breath painfully »I shall never be forgiven«
»And I say that a gentleman has no business with idols« the colonel fumed
as he spoke »Those letters of Shrapnel to Nevil Beauchamp are a scandal on the
name of Englishman«
»You have read that shocking one Colonel Halkett«
»Captain Baskelett read it out to us«
»He Oh then « She stopped Then the author of this mischief is clear
to me her divining hatred of Cecil would have said but her humble position did
not warrant such speech A consideration of the lowliness necessitating this
restraint at a moment when loudly to denounce anothers infamy with triumphant
insight would have solaced and supported her kept Rosamund dumb
She could not bear to think of her part in the mischief She was not bound
to think of it knowing actually nothing of the occurrence
Still she felt that she was on her trial She detected herself running in
and out of her nature to fortify it against accusations rather than cleanse it
for inspection It was narrowing in her own sight The prospect of her having to
submit to a further interrogatory shut it up entrenched in the declaration that
Dr Shrapnel had so far outraged her sentiments as to be said to have offended
her not insulted perhaps but certainly offended
And this was a generous distinction It was generous and having recognized
the generosity she was unable to go beyond it
She was presently making the distinction to Miss Halkett The colonel had
left her at the door of the house Miss Halkett sought admission to her private
room on an errand of condolence for she had sympathized with her very much in
the semiindignity Nevil had forced her to undergo and very little indeed had
she been able to sympathize with Nevil who had been guilty of the serious fault
of allowing himself to appear moved by his own commonplace utterances or, in
other words, the theme being hostile to his audience he had betrayed emotion
over it without first evoking the spirit of pathos
»As for me« Rosamund replied to some comforting remarks of Miss Halketts
»I do not understand why I should be mixed up in Dr Shrapnels misfortunes I
really am quite unable to recollect his words to me or his behaviour I have
only a positive impression that I left his house where I had gone to see
Captain Beauchamp in utter disgust so repelled by his language that I could
hardly trust myself to speak of the man to Mr Romfrey when he questioned me I
did not volunteer it I am ready to say that I believe Dr Shrapnel did not
intend to be insulting I cannot say that he was not offensive You know Miss
Halkett I would willingly gladly have saved him from anything like
punishment«
»You are too gentle to have thought of it« said Cecilia
»But I shall never be forgiven by Captain Beauchamp I see in his eyes that
he accuses me and despises me«
»He will not be so unjust Mrs Culling«
Rosamund begged that she might hear what Nevil had first said on his
arrival
Cecilia related that they had seen him walking swiftly across the park and
that Mr Romfrey had hailed him and held his hand out and that Captain
Beauchamp had overlooked it saying he feared Mr Romfreys work was complete
He had taken her fathers hand and hers and his touch was like ice
»His worship of that Dr Shrapnel is extraordinary« quoth Rosamund »And
how did Mr Romfrey behave to him«
»My father thinks very forbearingly«
Rosamund sighed and made a semblance of wringing her hands »It seems to me
that I anticipated ever since I heard of the man or at least ever since I
saw him and heard him he would be the evil genius of us all if I dare
include myself But I am not permitted to escape And Miss Halkett can you
tell me how it was that my name that I became involved I cannot imagine the
circumstances which would bring me forward in this unhappy affair«
Cecilia replied »The occasion was that Captain Beauchamp so scornfully
contrasted the sort of injury done by Dr Shrapnels defence of a poacher on his
uncles estate with the severe chastisement inflicted by Mr Romfrey in revenge
for it He would not leave the subject«
»I see him see his eyes« cried Rosamund her bosom heaving and sinking
deep as her conscience quavered within her »At last Mr Romfrey mentioned me«
»He stood up and said you had been personally insulted by Dr Shrapnel«
Rosamund meditated in a distressing doubt of her conscientious truthfulness
»Captain Beauchamp will be coming to me and how can I answer him Heaven
knows I would have shielded the poor man if possible poor wretch Wicked
though he is one has only to hear of him suffering But what can I answer I do
recollect now that Mr Romfrey compelled me from question to question to confess
that the man had vexed me Insulted I never said At the worst I said vexed I
would not have said insulted or even offended because Mr Romfrey ah we
know him What I did say I forget I have no guide to what I said but my
present feelings and they are pity for the unfortunate man much more than
dislike Well I must go through the scene with Nevil« Rosamund concluded her
outcry of ostensible exculpation
She asked in a cooler moment how it was that Captain Beauchamp had so far
forgotten himself as to burst out on his uncle before the guests of the house
It appeared that he had wished his uncle to withdraw with him and Mr Romfrey
had bidden him postpone private communications Rosamund gathered from one or
two words of Cecilias that Mr Romfrey until finally stung by Nevil had
indulged in his besthumoured banter
Chapter XXXIV
The Face of Renée
Shortly before the ringing of the dinnerbell Rosamund knocked at Beauchamps
dressingroom door the bearer of a telegram from Bevisham He read it in one
swift run of the eyes and said »Come in maam I have something for you
Madame de Rouaillout sends you this«
Rosamund saw her name written in a French hand on the back of the card
»You stay with us Nevil«
»Tonight and tomorrow perhaps The danger seems to be over«
»Has Dr Shrapnel been in danger«
»He has If it s quite over now«
»I declare to you Nevil «
»Listen to me maam I m in the dark about this murderous business an
old man defenceless harmless as a child but I know this that you are
somewhere in it«
»Nevil do you not guess at some one else«
»He yes he But Cecil Baskelett led no blind man to Dr Shrapnels gate«
»Nevil as I live I knew nothing of it«
»No but you set fire to the train You hated the old man and you taught
Mr Romfrey to think that you had been insulted I see it all Now you must have
the courage to tell him of your error There s no other course for you I mean
to take Mr Romfrey to Dr Shrapnel to save the honour of our family as far as
it can be saved«
»What Nevil« exclaimed Rosamund gaping
»It seems little enough maam But he must go I will have the apology
spoken and man to man«
»But you would never tell your uncle that«
He laughed in his uncles manner
»But Nevil my dearest forgive me I think of you why are the Halketts
here It is not entirely with Colonel Halketts consent It is your uncles
influence with him that gives you your chance Do you not care to avail yourself
of it Ever since he heard Dr Shrapnels letter to you Colonel Halkett has I
am sure been tempted to confound you with him in his mind ah Nevil but
recollect that it is only Mr Romfrey who can help to give you your Cecilia
There is no dispensing with him Postpone your attempt to humiliate I mean
that is Oh Nevil whatever you intend to do to overcome your uncle trust to
time be friends with him be a little worldly for her sake to ensure her
happiness«
Beauchamp obtained the information that his cousin Cecil had read out the
letter of Dr Shrapnel at Mount Laurels
The bell rang
»Do you imagine I should sit at my uncles table if I did not intend to
force him to repair the wrong he has done to himself and to us« he said
»Oh Nevil do you not see Captain Baskelett at work here«
»What amends can Cecil Baskelett make My uncle is a man of honour it is in
his power There I leave you to speak to him you will do it tonight after we
break up in the drawingroom«
Rosamund groaned »An apology to Dr Shrapnel from Mr Romfrey It is an
impossibility Nevil utter«
»So you say to sit idle but do as I tell you«
He went downstairs
He had barely reproached her She wondered at that and then remembered his
alien sad halfsmile in quitting the room
Rosamund would not present herself at her lords dinnertable when there
were any guests at Steynham She prepared to receive Miss Halkett in the
drawingroom as the guests of the house this evening chanced to be her friends
Madame de Rouaillouts present to her was a photograph of M de Croisnel
his daughter and son in a group Rosamund could not bear to look at the face of
Renée and she put it out of sight But she had looked She was reduced to look
again
Roland stood beside his fathers chair Renée sat at his feet clasping his
right hand M de Croisnels fallen eyelids and unshorn white chin told the
story of the family reunion He was dying his two children were nursing him to
the end
Decidedly Cecilia was a more beautiful woman than Renée but on which does
the eye linger longest which draws the heart a radiant landscape where the
tall ripe wheat flashes between shadow and shine in the stately march of Summer
or the peep into dewy woodland on to dark water
Darkeyed Renée was not beauty but attraction she touched the double chords
within us which are we know not whether harmony or discord but a divine discord
if an uncertified harmony memorable beyond plain sweetness or majesty There
are touches of bliss in anguish that superhumanize bliss touches of mystery in
simplicity of the eternal in the variable These two chords of poignant
antiphony she struck throughout the range of the hearts of men and strangely
intervolved them in vibrating unison Only to look at her face without hearing
her voice without the charm of her speech was to feel it On Cecilias
entering the drawingroom sola while the gentlemen drank claret Rosamund
handed her the card of the photographic artist of Tours mentioning no names
»I should say the portrait is correct A want of spirituality« Rosamund
said critically using one of the insular commonplaces after that manner of
fastening upon what there is not in a piece of Art or nature
Cecilias avidity to see and study the face preserved her at a higher mark
She knew the person instantly had no occasion to ask who this was She sat
over the portrait blushing burningly »And that is a brother« she said
»That is her brother Roland and very like her except in complexion« said
Rosamund
Cecilia murmured of a general resemblance in the features Renée enchained
her Though but a sunshadow the vividness of this French face came out
surprisingly air was in the nostrils and speech flew from the tremulous mouth
The eyes were they quivering with internal light or were they set to seem so
in the sensitive strange curves of the eyelids whose awakened lashes appeared to
tremble on some borderland between lustreful significance and the mists She
caught at the nerves like certain aoristic combinations in music like tones of
a stringed instrument swept by the wind enticing unseizable Yet she sat there
at her fathers feet gazing out into the world indifferent to spectators
indifferent even to the common sentiment of gracefulness Her left hand clasped
his right and she supported herself on the floor with the other hand leaning
away from him to the destruction of conventional symmetry in the picture None
but a woman of consummate breeding dared have done as she did It was not
Southern suppleness that saved her from the charge of harsh audacity but
something of the kind of genius in her mood which has hurried the greater poets
of sound and speech to impose their naturalness upon accepted laws or show the
laws to have been our meagre limitations
The writer in this country will however be made safest and the excellent
body of selfappointed thongmen who walk up and down our ranks flapping their
leathern straps to terrorize us from experiments in imagery will best be
satisfied by the statement that she was indescribable a term that exacts no
labour of mind from him or from them for it flows off the pen as readily as it
fills a vacuum
That posture of Renée displeased Cecilia and fascinated her In an
exhibition of paintings she would have passed by it in pure displeasure but
here was Nevils first love the woman who loved him and she was French After
a continued study of her Cecilias growing jealousy betrayed itself in a
conscious rivalry of race coming to the admission that Englishwomen cannot
fling themselves about on the floor without agonizing the graces possibly too
they cannot look singularly without risks in the direction of slyness and brazen
archness or talk animatedly without dipping in slang Conventional situations
preserve them and interchange dignity with them still life befits them
preeminently that judicial seat from which in briefest speech they deliver
their judgements upon their foreign sisters Jealousy it was that plucked
Cecilia from her majestic place and caused her to envy in Renée things she would
otherwise have disapproved
At last she had seen the French ladys likeness The effect of it was a
horrid trouble in Cecilias cool blood abasement a sense of eclipse hardly
any sense of deserving worthiness »What am I but an heiress« Nevil had once
called her beautiful his praise had given her beauty But what is beauty when
it is outshone Ask the owners of gems You think them rich they are pining
Then too this Renée who looked electrical in repose might really love
Nevil with a love that sent her heart out to him in his enterprises justifying
and adoring him piercing to the hero in his very thoughts Would she not see
that his championship of the unfortunate man Dr Shrapnel was heroic
Cecilia surrendered the card to Rosamund and it was out of sight when
Beauchamp stepped into the drawingroom His cheeks were flushed he had been
one against three for the better part of an hour
»Are you going to show me the downs tomorrow morning« Cecilia said to him
and he replied »You will have to be up early«
»What s that« asked the colonel at Beauchamps heels
He was volunteering to join the party of two for the early mornings ride to
the downs Mr Romfrey pressed his shoulder saying »There s no third horse
can do it in my stables«
Colonel Halkett turned to him
»I had your promise to come over the kennels with me and see how I treat a
cry of mad dog which is ninetynine times out of a hundred mad fool man« Mr
Romfrey added
By that the colonel knew he meant to stand by Nevil still and offer him his
chance of winning Cecilia
Having pledged his word not to interfere Colonel Halkett submitted and
muttered »Ah the kennels« Considering however what he had been witnessing of
Nevils behaviour to his uncle the colonel was amazed at Mr Romfreys
magnanimity in not cutting him off and disowning him
»Why the downs« he said
»Why the deuce colonel« A question quite as reasonable and Mr Romfrey
laughed under his breath To relieve an uncertainty in Cecilias face that might
soon have become confusion he described the downs fronting the paleness of
earliest dawn and then their arch and curve and dip against the pearly grey of
the halfglow and then among their hollows lo the illumination of the East
all around and up and away and a gallop for miles along the turfy thymy
rolling billows land to left sea to right below you »It s the nearest hit
to wings we can make Cecilia« He surprised her with her Christian name which
kindled in her the secret of something he expected from that ride on the downs
Compare you the Alps with them If you could jump on the back of an eagle you
might The Alps have height But the downs have swiftness Those long stretching
lines of the downs are greyhounds in full career To look at them is to set the
blood racing Speed is on the downs glorious motion odorous air of sea and
herb exquisite as in the isles of Greece And the Continental travelling
ninnies leave England for health run off and forth from the downs to the
steamboat the railway the steaming hotel the tourists shivering
mountaintop in search of sensations There on the downs the finest and
liveliest are at their bidding ready to fly through them like hosts of angels
He spoke somewhat in that strain either to relieve Cecilia or prepare the
road for Nevil not in his ordinary style on the contrary with a swing of
enthusiasm that seemed to spring of ancient heartfelt fervours And indeed soon
afterward he was telling her that there on those downs in full view of
Steynham he and his wife had first joined hands
Beauchamp sat silent Mr Romfrey despatched orders to the stables and
Rosamund to the kitchen Cecilia was rather dismayed by the formal preparations
for the ride She declined the early cup of coffee Mr Romfrey begged her to
take it »Who knows the hour when you ll be back« he said Beauchamp said
nothing
The room grew insufferable to Cecilia She would have liked to be wafted to
her chamber in a veil so shamefully unveiled did she seem to be But the French
lady would have been happy in her place Her father kissed her as fathers do
when they hand the bride into the travellingcarriage His »Goodnight my
darling« was in the voice of a soldier on duty For a concluding sign that her
dim apprehensions pointed correctly Mr Romfrey kissed her on the forehead She
could not understand how it had come to pass that she found herself suddenly on
this incline precipitated whither she would fain be going only less hurriedly
less openly and with her secret merely peeping like a dove in the breast
Chapter XXXV
The Ride in the Wrong Direction
That pure opaque of the line of downs ran luminously edged against the pearly
morning sky with its dark landward face crepusculine yet clear in every combe
every dotting copse and furzebush every wavy fall and the ripple crease and
rilllike descent of the turf Beauty of darkness was there as well as beauty
of light above
Beauchamp and Cecilia rode forth before the sun was over the line while the
West and Northwest sides of the rolling downs were stamped with such firmness
of dusky feature as you see on the indentations of a shield of tarnished silver
The mounting of the sun behind threw an obscurer gloom and gradually a black
mask overcame them until the rays shot among their folds and windings and
shadows rich as the black pansy steady as on a dialplate rounded with the
hour
Mr Everard Romfrey embraced this view from Steynham windows and loved it
The lengths of gigantic greyhound backs coursing along the South were his vision
of delight no image of repose for him but of the life in swiftness He had
known them when the great bird of the downs was not a mere tradition and though
he owned conscientiously to never having beheld the bird a certain mystery of
holiness hung about the region where the bird had been in his time There too
with a timely word he had gained a wealthy and good wife He had now sent Nevil
to do the same
This astute gentleman had caught at the idea of a ride of the young couple
to the downs with his customary alacrity of perception as being the very best
arrangement for hurrying them to the point At Steynham Nevil was sure to be
howling all day over his tumbled joss Shrapnel Once away in the heart of the
downs and Cecilia beside him it was a matter of calculation that two or three
hours of the sharpening air would screw his human nature to the pitch In fact
unless each of them was reluctant they could hardly return unbetrothed
Cecilias consent was foreshadowed by her submission in going Mr Romfrey had
noticed her fright at the suggestive formalities he cast round the expedition
and felt sure of her Taking Nevil for a man who could smell the perfume of a
ripe affirmative on the sweetest of lips he was pretty well sure of him
likewise And then a truce to all that Radical rageing and hotpokering of the
country and lie in peace old Shrapnel and get on your legs when you can and
offend no more especially be mindful not to let fly one word against a woman
With Cecilia for wife and a year of marriage devoted to a son and heir Nevil
might be expected to resume his duties as a naval officer and win an honourable
name for the inheritance of the young one he kissed
There was benevolence in these previsions of Mr Romfrey proving how good
it is for us to bow to despotic authority if only we will bring ourselves
unquestioningly to accept the previous deeds of the directing hand
Colonel Halkett gave up his daughter for lost when she did not appear at the
breakfasttable for yet more decidedly lost when the luncheon saw her empty
place and as time drew on toward the dinnerhour he began to think her lost
beyond hope embarked for good and all with the madbrain Some little hope of a
dissension between the pair arising from the natural antagonism of her strong
sense to Nevils extravagance had buoyed him until it was evident that they
must have alighted at an inn to eat which signified that they had overleaped
the world and its hurdles and were as dreamy a leash of lovers as ever made a
dreamland of hard earth The downs looked like dreamland through the long
afternoon They shone as in a veil of silk softly fair softly dark No spot
of harshness was on them save where a quarry South gaped at the evening sun
Red light struck into that round chalk maw and the green slopes and
channels and halfcircle hollows were brought a milestride nigher Steynham by
the level beams
The poor old colonel fell to a more frequent repetition of the »Well« with
which he had been unconsciously expressing his perplexed mind in the kennels and
through the covers during the day None of the gentlemen went to dress Mr
Culbrett was indoors conversing with Rosamund Culling
»What s come to them« the colonel asked of Mr Romfrey who said
shrugging »Something wrong with one of the horses« It had happened to him on
one occasion to set foot in the hole of a baked hedgehog that had furnished a
repast not without succulence to some shepherd of the downs Such a case might
have recurred it was more likely to cause an upset at a walk than at a gallop
or perhaps a shoe had been cast and young people break no bones at a walking
fall ten to one if they do at their top speed Horses manage to kill their
seniors for them the young are exempt from accident
Colonel Halkett nodded and sighed »I daresay they re safe It s that man
Shrapnels letter that letter Romfrey A private letter I know but I ve
not heard Nevil disown the opinions expressed in it I submit It s no use
resisting I treat my daughter as a woman capable of judging for herself I
repeat I submit I havent a word against Nevil except on the score of his
politics I like him All I have to say is I dont approve of a republican and
a sceptic for my soninlaw I yield to you and my daughter if she «
»I think she does colonel Marriage ll cure the fellow Nevil will slough
his craze Off old coat Cissy will drive him in strings My wife I hear him«
Mr Romfrey laughed quietly »It s all my country now The dog ll be
uxorious He wants fixing nothing worse«
»How he goes on about Shrapnel«
»I shouldnt think much of him if he didnt«
»You re one in a thousand Romfrey I object to seeing a man worshipped«
»It s Nevils greensickness and Shrapnel s the god of it«
»I trust to heaven you re right It seems to me young fellows ought to be
out of it earlier«
»They generally are« Mr Romfrey named some of the processes by which they
are relieved of brainflightiness adding philosophically »This way or that«
His quick ear caught a sound of hoofs cantering down the avenue on the
Northern front of the house
He consulted his watch »Ten minutes to eight Say a quarterpast for
dinner They re here colonel«
Mr Romfrey met Nevil returning from the stables Cecilia had disappeared
»Had a good day« said Mr Romfrey
Beauchamp replied »I ll tell you of it after dinner« and passed by him
Mr Romfrey edged round to Colonel Halkett conjecturing in his mind They
have not hit it as he remarked »Breakfast and luncheon have been omitted in
this days fare« which appeared to the colonel a confirmation of his worst
fears or rather the extinction of his last spark of hope
He knocked at his daughters door in going upstairs to dress
Cecilia presented herself and kissed him
»Well« said he
»Byandby papa« she answered »I have a headache Beg Mr Romfrey to
excuse me«
»No news for me«
She had no news
Mrs Culling was with her The colonel stepped on mystified to his room
When the door had closed Cecilia turned to Rosamund and burst into tears
Rosamund felt that it must be something grave indeed for the proud young lady so
to betray a troubled spirit
»He is ill Dr Shrapnel is very ill« Cecilia responded to one or two
subdued inquiries in as clear a voice as she could command
»Where have you heard of him« Rosamund asked
»We have been there«
»Bevisham to Bevisham« Rosamund was considering the opinion Mr Romfrey
would form of the matter from the point of view of his horses
»It was Nevils wish« said Cecilia
»Yes and you went with him« Rosamund encouraged her to proceed gladdened
at hearing her speak of Nevil by that name »you have not been on the downs at
all«
Cecilia mentioned a junction railway station they had ridden to and thence
boxing the horses by train to Bevisham Rosamund understood that some haunting
anxiety had fretted Nevil during the night in the morning he could not
withstand it and he begged Cecilia to change their destination apparently with
a vehemence of entreaty that had been irresistible or else it was utter
affection for him had reduced her to undertake the distasteful journey She
admitted that she was not the most sympathetic companion Nevil could have had on
the way either going or coming She had not entered Dr Shrapnels cottage
Remaining on horseback she had seen the poor man reclining in his garden chair
Mr Lydiard was with him and also his ward Miss Denham who had been summoned
by telegraph by one of the servants from Switzerland And Cecilia had heard
Nevil speak of his uncle to her and too humbly she hinted Nor had the
expression of Miss Denhams countenance in listening to him pleased her but it
was true that a heavily burdened heart cannot be expected to look pleasing On
the way home Cecilia had been compelled in some degree to defend Mr Romfrey
Blushing through her tears at the remembrance of a past emotion that had been
mixed with foresight she confessed to Rosamund she thought it now too late to
prevent a rupture between Nevil and his uncle Had some one whom Nevil trusted
and cared for taken counsel with him and advised him before uncle and nephew met
to discuss this most unhappy matter then there might have been hope As it was
the fate of Dr Shrapnel had gained entire possession of Nevil Every retort of
his uncles in reference to it rose up in him he used language of contempt
neighbouring abhorrence he stipulated for one sole thing to win back his esteem
for his uncle and that was the apology to Dr Shrapnel
»And tonight« Cecilia concluded »he will request Mr Romfrey to accompany
him to Bevisham tomorrow morning to make the apology in person He will not
accept the slightest evasion He thinks Dr Shrapnel may die and the honour of
the family what is it he says of it« Cecilia raised her eyes to the ceiling
while Rosamund blinked in impatience and grief just apprehending the alien
state of the young ladys mind in her absence of recollection as well as her
bondage in the effort to recollect accurately
»Have you not eaten any food today Miss Halkett« she said for it might
be the want of food which had broken her and changed her manner
Cecilia replied that she had ridden for an hour to Mount Laurels
»Alone Mr Romfrey must not hear of that« said Rosamund
Cecilia consented to lie down on her bed She declined the dainties Rosamund
pressed on her She was feverish with a deep and unconcealed affliction and
behaved as if her pride had gone But if her pride had gone she would have eased
her heart by sobbing outright A similar division harassed her as when her
friend Nevil was the candidate for Bevisham She condemned his extreme wrath
with his uncle yet was attracted and enchained by the fire of passionate
attachment which aroused it and she was conscious that she had but shown
obedience to his wishes throughout the day not sympathy with his feelings
Under cover of a patient desire to please she had nursed irritation and
jealousy the degradation of the sense of jealousy increasing the irritation
Having consented to the ride to Dr Shrapnel should she not to be consistent
have dismounted there O half heart A whole one though it be an erring like
that of the French lady does at least live and has a history and makes music
but the faint and uncertain is jarred in action jarred in memory ever behind
the day and in the shadow of it Cecilia reviewed herself jealous
disappointed vexed ashamed she had been all day a graceless companion a bad
actress and at the days close she was loving Nevil the better for what had
dissatisfied distressed and wounded her She was loving him in emulation of
his devotedness to another person and that other was a revolutionary common
peoples doctor an infidel a traitor to his countrys dearest interests But
Nevil loved him and it had become impossible for her not to covet the love or
to think of the old offender without the halo cast by Nevils attachment being
upon him So intensely was she moved by her intertwisting reflections that in an
access of bodily fever she stood up and moved before the glass to behold the
image of the woman who could be the victim of these childish emotions and no
wonderful contrast struck her eyes she appeared to herself as poor and small as
they How could she aspire to a man like Nevil Beauchamp If he had made her
happy by wooing her she would not have adored him as she did now He likes my
hair she said smoothing it out and then pressing her temples like one
insane Two minutes afterward she was telling Rosamund her head ached less
»This terrible Dr Shrapnel« Rosamund exclaimed but reported that no loud
voices were raised in the diningroom
Colonel Halkett came to see his daughter full of anxiety and curiosity
Affairs had been peaceful below for he was ignorant of the expedition to
Bevisham On hearing of it he frowned questioned Cecilia as to whether she had
set foot on that mans grounds then said »Ah well we leave tomorrow I must
go I have business at home I cant delay it I sanctioned no calling there
nothing of the kind From Steynham to Bevisham Goodness it s rank madness I
m not astonished you re sick and ill«
He waited till he was assured Cecilia had no special matter to relate and
recommending her to drink the tea Mrs Culling had made for her and then go to
bed and sleep he went down to the drawingroom charged with the worst form of
hostility toward Nevil the partly diplomatic
Cecilia smiled at her fathers mention of sleep She was in the contest of
the two men however inanimately she might be lying overhead and the assurance
in her mind that neither of them would give ground so similar were they in
their tenacity of will dissimilar in all else dragged her this way and that
till she swayed lifeless between them One may be as a weed of the sea while
ones fate is being decided To love is to be on the sea out of sight of land
to love a man like Nevil Beauchamp is to be on the sea in tempest Still to
persist in loving would be noble and but for this humiliation of utter
helplessness an enviable power Her thoughts ran thus in shame and yearning and
regret dimly discerning where her heart failed in the strength which was
Nevils though it was a full heart faithful and not void of courage But he
never brooded he never blushed from insufficiency the faintness of a desire
the callow passion that cannot fly and feed itself he never tottered he walked
straight to his mark She set up his image and Renées and cowered under the
heroical shapes till she felt almost extinct With her weak limbs and head
worthlessly paining the little infantile I within her ceased to wail dwindled
beyond sensation Rosamund waiting on her in the place of her maid saw two big
drops come through her closed eyelids and thought that if it could be granted
to Nevil to look for a moment on this fair and proud young ladys loveliness in
abandonment it would tame melt and save him The Gods presiding over custom
do not permit such renovating sights to men
Chapter XXXVI
Pursuit of the Apology of Mr Romfrey to Dr Shrapnel
The contest which was an alternation of hard hitting and close wrestling had
recommenced when Colonel Halkett stepped into the drawingroom
»Colonel I find they ve been galloping to Bevisham and back« said Mr
Romfrey
»I ve heard of it« the colonel replied Not perceiving a sign of
dissatisfaction on his friends face he continued »To that man Shrapnel«
»Cecilia did not dismount« said Beauchamp
»You took her to that mans gate It was not with my sanction You know my
ideas of the man«
»If you were to see him now colonel I dont think you would speak harshly
of him«
»We re not obliged to go and look on men who have had their measure dealt
them«
»Barbarously« said Beauchamp
Mr Romfrey in the most placid manner took a chair »Windy talk that« he
said
Colonel Halkett seated himself Stukely Culbrett turned a sheet of
manuscript he was reading
Beauchamp began a caged lions walk on the rug under the mantelpiece
»I shall not spare you from hearing what I think of it sir«
»We ve had what you think of it twice over« said Mr Romfrey »I suppose
it was the first time for information the second time for emphasis and the
rest counts to keep it alive in your recollection«
»This is what you have to take to heart sir that Dr Shrapnel is now
seriously ill«
»I m sorry for it and I ll pay the doctors bill«
»You make it hard for me to treat you with respect«
»Fire away Those Radical friends of yours have to learn a lesson and it s
worth a purse to teach them that a lady however feeble she may seem to them is
exactly of the strength of the best man of her acquaintance«
»That s well said« came from Colonel Halkett
Beauchamp stared at him amazed by the commendation of empty language
»You acted in error barbarously but in error« he addressed his uncle
»And you have got a fine topic for mouthing« Mr Romfrey rejoined
»You mean to sit still under Dr Shrapnels forgiveness«
»He s taken to copy the Christian religion has he«
»You know you were deluded when you struck him«
»Not a whit«
»Yes you know it now Mrs Culling «
»Drag in no woman Nevil Beauchamp«
»She has confessed to you that Dr Shrapnel neither insulted her nor meant
to ruffle her«
»She has done no such nonsense«
»If she has not but I trust her to have done it«
»You play the trumpeter you terrorize her«
»Into opening her lips wider nothing else I ll have the truth from her
and no mincing and from Cecil Baskelett and Palmet«
»Give Cecil a second licking if you can and have him off to Shrapnel«
»You« cried Beauchamp
At this juncture Stukely Culbrett closed the manuscript in his hands and
holding it out to Beauchamp said »Here s your letter Nevil It s tolerably
hard to decipher It s mild enough it s middling good pulpit I like it«
»What have you got there« Colonel Halkett asked him
»A letter of his friend Dr Shrapnel on the Country Read a bit colonel«
»I That letter Mild do you call it« The colonel started back his chair
in declining to touch the letter
»Try it« said Stukely »It s the letter they have been making the noise
about It ought to be printed There s a hit or two at the middleclass that I
should like to see in print It s really not bad pulpit and I suspect that
what you object to colonel is only the dust of a wellthumped cushion
Shrapnel thumps with his fist He doesnt say much that s new If the parsons
were men they d be saying it every Sunday If they did colonel I should hear
you saying amen«
»Wait till they do say it«
»That s a long stretch They re turncocks of one Watercompany to wash
the greasy citizens«
»You re keeping Nevil on the gape« said Mr Romfrey with a whimsical
shrewd cast of the eye at Beauchamp who stood alert not to be foiled
arrowlike in look and readiness to repeat his homeshot Mr Romfrey wanted to
hear more of that unintelligible »You« of Beauchamps But Stukely Culbrett
intended that the latter should be foiled and he continued his diversion from
the angry subject
»We ll drop the sacerdotals« he said »They re behind a veil for us and
so are we for them I m with you colonel I wouldnt have them persecuted
they sting fearfully when whipped No one listens to them now except the class
that goes to sleep under them to set an example to the class that cant
understand them Shrapnel is like the breeze shaking the turfgrass outside the
churchdoors a trifle fresher He knocks nothing down«
»He cant« ejaculated the colonel
»He sermonizes to shake that s all I know the kind of man«
»Thank heaven it s not a common species in England«
»Common enough to be classed«
Beauchamp struck through the conversation of the pair »Can I see you alone
tonight sir or tomorrow morning«
»You may catch me where you can« was Mr Romfreys answer
»Where s that It s for your sake and mine not for Dr Shrapnels I have
to speak to you and must You have done your worst with him you cant undo it
You have to think of your honour as a gentleman I intend to treat you with
respect but wolf is the title now whether I say it or not«
»Shrapnel s a rather longlegged sheep«
»He asks for nothing from you«
»He would have got nothing at a cry of peccavi«
»He was innocent perfectly blameless he would not lie to save himself You
mistook that for but you were an engine shot along a line of rails He does
you the justice to say you acted in error«
»And you re his parrot«
»He pardons you«
»Ha t other cheek«
»You went on that brutes errand in ignorance Will you keep to the
character now you know the truth Hesitation about it doubles the infamy An old
man the best of men the kindest and truest the most unselfish«
»He tops me by half a head and he s my junior«
Beauchamp suffered himself to give out a groan of sick derision »Ah«
»And it was no joke holding him tight« said Mr Romfrey »I d as lief snap
an ash The fellow he leaned round to Colonel Halkett must be a fellow of a
fine constitution And he took his punishment like a man I ve known worse and
far worse gentlemen by birth There s the choice of taking it upright or
fighting like a rabbit with a weasel in his hole Leave him to think it over he
ll come right I think no harm of him I ve no animus A man must have his
lesson at some time of life I did what I had to do«
»Look here Nevil« Stukely Culbrett checked Beauchamp in season »I beg to
inquire what Dr Shrapnel means by the people We have in our country the nobles
and the squires and after them as I understand it the people that s to say
the middleclass and the workingclass fat and lean I m quite with Shrapnel
when he lashes the fleshpots They want it and they dont get it from their
organ the Press I fancy you and I agree about their organ the dismallest
organ that ever ground a hackneyed set of songs and hymns to madden the
thoroughfares«
»The Press of our country« interjected Colonel Halkett in moaning
parenthesis
»It s the weekday Parson of the middleclass colonel They have their
thinking done for them as the Chinese have their dancing But Nevil your Dr
Shrapnel seems to treat the traders as identical with the aristocracy in
opposition to his people The traders are the cursed middlemen bad friends of
the people and infernally treacherous to the nobles till money hoists them It
s they who pull down the country They hold up the nobles to the hatred of the
democracy and the democracy to scare the nobles One s when they want to
swallow a privilege and the other s when they want to ringfence their gains
How is it Shrapnel doesnt expose the trick He must see through it I like that
letter of his People is one of your Radical big words that burst at a query He
cant mean Quince and Bottom and Starveling Christopher Sly Jack Cade
Caliban and poor old Hodge No no Nevil Our clowns are the stupidest in
Europe They cant cook their meals They cant spell they can scarcely speak
They havent a jig in their legs And I believe they re losing their grin They
re nasty when their blood s up Shakespeares Cade tells you what he thought
of Radicalizing the people And as for your mother I ll make her a duke that
s one of their songs The word people in England is a dyspeptic agitators
dream when he falls nodding over the red chapter of French history Who won the
great liberties for England My book says the nobles And who made the great
stand later the squires What have the middlemen done but bid for the people
they despise and fear dishonour us abroad and make a hash of us at home
Shrapnel sees that Only he has got the word people in his mouth The people of
England my dear fellow want heading Since the traders obtained power we have
been a country on all fours Of course Shrapnel sees it I say so But talk to
him and teach him where to look for the rescue«
Colonel Halkett said to Stukely »If you have had a clear idea in what you
have just spoken my head s no place for it«
Stukelys unusually lengthy observations had somewhat heated him and he
protested with earnestness »It was pure Tory my dear colonel«
But the habitually and professedly cynical should not deliver themselves at
length for as soon as they miss their customary incision of speech they are apt
to aim to recover it in loquacity and thus it may be that the survey of their
ideas becomes disordered
Mr Culbrett endangered his reputation for epigram in a good cause it shall
be said
These interruptions were torture to Beauchamp Nevertheless the end was
gained He sank into a chair silent
Mr Romfrey wished to have it out with his nephew of whose comic appearance
as a man full of thunder and occasionally rattling yet all the while trying to
be decorous and politic he was getting tired He foresaw that a tussle between
them in private would possibly be too hot for his temper admirably under
control though it was
»Why not drag Cecil to Shrapnel« he said for a provocation
Beauchamp would not be goaded
Colonel Halkett remarked that he would have to leave Steynham the next day
His host remonstrated with him The colonel said »Early« He had very
particular business at home He was positive and declined every inducement to
stay Mr Romfrey glanced at Nevil thinking You poor fool And then he
determined to let the fellow have five minutes alone with him
This occurred at midnight in that halfarmoury halflibrary which was his
private room
Rosamund heard their voices below She cried out to herself that it was her
doing and blamed her beloved and her master and Dr Shrapnel in the breath
of her selfrecrimination The demagogue the overpunctilious gentleman the
faint lover surely it must be reason wanting in the three for each of them in
turn to lead the other by an excess of some sort of the quality constituting
their mens natures to wreck a calm life and stand in contention Had Shrapnel
been commonly reasonable he would have apologized to Mr Romfrey or had Mr
Romfrey he would not have resorted to force to punish the supposed offender or
had Nevil he would have held his peace until he had gained his bride As it
was the folly of the three knocked at her heart uniting to bring the heavy
accusation against one poor woman quite in the old way the Who is she of the
mocking Spaniard at mention of a social catastrophe Rosamund had a great deal
of the pride of her sex and she resented any slur on it She felt almost
superciliously toward Mr Romfrey and Nevil for their not taking hands to
denounce the plotter Cecil Baskelett They seemed a pair of victims to him
nearly as much so as the wretched man Shrapnel It was their senselessness which
made her guilty And simply because she had uttered two or three exclamations of
dislike of a revolutionary and infidel she was compelled to groan under her
present oppression Is there anything to be hoped of men Rosamund thought
bitterly of Nevils idea of their progress Heaven help them But the unhappy
creatures have ceased to look to a heaven for help
We see the consequence of it in this Shrapnel complication
Three men and one struck down the other defeated in his benevolent
intentions the third sacrificing fortune and happiness all three owing their
mischance to one or other of the vague ideas disturbing mens heads Where shall
we look for mother wit or say common sucklings instinct Not to men
thought Rosamund
She was listening to the voices of Mr Romfrey and Beauchamp in a fever
Ordinarily the lord of Steynham was not out of his bed later than twelve oclock
at night His door opened at halfpast one Not a syllable was exchanged by the
couple in the hall They had fought it out Mr Romfrey came upstairs alone and
on the closing of his chamberdoor she slipped down to Beauchamp and had a
dreadful hour with him that subdued her disposition to sit in judgement upon
men The unavailing attempt to move his uncle had wrought him to the state in
which passionate thoughts pass into speech like heat to flame Rosamund strained
her mental sight to gain a conception of his prodigious horror of the treatment
of Dr Shrapnel that she might think him sane and to retain a vestige of
comfort in her bosom she tried to moderate and make light of as much as she
could conceive Between the two efforts she had no sense but that of
helplessness Once more she was reduced to promise that she would speak the
whole truth to Mr Romfrey even to the fact that she had experienced a common
womans jealousy of Dr Shrapnels influence and had alluded to him jealously
spitefully and falsely There was no mercy in Beauchamp He was for action at
any cost with all the forces he could gather and without delays He talked of
Cecilia as his uncles bride to him Rosamund could hardly trust her ears when
he informed her he had told his uncle of his determination to compel him to
accomplish the act of penitence »Was it prudent to say it Nevil« she asked
But as in his politics he disdained prudence A monstrous crime had been
committed involving the honour of the family no subtlety of insinuation no
suggestion could wean him from the fixed idea that the apology to Dr Shrapnel
must be spoken by his uncle in person
»If one could only imagine Mr Romfrey doing it« Rosamund groaned
»He shall and you will help him« said Beauchamp
»If you loved a woman half as much as you do that man«
»If I knew a woman as good as wise as noble as he«
»You are losing her«
»You expect me to go through ceremonies of courtship at a time like this If
she cares for me she will feel with me Simple compassion but let Miss Halkett
be I m afraid I overtasked her in taking her to Bevisham She remained outside
the garden Maam she is unsullied by contact with a single shrub of Dr
Shrapnels territory«
»Do not be so bitterly ironical Nevil You have not seen her as I have«
Rosamund essayed a tender sketch of the fair young lady and fancied that
she drew forth a sigh she would have coloured the sketch but he commanded her
to hurry off to bed and think of her mornings work
A commission of which we feel we can accurately forecast the unsuccessful
end is not likely to be undertaken with an ardour that might perhaps astound the
presageing mind with unexpected issues Rosamund fulfilled hers in the style of
one who has learnt a lesson and exactly as she had anticipated Mr Romfrey
accused her of coming to him from a conversation with that fellow Nevil
overnight He shrugged and left the house for his mornings walk across the
fields
Colonel Halkett and Cecilia beheld him from the breakfastroom returning
with Beauchamp who had waylaid him and was hammering his part in the
nowendless altercation It could be descried at any distance and how fine was
Mr Romfreys bearing truly noble by contrast as of a grave big dog worried
by a small barking dog There is to an unsympathetic observer an intense
vexatiousness in the exhibition of such pertinacity To a soldier accustomed at
a glance to estimate powers of attack and defence this repeated puny assailing
of a fortress that required years of siege was in addition ridiculous Mr
Romfrey appeared impregnable and Beauchamp mad »He s foaming again« said the
colonel and was only ultrapictorial »Before breakfast« was a further slur on
Beauchamp
Mr Romfrey was elevated by the extraordinary comicality of the notion of
the proposed apology to heights of humour beyond laughter whence we see the
unbounded capacity of the general man for folly and rather commiserate than
deride him He was quite untroubled It demanded a steady view of the other side
of the case to suppose of one whose control of his temper was perfect that he
could be in the wrong He at least did not think so and Colonel Halkett relied
on his common sense Beauchamps brows were smouldering heavily except when he
had to talk He looked paleish and worn and said he had been up early Cecilia
guessed that he had not been to bed
It was dexterously contrived by her host in spite of the colonels manifest
anxiety to keep them asunder that she should have some minutes with Beauchamp
out in the gardens Mr Romfrey led them out and then led the colonel away to
offer him a choice of pups of rare breed
»Nevil« said Cecilia »you will not think it presumption in me to give you
advice«
Her counsel to him was that he should leave Steynham immediately and trust
to time for his uncle to reconsider his conduct
Beauchamp urged the counterargument of the stain on the family honour
She hinted at expediency he frankly repudiated it
The downs faced them where the heavenly vast might have been of yesterday
wandered thinner than a shadow of today weaving a story without beginning
crisis or conclusion flowerless and fruitless but with something of infinite
in it sweeter to brood on than the future of her life to Cecilia
»If meanwhile Dr Shrapnel should die and repentance comes too late« said
Beauchamp
She had no clear answer to that save the hope of its being an unfounded
apprehension »As far as it is in my power Nevil I will avoid injustice to him
in my thoughts«
He gazed at her thankfully »Well« said he »that s like sighting the
cliffs But I dont feel home round me while the colonel is so strangely
prepossessed For a highspirited gentleman like your father to approve or at
least accept an act so barbarous is incomprehensible Speak to him Cecilia
will you Let him know your ideas«
She assented He said instantly »Persuade him to speak to my uncle
Everard«
She was tempted to smile
»I must do only what I think wise if I am to be of service Nevil«
»True but paint that scene to him An old man utterly defenceless making
no defence a cruel error The colonel cant or he doesnt clearly get it
inside him otherwise I m certain it would revolt him just as I m certain my
uncle Everard is at this moment a stoneblind man If he has done a thing he
cant question it wont examine it The thing becomes a part of him as much as
his hand or his head He s a man of the twelfth century Your father might be
helped to understand him first«
»Yes« she said not very warmly though sadly
»Tell the colonel how it must have been brought about For Cecil Baskelett
called on Dr Shrapnel two days before Mr Romfrey stood at his gate«
The name of Cecil caused her to draw in her shoulders in a halfshudder »It
may indeed be Captain Baskelett who set this cruel thing in motion«
»Then point that out to your father« said he perceiving a chance of
winning her to his views through a concrete object of her dislike and cooling
toward the woman who betrayed a vulgar characteristic of her sex who was merely
woman unable sternly to recognize the doing of a foul wrong because of her
antipathy until another antipathy enlightened her
He wanted in fact a readymade heroine and did not give her credit for the
absence of fire in her blood as well as for the unexercised imagination which
excludes young women from the power to realize unwonted circumstances We men
walking about the world have perhaps no more imagination of matters not domestic
than they but what we have is quick with experience we see the thing we hear
of women come to it how they can
Cecilia was recommended to weave a narrative for her father and ultimately
induce him if she could to give a gentlemans opinion of the case to Mr
Romfrey
Her sensitive ear caught a change of tone in the directions she received
»Your father will say so and so answer him with this and that« Beauchamp
supplied her with phrases She was to renew and renew the attack hammer as he
did Yesterday she had followed him today she was to march beside him hardly
as an equal Patience was the word she would have uttered in her detection of
the one frailty in his nature which this hurrying of her off her feet opened her
eyes to with unusual perspicacity Still she leaned to him sufficiently to admit
that he had grounds for a deep disturbance of his feelings
He said »I go to Dr Shrapnels cottage and dont know how to hold up my
head before Miss Denham She confided him to me when she left for Switzerland«
There was that to be thought of certainly
Colonel Halkett came round a boxbush and discovered them pacing together in
a fashion to satisfy his paternal scrutiny
»I ve been calling you several times my dear« he complained »We start in
seven minutes Bustle and bonnet at once Nevil I m sorry for this business
Goodbye Be a good boy Nevil« he murmured kindheartedly and shook
Beauchamps hand with the cordiality of an extreme relief in leaving him behind
The colonel and Mr Romfrey and Beauchamp were standing on the hallsteps
when Rosamund beckoned the latter and whispered a request for that letter of Dr
Shrapnels »It is for Miss Halkett Nevil«
He plucked the famous epistle from his bulging pocketbook and added a
couple of others in the same handwriting
»Tell her a first reading it s difficult to read at first« he said and
burned to read it to Cecilia himself to read it to her with his comments and
explanations appeared imperative It struck him in a flash that Cecilias
counsel to him to quit Steynham for awhile was good And if he went to Bevisham
he would be assured of Dr Shrapnels condition notes and telegrams from the
cottage were too much tempered to console and deceive him
»Send my portmanteau and bag after me to Bevisham« he said to Rosamund and
announced to the woefully astonished colonel that he would have the pleasure of
journeying in his company as far as the town
»Are you ready No packing« said the colonel
»It s better to have your impediments in the rear of you and march« said
Mr Romfrey
Colonel Halkett declined to wait for anybody He shouted for his daughter
The ladys maid appeared and then Cecilia with Rosamund
»We cant entertain you Nevil we re away to the island I m sorry« said
the colonel and observing Cecilias face in full crimson he looked at her as
if he had lost a battle by the turn of events at the final moment
Mr Romfrey handed Cecilia into the carriage He exchanged a friendly
squeeze with the colonel and offered his hand to his nephew Beauchamp passed
him with a nod and »Goodbye sir«
»Have ready at Holdesbury for the middle of the month« said Mr Romfrey
unruffled and bowed to Cecilia
»If you think of bringing my cousin Baskelett give me warning sir« cried
Beauchamp
»Give me warning if you want the house for Shrapnel« replied his uncle
and remarked to Rosamund as the carriage wheeled round the mounded laurels to
the avenue »He maynt be quite cracked The fellow seems to have a turn for
catching his opportunity by the tail He had better hold fast for it s his
last«
Chapter XXXVII
Cecilia Conquered
The carriage rolled out of the avenue and through the park for some time
parallel with the wavy downs Once away from Steynham Colonel Halkett breathed
freely as if he had dropped a load he was free of his bond to Mr Romfrey and
so great was the sense of relief in him that he resolved to do battle against
his daughter supposing her still lively blush to be the sign of the enemys
flag run up on a surrendered citadel His authority was now to be thought of
his paternal sanction was in his own keeping Beautiful as she looked it was
hardly credible that a fellow in possession of his reason could have let slip
his chance of such a prize but whether he had or had not the colonel felt that
he occupied a position enabling him either to outmanoeuvre or if need were
interpose forcibly and punish him for his halfheartedness
Cecilia looked the loveliest of women to Beauchamps eyes with her blush
and the letters of Dr Shrapnel in her custody at her express desire Certain
terms in the letters here and there unsweet to ladies began to trouble his
mind
»By the way colonel« he said »you had a letter of Dr Shrapnels read to
you by Captain Baskelett«
»Iniquitous rubbish«
»With his comments on it I dare say you thought it so I wont speak of his
right to make it public He wanted to produce his impressions of it and me and
that is a matter between him and me Dr Shrapnel makes use of strong words now
and then but I undertake to produce a totally different impression on you by
reading the letter myself sparing you« he turned to Cecilia »a word or two
common enough to men who write in black earnest and have humour« He cited his
old favourite the black and bright lecturer on Heroes »You have read him I
know Cecilia Well Dr Shrapnel is another who writes in his own style not
the leadingarticle style or modern pulpit stuff He writes to rouse«
»He does that to my temper« said the colonel
»Perhaps here and there he might offend Cecilias taste« Beauchamp pursued
for her behoof »Everything depends on the mouthpiece I should not like the
letter to be read without my being by except by men any justminded man may
read it Seymour Austin for example Every line is a text to the mind of the
writer Let me call on you tomorrow«
»Tomorrow« Colonel Halkett put on a thoughtful air »Tomorrow we re off
to the island for a couple of days and there s Lord Croystons garden party
and the Yacht Ball Come this evening dine with us No reading of letters
please I cant stand it Nevil«
The invitation was necessarily declined by a gentleman who could not expect
to be followed by supplies of clothes and linen for evening wear that day
»Ah we shall see you some day or other« said the colonel
Cecilia was less alive to Beauchamps endeavour to prepare her for the harsh
words in the letter than to her fathers insincerity She would have asked her
friend to come in the morning next day but for the dread of deepening her
blush
»Do you intend to start so early in the morning papa« she ventured to say
and he replied »As early as possible«
»I dont know what news I shall have in Bevisham or I would engage to run
over to the island« said Beauchamp with a flattering persistency or singular
obtuseness
»You will dance« he subsequently observed to Cecilia out of the heart of
some reverie He had been her admiring partner on the night before the drive
from Itchincope into Bevisham and perhaps thought of her graceful dancing at
the Yacht Ball and the contrast it would present to his watch beside a sick man
struck down by one of his own family
She could have answered »Not if you wish me not to« while smiling at the
quaint sorrowfulness of his tone
»Dance« quoth Colonel Halkett whose present temper discerned a healthy
antagonism to misanthropic Radicals in the performance »all young people dance
Have you given over dancing«
»Not entirely colonel«
Cecilia danced with Mr Tuckham at the Yacht Ball and was vividly mindful of
every slight incident leading to and succeeding her lovers abrupt »You will
dance« which had all passed by her dreamlike up to that hour his attempt to
forewarn her of the phrases she would deem objectionable in Dr Shrapnels
letter his mild acceptation of her fathers hostility his adieu to her and
his melancholy departure on foot from the station as she drove away to Mount
Laurels and gaiety Why do I dance she asked herself It was not in the spirit
of happiness Her heart was not with Dr Shrapnel but very near him and heavy
as a chamber of the sick She was afraid of her fathers favourite imagining
from the colonels unconcealed opposition to Beauchamp that he had designs in
the interests of Mr Tuckham But the hearty gentleman scattered her secret
terrors by his bluffness and openness He asked her to remember that she had
recommended him to listen to Seymour Austin and he had done so he said
Undoubtedly he was much improved much less overbearing
He won her confidence by praising and loving her father and when she
alluded to the wonderful services he had rendered on the Welsh estate he said
simply that her fathers thanks repaid him He recalled his former downrightness
only in speaking of the case of Dr Shrapnel upon which both with the colonel
and with her he was unreservedly condemnatory of Mr Romfrey Colonel Halketts
defence of the true knight and guardian of the reputation of ladies fell to
pieces in the presence of Mr Tuckham He had seen Dr Shrapnel on a visit to
Mr Lydiard whom he described as hanging about Bevisham philandering as a
married man should not though in truth he might soon expect to be released by
the death of his crazy wife The doctor he said had been severely shaken by
the monstrous assault made on him and had been most unrighteously handled The
doctor was an inoffensive man in his private life detestable and dangerous
though his teachings were Outside politics Mr Tuckham went altogether with
Beauchamp He promised also that old Mrs Beauchamp should be accurately
informed of the state of matters between Captain Beauchamp and Mr Romfrey He
left Mount Laurels to go back in attendance on the venerable lady without once
afflicting Cecilia with a shiver of wellfounded apprehension and she was
grateful to him almost to friendly affection in the vanishing of her unjust
suspicion until her father hinted that there was the man of his heart Then she
closed all avenues to her own
A period of maidenly distress not previously unknown to her ensued
Proposals of marriage were addressed to her by two untitled gentlemen and by
the Earl of Lockrace three within a fortnight The recognition of the young
heiresss beauty at the Yacht Ball was accountable for the bursting out of these
fires Her father would not have deplored her acceptance of the title of
Countess of Lockrace In the matter of rejections however her will was
paramount and he was on her side against relatives when the subject was debated
among them He called her attention to the fact impressively telling her that
she should not hear a syllable from him to persuade her to marry the emphasis
of which struck the unspoken warning on her intelligence Bring no man to me of
whom I do not approve
»Worthier of you as I hope to become« Beauchamp had said Cecilia lit on
that part of Dr Shrapnels letter where »Fight this out within you« distinctly
alluded to the unholy love Could she think ill of the man who thus advised him
She shared Beauchamps painful feeling for him in a sudden tremour of her frame
as it were through his touch To the rest of the letter her judgement stood
opposed save when a sentence here and there reminded her of Captain Baskeletts
insolent singsong declamation of it and that would have turned Sacred Writing
to absurdity
Beauchamp had mentioned Seymour Austin as one to whom he would willingly
grant a perusal of the letter Mr Austin came to Mount Laurels about the close
of the yachting season shortly after Colonel Halkett had spent his customary
days of September shooting at Steynham Beauchamps folly was the colonels
theme for the fellow had dragged Lord Palmet there and driven his uncle out of
patience Mr Romfreys monumental patience had been exhausted by him The
colonel boiled over with accounts of Beauchamps behaviour toward his uncle and
Palmet and Baskelett and Mrs Culling how he flew at and worried everybody
who seemed to him to have had a hand in the proper chastisement of that man
Shrapnel That pestiferous letter of Shrapnels was animadverted on of course
and »I should like you to have heard it Austin« the colonel said »just for
you to have a notion of the kind of universal blowup those men are scheming
and would hoist us with if they could get a little more blastingpowder than
they mill in their lunatic heads«
Now Cecilia wished for Mr Austins opinion of Dr Shrapnel and as the
delicate state of her inclinations made her conscious that to give him the
letter covertly would be to betray them to him who had once not knowing it
moved her to think of a possible great change in her life she mustered courage
to say »Captain Beauchamp at my request lent me the letter to read I have it
and others written by Dr Shrapnel«
Her father hummed to himself and immediately begged Seymour Austin not to
waste his time on the stuff though he had no idea that a perusal of it could
awaken other than the gravest reprehension in so rational a Tory gentleman
Mr Austin read the letter through He asked to see the other letters
mentioned by Cecilia and read them calmly without a frown or an interjection
She sat sketching her father devouring newspaper columns
»It s the writing of a man who means well« Mr Austin delivered his
opinion
»Why the mans an infidel« Colonel Halkett exclaimed
»There are numbers«
»They have the grace not to confess then«
»It s as well to know what the world s made of colonel The clergy shut
their eyes There s no treating a disease without reading it and if we are to
acknowledge a vice as Dr Shrapnel would say of the socalled middleclass it
is the smirking over what they think or their not caring to think at all Too
many timeservers rot the State I can understand the effect of such writing on
a mind like Captain Beauchamps It would do no harm to our young men to have
those letters read publicly and lectured on by competent persons Half the
thinking world may think pretty much the same on some points as Dr Shrapnel
they are too wise or too indolent to say it and of the other half about a
dozen members would be competent to reply to him He is the earnest man and
flies at politics as uneasy young brains fly to literature fancying they can
write because they can write with a pen He perceives a bad adjustment of
things which is correct He is honest and takes his honesty for a virtue and
that entitles him to believe in himself and that belief causes him to see in
all opposition to him the wrong he has perceived in existing circumstances and
so in a dream of power he invokes the people and as they do not stir he takes
to prophecy This is the round of the politics of impatience The study of
politics should be guided by some light of statesmanship otherwise it comes to
this wild preaching These men are theorytailors not politicians They are the
men who make the strait for humanity They would fix us to first principles
like tethered sheep or hobbled horses I should enjoy replying to him if I had
time The whole letter is composed of variations upon one idea Still I must say
the man interests me I should like to talk to him«
Mr Austin paid no heed to the colonels »Dear me dear me« of amazement
He said of the style of the letters that it was the puffing of a giant a
strong wind rather than speech and begged Cecilia to note that men who labour
to force their dreams on mankind and turn vapour into fact usually adopt such a
style Hearing that this private letter had been deliberately read through by
Mr Romfrey and handed by him to Captain Baskelett who had read it out in
various places Mr Austin said »A strange couple« He appeared perplexed by
his old friends approval of them »There we decidedly differ« said he when
the case of Dr Shrapnel was related by the colonel with a refusal to condemn
Mr Romfrey He pronounced Mr Romfreys charges against Dr Shrapnel taken in
conjunction with his conduct to be baseless childish and wanton The colonel
would not see the case in that light but Cecilia did It was a justification of
Beauchamp and how could she ever have been blind to it scarcely blind she
remembered but sensitively blinking her eyelids to distract her sight in
contemplating it and to preserve her repose As to Beauchamps demand of the
apology Mr Austin considered that it might be an instance of his want of
knowledge of men yet could not be called silly and to call it insane was the
rhetoric of an adversary
»I do call it insane« said the colonel
He separated himself from his daughter by a sharp division
Had Beauchamp appeared at Mount Laurels Cecilia would have been ready to
support and encourage him boldly Backed by Mr Austin she saw some good in
Dr Shrapnels writing much in Beauchamps devotedness He shone clear to her
reason at last partly because her father in his opposition to him did not but
was on the contrary unreasonable cased in mail mentally clouded She sat with
Mr Austin and her father trying repeatedly in obedience to Beauchamps
commands to bring the latter to a just contemplation of the unhappy case
behaviour on her part which rendered the colonel inveterate
Beauchamp at this moment was occupied in doing secretarys work for Dr
Shrapnel So Cecilia learnt from Mr Lydiard who came to pay his respects to
Mrs WardourDevereux at Mount Laurels The pursuit of the apology was continued
in letters to his uncle and occasional interviews with him which were by no
means instigated by the doctor Mr Lydiard informed the ladies He described
Beauchamp as acting in the spirit of a man who has sworn an oath to abandon
every pleasure in life that he may as far as it lies in his power indemnify
his friend for the wrong done to him
»Such men are too terrible for me« said Mrs Devereux
Cecilia thought the reverse Not for me But she felt a strain upon her
nature and she was miserable in her alienation from her father Kissing him one
night she laid her head on his breast and begged his forgiveness He embraced
her tenderly »Wait only wait you will see I am right« he said and prudently
said no more and did not ask her to speak
She was glad that she had sought the reconciliation from her hearts natural
warmth on hearing some time later that M de Croisnel was dead and that
Beauchamp meditated starting for France to console his Renée Her continual
agitations made her doubtful of her human feelings she clung to that instance
of her filial stedfastness
The day before Cecilia and her father left Mount Laurels for their season in
Wales Mr Tuckham and Beauchamp came together to the house and were closeted
an hour with her father Cecilia sat in the drawingroom thinking that she did
indeed wait and had great patience Beauchamp entered the room alone He looked
worn and thin of a leaden colour like the cloud that bears the bolt News had
reached him of the death of Lord Avonley in the huntingfield and he was going
on to Steynham to persuade his uncle to accompany him to Bevisham and wash the
guilt of his wrongdoing off him before applying for the title »You would
advise me not to go« he said »I must I should be dishonoured myself if I let
a chance pass I run the risk of being a beggar I m all but one now«
Cecilia faltered »Do you see a chance«
»Hardly more than an excuse for trying it« he replied
She gave him back Dr Shrapnels letters »I have read them« was all she
said For he might have just returned from France with the breath of Renée
about him and her pride would not suffer her to melt him in rivalry by saying
what she had been led to think of the letters
Hearing nothing from her he silently put them in his pocket The struggle
with his uncle seemed to be souring him or deadening him
They were not alone for long Mr Tuckham presented himself to take his
leave of her Old Mrs Beauchamp was dying and he had only come to Mount
Laurels on special business Beauchamp was just as anxious to hurry away
Her father found her sitting in the solitude of a drawingroom at midday
palefaced with unoccupied fingers not even a book in her lap
He walked up and down the room until Cecilia to say something said »Mr
Tuckham could not stay«
»No« said her father »he could not He has to be back as quick as he can
to cut his legacy in halves«
Cecilia looked perplexed
»I ll speak plainly« said the colonel »He sees that Nevil has ruined
himself with his uncle The old lady wont allow Nevil to visit her in her
condition it would be an excitement beyond her strength to bear She sent
Blackburn to bring Nevil here and give him the option of stating before me
whether those reports about his misconduct in France were true or not He
demurred at first however he says they are not true He would have run away
with the Frenchwoman and he would have fought the duel but he did neither Her
brother ran ahead of him and fought for him so he declares and she wouldnt
run So the reports are false We shall know what Blackburn makes of the story
when we hear of the legacy I have been obliged to write word to Mrs Beauchamp
that I believe Nevil to have made a true statement of the facts But I
distinctly say and so I told Blackburn I dont think money will do Nevil
Beauchamp a farthings worth of good Blackburn follows his own counsel He
induced the old lady to send him so I suppose he intends to let her share the
money between them I thought better of him I thought him a wiser man«
Gratitude to Mr Tuckham on Beauchamps behalf caused Cecilia to praise him
in the tone of compliments The difficulty of seriously admiring two gentlemen
at once is a feminine dilemma with the maidenly among women
»He has disappointed me« said Colonel Halkett
»Would you have had him allow a falsehood to enrich him and ruin Nevil
papa«
»My dear child I m sick to death of romantic fellows I took Blackburn for
one of our solid young men Why should he share his aunts fortune«
»You mean why should Nevil have money«
»Well I do mean that Besides the story was not false as far as his
intentions went he confessed it and I ought to have put it in a postscript If
Nevil wants money let him learn to behave himself like a gentleman at
Steynham«
»He has not failed«
»I ll say then behave himself simply He considers it a point of honour
to get his uncle Everard to go down on his knees to Shrapnel But he has no
moral sense where I should like to see it none he confessed it«
»What were his words papa«
»I dont remember words He runs over to France whenever it suits him to
carry on there « The colonel ended in a hum and buzz
»Has he been to France lately« asked Cecilia
Her breath hung for the answer sedately though she sat
»The womans father is dead I hear« Colonel Halkett remarked
»But he has not been there«
»How can I tell He s anywhere wherever his passions whisk him«
»No«
»I say yes And if he has money we shall see him going skyhigh and
scattering it in sparks not merely spending I mean living immorally
infidelizing republicanizing scandalizing his class and his country«
»Oh no« exclaimed Cecilia rising and moving to the window to feast her
eyes on driving clouds in a strange exaltation of mind secretly sure now that
her idea of Nevils having gone over to France was groundless and feeling that
she had been unworthy of him who strove to be »worthier of her as he hoped to
become«
Colonel Halkett scoffed at her »Oh no« and called it womans logic
She could not restrain herself »Have you forgotten Mr Austin papa It is
Nevils perfect truthfulness that makes him appear worse to you than men who are
timeservers Too many timeservers rot the State Mr Austin said Nevil is not
one of them I am not able to judge or speculate whether he has a great brain or
is likely to distinguish himself out of his profession I would rather he did
not abandon it but Mr Austin said to me in talking of him «
»That notion of Austins of screwing womens minds up to the pitch of
mens« interjected the colonel with a despairing flap of his arm
»He said papa that honestly active men in a country who decline to
practise hypocrisy show that the blood runs and are a sign of health«
»You misunderstood him my dear«
»I think I thoroughly understood him He did not call them wise He said
they might be dangerous if they were not met in debate But he said and I
presume to think truly that the reason why they are decried is that it is too
great a trouble for a lazy world to meet them And he said the reason why the
honest factions agitate is because they encounter sneers until they appear in
force If they were met earlier and fairly I am only quoting him they would
not I think he said or would hardly or would not generally fall into
professional agitation«
»Austin s a speculative Tory I know and that s his weakness« observed
the colonel »But I m certain you misunderstood him He never would have called
us a lazy people«
»Not in matters of business in matters of thought«
»My dear Cecilia Youve got hold of a language a way of speaking
Who set you thinking on these things«
»That I owe to Nevil Beauchamp«
Colonel Halkett indulged in a turn or two up and down the room He threw
open a window sniffed the moist air and went to his daughter to speak to her
resolutely
»Between a Radical and a Tory I dont know where your head has been whirled
to my dear Your heart seems to be gone more sorrow for us And for Nevil
Beauchamp to be pretending to love you while carrying on with this Frenchwoman«
»He has never said that he loved me«
The splendour of her beauty in humility flashed on her father and he cried
out »You are too good for any man on earth We wont talk in the dark my
darling You tell me he has never as they say made love to you«
»Never papa«
»Well that proves the French story At any rate he s a man of honour But
you love him«
»The French story is untrue papa«
Cecilia stood in a blush like the burning cloud of the sunset
»Tell me frankly I m your father your old dada your friend my dear
girl do you think the man cares for you loves you«
She replied »I know papa the French story is untrue«
»But when I tell you silly woman he confessed it to me out of his own
mouth«
»It is not true now«
»It s not going on you mean How do you know«
»I know«
»Has he been swearing it«
»He has not spoken of it to me«
»Here I am in a womans web« cried the colonel »Is it your instinct tells
you it s not true or what what You have not denied that you love the man«
»I know he is not immoral«
»There you shoot again Havent you a yes or a no for your father«
Cecilia cast her arms round his neck and sobbed
She could not bring it to her lips to say she would have shunned the
hearing that her defence of Beauchamp which was a shadowed avowal of the state
of her heart was based on his desire to read to her the conclusion of Dr
Shrapnels letter touching a passion to be overcome necessarily therefore a
passion that was vanquished and the fullest and bravest explanation of his
shifting treatment of her nor would she condescend to urge that her lover would
have said he loved her when they were at Steynham but for the misery and
despair of a soul too noble to be diverted from his grief and sense of duty
and as she believed unwilling to speak to win her while his material fortune
was in jeopardy
The colonel cherished her on his breast with one hand regularly patting her
shoulder a form of consolation that cures the disposition to sob as quickly as
would the drip of water
Cecilia looked up into his eyes and said »We will not be parted papa
ever«
The colonel said absently »No« and surprised at himself added »No
certainly not How can we be parted You wont run away from me No you know
too well I cant resist you I appeal to your judgement and I must accept what
you decide But he is immoral I repeat that He has no roots We shall discover
it before it s too late I hope«
Cecilia gazed away breathing through tremulous dilating nostrils
»One night after dinner at Steynham« pursued the colonel »Nevil was
rattling against the Press with Stukely Culbrett to prime him and he said
editors of papers were growing to be like priests and as timid as priests and
arrogant and for one thing it was because they supposed themselves to be
guardians of the national morality I forget exactly what the matter was but he
sneered at priests and morality«
A smile wove round Cecilias lips and in her towering superiority to one
who talked nonsense she slipped out of maiden shame and said »Attack Nevil for
his political heresies and his wrath with the Press for not printing him The
rest concerns his honour where he is quite safe and all are who trust him«
»If you find out you re wrong«
She shook her head
»But if you find out you re wrong about him« her father reiterated
piteously »you wont tear me to strips to have him in spite of it«
»No papa not I I will not«
»Well that s something for me to hold fast to« said Colonel Halkett
sighing
Chapter XXXVIII
Lord Avonley
Mr Everard Romfrey was now by consent Lord Avonley mounted on his direct
heirship and riding hard at the earldom His elevation occurred at a period of
life that would have been a season of decay with most men but the prolonged and
lusty Autumn of the veteran took new fires from a tangible object to live for
His brother Cravens death had slightly stupefied and it had grieved him it
seemed to him peculiarly pathetic for as he never calculated on the happening
of mortal accidents to men of sound constitution the circumstance imparted a
curious shake to his own solidity It was like the quaking of earth which tries
the balance of the strongest If he had not been raised to so splendid a survey
of the actual world he might have been led to think of the imaginary where
perchance a man may meet his old dogs and a few other favourites in a dim
perpetual twilight Thither at all events Craven had gone and goodnight to
him The earl was a rapidly lapsing invalid There could be no doubt that
Everard was to be the head of his House
Outwardly he was the same tolerant gentleman who put aside the poor fools of
the world to walk undisturbed by them in the paths he had chosen in this aspect
he knew himself nor was the change so great within him as to make him cognizant
of a change It was only a secret turn in the bent of the mind imperceptible as
the touch of the cunning artists brush on a finished portrait which will alter
the expression without discomposing a feature so that you cannot say it is
another face yet it is not the former one His habits were invariable as were
his meditations He thought less of Romfrey Castle than of his dogs and his
devices for trapping vermin his interest in birds and beasts and herbs what
ninnies call Nature in books to quote him was undiminished imagination he had
none to clap wings to his head and be off with it He betrayed as little as he
felt that the coming Earl of Romfrey was different from the cadet of the family
A novel sharpness in the »Stop that« with which he crushed Beauchamps
affectedly gentle and unusually roundabout opening of the vexed Shrapnel
question rang like a shot in the room at Steynham and breathed a different
spirit from his customary easy pugnacity that welcomed and lured on an adversary
to wild outhitting Some sorrowful preoccupation is however to be expected in
the man who has lost a brother and some degree of irritability at the intrusion
of past disputes He chose to repeat a similar brief forbidding of the subject
before they started together for the scene of the accident and Romfrey Castle
No notice was taken of Beauchamps remark that he consented to go though his
duty lay elsewhere Beauchamp had not the faculty of reading inside men or he
would have apprehended that his uncle was engaged in silently heaping
aggravations to shoot forth one fine day a thundering and astonishing
counterstroke
He should have known his uncle Everard better
In this respect he seemed to have no memory But who has much that has given
up his brains for a lodging to a single idea It is at once a devouring dragon
and an intractable steamforce it is a tyrant that has eaten up a senate and a
prophet with a message Inspired of solitariness and gigantic size it claims
divine origin The world can have no peace for it
Cecilia had not pleased him none had He did not bear in mind that the
sight of Dr Shrapnel sick and weak which constantly reanimated his feelings of
pity and of wrath was not given to the others of whom he demanded a
corresponding energy of just indignation and sympathy The sense that he was
left unaided to the task of bending his tough uncle combined with his
appreciation of the righteousness of the task to embitter him and set him on a
pedestal from which he descended at every sign of an opportunity for striking
and to which he retired continually baffled and wrathful in isolation
Then ensued the dreadful division in his conception of his powers for he
who alone saw the just and right thing to do was incapable of compelling it to
be done Lay on to his uncle as he would that wrestler shook him off And here
was one man whom he could not move How move a nation
There came on him a thirst for the haranguing of crowds They agree with you
or they disagree exciting you to activity in either case They do not interpose
cold Tory exclusiveness and inaccessibility You have them in the rough you
have nature in them and all that is hopeful in nature You drive at over and
through them for their good you plough them You sow them too Some of them
perceive that it is for their good and what if they be a minority Ghastly as a
minority is in an Election in a lifelong struggle it is refreshing and
encouraging The young world and its triumph is with the minority Oh to be
speaking Condemned to silence beside his uncle Beauchamp chafed for a loosed
tongue and an audience tossing like the wellwhipped ocean or open as the
smooth seasurface to the marks of the breeze Let them be hostile or amicable
he wanted an audience as hotly as the humped Richard a horse
At Romfrey Castle he fell upon an audience that became transformed into a
swarm of chatterers advisers and reprovers the instant his lips were parted
The ladies of the family declared his pursuit of the Apology to be worse and
vainer than his politics The gentlemen said the same but they were not so
outspoken to him personally and indulged in asides with quotations of some of
his uncle Everards recent observations concerning him as for example
»Politically he s a mad harlequin jumping his tights and spangles when nobody
asks him to jump and in private life he s a mad dentist poking his tongs at my
sound tooth« a highly ludicrous image of the persistent fellow and a reminder
of situations in Molière as it was acted by Cecil Baskelett and Lord Welshpool
Beauchamp had to a certain extent restored himself to favour with his uncle
Everard by offering a fair suggestion on the fatal field to account for the
accident after the latter had taken measurements and examined the place in
perplexity His elucidation of the puzzle was referred to by Lord Avonley at
Romfrey and finally accepted as possible and this from a wiseacre who went
quacking about the county expecting to upset the order of things in England
Such a mixing of sense and nonsense in a fellows noddle was never before met
with Lord Avonley said Cecil took the hint He had been unworried by
Beauchamp Dr Shrapnel had not been mentioned and it delighted Cecil to let it
be known that he thought old Nevil had some good notions particularly as to the
duties of the aristocracy that first warcry of his when a midshipman News of
another fatal accident in the huntingfield confirmed Cecils higher opinion of
his cousin On the day of Cravens funeral they heard at Romfrey that Mr
WardourDevereux had been killed by a fall from his horse Two English gentlemen
despatched by the same agency within a fortnight »He smoked« Lord Avonley said
of the second departure to allay some perturbation in the bosoms of the ladies
who had ceased to ride by accounting for this particular mishap in the most
reassuring fashion Cecils immediate reflection was that the unfortunate smoker
had left a rich widow Far behind in the race for Miss Halkett and uncertain of
a settled advantage in his other rivalry with Beauchamp he fixed his mind on
the widow and as Beauchamp did not stand in his way but on the contrary might
help him for she like the generality of women admired Nevil Beauchamp in
spite of her feminine good sense and conservatism Cecil began to regard the
man he felt less opposed to with some recognition of his merits The two nephews
accompanied Lord Avonley to London and slept at his townhouse They
breakfasted together the next morning on friendly terms Half an hour afterward
there was an explosion uncle and nephews were scattered fragments and if Cecil
was the first to return to cohesion with his lord and chief it was he
protested energetically common policy in a man in his position to do so all
that he looked for being a decent pension and a share in the use of the
townhouse Old Nevil he related began crossexamining him and entangling him
with the cunning of the deuce in my lords presence and having got him to make
an admission old Nevil flung it at the baron and even crossed him and stood
before him when he was walking out of the room A furious wrangle took place
Nevil and the baron gave it to one another unmercifully The end of it was that
all three flew apart for Cecil confessed to having a temper and in contempt of
him for the admission wrung out of him Lord Avonley had pricked it My lord
went down to Steynham Beauchamp to Holdesbury and Captain Baskelett to his
quarters whence in a few days he repaired penitently to my lord the most
placable of men when a full submission was offered to him
Beauchamp did nothing of the kind He wrote a letter to Steynham in the form
of an ultimatum
This egregious letter was handed to Rosamund for a proof of her darlings
lunacy She in conversation with Stukely Culbrett unhesitatingly accused Cecil
of plotting his cousins ruin
Mr Culbrett thought it possible that Cecil had been a little more than
humorous in the part he had played in the dispute and spoke to him
Then it came out that Lord Avonley had also delivered an ultimatum to
Beauchamp
Time enough had gone by for Cecil to forget his ruffling and relish the
barons grandly comic spirit in appropriating that big word Apology and
demanding it from Beauchamp on behalf of the lady ruling his household What
could be funnier than the knocking of Beauchamps blunderbuss out of his hands
and pointing the muzzle at him
Cecil dramatized the fun to amuse Mr Culbrett Apparently Beauchamp had
been staggered on hearing himself asked for the definite article he claimed He
had made a point of speaking of the Apology Lord Avonley did likewise And each
professed to exact it for a deeply aggrieved person each put it on the ground
that it involved the others rightful ownership of the title of gentleman
»An apology to the amiable and virtuous Mistress Culling says old Nevil an
apology what for For unbecoming and insolent behaviour says my lord«
»I am that ladys friend« Stukely warned Captain Baskelett »Dont let us
have a third apology in the field«
»Perfectly true you are her friend and you know what a friend of mine she
is« rejoined Cecil »I could swear that lady flings the whole affair at me I
give you my word old Nevil and I were on a capital footing before he and the
baron broke up I praised him for tickling the aristocracy I backed him
heartily I do now I ll do it in Parliament I know a case of a noble lord a
General in the army and he received an intimation that he might as well attend
the Prussian cavalry manoeuvres last Autumn on the Lower Rhine or in Silesia
no matter where He couldnt go he was engaged to shoot birds I give you my
word Now there I see old Nevils right It s as well we should know something
about the Prussian and Austrian cavalry and if our aristocracy wont go abroad
to study cavalry who is to no class in the kingdom understands horses as they
do My opinion is they re asleep Nevil should have stuck to that instead of
trying to galvanize the country and turning against his class But fancy old
Nevil asked for the Apology It petrified him Ive told her nothing but the
truth says Nevil Telling the truth to women is an impertinence says my lord
Nevil swore he d have a revolution in the country before he apologized«
Mr Culbrett smiled at the absurdity of the change of positions between
Beauchamp and his uncle Everard which reminded him somewhat of the old story of
the highwayman innkeeper and the market farmer who had been thoughtful enough to
recharge his pistols after quitting the inn at midnight A practical tu quoque
is astonishingly laughable and backed by a high figure and manner it had the
flavour of triumphant repartee Lord Avonley did not speak of it as a retort
upon Nevil though he reiterated the word Apology amusingly He put it as due to
the lady governing his household and his ultimatum was that the Apology should
be delivered in terms to satisfy him within three months of the date of the
demand for it otherwise blank but the shadowy index pointed to the destitution
of Nevil Beauchamp
No stroke of retributive misfortune could have been severer to Rosamund than
to be thrust forward as the object of humiliation for the man she loved She saw
at a glance how much more likely it was remote as the possibility appeared
that her lord would perform the act of penitence than her beloved Nevil And she
had no occasion to ask herself why Lord Avonley had done wrong and Nevil had
not It was inconceivable that Nevil should apologize to her It was horrible to
picture the act in her mind She was a very rational woman quite a woman of the
world yet such was her situation between these two men that the childish tale
of a close and consecutive punishment for sins down to our little naughtinesses
and naturalnesses enslaved her intelligence and amazed her with the example
made of her as it were to prove the tale true of our being surely hauled back
like domestic animals learning the habits of good society to the rueful
contemplation of certain of our deeds however wildly we appeal to nature to
stand up for them
But is it so with all of us No thought Rosamund sinking dejectedly from a
recognition of the heavenliness of the justice which lashed her and Nevil and
did not scourge Cecil Baskelett That fine eye for celestially directed
consequences is ever haunted by shadows of unfaith likely to obscure it
completely when chastisement is not seen to fall on the person whose wickedness
is evident to us It has been established that we do not wax diviner by dragging
down the Gods to our level
Rosamund knew Lord Avonley too well to harass him with further petitions and
explanations Equally vain was it to attempt to persuade Beauchamp He made use
of the house in London where he met his uncle occasionally and he called at
Steynham for money that he could have obtained upon the one condition which
was no sooner mentioned than fiery words flew in the room and the two
separated The leaden look in Beauchamp noticed by Cecilia Halkett in their
latest interview was deepening and was of itself a displeasure to Lord
Avonley who liked flourishing faces and said »That fellow s getting the look
of a sweating smith« presumptively in the act of heating his poker at the
furnace to stir the country
It now became an offence to him that Beauchamp should continue doing this in
the speeches and lectures he was reported to be delivering he stamped his foot
at the sight of his nephews name in the daily journals a novel sentiment of
social indignation was expressed by his crying out at the next request for
money »Money to prime you to turn the country into a rathole Not a square
inch of Pennsylvanian paperbonds What right have you to be lecturing and
orationing Youve no knowledge All youve got is your instincts and that you
show in your readiness to exhibit them like a monkey You ought to be turned
inside out on your own stage Youve lumped your brains on a point or two about
Land and Commonland and the Suffrage and you pound away upon them as if you
had the key of the difficulty It s the Scotchmans metaphysics you know
nothing clear and your workingclasses know nothing at all and you blow them
with wind like an overstuffed cow What you re driving at is to get hobnail
boots to dance on our heads Stukely says you should be off over to Ireland
There you d swim in your element and have speechifying from instinct and
howling and pummelling too enough to last you out I ll hand you money for
that expedition You re one above the number wanted here Youve a look of bad
powder fit only to flash in the pan I saved you from the post of public donkey
by keeping you out of Parliament You re braying and kicking your worst for it
still at these meetings of yours A naval officer preaching about Republicanism
and parcelling out the Land«
Beauchamp replied quietly »The lectures I read are Dr Shrapnels When I
speak I have his knowledge to back my deficiencies He is too ill to work and I
consider it my duty to do as much of his work as I can undertake«
»Ha You re the old infidels Amen clerk It would rather astonish orthodox
congregations to see clerks in our churches getting into the pulpit to read the
sermon for sick clergymen« said Lord Avonley His countenance furrowed »I ll
pay that bill« he added
»Pay down half a million« thundered Beauchamp and dropping his voice »or
go to him«
»You remind me« his uncle observed »I recommend you to ring that bell and
have Mrs Culling here«
»If she comes she will hear what I think of her«
»Then out of the house«
»Very well sir You decline to supply me with money«
»I do«
»I must have it«
»I dare say Money s a chaincable for holding men to their senses«
»I ask you my lord how I am to carry on Holdesbury«
»Give it up«
»I shall have to« said Beauchamp striving to be prudent
»There isnt a doubt of it« said his uncle upon a series of nods
diminishing in their depth until his head assumed a droll interrogative fixity
with an air of »What next«
Chapter XXXIX
Between Beauchamp and Cecilia
Beauchamp quitted the house without answering as to what next and without
seeing Rosamund
In the matter of money as of his physical health he wanted to do too much
at once he had spent largely of both in his efforts to repair the injury done
to Dr Shrapnel He was overworked anxious restless craving for a holiday
somewhere in France possibly he was all but leaping on board the boat at
times and unwilling to leave his dear old friend who clung to him he stayed
keeping his impulses below the tidemark which leads to action but where they
do not yield peace of spirit The tone of Renées letters filled him with
misgivings She wrote word that she had seen M dHenriel for the first time
since his return from Italy and he was much changed and inclined to thank
Roland for the lesson he had received from him at the swords point And next
she urged Beauchamp to marry so that he and she might meet as if she felt a
necessity for it »I shall love your wife teach her to think amiably of me«
she said And her letter contained womanly sympathy for him in his battle with
his uncle Beauchamp thought of his experiences of Cecilias comparative
coldness He replied that there was no prospect of his marrying he wished there
were one of meeting He forbore from writing too fervently but he alluded to
happy days in Normandy and proposed to renew them if she would say she had need
of him He entreated her to deal with him frankly he reminded her that she must
constantly look to him as she had vowed she would when in any kind of trouble
and he declared to her that he was unchanged He meant of an unchanged
disposition to shield and serve her but the review of her situation and his
knowledge of her quick blood wrought him to some jealous lovers throbs which
led him to impress his unchangeableness upon her to bind her to that standard
She declined his visit not now not yet and for that he presumed to chide
her halfsincerely As far as he knew he stood against everybody save his old
friend and Renée and she certainly would have refreshed his heart for a day In
writing however he had an ominous vision of the morrow to the day and both
for her sake and his own he was not unrejoiced to hear that she was engaged day
and night in nursing her husband Pursuing his vision of the morrow of an
unreproachful day with Renée the madness of taking her to himself should she
surrender at last to a third persuasion struck him sharply now that he and his
uncle were foot to foot in downright conflict and money was the question He
had not much remaining of his inheritance about fifteen hundred pounds He
would have to vacate Holdesbury and his uncles townhouse in a month Let his
passion be never so desperate for a beggared man to think of running away with
a wife or of marrying one the folly is as big as the worldly offence no
justification is to be imagined Nay and there is no justification for the
breach of a moral law Beauchamp owned it and felt that Renées resistance to
him in Normandy placed her above him He remembered a saying of his moralist
»We who interpret things heavenly by things earthly must not hope to juggle with
them for our pleasures and can look to no absolution of evil acts« The school
was a hard one It denied him holidays it cut him off from dreams It ran him
in heavy harness on a rough highroad allowing no turnings to right or left no
wayside croppings with the simple permission to him that he should daily get
thoroughly tired And what was it Jenny Denham had said on the election day
»Does incessant battling keep the intellect clear«
His mind was clear enough to put the case that either he beheld a
tremendous magnification of things or else that other men did not attach common
importance to them and he decided that the latter was the fact
An incessant struggle of one man with the world which position usually
ranks his relatives against him does not conduce to soundness of judgement He
may nevertheless be right in considering that he is right in the main The world
in motion is not so wise that it can pretend to silence the outcry of an
ordinarily generous heart even the very infant of antagonism to its methods
and establishments It is not so difficult to be right against the world when
the heart is really active but the world is our book of humanity and before
insisting that his handwriting shall occupy the next blank page of it the noble
rebel is bound for the sake of his aim to ask himself how much of a giant he is
lest he fall like a blot on the page instead of inscribing intelligible
characters there
Moreover his relatives are present to assure him that he did not jump out
of Jupiters head or come of the doctor They hang on him like an
illconditioned prickly garment and if he complains of the irritation they
cause him they one and all denounce his irritable skin
Fretted by his relatives he cannot be much of a giant
Beauchamp looked from Dr Shrapnel in his invalids chair to his uncle
Everard breathing robustly and mixed his uncles errors with those of the world
which honoured and upheld him His remainder of equability departed his
impatience increased His appetite for work at Dr Shrapnels writingdesk was
voracious He was ready for any labour the transcribing of papers writing from
dictation whatsoever was of service to Lord Avonleys victim and he was not
like the Spartan boy with the wolf at his vitals he betrayed it in the hue his
uncle Everard detested in a visible nervousness and indulgence in fits of
scorn Sharp epigrams and notes of irony provoked his laughter more than fun He
seemed to acquiesce in some of the current contemporary despair of our
immoveable England though he winced at a satire on his country and attempted
to show that the dull dominant class of moneymakers was the ruin of her
Wherever he stood to represent Dr Shrapnel as against Mr Grancey Lespel on
account of the Itchincope encroachments he left a sting that spread the rumour
of his having become not only a black torch of Radicalism our modern
provincial estateholders and their wives bestow that reputation lightly but a
gentleman with the polish scratched off him in parts And he though
individually he did not understand how there was to be game in the land if
gamepreserving was abolished signed his name R C S NEVIL BEAUCHAMP for DR
SHRAPNEL in the communications directed to solicitors of the persecutors of
poachers
His behaviour to Grancey Lespel was eclipsed by his treatment of Captain
Baskelett Cecil had ample reason to suppose his cousin to be friendly with him
He himself had forgotten Dr Shrapnel and all other dissensions in a supremely
Christian spirit He paid his cousin the compliment to think that he had done
likewise At Romfrey and in London he had spoken to Nevil of his designs upon
the widow Nevil said nothing against it and it was under Mrs
WardourDevereuxs eyes and before a man named Lydiard that never calling to
him to put him on his guard Nevil fell foul of him with every capital charge
that can be brought against a gentleman and did so abuse worry and disgrace
him as to reduce him to quit the house to avoid the scandal of a resort to a
gentlemans last appeal in vindication of his character Mrs Devereux spoke of
the terrible scene to Cecilia and Lydiard to Miss Denham The injured person
communicated it to Lord Avonley who told Colonel Halkett emphatically that his
nephew Cecil deserved well of him in having kept command of his temper out of
consideration for the family There was a general murmur of the family over this
incident The widow was rich and it ranked among the unwritten crimes against
blood for one offshoot of a great house wantonly to thwart another in the wooing
of her by humbling him in her presence doing his utmost to expose him as a
schemer a culprit and a poltroon
Could it be that Beauchamp had reserved his wrath with his cousin to avenge
Dr Shrapnel upon him signally Miss Denham feared her guardian was the cause
Lydiard was indefinitely of her opinion The idea struck Cecilia Halkett and as
an example of Beauchamps tenacity of purpose and sureness of aim it fascinated
her But Mrs WardourDevereux did not appear to share it She objected to
Beauchamps intemperateness and unsparingness as if she was for conveying a
sisterly warning to Cecilia and that being off her mind she added smiling a
little and colouring a little »We learn only from men what men are« How the
scene commenced and whether it was provoked she failed to recollect She
described Beauchamp as very selfcontained in manner throughout his tongue was
the scorpion Cecilia fancied he must have resembled his uncle Everard
Cecilia was conquered but unclaimed While supporting and approving him in
her heart she was dreading to receive some new problem of his conduct and still
while she blamed him for not seeking an interview with her she liked him for
this instance of delicacy in the present state of his relations with Lord
Avonley
A problem of her own conduct disturbed the young ladys clear conception of
herself and this was a ruffling of unfaithfulness in her love of Beauchamp
that was betrayed to her by her forgetfulness of him whenever she chanced to be
with Seymour Austin In Mr Austins company she recovered her forfeited repose
her poetry of life her image of the independent Cecilia throned above our dust
of battle gazing on broad heaven She carried the feeling so far that Blackburn
Tuckhams enthusiasm for Mr Austin gave him grace in her sight and praise of
her fathers favourite from Mr Austins mouth made him welcome to her The
image of that grave capable head dustygrey about the temples and the darkly
sanguine face of the tried man which was that of a seasoned warrior and
inspired full trust in him with his vivid look his personal distinction his
plain devotion to the countrys business and the domestic solitude he lived in
admired esteemed loved perhaps but unpartnered was often her refuge and
haven from tempestuous Beauchamp She could see in vision the pride of Seymour
Austins mate It flushed her reflectively Conquered but not claimed Cecilia
was like the frozen earth insensibly moving round to sunshine in nature with
one white flower in her breast as innocent a sign of strong sweet blood as a
woman may wear She ascribed to that fair mate of Seymour Austins many lofty
charms of womanhood above all stateliness her especial dream of an attainable
superlative beauty in women And supposing that lady to be accused of the fickle
breaking of another love who walked beside him matched with his calm heart and
one with him in counsel would the accusation be repeated by them that beheld
her husband might it not rather be said that she had not deviated but had only
stepped higher She chose no youth no glistener no idler it was her soul
striving upward to air like a seed in the earth that raised her to him and she
could say to the man once enchaining her Friend by the good you taught me I
was led to this
Cecilias reveries fled like columns of mist before the gale when tidings
reached her of a positive rupture between Lord Avonley and Nevil Beauchamp and
of the mandate to him to quit possession of Holdesbury and the London house
within a certain number of days because of his refusal to utter an apology to
Mrs Culling Angrily on his behalf she prepared to humble herself to him
Louise WardourDevereux brought them to a meeting at which Cecilia with her
heart in her hand was icy Mr Lydiard prompted by Mrs Devereux gave him
better reasons for her singular coldness than Cecilia could give to herself and
some time afterward Beauchamp went to Mount Laurels where Colonel Halkett
mounted guard over his daughter and behaved to her thinking cruelly »Now you
have ruined yourself there s nothing ahead for you but to go to the Admiralty
and apply for a ship« he said sugaring the unkindness with the remark that the
country would be the gainer He let fly a sideshot at London men calling
themselves military men who sought to repair their fortunes by chasing wealthy
widows and complimented Beauchamp »You re not one of that sort«
Cecilia looked at Beauchamp stedfastly »Speak« said the look
But he though not blind was keenly wounded
»Money I must have« he said half to the colonel half to himself
Colonel Halkett shrugged Cecilia waited for a directness in Beauchamps
eyes
Her father was too wary to leave them
Cecilias intuition told her that by leading to a discussion of politics
and adopting Beauchamps views she could kindle him Why did she refrain It
was that the conquered young lady was a captive not an ally To touch the
subject in cold blood voluntarily to launch on those vexed waters as if his
cause were her hearts as much as her heart was the mans she felt to be
impossible He at the same time felt that the heiress endowing him with money
to speed the good cause should be his match in ardour for it otherwise he was
but a common adventurer winning and despoiling an heiress
They met in London Beauchamp had not vacated either Holdesbury or the
townhouse he was defying his uncle Everard and Cecilia thought with him that
it was a wise temerity She thought with him passively altogether On this
occasion she had not to wait for directness in his eyes she had to parry it
They were at a dinnerparty at Lady Elseas generally the last place for seeing
Lord Palmet but he was present and arranged things neatly for them telling
Beauchamp that he acted under Mrs WardourDevereuxs orders Never was an
opportunity more propitious for a desperate lover Had it been Renée next him
no petty worldly scruples of honour would have held him back And if Cecilia had
spoken feelingly of Dr Shrapnel or had she simulated a thoughtful interest in
his pursuits his hesitations would have vanished As it was he dared to look
what he did not permit himself to speak She was nobly lovely and the palpable
envy of men around cried fool at his delays Beggar and heiress he said in his
heart to vitalize the threeparts fiction of the point of honour which
Cecilias beauty was fast submerging When she was leaving he named a day for
calling to see her Colonel Halkett stood by and she answered »Come«
Beauchamp kept the appointment Cecilia was absent
He was unaware that her father had taken her to old Mrs Beauchamps
deathbed Her absence after she had said »Come« appeared a confirmation of
her glacial manner when they met at the house of Mrs WardourDevereux and he
charged her with waywardness A wound of the same kind that we are inflicting is
about the severest we can feel
Beauchamp received intelligence of his venerable greataunts death from
Blackburn Tuckham and after the funeral he was informed that eighty thousand
pounds had been bequeathed to him a goodly sum of money for a gentleman
recently beggared yet as the political enthusiast could not help reckoning
apart from a fervent sentiment of gratitude toward his benefactress scarcely
enough to do much more than start and push for three or more years a commanding
daily newspaper devoted to Radical interests and to be entitled THE DAWN
True he might now conscientiously approach the heiress take her hand with
an open countenance and retain it
Could he do so quite conscientiously The point of honour had been centred
in his condition of beggary Something still was in his way A quick spring of
his blood for air motion excitement holiday freedom sent his thoughts
travelling whither they always shot away when his redoubtable natural temper
broke loose
In the case of any other woman than Cecilia Halkett he would not have been
obstructed by the minor consideration as to whether he was wholly heartfree to
ask her in marriage that instant for there was no hindrance and she was
beautiful She was exceedingly beautiful and she was an unequalled heiress She
would be able with her wealth to float his newspaper THE DAWN so desired of
Dr Shrapnel the best restorative that could be applied to him Every
temptation came supplicating him to take the step which indeed he wished for
one feeling opposed He really respected Cecilia it is not too much to say that
he worshipped her with the devout worship rendered to the ideal Englishwoman by
the heart of the nation For him she was purity charity the keeper of the keys
of whatsoever is held precious by men she was a midway saint a light between
day and darkness in whom the spirit in the flesh shone like the growing star
amid thin sanguine colour the sweeter the brighter the more translucent the
longer known And if the image will allow it the nearer down to him the holier
she seemed
How offer himself when he was not perfectly certain that he was worthy of
her
Some jugglery was played by the adept male heart in these later hesitations
Up to the extent of his knowledge of himself the man was fairly sincere
Passion would have sped him to Cecilia but passion is not invariably love and
we know what it can be
The glance he cast over the water at Normandy was withdrawn He went to
Bevisham to consult with Dr Shrapnel about the starting of a weekly journal
instead of a daily and a name for it a serious question for though it is
oftener weekly than daily that the dawn is visible in England titles must not
invite the public jest and the glorious project of the daily DAWN was prudently
abandoned for byandby He thought himself rich enough to put a Radical
champion weekly in the field and this matter excepting the title was arranged
in Bevisham Thence he proceeded to Holdesbury where he heard that the house
grounds and farm were let to a tenant preparing to enter Indifferent to the
blow he kept an engagement to deliver a speech at the great manufacturing town
of Gunningham and then went to London visiting his uncles townhouse for
recent letters Not one was from Renée she had not written for six weeks not
once for his thrice A letter from Cecil Baskelett informed him that my lord
had placed the townhouse at his disposal Returning to dress for dinner on a
thick and murky evening of February Beauchamp encountered his cousin on the
steps He said to Cecil »I sleep here tonight I leave the house to you
tomorrow«
Cecil struck out his underjaw to reply »Oh good You sleep here tonight
You are a fortunate man I congratulate you I shall not disturb you I have
just entered on my occupation of the house I have my key Allow me to recommend
you to go straight to the drawingroom And I may inform you that the Earl of
Romfrey is at the point of death My lord is at the castle«
Cecil accompanied his descent of the steps with the humming of an opera
melody Beauchamp tripped into the hallpassage A young maidservant held the
door open and she accosted him »If you please there is a lady upstairs in
the drawingroom she speaks foreign English sir«
Beauchamp asked if the lady was alone and not waiting for the answer
though he listened while writing and heard that she was heavily veiled he tore
a strip from his notebook and carefully traced halfadozen telegraphic words
to Mrs Culling at Steynham His rarely failing promptness which was like an
inspiration to conceive and execute measures for averting peril set him on the
thought of possibly counteracting his cousin Cecils malignant tongue by means
of a message to Rosamund summoning her by telegraph to come to town by the next
train that night He despatched the old woman keeping the house as trustier
than the young one to the nearest office and went up to the drawingroom with
a quick thumping heart that was nevertheless as little apprehensive of an
especial trial and danger as if he had done nothing at all to obviate it Indeed
he forgot that he had done anything when he turned the handle of the
drawingroom door
Chapter XL
A Trial of Him
A lowburning lamp and fire cast a narrow ring on the shadows of the dusky
London room One of the windowblinds was drawn up Beauchamp discerned a shape
at that window and the fear seized him that it might be Madame dAuffray with
evil news of Renée but it was Renées name he called She rose from her chair
saying »I«
She was trembling
Beauchamp asked her whisperingly if she had come alone
»Alone without even a maid« she murmured
He pulled down the blind of the window exposing them to the square and led
her into the light to see her face The dimness of light annoyed him and the
miserable reception of her this English weather and the gloomy house And how
long had she been waiting for him and what was the mystery Renée in England
seemed magical yet it was nothing stranger than an old dream realized He wound
up the lamp holding her still with one hand She was woefully pale scarcely
able to bear the increase of light
»It is I who come to you« she was half audible
»This time« said he »You have been suffering«
»No«
Her tone was brief not reassuring
»You came straight to me«
»Without a deviation that I know of«
»From Tourdestelle«
»You have not forgotten Tourdestelle Nevil«
The memory of it quickened his rapture in reading her features It was his
first love his enchantress who was here and how Conjectures shot through him
like lightnings in the dark
Irrationally at a moment when reason stood in awe he fancied it must be
that her husband was dead He forced himself to think it and could have smiled
at the hurry of her coming alone without even a maid and deeper down in him
the devouring question burned which dreaded the answer
But of old in Normandy she had pledged herself to join him with no delay
when free if ever free
So now she was free
One side of him glowed in illumination the other was black as Winter night
but light subdues darkness and in a situation like Beauchamps the blood is
livelier than the prophetic mind
»Why did you tell me to marry What did that mean« said he »Did you wish
me to be the one in chains And you have come quite alone you will give me an
account of everything presently You are here in England and what a welcome
for you You are cold«
»I am warmly clad« said Renée suffering her hand to be drawn to his breast
at her armslength not bending with it
Alive to his own indirectness he was conscious at once of the slight sign
of reservation and said »Tell me « and swerved sheer away from his
question »how is Madame dAuffray«
»Agnès I left her at Tourdestelle« said Renée
»And Roland He never writes to me«
»Neither he nor I write much He is at the military camp of instruction in
the North«
»He will run over to us«
»Do not expect it«
»Why not«
Renée sighed »We shall have to live longer than I look for « she
stopped »Why do you ask me why not He is fond of us both and sorry for us
but have you forgotten Roland that morning on the Adriatic«
Beauchamp pressed her hand The stroke of Then and Now rang in his breast
like a bell instead of a bounding heart Something had stunned his heart He had
no clear central feeling he tried to gather it from her touch from his joy in
beholding her and sitting with her alone from the grace of her figure the wild
sweetness of her eyes and the beloved foreign lips bewitching him with their
exquisite French and perfection of speech
His nature was too prompt in responding to such a call on it for resolute
warmth
»If I had been firmer then or you one year older« he said
»That girl in Venice had no courage« said Renée
She raised her head and looked about the room
Her instinct of love sounded her lover through and felt the deficiency or
the contrariety in him as surely as musical ears are pained by a discord that
they require no touchstone to detect Passion has the sensitiveness of fever
and is as cruelly chilled by a tepid air
»Yes a London house after Venice and Normandy« said Beauchamp following
her look
»Sicily do not omit Syracuse you were in your naval uniform Normandy was
our third meeting« said Renée »This is the fourth I should have reckoned
that«
»Why Superstitiously«
»We cannot be entirely wise when we have staked our fate Sailors are
credulous you know them Women are like them when they embark Three
chances Who can boast of so many and expect one more Will you take me to my
hotel Nevil«
The fiction of her being free could not be sustained
»Take you and leave you I am absolutely at your command But leave you You
are alone and you have told me nothing«
What was there to tell The desperate act was apparent and told all
Renées dark eyelashes lifted on him and dropped
»Then things are as I left them in Normandy« said he
She replied »Almost«
He quivered at the solitary word for his conscience was on edge It ran the
shrewdest irony through him inexplicably »Almost« that is »with this poor
difference of one person now finding herself worthless subtracted from the
list no other it should be little to them as it is little to you« or
reversing it the substance of the word became magnified and intensified by its
humble slightness »Things are the same but for the jewel of the province a
lustre of France lured hither to her eclipse« meanings various
indistinguishable thrilling and piercing sad as the halftones humming round
the note of a strung wire which is a blunt single note to the common ear
Beauchamp sprang to his feet and bent above her »You have come to me for
the love of me to give yourself to me and for ever for good till death
Speak my beloved Renée«
Her eyes were raised to his »You see me here It is for you to speak«
»I do There s nothing I ask for now if the step cant be retrieved«
»The step retrieved my friend There is no step backward in life«
»I am thinking of you Renée«
»Yes I know« she answered hurriedly
»If we discover that the step is a wrong one« he pursued »why is there no
step backward«
»I am talking of women« said Renée
»Why not for women«
»Honourable women I mean« said Renée
Beauchamp inclined to forget his position in finding matter to contest
Yet it is beyond contest that there is no step backward in life She spoke
well better than he and she won his deference by it Not only she spoke
better she was truer distincter braver and a man ever on the lookout for
superior qualities and ready to bow to them could not refuse her homage With
that a saving sense of power quitted him
»You wrote to me that you were unchanged Nevil«
»I am«
»So then I came«
His rejoinder was the dumb one commonly eloquent and satisfactory
Renée shut her eyes with a painful rigour of endurance
She opened them to look at him steadily
The desperate act of her flight demanded immediate recognition from him in
simple language and a practical seconding of it There was the test
»I cannot stay in this house Nevil take me away«
She named her hotel in her French English and the sound of it penetrated
him with remorseful pity It was for him and of his doing that she was in an
alien land and an outcast
»This house is wretched for you« said he »and you must be hungry Let me
«
»I cannot eat I will ask you« she paused drawing on her energies and
keeping down the throbs of her heart »this do you love me«
»I love you with all my heart and soul«
»As in Normandy«
»Yes«
»In Venice«
»As from the first Renée That I can swear«
»Oaths are foolish I meant to ask you my friend there is no question in
my mind of any other woman I see you love me I am so used to consider myself
the vain and cowardly creature and you the boldest and faithfullest of men
that I could not abandon the habit if I would I started confiding in you sure
that I should come to land But I have to ask you to me you are truth I have
no claim on my lover for anything but the answer to this Am I a burden to
you«
His brows flew up in furrows He drew a heavy breath for never had he loved
her more admiringly and never on such equal terms She was his mate in love and
daring at least A sorrowful comparison struck him of a little boat sailing out
to a vessel in deep seas and left to founder
Without knotting his mind to acknowledge or deny the burden for he could do
neither he stood silent staring at her not so much in weakness as in positive
mental division No would be false and Yes not less false and if the step
was irretrievable to say Yes would be to plunge a dagger in her bosom but No
was a vain deceit involving a double wreck Assuredly a man standing against the
world in a good cause with a runaway wife on his hands carries a burden
however precious it be to him
A smile of her lips parted in an anguish of expectancy went to death over
Renées face She looked at him tenderly »The truth« she murmured to herself
and her eyelids fell
»I am ready to bear anything« said Beauchamp »I weigh what you ask me
that is all You a burden to me But when you ask me you make me turn round and
inquire how we stand before the world«
»The world does not stone men« said Renée
»Cant I make you feel that I am not thinking of myself« Beauchamp stamped
in his extreme perplexity He was gagged he could not possibly talk to her who
had cast the die of his later notions of morality and the worlds dues fees
and claims on us
»No friend I am not complaining« Renée put out her hand to him with
compassionate irony feigning to have heard excuses »What right have I to
complain I have not the sensation I could not expect you to be everlastingly
the sentinel of love Three times I rejected you Now that I have lost my father
Oh poor father I trifled with my lover I tricked him that my father might
live in peace He is dead I wished you to marry one of your own countrywomen
Nevil You said it was impossible and I with my snake at my heart and a
husband grateful for nursing and whimpering to me for his youth like a beggar on
the road I thought I owed you this debt of body and soul to prove to you I
have some courage and for myself to reward myself for my long captivity and
misery with one year of life and adieu to Roland my brother adieu to friends
adieu to France Italy was our home I dreamed of one year in Italy I fancied
it might be two more than that was unimaginable Prisoners of long date do not
hope they do not calculate air light they say to breathe freely and drop
down They are reduced to the instincts of the beasts I thought I might give
you happiness pay part of my debt to you Are you remembering Count Henri That
paints what I was I could fly to that for a taste of life a dance to death
And again you ask Why if I loved you then not turn to you in preference No
you have answered it yourself Nevil on that day in the boat when generosity
in a man so surprised me it seemed a miracle to me and it was in its
divination How I thank my dear brother Roland for saving me the sight of you
condemned to fight against your conscience He taught poor M dHenriel his
lesson You Nevil were my teacher And see how it hangs there was mercy for
me in not having drawn down my fathers anger on my hearts beloved He loved
you He pitied us He reproached himself In his last days he was taught to
suspect our story perhaps from Roland perhaps I breathed it without speaking
He called heavens blessings on you He spoke of you with tears clutching my
hand He made me feel he would have cried out If I were leaving her with Nevil
Beauchamp and Beauchamp I heard him murmuring once take down Froissart he
named a chapter It was curious if he uttered my name Renée yours Nevil soon
followed That was noticed by Roland Hope for us he could not have had as
little as I But we were his two his children I buried him I thought he
would know our innocence and now pardon our love I read your letters from my
name at the beginning to yours at the end and from yours back to mine and
between the lines for any doubtful spot and oh rash But I would not retrace
the step for my own sake I am certain of your love for me though « She
paused »Yes I am certain of it And if I am a burden to you«
»About as much as the air which I cant do without since I began to breathe
it« said Beauchamp more clearmindedly now that he supposed he was addressing
a mind and with a peril to himself that escaped his vigilance There was a
secret intoxication for him already in the halfcertainty that the step could
not be retraced The idea that he might reason with her made her seductive to
the heart and head of him
»I am passably rich Nevil« she said »I do not care for money except that
it gives wings Roland inherits the château in Touraine I have one in Burgundy
and rentes and shares my notary informs me«
»I have money« said he His heart began beating violently He lost sight of
his intention of reasoning »Good God if you were free«
She faltered »At Tourdestelle «
»Yes and I am unchanged« Beauchamp cried out »Your life there was
horrible and mine s intolerable« He stretched his arms cramped like the
yawning of a wretch in fetters That which he would and would not became so
intervolved that he deemed it reasonable to instance their common misery as a
ground for their union against the world And what has that world done for us
that a joy so immeasurable should be rejected on its behalf And what have we
succeeded in doing that the childish effort to move it should be continued at
such a cost
For years down to one year back and less yesterday it could be said
all human blessedness appeared to him in the person of Renée given him under
any condition whatsoever She was not less adorable now In her decision and a
courage that he especially prized in women she was a sweeter to him than when
he was with her in France too sweet to be looked at and refused
»But we must live in England« he cried abruptly out of his inner mind
»Oh not England Italy Italy« Renée exclaimed »Italy or Greece
anywhere where we have sunlight Mountains and valleys are my dream Promise it
Nevil I will obey you but this is my wish Take me through Venice that I may
look at myself and wonder We can live at sea in a yacht anywhere with you but
in England This country frowns on me I can hardly fetch my breath here I am
suffocated The people all walk in lines in England Not here Nevil They are
good people I am sure and it is your country but their faces chill me their
voices grate I should never understand them they would be to me like their
fogs eternally and I to them O me it would be like hearing sentence in the
dampness of the shroud perpetually Again I say I do not doubt that they are
very good they claim to be they judge others they may know how to make
themselves happy in their climate it is common to most creatures to do so or
to imagine it Nevil not England«
Truly the mad commander and his French marquise of the Bevisham Election
ballad would make a pretty figure in England
His friends of his own class would be mouthing it The story would be a
dogging shadow of his public life and quite as bad a reflection on his party
He heard the yelping tongues of the cynics He saw the consternation and grief
of his old Bevisham hero his leader and his teacher
»Florence« he said musing on the prospect of exile and idleness »there s
a kind of society to be had in Florence«
Renée asked him if he cared so much for society
He replied that women must have it just as men must have exercise
»Old women Nevil intriguers tattlers«
»Young women Renée«
She signified no
He shook the head of superior knowledge paternally
Her instinct of comedy set a dimple faintly working in her cheek
»Not if they love Nevil«
»At least« said he »a man does not like to see the woman he loves banished
by society and browbeaten«
»Putting me aside do you care for it Nevil«
»Personally not a jot«
»I am convinced of that« said Renée
She spoke suspiciously sweetly appearing perfect candour
The change in him was perceptible to her The nature of the change was
unfathomable
She tried her wits at the riddle But though she could be an actress before
him with little difficulty the torment of her situation roused the fever within
her at a bare effort to think acutely Scarlet suffused her face her brain
whirled
»Remember dearest I have but offered myself you have your choice I can
pass on Yes I know well I speak to Nevil Beauchamp you have drilled me to
trust you and your word as a soldier trusts to his officer once a
fainthearted soldier I need not remind you fronting the enemy now in hard
truth But I want your whole heart to decide Give me no silly compassion Would
it have been better to me to have written to you If I had written I should have
clipped my glorious impulse brought myself down to earth with my own arrow I
did not write for I believed in you«
So firm had been her faith in him that her visions of him on the passage to
England had resolved all to one flash of bloodwarm welcome awaiting her and it
says much for her natural generosity that the savage delicacy of a woman placed
as she now was did not take a mortal hurt from the apparent voidness of this
home of his bosom The passionate gladness of the lover was wanting the
chivalrous valiancy of manful joy
Renée shivered at the cloud thickening over her new light of intrepid
defiant life
»Think it not improbable that I have weighed everything I surrender in
quitting France« she said
Remorse wrestled with Beauchamp and flung him at her feet
Renée remarked on the lateness of the hour
He promised to conduct her to her hotel immediately
»And tomorrow« said Renée simply but breathlessly
»Tomorrow let it be Italy But first I telegraph to Roland and
Tourdestelle I cant run and hide The step may be retrieved or no you are
right the step cannot but the next to it may be stopped that was the meaning
I had I ll try It s cutting my hand off tearing my heart out but I will O
that you were free You left your husband at Tourdestelle«
»I presume he is there at present he was in Paris when I left«
Beauchamp spoke hoarsely and incoherently in contrast with her composure
»You will misunderstand me for a day or two Renée I say if you were free I
should have my first love mine for ever Dont fear me I have no right even to
press your fingers He may throw you into my arms Now you are the same as if
you were in your own home and you must accept me for your guide By all I hope
for in life I ll see you through it and keep the dogs from barking if I can
Thousands are ready to give tongue And if they can get me in the character of a
lawbreaker I hear them«
»Are you imagining Nevil that there is a possibility of my returning to
him«
»To your place in the world You have not had to endure tyranny«
»I should have had a certain respect for a tyrant Nevil At least I should
have had an occupation in mocking him and conspiring against him Tyranny There
would have been some amusement to me in that«
»It was neglect«
»If I could still charge it on neglect Nevil Neglect is very endurable He
rewards me for nursing him he rewards me with a little persecution wives
should be flattered by it it comes late«
»What« cried Beauchamp oppressed and impatient
Renée sank her voice
Something in the run of the unaccented French »Son amour mon ami« drove
the significance of the bitterness of the life she had left behind her burningly
through him This was to have fled from a dragon was the lovers thought he
perceived the motive of her flight and it was a vindication of it that appealed
to him irresistibly The proposal for her return grew hideous and this ever
multiplying horror and sting of the love of a married woman came on him with a
fresh throbbing shock more venom
He felt for himself now and now he was full of feeling for her Impossible
that she should return Tourdestelle shone to him like a gaping chasm of fire
And becoming entirely selfish he impressed his total abnegation of self upon
Renée so that she could have worshipped him A lover that was like a starry
frost froze her veins bewildered her intelligence She yearned for meridian
warmth for repose in a directing hand and let it be hard as one that grasps a
sword what matter unhesitatingness was the warrior virtue of her desire And
for herself the worst might happen if only she were borne along Let her life be
torn and streaming like the flag of battle it must be forward to the end
That was a quality of godless young heroism not unexhausted in Beauchamps
blood Reanimated by him she awakened his imagination of the vagrant splendours
of existence and the rebel delights which have their own laws and nature for an
applauding mother Radiant Alps rose in his eyes and the morning born in the
night suns that from mountain and valley over sea and desert called on all
earth to witness their death The magnificence of the contempt of humanity posed
before him superbly satanesque grand as thunder among the crags and it was not
a sensual cry that summoned him from his pedlar labours pack on back along the
level road to live and breathe deep gloriously mated Renée kindled his
romantic spirit and could strike the feeling into him that to be proud of his
possession of her was to conquer the fretful vanity to possess She was not a
woman of wiles and lures
Once or twice she consulted her watch but as she professed to have no
hunger Beauchamps entreaty to her to stay prevailed and the subtle form of
compliment to his knightly manliness in her remaining with him gave him a new
sense of pleasure that hung round her companionable conversation deepening the
meaning of the words or sometimes contrasting the sweet surface commonplace
with the undercurrent of strangeness in their hearts and the reality of a
tragic position Her musical volubility flowed to entrance and divert him as it
did
Suddenly Beauchamp glanced upward
Renée turned from a startled contemplation of his frown and beheld Mrs
Rosamund Culling in the room
Chapter XLI
A Lame Victory
The intruder was not a person that had power to divide them yet she came
between their hearts with a touch of steel
»I am here in obedience to your commands in your telegram of this evening«
Rosamund replied to Beauchamps hard stare at her she courteously spoke French
and acquitted herself demurely of a bow to the lady present
Renée withdrew her serious eyes from Beauchamp She rose and acknowledged
the bow
»It is my first visit to England madame«
»I could have desired Madame la marquise more agreeable weather for you«
»My friends in England will dispel the bad weather for me madame« Renée
smiled softly »I have been studying my FrenchEnglish phrasebook that I may
learn how dialogues are conducted in your country to lead to certain ceremonies
when old friends meet and without my book I am at fault I am longing to be
embraced by you if it will not be offending your rules«
Rosamund succumbed to the seductive woman whose gentle tooth bit through
her tutored simplicity of manner and natural graciousness administering its
reproof and eluding a retort or an excuse
She gave the embrace In doing so she fell upon her conscious awkwardness
for an expression of reserve that should be as good as irony for irony though
where Madame de Rouaillouts irony lay or whether it was irony at all our
excellent English dame could not have stated after the feeling of indignant
prudery responding to it so guiltily had subsided
Beauchamp asked her if she had brought servants with her and it gratified
her to see that he was no actor fitted to carry a scene through in virtues name
and vices mask with this actress
She replied »I have brought a man and a maidservant The establishment
will be in town the day after tomorrow in time for my lords return from the
Castle«
»You can have them up tomorrow morning«
»I could« Rosamund admitted the possibility Her idolatry of him was tried
on hearing him press the hospitality of the house upon Madame de Rouaillout and
observing the ladys transparent feint of a reluctant yielding For the voluble
Frenchwoman scarcely found a word to utter she protested languidly that she
preferred the independence of her hotel and fluttered a singular look at him
as if overcome by his vehement determination to have her in the house
Undoubtedly she had a taking face and style His infatuation nevertheless
appeared to Rosamund utter dementedness considering this womans position and
Cecilia Halketts beauty and wealth and that the house was no longer at his
disposal He was really distracted to judge by his forehead or else he was
overacting his part
The absence of a cook in the house Rosamund remarked must prevent her from
seconding Captain Beauchamps invitation
He turned on her witheringly »The telegraph will do that You re in
London cooks can be had by dozens Madame de Rouaillout is alone here she has
come to see a little of England and you will do the honours of the house«
»M le marquis is not in London« said Rosamund disregarding the dumb
imprecation she saw on Beauchamps features
»No madame my husband is not in London« Renée rejoined collectedly
»See to the necessary comforts of the house instantly« said Beauchamp and
telling Renée without listening to her that he had to issue orders he led
Rosamund who was out of breath at the effrontery of the pair toward the door
»Are you blind maam Have you gone foolish What should I have sent for you
for but to protect her I see your mind and off with the prude pray Madame
will have my room clear away every sign of me there I sleep out I can find a
bed anywhere And bolt and chain the housedoor tonight against Cecil
Baskelett he informs me that he has taken possession«
Rosamunds countenance had become less austere
»Captain Baskelett« she exclaimed leaning to Beauchamps views on the side
of her animosity to Cecil »he has been promised by his uncle the use of a set
of rooms during the year when the mistress of the house is not in occupation I
stipulated expressly that he was to see you and suit himself to your
convenience and to let me hear that you and he had agreed to an arrangement
before he entered the house He has no right to be here and I shall have no
hesitation in locking him out«
Beauchamp bade her go and not be away more than five minutes and then he
would drive to the hotel for the luggage
She scanned him for a look of ingenuousness that might be trusted and
laughed in her heart at her credulity for expecting it of a man in such a case
She saw Renée sitting stonily too proudly selfrespecting to put on a mask of
flippant ease These lovers might be accomplices in deceiving her they were not
happy ones and that appeared to her to be some assurance that she did well in
obeying him
Beauchamp closed the door on her He walked back to Renée with a thoughtful
air that was consciously acted his only thought being now she knows me
Renée looked up at him once Her eyes were unaccusing unquestioning
With the violation of the secresy of her flight she had lost her initiative
and her intrepidity The world of human eyes glared on her through the windows
of the two she had been exposed to paralyzing her brain and caging her spirit
of revolt That keen wakefulness of her selfdefensive social instinct helped
her to an understanding of her lovers plan to preserve her reputation or
rather to give her a corner of retreat in shielding the worthless thing twice
detested as her cloak of slavery coming from him She comprehended no more She
was a house of nerves crowding in against her soul like fiery thorns and had no
space within her torture for a sensation of gratitude or suspicion but feeling
herself hurried along at lightning speed to some dreadful shock her witless
imagination apprehended it in his voice not what he might say only the sound
She feared to hear him speak as the shrinking ear fears a thunder at the
cavity yet suspense was worse than the downwarddriving silence
The pang struck her when he uttered some words about Mrs Culling and
protection and Roland
She thanked him
So have common executioners been thanked by queenly ladies baring their
necks to the axe
He called up the pain he suffered to vindicate him and it was really an
agony of a man torn to pieces
»I have done the best«
This dogged and stupid piece of speech was pitiable to hear from Nevil
Beauchamp
»You think so« said she and her glasslike voice rang a tremour in its
mildness that swelled through him on the plain submissive note which was more
assent than question
»I am sure of it I believe it I see it At least I hope so«
»We are chiefly led by hope« said Renée
»At least if not« Beauchamp cried »And it s not too late I have no
right I do what I can I am at your mercy Judge me later If I am ever to
know what happiness is it will be with you It s not too late either way
There is Roland my brother as much as if you were my wife«
He begged her to let him have Rolands exact address
She named the regiment the corps darmée the postal town and the
department
»Roland will come at a signal« he pursued »we are not bound to consult
others«
Renée formed the French word of »we« on her tongue
He talked of Roland and Roland his affection for him as a brother and as a
friend and Rolands love of them both
»It is true« said Renée
»We owe him this he represents your father«
»All that you say is true my friend«
»Thus you have come on a visit to madame your old friend here oh your
hand What have I done«
Renée motioned her hand as if it were free to be taken and smiled faintly
to make light of it but did not give it
»If you had been widowed« he broke down to the lover again
»That man is attached to the remnant of his life I could not wish him
dispossessed of it« said Renée
»Parted who parts us It s for a night Tomorrow«
She breathed »Tomorrow«
To his hearing it craved an answer He had none To talk like a lover or
like a man of honour was to lie Falsehood hemmed him in to the narrowest ring
that ever statue stood on if he meant to be stone
»That woman will be returning« he muttered frowning at the vacant door »I
could lay out my whole life before your eyes and show you I am unchanged in my
love of you since the night when Roland and I walked on the Piazzetta «
»Do not remind me let those days lie black« A sympathetic vision of her
maidens tears on the night of wonderful moonlight when as it seemed to her
now San Giorgio stood like a dark prophet of her present abasement and
chastisement sprang tears of a different character and weak as she was with
her souls fever and for want of food she was piteously shaken She said with
some calmness »It is useless to look back I have no reproaches but for myself
Explain nothing to me Things that are not comprehended by one like me are
riddles I must put aside I know where I am I scarcely know more Here is
madame«
The door had not opened and it did not open immediately
Beauchamp had time to say »Believe in me« Even that was false to his own
hearing and in a struggle with the painful impression of insincerity which was
denied and scorned by his impulse to fling his arms round her and have her his
for ever he found himself deferentially accepting her brief directions
concerning her boxes at the hotel with Rosamund Culling to witness
She gave him her hand
He bowed over the fingers »Until tomorrow madame«
»Adieu« said Renée
Chapter XLII
The Two Passions
The foggy February night refreshed his head and the business of fetching the
luggage from the hotel a commission that necessitated the delivery of his card
and some very commanding language kept his mind in order Subsequently he
drove to his cousin Baskeletts Club where he left a short note to say the
house was engaged for the night and perhaps a week further Concise but
sufficient and he stated a hope to his cousin that he would not be
inconvenienced This was courteous
He had taken a bed at Renées hotel after wresting her boxes from the
vanquished hotel proprietor and lay there hearing the clear sound of every
little sentence of hers during the absence of Rosamund her »Adieu« and the
strange »Do you think so« and »I know where I am I scarcely know more« Her
eyes and their darker lashes and the fitful little sensitive dimples of a smile
without joy came with her voice but hardened to an aspect unlike her Not a
word could he recover of what she had spoken before Rosamunds intervention He
fancied she must have related details of her journey Especially there must have
been mention he thought of her drive to the station from Tourdestelle and
this flashed on him the scene of his ride to the château and the meeting her on
the road and the white light on the branching river and all that was Renée in
the spirit of the place she had abandoned for him believing in him She had
proved that she believed in him What in the name of sanity had been the meaning
of his language and what was it between them that arrested him and caused him
to mumble absurdly of doing best when in fact he was her bondman rejoiced to
be so by his pledged word and when she for some reason that he was sure she
had stated though he could recollect no more than the formless hideousness of
it was debarred from returning to Tourdestelle
He tossed in his bed as over a furnace in the extremity of perplexity of
one accustomed to think himself ever demonstrably in the right and now with his
whole nature in insurrection against that legitimate claim It led him to accuse
her of a want of passionate warmth in her not having supplicated and upbraided
him not behaving theatrically in fine as the ranting pen has made us expect
of emergent ladies that they will naturally do Concerning himself he thought
commendingly a tear would have overcome him She had not wept The kaleidoscope
was shaken in his fragmentary mind and she appeared thrice adorable for this
noble composure he brutish
Conscience and reason had resolved to a dead weight in him like an
inanimate force governing his acts despite the man while he was with Renée
Now his wishes and waverings conjured up a semblance of a conscience and much
reason to assure him that he had done foolishly as well as unkindly most
unkindly that he was even the ghastly spectacle of a creature attempting to be
more than he can be Are we never to embrace our inclinations Are the laws
regulating an old dry man like his teacher and guide to be the same for the
young and vigorous Is a good gift to be refused And this was his first love
The brilliant Renée manyhued as a tropic bird his lady of shining grace with
her sole fault of want of courage devotedly amended his pupil he might say of
whom he had foretold that she must come to such a pass at the same time
prefixing his fidelity And he was handing her over knowingly to one kind of
wretchedness »son amour mon ami« shot through him lighting up the gulfs of
a mind in wreck and one kind of happiness could certainly be promised her
All these and innumerable other handsome pleadings of the simulacra of the
powers he had set up to rule were crushed at daybreak by the realities in a
sense of weight that pushed him mechanically on He telegraphed to Roland and
mentally gave chase to the message to recall it The slumberer roused in
darkness by the relentless insaneseeming bell which hales him to duty melts at
the charms of sleep and feels that logic is with him in his preference of his
pillow but the tireless revolving world outside natures pitiless antagonist
has hung one of its balances about him and his actions are directed by the
state of the scales wherein duty weighs deep and desireability swings like a
pendant doll so he throws on his harness astounded till his blood quickens
with work at the round of sacrifices demanded of nature which is indeed
curious considering what we are taught here and there as to the infallibility of
our august mother Well the world of humanity had done this for Beauchamp His
afflicted historian is compelled to fling his net among prosaic similitudes for
an illustration of one thus degradedly in its grip If he had been off with his
love like the rover why then the Muse would have loosened her lap like May
showering flowerbuds and we might have knocked great nature up from her sleep
to embellish his desperate proceedings with hurricanes to be danced over to say
nothing of imitative spheres dashing out into hurlyburly after his example
Conscious rectitude too after the pattern of the wellbehaved Æneas
quitting the fair bosom of Carthage in obedience to the Gods for an example to
his Roman progeny might have stiffened his backbone and put a crown upon his
brows It happened with him that his original training rather imposed the idea
that he was a figure to be derided The approval of him by the prudent was a
disgust and by the pious tasteless He had not any consolation in reverting to
Dr Shrapnels heavy puritanism On the contrary such a general proposition as
that of the sage of Bevisham could not for a moment stand against the pathetic
special case of Renée and as far as Beauchamps active mind went he was for
demanding that Society should take a new position in morality considerably
broader and adapted to very special cases
Nevertheless he was hardly grieved in missing Renée at Rosamunds
breakfasttable Rosamund informed him that Madame de Rouaillouts door was
locked Her particular news for him was of a disgraceful alarum raised by
Captain Baskelett in the night to obtain admission and of an interview she had
with him in the early morning when he subjected her to great insolence
Beauchamps attention was drawn to her repetition of the phrase mistress of the
house However she did him justice in regard to Renée and thoroughly entered
into the fiction of Renées visit to her as her guest he passed over everything
else
To stop the mouth of a scandalmonger he drove full speed to Cecils Club
where he heard that the captain had breakfasted and had just departed for
Romfrey Castle He followed to the station The train had started So mischief
was rolling in that direction
Late at night Rosamund was allowed to enter the chill unlighted chamber
where the unhappy lady had been lying for hours in the gloom of a London
Winters daylight and gaslight
»Madame de Rouaillout is indisposed with headache« was her report to
Beauchamp
The conventional phraseology appeased him though he saw his grief behind
it
Presently he asked if Renée had taken food
»No you know what a headache is« Rosamund replied
It is true that we do not care to eat when we are in pain
He asked if she looked ill
»She will not have lights in the room« said Rosamund
Piecemeal he gained the picture of Renée in an image of the death within
which welcomed a death without
Rosamund was impatient with him for speaking of medical aid These men She
remarked very honestly »Oh no doctors are not needed«
»Has she mentioned me«
»Not once«
»Why do you swing your watchchain maam« cried Beauchamp bounding off
his chair
He reproached her with either pretending to indifference or feeling it and
then insisted on his privilege of going upstairs accompanied by her of
course and then it was to be only to the door then an answer to a message was
to satisfy him
»Any message would trouble her what message would you send« Rosamund asked
him
The weighty and the trivial contended no fitting message could be thought
of
»You are unused to real suffering that is for women and want to be
doing instead of enduring« said Rosamund
She was beginning to put faith in the innocence of these two mortally sick
lovers Beauchamps outcries against himself gave her the shadows of their
story He stood in tears a thing to see to believe of Nevil Beauchamp and
plainly he did not know it or else he would have taken her advice to him to
leave the house at an hour that was long past midnight Her method for inducing
him to go was based on her intimate knowledge of him she made as if to soothe
and kiss him compassionately
In the morning there was a flying word from Roland on his way to England
Rosamund tempered her report of Renée by saying of her that she was very quiet
He turned to the window
»Look what a climate ours is« Beauchamp abused the persistent fog »Dull
cold no sky a horrible air to breathe This is what she has come to Has she
spoken of me yet«
»No«
»Is she dead silent«
»She answers if I speak to her«
»I believe maam« said Beauchamp »that we are the coldesthearted people
in Europe«
Rosamund did not defend us or the fog Consequently nothing was left for
him to abuse but himself In that she tried to moderate him and drew forth a
torrent of selfvituperation after which he sank into the speechless misery he
had been evading until sophistical fancy another evolution of his nature
persuaded him that Roland seeing Renée would for loves sake be friendly to
them
»I should have told you Nevil by the way that the earl is dead« said
Rosamund
»Her brother will be here today he cant be later than the evening« said
Beauchamp »Get her to eat maam you must Command her to eat This terrible
starvation«
»You ate nothing yourself Nevil all day yesterday«
He surveyed the table »You have your cook in town I see Here s a
breakfast to feed twenty hungry families in Spitalfields Where does the mass of
meat go One excess feeds another You re overdone with servants Gluttony
laziness and pilfering come of your host of unmanageable footmen and maids you
stuff them and wonder they re idle and immoral If I suppose I must call him
the earl now or Colonel Halkett or any one of the army of rich men hear of an
increase of the incometax or some poor wretch hints at a sliding scale of
taxation they yell as if they were thumbscrewed but five shillings in the
pound goes to the kitchen as a matter of course to puff those pompous idiots
and the parsons who should be preaching against this sheer waste of food and
perversion of the strength of the nation as a public sin are maundering about
schism There s another idle army Then we have artists authors lawyers
doctors the honourable professions all hanging upon wealth all apeing the
rich and all bearing upon labour it s incubus on incubus In point of fact,
the rider s too heavy for the horse in England«
He began to nibble at bread
Rosamund pushed over to him a plate of the celebrated Steynham pie of her
own invention such as no house in the county of Sussex could produce or
imitate
»What would you have the parsons do« she said
»Take the rich by the throat and show them in the kitchenmirror that they
re swine running down to the sea with a devil in them« She had set him off
again but she had enticed him to eating »Pooh it has all been said before
Stones are easier to move than your English May I be forgiven for saying it an
invasion is what they want to bring them to their senses I m sick of the work
Why should I be denied am I to kill the woman I love that I may go on
hammering at them Their idea of liberty is an evasion of public duty Dr
Shrapnel s right it s a moneylogged Island Men like the Earl of Romfrey
who have never done work in their days except to kill bears and birds I say
they re stifled by wealth and he at least would have made an Admiral of mark
or a General not of much value but useful in case of need But he like a
pretty woman was under no obligation to contribute more than an ornamental
person to the common good As to that we count him by tens of thousands now
and his footmen and maids by hundreds of thousands The rich love the nation
through their possessions otherwise they have no country If they loved the
country they would care for the people Their hearts are eaten up by property I
am bidden to hold my tongue because I have no knowledge When men who have this
knowledge will go down to the people speak to them consult and argue with
them and come into suitable relations with them I dont say of lords and
retainers but of knowers and doers leaders and followers out of
consideration for public safety if not for the common good I shall hang back
gladly though I wont hear misstatements My fault is that I am too moderate
I should respect myself more if I deserved their hatred This flood of luxury
which is as Dr Shrapnel says the bodys drunkenness and the souls death
cries for execration I m too moderate But I shall quit the country Ive no
place here«
Rosamund ahemed »France Nevil I should hardly think that France would
please you in the present state of things over there«
Half cynically with great satisfaction she had watched him fretting at the
savoury morsels of her pie with a fork like a sparrowbeak during the monologue
that would have been so dreary to her but for her appreciation of the wholesome
effect of the letting off of steam and her admiration of the fire of his eyes
After finishing his plate he had less the look of a ship driving on to reefs
one of his images of the country He called for claret and water sighing as he
munched bread in vast portions evidently conceiving that to eat unbuttered
bread was to abstain from luxury He praised passingly the quality of the bread
It came from Steynham and so did the milk and cream the butter chicken and
eggs He was good enough not to object to the expenditure upon the transmission
of the accustomed dainties Altogether the gradual act of nibbling had conduced
to his eating remarkably well royally Rosamunds more than halfcynical ideas
of men and her custom of wringing unanimous verdicts from a jury of temporary
impressions inclined her to imagine him a lover that had not to be so very much
condoled with and a politician less alarming in practice than in theory
somewhat a gentleman of domestic tirades on politics as it is observed of your
generous young Radical of birth and fortune that he will become on the old high
road to a round Conservatism
He pitched one of the morning papers to the floor in disorderly sheets
muttering »So they re at me«
»Is Dr Shrapnel better« she asked »I hold to a good appetite as a sign of
a mans recovery«
Beauchamp was confronting the fog at the window He swung round »Dr
Shrapnel is better He has a particularly clever young female cook«
»Ah then «
»Yes then naturally He would naturally hasten to recover to partake of
the viands maam«
Rosamund murmured of her gladness that he should be able to enjoy them
»Oddly enough he is not an eater of meat« said Beauchamp
»A vegetarian«
»I beg you not to mention the fact to my lord You see you yourself can
scarcely pardon it He does not exclude flesh from his table Blackburn Tuckham
dined there once You are a thorough revolutionist Dr Shrapnel he observed
The doctor does not exclude wine but he does not drink it Poor Tuckham went
away entirely opposed to a Radical he could not even meet as a boonfellow I
begged him not to mention the circumstances as I have begged you He pledged me
his word to that effect solemnly he correctly felt that if the truth were
known there would be further cause for the reprobation of the man who had been
his host«
»And that poor girl Nevil«
»Miss Denham She contracted the habit of eating meat at school and
drinking wine in Paris and continues it occasionally Now run upstairs
Insist on food Inform Madame de Rouaillout that her brother M le comte de
Croisnel will soon be here and should not find her ill Talk to her as you
women can talk Keep the blinds down in her room light a dozen waxcandles
Tell her I have no thought but of her It s a lie of no woman but of her that
you may say But that you cant say You can say I am devoted ha what stuff
Ive only to open my mouth say nothing of me let her think the worst
unless it comes to a question of her life then be a merciful good woman « He
squeezed her fingers communicating his muscular tremble to her sensitive
womans frame and electrically convincing her that he was a lover
She went upstairs In ten minutes she descended and found him pacing up
and down the hall »Madame de Rouaillout is much the same« she said He nodded
looked up the stairs and about for his hat and gloves drew on the gloves
fixed the buttons blinked at his watch and settled his hat as he was
accustomed to wear it all very methodically and talking rapidly but except
for certain precise directions which were not needed by so careful a
housekeeper and nurse as Rosamund was known to be she could not catch a word of
meaning He had some appointment it seemed perhaps he was off for a doctor a
fresh instance of his masculine incapacity to understand patient endurance
After opening the housedoor and returning to the foot of the stairs listening
and sighing he disappeared
It struck her that he was trying to be two men at once
The litter of newspaper sheets in the morningroom brought his exclamation
to her mind »They re at me« Her eyes ran down the columns and were seized by
the print of his name in large type A leading article was devoted to Commander
Beauchamps recent speech delivered in the great manufacturing town of
Gunningham at a meeting under the presidency of the mayor and his replies to
particular questions addressed to him one being what right did he conceive
himself to have to wear the Sovereigns uniform in professing Republican
opinions Rosamund winced for her darling during her first perusal of the
article It was of the sarcastically caressing kind masterly in ease of style
as the flourish of the executioner well may be with poor Bareback hung up to a
leisurely administration of the scourge An allusion to Jack on shore almost
persuaded her that his uncle Everard had inspired the writer of the article
Beauchamps reply to the question of his loyalty was not quoted he was
however complimented on his frankness At the same time he was assured that his
error lay in a too great proneness to make distinctions and that there was no
distinction between sovereign and country in a loyal and contented land which
could thank him for gallant services in war while taking him for the solitary
example to be cited at the present period of the evils of a comparatively long
peace
»Doubtless the tedium of such a state to a man of the temperament of the
gallant commander« etc the termination of the article was indulgent
Rosamund recurred to the final paragraph for comfort and though she loved
Beauchamp the test of her representative feminine sentiment regarding his
political career when personal feeling on his behalf had subsided was that
the writer of the article must have received an intimation to deal both smartly
and forbearingly with the offender and from whom but her lord Her notions of
the conduct of the Press were primitive In a summary of the article Beauchamp
was treated as naughty boy formerly brave boy and likely byandby to be good
boy Her secret heart would have spoken similarly with more emphasis on the
flattering terms
A telegram arrived from her lord She was bidden to have the house clear for
him by noon of the next day
How could that be done
But to write blankly to inform the Earl of Romfrey that he was excluded from
his own house was another impossibility
»Hateful man« she apostrophized Captain Baskelett and sat down supporting
her chin in a prolonged meditation
The card of a French lady bearing the name of Madame dAuffray was handed
to her
Beauchamp had gone off to his friend Lydiard to fortify himself in his resolve
to reply to that newspaper article by eliciting counsel to the contrary Phrase
by phrase he fought through the first half of his composition of the reply
against Lydiard yielding to him on a point or two of literary judgement only
the more vehemently to maintain his ideas of discretion which were that he
would not take shelter behind a single subterfuge that he would try this
question nakedly though he should stand alone that he would stake his position
on it and establish his right to speak his opinions and as for unseasonable
times he protested it was the cry of a gorged middleclass frightened of
further action and making snug with compromise Would it be a seasonable time
when there was uproar Then it would be a time to be silent on such themes they
could be discussed calmly now and without danger and whether he was hunted or
not he cared nothing He declined to consider the peculiar nature of
Englishmen they must hear truth or perish
Knowing the difficulty once afflicting Beauchamp in the art of speaking on
politics tersely Lydiard was rather astonished at his welldelivered cannonade
and he fancied that his modesty had been displaced by the new acquirement not
knowing the nervous fever of his friends condition for which the rattle of
speech was balm and contention a native element and the assumption of truth a
necessity Beauchamp hugged his politics like some who show their love of the
pleasures of life by taking to them angrily It was all he had he had given up
all for it He forced Lydiard to lay down his pen and walk back to the square
with him and went on arguing interjecting sneering thumping the old country
raising and oversetting her treating her alternately like a disrespected
grandmother and like a woman anciently beloved as a dead lump and as a garden
of seeds reviewing prominent political men laughing at the dwarfgiants
finally casting anchor on a Mechanics Institute that he had recently heard of
where working men met weekly for the purpose of reading the British poets
»That s the best thing Ive heard of late« he said shaking Lydiards hand
on the doorsteps
»Ah you re Commander Beauchamp I think I know you Ive seen you on a
platform« cried a freshfaced man in decent clothes halting on his way along
the pavement »and if you were in your uniform you damned Republican dog I d
strip you with my own hands for the disloyal scoundrel you are with your
pimping Republicanism and capsizing everything in a country like Old England It
s the catoninetails you want and the bosen to lay on and I d do it
myself And mind me when next I catch sight of you in blue and gold lace I ll
compel you to show cause why you wear it and prove your case or else I ll
make a Cupid of you and no joke about it I dont pay money for a nincompoop to
outrage my feelings of respect and loyalty when he s in my pay dye hear You
re in my pay and you do your duty or I ll kick ye out of it It s no empty
threat You look out for your next public speech if it s anywhere within forty
mile of London Get along«
With a scowl and a very ugly »yah« worthy of cannibal jaws the man passed
off
Beauchamp kept eye on him »What class does a fellow like that come of«
»He s a harmless enthusiast« said Lydiard »He has been reading the
article and has got excited over it«
»I wish I had the fellows address« Beauchamp looked wistfully at Lydiard
but he did not stimulate the generous offer to obtain it for him Perhaps it was
as well to forget the fellow
»You see the effect of those articles« he said
»You see what I mean by unseasonable times« Lydiard retorted
»He didnt talk like a tradesman« Beauchamp mused
»He may be one for all that It s better to class him as an enthusiast«
»An enthusiast« Beauchamp stamped »for what«
»For the existing order of things for his beef and ale for the titles he
is accustomed to read in the papers You dont study your countrymen«
»I d study that fellow if I had the chance«
»You would probably find him one of the emptiest with a rather worse temper
than most of them«
Beauchamp shook Lydiards hand saying »The widow«
»There s no woman like her«
»Well now you re free why not I think I put one man out of the field«
»Too early Besides «
»Repeat that and you may have to say too late«
»When shall you go down to Bevisham«
»When I cant tell when Ive gone through fire There never was a home for
me like the cottage and the old man and the dear good girl the best of
girls if you hadnt a little spoilt her with your philosophy of the two sides
of a case«
»Ive not given her the brains«
»She s always doubtful of doing doubtful of action she has no will So
she is fatalistic and an argument between us ends in her submitting as if she
must submit to me because I m overbearing instead of accepting the fact«
»She feels your influence«
»She s against the publication of THE DAWN for the present It s an
unseasonable time I argue with her I dont get hold of her mind a bit but at
last she says very well She has your head«
And you have her heart Lydiard could have rejoined
They said goodbye neither of them aware of the others task of endurance
As they were parting Beauchamp perceived his old comrade Jack Wilmore
walking past
»Jack« he called
Wilmore glanced round »How do you do Beauchamp«
»Where are you off to Jack«
»Down to the Admiralty I m rather in a hurry I have an appointment«
»Cant you stop just a minute«
»I m afraid I cant Good morning«
It was incredible but this old friend the simplest heart alive retreated
without a touch of his hand and with a sorely wounded air
»That newspaper article appears to have been generally read« Beauchamp said
to Lydiard who answered
»The article did not put the idea of you into mens minds but gave tongue
to it you may take it for an instance of the sagacity of the Press«
»You wouldnt take that man and me to have been messmates for years Old
Jack Wilmore Dont go Lydiard«
Lydiard declared that he was bound to go he was engaged to read Italian for
an hour with Mrs WardourDevereux
»Then go by all means« Beauchamp dismissed him
He felt as if he had held a review of his friends and enemies on the
doorstep and found them of one colour If it was an accident befalling him in
a London square during a space of a quarter of an hour what of the sentiments
of universal England Lady Barbaras elopement with Lord Alfred last year did
not rouse much execration hardly worse than gossip and compassion Beauchamp
drank a great deal of bitterness from his reflections They who provoke huge
battles and gain but lame victories over themselves insensibly harden to the
habit of distilling sour thoughts from their mischances and from most
occurrences So does the world they combat win on them
»For« says Dr Shrapnel »the world and nature which are opposed in relation
to our vital interests each agrees to demand of us a perfect victory on pain
otherwise of proving it a stage performance and the victory over the world as
over nature is over self and this victory lies in yielding perpetual service
to the world and none to nature for the world has to be wrought out nature to
be subdued«
The interior of the house was like a change of elements to Beauchamp He had
never before said to himself »I have done my best and I am beaten« Outside of
it his native pugnacity had been stimulated but here within the walls where
Renée lay silently breathing barely breathing it might be dying he was
overcome and left it to circumstance to carry him to a conclusion He went
upstairs to the drawingroom where he beheld Madame dAuffray in conversation
with Rosamund
»I was assured by Madame la comtesse that I should see you today« the
French lady said as she swam to meet him »it is a real pleasure« and pressing
his hand she continued »but I fear you will be disappointed of seeing my
sister She would rashly try your climate at its worst period Believe me I do
not join in decrying it except on her account I could have forewarned her of
an English Winter and early Spring You know her impetuosity suddenly she
decided on accepting the invitation of Madame la comtesse and though I have no
fears of her health she is at present a victim of the inclement weather«
»You have seen her madame« said Beauchamp So well had the clever lady
played the dupe that he forgot there was a part for him to play Even the
acquiescence of Rosamund in the title of countess bewildered him
»Madame dAuffray has been sitting for an hour with Madame de Rouaillout«
said Rosamund
He spoke of Rolands coming
»Ah« said Madame dAuffray and turned to Rosamund »you have determined to
surprise us then you will have a gathering of the whole family in your
hospitable house Madame la comtesse«
»If M le marquis will do it that honour madame«
»My brother is in London« Madame dAuffray said to Beauchamp
The shattering blow was merited by one who could not rejoice that he had
acted rightly
Chapter XLIII
The Earl of Romfrey and the Countess
An extraordinary telegraphic message followed by a still more extraordinary
letter the next morning from Rosamund Culling all but interdicted the
immediate occupation of his house in town to Everard now Earl of Romfrey She
begged him briefly not to come until after the funeral and proposed to give him
good reasons for her request at their meeting »I repeat I pledge myself to
satisfy you on this point« she wrote Her tone was that of one of your heroic
women of history refusing to surrender a fortress
Everards wrath was ever of a complexion that could suffer postponements
without his having to fear an abatement of it He had no business to transact in
London and he had much at the Castle so he yielded himself up to his new
sensations which are not commonly the portion of gentlemen of his years He
anticipated that Nevil would at least come down to the funeral but there was no
appearance of him nor a word to excuse his absence Cecil was his only
supporter They walked together between the double ranks of bare polls of the
tenantry and peasantry resembling in a fashion old Froissart engravings the
earl used to dote on in his boyhood representing bodies of manacled citizens
whose humbled heads looked like nuts to be cracked outside the gates of
captured French towns awaiting the disposition of their conqueror with his
banner above him and prancing knights around That was a glory of the past He
had no successor The thought was chilling the solitariness of childlessness to
an aged man chief of a most ancient and martial House and proud of his blood
gave him the statues outlook on a desert and made him feel that he was no more
than a whirl of the dust settling to the dust
He listened to the parson curiously and consentingly We are ashes Ten
centuries had come to an end in him to prove the formula correct The chronicle
of the House would state that the last Earl of Romfrey left no heir
Cecil was a fine figure walking beside him Measured by feet he might be a
worthy holder of great lands But so heartily did the earl despise this nephew
that he never thought of trying strength with the fellow and hardly cared to
know what his value was beyond his immediate uses as an instrument to strike
with Beauchamp of Romfrey had been his dream not Baskelett and it increased
his disgust of Beauchamp that Baskelett should step forward as the man No doubt
Cecil would hunt the county famously he would preserve game with the sleepless
eye of a General of the Jesuits These things were to be considered
Two days after the funeral Lord Romfrey proceeded to London He was met at
the station by Rosamund and informed that his house was not yet vacated by the
French family
»And where have you arranged for me to go maam« he asked her
complacently
She named an hotel where she had taken rooms for him
He nodded and was driven to the hotel saying little on the road
As she expected he was heavily armed against her and Nevil
»You re the slave of the fellow maam You are so infatuated that you
second his amours in my house I must wait for a clearance it seems«
He cast a comical glance of disapprobation on the fittings of the hotel
apartment abhorring gilt
»They leave us the day after tomorrow« said Rosamund out of breath with
nervousness at the commencement of the fray and skipping over the opening
ground of a bold statement of facts »Madame de Rouaillout has been unwell She
is not yet recovered she has just risen Her sisterinlaw has nursed her Her
husband seems much broken in health he is perfect on the points of courtesy«
»That is lucky maam«
»Her brother Nevils comrade in the war was there also«
»Who came first«
»My lord you have only heard Captain Baskeletts version of the story She
has been my guest since the first day of her landing in England There cannot
possibly be an imputation on her«
»Maam if her husband manages to be satisfied what on earth have I to do
with it«
»I am thinking of Nevil my lord«
»You re never thinking of any one else maam«
»He sleeps here at this hotel He left the house to Madame de Rouaillout I
bear witness to that«
»You two seem to have made your preparations to stand a criminal trial«
»It is pure truth my lord«
»Do you take me to be anxious about the fellows virtue«
»She is a lady who would please you«
»A scandal in my house does not please me«
»The only approach to a scandal was made by Captain Baskelett«
»A poor devil locked out of his bed on a Winters night hullabaloos with
pretty good reason I suppose he felt the contrast«
»My lord this lady did me the honour to come to me on a visit I have not
previously presumed to entertain a friend She probably formed no estimate of my
exact position«
The earl with a gesture implied Rosamunds privilege to act the hostess to
friends
»You invited her« he said
»That is I had told her I hoped she would come to England«
»She expected you to be at the house in town on her arrival«
»It was her impulse to come«
»She came alone«
»She may have desired to be away from her own people for a time there may
have been domestic differences These cases are delicate«
»This case appears to have been so delicate that you had to lock out a
fourth party«
»It is indelicate and base of Captain Baskelett to complain and to hint
Nevil had to submit to the same and Captain Baskelett took his revenge on the
housedoor and the bells The house was visited by the police next morning«
»Do you suspect him to have known you were inside the house that night«
She could not say so but hatred of Cecil urged her past the bounds of
habitual reticence to put it to her lord whether he imagining the worst would
have behaved like Cecil
To this he did not reply but remarked »I am sorry he annoyed you maam«
»It is not the annoyance to me it is the shocking the unmanly insolence to
a lady and a foreign lady«
»That s a matter between him and Nevil I uphold him«
»Then my lord I am silent«
Silent she remained but Lord Romfrey was also silent and silence being a
weapon of offence only when it is practised by one out of two she had to
reflect whether in speaking no further she had finished her business
»Captain Baskelett stays at the Castle« she asked
»He likes his quarters there«
»Nevil could not go down to Romfrey my lord He was obliged to wait and
see and help me to entertain her brother and her husband«
»Why maam But I have no objection to his making the marquis a happy
husband«
»He has done what few men would have done that she may be a selfrespecting
wife«
»The parson s in that fellow« Lord Romfrey exclaimed »Now I have the
story She came to him he declined the gift and you were turned into the
curtain for them If he had only been off with her he would have done the
country good service Here he s a failure and a nuisance he s a common
cockshy for the journals I m tired of hearing of him he s a stench in our
nostrils He s tired of the woman«
»He loves her«
»Maam you re hoodwinked If he refused to have her there s a something
he loves better I dont believe weve bred a downright lackadaisical donkey in
our family I know him He s not a fellow for abstract morality I know him It
s bargain against bargain with him I ll do him that justice I hear he has
ordered the removal of the Jersey bull from Holdesbury and the beast is mine«
Lord Romfrey concluded in a lower key
»Nevil has taken him«
»Ha pull and pull then«
»He contends that he is bound by a promise to give an American gentleman the
refusal of the bull and you must sign an engagement to keep the animal no
longer than two years«
»I sign no engagement I stick to the bull«
»Consent to see Nevil tonight my lord«
»When he has apologized to you I may maam«
»Surely he did more in requesting me to render him a service«
»There s not a creature living that fellow wouldnt get to serve him if he
knew the trick We should all of us be marching on London at Shrapnels heels
The political mania is just as incurable as hydrophobia and he s bitten That
s clear«
»Bitten perhaps but not mad As you have always contended the true case is
incurable but it is very rare and is this one«
»It s uncommonly like a true case though I havent seen him foam at the
mouth and shun water as his mob does«
Rosamund restrained some tears betraying the effort to hide the moisture
»I am no match for you my lord I try to plead on his behalf I do worse than
if I were dumb This I most earnestly say he is the Nevil Beauchamp who fought
for his country and did not abandon her cause though he stood there we had
it from Colonel Halkett a skeleton and he is the Nevil who I am poorly
paying my debt to him defended me from the aspersions of his cousin«
»Boys« Lord Romfrey ejaculated
»It is the same dispute between them as men«
»Have you forgotten my proposal to shield you from liars and
scandalmongers«
»Could I ever forget it« Rosamund appeared to come shining out of a cloud
»Princeliest and truest gentleman I thought you then and I know you to be my
dear lord I fancied I had lived the scandal down I was under the delusion that
I had grown to be past backbiting and that no man could stand before me to
insult and vilify me But for a woman in any socalled doubtful position it
seems that the coward will not be wanting to strike her In quitting your
service I am able to affirm that only once during the whole term of it have I
consciously overstepped the line of my duties it was for Nevil and Captain
Baskelett undertook to defend your reputation in consequence«
»Has the rascal been questioning your conduct« The earl frowned
»Oh no not questioning he does not question he accuses he never
doubted and what he went shouting as a boy is plain matter of fact to him now
He is devoted to you It was for your sake that he desired me to keep my name
from being mixed up in a scandal he foresaw the occurrence of in your house«
»He permitted himself to sneer at you«
»He has the art of sneering On this occasion he wished to be direct and
personal«
»What sort of hints were they«
Lord Romfrey strode away from her chair that the answer might be easy to
her for she was red and evidently suffering from shame as well as indignation
»The hints we call distinct« said Rosamund
»In words«
»In hard words«
»Then you wont meet Cecil«
Such a question and the tone of indifference in which it came surprised
and revolted her so that the unreflecting reply leapt out
»I would rather meet a devil«
Of how tremblingly vehemently and hastily she had said it she was
unaware To her lord it was an outcry of nature astutely touched by him to put
her to proof
He continued his long leisurely strides nodding over his feet
Rosamund stood up She looked a very noble figure in her broad blackfurred
robe »I have one serious confession to make sir«
»What s that« said he
»I would avoid it for it cannot lead to particular harm but I have an
enemy who may poison your ear in my absence And first I resign my position I
have forfeited it«
»Time goes forward maam and you go round Speak to the point Do you mean
that you toss up the reins of my household«
»I do You trace it to Nevil immediately«
»I do The fellow wants to upset the country and he begins with me«
»You are wrong my lord What I have done places me at Captain Baskeletts
mercy It is too loathsome to think of worse than the whip worse than your
displeasure It might never be known but the thought that it might gives me
courage You have said that to protect a woman everything is permissible It is
your creed my lord and because the world I have heard you say is unjust and
implacable to women In some cases I think so too In reality I followed your
instructions I mean your example Cheap chivalry on my part But it pained me
not a little I beg to urge that in my defence«
»Well maam you have tied the knot tight enough perhaps now you ll cut
it« said the earl
Rosamund gasped softly »M le marquis is a gentleman who after a life of
dissipation has been reminded by bad health that he has a young and beautiful
wife«
»He dug his pit to fall into it he s jealous«
She shook her head to indicate the immeasurable
»Senile jealousy is anxious to be deceived He could hardly be deceived so
far as to imagine that Madame la marquise would visit me such as I am as my
guest Knowingly or not his very clever sister a good woman and a friend to
husband and wife a Frenchwoman of the purest type gave me the title She
insisted on it and I presumed to guess that she deemed it necessary for the
sake of peace in that home«
Lord Romfrey appeared merely inquisitive his eyebrows were lifted in
permanence his eyes were mild
She continued »They leave England in a few hours They are not likely to
return I permitted him to address me with the title of countess«
»Of Romfrey« said the earl
Rosamund bowed
His mouth contracted She did not expect thunder to issue from it but she
did fear to hear a sarcasm or that she would have to endure a deadly silence
and she was gathering her own lips in imitation of his to nerve herself for
some stroke to come when he laughed in his peculiar closemouthed manner
»I m afraid youve dished yourself«
»You cannot forgive me my lord«
He indulged in more of his laughter and abruptly summoning gravity bade
her talk to him of affairs He himself talked of the condition of the Castle
and with a certain offhand contempt of the ladies of the family and Cecils
father Sir John »What are they to me« said he and he complained of having
been called Last Earl of Romfrey
»The line ends undegenerate« said Rosamund fervidly though she knew not
where she stood
»Ends« quoth the earl
»I must see Stukely« he added briskly and stooped to her »I beg you to
drive me to my Club countess«
»Oh sir«
»Once a countess always a countess«
»But once an impostor my lord«
»Not always we ll hope«
He enjoyed this little variation in the language of comedy letting it drop
to say »Be here tomorrow early Dont chase that family away from the house
Do as you will but not a word of Nevil to me he s a bad mess in any mans
porringer it s time for me to claim exemption of him from mine«
She dared not let her thoughts flow for to think was to triumph and
possibly to be deluded They came in copious volumes when Lord Romfrey
alighting at his Club called to the coachman »Drive the countess home«
They were not thoughts of triumph absolutely In her cooler mind she felt
that it was a bad finish of a gallant battle Few women had risen against a
tattling and pelting world so stedfastly and would it not have been better to
keep her own ground which she had won with tears and some natural strength and
therewith her liberty which she prized The hateful Cecil a reminder of whom
set her cheeks burning and turned her heart to serpent had forced her to it So
she honestly conceived owing to the circumstance of her honestly disliking the
pomps of life and not desiring to occupy any position of brilliancy She thought
assuredly of her hoard of animosity toward the scandalmongers and of the quiet
glance she would cast behind on them and below That thought came as a fruit
not as a reflection
But if ever two offending young gentlemen nephews of a longsuffering
uncle were circumvented undermined and struck to earth with one blow here
was the instance This was accomplished by Lord Romfreys resolution to make the
lady he had learnt to esteem his countess and more it fixed to him for life
one whom he could not bear to think of losing and still more it might be but
what more was unwritten on his tablets
Rosamund failed to recollect that Everard Romfrey never took a step without
seeing a combination of objects to be gained by it
Chapter XLIV
The Nephews of the Earl and Another Exhibition of the Two Passions in Beauchamp
It was now the season when London is as a lighted tower to her provinces and
among other gentlemen hurried thither by attraction Captain Baskelett arrived
Although not a personage in the House of Commons he was a vote and if he never
committed himself to the perils of a speech he made himself heard His was the
part of chorus which he performed with a fairly close imitation of the original
cries of periods before parliaments were instituted thus representing a stage
in the human development besides the borough of Bevisham He arrived in the best
of moods for the emission of highpitched vowelsounds otherwise in the worst
of tempers His uncle had notified an addition of his income to him at Romfrey
together with commands that he should quit the castle instantly and there did
that woman Mistress Culling do the honours to Nevil Beauchamps French party
He assured Lord Palmet of his positive knowledge of the fact incredible as the
sanction of such immoral proceedings by the Earl of Romfrey must appear to that
young nobleman Additions to income are of course acceptable but in the form of
a palpable stipulation for silence they neither awaken gratitude nor effect
their purpose Quite the contrary they prick the moral mind to sit in judgement
on the donor It means she fears me Cecil confidently thought and said of the
intriguing woman who managed his patron
The townhouse was open to him Lord Romfrey was at Steynham Cecil could
not suppose that he was falling into a pit in entering it He happened to be the
favourite of the old housekeeper who liked him for his haughtiness which was
to her thinking the sign of real English nobility and perhaps it is the popular
sign and a tonic to the people She raised lamentations over the shame of the
locking of the door against him that awful night declaring she had almost
mustered courage to go down to him herself in spite of Mrs Cullings orders
The old woman lowered her voice to tell him that her official superior had
permitted the French gentleman and ladies to call her countess This she knew
for a certainty though she knew nothing of French but the French lady who came
second brought a maid who knew English a little and she said the very words
the countess and said also that her party took Mrs Culling for the Countess of
Romfrey What was more my lords coachman caught it up and he called her
countess and he had a quarrel about it with the footman Kendall and the day
after a dreadful affair between them in the mews home drives madam and Kendall
is to go up to her and down the poor man comes and not a word to be got out of
him but as if he had seen a ghost »She have such power« Cecils admirer
concluded
»I wager I match her« Cecil said to himself pulling at his wristbands and
letting his lower teeth shine out The means of matching her were not so
palpable as the resolution First he took men into his confidence Then he
touched lightly on the story to ladies with the question »What ought I to do«
In consideration for the Earl of Romfrey he ought not to pass it over he
suggested The ladies of the family urged him to go to Steynham and boldly
confront the woman He was not prepared for that Better it seemed to him to
blow the rumour and make it a topic of the season until Lord Romfrey should
hear of it Cecil had the ear of the town for a month He was in the act of
slicing the air with his right hand in his accustomed style one evening at Lady
Elseas to protest how vast was the dishonour done to the family by Mistress
Culling when Stukely Culbrett stopped him saying »The lady you speak of is
the Countess of Romfrey I was present at the marriage«
Cecil received the shock in the attitude of those martial figures we see
wielding two wooden swords in provincial gardens to tell the disposition of the
wind abruptly abandoned by it they stand transfixed one sword aloft the
other at their heels The resemblance extended to his astonished countenance
His big chest heaved Like many another wounded giant before him he experienced
the insufficiency of interjections to solace pain For them however the rocks
were handy to fling the trees to uproot heavens concave resounded
companionably to their bellowings Relief of so concrete a kind is not to be
obtained in crowded London assemblies
»You are jesting you are a jester« he contrived to say
»It was a private marriage and I was a witness« replied Stukely
»Lord Romfrey has made an honest woman of her has he«
»A peeress you mean«
Cecil bowed »Exactly I am corrected I mean a peeress«
He got out of the room with as high an air as he could command feeling as
if a bar of iron had flattened his head
Next day it was intimated to him by one of the Steynham servants that
apartments were ready for him at the residence of the late earl Lord Romfreys
house was about to be occupied by the Countess of Romfrey Cecil had to quit
and he chose to be enamoured of that dignity of sulking so seductive to the
wounded spirit of man
Rosamund Countess of Romfrey had worse to endure from Beauchamp He indeed
came to the house and he went through the formalities of congratulation but
his opinion of her step was unconcealed that she had taken it for the title He
distressed her by reviving the case of Dr Shrapnel as though it were a matter
of yesterday telling her she had married a man with a stain on him she should
have exacted the Apology as a nuptial present ay and she would have done it if
she had cared for the earls honour or her own So little did he understand men
so tenacious was he of his ideas She had almost forgotten the case of Dr
Shrapnel and to see it shooting up again in the new path of her life was really
irritating
Rosamund did not defend herself
»I am very glad you have come Nevil« she said »your uncle holds to the
ceremony I may be of real use to you now I wish to be«
»You have only to prove it« said he »If you can turn his mind to marriage
you can send him to Bevisham«
»My chief thought is to serve you«
»I know it is I know it is« he rejoined with some fervour »You have
served me and made me miserable for life and rightly Never mind all s well
while the hand s to the axe« Beauchamp smoothed his forehead roughly trying
hard to inspire himself with the tonic draughts of sentiments cast in the form
of proverbs »Lord Romfrey saw her you say«
»He did Nevil and admired her«
»Well if I suffer let me think of her For courage and nobleness I shall
never find her equal Have you changed your ideas of Frenchwomen now Not a
word you say not a look to show her disdain of me whenever my name was
mentioned«
»She could scarcely feel disdain She was guilty of a sad error«
»Through trusting in me Will nothing teach you where the fault lies You
women have no mercy for women She went through the parade to Romfrey Castle and
back and she must have been perishing at heart That you English call acting
In history you have a respect for such acting up to the scaffold Goodbye to
her There s a story ended One thing you must promise you re a peeress
maam the story s out everybody has heard of it that babbler has done his
worst if you have a becoming appreciation of your title you will promise me
honestly no give me your word as a woman I can esteem that you will not run
about excusing me Whatever you hear said or suggested say nothing yourself I
insist on your keeping silence Press my hand«
»Nevil how foolish«
»It s my will«
»It is unreasonable You give your enemies licence«
»I know what s in your head Take my hand and let me have your word for
it«
»But if persons you like very much Nevil should hear«
»Promise You are a woman not to break your word«
»If I decline«
»Your hand I ll kiss it«
»Oh my darling« Rosamund flung her arms round him and strained him an
instant to her bosom »What have I but you in the world My comfort was the hope
that I might serve you«
»Yes by slaying one woman as an offering to another It would be impossible
for you to speak the truth Dont you see it would be a lie against her and
making a figure of me that a man would rather drop to the ground than have shown
of him I was to blame and only I Madame de Rouaillout was as utterly deceived
by me as ever a trusting woman by a brute I look at myself and hardly believe
it s the same man I wrote to her that I was unchanged and I was entirely
changed another creature anything Lord Romfrey may please to call me«
»But Nevil I repeat if Miss Halkett should hear «
»She knows by this time«
»At present she is ignorant of it«
»And what is Miss Halkett to me«
»More than you imagined in that struggle you underwent I think Nevil Oh
if only to save her from Captain Baskelett He gained your uncles consent when
they were at the Castle to support him in proposing for her He is persistent
Women have been snared without loving She is a great heiress Reflect on his
use of her wealth You respect her if you have no warmer feeling Let me assure
you that the husband of Cecilia if he is of Romfrey blood has the fairest
chance of the estates That man will employ every weapon He will soon be here
bowing to me to turn me to his purposes«
»Cecilia can see through Baskelett« said Beauchamp
»Singlemindedly selfish men may be seen through and through and still be
dangerous Nevil The supposition is that we know the worst of them He carries
a story to poison her mind She could resist it if you and she were in full
confidence together If she did not love you she could resist it She does and
for some strange reason beyond my capacity to fathom you have not come to an
understanding Sanction my speaking to her just to put her on her guard
privately not to injure that poor lady but to explain Shall she not know the
truth I need say but very little Indeed all I can say is that finding the
marquise in London one evening you telegraphed for me to attend on her and I
joined you You shake your head But surely it is due to Miss Halkett She
should be protected from what will certainly wound her deeply Her father is
afraid of you on the score of your theories I foresee it he will hear the
scandal he will imagine you as bad in morals as in politics And you have lost
your friend in Lord Romfrey though he shall not be your enemy Colonel Halkett
and Cecilia called on us at Steynham She was looking beautiful a trifle
melancholy The talk was of your that I do not like it but you hold those
opinions the Republicanism She had read your published letters She spoke to
me of your sincerity Colonel Halkett of course was vexed It is the same with
all your friends She however by her tone led me to think that she sees you
as you are more than in what you do They are now in Wales They will be in
town after Easter Then you must expect that her feeling for you will be tried
unless but you will You will let me speak to her Nevil My position allows
me certain liberties I was previously debarred from You have not been so very
tender to your Cecilia that you can afford to give her fresh reasons for
sorrowful perplexity And why should you stand to be blackened by scandalmongers
when a few words of mine will prove that instead of weak you have been strong
instead of libertine blameless I am not using fine phrases I would not I
would be as thoughtful of you as if you were present And for her sake I
repeat the truth should be told to her I have a lock of her hair«
»Cecilias Where« said Beauchamp
»It is at Steynham« Rosamund primmed her lips at the success of her probing
touch but she was unaware of the chief reason for his doting on those fair
locks and how they coloured his imagination since the day of the drive into
Bevisham
»Now leave me my dear Nevil« she said »Lord Romfrey will soon be here
and it is as well for the moment that you should not meet him if it can be
avoided«
Beauchamp left her like a man outargued and overcome He had no wish to
meet his uncle whose behaviour in contracting a misalliance and casting a
shadow on the family in a manner so perfectly objectless and senseless
appeared to him to call for the reverse of compliments Cecilias lock of hair
lying at Steynham hung in his mind He saw the smooth flat curl lying secret
like a smile
The graceful head it had fallen from was dimmer in his mental eye He went
so far in this charmed meditation as to feel envy of the possessor of the
severed lock passingly he wondered with the wonder of reproach that the
possessor should deem it enough to possess the lock and resign it to a drawer
or a desk And as when life rolls back on us after the long ebb of illness
little whispers and diminutive images of the old joys and prizes of life arrest
and fill our hearts or as to men who have been beaten down by storms the
opening of a daisy is dearer than the blazing orient which bids it open so the
visionary lock of Cecilias hair became Cecilias self to Beauchamp yielding
him as much of her as he could bear to think of for his heart was shattered
Why had she given it to his warmest friend For the asking probably
This question was the first ripple of the breeze from other emotions
beginning to flow fast
He walked out of London to be alone and to think and from the palings of
a road on a Southwestern run of high land he gazed at the great city a place
conquerable yet with the proper appliances for subjugating it the starting of
his daily newspaper THE DAWN say as a commencement It began to seem a
possible enterprise It soon seemed a proximate one If Cecilia He left the
exclamation a blank but not an empty dash in the brain rather like the shroud
of night on a vast and gloriously imagined land
Nay the prospect was partly visible as the unknown country becomes by
degrees to the travellers optics on the dark hilltops It is much of course
to be domestically wellmated but to be fortified and armed by ones wife with
a weapon to fight the world is rare good fortune a rapturous and an infinite
satisfaction He could now support of his own resources a weekly paper A paper
published weekly however is a poor thing out of the tide behind the date
mainly a literary periodical no foremost combatant in politics no champion in
the arena hardly better than a commentator on the events of the six past days
an echo not a voice It sits on a Saturday bench and pretends to sum up Who
listens The verdict knocks dust out of a cushion It has no steady continuous
pressure of influence It is the organ of sleepers Of all the bigger
instruments of money it is the feeblest Beauchamp thought His constant faith
in the good effects of utterance naturally inclined him to value six occasions
per week above one and in the fight he was for waging it was necessary that he
should enter the ring and hit blow for blow sans intermission A statement that
he could call false must be challenged hot the next morning The covert Toryism
the fits of flunkeyism the cowardice of the relapsing middleclass which is
now England before mankind because it fills the sails of the Press must be
exposed It supports the Press in its own interests affecting to speak for the
people It belies the people And this Press declaring itself independent can
hardly walk for fear of treading on an interest here an interest there It
cannot have a conscience It is a bad guide a false guardian its abject claim
to be our national and popular interpreter even that is hollow and a mockery
It is powerful only while subservient An engine of money appealing to the
sensitiveness of money it has no connection with the mind of the nation And
that it is not of but apart from the people may be seen when great crises
come Can it stop a war The people would and with thunder had they the
medium But in strong gales the power of the Press collapses it wheezes like a
pricked pigskin of a piper At its best Beauchamp regarded our lordly Press as a
curiously diapered curtain and delusive mask behind which the country struggles
vainly to show an honest feature and as a trumpet that deafened and terrorized
the people a mere engine of leaguers banded to keep a smooth face upon affairs
quite soullessly he meanwhile having to be dumb
But a Journal that should be actually independent of circulation and
advertisements a popular journal in the true sense very lungs to the people
for them to breathe freely through at last and be heard out of it with
wellpaid men of mark to head and aid them the establishment of such a
Journal seemed to him brave work of a life though one should die early The
money launching it would be coin washed pure of its iniquity of selfish
reproduction by service to mankind This DAWN of his conception stood over him
like a rosier Aurora for the country He beheld it in imagination as a new light
rising above hugeous London You turn the sheets of THE DAWN and it is the
manhood of the land addressing you no longer that alternately puling and
insolent cry of the coffers The health wealth comfort contentment of the
greater number are there to be striven for in contempt of compromise and
unseasonable times
Beauchamps illuminated dream of the power of his DAWN to vitalize old
England liberated him singularly from his wearing regrets and heartsickness
Surely Cecilia who judged him sincere might be bent to join hands with him
for so good a work She would bring riches to her husband sufficient He
required the ablest men of the country to write for him and it was just that
they should be largely paid They at least in their present public apathy would
demand it To fight the brewers distillers publicans the shopkeepers the
parsons the landlords the law limpets and also the indifferents the logs
the cravens and the fools high talent was needed and an ardour stimulated by
rates of pay outdoing the offers of the lucrejournals A large annual outlay
would therefore be needed possibly for as long as a quarter of a century
Cecilia and her husband would have to live modestly But her inheritance would
be immense Colonel Halkett had never spent a tenth of his income In time he
might be taught to perceive in THE DAWN the one greatly beneficent enterprise of
his day He might through his daughters eyes and the growing success of the
Journal Benevolent and gallant old man patriotic as he was and kind at heart
he might learn to see in THE DAWN a broader channel of philanthropy and chivalry
than any we have yet had a notion of in England a school of popular education
into the bargain
Beauchamp reverted to the shining curl It could not have been clearer to
vision if it had lain under his eyes
Ay that first wild life of his was dead He had slain it Now for the
second and sober life Who can say The Countess of Romfrey suggested it
Cecilia may have prompted him in his unknown heart to the sacrifice of a lawless
love though he took it for simply barren iron duty Brooding on her he began
to fancy the victory over himself less and less a lame one for it waxed less
and less difficult in his contemplation of it He was looking forward instead of
back
Who cut off the lock Probably Cecilia herself and thinking at the moment
that he would see it perhaps beg for it The lustrous little ring of hair wound
round his heart smiled both on its emotions and its aims bound them in one
But proportionately as he grew tender to Cecilia his consideration for
Renée increased that became a law to him pity nourished it and glimpses of
selfcontempt and something like worship of her highheartedness
He wrote to the countess forbidding her sharply and absolutely to attempt a
vindication of him by explanations to any person whomsoever and stating that he
would have no falsehoods told he desired her to keep to the original tale of
the visit of the French family to her as guests of the Countess of Romfrey
Contradictory indeed Rosamund shook her head over him For a wilful character
that is guilty of issuing contradictory commands to friends who would be friends
in spite of him appears to be expressly angling for the cynical spirit so
surely does it rise and snap at such provocation He was even more emphatic when
they next met He would not listen to a remonstrance and though of course her
love of him granted him the liberty to speak to her in what tone he pleased
there were sensations proper to her new rank which his intemperateness wounded
and tempted to revolt when he vexed her with unreason She had a glimpse of the
face he might wear to his enemies
He was quite as resolute too about that slight matter of the Jersey bull
He had the bull in Bevisham and would not give him up without the sign manual
of Lord Romfrey to an agreement to resign him over to the American Quaker
gentleman after a certain term Moreover not once had he by exclamation or
innuendo during the period of his recent grief for the loss of his first love
complained of his uncle Everards refusal in the old days to aid him in suing
for Renée Rosamund had expected that he would She thought it unloverlike in
him not to stir the past and to bow to intolerable facts This idea of him
coming in conjunction with his present behaviour convinced her that there
existed a contradiction in his nature whence it ensued that she lost her warmth
as an advocate designing to intercede for him with Cecilia and warmth being
gone the power of the scandal seemed to her unassailable How she could ever
have presumed to combat it was an astonishment to her Cecilia might be
indulgent she might have faith in Nevil Little else could be hoped for
The occupations duties and ceremonies of her new position contributed to
the lassitude into which Rosamund sank And she soon had a communication to make
to her lord the nature of which was more startling to herself even tragic The
bondwoman is a free woman compared with the wife
Lord Romfreys friends noticed a glow of hearty health in the splendid old
man and a prouder animation of eye and stature and it was agreed that
matrimony suited him well Luckily for Cecil he did not sulk very long A
spectator of the earls first introduction to the House of Peers he called on
his uncle the following day and Rosamund accepted his homage in her husbands
presence He vowed that my lord was the noblest figure in the whole assembly
that it had been to him the most moving sight he had ever witnessed that Nevil
should have been there to see it and experience what he had felt it would have
done old Nevil incalculable good and as far as his grief at the idea and some
reticence would let him venture he sighed to think of the last Earl of Romfrey
having been seen by him taking the seat of his fathers
Lord Romfrey shouted »Ha« like a checked peal of laughter and glanced at
his wife
Chapter XLV
A Little Plot Against Cecilia
Some days before Easter week Seymour Austin went to Mount Laurels for rest at
an express invitation from Colonel Halkett The working barrister who is also a
working Member of Parliament is occasionally reminded that this mortal machine
cannot adapt itself in perpetuity to the long hours of labour by night in the
House of Commons as well as by day in the Courts which would seem to have been
arranged by a compliant country for the purpose of aiding his particular and
most honourable ambition to climb while continuing to fill his purse Mr
Austin broke down early in the year He attributed it to a cold Other
representative gentlemen were on their backs of whom he could admit that the
protracted nightwork had done them harm with the reservation that their
constitutions were originally unsound But the House cannot get on without
lawyers and lawyers must practise their profession and if they manage both to
practise all day and sit half the night others should be able to do the simple
late sitting and we English are an energetic people we must toil or be beaten
and besides night brings counsel men are cooler and wiser by night Any amount
of work can be performed by careful feeders it is the stomach that kills the
Englishman Brains are never the worse for activity they subsist on it
These arguments and citations good and absurd of a man more at home in his
harness than out of it were addressed to the colonel to stop his remonstrances
and idle talk about burning the candle at both ends To that illustration Mr
Austin replied that he did not burn it in the middle
»But you dont want money Austin«
»No but since Ive had the habit of making it I have taken to like it«
»But you re not ambitious«
»Very little but I should be sorry to be out of the tideway«
»I call it a system of slaughter« said the colonel and Mr Austin said
»The world goes in that way love and slaughter«
»Not suicide though« Colonel Halkett muttered
»No that s only incidental«
The casual word love led Colonel Halkett to speak to Cecilia of an old
loveaffair of Seymour Austins in discussing the state of his health with her
The lady was the daughter of a famous admiral handsome and latterly of light
fame Mr Austin had nothing to regret in her having married a man richer than
himself
»I wish he had married a good woman« said the colonel
»He looks unwell papa«
»He thinks you re looking unwell my dear«
»He thinks that of me«
Cecilia prepared a radiant face for Mr Austin
She forgot to keep it kindled and he suspected her to be a victim of one of
the forms of youthful melancholy and laid stress on the benefit to health of a
change of scene
»We have just returned from Wales« she said
He remarked that it was hardly a change to be within shot of our newspapers
The colour left her cheeks She fancied her father had betrayed her to the
last man who should know her secret Beauchamp and the newspapers were rolled
together in her mind by the fever of apprehension wasting her ever since his
declaration of Republicanism and defence of it and an allusion to one must
imply the other she feared feared but far from quailingly She had come to
think that she could read the man she loved and detect a reasonableness in his
extravagance Her father had discovered the impolicy of attacking Beauchamp in
her hearing The fever by which Cecilia was possessed on her lovers behalf
often overcame discretion set her judgement in a whirl was like a delirium
How it had happened she knew not She knew only her wretched state a frenzy
seized her whenever his name was uttered to excuse account for all but
glorify him publicly And the immodesty of her conduct was perceptible to her
while she thus made her heart bare She exposed herself once of late at
Itchincope and had tried to school her tongue before she went there She felt
that she should inevitably be seen through by Seymour Austin if he took the
worlds view of Beauchamp and this to her was like a descent on the rapids to
an end one shuts eyes from
He noticed her perturbation and spoke of it to her father
»Yes I m very miserable about her« the colonel confessed »Girls dont
see they cant guess they have no idea of the right kind of man for
them A man like Blackburn Tuckham now a man a father could leave his girl to
with confidence He works for me like a slave I cant guess why He doesnt
look as if he were attracted There s a man but no harumscarum fellows take
their fancy«
»Is she that kind of young lady« said Mr Austin
»No one would have thought so She pretends to have opinions upon politics
now It s of no use to talk of it«
But Beauchamp was fully indicated
Mr Austin proposed to Cecilia that they should spend Easter week in Rome
Her face lighted and clouded
»I should like it« she said negatively
»What s the objection«
»None except that Mount Laurels in Spring has grown dear to me and we have
engagements in London I am not quick I suppose at new projects I have
ordered the yacht to be fitted out for a cruise in the Mediterranean early in
the Summer There is an objection I am sure yes papa has invited Mr Tuckham
here for Easter«
»We could carry him with us«
»Yes but I should wish to be entirely under your tutelage in Rome«
»We would pair your father and he you and I«
»We might do that But Mr Tuckham is like you devoted to work and unlike
you careless of Antiquities and Art«
»He is a hard and serious worker and therefore the best of companions for a
holiday At present he is working for the colonel who would easily persuade him
to give over and come with us«
»He certainly does love papa« said Cecilia
Mr Austin dwelt on that subject
Cecilia perceived that she had praised Mr Tuckham for his devotedness to
her father without recognizing the beauty of nature in the young man who could
voluntarily take service under the elder he esteemed in simple admiration of
him Mr Austin scarcely said so much or expected her to see the half of it
but she wished to be extremely grateful and could only see at all by kindling
altogether
»He does himself injustice in his manner« said Cecilia
»That has become somewhat tempered« Mr Austin assured her and he
acknowledged what it had been with a smile that she reciprocated
A rough man of rare quality civilizing under various influences and half
ludicrous a little irritating wholly estimable has frequently won the benign
approbation of the sex In addition this rough man over whom she smiled was one
of the few that never worried her concerning her hand There was not a whisper
of it in him He simply loved her father
Cecilia welcomed him to Mount Laurels with grateful gladness The colonel
had hastened Mr Tuckhams visit in view of the expedition to Rome and they
discoursed of it at the luncheon table Mr Tuckham let fall that he had just
seen Beauchamp
»Did he thank you for his inheritance« Colonel Halkett inquired
»Not he« Tuckham replied jovially
Cecilias eyes quick to flash were dropped
The colonel said »I suppose you told him nothing of what you had done for
him« and said Tuckham »Oh no what anybody else would have done« and
proceeded to recount that he had called at Dr Shrapnels on the chance of an
interview with his friend Lydiard who used generally to be hanging about the
cottage »But now he s free his lunatic wife is dead and I m happy to think
I was mistaken as to Miss Denham Men practising literature should marry women
with money The poor girl changed colour when I informed her he had been
released for upwards of three months The old Radicals not the thing in health
He s anxious about leaving her alone in the world he said so to me Beauchamp
s for rigging out a yacht to give him a sail It seems that salt water did him
some good last year They re both of them rather the worse for a row at one of
their meetings in the North in support of that public nuisance the democrat and
atheist Roughleigh The Radical doctor lost a hat and Beauchamp almost lost an
eye He would have been a Nelson of politics if he had been a monops with an
excuse for not seeing It s a trifle to them part of their education They
call themselves students Rome will be capital Miss Halkett You re an Italian
scholar and I beg to be accepted as a pupil«
»I fear we have postponed the expedition too long« said Cecilia She could
have sunk with languor
»Too long« cried Colonel Halkett mystified
»Until too late I mean papa Do you not think Mr Austin that a
fortnight in Rome is too short a time«
»Not if we make it a month my dear Cecilia«
»Is not our salt air better for you The yacht shall be fitted out«
»I m a poor sailor«
»Besides a hasty excursion to Italy brings ones anticipated regrets at the
farewell too close to the pleasure of beholding it for the enjoyment of that
luxury of delight which I associate with the name of Italy«
»Why my dear child« said her father »you were all for going the other
day«
»I do not remember it« said she »One plans agreeable schemes At least we
need not hurry from home so very soon after our return We have been travelling
incessantly The cottage in Wales is not home It is hardly fair to Mount
Laurels to quit it without observing the changes of the season in our flowers
and birds here And we have visitors coming Of course papa I would not chain
you to England If I am not well enough to accompany you I can go to Louise for
a few weeks«
Was ever transparency so threadbare Cecilia shrank from herself in
contemplating it when she was alone and Colonel Halkett put the question to Mr
Austin saying to him privately with no further reserve »It s that fellow
Beauchamp in the neighbourhood I m not so blind He ll be knocking at my
door and I cant lock him out Austin would you guess it was my girl speaking
I never in my life had such an example of intoxication before me I m perfectly
miserable at the sight You know her she was the proudest girl living Her
ideas were orderly and sound she had a good intellect Now she more than half
defends him a naval officer good Lord for getting up in a public room to
announce that he s a Republican and writing heaps of mad letters to justify
himself He s ruined in his profession hopeless He can never get a ship his
career s cut short he s a rudderless boat A gentleman drifting to Bedlam
his uncle calls him I call his treatment of Grancey Lespel anything but
gentlemanly This is the sort of fellow my girl worships What can I do I cant
interdict the house to him it would only make matters worse Thank God the
fellow hangs fire somehow and doesnt come to me I expect it every day either
in a letter or the man in person And I declare to heaven I d rather be
threading a Khyber Pass with my poor old friend who fell to a shot there«
»She certainly has another voice« Mr Austin assented gravely
He did not look on Beauchamp as the best of possible husbands for Cecilia
»Let her see that you re anxious Austin« said the colonel »I m her old
opponent in this affair She loves me but she s accustomed to think me
prejudiced you she wont You may have a good effect«
»Not by speaking«
»No no no assault not a word and not a word against him Lay the wind to
catch a gossamer Ive had my experience of blowing cold and trying to run her
down He s at Shrapnels He ll be up here today and I have an engagement in
the town Dont quit her side Let her fancy you are interested in some
discussion Radicalism if you like«
Mr Austin readily undertook to mount guard over her while her father rode
into Bevisham on business
The enemy appeared
Cecilia saw him and could not step to meet him for trouble of heart It was
bliss to know that he lived and was near
A transient coldness following the fit of ecstasy enabled her to swin
through the terrible first minutes face to face with him
He folded her round like a mist but it grew a problem to understand why Mr
Austin should be perpetually at hand in the garden in the woods in the
drawingroom wheresoever she wakened up from one of her trances to see things
as they were
Yet Beauchamp with a daring and cunning at which her soul exulted and her
feminine nature trembled as at the divinely terrible had managed to convey to
her no less than if they had been alone together
His parting words were »I must have five minutes with your father
tomorrow«
How had she behaved What could be Seymour Austins idea of her
She saw the blind thing that she was the senseless thing the shameless
and vulturelike in her scorn of herself she alighted on that disgraced Cecilia
and picked her to pieces hungrily It was clear Beauchamp had meant nothing
beyond friendly civility it was only her abject greediness pecking at crumbs
No he loved her Could a womans heart be mistaken She melted and wept
thanking him she offered him her remnant of pride pitiful to behold
And still she asked herself betweenwhiles whether it could be true of an
English lady of our day that she the fairest stature under sun was ever
knowingly twisted to this convulsion She seemed to look forth from a barred
window on flower and field and hill Quietness existed as a vision Was it
impossible to embrace it How pass into it By surrendering herself to the
flames like a soul unto death For why if they were overpowering attempt to
resist them It flattered her to imagine that she had been resisting them in
their present burning might ever since her lover stepped on the Esperanzas deck
at the mouth of Otley River How foolish seeing that they are fatal A thrill
of satisfaction swept her in reflecting that her ability to reason was thus
active And she was instantly rewarded for surrendering pain fled to prove her
reasoning good the flames devoured her gently they cared not to torture so
long as they had her to themselves
At night candle in hand on the corridor her father told her he had come
across Grancey Lespel in Bevisham and heard what he had not quite relished of
the Countess of Romfrey The glittering of Cecilias eyes frightened him Taking
her for the moment to know almost as much as he the colonel doubted the weight
his communication would have on her he talked obscurely of a scandalous affair
at Lord Romfreys house in town and Beauchamp and that Frenchwoman »But« said
he »Mrs Grancey will be here tomorrow«
»So will Nevil papa« said Cecilia
»Ah he s coming yes well« the colonel puffed »Well I shall see him
of course but I I can only say that if his oath s worth having I and
I think you too my dear if you but it s no use anticipating I shall
stand out for your honour and happiness There your cheeks are flushed Go and
sleep«
Some idle tale Cecilia murmured to herself a dozen times undisturbed by
the recurrence of it Nevil was coming to speak to her father tomorrow Adieu
to doubt and division Happy tomorrow and dear Mount Laurels The primroses
were still fair in the woods and soon the cowslips would come and the
nightingale she lay lapt in images of everything innocently pleasing to Nevil
Soon the Esperanza would be spreading wings She revelled in a picture of the
yacht on a tumbling Mediterranean Sea meditating on the two specks near the
tiller who were blissful human creatures blest by heaven and in themselves
with luxurious Olympian benevolence
For all that she awoke starting up in the first cold circle of twilight
her heart in violent action She had dreamed that the vessel was wrecked »I did
not think myself so cowardly« she said aloud pressing her side and then with
the dream in her eyes she gasped »It would be together«
Strangely chilled she tried to recover some fallen load The birds of the
dawn twittered chirped dived aslant her window fluttered back Instead of a
fallen load she fancied presently that it was an expectation she was desiring
to realize but what What could be expected at that hour She quitted her bed
and paced up and down the room beneath a goldstarred ceiling Her expectation
she resolved to think was of a splendid day of the young Spring at Mount
Laurels a day to praise to Nevil
She raised her windowblind at a window letting in sweet air to gather
indications of promising weather Her lover stood on the grassplot among the
flowerbeds below looking up as though it had been his expectation to see her
which had drawn her to gaze out with an idea of some expectation of her own So
visionary was his figure in the grey solitariness of the moveless morning that
she stared at the apparition scarce putting faith in him as man until he
kissed his hand to her and had softly called her name
Impulsively she waved a hand from her lips
Now there was no retreat for either of them She awoke to this conviction
after a flight of blushes that burnt her thoughts to ashes as they sprang
Thoughts born blushing all of the crimson colour a rosegarden succeeded and
corresponding with their speed her feet paced the room both slender hands
crossed at her throat under an uplifted chin and the curves of her dark
eyelashes dropped as in a swoon
»He loves me« The attestation of it had been visible »No one but me« Was
that so evident
Her father picked up silly stories of him a man who made enemies
recklessly
Cecilia was petrified by a gentle tapping at her door Her father called to
her and she threw on her dressinggown and opened the door
The colonel was in his ridingsuit
»I havent slept a wink and I find it s the same with you« he said
paining her with his distressed kind eyes »I ought not to have hinted anything
last night without proofs Austin s as unhappy as I am«
»At what my dear papa at what« cried Cecilia
»I ride over to Steynham this morning and I shall bring you proofs my poor
child proofs That foreign tangle of his «
»You speak of Nevil papa«
»It s a common scandal over London That Frenchwoman was found at Lord
Romfreys house Lady Romfrey cloaked it I believe the woman would swear
blacks white to make Nevil Beauchamp appear an angel and he s a desperately
cunning hand with women You doubt that«
She had shuddered slightly
»You wont doubt if I bring you proofs Till I come back from Steynham I
ask you not to see him alone not to go out to him«
The colonel glanced at her windows
Cecilia submitted to the request out of breath consenting to feel like a
tutored girl that she might conceal her guilty knowledge of what was to be seen
through the windows
»Now I m off« said he and kissed her
»If you would accept Nevils word« she murmured
»Not where women are concerned«
He left her with this remark which found no jealous response in her heart
yet ranged over certain dispersed inflammable grains like a match applied to
damp powder again and again running in little leaps of harmless fire keeping
her alive to its existence and surprising her that it should not have been
extinguished
Beauchamp presented himself rather late in the afternoon when Mr Austin
and Blackburn Tuckham were sipping tea in Cecilias boudoir with that lady and
a cousin of her sex by whom she was led to notice a faint discoloration over
one of his eyes that was considering whence it came repulsive to compassion
A blow at a Radical meeting He spoke of Dr Shrapnel to Tuckham and assuredly
could not complain that the latter was unsympathetic in regard to the old mans
health though when he said »Poor old man he fears he will die« Tuckham
rejoined »He had better make his peace«
»He fears he will die because of his leaving Miss Denham unprotected« said
Beauchamp
»Well she s a goodlooking girl he ll be able to leave her something
and he might easily get her married I should think« said Tuckham
»He s not satisfied with handing her to any kind of man«
»If the choice is to be among Radicals and infidels I dont wonder He has
come to one of the tests«
Cecilia heard Beauchamp speaking of a newspaper A great Radical Journal
unmatched in sincerity superior in ability soon to be equal in power to the
leader and exemplar of the lucrePress would some day see the light
»You ll want money for that« said Tuckham
»I know« said Beauchamp
»Are you prepared to stand forty or fifty thousand a year«
»It need not be half so much«
»Counting the libels I rate the outlay rather low«
»Yes lawyers judges and juries of tradesmen dealing justice to a Radical
print«
Tuckham brushed his hand over his mouth and ahemed »It s to be a penny
journal«
»Yes a penny I d make it a farthing «
»Pay to have it read«
»Willingly«
Tuckham did some mental arithmetic quaintly with rapidly blinking eyelids
and open mouth »You may count it at the cost of two paying mines« he said
firmly »That is if it s to be a consistently Radical Journal at law with
everybody all round the year And by the time it has won a reputation it will
be undermined by a radicaller Radical Journal That s how weve lowered the
country to this level That s an Inferno of Circles down to the ultimate mire
And what on earth are you contending for«
»Freedom of thought for one thing«
»We have quite enough freethinking«
»There s not enough if there s not perfect freedom«
»Dangerous« quoth Mr Austin
»But it s that danger which makes men sir and it s fear of the danger
that makes our modern Englishman«
»Oh Oh« cried Tuckham in the voice of a Parliamentary Opposition »Well
you start your paper we ll assume it what class of men will you get to
write«
»I shall get good men for the hire«
»You wont get the best men you may catch a clever youngster or two and an
old rogue of talent you wont get men of weight They re prejudiced I dare
say The Journals which are commercial speculations give us a guarantee that
they mean to be respectable they must if they wouldnt collapse That s why
the best men consent to write for them«
»Money will do it« said Beauchamp
Mr Austin disagreed with that observation
»Some patriotic spirit I may hope sir«
Mr Austin shook his head »We put different constructions upon patriotism«
»Besides fiddle nonsense« exclaimed Tuckham in the mildest interjections
he could summon for a vent in society to his offended common sense »the better
your men the worse your mark You re not dealing with an intelligent people«
»There s the old charge against the people«
»But they re not You can madden you cant elevate them by writing and
writing Defend us from the uneducated English The common English are doltish
except in the North where you wont do much with them Compare them with the
Yankees for shrewdness the Spaniards for sobriety the French for ingenuity
the Germans for enlightenment the Italians in the Arts yes the Russians for
goodhumour and obedience where are they They re only worth something when
they re led They fight well there s good stuff in them«
»Ive heard all that before« returned Beauchamp unruffled »You dont know
them I mean to educate them by giving them an interest in their country At
present they have next to none Our governing class is decidedly unintelligent
in my opinion brutish for it s indifferent My paper shall render your traders
justice for what they do and justice for what they dont do«
»My traders as you call them are the soundest foundation for a civilized
state that the world has yet seen«
»What is your paper to be called« said Cecilia
»The DAWN« Beauchamp answered
She blushed fiery red and turned the leaves of a portfolio of drawings
»The DAWN« ejaculated Tuckham »The greyeyed or the red Extraordinary
name for a paper upon my word«
»A paper that doesnt devote half its columns to the vices of the rich to
moneygetting spending and betting will be an extraordinary paper«
»I have it before me now two doses of flattery to one of the whip No
no you havent hit the disease We want union not division Turn your mind to
being a moralist instead of a politician«
»The distinction shouldnt exist«
»Only it does«
Mrs Grancey Lespels entrance diverted their dialogue from a theme
wearisome to Cecilia for Beauchamp shone but darkly in it and Mr Austin did
not join in it Mrs Grancey touched Beauchamps fingers »Still political« she
said »You have been seen about London with a French officer in uniform«
»It was M le comte de Croisnel a very old friend and comrade of mine«
Beauchamp replied
»Why do those Frenchmen everlastingly wear their uniforms tell me Dont
you think it detestable style«
»He came over in a hurry«
»Now dont be huffed I know you for defending your friends Captain
Beauchamp Did he not come over with ladies«
»With relatives yes«
»Relatives of course But when British officers travel with ladies
relatives or other they prefer the simplicity of mufti and so do I as a
question of taste I must say«
»It was quite by misadventure that M de Croisnel chanced to come in his
uniform«
»Ah I know you for defending your friends Captain Beauchamp He was in
too great a hurry to change his uniform before he started or en route«
»So it happened«
Mrs Grancey let a lingering eye dwell maliciously on Beauchamp who said
to shift the burden of it »The French are not so jealous of military uniforms
as we are M de Croisnel lost his portmanteau«
»Ah lost it Then of course he is excuseable except to the naked eye Dear
me you have had a bruise on yours Was Monsieur votre ami in the Italian
campaign«
»No poor fellow he was not He is not an Imperialist he had to remain in
garrison«
»He wore a multitude of medals I have been told A cup of tea Cecilia And
how long did he stay in England with his relatives«
»Two days«
»Only two days A very short visit indeed singularly short Somebody
informed me of their having been seen at Romfrey Castle which cannot have been
true«
She turned her eyes from Beauchamp silent to Cecilias hand on the teapot
»Half a cup« she said mildly to spare the poor hand its betrayal of
nervousness and relapsed from her air of mistress of the situation to chatter
to Mr Austin
Beauchamp continued silent He took up a book and presently a pencil from
his pocket then talked of the book to Cecilias cousin and leaving a
papercutter between the leaves he looked at Cecilia and laid the book down
She proceeded to conduct Mrs Grancey Lespel to her room
»I do admire Captain Beauchamps cleverness he is as good as a French
romance« Mrs Grancey exclaimed on the stairs »He fibs charmingly I could not
help drawing him out Two days Why my dear his French party were a fortnight
in the country It was the marquise you know the old affair and one may say
he s a constant man«
»I have not heard Captain Beauchamps cleverness much praised« said
Cecilia »This is your room Mrs Grancey«
»Stay with me a moment It is the room I like Are we to have him at
dinner«
Cecilia did not suppose that Captain Beauchamp would remain to dine Feeling
herself in the clutches of a gossip she would fain have gone
»I am just one bit glad of it though I cant dislike him personally« said
Mrs Grancey detaining her and beginning to whisper »It was really too bad
There was a French party at the end but there was only one at the commencement
The brother was got over for a curtain before the husband arrived in pursuit
They say the trick Captain Beauchamp played his cousin Cecil to get him out of
the house when he had made a discovery was monstrous fiendishly cunning
However Lady Romfrey as that woman appears to be at last covered it all You
know she has one of those passions for Captain Beauchamp which completely blind
women to right and wrong He is her saint let him sin ever so The storys in
everybodys mouth By the way Palmet saw her He describes her pale as marble
with dark long eyes the most innocent look in the world and a walk the absurd
fellow says like a statue set gliding No doubt Frenchwomen do walk well He
says her eyes are terrible traitors I need not quote Palmet The sort of eyes
that would look fondly on a stone you know What her reputation is in France I
have only indistinctly heard She has one in England by this time I can assure
you She found her match in Captain Beauchamp for boldness Where any other
couple would have seen danger they saw safety and they contrived to accomplish
it according to those horrid talebearers You have plenty of time to dress my
dear I have an immense deal to talk about There are halfadozen scandals in
London already and you ought to know them or you will be behind the
tittletattle when you go to town and I remember as a girl I knew nothing so
excruciating as to hear blanks dashes initials and half words without the
key Nothing makes a girl look so silly and unpalatable Naturally the reason
why Captain Beauchamp is more talked about than the rest is the politics Your
grand reformer should be careful Doubly heterodox will not do It makes him
interesting to women if you like but he wont soon hear the last of it if he
is for a public career Grancey literally crowed at the story And the wonderful
part of it is that Captain Beauchamp refused to be present at the earls first
ceremonial dinner in honour of his countess Now that we all think was
particularly ungrateful now was it not«
»If the countess if ingratitude had anything to do with it« said Cecilia
She escaped to her room and dressed impatiently
Her boudoir was empty Beauchamp had departed She recollected his look at
her and turned over the leaves of the book he had been hastily scanning and
had condescended to approve of On the two pages where the papercutter was
fixed she perceived small pencil dots under certain words Read consecutively
with a participle termination struck out to convey his meaning they formed the
pathetically ungrammatical line
»Hear none but accused false«
Treble dots were under the word tomorrow He had scored the margin of the
sentences containing his dotted words as if in admiration of their peculiar
wisdom
She thought it piteous that he should be reduced to such means of
communication The next instant Cecilia was shrinking from the adept intriguer
Frenchtaught
In the course of the evening her cousin remarked »Captain Beauchamp must
see merit in things undiscoverable by my poor faculties I will show you a book
he has marked«
»Did you see it I was curious to examine it« interposed Cecilia »and I am
as much at a loss as you to understand what could have attracted him One
sentence «
»About the sheikh in the stables where he accused the pretended physician
Yes what was there in that«
»Where is the book« said Mrs Grancey
»Not here I think« Cecilia glanced at the drawingroom booktable and
then at Mr Austin the victim of an unhappy love in his youth and unhappy
about her as her father had said Seymour Austin was not one to spread the
contagion of intrigue She felt herself caught by it even melting to feel
enamoured of herself in consequence though not loving Beauchamp the more
»This newspaper if it s not merely an airy project will be ruination«
said Tuckham »The fact is Beauchamp has no bend in him He cant meet a man
without trying a wrestle and as long as he keeps his stiffness he believes he
has won Ive heard an oculist say that the eye that doesnt blink ends in
blindness and he who wont bend breaks It s a pity for he s a fine fellow
A Radical daily Journal of Shrapnels colour to educate the people by giving
them an interest in the country Goodness what a delusion and what a waste of
money He ll not be able to carry it on a couple of years And there goes his
eighty thousand«
Cecilias heart beat fast She had no defined cause for its excitement
Colonel Halkett returned to Mount Laurels close upon midnight very tired
coughing and complaining of the bitter blowing East His guests shook hands with
him and went to bed
»I think I ll follow their example« he said to Cecilia after drinking a
tumbler of mulled wine
»Have you nothing to tell me dear papa« said she caressing him timidly
»A confirmation of the whole story from Lord Romfrey in person that s
all He says Beauchamp s mad I begin to believe it You must use your
judgement I suppose I must not expect you to consider me You might open your
heart to Austin As to my consent knowing what I do you will have to tear it
out of me Here s a country perfectly contented and that fellow at work
digging up grievances to persuade the people they re oppressed by us Why
should I talk of it He cant do much harm unless he has money money Romfrey
says he means to start a furious paper He ll make a bonfire of himself I
cant stand by and see you in it too I may die I may be spared the sight«
Cecilia flung her arms round his neck »Oh papa«
»I dont want to make him out worse than he is my dear I own to his
gallantry in the French sense as well as the English it seems It s natural
that Romfrey should excuse his wife She s another of the women who are crazy
about Nevil Beauchamp She spoke to me of the pleasant visit of her French
friends and would have enlarged on it but Romfrey stopped her By the way he
proposes Captain Baskelett for you and we re to look for Baskeletts coming
here backed by his uncle There s no end to it there never will be till you
re married and no peace for me I hope I shant find myself with a cold
tomorrow«
The colonel coughed and perhaps exaggerated the premonitory symptoms of a
cold
»Italy papa would do you good« said Cecilia
»It might« said he
»If we go immediately papa tomorrow early in the morning before there
is a chance of any visitors coming to the house«
»From Bevisham«
»From Steynham I cannot endure a second persecution«
»But you have a world of packing my dear«
»An hour before breakfast will be sufficient for me«
»In that case we might be off early as you say and have part of the
Easter week in Rome«
»Mr Austin wishes it greatly papa though he has not mentioned it«
»Austin my darling girl is not one of your impatient men who burst with
everything they have in their heads or their hearts«
»Oh but I know him so well« said Cecilia conjuring up that innocent
enthusiasm of hers for Mr Austin as an antidote to her sharp suffering The
next minute she looked on her father as the key of an enigma concerning Seymour
Austin whom she imagined possibly she had not hitherto known at all Her
curiosity to pierce it faded She and her maid were packing through the night
At dawn she requested her maid to lift the windowblind and give her an opinion
of the weather »Grey Miss« the maid reported It signified to Cecilia no one
roaming outside
The step she was taking was a desperate attempt at a cure and she commenced
it though sorely wounded with pity for Nevils disappointment and a
singularly cleareyed perception of his aims and motives »I am rich and he
wants riches he likes me and he reads my weakness« Jealousy shook her by
fits but she had no right to be jealous nor any right to reproach him Her
task was to climb back to those heavenly heights she sat on before he distracted
her and drew her down
Beauchamp came to a vacated house that day
Chapter XLVI
As It Might Have Been Foreseen
It was in Italy that Cecilias maiden dreams of life had opened She hoped to
recover them in Italy and the calm security of a mind untainted Italy was to
be her reviving air
While this idea of a specific for her malady endured travelling at speed
to the ridges of the Italian frontier across France she simply remembered
Nevil he was distant he had no place in the storied landscape among the
images of Art and the names of patient great men who bear as they bestow an
atmosphere other than earths for those adoring them If at night in her sleep
he was a memory that conducted her through scenes which were lightnings the
cool swift morning of her flight released her France too her rival the
land of France personified by her instinctively though she had no vivid
imaginative gift did not wound her with a poisoned dart »She knew him first
she was his first love« The Alps and the sense of having Italy below them
renewed Cecilias loftyperching youth Then I am in Italy she sighed with
rapture The wine of delight and oblivion was at her lips
But thirst is not enjoyment and a satiated thirst that we insist on
oversatisfying to drown the recollection of past anguish is baneful to the
soul In Rome Cecilias vision of her track to Rome was of a run of fire over a
heath She could scarcely feel common pleasure in Rome It seemed burnt out
Flung back on herself she was condemned to undergo the bitter torment she
had flown from jealous love and reproachful and a shame in it like nothing
she had yet experienced Previous pains were but Summer lightnings passing
shadows She could have believed in sorcery the man had eaten her heart
A disposition to mocking humour foreign to her nature gave her the notion
of being off her feet in the claws of a fabulous bird It served to veil her
dulness An ultraEnglish family in Rome composed shocking to relate of a
baronet banker and his wife two faintfaced girls and a young gentleman of our
country once perhaps a lightlimbed boy chose to be followed by their footman
in the melancholy pomp of state livery Wherever she encountered them Cecilia
talked Nevil Beauchamp Even Mr Tuckham perceived it She was extremely
uncharitable she extended her ungenerous criticism to the institution of the
footman England and the English were lashed
»Those people are caricatures« Tuckham said in apology for poor England
burlesqued abroad »You must not generalize on them Footmen are footmen all the
world over The cardinals have a fine set of footmen«
»They are at home Those English sow contempt of us all over Europe We
cannot but be despised One comes abroad foredoomed to share the sentiment This
is your middleclass What society can they move in that sanctions a vulgarity
so perplexing They have the air of ornaments on a cottagers parlour
mantelpiece«
Tuckham laughed »Something of that« he said
»Evidently they seek distinction and they have it of that kind« she
continued »It is not wonderful that we have so much satirical writing in
England with such objects of satire It may be as little wonderful that the
satire has no effect Immense wealth and native obtuseness combine to disfigure
us with this aspect of overripeness not to say monstrosity I fall in love
with the poor and think they have a cause to be pleaded when I look at those
people We scoff at the vanity of the French but it is a graceful vanity
pardonable compared with ours«
»I ve read all that a hundred times« quoth Tuckham bluntly
»So have I I speak of it because I see it We scoff at the simplicity of
the Germans«
»The Germans live in simple fashion because they re poor French vanity s
pretty and amusing I dont know whether it s deep in them for I doubt their
depth but I know it s in their joints The first spring of a Frenchman comes
of vanity That you cant say of the English Peace to all but I abhor
cosmopolitanism No man has a firm foothold who pretends to it None despises
the English in reality Dont be misled Miss Halkett We re solid that is the
main point The world feels our power and has confidence in our good faith I
ask for no more«
»With Germans we are supercilious Celts with Frenchmen we are sneering
Teutons Can we be loved Mr Tuckham«
»That s a quotation from my friend Lydiard Loved No nation ever was loved
while it lived As Lydiard says it may be a good beast or a bad but a beast it
is A nation s much too big for refined feelings and affections It must be
powerful or out of the way or down it goes When a nation s dead you may love
it but I dont see the use of dying to be loved My aim for my country is to
have the land respected For that purpose we must have power for power wealth
for wealth industry for industry internal peace therefore no agitation no
artificial divisions All s plain in history and fact so long as we do not
obtrude sentimentalism Nothing mixes well with that stuff except poetical
ideas«
Contrary to her anticipation Cecilia was thrown more into companionship
with Mr Tuckham than with Mr Austin and though it often vexed her she
acknowledged that she derived a benefit from his robust antagonism of opinion
And Italy had grown tasteless to her She could hardly simulate sufficient
curiosity to serve for a vacant echo to Mr Austins historic ardour Pliny the
Younger might indeed be the model of a gentleman of old Rome there might be a
scholarly pleasure in calculating as Mr Austin did the length of time it took
Pliny to journey from the city to his paternal farm or villa overlooking the
lake or villa overlooking the bay and some abstruse fun in the tender ridicule
of his readings of his poems to friends for Mr Austin smiled effusively in
alluding to the illustrious Roman pleaders foible of verse but Pliny bore no
resemblance to that island barbarian Nevil Beauchamp she could not realize the
friend of Trajan orator lawyer student statesman benefactor of his kind
and model of her own modern English gentleman though he was »Yes« she would
reply encouragingly to Seymour Austins fond brooding hum about his hero and
»Yes« conclusively like an incarnation of stupidity dealing in monosyllables
She was unworthy of the society of a scholar Nor could she kneel at the feet of
her especial heroes Dante Raphael Buonarotti she was unworthy of them She
longed to be at Mount Laurels Mr Tuckhams conversation was the nearest
approach to it as it were round by Greenland but it was homeward
She was really grieved to lose him Business called him to England
»What business can it be papa« she inquired and the colonel replied
briefly »Ours«
Mr Austin now devoted much of his time to the instruction of her in the
ancient life of the Eternal City He had certain volumes of Livy Niebuhr and
Gibbon from which he read her extracts at night shunning the scepticism and
the irony of the moderns so that there should be no jar on the awakening
interest of his fair pupil and patient A gentle crosshauling ensued between
them that they grew conscious of and laughed over during their peregrinations
in and out of Rome she pulled for the Republic of the Scipios his
predilections were toward the Rome of the wise and clement emperors To
Cecilias mind Rome rocked at a period so closely neighbouring her decay to
him with an imagination brooding on the fuller knowledge of it the city
breathed securely the sky was clear jurisprudence rhetoric statesmanship
then flourished supreme and men eminent for culture the finest flowers of our
race he thought them and he thought their Age the manhood of Rome
Struck suddenly by a feminine subtle comparison that she could not have
framed in speech Cecilia bowed to his views of the happiness and elevation
proper to the sway of a sagacious and magnanimous Imperialism of the Roman
pattern he rejected the French She mused on dim old thoughts of the gracious
dignity of a womans life under high governorship Turbulent young men
imperilled it at every step The trained the grave the partly grey were
fitting lords and mates for women aspiring to moral beauty and distinction
Beside such they should be planted if they would climb Her walks and
conversations with Seymour Austin charmed her as the haze of a summer evening
charms the sight
Upon the conclusion of her term of exile Cecilia would gladly have remained
in Italy another month An appointment of her fathers with Mr Tuckham at Mount
Laurels on a particular day she considered as of no consequence whatever and
she said so in response to a meaningless nod But Mr Austin was obliged to
return to work She set her face homeward with his immediately and he looked
pleased he did not try to dissuade her from accompanying him by affecting to
think it a sacrifice clearly he knew that to be near him was her greatest
delight
Thus do we round the perilous headland called love by wooing a good man for
his friendship and requiting him with faithful esteem for the grief of an
illfortuned passion of his youth
Cecilia would not suffer her fancy to go very far in pursuit of the secret
of Mr Austins present feelings Until she reached Mount Laurels she barely
examined her own The sight of the house warned her instantly that she must have
a defence and then in desperation but with perfect distinctness she
entertained the hope of hearing him speak the protecting words which could not
be broken through when wedded to her consent
If Mr Austin had no intentions it was at least strange that he did not
part from her in London
He whose coming she dreaded had been made aware of the hour of her return
as his card with the pencilled line »Will call on the 17th« informed her The
17th was the morrow
After breakfast on the morning of the 17th Seymour Austin looked her in the
eyes longer than it is customary for ladies to have to submit to keen
inspection
»Will you come into the library« he said
She went with him into the library
Was it to speak of his anxiousness as to the state of her fathers health
that he had led her there and that he held her hand He alarmed her and he
pacified her alarm yet bade her reflect on the matter saying that her father
like other fathers would be more at peace upon the establishment of his
daughter Mr Austin remarked that the colonel was troubled
»Does he wish for my pledge never to marry without his approval I will give
it« said Cecilia
»He would like you to undertake to marry the man of his choice«
Cecilias features hung on an expression equivalent to »I could almost do
that«
At the same time she felt it was not Seymour Austins manner of speaking He
seemed to be praising an unknown person some gentleman who was rough but of
solid promise and singular strength of character
The housebell rang Believing that Beauchamp had now come she showed a
painful ridging of the brows and Mr Austin considerately mentioned the name of
the person he had in his mind
She readily agreed with him regarding Mr Tuckhams excellent qualities if
that was indeed the name and she hastened to recollect how little she had
forgotten Mr Tuckhams generosity to Beauchamp and confessed to herself it
might as well have been forgotten utterly for the thanks he had received While
revolving these ideas she was listening to Mr Austin gradually she was
beginning to understand that she was parting company with her original
conjectures but going at so swift a pace in so supple and sure a grasp that
like the speeding train slipped on new lines of rails by the pointsman her
hurrying sensibility was not shocked or the shock was imperceptible when she
heard him proposing Mr Tuckham to her for a husband by her fathers authority
and with his own warm seconding He had not dropped her hand he was very
eloquent a masterly advocate he pleaded her fathers cause it was not put to
her as Mr Tuckhams her father had set his heart on this union he was
awaiting her decision
»Is it so urgent« she asked
»It is urgent It saves him from an annoyance He requires a soninlaw whom
he can confidently rely on to manage the estates which you are woman of the
world enough to know should be in strong hands He gives you to a man of settled
principles It is urgent because he may wish to be armed with your answer at
any instant«
Her father entered the library He embraced her and »Well« he said
»I must think papa I must think«
She pressed her hand across her eyes Disillusioned by Seymour Austin she
was utterly defenceless before Beauchamp and possibly Beauchamp was in the
house She fancied he was by the impatient brevity of her fathers voice
Seymour Austin and Colonel Halkett left the room and Blackburn Tuckham
walked in not the most entirely selfpossessed of suitors puffing softly under
his breath and blinking eyes as rapidly as a skylark claps wings on the ascent
Half an hour later Beauchamp appeared He asked to see the colonel delivered
himself of his pretensions and wishes to the colonel and was referred to
Cecilia but Colonel Halkett declined to send for her Beauchamp declined to
postpone his proposal until the following day He went outside the house and
walked up and down the grassplot
Cecilia came to him at last
»I hear Nevil that you are waiting to speak to me«
»I ve been waiting some weeks Shall I speak here«
»Yes here quickly«
»Before the house I have come to ask you for your hand«
»Mine I cannot «
»Step into the park with me I ask you to marry me«
»It is too late«
Chapter XLVII
The Refusal of Him
Passing from one scene of excitement to another Cecilia was perfectly steeled
for her bitter task and having done that which separated her a spheres
distance from Beauchamp she was cold inaccessible to the face of him who had
swayed her on flood and ebb so long incapable of tender pity even for herself
All she could feel was a harsh joy to have struck off her tyrants fetters with
a determination to cherish it passionately lest she should presently be hating
herself for the shadow of such a possibility fell within the narrow circle of
her strung sensations But for the moment her delusion reached to the idea that
she had escaped from him into freedom when she said »It is too late« Those
words were the sum and voice of her long term of endurance She said them
hurriedly almost in a whisper in the manner of one changeing a theme of
conversation for subjects happier and livelier though none followed
The silence bore back on her a suspicion of a faint reproachfulness in the
words and perhaps they carried a poetical tone still more distasteful
»You have been listening to tales of me« said Beauchamp
»Nevil we can always be friends the best of friends«
»Were you astonished at my asking you for your hand You said mine as if
you wondered You have known my feelings for you Can you deny that I have
reckoned on yours too long But not falsely No hear me out The truth is
I cannot lose you And dont look so resolute Overlook little wounds I was
never indifferent to you How could I be with eyes in my head The colonel is
opposed to me of course he will learn to understand me better but you and I
we cannot be mere friends It s like daylight blotted out or the eyes gone
blind Too late Can you repeat it I tried to warn you before you left
England I should have written a letter to put you on your guard against my
enemies I find I have some but a letter is sure to stumble I should have
been obliged to tell you that I do not stand on my defence and I thought I
should see you the next day You went and not a word for me You gave me no
chance If you have no confidence in me I must bear it I may say the story is
false With your hand in mine I would swear it«
»Let it be forgotten« said Cecilia surprised and shaken to think that her
situation required further explanations fascinated and unnerved by simply
hearing him »We are now we are walking away from the house«
»Do you object to a walk with me«
They had crossed the garden plot and were at the gate of the park leading to
the Western wood Beauchamp swung the gate open He cast a look at the clouds
coming up from the Southwest in folds of grey and silver
»Like the day of our drive into Bevisham without the storm behind« he
said and doated on her soft shut lips and the mild sunrays of her hair in
sunless light »There are flowers that grow only in certain valleys and your
home is Mount Laurels whatever your fancy may be for Italy You colour the
whole region for me When you were absent you were here I called here six
times and walked and talked with you«
Cecilia set her face to the garden Her heart had entered on a course of
heavy thumping like a sapper in the mine
Pain was not unwelcome to her but this threatened weakness
What plain words could she use If Mr Tuckham had been away from the house
she would have found it easier to speak of her engagement she knew not why Or
if the imperative communication could have been delivered in Italian or French
she was as little able to say why it would have slipped from her tongue without
a critic shudder to arrest it She was cold enough to revolve the words
betrothed affianced plighted and reject them pretty words as they are
Between the vulgarity of romantic language and the baldness of commonplace it
seemed to her that our English gives us no choice that we cannot be dignified
in simplicity And for some reason feminine and remote she now detested her
hand so much as to be unable to bring herself to the metonymic mention of it
The ladys difficulty was peculiar to sweet natures that have no great warmth of
passion it can only be indicated Like others of the kind it is traceable to
the most delicate of sentiments and to the flattest for Mr Blackburn
Tuckhams figure was she thought of it with no personal objection not of the
graceful order neither cavalierly nor kingly and imagining herself to say »I
am engaged« and he suddenly appearing on the field Cecilias whole mind was
shocked in so marked a way did he contrast with Beauchamp
This was the effect of Beauchamps latest words on her He had disarmed her
anger
»We must have a walk today« he said commandingly but it had stolen into
him that he and she were not walking on the same bank of the river though they
were side by side a chill water ran between them As in other days there hung
her hand but not to be taken Incredible as it was the icy sense of his having
lost her benumbed him Her beautiful face and beautiful tall figure so familiar
to him that they were like a possession protested in his favour while they
snatched her from him all the distance of the words too late
»Will you not give me one halfhour«
»I am engaged« Cecilia plunged and extricated herself »I am engaged to
walk with Mr Austin and papa«
Beauchamp tossed his head Something induced him to speak of Mr Tuckham
»The colonel has discovered his Tory young man It s an object as
incomprehensible to me as a Tory workingman I suppose I must take it that they
exist As for Blackburn Tuckham I have nothing against him He s an honourable
fellow enough and would govern Great Britain as men of that rich middleclass
rule their wives with a strict regard for ostensible humanity and what the law
allows them His manners have improved Your cousin Mary seems to like him it
struck me when I saw them together Cecilia one halfhour You refuse me you
have not heard me You will not say too late«
»Nevil I have said it finally I have no longer the right to conceive it
unsaid«
»So we speak It s the language of indolence temper faint hearts Too
late has no meaning Turn back with me to the park I offer you my whole heart
I love you There s no woman living who could be to me the wife you would be I
m like your male nightingale that you told me of I must have my mate to sing
to that is work for and live for and she must not delay too long Did I
Pardon me if you think I did You have known I love you I have been distracted
by things that kept me from thinking of myself and my wishes and love s a
selfish business while while one has work in hand It s clear I cant do
two things at a time make love and carry on my taskwork I have been idle for
weeks I believed you were mine and wanted no lovemaking There s no folly in
that if you understand me at all As for vanity about women I ve outlived it
In comparison with you I m poor I know you look distressed but one has to
allude to it I admit that wealth would help me To see wealth supporting the
cause of the people for once would but you say too late Well I dont
renounce you till I see you giving your hand to a man who s not myself You
have been offended groundlessly on my honour You are the woman of all women
in the world to hold me fast in faith and pride in you It s useless to look
icy you feel what I say«
»Nevil I feel grief and beg you to cease I am It is «
»Too late has not a rag of meaning Cecilia I love your name I love this
too this is mine and no one can rob me of it«
He drew forth a golden locket and showed her a curl of her hair
Crimsoning she said instantly »Language of the kind I used is open to
misconstruction I fear I have not even the right to listen to you I am
You ask me for what I have it no longer in my power to give I am engaged«
The shot rang through him and partly stunned him but incredulity made a
mocking effort to sustain him The greater wounds do not immediately convince us
of our fate though we may be conscious that we have been hit
»Engaged in earnest« said he
»Yes«
»Of your free will«
»Yes«
Her father stepped out on the terrace from one of the open windows
trailing a newspaper like a pockethandkerchief Cecilia threaded the
flowerbeds to meet him
»Here s an accident to one of our ironclads« he called to Beauchamp
»Lives lost sir«
»No thank heaven but upon my word it s a warning Read the telegram it
s the Hastings If these are our defences at a cost of half a million of
money each of them the sooner we look to our land forces the better«
»The Shop will not be considered safe« said Beauchamp taking in the
telegram at a glance »Peppel s a firstrate officer too she couldnt have had
a better captain Ship seriously damaged«
He handed back the paper to the colonel
Cecilia expected him to say that he had foreseen such an event
He said nothing and with a singular contraction of the heart she
recollected how he had denounced our system of preparing mainly for the
defensive in war on a day when they stood together in the park watching the
slow passage of that very ship the Hastings along the broad water distant
below them The »swarms of swift vessels of attack« she recollected
particularly and »small wasps and rams under mighty steampower« that he used
to harp on when declaring that England must be known for the assailant in war
she was to ray out her worrying fleets »The defensive is perilous policy in war
« he had said it She recollected also her childish ridicule of his excess of
emphasis he certainly had foresight
Mr Austin and Mr Tuckham came strolling in conversation round the house to
the terrace Beauchamp bowed to the former nodded to the latter scrutinizing
him after he had done so as if the flash of a thought were in his mind
Tuckhams radiant aspect possibly excited it »Congratulate me« was the honest
outcry of his face and frame He was as overflowingly rosy as a victorious
candidate at the hustings commencing a speech Cecilia laid her hand on an urn
in dread of the next words from either of the persons present Her father put an
arm in hers and leaned on her She gazed at her chamber window above wishing
to be wafted thither to her seclusion within The trembling limbs of physical
irresoluteness was a new experience to her
»Anything else in the paper colonel I ve not seen it today« said
Beauchamp for the sake of speaking
»No I dont think there s anything« Colonel Halkett replied »Our
diplomatists havent been shining much that s not our forte«
»No it s our field for younger sons«
»Is it Ah There s an expedition against the hilltribes in India and we
re such a peaceful nation eh We look as if we were in for a complication with
China«
»Well sir we must sell our opium«
»Of course we must There s a man writing about surrendering Gibraltar«
»I m afraid we cant do that«
»But where do you draw the line« quoth Tuckham very susceptible to a sneer
at the colonel and entirely ignorant of the circumstances attending Beauchamps
position before him »You defend the Chinaman and it s questionable if his
case is as good as the Spaniards«
»The Chinaman has a case against our traders Gibraltar concerns our
imperial policy«
»As to the case against the English merchants the Chinaman is for shutting
up his millions of acres of productive land and the action of commerce is
merely a declaration of a universal public right to which all States must
submit«
»Immorality brings its punishment be sure of that Some day we shall have
enough of China As to the Rock I know the argument I may be wrong I ve had
the habit of regarding it as necessary to our naval supremacy«
»Come there we agree«
»I m not so certain«
»The counterargument I call treason«
»Well« said Beauchamp »there s a broad policy and a narrow There s the
Spanish view of the matter if you are for peace and harmony and disarmament«
»I m not«
»Then strengthen your forces«
»Not a bit of it«
»Then bully the feeble and truckle to the strong consent to be hated till
you have to stand your ground«
»Talk«
»It seems to me logical«
»That s the French notion cest lodgique«
Tuckhams pronunciation caused Cecilia to level her eyes at him passingly
»By the way« said Colonel Halkett »there are lots of horrors in the paper
today wife kickings and starvations oh dear me and the murder of a woman
two columns to that«
»That the Tory reaction is responsible for« said Tuckham rather by way of
a joke than a challenge
Beauchamp accepted it as a challenge Much to the benevolent amusement of
Mr Austin and Colonel Halkett he charged the responsibility of every crime
committed in the country and every condition of misery upon the party which
declined to move in advance and which therefore apologized for the perpetuation
of knavery villany brutality injustice and foul dealing
»Stick to your laws and systems and institutions and so long as you wont
stir to amend them I hold you accountable for that long newspaper list daily«
He said this with a visible fire of conviction
Tuckham stood bursting at the monstrousness of such a statement
He condensed his indignant rejoinder to »Madness cant go farther«
»There s an idea in it« said Mr Austin
»It s an idea foaming at the mouth then«
»Perhaps it has no worse fault than that of not marching parallel with the
truth« said Mr Austin smiling »The party accusing in those terms what do
you say Captain Beauchamp supposing us to be pleading before a tribunal«
Beauchamp admitted as much as that he had made the case gigantic though he
stuck to his charge against the Tory party And moreover the Tories and the
old Whigs now Liberals ranked under the heading of Tories those Tories
possessing and representing the wealth of the country yet had not started one
respectable journal that a lady could read through without offence to her or a
gentleman without disgust If there was not one English newspaper in existence
independent of circulation and advertisements and of the tricks to win them
the Tories were answerable for the vacancy They being the rich who if they
chose could set an example to our Press by subscribing to maintain a Journal
superior to the flattering of vile appetites »all that nauseous matter«
Beauchamp stretched his finger at the sheets Colonel Halkett was holding and
which he had not read »those Tories« he bowed to the colonel »I m afraid I
must say you sir are answerable for it«
»I am very well satisfied with my paper« said the colonel
Beauchamp sighed to himself »We choose to be satisfied« he said His pure
and mighty DAWN was in his thoughts the unborn light of a day denied to earth
One of the doctors of Bevisham visiting a sick maid of the house trotted
up the terrace to make his report to her master of the state of her health He
hoped to pull her through with the aid of high feeding He alluded cursorily to
a young girl living on the outskirts of the town whom he had been called in to
see at the eleventh hour and had lost owing to the lowering of his patient
from a prescription of a vegetable diet by a certain Dr Shrapnel
That everexplosive name precipitated Beauchamp to the front rank of the
defence
»I happen to be staying with Dr Shrapnel« he observed »I dont eat meat
there because he doesnt and I am certain I take no harm by avoiding it I
think vegetarianism a humaner system and hope it may be wise I should like to
see the poor practising it for their own sakes and I have half an opinion that
it would be good for the rich if we are to condemn gluttony«
»Ah Captain Beauchamp« the doctor bowed to him »But my case was one of
poor blood requiring to be strengthened The girl was allowed to sink so low
that stimulants were ineffective when I stepped in There s the point It s
all very well while you are in health You may do without meat till your system
demands the stimulant or else as with this poor girl And indeed Captain
Beauchamp if I may venture the remark I had the pleasure of seeing you during
the last Election in our town and if I may be so bold I should venture to
hint that the avoidance of animal food to judge by appearances has not been
quite wholesome for you«
Eyes were turned on Beauchamp
Chapter XLVIII
Of the Trial Awaiting the Earl of Romfrey
Cecilia softly dropped her fathers arm and went into the house The exceeding
pallor of Beauchamps face haunted her in her room She heard the controversy
proceeding below and an exclamation of Blackburn Tuckhams »Immorality of
meateating What nonsense are they up to now«
Beauchamp was inaudible save in a word or two As usual he was the
solitary minority
But how mournfully changed he was She had not noticed it agitated by her
own emotions as she had been and at one time three parts frozen He was the
ghost of the Nevil Beauchamp who had sprung on the deck of the Esperanza out of
Lieutenant Wilmores boat that sunny breezy day which was the bright first
chapter of her new life of her late life as it seemed to her now for she was
dead to it and another creature the coldest of the women of earth She felt
sensibly cold coveted warmth flung a shawl on her shoulders and sat in a
corner of her room hidden and shivering beside the open window till long after
the gentlemen had ceased to speak
How much he must have suffered of late The room she had looked to as a
refuge from Nevil was now her stronghold against the man whom she had incredibly
accepted She remained there the victim of a heart malady under the term of
headache Feeling entrapped she considered that she must have been encircled
and betrayed She looked back on herself as a giddy figure falling into a pit
and in the pit she lay
And how vile to have suspected of unfaithfulness and sordidness the generous
and stedfast man of earth He never abandoned a common friendship His love of
his country was love still whatever the form it had taken His childlike
reliance on effort and outspeaking for which men laughed at him was beautiful
Where am I she cried amid her melting images of him all dominated by his
wan features She was bound fast imprisoned and a slave Even Mr Austin had
conspired against him for only she read Nevil justly His defence of Dr
Shrapnel filled her with an envy that no longer maligned the object of it but
was humble and like the desire of the sick to creep into sunshine
The only worthy thing she could think of doing was it must be mentioned for
a revelation of her fallen state and moreover she was not lusty of health at
the moment to abjure meat The body loathed it and consequently the mind of
the invalided lady shrank away in horror of the bleeding joints and the
increasingly fierce scramble of Christian souls for the dismembered animals she
saw the innocent pasturing beasts she saw the act of slaughter She had
actually sweeping before her sight a spectacle of the ludicrousterrific in the
shape of an entire community pursuing countless herds of poor scampering animal
life for blood she meanwhile with Nevil and Dr Shrapnel stood apart
contemning For whoso would not partake of flesh in this kingdom of roast beef
must be of the sparse number of Nevils execrated minority in politics
The example will show that she touched the borders of delirium Physically
the doctor pronounces her bilious She was in earnest so far as to send down to
the library for medical books and books upon diet These however did not
plead for the beasts They treated the subject without question of mans taking
that which he has conquered Poets and philosophers did the same Again she
beheld Nevil Beauchamp solitary in the adverse rank to the world to his
countrymen especially But that it was no material cause which had wasted his
cheeks and lined his forehead she was sure and to starve with him to embark
with him in his little boat on the seas he whipped to frenzy would have been a
dream of bliss had she dared to contemplate herself in a dream as his
companion
It was not to be thought of
No but this was and to be thought of seriously Cecilia had said to
herself for consolation that Beauchamp was no spiritual guide he had her heart
within her to plead for him and the reflection came to her like a bubble up
from the heart that most of our spiritual guides neglect the root to trim the
flower and thence turning sharply on herself she obtained a sudden view of
her allurement and her sin in worshipping herself and recognized that the aim
at an ideal life closely approaches or easily inclines to selfworship to
which the lady was woman and artist enough to have had no objection but that
therein visibly she discerned the retributive vain longings in the guise of
high individual superiority and distinction that had thwarted her with Nevil
Beauchamp never permitting her to love singlemindedly or wholeheartedly but
always in reclaiming her rights and sighing for the loss of her ideal adoring
her own image in fact when she pretended to cherish and regret that she could
not sufficiently cherish the finer elements of nature What was this ideal she
had complained of losing It was a broken mirror she could think of it in no
other form
Dr Shrapnels EgoEgo yelped and gave chase to her through the pure
beatitudes of her earlier days down to her present regrets It hunted all the
saints in the calendar till their haloes topsided on their heads her
favourite St Francis of Assisi excepted
The doctor was called up from Bevisham next day and pronounced her bilious
He was humorous over Captain Beauchamp who had gone to the parents of the dead
girl and gathered the information that they were a consumptive family to
vindicate Dr Shrapnel »The very family to require strong nourishment« said
the doctor
Cecilia did not rest in her sickroom before hunting through one book and
another she had found arguments on the contrary side a waste of labour that
heaped oppression on her chest as with the worlds weight Apparently one had
only to be in Beauchamps track to experience that She horrified her father by
asking questions about consumption Homoeopathy hydropathy the
revolutionaries of medicine attracted her Blackburn Tuckham a model for an
elected lover who is not beloved promised to procure all sorts of treatises for
her no man could have been so deferential to a diseased mind Beyond calling
her by her Christian name he did nothing to distress her with the broad aspect
of their new relations together He and Mr Austin departed from Mount Laurels
leaving her to sink into an agreeable stupor like one deposited on a mudbank
after buffeting the waves She learnt that her father had seen Captain
Baskelett and remembered marvelling how her personal dread of an interview
that threatened to compromise her ideal of her feminine and peculiar dignity
had assisted to precipitate her where she now lay helpless almost inanimate
She was unaware of the passage of time save when her father spoke of a
marriageday It told her that she lived and was moving The fear of death is
not stronger in us nor the desire to put it off than Cecilias shunning of
such a day The naming of it numbed her blood like a snakebite Yet she openly
acknowledged her engagement and happily for Tuckham his visits both in
London and at Mount Laurels were few and short and he inflicted no foretaste
of her coming subjection to him to alarm her
Under her air of calm abstraction she watched him rigorously for some sign
of his ownership that should tempt her to revolt from her pledge or at least
dream of breaking loose the dream would have sufficed He was never intrusive
never pressing He did not vex because he absolutely trusted to the noble
loyalty which made her admit to herself that she belonged irrevocably to him
while her thoughts were upon Beauchamp With a respectful gravity he submitted
to her perusal a collection of treatises on diet classed pro and con and
paged and pencilmarked to simplify her study of the question They sketched in
company she played music to him he read poetry to her and read it well He
seemed to feel the beauty of it sensitively as she did critically In other
days the positions had been reversed He invariably talked of Beauchamp with
kindness deploring only that he should be squandering his money on workmens
halls and other hazy projects down in Bevisham
»Lydiard tells me he has a very sound idea of the value of money and has
actually made money by cattle breeding but he has flung ten thousand pounds on
a single building outside the town and he ll have to endow it to support it
a Club to educate Radicals The fact is he wants to jam the business of two or
three centuries into a lifetime These men of their socalled progress are like
the majority of religious minds they cant believe without seeing and touching
That is to say they dont believe in the abstract at all but they go to work
blindly by agitating and proselytizing and persecuting to get together a mass
they can believe in You see it in their way of arguing it s half done with
the fist Lydiard tells me he left him last in a horrible despondency about
progress Ha ha Beauchamp s no Radical He hasnt forgiven the Countess of
Romfrey for marrying above her rank He may be a bit of a Republican but really
in this country Republicans are fighting with the shadow of an old hat and a
cockhorse I beg to state that I have a reverence for constituted authority I
speak of what those fellows are contending with«
»Right« said Colonel Halkett »But the shadow of an old hat and a
cockhorse what does that mean«
»That s what our Republicans are hitting at sir«
»Ah so yes« quoth the colonel »And I say this to Nevil Beauchamp that
what we ve grown up well with powerfully with it s base ingratitude and
dangerous folly to throw over«
He blamed Beauchamp for ingratitude to the countess who had he affirmed of
his own knowledge married Lord Romfrey to protect Beauchamps interests
A curious comment on this allegation was furnished by the announcement of
the earls expectations of a son and heir The earl wrote to Colonel Halkett
from Romfrey Castle inviting him to come and spend some time there
»Now that s brave news« the colonel exclaimed
He proposed a cruise round by the Cornish coast to the Severn and so to
Romfrey Castle to squeeze the old lords hand and congratulate him with all his
heart Cecilia was glad to acquiesce for an expedition of any description was a
lull in the storm that hummed about her ears in the peace of home where her
father would perpetually speak of the day to be fixed Sailing the sea on a
cruise was like the gazing at wonderful colours of a Western sky an oblivion of
earthly dates and obligations What mattered it that there were gales in August
She loved the sea and the stinging salt spray and circling gull and plunging
gannet the sun on the waves and the torn cloud The revelling libertine open
sea wedded her to Beauchamp in that veiled cold spiritual manner she could muse
on as a circumstance out of her life
Fair companies of racing yachts were left behind The gales of August
mattered frightfully to poor Blackburn Tuckham who was to be dropped at a town
in South Wales and descended greenish to his cabin as soon as they had crashed
on the first wallwaves of the chalkrace a throw beyond the peaked cliffs
edged with cormorants and were really tasting sea Cecilia reclined on deck
wrapped in shawl and waterproof As the Alpine climber claims the upper air she
had the wild sea to herself through her love of it quite to herself It was
delicious to look round and ahead and the perturbation was just enough to
preserve her from thoughts too deep inward in a scene where the ghost of Nevil
was abroad
The hard dry gale increased Her father stretched beside her drew her
attention to a small cutter under doublereefed mainsail and small jib on the
Esperanzas weather bow a gallant boat carefully handled She watched it with
some anxiety but the Esperanza was bound for a Devon bay and bore away from
the black Dorsetshire headland leaving the little cutter to run into haven if
she pleased The passing her was no event In a representation of the common
events befalling us in these times upon an appreciation of which this history
depends one turns at whiles a languishing glance toward the vast potential
mood pluperfect tense For Nevil Beauchamp was on board the cutter steering
her with Dr Shrapnel and Lydiard in the well and if an accident had happened
to cutter or schooner what else might not have happened Cecilia gathered it
from Mrs WardourDevereux whom to her surprise and pleasure she found at
Romfrey Castle Her friend Louise received a letter from Mr Lydiard containing
a literary amateur seamans log of a cruise of a fifteenton cutter in a gale
and a pure literary sketch of Beauchamp standing drenched at the helm from five
in the morning up to nine at night munching a biscuit for nourishment The
beautiful widow prepared the way for what was very soon to be publicly known
concerning herself by reading out this passage of her correspondents letter in
the breakfast room
»Yes the fellow s a sailor« said Lord Romfrey
The countess rose from her chair and walked out
»Now was that abuse of the fellow« the old lord asked Colonel Halkett »I
said he was a sailor I said nothing else He is a sailor and he s fit for
nothing else and no ship will he get unless he bends his neck never s nearer
it«
He hesitated a moment and went after his wife
Cecilia sat with the countess in the afternoon at a window overlooking the
swelling woods of Romfrey She praised the loveliness of the view
»It is fire to me« said Rosamund
Cecilia looked at her startled Rosamund said no more
She was an excellent hostess nevertheless unpretending and simple in
company and only when it chanced that Beauchamps name was mentioned did she
cast that quick supplicating nervous glance at the earl with a shadow of an
elevation of her shoulders as if in apprehension of mordant pain
We will make no mystery about it I would I could Those happy tales of
mystery are as much my envy as the popular narratives of the deeds of bread and
cheese people for they both create a tideway in the attentive mind the
mysterious pricking our credulous flesh to creep the familiar urging our obese
imagination to constitutional exercise And oh the refreshment there is in
dealing with characters either contemptibly beneath us or supernaturally above
My way is like a Rhone island in the summer drought stony unattractive and
difficult between the two forceful streams of the unreal and the overreal
which delight mankind honour to the conjurors My people conquer nothing win
none they are actual yet uncommon It is the clockwork of the brain that they
are directed to set in motion and poor troop of actors to vacant benches
the conscience residing in thoughtfulness which they would appeal to and if you
are there impervious to them we are lost back I go to my wilderness where as
you perceive I have contracted the habit of listening to my own voice more than
is good
The burden of a child in her bosom had come upon Rosamund with the visage of
the Angel of Death fronting her in her path She believed that she would die
but like much that we call belief there was a kernel of doubt in it which was
lively when her frame was enlivened and she then thought of the giving birth to
this unloved child which was to disinherit the man she loved in whose interest
solely so she could presume to think because it had been her motive reason
she had married the earl She had no wish to be a mother but that prospect and
the dread attaching to it at her time of life she could have submitted to for
Lord Romfreys sake It struck her like a scoffers blow that she the one woman
on earth loving Nevil should have become the instrument for dispossessing him
The revulsion of her feelings enlightened her so far as to suggest without
enabling her to fathom him that instead of having cleverly swayed Lord Romfrey
she had been his dupe or a blind accomplice and though she was too humane a
woman to think of punishing him she had so much to forgive that the trifles
daily and at any instant added to the load flushed her resentment like fresh
lights showing new features and gigantic outlines Nevils loss of Cecilia she
had anticipated she had heard of it when she was lying in physical and mental
apathy at Steynham Lord Romfrey had repeated to her the nature of his replies
to the searching parental questions of Colonel Halkett and having foreseen it
all and what was more foretold it she was not aroused from her torpor
Latterly with the return of her natural strength she had shown herself
incapable of hearing her husband speak of Nevil nor was the earl tardy in
taking the hint to spare the mother of his child allusions that vexed her Now
and then they occurred perforce The presence of Cecilia exasperated Rosamunds
peculiar sensitiveness It required Louise WardourDevereuxs apologies and
interpretations to account for what appeared to Cecilia strangely
illconditioned if not insane in Lady Romfreys behaviour The most
astonishing thing to hear was that Lady Romfrey had paid Mrs Devereux a visit
at her Surrey house unexpectedly one Sunday in the London season for the
purpose as it became evident of meeting Mr Blackburn Tuckham and how she
could have known that Mr Tuckham would be there Mrs Devereux could not tell
for it was Louise assured Cecilia purely by chance that he and Mr Lydiard
were present but the countess obtained an interview with him alone and Mr
Tuckham came from it declaring it to have been more terrible than any he had
ever been called upon to endure The object of the countess was to persuade him
to renounce his bride
Louise replied to the natural inquiry »Upon what plea« with a significant
evasiveness She put her arms round Cecilias neck »I trust you are not
unhappy You will get no release from him«
»I am not unhappy« said Cecilia musically clear to convince her friend
She was indeed glad to feel the stout chains of her anchor restraining her
when Lady Romfrey talked of Nevil they were like the safety of marriage without
the dreaded ceremony and with solitude to let her weep Bound thus to a weaker
man than Blackburn Tuckham though he had been more warmly esteemed her fancy
would have drifted away over the deeps perhaps her cherished loyalty would have
drowned in her tears for Lady Romfrey tasked it very severely but he from
whom she could hope for no release gave her some of the firmness which her
nature craved in this trial
From saying quietly to her »I thought once you loved him« when alluding to
Nevil Lady Romfrey passed to mournful exclamations and by degrees on to direct
entreaties She related the whole story of Renée in England and appeared
distressed with a desperate wonderment at Cecilias mildness after hearing it
Her hearer would have imagined that she had no moral sense if it had not been
so perceptible that the poor ladys mind was distempered on the one subject of
Nevil Beauchamp Cecilias high conception of duty wherein she was a peerless
flower of our English civilization was incommunicable she could practise not
explain it She bowed to Lady Romfreys praises of Nevil suffered her hands to
be wrung her heart to be touched all but an avowal of her love of him to be
wrested from her and not the less did she retain her cold resolution to marry
to please her father and fulfil her pledge In truth it was too late to speak
of Renée to her now It did not beseem Cecilia to remember that she had ever
been a victim of jealousy and while confessing to many errors because she felt
them and gained a necessary strength from them in the comfort of the
consciousness of pain for example which she sorely needed that the pain in
her own breast might deaden her to Nevils jealousy the meanest of the
errors of a lofty soul yielded no extract beyond the bare humiliation proper to
an acknowledgement that it had existed so she discarded the recollection of the
passion which had wrought the mischief Since we cannot have a peerless flower
of civilization without artificial aid it may be understood how it was that
Cecilia could extinguish some lights in her mind and kindle others and
wherefore what it was not natural for her to do she did She had briefly a
certain control of herself
Our common readings in the fictitious romances which mark out a plot and
measure their characters to fit into it had made Rosamund hopeful of the effect
of that story of Renée A wooden young woman or a galvanized sweet to the
writer either of them as to the reader so moveable they are would have
seen her business at this point and have glided melting to reconciliation and
the chamber where romantic fiction ends joyously Rosamund had counted on it
She looked intently at Cecilia »He is ruined wasted ill unloved he has
lost you I am the cause« she cried in a convulsion of grief
»Dear Lady Romfrey« Cecilia would have consoled her »There is nothing to
lead us to suppose that Nevil is unwell and you are not to blame for anything
how can you be«
»I spoke falsely of Dr Shrapnel I am the cause It lies on me it pursues
me Let me give to the poor as I may and feel for the poor as I do to get
nearer to Nevil I cannot have peace His heart has turned from me He despises
me If I had spoken to Lord Romfrey at Steynham as he commanded me you and he
Oh cowardice he is right cowardice is the chief evil in the world He is
ill he is desperately ill he will die«
»Have you heard he is very ill Lady Romfrey«
»No no« Rosamund exclaimed »it is by not hearing that I know it«
With the assistance of Louise Devereux Cecilia gradually awakened to what
was going on in the house There had been a correspondence between Miss Denham
and the countess Letters from Bevisham had suddenly ceased Presumably the earl
had stopped them and if so it must have been for a tragic reason
Cecilia hinted some blame of Lord Romfrey to her father
He pressed her hand and said »You dont know what that man suffers Romfrey
is fond of Nevil too but he must guard his wife and the fact is Nevil is down
with fever It s in the papers now he may be able to conceal it and I hope he
will There ll be a crisis and then he can tell her good news a little
illness and all right now Of course« the colonel continued buoyantly »Nevil
will recover he s a tough wiry young fellow but poor Romfreys fears are
natural enough about the countess Her mind seems to be haunted by the doctor
there Shrapnel I mean and she s exciteable to a degree that threatens the
worst in case of any accident in Bevisham«
»Is it not a kind of cowardice to conceal it« Cecilia suggested
»It saves her from fretting« said the colonel
»But she is fretting If Lord Romfrey would confide in her and trust to her
courage papa it would be best«
Colonel Halkett thought that Lord Romfrey was the judge
Cecilia wished to leave a place where this visible torture of a human soul
was proceeding and to no purpose She pointed out to her father by a variety
of signs that Lady Romfrey either knew or suspected the state of affairs in
Bevisham and repeated her remarks upon Nevils illness But Colonel Halkett was
restrained from departing by the earls constant request to him to stay Old
friendship demanded it of him He began to share his daughters feelings at the
sight of Lady Romfrey She was outwardly patient and submissive by nature she
was a strong healthy woman and she attended to all her husbands prescriptions
for the regulating of her habits walked with him lay down for the afternoons
rest appeared amused when he laboured to that effect and did her utmost to
subdue the worm devouring her heart but the hours of the delivery of the
letterpost were fatal to her Her woeful »No letter for me« was piteous When
that was heard no longer her silence and famished gaze chilled Cecilia At
night Rosamund eyed her husband expressionlessly with her head leaning back in
her chair to the sorrow of the ladies beholding her Ultimately the contagion
of her settled misery took hold of Cecilia Colonel Halkett was induced by his
daughter and Mrs Devereux to endeavour to combat a system that threatened
consequences worse than those it was planned to avert He by this time was aware
of the serious character of the malady which had prostrated Nevil Lord Romfrey
had directed his own medical man to go down to Bevisham and Dr Gannets report
of Nevil was grave The colonel made light of it to his daughter after the
fashion he condemned in Lord Romfrey to whom however he spoke earnestly of the
necessity for partially taking his wife into his confidence to the extent of
letting her know that a slight fever was running its course with Nevil
»That will be no slight fever in my wifes blood« said the earl »I stand
to weather the cape or run to wreck and it wont do to be taking in reefs on a
leeshore You dont see what frets her colonel For years she has been bent on
Nevils marriage It s off but if you catch Cecilia by the hand and bring her
to us I swear she loves the fellow that s the medicine for my wife Say
will you do it Tell Lady Romfrey it shall be done We shall stand upright
again«
»I m afraid that s impossible Romfrey« said the colonel
»Play at it then Let her think it You re helping me treat an invalid
Colonel my old friend You save my house and name if you do that It s a hand
round a candle in a burst of wind There s Nevil dragged by a woman into one of
their reeking hovels so that Miss Denham at Shrapnels writes to Lady Romfrey
because the womans drunken husband voted for him at the Election and was
kicked out of employment and fell upon the ginbottle and the brats of the den
died starving and the man sickened of a fever and Nevil goes in and sits with
him Out of that tangle of folly is my house to be struck down It looks as if
the fellow with his infernal humanity were the bad genius of an old nurses
tale He s a good fellow colonel he means well This fever will cure him
they say it sobers like bloodletting He s a gallant fellow you know that He
fought to the skeleton in our last big war On my soul I believe he s good for
a husband Frenchwoman or not that affair s over He shall have Steynham and
Holdesbury Can I say more Now colonel you go in to the countess Grasp my
hand Give me that help and God bless you You light up my old days She s a
noble woman I would not change her against the best in the land She has this
craze about Nevil I suppose she ll never get over it But there it is and we
must feed her with the spoon«
Colonel Halkett argued stutteringly with the powerful man »It s the truth
she ought to hear Romfrey indeed it is if you ll believe me It s his life
she is fearing for She knows half«
»She knows positively nothing colonel Miss Denhams first letter spoke of
the fellows having headaches and staggering He was out on a cruise and saw
your schooner pass and put into some port and began falling right and left
and they got him back to Shrapnels and here it is that if you go to him you
ll save him and if you go to my wife you ll save her and there you have it
and I ask my old friend I beg him to go to them both«
»But you cant surely expect me to force my daughters inclinations my dear
Romfrey«
»Cecilia loves the fellow«
»She is engaged to Mr Tuckham«
»I ll see the man Tuckham«
»Really my dear lord«
»Play at it Halkett play at it Tide us over this Talk to her hint it
and nod it We have to round November I could strangle the world till that
months past You ll own« he added mildly after his thunder »I m not much of
the despot Nevil calls me She has not a wish I dont supply I m at her beck
and everything that s mine She s a brave good woman I dont complain I run
my chance But if we lose the child good night Boy or girl boy«
Lord Romfrey flung an arm up The child of his old age lived for him
already he gave it all the life he had This miracle this young son springing
up on an earth decaying and dark absorbed him This reviver of his ancient line
must not be lost Perish every consideration to avert it He was ready to fear
love or hate terribly according to the prospects of his child
Colonel Halkett was obliged to enter into a consultation of a shadowy sort
with his daughter whose only advice was that they should leave the castle The
penetrable gloom there and the growing apprehension concerning the countess and
Nevil tore her to pieces Even if she could have conspired with the earl to
hoodwink his wife her strong sense told her it would be fruitless besides
base Father and daughter had to make the stand against Lord Romfrey He saw
their departure from the castle gates and kissed his hand to Cecilia
courteously without a smile
»He may well praise the countess papa« said Cecilia while they were
looking back at the castle and the moveless flag that hung in folds by the mast
above it »She has given me her promise to avoid questioning him and to accept
his view of her duty She said to me that if Nevil should die she «
Cecilia herself broke down and gave way to sobs in her fathers arms
Chapter XLIX
A Fabric of Baronial Despotism Crumbles
The earls precautions did duty night and day in all the avenues leading to the
castle and his wifes apartments and he could believe that he had undertaken as
good a defence as the mountain guarding the fertile vale from storms but him
the elements pelted heavily Letters from acquaintances of Nevil from old
shipmates and from queer political admirers and opponents hailed on him things
not to be frigidly read were related of the fellow
Lord Romfreys faith in the power of constitution to beat disease battled
sturdily with the daily reports of his physician and friends whom he had
directed to visit the cottage on the common outside Bevisham and with Miss
Denhams intercepted letters to the countess Still he had to calculate on the
various injuries Nevil had done to his constitution which had made of him
another sort of man for a struggle of life and death than when he stood like a
riddled flag through the war That latest freak of the fellows the abandonment
of our natural and wholesome sustenance in animal food was to be taken in the
reckoning Dr Gannet did not allude to it the Bevisham doctor did and the
earl meditated with a fury of wrath on the dismal chance that such a folly as
this of one old vegetable idiot influencing a younger noodle might strike his
House to the dust
His watch over his wife had grown mechanical he failed to observe that her
voice was missing She rarely spoke He lost the art of observing himself the
wrinkling up and dropping of his brows became his habitual language So long as
he had not to meet inquiries or face tears he enjoyed the sense of security He
never quitted his wife save to walk to the Southern park lodge where letters
and telegrams were piled awaiting him and she was forbidden to take the air on
the castle terrace without his being beside her lest a whisper some accident
of the kind that donkeys who nod over their drowsy noselengthahead precautions
call fatality should rouse her to suspect and in a turn of the hand undo his
labour for the race was getting terrible Death had not yet stepped out of that
evil chamber in Dr Shrapnels cottage to aim his javelin at the bosom
containing the prized young life to come but like the smoke of waxing fire he
shadowed forth his presence in wreaths blacker and thicker day by day and
Everard Romfrey knew that the hideous beast of darkness had only to spring up
and pass his guard to deal a blow to his House the direr from all he supposed
himself to have gained by masking it hitherto The young life he looked to for
renewal swallowed him he partly lost human feeling for his wife in the
tremendous watch and strain to hurry her as a vessel round the dangerous
headland He was oblivious that his eyebrows talked that his head was bent low
that his mouth was shut and that where a doubt has been sown silence and such
signs are like revelations in black night to the spirit of a woman who loves
One morning after breakfast Rosamund hung on his arm eyeing him neither
questioningly nor invitingly but long He kissed her forehead She clung to him
and closed her eyes showing him a face of slumber like a mask of the dead
Mrs Devereux was present Cecilia had entreated her to stay with Lady
Romfrey She stole away for the time had come which any close observer of the
countess must have expected
The earl lifted his wife and carried her to her sittingroom A sunless
weltering September day whipped the windowpanes and brought the roar of the
beaten woods to her ears He was booted and gaitered for his customary walk to
the park lodge and as he bent a knee beside her she murmured »Dont wait
return soon«
He placed a cord attached to the bellrope within her reach This utter love
of Nevil Beauchamp was beyond his comprehension but there it was and he had to
submit to it and manoeuvre His letters and telegrams told the daily tale »He
s better« said the earl preparing himself to answer what his wifes look had
warned him would come
She was an image of peace in the same posture on the couch where he had
left her when he returned She did not open her eyes but felt about for his
hand and touching it she seemed to weigh the fingers
At last she said »The fever should be at its height«
»Why my dear brave girl what ails you« said he
»Ignorance«
She raised her eyelids His head was bent down over her like a ravens
watching a picture of gravest vigilance
Her bosom rose and sank »What has Miss Denham written today«
»Today« he asked her gently
»I shall bear it« she answered »You were my master before you were my
husband I bear anything you think is good for my government Only my ignorance
is fever I share Nevils«
»Have you been to my desk at all«
»No I read your eyes and your hands I have been living on them Today I
find that I have not gained by it as I hoped I should Ignorance kills me I
really have courage to bear to hear just at this moment I have«
»There s no bad news my love« said the earl
»High fever is it«
»The usual fever Gannet s with him I sent for Gannet to go there to
satisfy you«
»Nevil is not dead«
»Lord maam my dear soul«
»He is alive«
»Quite certainly alive as much alive as I am only going a little faster
as fellows do in the jumps of a fever The best doctor in England is by his bed
He s doing fairly You should have let me know you were fretting my Rosamund«
»I did not wish to tempt you to lie my dear lord«
»Well there are times when a woman as you are but you re a brave
woman a strong heart and my wife You want some one to sit with you dont
you Louise Devereux is a pleasant person but you want a man to amuse you I d
have sent to Stukely but you want a serious man I fancy«
So much had the earl been thrown out of his plan for protecting his wife
that he felt helpless and hinted at the aids and comforts of religion He had
not rejected the official Church and regarding it now as in alliance with great
Houses he considered that its ministers might also be useful to the troubled
women of noble families He offered if she pleased to call in the rector to
sit with her the bishop of the diocese if she liked
»But just as you like my love« he added »You know you have to avoid
fretting I ve heard my sisters talk of the parson doing them good off and on
about the time of their being brought to bed He elevated their minds they
said I m sure I ve no objection If he can doctor the minds of women he s
got a profession worth something«
Rosamund smothered an outcry »You mean that Nevil is past hope«
»Not if he s got a fair half of our blood in him And Richard Beauchamp
gave the fellow good stock He has about the best blood in England That s not
saying much when they ve taken to breed as they build stuff to keep the
plasterers at work devil a thought of posterity«
»There I see you and Nevil one my dear lord« said Rosamund »You think of
those that are to follow us Talk to me of him Do not say the fellow Say
Nevil No no call him the fellow He was alive and well when you used to say
it But smile kindly as if he made you love him down in your heart in spite of
you We have both known that love and that opposition to him not liking his
ideas yet liking him so we were obliged to laugh I have seen you as love
does laugh If I am not crying over his grave Everard Oh«
The earl smoothed her forehead All her suspicions were rekindled »Truth
truth give me truth Let me know what world I am in«
»My dear a ship s not lost because she s caught in a squall nor a man
buffeting the waves for an hour He s all right he keeps up«
»He is delirious I ask you I have fancied I heard him«
Lord Romfrey puffed from his nostrils but in affecting to blow to the winds
her foolish womans wildness of fancy his mind rested on Nevil and he said
»Poor boy It seems he s chattering hundreds to the minute«
His wifes looks alarmed him after he had said it and he was for toning it
and modifying it when she gasped to him to help her to her feet and standing
up she exclaimed »O heaven now I hear you now I know he lives See how much
better it is for me to know the real truth It takes me to his bedside
Ignorance and suspense have been poison I have been washed about like a dead
body Let me read all my letters now Nothing will harm me now You will do your
best for me my husband will you not« She tore at her dress at her throat for
coolness panting and smiling »For me us yours ours Give me my letters
lunch with me and start for Bevisham Now you see how good it is for me to hear
the very truth you will give me your own report and I shall absolutely trust
in it and go down with it if it s false But you see I am perfectly strong for
the truth It must be you or I to go I burn to go but your going will satisfy
me If you look on him I look I feel as if I had been nailed down in a coffin
and have got fresh air I pledge you my word sir my honour my dear husband
that I will think first of my duty I know it would be Nevils wish He has not
quite forgiven me he thought me ambitious ah stop he said that the birth
of our child would give him greater happiness than he had known for years he
begged me to persuade you to call a boy Nevil Beauchamp and a girl Renée He
has never believed in his own long living«
Rosamund refreshed her lords heart by smiling archly as she said »The boy
to be educated to take the side of the people of course The girl is to learn a
profession«
»Ha bless the fellow« Lord Romfrey interjected »Well I might go there
for an hour Promise me no fretting You have hollows in your cheeks and your
underlip hangs I dont like it I havent seen that before«
»We do not see clearly when we are trying to deceive« said Rosamund »My
letters my letters«
Lord Romfrey went to fetch them They were intact in his desk His wife
then had actually been reading the facts through a wall For he was convinced
of Mrs Devereuxs fidelity as well as of the colonels and Cecilias He was
not a man to be disobeyed nor was his wife the woman to court or to acquiesce
in trifling acts of disobedience to him He received the impression
consequently that this matter of the visit to Nevil was one in which the poor
loving soul might be allowed to guide him singular as the intensity of her love
of Nevil Beauchamp was considering that they were not of kindred blood
He endeavoured to tone her mind for the sadder items in Miss Denhams
letters
»Oh« said Rosamund »what if I shed the screaming eyedrops as you call
them They will not hurt me but relieve I was sure I should some day envy that
girl If he dies she will have nursed him and had the last of him«
»He s not going to die« said Everard powerfully
»We must be prepared These letters will do that for me I have written out
the hours of your trains Stanton will attend on you I have directed him to
telegraph to the Dolphin in Bevisham for rooms for the night that is tomorrow
night Tonight you sleep at your hotel in London which will be ready to
receive you and is more comfortable than the empty house Stanton takes wine
madeira and claret and other small necessaries If Nevil should be very unwell
you will not leave him immediately I shall look to the supplies You will
telegraph to me twice a day and write once We lunch at halfpast twelve so
that you may hit the twentyminutestotwo oclock train And now I go to see
that the packing is done«
She carried off her letters to her bedroom where she fell upon the bed
shutting her eyelids hard before she could suffer her eyes to be the
intermediaries of that feverchamber in Bevisham and her bursting heart But she
had not positively deceived her husband in the reassurance she had given him by
her collectedness and by the precise directions she had issued for his comforts
indicating a mind so much more at ease She was firmer to meet the peril of her
beloved and being indeed when thrown on her internal resources one among the
brave women of earth though also one who required a lift from circumstances to
take her stand calmly fronting a menace to her heart she saw the evidence of
her influence with Lord Romfrey the level she could feel that they were on
together so long as she was courageous inspirited her sovereignly
He departed at the hour settled for him Rosamund sat at her boudoir window
watching the carriage that was conducting him to the railway station Neither of
them had touched on the necessity of his presenting himself at the door of Dr
Shrapnels house That and the disgust belonging to it was a secondary
consideration with Lord Romfrey after he had once resolved on it as the right
thing to do and his wife admired and respected him for so supreme a loftiness
And fervently she prayed that it might not be her evil fate to disappoint his
hopes Never had she experienced so strong a sense of devotedness to him as when
she saw the carriage winding past the middle oakwood of the park under a wet
sky brightened from the West and on out of sight
Chapter L
At the Cottage on the Common
Rain went with Lord Romfrey in a pursuing cloud all the way to Bevisham and
across the common to the long garden and plain little greenshuttered neat
white cottage of Dr Shrapnel Carriages were driving from the door idle men
with hands deep in their pockets hung near it some women pointing their
shoulders under wet shawls and boys The earl was on foot With no sign of
discomposure he stood at the halfopen door and sent in his card bearing the
request for permission to visit his nephew The reply failing to come to him
immediately he began striding to and fro That garden gate where he had
flourished the righteous whip was wide Footfarers over the sodden common were
attracted to the gateway and lingered in it looking at the long
greenextended windows apparently listening before they broke away to exchange
undertoned speech here and there Boys had pushed up through the garden to the
kitchen area From time to time a woman in a dripping bonnet whimpered aloud
An air of a country churchyard on a Sunday morning when the curate has
commenced the service prevailed The boys were subdued by the moisture as they
are when they sit in the church aisle or organloft before their members have
been much cramped
The whole scene and especially the behaviour of the boys betokened to Lord
Romfrey that an event had come to pass
In a chronicle of a sickness the event is death
He bethought him of various means of stopping the telegraph and smothering
the tale if matters should have touched the worst here He calculated
abstrusely the practicable shortness of the two routes from Bevisham to Romfrey
by posthorses on the straightest line of road or by express train on the
triangle of railway in case of an extreme need requiring him to hasten back to
his wife and renew his paternaldespotic system with her She had but persuaded
him of the policy of a liberal openness and confidence for the moments
occasion she could not turn his nature which ran to strokes of craft and blunt
decision whenever the emergency smote him and he felt himself hailed to show
generalship
While thus occupied in thoughtfulness he became aware of the monotony of a
tuneless chant as if it struck him an insane young chorister or canon were
galloping straight on end hippomaniacally through the Psalms There was a creak
at intervals leading him to think it a machine that might have run away with
the winders arm
The earls humour proposed the notion to him that this perhaps was one of
the forms of Radical lamentation ululation possibly practised by a veteran
impietist like Dr Shrapnel for the loss of his youngster his political cub
poor lad
Deriding any such paganry and aught that could be set howling Lord Romfrey
was presently moved to ask of the small crowd at the gate what that sound was
»It s the poor commander sir« said a wetshawled woman shivering
»He s been at it twenty hours already sir« said one of the boys
»Twentyfoor hour he ve been at it« said another
A short dispute grew over the exact number of hours One boy declared that
thirty hours had been reached »Father heerd n yesterday morning as he was aff
to s work in the town afore six that brings t nigh thirty and he hant
stopped yet«
The earl was invited to step inside the gate a little way up to the house
and under the commanders window that he might obtain a better hearing
He swung round walked away walked back and listened
If it was indeed a voice the voice he would have said was travelling high
in air along the sky
Yesterday he had described to his wife Nevils chattering of hundreds to the
minute He had not realized the description which had been only his manner of
painting delirium there had been no warrant for it He heard the wild scudding
voice imperfectly it reminded him of a string of winter geese changeing waters
Shower gusts and the wail and hiss of the rows of firtrees bordering the
garden came between and allowed him a moments incredulity as to its being a
human voice Such a cry will often haunt the moors and wolds from above at
nightfall The voice hied on sank seemed swallowed it rose as if above
water in a hush of wind and trees The trees bowed their heads rageing the
voice drowned once more to rise chattering thrice rapidly in a highpitched
key thin shrill weird interminable like winds through a crazy chamberdoor
at midnight
The voice of a broomstickwitch in the clouds could not be thinner and
stranger Lord Romfrey had some such thought
Dr Gannet was the bearer of Miss Denhams excuses to Lord Romfrey for the
delay in begging him to enter the house in the confusion of the household his
lordships card had been laid on a table below and she was in the sickroom
»Is my nephew a dead man« said the earl
The doctor weighed his reply »He lives Whether he will after the
exhaustion of this prolonged fit of raving I dont dare to predict In the
course of my experience I have never known anything like it He lives there s
the miracle but he lives«
»On brandy«
»That would soon have sped him«
»Ha You have everything here that you want«
»Everything«
»He s in your hands Gannet«
The earl was conducted to a sittingroom where Dr Gannet left him for a
while
Mindful that he was under the roof of his enemy he remained standing
observing nothing
The voice overheard was off at a prodigious rate like the far sound of a
yell ringing on and on
The earl unconsciously sought a refuge from it by turning the leaves of a
book upon the table which was a complete edition of Harry Denhams Poems with
a preface by a man named Lydiard and really to read the preface one would
suppose that these poets were the princes of the earth
Lord Romfrey closed the volume It was exquisitely bound and presented to
Miss Denham by the Mr Lydiard »The works of your illustrious father« was
written on the titlepage These writers deal queerly with their words of praise
of one another There is no law to restrain them Perhaps it is the consolation
they take for the poor devils life they lead
A lady addressing him familiarly invited him to go upstairs
He thanked her At the foot of the stairs he turned he had recognized
Cecilia Halkett
Seeing her there was more strange to him than being there himself but he
bowed to facts
»What do you think« he said
She did not answer intelligibly
He walked up
The crazed gabbling tongue had entire possession of the house and rang
through it at an amazing pitch to sustain for a single minute
A reflection to the effect that dogs die more decently than we men saddened
the earl But then it is true we shorten their pangs by shooting them
A dismal figure loomed above him at the head of the stairs
He distinguished it in the vast lean length he had once whipped and flung to
earth
Dr Shrapnel was planted against the wall outside that raving chamber at
the salient angle of a common prop or buttress The edge of a shoulder and a
heel were the supports to him sideways in his distorted attitude His wall arm
hung dead beside his pendant frockcoat the hair of his head had gone to
wildness like a field of barley whipped by tempest One hand pressed his
eyeballs his unshaven jaw dropped
Lord Romfrey passed him by
The dumb consent of all present affirmed the creature lying on the bed to be
Nevil Beauchamp
Face voice lank arms chicken neck what a sepulchral sketch of him
It was the revelry of a corpse
Shudders of alarm for his wife seized Lord Romfrey at the sight He thought
the poor thing on the bed must be going resolving to a cry unwinding itself
violently in its hurricane of speech that was not speech nor exclamation
rather the tongue let loose to run to the death It seemed to be out in midsea
up wave and down wave
A nurse was at the pillow smoothing it Miss Denham stood at the foot of the
bed
»Is that pain« Lord Romfrey said low to Dr Gannet
»Unconscious« was the reply
Miss Denham glided about the room and disappeared
Her business was to remove Dr Shrapnel that he might be out of the way
when Lord Romfrey should pass him again but Dr Shrapnel heard one voice only
and moaned »My Beauchamp« She could not get him to stir
Miss Denham saw him start slightly as the earl stepped forth and bowing to
him said »I thank you sir for permitting me to visit my nephew«
Dr Shrapnel made a motion of the hand to signify freedom of access to his
house He would have spoken the effort fetched a burst of terrible chuckles He
covered his face
Lord Romfrey descended The silly old wretch had disturbed his equanimity as
a composer of fiction for the comfort and sustainment of his wife and no sooner
had he the front door in view than the calculation of the three strides
requisite to carry him out of the house plucked at his legs much as young
people are affected by a dancing measure for he had without deigning to think
of matters disagreeable to him in doing so performed the duty imposed upon him
by his wife and now it behoved him to ward off the coming blow from that double
life at Romfrey Castle
He was arrested in his hasty passage by Cecilia Halkett
She handed him a telegraphic message Rosamund requested him to stay two
days in Bevisham She said additionally »Perfectly well Shall fear to see you
returning yet Have sent to Tourdestelle All his friends Ni espoir ni
crainte mais point de déceptions Lumière Ce sont les ténèbres qui tuent«
Her nimble wits had spied him on the road he was choosing and outrun him
He resigned himself to wait a couple of days in Bevisham Cecilia begged him
to accept a bed at Mount Laurels He declined and asked her »How is it you are
here«
»I called here« said she compressing her eyelids in anguish at a wilder
cry of the voice overhead and forgetting to state why she had called at the
house and what services she had undertaken A heap of letters in her handwriting
explained the nature of her task
Lord Romfrey asked her where the colonel was
»He drives me down in the morning and back at night but they will give me a
bed or a sofa here tonight I cant « Cecilia stretched her hand out
blinded to the earl
He squeezed her hand
»These letters take away my strength crying is quite useless I know that«
said she glancing at a pile of letters that she had partly replied to »Some
are from people who can hardly write There were people who distrusted him Some
are from people who abused him and maltreated him See those poor creatures out
in the rain«
Lord Romfrey looked through the venetian blinds of the parlour window
»It s as good as a play to them« he remarked
Cecilia lit a candle and applied a stick of black wax to the flame saying
»Envelopes have fallen short These letters will frighten the receivers I
cannot help it«
»I will bring letter paper and envelopes in the afternoon« said Lord
Romfrey »Dont use black wax my dear«
»I can find no other I do not like to trouble Miss Denham Letter paper has
to be sealed These letters must go by the afternoon post I do not like to rob
the poor anxious people of a little hope while he lives Let me have note paper
and envelopes quickly not blackedged«
»Plain that s right« said Lord Romfrey
Black appeared to him like the torch of death flying over the country
»There may be hope« he added
She sighed »Oh yes«
»Gannet will do everything that man can do to save him«
»He will I am sure«
»You dont keep watch in the room my dear do you«
»Miss Denham allows me an hour there in the day it is the only rest she
takes She gives me her bedroom«
»Ha well women« ejaculated the earl and paused »That sounded like him«
»At times« murmured Cecilia »All yesterday all through the night and
today«
»He ll be missed«
Any sudden light of happier expectation that might have animated him was
extinguished by the flight of chatter following the cry which had sounded like
Beauchamp
He went out into the rain thinking that Beauchamp would be missed The
fellow had bothered the world but the world without him would be heavy matter
The hour was midday workmens mealtime A congregation of shipyard
workmen and a multitude of children crowded near the door In passing through
them Lord Romfrey was besought for the doctors report of Commander Beauchamp
variously named Beesham Bosham Bitcham Bewsham The earl heard his own name
pronounced as he particularly disliked to hear it Rumfree Two or three men
scowled at him
It had not occurred to him ever before in his meditations to separate his
blood and race from the common English and he was not of a character to dwell
on fantastical and purposeless distinctions but the mispronunciation of his
name and his nephews at an instant when he was thinking of Nevils laying down
his life for such men as these gross excessive breeders of ill shape and wooden
countenance pushed him to reflections on the madness of Nevil in endeavouring
to lift them up and brush them up and a curious tenderness for Nevils madness
worked in his breast as he contrasted this muchabused nephew of his with our
general English the socalled nobles who were sunk in the mud of the traders
the traders who were sinking in the mud of the workmen the workmen who were
like harbourflats at ebb tide round a stuckfast fleet of vessels big and
little
Decidedly a fellow like Nevil would be missed by him
These English huddling more and more in flocks turning to lumps getting
to be cut in a pattern and marked by a label how they bark and snap to rend an
obnoxious original One may chafe at the botheration everlastingly raised by the
fellow but if our England is to keep her place she must have him and many of
him Have him He s gone
Lord Romfrey reasoned himself into pathetic sentiment by degrees
He purchased the note paper and envelopes in the town for Cecilia Late in
the afternoon he deposited them on the parlour table at Dr Shrapnels Miss
Denham received him She was about to lie down for her hour of rest on the sofa
Cecilia was upstairs He inquired if there was any change in his nephews
condition
»Not any« said Miss Denham
The voice was abroad for proof of that
He stood with a swelling heart
Jenny flung out a rug to its length beside the sofa and holding it by one
end said »I must have my rest to be of service my lord«
He bowed He was mute and surprised
The young lady was like no person of her age and sex that he remembered ever
to have met
»I will close the door« he said retiring softly
»Do not my lord«
The rug was over her up to her throat and her eyes were shut He looked
back through the doorway in going out She was asleep
»Some delirium Gannet of good hope All in the usual course« he transmitted
intelligence to his wife
A strong desire for wine at his dinnertable warned him of something wrong with
his iron nerves
Chapter LI
In the Night
The delirious voice haunted him It came no longer accompanied by images and
likenesses to this and that of animate nature which were relieving and
distracting it came to him in its mortal nakedness an afflicting incessant
ringing peal bare as deaths ribs in telling of death When would it stop And
when it stopped what would succeed What ghastly silence
He walked to within view of the lights of Dr Shrapnels at night then home
to his hotel
Miss Denhams power of commanding sleep as he could not though contrary to
custom he tried it on the right side and the left set him thinking of her He
owned she was pretty But that he contended was not the word and the word was
undiscoverable Not Cecilia Halkett herself had so highbred an air for Cecilia
had not her fineness of feature and full quick eyes of which the thin eyelids
were part of the expression And Cecilia sobbed sniffled was patched about the
face reddish bluish This girl was pliable only to service not to grief she
did her work for threeandtwenty hours and fell to her sleep of one hour like
a soldier Lord Romfrey could not recollect anything in a young woman that had
taken him so much as the girls tossing out of the rug and covering herself
lying down and going to sleep under his nose absolutely independent of his
presence
She had not betrayed any womans petulance with him for his conduct to her
uncle or guardian Nor had she hypocritically affected the reverse as ductile
women do when they feel wanting in force to do the other She was not unlike
Nevils marquise in face he thought less foreign of course looking thrice as
firm Both were delicately featured
He had a dream
It was of an interminable procession of that odd lot called the People All
of them were quarrelling under a deluge One party was for umbrellas one was
against them and sounding the dispute with a question or two Everard held it
logical that there should be protection from the wet just as logical on the
other hand that so frail a shelter should be discarded considering the
tremendous downpour But as he himself was dry save for two or three drops he
deemed them all lunatics He requested them to gag their empty chatterboxes
and put the mother upon that childs cry
He was now a simple unit of the procession Asking naturally whither they
were going he saw them point »St Pauls« he heard In his own bosom it was
and striking like the cathedral big bell
Several ladies addressed him sorrowfully He stood alone It had become
notorious that he was to do battle and no one thought well of his chances
Devil an enemy to be seen he muttered Yet they said the enemy was close upon
him His right arm was paralyzed There was the enemy hard in front mailed
vizored gauntleted He tried to lift his right hand and found it grasping an
iron ring at the bottom of the deep Steynham well sunk one hundred feet through
the chalk But the unexampled cunning of his left arm was his little secret
and acting upon this knowledge he telegraphed to his first wife at Steynham
that Dr Gannet was of good hope and thereupon he reentered the ranks of the
voluminous procession already winding spirally round the dome of St Pauls
And there said he is the tomb of Beauchamp Everything occurred according to
his predictions and he was entirely devoid of astonishment Yet he would fain
have known the titles of the slain admirals naval battles He protested he had
a right to know for he was the heros uncle and loved him He assured the
stupid scowling people that he loved Nevil Beauchamp always loved the boy and
was the staunchest friend the fellow had And saying that he certainly felt
himself leaning up against the cathedral rails in the attitude of Dr Shrapnel
and crying »Beauchamp Beauchamp« And then he walked firmly out of Romfrey
oakwoods and at a miles distance from her related to his countess Rosamund
that the burial was over without much silly ceremony and that she needed to
know nothing of it whatever
Rosamunds face awoke him It was the face of a chalkquarry featureless
hollowed appalling
The hour was no later than three in the morning He quitted the detestable
bed where a dream one of some halfdozen in the course of his life had
befallen him For the maxim of the healthy man is up and have it out in
exercise when sleep is for foisting base coin of dreams upon you And as the
healthy only are fit to live their maxims should be law He dressed and
directed his leisurely steps to the common under a black sky and stars of
lively brilliancy The lights of a carriage gleamed on Dr Shrapnels door A
footman informed Lord Romfrey that Colonel Halkett was in the house and soon
afterward the colonel appeared
»Is it over I dont hear him« said Lord Romfrey
Colonel Halkett grasped his hand »Not yet« he said »Cissy cant be got
away It s killing her No he s alive You may hear him now«
Lord Romfrey bent his ear
»It s weaker« the colonel resumed »By the way Romfrey step out with me
My dear friend the circumstances will excuse me you know I m not a man to
take liberties I m bound to tell you what your wife writes to me She says she
has it on her conscience and cant rest for it You know women She wants you
to speak to the man here Shrapnel She wants Nevil to hear that you and he
were friendly before he dies thinks it would console the poor dear fellow That
s only an idea but it concerns her you see I m shocked to have to talk to
you about it«
»My dear colonel I have no feeling against the man« Lord Romfrey replied
»I spoke to him when I saw him yesterday I bear no grudges Where is he You
can send to her to say I have spoken to him twice«
»Yes yes« the colonel assented
He could not imagine that Lady Romfrey required more of her husband »Well
I must be off I leave Blackburn Tuckham here with a friend of his a man who
seems to be very sweet with Mrs WardourDevereux«
»Ha Fetch him to me colonel I beg you to do that« said Lord Romfrey
The colonel brought out Lydiard to the earl
»You have been at my nephews bedside Mr Lydiard«
»Within ten minutes my lord«
»What is your opinion of the case«
»My opinion is the chances are in his favour«
»Lay me under obligation by communicating that to Romfrey Castle at the
first opening of the telegraph office tomorrow morning«
Lydiard promised
»The raving has ended«
»Hardly sir but the exhaustion is less than we feared it would be«
»Gannet is there«
»He is in an armchair in the room«
»And Dr Shrapnel«
»He does not bear speaking to he is quiet«
»He is attached to my nephew«
»As much as to life itself«
Lord Romfrey thanked Lydiard courteously »Let us hope sir that some day I
shall have the pleasure of entertaining you as well as another friend of
yours«
»You are very kind my lord«
The earl stood at the door to see Colonel Halkett drive off he declined to
accompany him to Mount Laurels
In the place of the carriage stood a man who growled »Where s your
horsewhip butcher«
He dogged the earl some steps across the common Everard returned to his
hotel and slept soundly during the remainder of the dark hours
Chapter LII
Question of a Pilgrimage and An Act of Penance
Then came a glorious morning for sportsmen One sniffed the dews and could
fancy fresh smells of stubble earth and dank woodland grass in the very streets
of dirty Bevisham Sound sleep like hearty dining endows men with a sense of
rectitude and sunlight following the former as a pleasant spell of
conversational ease or sweet music the latter smiles a celestial approval of
the performance Lord Romfrey dismissed his anxieties His lady slightly ruffled
him at breakfast in a letter saying that she wished to join him He was annoyed
at noon by a message wherein the wish was put as a request And later arrived
another message bearing the character of an urgent petition True it might be
laid to the account of telegraphic brevity
He saw Dr Shrapnel and spoke to him as before to thank him for the
permission to visit his nephew Nevil he contemplated for the space of five
minutes He cordially saluted Miss Denham He kissed Cecilias hand
»All here is going on so well that I am with you for a day or two tomorrow« he
despatched the message to his wife
Her case was now the gravest He could not understand why she desired to be in
Bevisham She must have had execrable dreams rank poison to mothers
However her constitutional strength was great and his pride in the
restoration of his House by her agency flourished anew what with fair weather
and a favourable report from Dr Gannet The weather was most propitious to the
hopes of any soul bent on dispersing the shadows of death and to sportsmen
From the windows of his railway carriage he beheld the happy sportsmen stalking
afield The birds whirred and dropped just where he counted on their dropping
The smoke of the guns threaded to dazzling silver in the sunshine Say what poor
old Nevil will or did say previous to the sobering of his blood where is
there a land like England Everard rejoiced in his country temperately Having
Nevil as well of which fact the report he was framing in his mind to deliver
to his wife assured him he was rich And you that put yourselves forward for
republicans and democrats do you deny the aristocracy of an oaklike man who is
young upon the verge of eighty
These were poetic flights but he knew them not by name and had not to be
ashamed of them
Rosamund met him in the hall of the castle »You have not deceived me my
dear lord« she said embracing him »You have done what you could for me The
rest is for me to do«
He reciprocated her embrace warmly in commendation of her fresher good
looks
She asked him »You have spoken to Dr Shrapnel«
He answered her »Twice«
The word seemed quaint She recollected that he was quaint
He repeated »I spoke to him the first day I saw him and the second«
»We are so much indebted to him« said Rosamund »His love of Nevil
surpasses ours Poor man poor man At least we may now hope the blow will be
spared him which would have carried off his life with Nevils I have later news
of Nevil than you«
»Good of course«
»Ah me the pleasure of the absence of pain He is not gone«
Lord Romfrey liked her calm resignation
»There s a Mr Lydiard« he said »a friend of Nevils and a friend of
Louise Devereuxs«
»Yes we hear from him every four hours« Rosamund rejoined »Mention him to
her before me«
»That s exactly what I was going to tell you to do before me« said her
husband smiling
»Because Everard is it not so widows and she loves this gentleman«
»Certainly my dear I think with you about widows The world asks them to
practise its own hypocrisy Louise Devereux was married to a pipe she s the
widow of tobacco ash We ll make daylight round her«
»How good how kind you are my lord I did not think so shrewd But
benevolence is almost allseeing You said you spoke to Dr Shrapnel twice Was
he polite«
»Thoroughly upset you know«
»What did he say«
»What was it Beauchamp Beauchamp the first time and the second time he
said he thought it had left off raining«
»Ah« Rosamund drooped her head
She looked up »Here is Louise My lord has had a long conversation with Mr
Lydiard«
»I trust he will come here before you leave us« added the earl
Rosamund took her hand »My lord has been more acute than I or else your
friend is less guarded than you«
»What have you seen« said the blushing lady
»Stay I have an idea you are one of the women I promised to Cecil
Baskelett« said the earl »Now may I tell him there s no chance«
»Oh do«
They spent so very pleasant an evening that the earl settled down into a
comfortable expectation of the renewal of his old habits in the September and
October season Nevils frightful cry played on his eardrum at whiles but not
too affectingly He conducted Rosamund to her room kissed her hoped she would
sleep well and retired to his good hard bachelors bed where he confidently
supposed he would sleep The sleep of a dyspeptic with a wilder than the
monstrous Bevisham dream befell him causing him to rise at three in the
morning and proceed to his ladys chamber to assure himself that at least she
slept well She was awake
»I thought you might come« she said
He reproached her gently for indulging foolish nervous fears
She replied »No I do not I am easier about Nevil I begin to think he
will live I have something at my heart that prevents me from sleeping It
concerns me Whether he is to live or die I should like him to know he has not
striven in vain not in everything not where my conscience tells me he was
right and we I wrong utterly wrong wickedly wrong«
»My dear girl you are exciting yourself«
»No feel my pulse The dead of night brings out Nevil to me like the
Writing on the Wall It shall not be said he failed in everything Shame to us
if it could be said He tried to make me see what my duty was and my honour«
»He was at every man Jack of us«
»I speak of one thing I thought I might not have to go Now I feel I must
I remember him at Steynham when Colonel Halkett and Cecilia were there But for
me Cecilia would now be his wife Of that there is no doubt that is not the
point regrets are fruitless I see how the struggle it cost him to break with
his old love that endearing Madame de Rouaillout his Renée broke his heart
and then his loss of Cecilia Halkett But I do believe true as that I am lying
here and you hold my hand my dear husband those losses were not so fatal to
him as the sufferings he went through on account of his friend Dr Shrapnel I
will not keep you here Go and have some rest What I shall beg of you tomorrow
will not injure my health in the slightest the reverse it will raise me from a
bitter depression It shall not be said that those who loved him were unmoved by
him Before he comes back to life or is carried to his grave he shall know
that I was not false to my love of him«
»My dear your pulse is at ninety« said the earl
»Look lenient be kind be just my husband Oh let us cleanse our hearts
This great wrong was my doing I am not only quite strong enough to travel to
Bevisham I shall be happy in going and when I have done it said The wrong
was all mine I shall rejoice like the pure in spirit Forgiveness does not
matter though I now believe that poor loving old man who waits outside his door
weeping is wrongheaded only in his political views We women can read men by
their power to love Where love exists there is goodness But it is not for the
sake of the poor old man himself that I would go it is for Nevils it is for
ours chiefly for me for my childs if ever « Rosamund turned her head on
her pillow
The earl patted her cheek »We ll talk it over in the morning« he said
»Now go to sleep«
He could not say more for he did not dare to attempt cajolery with her
Shading his lamp he stepped softly away to wrestle with a worse nightmare than
sleeps Her meaning was clear and she was a woman to insist on doing it She
was nevertheless a woman not impervious to reason if only he could shape her
understanding to perceive that the state of her nerves incident to her delicate
situation and the shock of that fellow Nevils illness poor lad was acting
on her mind rendering her a victim of exaggerated ideas of duty and so forth
Naturally apart from allowing her to undertake the journey by rail he
could not sanction his ladys humbling of herself so egregiously and
unnecessarily Shrapnel had behaved unbecomingly and had been punished for it
He had spoken to Shrapnel and the affair was virtually at an end With his
assistance she would see that when less excited Her eternal brooding over
Nevil was the cause of these mental vagaries
Lord Romfrey was for postponing the appointed discussion in the morning
after breakfast He pleaded business engagements
»None so urgent as this of mine« said Rosamund
»But we have excellent news of Nevil you have Gannets word for it« he
argued »There s really nothing to distress you«
»My heart I must be worthy of good news to know happiness« she answered
»I will say let me go to Bevisham two three four days hence if you like but
there is peace for me and nowhere else«
»My precious Rosamund have you set your two eyes on it What you are
asking is for permission to make an apology to Shrapnel«
»That is the word«
»That s Nevils word«
»It is a prescription to me«
»An apology«
The earls gorge rose Why such an act was comparable to the circular
mission of the dog
»If I do not make the apology the mother of your child is a coward« said
Rosamund
»She s not«
»I trust not«
»You are a reasonable woman my dear Now listen the man insulted you It
s past done with He insulted you «
»He did not«
»What«
»He was courteous to me hospitable to me kind to me He did not insult me
I belied him«
»My dear saint you re dreaming He spoke insultingly of you to Cecil«
»Is my lord that mans dupe I would stand against him before the throne of
God with what little I know of his interview with Dr Shrapnel to confront him
and expose his lie Do not speak of him He stirs my evil passions and makes me
feel myself the creature I was when I returned to Steynham from my first visit
to Bevisham enraged with jealousy of Dr Shrapnels influence over Nevil
spiteful malicious Oh such a nest of vileness as I pray to heaven I am not
now if it is granted me to give life to another Nevils misfortunes date from
that« she continued in reply to the earls efforts to soothe her »Not the
loss of the Election that was no misfortune but a lesson He would not have
shone in Parliament he runs too much from first principles to extremes You see
I am perfectly reasonable Everard I can form an exact estimate of character
and things« She smiled in his face »And I know my husband too what he will
grant what he would not and justly would not I know to a certainty that
vexatious as I must be to you now you are conscious of my having reason for
being so«
»You carry it so far fifty miles beyond the mark« said he »The man
roughed you and I taught him manners«
»No« she half screamed her interposition »I repeat he was in no way
discourteous or disobliging to me He offered me a seat at his table and
heaven forgive me I believe a bed in his house that I might wait and be sure
of seeing Nevil because I was very anxious to see him«
»All the same you cant go to the man«
»I should have said so too before my destiny touched me«
»A certain dignity of position my dear demands a corresponding dignity of
conduct you cant go«
»If I am walking in the very eye of heaven and feeling it shining on me
where I go there is no question for me of human dignity«
Such flighty talk offended Lord Romfrey
»It comes to this you re in want of a parson«
Rosamund was too careful to hint that she would have expected succour and
seconding from one or other of the better order of clergymen
She shook her head »To this my dear lord I have a troubled mind and it
is not to listen nor to talk that I am in need of but to act«
»Yes my dear girl but not to act insanely I do love soundness of head
You have it only just now you re a little astray We ll leave this matter for
another time«
Rosamund held him by the arm »Not too long«
Both of them applied privately to Mrs WardourDevereux for her opinion and
counsel on the subject of the proposal to apologize to Dr Shrapnel She was
against it with the earl and became Rosamunds echo when with her When alone
she was divided into two almost equal halves deeming that the countess should
not insist and the earl should not refuse him she condemned for lack of
sufficient spiritual insight to perceive the merits of his wifes request her
she accused of some vestige of something underbred in her nature for putting
such fervid stress upon the supplication ie making too much of it a trick
of the vulgar and not known to the languid
She wrote to Lydiard for advice
He condensed a paragraph into a line
»It should be the earl She is driving him to it intentionally or not«
Mrs Devereux doubted that the countess could have so false an idea of her
husbands character as to think it possible he would ever be bent to humble
himself to the man he had castigated She was right It was by honestly
presenting to his mind something more loathsome still the humbling of herself
that Rosamund succeeded in awakening some remote thoughts of a compromise in
case of necessity Better I than she
But the necessity was inconceivable
He had really done everything required of him if anything was really
required by speaking to Shrapnel civilly He had spoken to Shrapnel twice
Besides the castle was being gladdened by happier tidings of Beauchamp
Gannet now pledged his word to the poor fellows recovery and the earls
particular friends arrived and the countess entertained them October passed
smoothly
She said once »Ancestresses of yours my lord have undertaken pilgrimages
as acts of penance for sin to obtain heavens intercession in their extremity«
»I dare say they did« he replied »The monks got round them«
»It is not to be laughed at if it eased their hearts«
Timidly she renewed her request for permission to perform the pilgrimage to
Bevisham
»Wait« said he »till Nevil is on his legs«
»Have you considered where I may then be Everard«
»My love you sleep well dont you«
»You see me every night«
»I see you sound asleep«
»I see you watching me«
»Let s reason« said the earl and again they went through the argument
upon the apology to Dr Shrapnel
He was willing to indulge her in any amount of it and she perceived why
Fox she thought Grand fox but fox downright For her time was shortening to
days that would leave her no freewill
On the other hand the exercise of her freewill in a fast resolve was
growing all the more a privilege that he was bound to respect As she became
sacreder and doubly precious to him the less would he venture to thwart her
though he should think her mad There would be an analogy between his manner of
regarding her and the way that superstitious villagers look on their crazy
innocents she thought sadly And she bled for him too she grieved to hurt his
pride But she had come to imagine that there was no avoidance of this deed of
personal humiliation
Nevil had scrawled a note to her She had it in her hand one forenoon in mid
November when she said to her husband »I have ordered the carriage for two
oclock to meet the quarter to three train to London and I have sent Stanton on
to get the house ready for us tonight«
Lord Romfrey levelled a marksmans eye at her
»Why London You know my wish that it should be here at the castle«
»I have decided to go to Bevisham I have little time left«
»None to my thinking«
»Oh yes my heart will be light I shall gain You come with me to London«
»You cant go«
»Dont attempt to reason with me please please«
»I command madam«
»My lord it is past the hour of commanding«
He nodded his head with the eyes up amid the puckered brows and blowing
one of his long nasal expirations cried »Here we are in for another bout of
argument«
»No I can bear the journey rejoice in confessing my fault but more
argument I cannot bear I will reason with you when I can submit to me in
this«
»Feminine reasoning« he interjected
»I have nothing better to offer It will be prudent to attend to me Take my
conduct for the portion I bring you Before I put myself in Gods care I must be
clean I am unclean Language like that offends you I have no better My
reasoning has not touched you I am helpless except in this determination that
my contrition shall be expressed to Dr Shrapnel If I am to have life to be
worthy of living and being a mother it must be done Now my dear lord see
that and submit You re but one voice I am two«
He jumped off his chair frowning up his forehead and staring awfully at
the insulting prospect »An apology to the man By you Away with it«
»Make allowances for me if you can my dear lord that is what I am going to
do«
»My wife going there« He strode along furiously »No«
»You will not stop her«
»There s a palsy in my arm if I dont«
She plucked at her watch
»Why maam I dont know you« he said coming close to her »Let s
reason Perhaps you overshot it you were disgusted with Shrapnel Perhaps I was
hasty I get fired by an insult to a woman There was a rascal kissed a girl
once against her will and I heard her cry out I laid him on his back for six
months just to tell you I d do the same to lord or beggar Very well my
dear heart we ll own I might have looked into the case when that dog Cecil
what s the matter«
»Speak on my dear husband« said Rosamund panting
»But your making the journey to Bevisham is a foolish notion«
»Yes well«
»Well we ll wait«
»Oh have we to travel over it all again« she exclaimed in despair at the
dashing out of a light she had fancied »You see the wrong You know the fever
it is in my blood and you bid me wait«
»Drop a line to Nevil«
»To trick my conscience I might have done that and done well once Do you
think I dislike the task I propose to myself It is for your sake that I would
shun it As for me the thought of going there is an ecstasy I shall be with
Nevil and be able to look in his face And how can I be actually abasing you
when I am so certain that I am worthier of you in what I do«
Her exaltation swept her on »Hurry there my lord if you will If you
think it prudent that you should go in my place go you deprive me of a great
joy but I will not put myself in your way and I consent The chief sin was
mine remember that I rank it viler than Cecil Baskeletts And listen when
can you reckon when will he confess his wickedness We separate ourselves
from a wretch like that«
»Pooh« quoth the earl
»But you will go« She fastened her arms round the arm nearest »You or I
Does it matter which We are one You speak for me I should have been forced to
speak for you You spare me the journey I do not in truth suppose it would have
injured me but I would not run one unnecessary risk«
Lord Romfrey sighed profoundly He could not shake her off How could he
refuse her
How on earth had it come about that suddenly he was expected to be the
person to go
She would not let him elude her and her stained cheeks and her trembling on
his arm pleaded most pressingly and masteringly It might be that she spoke with
a knowledge of her case Positive it undoubtedly was that she meant to go if he
did not Perhaps the hopes of his House hung on it Having admitted that a wrong
had been done he was not the man to leave it unamended only he would have
chosen his time and the manner Since Nevils illness too he had once or
twice been clouded with a little bit of regret at the recollection of poor
innocent old Shrapnel posted like a figure of total inebriation beside the
doorway of the dreadful sickroom
There had been women of the earls illustrious House who would have given
their hands to the axe rather than conceal a stain and have to dread a scandal
His Rosamund after all was of their pattern even though she blew that
conscience she prattled of into trifles and swelled them as women of high
birth in this country out of the clutches of the priests do not do
She clung to him for his promise to go
He said »Well well«
»That means you will« said she
His not denying it passed for the affirmative
Then indeed she bloomed with love of him
»Yet do say yes« she begged
»I ll go maam« shouted the earl »I ll go my love« he said softly
Chapter LIII
The Apology to Dr Shrapnel
»You and Nevil are so alike« Lady Romfrey said to her lord at some secret
resemblance she detected and dwelt on fondly when the earl was on the point of
starting a second time for Bevisham to perform what she had prompted him to
conceive his honourable duty without a single intimation that he loathed the
task neither shrug nor grimace
»Two ends of a stick are pretty much alike they re all that length apart«
said he very little in the humour for compliments however well braced for his
work
His wifes admiring love was pleasant enough He preferred to have it
unspoken Few of us care to be eulogized in the act of taking a nauseous medical
mixture
For him the thing was as good as done on his deciding to think it both
adviseable and right so he shouldered his load and marched off with it He
could have postponed the right proceeding even after the partial recognition of
his error one drops a word or two by hazard one expresses an anxiety to
afford reparation one sends a message and so forth for the satisfaction of
ones conventionally gentlemanly feeling but the adviseable proceeding under
stress of peculiar circumstances his clearlyawakened recognition of that
impelled him unhesitatingly His wife had said it was the portion she brought
him Tears would not have persuaded him so powerfully that he might prove to
her he was glad of her whatever the portion she brought She was a good wife a
brave woman likely to be an incomparable mother At present her very virtues
excited her to fancifulness nevertheless she was in his charge and he was
bound to break the neck of his will to give her perfect peace of mind The
child suffers from the mothers mental agitation It might be a question of a
nervous or an idiot future Earl of Romfrey Better death to the House than such
a mockery of his line These reflections reminded him of the heartiness of his
whipping of that poor old tumbled signpost Shrapnel in the name of outraged
womankind If there was no outrage
Assuredly if there was no outrage consideration for the state of his wife
would urge him to speak the apology in the most natural manner possible She
vowed there was none
He never thought of blaming her for formerly deceiving him nor of blaming
her for now expediting him
In the presence of Colonel Halkett Mr Tuckham and Mr Lydiard on a fine
November afternoon standing bareheaded in the firbordered garden of the
cottage on the common Lord Romfrey delivered his apology to Dr Shrapnel and
he said
»I call you to witness gentlemen I offer Dr Shrapnel the fullest
reparation he may think fit to demand of me for an unprovoked assault on him
that I find was quite unjustified and for which I am here to ask his
forgiveness«
Speech of man could not have been more nobly uttered
Dr Shrapnel replied
»To the half of that sir tis over What remains is done with the hand«
He stretched his hand out
Lord Romfrey closed his own on it
The antagonists between whom was no pretence of their being other after the
performance of a creditable ceremony bowed and exchanged civil remarks and
then Lord Romfrey was invited to go into the house and see Beauchamp who
happened to be sitting with Cecilia Halkett and Jenny Denham Beauchamp was
thin pale and quiet but the sight of him standing and conversing after that
scene of the skinny creature struggling with bareribbed obstruction on the bed
was an example of constitutional vigour and a compliment to the family very
gratifying to Lord Romfrey Excepting by Cecilia the earl was coldly received
He had to leave early by special express for London to catch the last train to
Romfrey Beauchamp declined to fix a day for his visit to the castle with
Lydiard but proposed that Lydiard should accompany the earl on his return
Lydiard was called in and at once accepted the earls invitation and quitted
the room to pack his portmanteau
A faint sign of firmshutting shadowed the corners of Jennys lips
»You have brought my nephew to life« Lord Romfrey said to her
»My share in it was very small my lord«
»Gannet says that your share in it was very great«
»And I say so with the authority of a witness« added Cecilia
»And I from my experience« came from Beauchamp
His voice had a hollow sound unlike his natural voice
The earl looked at him remembering the bright laughing lad he had once been
and said »Why not try a month of Madeira You have only to step on board the
boat«
»I dont want to lose a month of my friend« said Beauchamp
»Take your friend with you After these fevers our Winters are bad«
»I ve been idle too long«
»But Captain Beauchamp« said Jenny »you proposed to do nothing but read
for a couple of years«
»Ay there s the voyage« sighed he with a sailorinvalids vision of
sunny seas dancing in the far sky »You must persuade Dr Shrapnel to come and
he will not come unless you come too and you wont go anywhere but to the
Alps«
She bent her eyes on the floor Beauchamp remembered what had brought her
home from the Alps He cast a cold look on his uncle talking with Cecilia
granite as he thought And the reflux of that slight feeling of despair seemed
to tear down with it in wreckage every effort he had made in life and cry
failure on him Yet he was hoping that he had not been created for failure
He touched his uncles hand indifferently »My love to the countess let me
hear of her sir if you please«
»You shall« said the earl »But off to Madeira and up Teneriffe sail the
Azores I ll hire you a goodsized schooner«
»There is the Esperanza« said Cecilia »And the vessel is lying idle
Nevil Can you allow it«
He consented to laugh at himself and fell to coughing
Jenny Denham saw a real human expression of anxiety cross the features of
the earl at the sound of the cough
Lord Romfrey said »Adieu« to her
He offered her his hand which she contrived to avoid taking by dropping a
formal halfreverence
»Think of the Esperanza she will be coasting her nominal native land and
adieu for today« Cecilia said to Beauchamp
Jenny Denham and he stood at the window to watch the leavetaking in the
garden for a distraction They interchanged no remark of surprise at seeing the
earl and Dr Shrapnel handlocked but Jennys heart reproached her uncle for
being actually servile and Beauchamp accused the earl of aristocratic
impudence
Both were overcome with remorse when Colonel Halkett putting his head into
the room to say goodbye to Beauchamp and place the Esperanza at his disposal
for a Winter cruise chanced to mention in two or three half words the purpose
of the earls visit and what had occurred He took it for known already
To Miss Denham he remarked »Lord Romfrey is very much concerned about your
health he fears you have overdone it in nursing Captain Beauchamp«
»I must be off after him« said Beauchamp and began trembling so that he
could not stir
The colonel knew the pain and shame of that condition of weakness to a man
who has been strong and swift and said »Sevenleague boots are not to be
caught You ll see him soon Why I thought some letter of yours had fetched
him here I gave you all the credit of it«
»No he deserves it all himself all« said Beauchamp and with a dubious
eye on Jenny Denham »You see we were unfair«
The we meant you to her sensitiveness and probably he did mean it for you
for as he would have felt so he supposed that his uncle must have felt Jennys
coldness was much the crueller Her features which in animation were summer
light playing upon smooth water could be exceedingly cold in repose the icier
to those who knew her because they never expressed disdain No expression of
the baser sort belonged to them Beauchamp was intimate with these
delicatelycut features he would have shuddered had they chilled on him He had
fallen in love with his uncle he fancied she ought to have done so too and
from his excess of sympathy he found her deficient in it
He sat himself down to write a hearty letter to his »dear old uncle
Everard«
Jenny left him to go to her chamber and cry
Chapter LIV
The Fruits of the Apology
This clear heart had cause for tears Her just indignation with Lord Romfrey had
sustained her artificially hitherto now that it was erased she sank down to
weep Her sentiments toward Lydiard had been very like Cecilia Halketts in
favour of Mr Austin with something more to warm them on the part of the
gentleman He first had led her mind in the direction of balanced thought when
despite her affection for Dr Shrapnel her timorous maiden wits unable to
contend with the copious exclamatory old politician opposed him silently
Lydiard had helped her tongue to speak as well as her mind to rational views
and there had been a bond of union in common for them in his admiration of her
fathers writings She had known that he was miserably yoked and had respected
him when he seemed inclined for compassion without wooing her for tenderness He
had not trifled with her hardly flattered he had done no more than kindle a
young girls imaginative liking The pale flower of imagination fed by dews
not by sunshine was born drooping and hung secret in her bosom shy as a bell
of the frail woodsorrel Yet there was pain for her in the perishing of a thing
so poor and lowly She had not observed the change in Lydiard after Beauchamp
came on the scene and that may tell us how passionlessly pure the little
maidenly sentiment was For do but look on the dewy woodsorrel flower it is
not violet or rose inviting hands to pluck it still it is there happy in the
woods And Jennys feeling was that a foot had crushed it
She wept thinking confusedly of Lord Romfrey trying to think he had made
his amends tardily and that Beauchamp prized him too highly for the act She
had no longer anything to resent she was obliged to weep In truth as the earl
had noticed she was physically depressed by the strain of her protracted watch
over Beauchamp as well as rather heartsick
But she had been of aid and use in saving him She was not quite a valueless
person sweet too was the thought that he consulted her listened to her
weighed her ideas He had evidently taken to study her as if dispersing some
wonderment that one of her sex should have ideas He had repeated certain of her
own which had been forgotten by her His eyes were often on her with this that
she thought humorous intentness She smiled She had assisted in raising him
from his bed of sickness whereof the memory affrighted her and melted her The
difficulty now was to keep him indoors and why he would not go even temporarily
to a large house like Mount Laurels whither Colonel Halkett was daily
requesting him to go she was unable to comprehend His love of Dr Shrapnel
might account for it
»Own Jenny« said Beauchamp springing up to meet her as she entered the
room where he and Dr Shrapnel sat discussing Lord Romfreys bearing at his
visit »own that my uncle Everard is a true nobleman He has to make the round
to the right mark but he comes to it I could not move him and I like him the
better for that He worked round to it himself I ought to have been sure he
would You re right I break my head with impatience«
»No you sowed seed« said Dr Shrapnel »Heed not that girl my Beauchamp
The old woman s in the Tory and the Tory leads the young maid Here s a fable
I draw from a Naturalists book and we ll set it against the dicta of Jenny
Donothing Jenny Discretion Jenny WaitfortheGods Once upon a time in a
tropical island a man lay sick so ill that he could not rise to trouble his
neighbours for help so weak that it was lifting a mountain to get up from his
bed so hopeless of succour that the last spark of distraught wisdom perching on
his brains advised him to lie where he was and trouble not himself since peace
at least he could command before he passed upon the black highroad men call our
kingdom of peace ay he lay there Now it chanced that this man had a mess to
cook for his nourishment And life said Do it and death said To what end He
wrestled with the stark limbs of death and cooked the mess and that done he
had no strength remaining to him to consume it but crept to his bed like the
toad into winter Now meanwhile a steam arose from the mess and he lay
stretched So it befel that the birds of prey of the region scented the mess
and they descended and thronged at that mans windows And the mans neighbours
looked up at them for it was the sign of one who is fit for the beaks of birds
lying unburied Fail to spread the pall one hour where suns are decisive and
the pall comes down out of heaven They said The man is dead within And they
went to his room and saw him and succoured him They lifted him out of death by
the last uncut thread
Now my Jenny Weighwords Jenny Haltthere was it they who saved the man
or he that saved himself The man taxed his expiring breath to sow seed of life
Lydiard shall put it into verse for a fable in song for our people I say it is
a good fable and sung spiritedly may serve for nourishment and faith in work
to many of our poor fainting fellows Now you«
Jenny said »I think it is a good fable of selfhelp Does it quite
illustrate the case I mean the virtue of impatience But I like the fable and
the moral and I think it would do good if it were made popular though it would
be hard to condense it to a song«
»It would be hard ay then we do it forthwith And you shall compose the
music As for the case of impatience my dear you tether the soaring universal
to your petlambs post the special I spoke of seed sown I spoke of the
fruits of energy and resolution Cared I for an apology I took the blows as I
take hail from the clouds which apologize to you the moment you are in
shelter if you laugh at them So good night to that matter Are we to have
rain this evening I must away into Bevisham to the Workmens Hall and pay the
men«
»There will not be rain there will be frost and you must be well wrapped
if you must go« said Jenny »And tell them not to think of deputations to
Captain Beauchamp yet«
»No no deputations let them send Killick if they want to say anything«
said Beauchamp
»Wrong« the doctor cried »wrong wrong Six men wont hurt you more than
one And why check them when their feelings are up They burn to be speaking
some words to you Trust me Beauchamp if we shun to encounter the good warm
soul of numbers our hearts are narrowed to them The business of our modern
world is to open heart and stretch out arms to numbers In numbers we have our
sinews they are our iron and gold Scatter them not teach them the secret of
cohesion Practically since they gave you not their entire confidence once you
should not rebuff them to suspicions of you as aristocrat when they rise on the
effort to believe a man of as tis called birth their undivided friend Meet
them«
»Send them« said Beauchamp
Jenny Denham fastened a vast cloak and a comforter on the doctors heedless
shoulders and throat enjoining on him to return in good time for dinner
He put his finger to her cheek in reproof of such supererogatory counsel to
a man famous for his punctuality
The day had darkened
Beauchamp begged Jenny to play to him on the piano
»Do you indeed care to have music« said she »I did not wish you to meet a
deputation because your strength is not yet equal to it Dr Shrapnel dwells on
principles forgetful of minor considerations«
»I wish thousands did« cried Beauchamp »When you play I seem to hear
ideas Your music makes me think«
Jenny lit a pair of candles and set them on the piano »Waltzes« she asked
»Call in a puppetshow at once«
She smiled turned over some leaves and struck the opening notes of the
Ninth Symphony of Beethoven and made her selections
At the finish he said »Now read me your fathers poem The Hunt of the
Fates«
She read it to him
»Now read The Ascent from the Inferno«
That she read and also »Soul and Brute« another of his favourites
He wanted more and told her to read »First Love Last Love«
»I fear I have not the tone of voice for lovepoems« Jenny said returning
the book to him
»I ll read it« said he
He read with more impressiveness than effect Lydiards reading thrilled
her Beauchamps insisted too much on particular lines But it was worth while
observing him She saw him always as in a picture remote from herself His
loftier social station and strange character precluded any of those keen
suspicions by which women learn that a fire is beginning to glow near them
»How I should like to have known your father« he said »I dont wonder at
Dr Shrapnels love of him Yes he was one of the great men of his day and it
s a higher honour to be of his blood than any that rank can give You were ten
years old when you lost him Describe him to me«
»He used to play with me like a boy« said Jenny She described her father
from a childs recollection of him
»Dr Shrapnel declares he would have been one of the first surgeons in
Europe and he was one of the first of poets« Beauchamp pursued with
enthusiasm »So he was doubly great I hold a good surgeon to be in the front
rank of public benefactors where they put rich brewers bankers and
speculative manufacturers now Well the world is young We shall alter that in
time Whom did your father marry«
Jenny answered »My mother was the daughter of a London lawyer She married
without her fathers approval of the match and he left her nothing«
Beauchamp interjected »Lawyers money«
»It would have been useful to my mothers household when I was an infant«
said Jenny
»Poor soul I suppose so Yes well« Beauchamp sighed »Money never mind
how it comes We re in such a primitive condition that we catch at anything to
keep us out of the cold dogs with a bone instead of living as Dr
Shrapnel prophecies for and with one another It s war now and money s the
weapon of war And we re the worst nation in Europe for that But if we fairly
recognize it we shall be the first to alter our ways There s the point Well
Jenny I can look you in the face tonight Thanks to my uncle Everard at last«
»Captain Beauchamp you have never been blamed«
»I am Captain Beauchamp by courtesy in public My friends call me Nevil I
think I have heard the name on your lips«
»When you were very ill«
He stood closer to her very close
»Which was the arm that bled for me May I look at it There was a bruise«
»Have you not forgotten that trifle There is the faintest possible mark of
it left«
»I wish to see«
She gently defended the arm but he made it so much a matter of earnest to
see the bruise of the old Election missile on her fair arm that with a
pardonable soft blush to avoid making much of it herself she turned her sleeve
a little above the wrist He took her hand
»It was for me«
»It was quite an accident no harm was intended«
»But it was in my cause for me«
»Indeed Captain Beauchamp «
»Nevil we say indoors«
»Nevil but is it not wiser to say what comes naturally to us«
»Who told you today that you had brought me to life I am here to prove
it true If I had paid attention to your advice I should not have gone into the
cottage of those poor creatures and taken away the fever I did no good there
But the mans wife said her husband had been ruined by voting for me and it was
a point of honour to go in and sit with him You are not to have your hand back
it is mine Dont you remember Jenny how you gave me your arm on the road when
I staggered two days before the fever knocked me over Shall I tell you what I
thought then I thought that he who could have you for a mate would have the
bravest and helpfullest wife in all England And not a mere beauty for you
have good looks but you have the qualities I have been in search of Why do
your eyes look so mournfully at me I am full of hope We ll sail the Esperanza
for the Winter you and I and our best friend with us And you shall have a
voice in the council be sure«
»If you are two to one« Jenny said quickly to keep from faltering
Beauchamp pressed his mouth to the mark of the bruise on her arm He held
her fast
»I mean it if you will join me that you and I should rejoice the heart of
the dear old man will you He has been brooding over your loneliness here if
you are unmarried ever since his recovery I owe my life to you and every debt
of gratitude to him Now Jenny«
»Oh Captain Beauchamp Nevil if you will if I may have my hand You
exaggerate common kindness He loves you We both esteem you«
»But you dont love me«
»Indeed I have no fear that I shall be unable to support myself if I am
left alone«
»But I want your help I wake from illness with my eyes open I must have
your arm to lean on now and then«
Jenny dropped a shivering sigh
»Uncle is long absent« she said
Her hand was released Beauchamp inspected his watch
»He may have fallen He may be lying on the common«
»Oh« cried Jenny »why did I let him go out without me«
»Let me have his lantern I ll go and search over the common«
»You must not go out« said she
»I must The old man may be perishing«
»It will be death to you Nevil«
»That s foolish I can stand the air for a few minutes«
»I ll go« said Jenny
»Unprotected No«
»Cook shall come with me«
»Two women«
»Nevil if you care a little for me be good be kind submit«
»He is half an hour behind dinnertime and he s never late Something must
have happened to him Way for me my dear girl«
She stood firm between him and the door It came to pass that she stretched
her hands to arrest him and he seized the hands
»Rather than you should go out in this cold weather anything« she said in
the desperation of physical inability to hold him back
»Ah« Beauchamp crossed his arms round her »I ll wait for five minutes«
One went by with Jenny folded broken and sobbing senseless against his
breast
They had not heard Dr Shrapnel quietly opening the hall door and hanging up
his hat He looked in
»Beauchamp« he exclaimed
»Come doctor« said Beauchamp and loosened his clasp of Jenny
considerately
She disengaged herself
»Beauchamp now I die a glad man«
»Witness doctor she s mine by her own confession«
»Uncle« Jenny gasped »Oh Captain Beauchamp what an error what delusion
Forget it I will Here are more misunderstandings You shall be excused
But be «
»Be you the blessedest woman alive on this earth my Jenny« shouted Dr
Shrapnel »You have the choice man on all the earth for husband sweetheart Ay
of all the earth I go with a message for my old friend Harry Denham to quicken
him in the grave for the husband of his girl is Nevil Beauchamp The one thing
I dared not dream of thousands is established Sunlight my Jenny«
Beauchamp kissed her hand
She slipped away to her chamber grovelling to find her diminished self
somewhere in the midthunder of her amazement as though it were to discover a
pin on the floor by the flash of lightning Where was she
This ensued from the apology of Lord Romfrey to Dr Shrapnel
Chapter LV
Without Love
At the end of November Jenny Denham wrote these lines to Mr Lydiard in reply
to his request that she should furnish the latest particulars of Nevil
Beauchamp for the satisfaction of the Countess of Romfrey
»There is everything to reassure Lady Romfrey in the state of Captain
Beauchamps health and I have never seen him so placidly happy as he
has been since the arrival yesterday morning of a lady from France
Madame la Marquise de Rouaillout with her brother M le Comte de
Croisnel Her husband I hear from M de Croisnel dreads our climate
and coffee too much to attempt the voyage I understand that she writes
to Lady Romfrey today Lady Romfreys letter to her informing her of
Captain Beauchamps alarming illness went the round from Normandy to
Touraine and Dauphiny otherwise she would have come over earlier
Her first inquiry of me was Il est mort You would have supposed
her disappointed by my answer A light went out in her eyes like that
of a veilleuse in the dawn She looked at me without speaking while her
beautiful eyes regained their natural expression She shut them and
sighed Tell him that M de Croisnel and his sister are here
This morning her wish to see Miss Halkett was gratified You know my
taste was formed in France I agree with Captain Beauchamp in his more
than admiration of Frenchwomen ours though more accomplished are
colder and less plastic But Miss Halkett is surpassingly beautiful
very amiable very generous a perfect friend She is our country at its
best Probably she is shy of speaking French she frequently puts the
Italian accent Madame de Rouaillout begged to speak with her alone I
do not know what passed Miss Halkett did not return to us
Dr Shrapnel and Captain Beauchamp have recently been speculating on
our becoming a nation of artists and authorities in science and
philosophy by the time our coalfields and material wealth are
exhausted That and the cataclysm are their themes
They say will things end utterly all our gains be lost The
question seems to me to come of that love of earth which is recognition
of God for if they cannot reconcile themselves to believe in
extinction to what must they be looking It is a confirmation of your
saying that love leads to God through art or in acts
You will regret to hear that the project of Captain Beauchamps
voyage is in danger of being abandoned A committee of a vacant Radical
borough has offered to nominate him My influence is weak madame would
have him go back with her and her brother to Normandy My influence is
weak I suppose because he finds me constantly leaning to expediency
I am your pupil It may be quite correct that powder is intended for
explosion we do not therefore apply a spark to the barrel I ventured
on that He pitied me in the snares of simile and metaphor He is the
same you perceive How often have we not discussed what would have
become of him with that rocket brain of his in less quiet times Yet
when he was addressing a deputation of workmen the other day he
recommended patience to them as one of the virtues that count under
wisdom He is curiously impatient for knowledge One of his reasons for
not accepting Colonel Halketts offer of his yacht is that he will not
be able to have books enough on board Definite instead of vast and hazy
duties are to be desired for him I think Most fervently I pray that he
will obtain a ship and serve some years At the risk of your accusing me
of sententious posing I would say that men who do not live in the
present chiefly but hamper themselves with giant tasks in excess of
alarm for the future however devoted and noble they may be and he is
an example of one that is reduce themselves to the dimensions of
pigmies they have the cry of infants You reply Foresight is an
element of love of country and mankind But how often is not the
foresight guesswork
He has not spoken of the DAWN project To day he is repeating one
of uncles novelties Sultry Tories The sultry Tory sits in the sun
and prophecies woefully of storm it appears Your accusation that I am
one at heart amuses me I am not quite able to deny it Sultriness I am
not conscious of But it would appear to be an epithet for the
Conservatives of wealth So that England being very wealthy we are to
call it a sultry country You are much wanted for where there is no
middleman Liberal to hold the scales for them these two have it all
their own way which is not good for them Captain Beauchamp quotes you
too It seems that you once talked to him of a machine for measuring the
force of blows delivered with the fist and compared his efforts to
those of one perpetually practising at it and this you are said to have
called The case of the Constitutional Realm and the extreme Radical
Elsewhere the Radical smites at iron or rotten wood in England it is a
cushion on springs Did you say it He quotes it as yours half
acquiescingly and ruefully
For visitors we have had Captain Baskelett for two minutes and
Lord Palmet who stayed longer and seems to intend to come daily He
attempts French with Madame de R and amuses her a little a silver
foot and a ball of worsted Mr and Mrs Grancey Lespel have called and
Lord and Lady Croyston Colonel Halkett Miss Halkett and Mr Tuckham
come frequently Captain Beauchamp spoke to her yesterday of her
marriage
Madame de R leaves us tomorrow Her brother is a delightful
gaytempered very handsome boyish Frenchman not her equal to my
mind for I do not think Frenchmen comparable to the women of France
but she is exceedingly grave with hardly a smile and his high spirits
excite Nevils so it is pleasant to see them together«
The letter was handed to Lady Romfrey She read through it thoughtfully till she
came to the name of Nevil when she frowned On the morrow she pronounced it a
disingenuous letter Renée had sent her these lines
»I should come to you if my time were not restricted my brothers leave
of absence is short I have done here what lay in my power to show you
I have learnt something in the school of self immolation I have seen
Mlle Halkett She is a beautiful young woman deficient only in words
doubtless My labour except that it may satisfy you was the vainest of
tasks She marries a ruddy monsieur of a name that I forget and of the
bearing of a member of the gardes du corps without the stature Enfin
madame I have done my duty and do not regret it since I may hope that
it will win for me some approbation and a portion of the esteem of a
lady to whom I am indebted for that which is now the best of life to me
and I do not undervalue it in saying I would gladly have it stamped on
brass and deposited beside my fathers I have my faith I would it were
Nevils too and yours should you be in need of it
He will marry Mlle Denham If I may foretell events she will
steady him She is a young person who will not feel astray in society of
his rank she possesses the natural grace we do not expect to see out of
our country from sheer ignorance of what is beyond it For the moment
she affects to consider herself unworthy and it is excuseable that she
should be slightly alarmed at her prospect But Nevil must have a wife
I presume to think that he could not have chosen better Above all make
him leave England for the Winter Adieu dear countess Nevil promises
me a visit after his marriage I shall not set foot on England again
but you should you ever come to our land of France will find my heart
open to you at the gates of undying grateful recollection I am not
skilled in writing You have looked into me once look now I am the
same Only I have succeeded in bringing myself to a greater likeness to
the dead as it becomes a creature to be who is coupled with one of
their body Meanwhile I shall have news of you I trust that soon I may
be warranted in forwarding congratulations to Lord Romfrey«
Rosamund handed the letters to her husband Not only did she think Miss Denham
disingenuous she saw that the girl was not in love with Beauchamp and the idea
of a loveless marriage for him threw the mournfullest of Hecates beams along
the course of a career that the passionate love of a bride though she were not
wellborn and not wealthy would have rosily coloured
»Without love« she exclaimed to herself She asked the earls opinion of
the startling intelligence and of the character of that Miss Denham who could
pen such a letter after engaging to give her hand to Nevil
Lord Romfrey laughed in his dumb way »If Nevil must have a wife and the
marquise tells you so and she ought to know he may as well marry a girl who
wont go all the way down hill with him at his pace He ll be cogged«
»You do not object to such an alliance«
»I m past objection There s no law against a mans marrying his nurse«
»But she is not even in love with him«
»I dare say not He wants a wife she accepts a husband The two women who
were in love with him he wouldnt have«
Lady Romfrey sighed deeply »He has lost Cecilia She might still have been
his but he has taken to that girl And Madame de Rouaillout praises the girl
because oh I see it she has less to be jealous of in Miss Denham of whose
birth and blood we know nothing Let that pass If only she loved him I cannot
endure the thought of his marrying a girl who is not in love with him«
»Just as you like my dear«
»I used to suspect Mr Lydiard«
»Perhaps he s the man«
»Oh what an end of so brilliant a beginning«
»It strikes me my dear« said the earl »it s the proper common sense
beginning that may have a fairish end«
»No but what I feel is that he our Nevil has accomplished hardly
anything if anything«
»He hasnt marched on London with a couple of hundred thousand men no he
hasnt done that« the earl said glancing back in his mind through Beauchamps
career »And he escapes what Stukely calls his nations scourge in the shape of
a statue turned out by an English chisel No we havent had much public
excitement out of him But one thing he did do he got me down on my knees«
Lord Romfrey pronounced these words with a sober emphasis that struck the
humour of it sharply into Rosamunds heart through some contrast it presented
between Nevils aim at the world and hit of a man the immense deal thought of
it by the earl and the very little that Nevil would think of it the great
domestic achievement to be boasted of by an enthusiastic devotee of politics
She embraced her husband with peals of loving laughter the last laughter
heard in Romfrey Castle for many a day
Chapter LVI
The Last of Nevil Beauchamp
Not before Beauchamp was flying with the Winter gales to warmer climes could
Rosamund reflect on his career unshadowed by her feminine mortification at the
thought that he was unloved by the girl he had decided to marry But when he was
away and winds blew the clouds which obscured an embracing imagination of him
such as to be true and full and sufficient should stretch like the dome of
heaven over the humblest of lives under contemplation broke and revealed him
to her as one who had other than failed rather as one in mid career in mid
forest who by force of character advancing in selfconquest strikes his
impress right and left around him because of his aim at stars He had faults
and she gloried to think he had for the womans heart rejoiced in his portion
of our common humanity while she named their prince to men but where was he to
be matched in devotedness and in gallantry and what man of blood fiery as
Nevils ever fought so to subject it Rosamund followed him like a migratory
bird hovered over his vessel perched on deck beside the helm where her sailor
was sure to be stationed entered his breast communed with him and wound him
round and round with her love He has mine she cried Her craving that he
should be blest in the reward or flowercrown of his wifes love of him
lessened in proportion as her brooding spirit vividly realized his deeds In
fact it had been but an example of our very general craving for a climax
palpable and scenic She was completely satisfied by her conviction that his
wife would respect and must be subordinate to him So it had been with her As
for love let him come to his Rosamund for love and appreciation adoration
Rosamund drew nigh to her hour of peril with this torch of her love of
Beauchamp to illuminate her
There had been a difficulty in getting him to go One day Cecilia walked
down to Dr Shrapnels with Mr Tuckham to communicate that the Esperanza
awaited Captain Beauchamp manned and provisioned off the pier Now he would
not go without Dr Shrapnel nor the doctor without Jenny and Jenny could not
hold back seeing that the wish of her heart was for Nevil to be at sea
untroubled by political questions and prowling Radical deputies So her consent
was the seal of the voyage What she would not consent to was the proposal to
have her finger ringed previous to the voyage altogether in the manner of a
sailors bride She seemed to stipulate for a term of courtship Nevil frankly
told the doctor that he was not equal to it anything that was kind he was quite
ready to say and anything that was pretty but nothing particularly kind and
pretty occurred to him he was exactly like a juvenile correspondent facing a
blank sheet of letter paper he really did not know what to say further than
the uncomplicated exposition of his case that he wanted a wife and had found
the very woman How then fathom Jennys mood for delaying Dr Shrapnels
exhortations were so worded as to induce her to comport herself like a
Scriptural woman humbly wakeful to the surpassing splendour of the high fortune
which had befallen her in being so selected and obedient at a sign But she
was it appeared that she was a maid of scaly vision not perceptive of the
blessedness of her lot She could have been very little perceptive for she did
not understand his casual allusion to Beauchamps readiness to overcome a
natural repugnance for the purpose of making her his wife
Up to the last moment before Cecilia Halkett left the deck of the Esperanza
to step on the pier Jenny remained in vague but excited expectation of
something intervening to bring Cecilia and Beauchamp together It was not a
hope it was with pure suspense that she awaited the issue Cecilia was pale
Beauchamp shook Mr Tuckham by the hand and said »I shall not hear the bells
but send me word of it will you« and he wished them both all happiness
The sails of the schooner filled On a fair frosty day with a light wind
ruffling from the Northwest she swept away out of sight of Bevisham and the
island into the Channel to within view of the coast of France England once
below the waterline alone with Beauchamp and Dr Shrapnel Jenny Denham knew
her fate
As soon as that grew distinctly visible in shape and colour she ceased to
be reluctant All about her in air and sea and unknown coast was fresh and
prompting And if she looked on Beauchamp the thought my husband palpitated
and destroyed and remade her Rapidly she underwent her transformation from
doubtfullyminded woman to woman awakening cleareyed and with new sweet
shivers in her temperate blood like the tremulous light seen running to the
morn upon a quiet sea She fell under the charm of Beauchamp at sea
In view of the island of Madeira Jenny noticed that some trouble had come
upon Dr Shrapnel and Beauchamp both of whom had been hilarious during the
gales but sailing into Summer they began to wear that look which indicated one
of their serious deliberations She was not taken into their confidence and
after a while they recovered partially
The truth was they had been forced back upon old English ground by a
recognition of the absolute necessity for her sake of handing themselves over
to a parson In England possibly a civil marriage might have been proposed to
the poor girl In a foreign island they would be driven not simply to accept
the services of a parson but to seek him and solicit him otherwise the knot
faster than any sailors in binding could not be tied Decidedly it could not
and how submit Neither Dr Shrapnel nor Beauchamp were of a temper to deceive
the clerical gentleman only they had to think of Jennys feelings Alas for us
this our awful baggage in the rear of humanity these women who have not moved
on their own feet one step since the primal mother taught them to suckle are
perpetually pulling us backward on the march Slaves of custom forms shows and
superstitions they are slaves of the priests »They are so in gratitude
perchance as the matter works« Dr Shrapnel admitted For at one period the
priests did cherish and protect the weak from animal man But we have entered a
broader daylight now when the sun of high heaven has crowned our structure with
the flower of brain like him to scatter mists and penetrate darkness and
shoot from end to end of earth and must we still be grinning subserviently to
ancient usages and stale forms because of a baggage that it is woe to us too
true we cannot cut ourselves loose from Lydiard might say we are compelling
the priests to fight and that they are compact foemen not always passive
Battle then The cry was valiant Nevertheless Jenny would certainly insist
upon the presence of a parson in spite of her bridegrooms natural repugnance
Dr Shrapnel offered to argue it with her being of opinion that a British
consul could satisfactorily perform the ceremony Beauchamp knew her too well
Moreover though tonguetied as to lovemaking he was in a hurry to be married
Jennys eyes were lovely her smiles were soft the fair promise of her was in
bloom on her face and figure He could not wait he must off to the parson
Then came the question as to whether honesty and honour did not impose it on
them to deal openly with that gentle and on such occasions unobtrusive
official by means of a candid statement to him overnight to the effect that
they were the avowed antagonists of his Church which would put him on his
defence and lead to an argument that would accomplish his overthrow You
parsons whose cause is good marshal out the poor of the land that we may see
the sort of army your stewardship has gained for you What no army only women
and hoary men And in the rear rank to support you as an institution none but
fanatics cowards whiteeyeballed dogmatists timeservers moneychangers
mockers in their sleeves What is this
But the prospect of so completely confounding the unfortunate parson warned
Beauchamp that he might have a shot in his locker the parson heavily trodden on
will turn »I suppose we must be hypocrites« he said in dejection Dr Shrapnel
was even more melancholy He again offered to try his persuasiveness upon Jenny
Beauchamp declined to let her be disturbed
She did not yield so very lightly to the invitation to go before a parson
She had to be wooed after all a Harry Hotspurs wooing Three clergymen of the
Established Church were on the island »And where wont they be where there s
fine scenery and comforts abound« Beauchamp said to the doctor ungratefully
»Whether a celibate clergy ruins the Faith faster than a noncelibate I
wont dispute« replied the doctor »but a noncelibate interwinds with us and
is likely to keep up a onestoried edifice longer«
Jenny hesitated She was a faltering unit against an ardent and imperative
two in the council And Beauchamp had shown her a letter of Lady Romfreys very
clearly signifying that she and her lord anticipated tidings of the union
Marrying Beauchamp was no simple adventure She feared in her bosom and
resigned herself
She had a taste of what it was to be at the conclusion of the service
Beauchamp thanked the goodnatured clergyman and spoke approvingly of him to
his bride as an agreeable wellbred gentlemanly person Then fronting her and
taking both her hands »Now my darling« he said »you must pledge me your word
to this I have stooped my head to the parson and I am content to have done
that to win you though I dont think much of myself for doing it I cant look
so happy as I am And this idle ceremony however I thank God I have you and
I thank you for taking me But you wont expect me to give in to the parson
again«
»But Nevil« she said fearing what was to come »they are gentlemen good
men«
»Yes yes«
»They are educated men Nevil«
»Jenny Jenny Beauchamp they re not men they re Churchmen My experience
of the priest in our country is that he has abandoned he s dead against the
only cause that can justify and keep up a Church the cause of the poor the
people He is a creature of the moneyed class I look on him as a pretender I
go through his forms to save my wife from annoyance but there s the end of
it and if ever I m helpless unable to resist him I rely on your word not to
let him intrude he s to have nothing to do with the burial of me He s
against the cause of the people Very well I make my protest to the death
against him When he s a Christian instead of a Churchman then may my example
not be followed It s little use looking for that«
Jenny dropped some tears on her bridal day She sighed her submission »So
long as you do not change« said she
»Change« cried Nevil »That s for the parson Now it s over we start
fair My darling I have you I dont mean to bother you I m sure you ll see
that the enemies of Reason are the enemies of the human race you will see that
I can wait«
»If we can be sure that we ourselves are using reason rightly Nevil not
prejudice«
»Of course But dont you see my Jenny we have no interest in opposing
reason«
»But have we not all grown up together And is it just or wise to direct our
efforts to overthrow a solid structure that is a part «
He put his legal right in force to shut her mouth telling her presently she
might Lydiardize as much as she liked While practising this mastery he assured
her he would always listen to her yes whether she Lydiardized or what Dr
Shrapnel called Jennyprated
»That is to say dear Nevil that you have quite made up your mind to a
toddling chattering little nursery wife«
Very much the contrary to anything of the sort he declared and he proved
his honesty by announcing an immediate reflection that had come to him »How
oddly things are settled Cecilia Halkett and Tuckham you and I Now I know
for certain that I have brought Cecilia Halkett out of her womans Toryism and
given her at least liberal views and she goes and marries an arrant Tory while
you a bit of a Tory at heart more than anything else have married an ultra«
»Perhaps we may hope that the conflict will be seasonable on both sides
if you give me fair play Nevil«
As fair play as a womans lord could give her she was to have with which
adieu to argumentation and controversy and all the thanks in life to the
parson On a lovely island free from the seductions of care possessing a wife
who instead of starting out of romance and poetry with him to the supreme
honeymoon led him back to those forsaken valleys of his youth and taught him
the joys of colour and sweet companionship simple delights a sister mind with
a loveliness of person and nature unimagined by him Beauchamp drank of a
happiness that neither Renée nor Cecilia had promised His wooing of Jenny
Beauchamp was a flattery richer than any the maiden Jenny Denham could have
deemed her due and if his wonder in experiencing such strange gladness was
quaintly ingenuous it was delicious to her to see and know full surely that he
who was at little pains to court or please independently of the urgency of the
truth in him had come to be her lover through being her husband
Here I would stop It is Beauchamps career that carries me on to its close
where the lanterns throw their beams off the mudbanks by the black riverside
when some few English men and women differed from the world in thinking that it
had suffered a loss
They sorrowed for the earl when tidings came to them of the loss of his child
alive one hour in his arms Rosamund caused them to be deceived as to her
condition She survived she wrote to Jenny bidding her keep her husband
cruising Lord Romfrey added a brief word he told Nevil that he would see no
one for the present hoped he would be absent a year not a day less To render
it the more easily practicable in the next packet of letters Colonel Halkett
and Cecilia begged them not to bring the Esperanza home for the yachting season
the colonel said his daughter was to be married in April and that bridegroom
and bride had consented to take an old man off with them to Italy perhaps in
the autumn all might meet in Venice
»And you ve never seen Venice« Beauchamp said to Jenny
»Everything is new to me« said she penetrating and gladly joining the
conspiracy to have him out of England
Dr Shrapnel was not so compliant as the young husband Where he could land
and botanize as at Madeira he let time fly and drum his wings on air but the
cities of priests along the coast of Portugal and Spain roused him to a burning
sense of that flight of time and the vacuity it told of in his labours Greatly
to his astonishment he found that it was no longer he and Beauchamp against
Jenny but Jenny and Beauchamp against him
»What« he cried »to draw breath day by day and not to pay for it by
striking daily at the rock Iniquity Are you for that Beauchamp And in a land
where these priests walk with hats curled like the waterlilys leaf without the
flower How far will you push indolent unreason to gain the delusion of
happiness There is no such thing but there s trance That talk of happiness
is a carrion clamour of the creatures of prey Take it and you re helping
tear some poor wretch to pieces whom you might be constructing saving
perchance some one some thousands You Beauchamp when I met you first you
were for England England for a breadth of the palm of my hand comparatively
the round of a copper penny no wider And from that you jumped at a bound to
the round of this earth you were for humanity Ay we sailed our planet among
the icy spheres and were at bloodheat for its destiny you and I And now you
hover for a wind to catch you So it is for a soul rejecting prayer This wind
and that has it the wellsprings within are shut down fast I pardon my Jenny
my Harry Denhams girl She is a woman and has a brain like a bell that rings
all round to the tongue It is her kingdom of the interdicted untraversed
frontiers But what cares she or any woman that this Age of ours should lie
like a carcase against the Sun What cares any woman to help to hold up Life to
him He breeds divinely upon life filthy upon stagnation Sail you away if you
will in your trance I go I go home by land alone and I await you Here in
this land of moles upright I do naught but execrate I am a pulpit of curses
Counteranathema you might call me«
»Oh I feel the comparison so for England shining spiritually bright« said
Jenny and cut her husband adrift with the exclamation and saw him float away
to Dr Shrapnel
»Spiritually bright«
»By comparison Nevil«
»There s neither spiritual nor political brightness in England but a
common resolution to eat of good things and stick to them« said the doctor
»and we two out of England there s barely a voice to cry scare to the feeders
I m back I m home«
They lost him once in Cadiz and discovered him on the quay looking about
for a vessel In getting him to return to the Esperanza they nearly all three
fell into the hands of the police Beauchamp gave him a great deal of his time
reading and discussing with him on deck and in the cabin and projecting future
enterprises to pacify his restlessness A translation of Plato had become
Beauchamps intellectual world This philosopher singularly anticipated his
ideas Concerning himself he was beginning to think that he had many years ahead
of him for work He was with Dr Shrapnel as to the battle and with Jenny as
to the delay in recommencing it Both the men laughed at the constant employment
she gave them among the Greek islands in furnishing her severely accurate
accounts of seafights and landfights and the scenes being before them they
could neither of them protest that their taskwork was an idle labour Dr
Shrapnel assisted in fighting Marathon and Salamis over again cordially to
shield Great Britain from the rule of a satrapy
Beauchamp often tried to conjure words to paint his wife On grave subjects
she had the manner of speaking of a shy scholar and between grave and playful
between smiling and serious her clear head her nobly poised character seemed
to him to have never had a prototype and to elude the art of picturing it in
expression until he heard Lydiard call her whimsically »Portia disrobing«
Portia half in her doctors gown half out of it They met Lydiard and his wife
Louise and Mr and Mrs Tuckham in Venice where upon the first day of
October Jenny Beauchamp gave birth to a son The thrilling mother did not
perceive on this occasion the gloom she cast over the father of the child and
Dr Shrapnel The youngster would insist on his right to be sprinkled by the
parson to get a legal name and please his mother At all turns in the history
of our healthy relations with women we are confronted by the parson »And upon
my word I believe« Beauchamp said to Lydiard »those parsons not bad
creatures in private life there was one in Madeira I took a personal liking to
but they re utterly ignorant of what men feel to them more ignorant than
women« Mr Tuckham and Mrs Lydiard would not listen to his foolish objections
nor were they ever mentioned to Jenny Apparently the commission of the act of
marriage was to force Beauchamp from all his positions one by one
»The education of that child« Mrs Lydiard said to her husband
He considered that the mother would prevail
Cecilia feared she would not
»Depend upon it he ll make himself miserable if he can« said Tuckham
That gentleman however was perpetually coming fuming from arguments with
Beauchamp and his opinion was a controversialists His common sense was much
afflicted »I thought marriage would have stopped all those absurdities« he
said glaring angrily laughing and then frowning »I ve warned him I ll go
out of my way to come across him if he carries on this headlong folly A man
should accept his country for what it is when he s born into it Dont tell me
he s a good fellow I know he is but there s an ass mounted on the good
fellow Talks of the parsons Why they re men of education«
»They couldnt steer a ship in a gale though«
»Oh he s a good sailor And let him go to sea« said Tuckham »His wife s
a prize He s hardly worthy of her If she manages him she ll deserve a
monument for doing a public service«
How fortunate it is for us that here and there we do not succeed in wresting our
temporary treasure from the grasp of the Fates
This good old commonplace reflection came to Beauchamp while clasping his
wifes hand on the deck of the Esperanza and looking up at the mountains over
the Gulf of Venice The impression of that marvellous dawn when he and Renée
looked up handinhand was ineffaceable and pity for the tender hand lost to
him wrought in his blood but Jenny was a peerless wife and though not in the
music of her tongue or in subtlety of delicate meaning did she excel Renée as
a sober adviser she did and as a firm speaker and she had homelier deep eyes
thoughtfuller brows The father could speculate with good hope of Jennys child
Cecilias wealth too had gone over to the Tory party with her
incomprehensible espousal of Tuckham Let it go let all go for dowerless Jenny
It was she dared to recollect it in her anguish Jennys choice to go home in
the yacht that decided her husband not to make the journey by land in company
with the Lydiards
The voyage was favourable Beauchamp had a passing wish to land on the
Norman coast and take Jenny for a day to Tourdestelle He deferred to her
desire to land baby speedily now they were so near home They ran past Otley
river having sight of Mount Laurels and on to Bevisham with swelling sails
There they parted Beauchamp made it one of his points of honour to deliver the
vessel where he had taken her at her moorings in the Otley One of the piermen
stood before Beauchamp and saluting him said he had been directed to inform
him that the Earl of Romfrey was with Colonel Halkett expecting him at Mount
Laurels Beauchamp wanted his wife to return in the yacht She turned her eyes
to Dr Shrapnel It was out of the question that the doctor should think of
going Husband and wife parted She saw him no more
This is no time to tell of weeping The dry chronicle is fittest Hard on
nine oclock in the December darkness the night being still and clear Jennys
babe was at her breast and her ears were awake for the return of her husband A
man rang at the door of the house and asked to see Dr Shrapnel This man was
Killick the Radical Sam of politics He said to the doctor »I m going to hit
you sharp sir I ve had it myself please put on your hat and come out with
me and close the door They mustnt hear inside And here s a fly I knew you
d be off for the finding of the body Commander Beauchamp s drowned«
Dr Shrapnel drove round by the shore of the broad water past a great
hospital and ruined abbey to Otley village Killick had lifted him into the
conveyance and he lifted him out Dr Shrapnel had not spoken a word Lights
were flaring on the river illuminating the small craft sombrely Men women
and children crowded the hard and landingplaces the marshy banks and the decks
of colliers and trawlers Neither Killick nor Dr Shrapnel questioned them The
lights were torches and lanterns the occupation of the boats moving in couples
was the dragging for the dead
»O God let s find his body« a woman called out
»Just a word is it Commander Beauchamp« Killick said to her
She was scarcely aware of a question »Here this one« she said and
plucked a little boy of eight by the hand close against her side and shook him
roughly and kissed him
An old man volunteered information »That s the boy That boy was in his
fathers boat out there with two of his brothers larking and he and another
older than him fell overboard and just then Commander Beauchamp was rowing by
and I saw him from off here where I stood jump up and dive and he swam to his
boat with one of them and got him in safe that boy and he dived again after
the other and was down a long time Either he burst a vessel or he got cramp
for he d been rowing himself from the schooner grounded down at the
rivermouth and must have been hot when he jumped in either way he fetched
the second up and sank with him Down he went«
A fisherman said to Killick »Do you hear that voice thundering That s the
great Lord Romfrey He s been directing the dragging since five o the evening
and will till he drops or drowns or up comes the body«
»O God let s find the body« the woman with the little boy called out
A torch lit up Lord Romfreys face as he stepped ashore »The flood has
played us a trick« he said »We want more drags or with the next ebb the body
may be lost for days in this infernal water«
The mother of the rescued boy sobbed »Oh my lord my lord«
The earl caught sight of Dr Shrapnel and went to him
»My wife has gone down to Mrs Beauchamp« he said »She will bring her and
the baby to Mount Laurels The child will have to be handfed I take you with
me You must not be alone«
He put his arm within the arm of the heavilybreathing man whom he had once
flung to the ground to support him
»My lord my lord« sobbed the woman and dropped on her knees
»What s this« the earl said drawing his hand away from the womans clutch
at it
»She s the mother my lord« several explained to him
»Mother of what«
»My boy« the woman cried and dragged the urchin to Lord Romfreys feet
cleaning her boys face with her apron
»It s the boy Commander Beauchamp drowned to save« said a man
All the lights of the ring were turned on the head of the boy Dr
Shrapnels eyes and Lord Romfreys fell on the abashed little creature The boy
struck out both arms to get his fists against his eyelids
This is what we have in exchange for Beauchamp
It was not uttered but it was visible in the blank stare at one another of
the two men who loved Beauchamp after they had examined the insignificant bit
of mudbank life remaining in this world in the place of him