SHEWING WHAT HUGH STANBURY THOUGHT ABOUT THE DUTY OF MAN.
In the conference which took place between Sir Marmaduke and his
wife after the interview between him and Nora, it was his idea that
nothing further should be done at all. "I don't suppose the man will
come here if he be told not," said Sir Marmaduke, "and if he does,
Nora of course will not see him." He then suggested that Nora would
of course go back with them to the Mandarins, and that when once
there she would not be able to see Stanbury any more. "There must be
no correspondence or anything of that sort, and so the thing will die
away." But Lady Rowley declared that this would not quite suffice.
Mr. Stanbury had made his offer in due form, and must be held to be
entitled to an answer. Sir Marmaduke, therefore, wrote the following
letter to the "penny-a-liner," mitigating the asperity of his
language in compliance with his wife's counsels.
Manchester Street, April 20th, 186--.
MY DEAR SIR,--
Lady Rowley has told me of your proposal to my daughter
Nora; and she has told me also what she learned from you
as to your circumstances in life. I need hardly point out
to you that no father would be justified in giving his
daughter to a gentleman upon so small an income, and upon
an income so very insecure.
I am obliged to refuse my consent, and I must therefore
ask you to abstain from visiting and from communicating
with my daughter.
Yours faithfully,
MARMADUKE ROWLEY.
Hugh Stanbury, Esq.
This letter was directed to Stanbury at the office of the D. R.,
and Sir Marmaduke, as he wrote the pernicious address, felt himself
injured in that he was compelled to write about his daughter to a man
so circumstanced. Stanbury, when he got the letter, read it hastily
and then threw it aside. He knew what it would contain before he
opened it. He had heard enough from Lady Rowley to be aware that Sir
Marmaduke would not welcome him as a son-in-law. Indeed, he had never
expected such welcome. He was half-ashamed of his own suit because of
the lowliness of his position,--half-regretful that he should have
induced such a girl as Nora Rowley to give up for his sake her hopes
of magnificence and splendour. But Sir Marmaduke's letter did not add
anything to this feeling. He read it again, and smiled as he told
himself that the father would certainly be very weak in the hands
of his daughter. Then he went to work again at his article with a
persistent resolve that so small a trifle as such a note should have
no effect upon his daily work. Of course Sir Marmaduke would refuse
his consent. Of course it would be for him, Stanbury, to marry the
girl he loved in opposition to her father. Her father indeed! If Nora
chose to take him,--and as to that he was very doubtful as to Nora's
wisdom,--but if Nora would take him, what was any father's opposition
to him? He wanted nothing from Nora's father. He was not looking
for money with his wife;--nor for fashion, nor countenance. Such a
Bohemian was he that he would be quite satisfied if his girl would
walk out to him, and become his wife, with any morning-gown on and
with any old hat that might come readiest to hand. He wanted neither
cards, nor breakfast, nor carriages, nor fine clothes. If his Nora
should choose to come to him as she was, he having had all previous
necessary arrangements duly made,--such as calling of banns or
procuring of licence if possible,--he thought that a father's
opposition would almost add something to the pleasure of the
occasion. So he pitched the letter on one side, and went on with his
article. And he finished his article; but it may be doubted whether
it was completed with the full strength and pith needed for moving
the pulses of the national mind,--as they should be moved by leading
articles in the D. R. As he was writing he was thinking of Nora,--and
thinking of the letter which Nora's father had sent to him. Trivial
as was the letter, he could not keep himself from repeating the words
of it to himself. "'Need hardly point out,'--oh; needn't he. Then
why does he? Refusing his consent! I wonder what the old buffers
think is the meaning of their consent, when they are speaking of
daughters old enough to manage for themselves? Abstain from visiting
or communicating with her! But if she visits and communicates with
me;--what then? I can't force my way into the house, but she can
force her way out. Does he imagine that she can be locked up in the
nursery or put into the corner?" So he argued with himself, and by
such arguments he brought himself to the conviction that it would
be well for him to answer Sir Marmaduke's letter. This he did at
once,--before leaving the office of the D. R.
250, Fleet Street, 20th April.
MY DEAR SIR MARMADUKE ROWLEY,--
I have just received your letter, and am indeed sorry that
its contents should be so little favourable to my hopes.
I understand that your objection to me is simply in regard
to the smallness and insecurity of my income. On the first
point I may say that I have fair hopes that it may be
at once increased. As to the second, I believe I may
assert that it is as sure at least as the income of other
professional men, such as barristers, merchants, and
doctors. I cannot promise to say that I will not see your
daughter. If she desires me to do so, of course I shall
be guided by her views. I wish that I might be allowed an
opportunity of seeing you, as I think I could reverse or
at least mitigate some of the objections which you feel to
our marriage.
Yours most faithfully,
HUGH STANBURY.
On the next day but one Sir Marmaduke came to him. He was sitting
at the office of the D. R., in a very small and dirty room at the
back of the house, and Sir Marmaduke found his way thither through
a confused crowd of compositors, pressmen, and printers' boys. He
thought that he had never before been in a place so foul, so dark,
so crowded, and so comfortless. He himself was accustomed to do his
work, out in the Islands, with many of the appanages of vice-royalty
around him. He had his secretary, and his private secretary, and his
inner-room, and his waiting-room; and not unfrequently he had the
honour of a dusky sentinel walking before the door through which he
was to be approached. He had an idea that all gentlemen at their
work had comfortable appurtenances around them,--such as carpets,
dispatch-boxes, unlimited stationery, easy chairs for temporary
leisure, big table-space, and a small world of books around them
to give at least a look of erudition to their pursuits. There was
nothing of the kind in the miserably dark room occupied by Stanbury.
He was sitting at a wretched little table on which there was nothing
but a morsel of blotting paper, a small ink-bottle, and the paper
on which he was scribbling. There was no carpet there, and no
dispatch-box, and the only book in the room was a little dog's-eared
dictionary. "Sir Marmaduke, I am so much obliged to you for coming,"
said Hugh. "I fear you will find this place a little rough, but we
shall be all alone."
"The place, Mr. Stanbury, will not signify, I think."
"Not in the least,--if you don't mind it. I got your letter, you
know, Sir Marmaduke."
"And I have had your reply. I have come to you because you have
expressed a wish for an interview;--but I do not see that it will do
any good."
"You are very kind for coming, indeed, Sir Marmaduke;--very kind. I
thought I might explain something to you about my income."
"Can you tell me that you have any permanent income?"
"It goes on regularly from month to month;"--Sir Marmaduke did not
feel the slightest respect for an income that was paid monthly.
According to his ideas, a gentleman's income should be paid
quarterly, or perhaps half-yearly. According to his view, a monthly
salary was only one degree better than weekly wages;--"and I suppose
that is permanence," said Hugh Stanbury.
"I cannot say that I so regard it."
"A barrister gets his, you know, very irregularly. There is no saying
when he may have it."
"But a barrister's profession is recognised as a profession among
gentlemen, Mr. Stanbury."
"And is not ours recognised? Which of us, barristers or men of
literature, have the most effect on the world at large? Who is most
thought of in London, Sir Marmaduke,--the Lord Chancellor or the
Editor of the 'Jupiter?'"
"The Lord Chancellor a great deal," said Sir Marmaduke, quite
dismayed by the audacity of the question.
"By no means, Sir Marmaduke," said Stanbury, throwing out his hand
before him so as to give the energy of action to his words. "He has
the higher rank. I will admit that."
"I should think so," said Sir Marmaduke.
"And the larger income."
"Very much larger, I should say," said Sir Marmaduke, with a smile.
"And he wears a wig."
"Yes;--he wears a wig," said Sir Marmaduke, hardly knowing in what
spirit to accept this assertion.
"And nobody cares one brass button for him or his opinions," said
Stanbury, bringing down his hand heavily on the little table for the
sake of emphasis.
"What, sir?"
"If you'll think of it, it is so."
"Nobody cares for the Lord Chancellor!" It certainly is the fact that
gentlemen living in the Mandarin Islands do think more of the Lord
Chancellor, and the Lord Mayor, and the Lord-Lieutenant, and the Lord
Chamberlain, than they whose spheres of life bring them into closer
contact with those august functionaries. "I presume, Mr. Stanbury,
that a connection with a penny newspaper makes such opinions as these
almost a necessity."
"Quite a necessity, Sir Marmaduke. No man can hold his own in print,
now-a-days, unless he can see the difference between tinsel and
gold."
"And the Lord Chancellor, of course, is tinsel."
"I do not say so. He may be a great lawyer,--and very useful. But his
lordship, and his wig, and his woolsack, are tinsel in comparison
with the real power possessed by the editor of a leading newspaper.
If the Lord Chancellor were to go to bed for a month, would he be
much missed?"
"I don't know, sir. I'm not in the secrets of the Cabinet. I should
think he would."
"About as much as my grandmother;--but if the Editor of the 'Jupiter'
were to be taken ill, it would work quite a commotion. For myself I
should be glad,--on public grounds,--because I don't like his mode of
business. But it would have an effect,--because he is a leading man."
"I don't see what all this leads to, Mr. Stanbury."
"Only to this,--that we who write for the press think that our
calling is recognised, and must be recognised as a profession. Talk
of permanence, Sir Marmaduke, are not the newspapers permanent? Do
not they come out regularly every day,--and more of them, and still
more of them, are always coming out? You do not expect a collapse
among them."
"There will be plenty of newspapers, I do not doubt;--more than
plenty, perhaps."
"Somebody must write them,--and the writers will be paid."
"Anybody could write the most of them, I should say."
"I wish you would try, Sir Marmaduke. Just try your hand at a leading
article to-night, and read it yourself to-morrow morning."
"I've a great deal too much to do, Mr. Stanbury."
"Just so. You have, no doubt, the affairs of your Government to look
to. We are all so apt to ignore the work of our neighbours! It seems
to me that I could go over and govern the Mandarins without the
slightest trouble in the world. But no doubt I am mistaken;--just as
you are about writing for the newspapers."
"I do not know," said Sir Marmaduke, rising from his chair with
dignity, "that I called here to discuss such matters as these. As it
happens, you, Mr. Stanbury, are not the Governor of the Mandarins,
and I have not the honour to write for the columns of the penny
newspaper with which you are associated. It is therefore useless
to discuss what either of us might do in the position held by the
other."
"Altogether useless, Sir Marmaduke,--except just for the fun of the
thing."
"I do not see the fun, Mr. Stanbury. I came here, at your request,
to hear what you might have to urge against the decision which I
expressed to you in reference to my daughter. As it seems that you
have nothing to urge, I will not take up your time further."
"But I have a great deal to urge, and have urged a great deal."
"Have you, indeed?"
"You have complained that my work is not permanent. I have shewn that
it is so permanent that there is no possibility of its coming to an
end. There must be newspapers, and the people trained to write them
must be employed. I have been at it now about two years. You know
what I earn. Could I have got so far in so short a time as a lawyer,
a doctor, a clergyman, a soldier, a sailor, a Government clerk, or
in any of those employments which you choose to call professions? I
think that is urging a great deal. I think it is urging everything."
"Very well, Mr. Stanbury. I have listened to you, and in a certain
degree I admire your,--your,--your zeal and ingenuity, shall I say."
"I didn't mean to call for admiration, Sir Marmaduke; but suppose you
say,--good sense and discrimination."
"Let that pass. You must permit me to remark that your position is
not such as to justify me in trusting my daughter to your care. As my
mind on that matter is quite made up, as is that also of Lady Rowley,
I must ask you to give me your promise that your suit to my daughter
shall be discontinued."
"What does she say about it, Sir Marmaduke?"
"What she has said to me has been for my ears, and not for yours."
"What I say is for her ears and for yours, and for her mother's ears,
and for the ears of any who may choose to hear it. I will never give
up my suit to your daughter till I am forced to do so by a full
conviction that she has given me up. It is best to be plain, Sir
Marmaduke, of course."
"I do not understand this, Mr. Stanbury."
"I mean to be quite clear."
"I have always thought that when a gentleman was told by the head of
a family that he could not be made welcome in that family, it was
considered to be the duty of that gentleman,--as a gentleman,--to
abandon his vain pursuit. I have been brought up with that idea."
"And I, Sir Marmaduke, have been brought up in the idea that when
a man has won the affections of a woman, it is the duty of that
man,--as a man,--to stick to her through thick and thin; and I mean
to do my duty, according to my idea."
"Then, sir, I have nothing further to say, but to take my leave. I
must only caution you not to enter my doors." As the passages were
dark and intricate, it was necessary that Stanbury should shew Sir
Marmaduke out, and this he did in silence. When they parted each of
them lifted his hat, and not a word more was said.
That same night there was a note put into Nora's hands, as she was
following her mother out of one of the theatres. In the confusion she
did not even see the messenger who had handed it to her. Her sister
Lucy saw that she had taken the note, and questioned her about it
afterwards,--with discretion, however, and in privacy. This was the
note:--
DEAREST LOVE,
I have seen your father, who is stern,--after the manner
of fathers. What granite equals a parent's flinty bosom!
For myself, I do not prefer clandestine arrangements
and rope ladders; and you, dear, have nothing of the
Lydia about you. But I do like my own way, and like it
especially when you are at the end of the path. It is
quite out of the question that you should go back to those
islands. I think I am justified in already assuming enough
of the husband to declare that such going back must not be
held for a moment in question. My proposition is that you
should authorise me to make such arrangements as may be
needed, in regard to licence, banns, or whatever else, and
that you should then simply walk from the house to the
church and marry me. You are of age, and can do as you
please. Neither your father nor mother can have any right
to stop you. I do not doubt but that your mother would
accompany you, if she were fully satisfied of your
purpose. Write to me to the D. R.
Your own, ever and ever, and always,
H. S.
I shall try and get this given to you as you leave the
theatre. If it should fall into other hands, I don't much
care. I'm not in the least ashamed of what I am doing; and
I hope that you are not.