Mr. Grant, like other men in whom a quiet demeanor is the result rather
of experience than of temperament, was very observant; and he had
observed several things during and after the day at Richmond. It may be
assumed that he had not planned that expedition without some
anticipation that it might have results particularly affecting Philip
and Marion; and up to the moment when the party were overtaken, on their
way home, by the Marquise Desmoines, he had reason to think that his
anticipations had not been deceived. Since that moment, however, a
change had taken place. Philip had worn an aspect of gloomy dejection at
variance with his customary bearing; and Marion’s mood had been
exaggerated and unequal; sometimes manifesting an over-accented gayety,
at other times relapsing abruptly and without apparent cause into depths
of wayward perversity. This state of things continued without much
modification for several days; it being further noticeable that the
young people avoided private interviews, or at any rate did not have
any: for, if Philip desired them, Marion had the means of balking his
desire. In the presence of other persons, however, she seemed not averse
from holding converse with him, but her speech on such occasions had a
mocking and unconciliating ring about it; and Philip’s replies were
brief and unenterprising. Evidently, the pegs that made their music had
been set down awry. There had been some sweet melody for a while. Who
was their Iago?
“What a very charming lady is the Marquise Desmoines,” remarked Mr.
Grant one day to Philip. “I have seldom seen a more lovely face or a
more engaging manner.”
“Yes,” returned the young man, looking away, and drumming on the table
with his fingers.
“It was easy to see that you and she were on the best of terms with each
other,” the old gentleman continued.
Philip folded his arms, and tapped on the floor with his foot.
“She seemed to take a great fancy to Marion,” Mr. Grant went on. “They
bid fair to become great friends. It would be an excellent thing for
Marion, would it not?”
“Upon my word, sir, it’s none of my business,” exclaimed Philip, rather
impatiently. “Miss Lockhart will choose her friends to please herself, I
presume. If it were my place to offer her advice in the matter, it might
be different. With your permission, I prefer not to discuss the
subject.”
“As you please, my dear Philip,” replied Mr. Grant, composedly taking
snuff. “For my own part, it appeared to me that the Marquise could give
Marion those social advantages and opportunities that she especially
needs. This invitation to her soirée will probably be the precursor of
others. By the by, you will be present, of course?”
“Yes, that is my intention,” said Philip, after a pause; and his tone
had something defiant or threatening in it, as if he meant not only to
be present, but to do some deed of note when he got there.
The Marquise’s party was, as she had intimated, strictly limited as to
numbers. It was not her wish to begin her formal entertainments as yet;
her bereavement was still too recent, and, moreover, her new house was
not in order. She might, possibly, have contrived to get along without
giving any party at all, just at present; but she was enough a woman of
the world not always to demand logical behavior of herself, any more
than to expect it in other people. She wished to feel the atmosphere of
the new society into which she was about to enter, and to compare it
with that which she had left. It would be novel; it might or it might
not be preferable. The Marquise might decide, upon this experiment, not
to settle in London after all. Straws may show how the wind blows. She
had no one’s pleasure or convenience to think of but her own. There was
not even the Marquis now, who, if he did not have things his own way, at
all events had occasionally afforded her the gratification of having
hers in spite of him; and whose demise she perhaps regretted as much on
that account as on any other. For the lady was of a strong and valiant
disposition, and wanted something more in life than abject assent, and
yielding beds of down. She wanted resistance, almost defeat, in order to
give zest to victory. She wanted a strong man to fight with. In her
heart, she believed she was stronger than any man she was likely to come
across; but there were men, no doubt, who might be formidable enough to
be temporarily interesting. What manner of man in other respects this
champion might be, would matter little to the Marquise. Like most women
of first-rate ability she was at bottom a democrat: rank was her
convenience, but she had no respect for it or belief in it. Had she
detected, in a stevedore or Hindoo, stuff that was not to be had
elsewhere, she would have received and entertained him. Meanwhile, she
was well content to put up with Philip Lancaster. There was stuff in
him: there was perhaps something in his past relations with her which
rendered their present mutual attitude more piquant; and then, there was
that little bud of a romance which the Marquise had surprised on
Richmond Hill. Upon the whole she was justified in giving her little
party.
Sir Francis Bendibow was the first to arrive, bringing with him Merton
Fillmore, whom he introduced as follows: “A man, my dear creature, whom
I’ve long wished to make known to you. Most brilliant fellow in London;
my personal friend, as well as the trusted adviser of the House.” He
added in her ear, “You know--Fillmore, son of old Cadwallader Fillmore
... uncle the Honorable ... and Constance, you know ... married Lord
Divorn ... that’s the man! make friends with each other.”
“I think,” said the Marquise, glancing at the lawyer as she gave him her
hand, “that Mr. Fillmore is more accustomed to choose his friends than
to be chosen.”
This bit of impromptu criticism arrested Fillmore’s attention. After a
pause he said:
“My friends are my clients, and I don’t choose them.”
“I mean, you have not found it wise to be troubled with women. If I were
a man I might think as you do, but I should act otherwise. But then I
should not be a barrister.”
“I am a solicitor.”
The Marquise laughed. “Men of real genius distinguish their
professions--they are not distinguished by them ... I comprehend!”
“You would have made a better solicitor than I,” said Fillmore, with
something like a smile. “Your cross-examination would be very damaging.”
“We shall be all the better friends,” rejoined the Marquise, good
humoredly. “Mr. Fillmore is charming,” she added to Sir Francis, who had
just returned from a promenade to the other end of the room, where he
had been admiring himself in a looking-glass, under cover of smelling a
vase of flowers on the mantelpiece.
“Aye, indeed, kindred spirits,” said the baronet, nodding and smiling
complacently. “But how is this, eh? May we hope to monopolize these
privileges all the evening?”
“Here comes a rival,” answered the Marquise, as the door opened, and
Mr. Thomas Bendibow was ushered in. “I expect Mr. Philip Lancaster also.
Do you know him, Mr. Fillmore? How do you do, Tom? What lovely flowers!
For me? You are _preux chevalier_; that is more than your papa ever did
for me.”
“You know I don’t think of anything but you--well, I don’t, by George!
Oh, I say, don’t you look ravishing to-night, Perdita!” exclaimed this
ingenuous youth. “I say, there ain’t any other people coming, are there?
I want to have you all to myself to-night.”
“Tom, you are not to make love to your sister--before company!”
“Oh, sister be----! I know--you are going to flirt with that Lancaster
fellow--”
“You have not told me if you know Mr. Lancaster?” said the Marquise,
turning to Merton Fillmore.
“I have read his ‘Sunshine of Revolt,’ ” replied the solicitor.
“Good Gad!” ejaculated Sir Francis, below his breath. He was gazing
toward the doorway, in which several persons now appeared--the Lockhart
party, in fact--and his ruddy visage became quite pallid.
The Marquise’s beautiful eyes lighted up. She had had some secret doubts
as to whether Lancaster would come, for she understood not a little of
the intricacies of that gentleman’s character; but here he was, and she
felt that she had scored the first success in the encounter. To get the
better of any one, the first condition is to get him within your reach.
But Perdita took care that the brightness of her eyes should not shine
upon Philip too soon. She turned first upon Mrs. Lockhart and Marion.
She had taken the former’s measure at first sight, and knew how to make
her feel pleased and at ease. Marion was a more complex problem; but
Marion did not know the world, and it was simple enough to disappoint
her probable anticipation that the Marquise would at once monopolize
Philip. The Marquise lost no time in introducing Philip to Mr. Fillmore,
on the basis of the latter’s having read “The Sunshine of Revolt,” and
left the two gentlemen to make friends or foes of each other as they
might see fit. She then devoted herself to the two ladies, and
incidentally to Mr. Grant, whom she had invited simply as a friend of
theirs, and in whom she took no particular interest. Mr. Thomas
Bendibow, considering himself slighted, strolled off into an adjoining
room to indulge his wrongs over a glass of sherry. The baronet, who was
almost manifestly laboring under some unusual embarrassment or emotion,
attached himself, after some hesitation, to the Marquise’s party, and
endeavored to monopolize the conversation of Mr. Grant. That gentleman,
however, met his advances with a quiet reticence, which was beyond Sir
Francis’ skill to overcome. By degrees he found himself constrained to
address himself more and more to Mrs. and Miss Lockhart; and Perdita,
somewhat to her own surprise, was drawn more and more to look and speak
to Mr. Grant. There was something about him--in his old-fashioned but
noticeable aspect, in his quiet, observant manner--in the things he
said--that arrested the Marquise’s attention in spite of herself. Here
was a man who had seen and known something: a man--not a suit of
clothes, with a series of set grimaces, attitudes and phrases. Manhood
had an invincible attraction for this lady, no matter what the guise in
which it presented itself to her. At last she and Mr. Grant insensibly
settled down to what was practically a _tête-à-tête_.
“You must find it lonely here in England after so many years,” she said.
“My exile is a cage of invisibility for me,” answered Mr. Grant. “I find
few to see and recognize me, but that does not prevent me from seeing
and recognizing much that is familiar. I find that England stands where
it did, and is none the less homelike for having forgotten me. Indeed,
one may say, without being cynical, that the memory of old friends is
almost as pleasant, and in some respects more convenient, than their
presence would be.”
The Marquise laughed. “I think your old friends might call that cynical,
if they could hear it.”
“You would recognize its truth in your own case,” said Mr. Grant, half
interrogatively.
She lifted her eyebrows, as if the remark required explanation.
“An old fellow like me sometimes knows more about the origins of the
younger generation than they know themselves. I had the honor of your
acquaintance when you were learning to say ‘Papa,’ and wore little pink
slippers.”
“Ah!” murmured the Marquise, looking at him keenly. “Then....” she
paused.
“And your father also,” said Mr. Grant, in a low voice.
“Sir Francis Bendibow,” said Perdita, after a pause.
Mr. Grant met her glance, and said nothing.
“Now I think of it,” remarked Perdita, tapping her chin lightly with the
handle of her fan. “I am inclined to agree with you. Memories may
sometimes be more convenient than presence.”
“It is not always the convenient that happens, however,” rejoined the
old gentleman. “And convenience itself may sometimes, on some accounts,
be less desirable than an acceptance of facts. If Sir Francis Bendibow,
let us say, had been suspected of a grave indiscretion in early life,
and had in consequence disappeared from society, leaving his family
behind him--”
“His family would probably, in the course of time, become reconciled to
his absence,” interrupted Perdita, coloring slightly. “Human
relationship is not so rigid and important a matter as romancers and
sentimentalists try to make it out, Mr. Grant. As long as my child, or
my husband, or my father continues to live within my sight and reach, I
acknowledge myself the mother, wife, or daughter, and conduct myself
accordingly. But if they vanish from my knowledge and remembrance, I
learn to do without them, and they have no further concern with me. If
they die, I shall not weep for them, and if they return, I shall not
care for them. If I were more imaginative, or more inclined to feel my
emotions to order, it might be otherwise. But it is my nature to feel my
own emotions, and not other people’s, and to see things as they are, and
not as poetry pretends. My father, sir, is not the man who brought me
into the world and then abandoned me, but--on the whole,” she added,
suddenly and completely changing her tone and manner, and speaking
smilingly, “I prefer to say that I have no father at all, and want
none.”
Her speech had been more like that of a frigid and saturnine man, than
like the utterance of a beautiful and youthful woman. Mr. Grant had
listened to it attentively. He appeared to meditate for a few moments
after she had ceased, and then he said, “I too have felt the force of
circumstances, and should be the last to underrate it. Ambassadors, you
know”--here he smiled a little--“are less deaf to the voice of reason
than principals might be. I am intrusted with plenary powers, and may
relinquish my side of the discussion definitively. I should regret my
mission, were it not that it has obtained me a charming and valuable
acquaintance”--here he bowed ceremoniously--“which I trust may continue.
If I have annoyed you, be satisfied that I shall never subject you to
the same annoyance again--nor to any other, I hope.”
“I have made no disguise of my selfishness, you see,” said the Marquise,
with gayety in her voice, but with a somewhat contradictory expression
about her eyes and mouth. After a moment she went on as if impelled,
despite a certain reluctance, “But I am unselfish too, as you will find
out if you come to know me better. You will find out that I am not a
daughter whom any parent with a sense of prudence and self-respect would
put out his hand to reclaim.” And hereupon the Marquise laughed, while
tears sparkled for an instant on her eyelashes.
“What says our fair hostess,” called out the voice of Sir Francis
Bendibow, from the other side of the table, where he was conversing with
the other two ladies, while his eyes and thoughts were elsewhere;
“Should a man who loves two women give up both of them, or settle upon
one? Come, ladies, the Marquise shall be our umpire--eh?”
“It is not a question for an umpire to decide,” replied the Marquise.
“Let the man put his case before the two women, and leave them to settle
it between themselves.”
“But we are supposing him to be an ordinary man, not a hero.”
“Then he would not find more than one woman to be in love with him.”
“And it might turn out,” remarked Marion, “that he was deceived in
supposing himself capable of being really in love with anybody.”
“If he were a hero, I’m sure he would not love more than one,” said Mrs.
Lockhart, gently.
“Altogether, your problem appears to have been deprived of all its
conditions,” observed Fillmore, who with Philip Lancaster, had
approached during the discussion.
“A man who really loves one woman, finds in her all that is worth loving
in all women,” Lancaster said.
“A poet’s eyes,” remarked the Marquise, “create, in the woman he loves,
nine-tenths of what he sees there.”
“And may blind him, for a time, to nine-tenths more,” was the poet’s
reply; at which every one laughed except Mrs. Lockhart and Mr. Grant,
but which very few understood.
After this, the company readjusted itself: the Marquise made Philip sit
down and talk to her and Marion; and the three gradually got on very
good terms with one another. Meanwhile, Sir Francis improved his
opportunity to buttonhole Fillmore, and drew him into the next room,
where Mr. Thomas Bendibow was sitting, still in the sulks, behind a
large pot of azaleas in the embrasure of the window.
“What did I tell you?” exclaimed the baronet, hushing his voice, but
with a vehement gesture. “Did you ever see anything like that fellow’s
assurance? Damn him, he was _tête-à-tête_ with her for half an hour. Ten
to one he’s told her the whole thing.”
“What thing?” inquired Fillmore composedly.
“Why, that he’s her father, and--”
“Well, since he is her father, I know of no law to prevent him saying
so.”
“Damme, no, if that were all: but how do I know what pack of lies he may
have been telling her about me--”
“Come, Bendibow, don’t be a fool. If I were you, I shouldn’t mind what
lies he told her about me, so long as I was sure that no truth he might
tell would do me any harm. Besides, Mr. Grant, or whatever his name is,
does not look to me like a scoundrel or a liar. And the Marquise does
not seem to be a lady likely to let herself be imposed upon, or to act
imprudently. You have not been open with me about this matter, Sir
Francis. You are afraid to act against this man, and you are concealing
the reason from me. I don’t ask it, and I don’t want to know it. But I
am not going to undertake anything in the dark. You must manage the
affair without my co-operation. You should have known me well enough
never to have invited it.”
Several expressions--of anger, of dismay, of perplexity--had passed
across the baronet’s features while Fillmore was speaking; but at the
end he laughed good humoredly, and put his hand for a moment on the
other’s shoulder.
“If I were to live with you, day in and day out,” he said, “you’d make
either a saint or a devil of me before six weeks were over. You have the
most irritating way with you, begad, that ever I came across. But I know
you’re a good fellow, and I shan’t be angry. You might allow me a little
natural exasperation at seeing things go topsy-turvy--never mind! I
believe you’re right about Perdita, too; she’s no sentimental fool. Dare
say matters will come out all right, after all. There! we’ll think more
about it. I’ll talk it over quietly with Grantley--with Grant, you
know--ah! Here we are!”
The Marquise, leaning on the arm of Mr. Grant, and followed by the rest
of the company, were entering the room, being come in quest of supper,
which was to be served here, and of which the sherry, whereof Mr. Thomas
Bendibow had already partaken, was but an accessory. The Marquise
rallied the baronet on his lack of gallantry in not having been on hand
to do his part in escorting some one; and they all took their places at
table with much gayety and good humor; Mr. Thomas having watched his
opportunity, when no one was looking in his direction, to emerge from
the shelter of the azaleas and take his seat with the rest. His aspect
was so dazed and distraught as to suggest the suspicion that the sherry
had been exceptionally potent; only it so happened that no one noticed
him. His sulkiness had vanished; but from time to time he turned his
eyes on Mr. Grant with a secret expression of consternation and
bewilderment, which, considering the peaceful and inoffensive aspect of
that gentleman, seemed rather gratuitous.
There were more gentlemen than ladies present, and Mr. Grant chanced to
have Mr. Fillmore for his left-hand neighbor, and presently fell into
talk with him. “I have heard your name mentioned,” he remarked at
length, “by my friend Mrs. Lockhart. You are, I believe, a member of the
legal profession?”
Fillmore inclined his head in assent.
“There are some affairs of mine which need putting in order,” continued
Mr. Grant, “and as they may require a good deal of judgment for their
proper disposition, I had been thinking of applying to you for
assistance. Will you pardon me for taking advantage of this unexpected
opportunity to mention the matter to you?”
“I am obliged to you, sir. You are, perhaps, aware,” added the lawyer,
turning so as to look his interlocutor directly in the face, “that I
have for several years been legal adviser to Sir Francis Bendibow?”
“Yes: yes, to tell the truth, I was partly influenced by that also,”
replied the old man quietly. “Sir Francis will doubtless tell you that
he and I are old acquaintances: and I--in short, then, I may request you
to appoint a time for our interview.”
Fillmore named a day near the end of the following week; and then
relapsed into silence, being fairly taken by surprise, and unable to
make the joints of his puzzle fit together. Mr. Grant and the Marquise
were both enigmas in different ways, and worth being studied. After a
while, however, he decided that the Marquise was the more inviting, if
not the more difficult enigma of the two; and he experienced an unusual
degree of pleasure in keeping his eyes upon her. He was not inclined to
think that anything would be gained by her leaving London.
She was in a very brilliant and fascinating humor; her talk was witty
and entertaining beyond what is common even with clever women. Indeed,
one who had known her well might have fancied that her vivacity was the
indication of some excitement, which, perhaps, had its origin in
something less enjoyable than the lustre of the wax candles on the walls
and table. Philip Lancaster no doubt knew the Marquise better than did
any one else in that room; but, if he saw more in her behavior than the
others did, it is likely that he accounted for it on erroneous grounds.
He did not notice that, although she glanced frequently at Mr. Grant,
yet that gentleman was the only person at table whom she never
addressed. But Philip, in fact, was too much occupied with his own
affairs to devote much time to general observation. He was sitting next
to Marion, who had young Mr. Bendibow for her neighbor on the other
side. Marion, after making several quite ineffectual attempts to draw
the latter into conversation, was at length obliged to listen to Philip;
and, he fancied, less unconciliatingly than of late. The events of the
evening had been rather different from Philip’s anticipation. He had
come burdened with a saturnine resolve to offer some deliberate slight
to his hostess, by way of improving his position in the eyes of his
lady-love; but--whether most to his relief or to his disappointment it
would be hard to say--the Marquise had given him no opportunity. Save
for one ambiguous remark--to which he had made a prompt rejoinder--she
had throughout had the air of bringing him and Marion together, and
desiring their felicity. When she had addressed him, which had been but
seldom, it had been on literary or indifferent subjects. Philip was not
so pig-headed as to fail to perceive that the Marquise might make
herself an exceedingly agreeable and even advantageous friend. If she
were willing to forget the past, all might be right and pleasant in the
future. His gloomy thoughts were considerably lightened by these
reflections; and yet, somewhere in the back scenery of his mind, there
may have been a faint shadow of resentment at something--for Philip, in
spite of his superior poetic and intellectual endowments, was not much
more than human after all.
He could not know that the Marquise, also, had found the course of
events different from what she had expected; she had aimed her party at
Philip, but had started quite other game. Nevertheless, her object as
regarded Philip had accomplished itself quite as well as if she had been
able to pursue it in her own way. He had received the impression which
she wished, and she had the opportunity of estimating the degree of
influence which Marion had over him. That was all she desired at the
moment. As for the other affair, although she had answered Mr. Grant
explicitly and decidedly enough, she was less decided in her own mind;
she meant to think it over by herself, and to modify her course should
that seem ultimately advisable. There was no need to hurry herself about
it; she would have ample opportunities for renewing her conversation
with Mr. Grant whenever she wanted to do so. To discover a father after
so many years, was at least an excitement and an adventure; and if Mr.
Grant were really able to bring about such a meeting, it might be worth
while to permit it. But then it was desirable, in the first place, to
find out what manner of man this father was. Perdita, on questioning her
memory, could not form even the vaguest image of him. She had let
herself forget him easily, and it was now too late to recall him.
Upon the whole, destiny seemed to be in an interesting and not unamiable
mood. In reality, destiny had never been more sardonically pregnant, as
regarded every one of those assembled in the Marquise’s dining-room,
than on that evening.