LADY ROWLEY CONQUERED.
[Illustration]
When the Rowleys were back in London, and began to employ themselves
on the terrible work of making ready for their journey to the
Islands, Lady Rowley gradually gave way about Hugh Stanbury. She had
become aware that Nora would not go back with them,--unless under an
amount of pressure which she would find it impossible to use. And if
Nora did not go out to the Islands, what was to become of her unless
she married this man? Sir Marmaduke, when all was explained to him,
declared that a girl must do what her parents ordered her to do.
"Other girls live with their fathers and mothers, and so must she."
Lady Rowley endeavoured to explain that other girls lived with their
fathers and mothers, because they found themselves in established
homes from which they are not disposed to run away; but Nora's
position was, as she alleged, very different. Nora's home had
latterly been with her sister, and it was hardly to be expected
that the parental authority should not find itself impaired by the
interregnum which had taken place. Sir Marmaduke would not see the
thing in the same light, and was disposed to treat his daughter with
a high hand. If she would not do as she was bidden, she should no
longer be daughter of his. In answer to this Lady Rowley could only
repeat her conviction that Nora would not go out to the Mandarins;
and that as for disinheriting her, casting her off, cursing her, and
the rest,--she had no belief in such doings at all. "On the stage
they do such things as that," she said; "and, perhaps, they used to
do it once in reality. But you know that it's out of the question,
now. Fancy your standing up and cursing at the dear girl, just as we
are all starting from Southampton!" Sir Marmaduke knew as well as his
wife that it would be impossible, and only muttered something about
the "dear girl" behaving herself with great impropriety.
They were all aware that Nora was not going to leave England, because
no berth had been taken for her on board the ship, and because, while
the other girls were preparing for their long voyage, no preparations
were made for her. Of course she was not going. Sir Marmaduke would
probably have given way altogether immediately on his return to
London, had he not discussed the matter with his friend Colonel
Osborne. It became, of course, his duty to make some inquiry as
to the Stanbury family, and he knew that Osborne had visited Mrs.
Stanbury when he made his unfortunate pilgrimage to the porch of
Cockchaffington Church. He told Osborne the whole story of Nora's
engagement, telling also that other most heart-breaking tale of
her conduct in regard to Mr. Glascock, and asked the Colonel what
he thought about the Stanburys. Now the Colonel did not hold the
Stanburys in high esteem. He had met Hugh, as the reader may perhaps
remember, and had had some intercourse with the young man, which
had not been quite agreeable to him, on the platform of the railway
station at Exeter. And he had also heard something of the ladies
at Nuncombe Putney during his short sojourn at the house of Mrs.
Crocket. "My belief is, they are beggars," said Colonel Osborne.
"I suppose so," said Sir Marmaduke, shaking his head.
"When I went over to call on Emily,--that time I was at
Cockchaffington, you know, when Trevelyan made himself such a d----
fool,--I found the mother and sister living in a decentish house
enough; but it wasn't their house."
"Not their own, you mean?"
"It was a place that Trevelyan had got this young man to take for
Emily, and they had merely gone there to be with her. They had been
living in a little bit of a cottage; a sort of a place that any--any
ploughman would live in. Just that kind of cottage."
"Goodness gracious!"
"And they've gone to another just like it;--so I'm told."
"And can't he do anything better for them than that?" asked Sir
Marmaduke.
"I know nothing about him. I have met him, you know. He used to be
with Trevelyan;--that was when Nora took a fancy for him, of course.
And I saw him once down in Devonshire, when I must say he behaved
uncommonly badly,--doing all he could to foster Trevelyan's stupid
jealousy."
"He has changed his mind about that, I think."
"Perhaps he has; but he behaved very badly then. Let him shew up his
income;--that, I take it, is the question in such a case as this. His
father was a clergyman, and therefore I suppose he must be considered
to be a gentleman. But has he means to support a wife, and keep up a
house in London? If he has not, that is an end to it, I should say."
But Sir Marmaduke could not see his way to any such end, and,
although he still looked black upon Nora, and talked to his wife
of his determination to stand no contumacy, and hinted at cursing,
disinheriting, and the like, he began to perceive that Nora would
have her own way. In his unhappiness he regretted this visit to
England, and almost thought that the Mandarins were a pleasanter
residence than London. He could do pretty much as he pleased there,
and could live quietly, without the trouble which encountered him now
on every side.
Nora, immediately on her return to London, had written a note to
Hugh, simply telling him of her arrival and begging him to come and
see her. "Mamma," she said, "I must see him, and it would be nonsense
to say that he must not come here. I have done what I have said
I would do, and you ought not to make difficulties." Lady Rowley
declared that Sir Marmaduke would be very angry if Hugh were admitted
without his express permission. "I don't want to do anything in the
dark," continued Nora, "but of course I must see him. I suppose it
will be better that he should come to me than that I should go to
him?" Lady Rowley quite understood the threat that was conveyed in
this. It would be much better that Hugh should come to the hotel, and
that he should be treated then as an accepted lover. She had come to
that conclusion. But she was obliged to vacillate for awhile between
her husband and her daughter. Hugh came of course, and Sir Marmaduke,
by his wife's advice, kept out of the way. Lady Rowley, though she
was at home, kept herself also out of the way, remaining above with
her two other daughters. Nora thus achieved the glory and happiness
of receiving her lover alone.
"My own true girl!" he said, speaking with his arms still round her
waist.
"I am true enough; but whether I am your own,--that is another
question."
"You mean to be?"
"But papa doesn't mean it. Papa says that you are nobody, and that
you haven't got an income; and thinks that I had better go back and
be an old maid at the Mandarins."
"And what do you think yourself, Nora?"
"What do I think? As far as I can understand, young ladies are not
allowed to think at all. They have to do what their papas tell them.
That will do, Hugh. You can talk without taking hold of me."
"It is such a time since I have had a hold of you,--as you call it."
"It will be much longer before you can do so again, if I go back
to the Islands with papa. I shall expect you to be true, you know;
and it will be ten years at the least before I can hope to be home
again."
"I don't think you mean to go, Nora."
"But what am I to do? That idea of yours of walking out to the
next church and getting ourselves married sounds very nice and
independent, but you know that it is not practicable."
"On the other hand, I know it is."
"It is not practicable for me, Hugh. Of all things in the world I
don't want to be a Lydia. I won't do anything that anybody shall ever
say that your wife ought not to have done. Young women when they are
married ought to have their papas' and mammas' consent. I have been
thinking about it a great deal for the last month or two, and I have
made up my mind to that."
"What is it all to come to, then?"
"I mean to get papa's consent. That is what it is to come to."
"And if he is obstinate?"
"I shall coax him round at last. When the time for going comes, he'll
yield then."
"But you will not go with them?" As he asked this he came to her and
tried again to take her by the waist; but she retreated from him, and
got herself clear from his arm. "If you are afraid of me, I shall
know that you think it possible that we may be parted."
"I am not a bit afraid of you, Hugh."
"Nora, I think you ought to tell me something definitely."
"I think I have been definite enough, sir. You may be sure of this,
however;--I will not go back to the Islands."
"Give me your hand on that."
"There is my hand. But, remember;--I had told you just as much
before. I don't mean to go back. I mean to stay here. I mean;--but I
do not think I will tell you all the things I mean to do."
"You mean to be my wife?"
"Certainly;--some day, when the difficulty about the chairs and
tables can settle itself. The real question now is,--what am I to do
with myself when papa and mamma are gone?"
"Become Mrs. H. Stanbury at once. Chairs and tables! You shall have
chairs and tables as many as you want. You won't be too proud to live
in lodgings for a few months?"
"There must be preliminaries, Hugh,--even for lodgings, though they
may be very slender. Papa goes in less than three weeks now, and
mamma has got something else to think of than my marriage garments.
And then there are all manner of difficulties, money difficulties
and others, out of which I don't see my way yet." Hugh began to
asseverate that it was his business to help her through all money
difficulties as well as others; but she soon stopped his eloquence.
"It will be by-and-by, Hugh, and I hope you'll support the burden
like a man; but just at present there is a hitch. I shouldn't have
come over at all;--I should have stayed with Emily in Italy, had I
not thought that I was bound to see you."
"My own darling!"
"When papa goes, I think that I had better go back to her."
"I'll take you!" said Hugh, picturing to himself all the pleasures of
such a tour together over the Alps.
"No you won't, because that would be improper. When we travel
together we must go Darby and Joan fashion, as man and wife. I think
I had better go back to Emily, because her position there is so
terrible. There must come some end to it, I suppose soon. He will be
better, or he will become so bad that,--that medical interference
will be unavoidable. But I do not like that she should be alone. She
gave me a home when she had one;--and I must always remember that
I met you there." After this there was of course another attempt
with Hugh's right arm, which on this occasion was not altogether
unsuccessful. And then she told him of her friendship for Mr.
Glascock's wife, and of her intention at some future time to visit
them at Monkhams.
[Illustration: "I must always remember that I met you there."]
"And see all the glories that might have been your own," he said.
"And think of the young man who has robbed me of them all! And you
are to go there too, so that you may see what you have done. There
was a time, Hugh, when I was very nearly pleasing all my friends
and shewing myself to be a young lady of high taste and noble
fortune,--and an obedient, good girl."
"And why didn't you?"
"I thought I would wait just a little longer.
Because,--because,--because--. Oh, Hugh, how cross you were to me
afterwards when you came down to Nuncombe and would hardly speak to
me!"
"And why didn't I speak to you?"
"I don't know. Because you were cross, and surly, and thinking of
nothing but your tobacco, I believe. Do you remember how we walked to
Niddon, and you hadn't a word for anybody?"
"I remember I wanted you to go down to the river with me, and you
wouldn't go."
"You asked me only once, and I did so long to go with you. Do you
remember the rocks in the river? I remember the place as though I saw
it now; and how I longed to jump from one stone to another. Hugh, if
we are ever married, you must take me there, and let me jump on those
stones."
"You pretended that you could not think of wetting your feet."
"Of course I pretended,--because you were so cross, and so cold. Oh,
dear! I wonder whether you will ever know it all."
"Don't I know it all now?"
"I suppose you do, nearly. There is mighty little of a secret in it,
and it is the same thing that is going on always. Only it seems so
strange to me that I should ever have loved any one so dearly,--and
that for next to no reason at all. You never made yourself very
charming that I know of;--did you?"
"I did my best. It wasn't much, I dare say."
"You did nothing, sir,--except just let me fall in love with you. And
you were not quite sure that you would let me do that."
"Nora, I don't think you do understand."
"I do;--perfectly. Why were you cross with me, instead of saying one
nice word when you were down at Nuncombe? I do understand."
"Why was it?"
"Because you did not think well enough of me to believe that I would
give myself to a man who had no fortune of his own. I know it now,
and I knew it then; and therefore I wouldn't dabble in the river with
you. But it's all over now, and we'll go and get wet together like
dear little children, and Priscilla shall scold us when we come
back."
They were alone in the sitting-room for more than an hour, and Lady
Rowley was patient up-stairs as mothers will be patient in such
emergencies. Sophie and Lucy had gone out and left her; and there
she remained telling herself, as the weary minutes went by, that as
the thing was to be, it was well that the young people should be
together. Hugh Stanbury could never be to her what Mr. Glascock would
have been,--a son-in-law to sit and think about, and dream of, and
be proud of,--whose existence as her son-in-law would in itself have
been a happiness to her out in her banishment at the other side of
the world; but nevertheless it was natural to her, as a soft-hearted
loving mother with many daughters, that any son-in-law should be dear
to her. Now that she had gradually brought herself round to believe
in Nora's marriage, she was disposed to make the best of Hugh, to
remember that he was certainly a clever man, that he was an honest
fellow, and that she had heard of him as a good son and a kind
brother, and that he had behaved well in reference to her Emily and
Trevelyan. She was quite willing now that Hugh should be happy, and
she sat there thinking that the time was very long, but still waiting
patiently till she should be summoned. "You must let me go for mamma
for a moment," Nora said. "I want you to see her and make yourself a
good boy before her. If you are ever to be her son-in-law, you ought
to be in her good graces." Hugh declared that he would do his best,
and Nora fetched her mother.
Stanbury found some difficulty in making himself a "good boy" in
Lady Rowley's presence; and Lady Rowley herself, for some time, felt
very strongly the awkwardness of the meeting. She had never formally
recognised the young man as her daughter's accepted suitor, and was
not yet justified in doing so by any permission from Sir Marmaduke;
but, as the young people had been for the last hour or two alone
together, with her connivance and sanction, it was indispensable
that she should in some way signify her parental adherence to the
arrangement. Nora began by talking about Emily, and Trevelyan's
condition and mode of living were discussed. Then Lady Rowley said
something about their coming journey, and Hugh, with a lucky blunder,
spoke of Nora's intended return to Italy. "We don't know how that may
be," said Lady Rowley. "Her papa still wishes her to go back with
us."
"Mamma, you know that that is impossible," said Nora.
"Not impossible, my love."
"But she will not go back," said Hugh. "Lady Rowley, you would not
propose to separate us by such a distance as that?"
"It is Sir Marmaduke that you must ask."
"Mamma, mamma!" exclaimed Nora, rushing to her mother's side, "it is
not papa that we must ask,--not now. We want you to be our friend.
Don't we, Hugh? And, mamma, if you will really be our friend, of
course, papa will come round."
"My dear Nora!"
"You know he will, mamma; and you know that you mean to be good and
kind to us. Of course I can't go back to the Islands with you. How
could I go so far and leave him behind? He might have half-a-dozen
wives before I could get back to him--"
"If you have not more trust in him than that--!"
"Long engagements are awful bores," said Hugh, finding it to be
necessary that he also should press forward his argument.
"I can trust him as far as I can see him," said Nora, "and therefore
I do not want to lose sight of him altogether."
Lady Rowley of course gave way and embraced her accepted son-in-law.
After all it might have been worse. He saw his way clearly, he said,
to making six hundred a year, and did not at all doubt that before
long he would do better than that. He proposed that they should be
married some time in the autumn, but was willing to acknowledge that
much must depend on the position of Trevelyan and his wife. He would
hold himself ready at any moment, he said, to start to Italy, and
would do all that could be done by a brother. Then Lady Rowley gave
him her blessing, and kissed him again,--and Nora kissed him too, and
hung upon him, and did not push him away at all when his arm crept
round her waist. And that feeling came upon him which must surely be
acknowledged by all engaged young men when they first find themselves
encouraged by mammas in the taking of liberties which they have
hitherto regarded as mysteries to be hidden, especially from maternal
eyes,--that feeling of being a fine fat calf decked out with ribbons
for a sacrifice.