THE DEAN RETURNS TO TOWN.
"Do you mean to say that you have any objection to my being acquainted
with Captain De Baron?" This question Mary asked her husband on the
Monday after his return. On that day Lady Susanna went back to
Brothershire, having somewhat hurried her return in consequence of the
uncomfortable state of things in Minister Court. They had all gone to
church together on the intermediate Sunday, and Lady Susanna had done
her best to conciliate her sister-in-law. But she was ignorant of the
world, and did not know how bitter to a young married woman is such
interference as that of which she had been guilty. She could not
understand the amount of offence which was rankling in Mary's bosom. It
had not consisted only in the words spoken, but her looks in the man's
presence had conveyed the same accusation, so that it could be seen and
understood by the man himself. Mary, with an effort, had gone on with
her play, determined that no one should suppose her to be cowed by her
grand sister-in-law; but through it all she had resolved always to look
upon Lady Susanna as an enemy. She had already abandoned her threat of
not speaking to her own guest; but nothing that Lady Susanna could say,
nothing that Lord George could say, softened her heart in the least.
The woman had told her that she was a flirt, had declared that what she
did and said was improper. The woman had come there as a spy, and the
woman should never be her friend. In these circumstances Lord George
found it impossible not to refer to the unfortunate subject again, and
in doing so caused the above question to be asked. "Do you mean to say
that you have any objection to my being acquainted with Captain De
Baron?" She looked at him with so much eagerness in her eyes as she
spoke that he knew that much at any rate of his present comfort might
depend on the answer which he made.
He certainly did object to her being acquainted with Jack De Baron. He
did not at all like Jack De Baron. In spite of what he had found
himself obliged to say, in order that she might be comforted on his
first arrival, he did not like slang, and he did not like
fortune-telling cards or bagatelle. His sympathies in these matters
were all with his sister. He did like spending his own time with Mrs.
Houghton, but it was dreadful to him to think that his wife should be
spending hers with Jack De Baron. Nevertheless he could not tell her
so. "No," he said, "I have no particular objection."
"Of course if you had, I would never see him again. But it would be
very dreadful. He would have to be told that you were--jealous."
"I am not in the least jealous," said he, angrily. "You should not use
such a word."
"Certainly I should not have used it, but for the disturbance which
your sister has caused. But after all that she has said, there must be
some understanding. I like Captain De Baron very much, as I dare say
you like other ladies. Why not?"
"I have never suspected anything."
"But Susanna did. Of course you don't like all this, George. I don't
like it. I have been so miserable that I have almost cried my eyes out.
But if people will make mischief, what is one to do? The only thing is
not to have the mischief maker any more."
The worst of this was, to him, that she was so manifestly getting the
better of him! When he had married her, not yet nine months since, she
had been a little girl, altogether in his hands, not pretending to any
self-action, and anxious to be guided in everything by him. His only
fear had been that she might be too slow in learning that
self-assertion which is necessary from a married woman to the world at
large. But now she had made very great progress in the lesson, not only
as regarded the world at large, but as regarded himself also. As for
his family,--the grandeur of his family,--she clearly had no reverence
for that. Lady Susanna, though generally held to be very awful, had
been no more to her than any other Susan. He almost wished that he had
told her that he did object to Jack De Baron. There would have been a
scene, of course; and she, not improbably, might have told her father.
That at present would have been doubly disagreeable, as it was
incumbent upon him to stand well with the Dean, just at this time.
There was this battle to be fought with his brother, and he felt that
he could not fight it without the Dean!
Having given his sanction to Jack De Baron, he went away to his club to
write his letter. This writing really amounted to no more than copying
the Dean's words, which he had carried in his pocket ever since he had
left the deanery, and the Dean's words were as follows:--
"Munster Court, _26th April, 187--_.
"MY DEAR BROTHERTON,--I am compelled to write to you under very
disagreeable circumstances, and to do so on a subject which I
would willingly avoid if a sense of duty would permit me to be
silent.
"You will remember that you wrote to me in October last, telling
me that you were about to be married. 'I am to be married to the
Marchesa Luigi,' were your words. Up to that moment we had heard
nothing of the lady or of any arrangement as to a marriage. When I
told you of my own intended marriage a few months before that, you
merely said in answer that you might probably soon want the house
at Manor Cross yourself. It now seems that when you told us of
your intended marriage you had already been married over two
years, and that when I told you of mine you had a son over twelve
months old,--a fact which I might certainly expect that you would
communicate to me at such a time.
"I beg to assure you that I am now urged to write by no suspicions
of my own; but I know that if things are left to go on as they are
now, suspicions will arise at a future time. I write altogether in
the interests of your son and heir; and for his sake I beseech you
to put at once into the hands of your own lawyer absolute evidence
of the date of your marriage, of its legality, and of the birth of
your son. It will also be expedient that my lawyer shall see the
evidence in your lawyer's hands. If you were to die as matters are
now it would be imperative on me to take steps which would seem to
be hostile to Popenjoy's interest. I think you must yourself feel
that this would be so. And yet nothing would be further from my
wish. If we were both to die, the difficulty would be still
greater, as in that case proceedings would have to be taken by
more distant members of the family.
"I trust you will believe me when I say that my only object is to
have the matter satisfactorily settled.
"Your affectionate brother,
"GEORGE GERMAIN."
When the Marquis received this letter he was not in the least
astonished by it. Lord George had told his sister Sarah that it was to
be written, and had even discussed with her the Dean's words. Lady
Sarah had thought that as the Dean was a sagacious man, his exact words
had better be used. And then Lady Amelia had been told, Lady Amelia
having asked various questions on the subject. Lady Amelia had of
course known that her brother would discuss the matter with the Dean,
and had begged that she might not be treated as a stranger. Everything
had not been told to Lady Amelia, nor had Lady Amelia told all that she
had heard to her mother. But the Marchioness had known enough, and had
communicated enough to her son to save him from any great astonishment
when he got his brother's letter. Of course he had known that some
steps would be taken.
He answered the letter at once.
"MY DEAR BROTHER," he said,--"I don't think it necessary to let
you know the reasons which induced me to keep my marriage private
awhile. You rush at conclusions very fast in thinking that because
a marriage is private, therefore it is illegal. I am glad that you
have no suspicions of your own, and beg to assure you I don't care
whether you have or not. Whenever you or anybody else may want to
try the case, you or he or they will find that I have taken care
that there is plenty of evidence. I didn't know that you had a
lawyer. I only hope he won't run you into much expense in finding
a mare's nest.
"Yours truly,
"B."
This was not in itself satisfactory; but such as it was, it did for a
time make Lord George believe that Popenjoy was Popenjoy. It was
certainly true of him that he wished Popenjoy to be Popenjoy. No
personal longing for the title or property made him in his heart
disloyal to his brother or his family. And then the trouble and expense
and anxieties of such a contest were so terrible to his imagination,
that he rejoiced when he thought that they might be avoided. But there
was the Dean. The Dean must be satisfied as well as he, and he felt
that the Dean would not be satisfied. According to agreement he sent a
copy of his brother's letter down to the Dean, and added the assurance
of his own belief that the marriage had been a marriage, that the heir
was an heir, and that further steps would be useless. It need hardly be
said that the Dean was not satisfied. Before dinner on the following
day the Dean was in Minister Court. "Oh, papa," exclaimed Mary, "I am
so glad to see you." Could it be anything about Captain De Baron that
had brought him up? If so, of course she would tell him everything.
"What brought you up so suddenly? Why didn't you write? George is at
the club, I suppose." George was really in Berkeley Square at that
moment. "Oh, yes; he will be home to dinner. Is there anything wrong at
Manor Cross, papa?" Her father was so pleasant in his manner to her,
that she perceived at once that he had not come up in reference to
Captain De Baron. No complaint of her behaviour on that score had as
yet reached him. "Where's your portmanteau, papa?"
"I've got a bed at the hotel in Suffolk Street. I shall only be here
one night, or at the most two; and as I had to come suddenly I wouldn't
trouble you."
"Oh, papa, that's very bad of you."
This she said with that genuine tone which begets confidence. The Dean
was very anxious that his daughter should in truth be fond of his
company. In the game which he intended to play her co-operation and her
influence over her husband would be very necessary to him. She must be
a Lovelace rather than a Germain till she should blaze forth as the
presiding genius of the Germain family. That Lord George should become
tired of him and a little afraid of him he knew could not be avoided;
but to her he must, if possible, be a pleasant genius, never
accompanied in her mind by ideas of parental severity or clerical
heaviness. "I should weary you out if I came too often and came so
suddenly," he said, laughing.
"But what has brought you, papa?"
"The Marquis, my dear, who, it seems to me, will, for some time to
come, have a considerable influence on my doings."
"The Marquis!"
He had made up his mind that she should know everything. If her husband
did not tell her, he would. "Yes, the Marquis. Perhaps I ought to say
the Marchioness, only that I am unwilling to give that title to a lady
who I think very probably has no right to it."
"Is all that coming up already?"
"The longer it is postponed the greater will be the trouble to all
parties. It cannot be endured that a man in his position should tell us
that his son is legitimate when that son was born more than a year
before he had declared himself about to marry, and that he should then
refuse to furnish us with any evidence."
"Have you asked him?" Mary, as she made the suggestion, was herself
horror-stricken at the awfulness of the occasion.
"George has asked him."
"And what has the Marquis done?"
"Sent him back a jeering reply. He has a way of jeering which he thinks
will carry everything before it. When I called upon him he jeered at
me. But he'll have to learn that he cannot jeer you out of your
rights."
"I wish you would not think about my rights, papa."
"Your rights will probably be the rights of some one else."
"I know, papa; but still----"
"It has to be done, and George quite agrees with me. The letter which
he did write to his brother was arranged between us. Lady Sarah is
quite of the same accord, and Lady Susanna----"
"Oh, papa, I do so hate Susanna." This she said with all her eloquence.
"I daresay she can make herself unpleasant."
"I have told George that she shall not come here again as a guest."
"What did she do?"
"I cannot bring myself to tell you what it was that she said. I told
George, of course. She is a nasty evil-minded creature--suspecting
everything."
"I hope there has been nothing disagreeable."
"It was very disagreeable, indeed, while George was away. Of course I
did not care so much when he came back." The Dean, who had been almost
frightened, was reassured when he learned that there had been no
quarrel between the husband and wife. Soon afterwards Lord George came
in and was astonished to find that his letter had brought up the Dean
so quickly. No discussion took place till after dinner, but then the
Dean was very perspicuous, and at the same time very authoritative. It
was in vain that Lord George asked what they could do, and declared
that the evil troubles which must probably arise would all rest on his
brother's head. "But we must prevent such troubles, let them rest where
they will," said the Dean.
"I don't see what we can do."
"Nor do I, because we are not lawyers. A lawyer will tell us at once.
It will probably be our duty to send a commissioner out to Italy to
make enquiry."
"I shouldn't like to do that about my brother."
"Of course your brother should be told; or rather everything should be
told to your brother's lawyer, so that he might be advised what steps
he ought to take. We would do nothing secretly--nothing of which any
one could say that we ought to be ashamed." The Dean proposed that they
should both go to his attorney, Mr. Battle, on the following day; but
this step seemed to Lord George to be such an absolute declaration of
war that he begged for another day's delay; and it was at last arranged
that he himself should on that intervening day call on Mr. Stokes, the
Germain family lawyer. The Marquis, with one of his jeers, had told his
brother that, being a younger brother, he was not entitled to have a
lawyer. But in truth Lord George had had very much more to do with Mr.
Stokes than the Marquis. All the concerns of the family had been
managed by Mr. Stokes. The Marquis probably meant to insinuate that the
family bill, which was made out perhaps once every three years, was
charged against his account. Lord George did call on Mr. Stokes, and
found Mr. Stokes very little disposed to give him any opinion. Mr.
Stokes was an honest man who disliked trouble of this kind. He freely
admitted that there was ground for enquiry, but did not think that he
himself was the man who ought to make it. He would certainly
communicate with the Marquis, should Lord George think it expedient to
employ any other lawyer, and should that lawyer apply to him. In the
meantime he thought that immediate enquiry would be a little
precipitate. The Marquis might probably himself take steps to put the
matter on a proper footing. He was civil, gracious, almost subservient;
but he had no comfort to give and no advice to offer, and, like all
attorneys, he was in favour of delay. "Of course, Lord George, you must
remember that I am your brother's lawyer, and may in this matter be
called upon to act as his confidential adviser." All this Lord George
repeated that evening to the Dean, and the Dean merely said that it had
been a matter of course.
Early on the next morning the Dean and Lord George went together to Mr.
Battle's chambers. Lord George felt that he was being driven by his
father-in-law; but he felt also that he could not help himself. Mr.
Battle, who had chambers in Lincoln's Inn, was a very different man
from Mr. Stokes, who carried on his business in a private house at the
West End, who prepared wills and marriage settlements for gentlefolk,
and who had, in fact, very little to do with law. Mr. Battle was an
enterprising man with whom the Dean's first acquaintance had arisen
through the Tallowaxes and the stable interests,--a very clever man,
and perhaps a little sharp. But an attorney ought to be sharp, and it
is not to be understood that Mr. Battle descended to sharp practise.
But he was a solicitor with whom the old-fashioned Mr. Stokes's would
not find themselves in accord. He was a handsome burly man, nearly
sixty years of age, with grey hair and clean shorn face, with bright
green eyes, and a well-formed nose and mouth,--a prepossessing man,
till something restless about the eyes would at last catch the
attention and a little change the judgment.
The Dean told him the whole story, and during the telling he sat
looking very pleasant, with a smile on his face, rubbing his two hands
together. All the points were made. The letter of the Marquis, in which
he told his brother that he was to be married, was shown to him. The
concealment of the birth of the boy till the father had made up his
mind to come home was urged. The absurdity of his behaviour since he
had been at home was described. The singularity of his conduct in
allowing none of his family to become acquainted with his wife was
pointed out. This was done by the Dean rather than by Lord George, and
Lord George, as he heard it all, almost regarded the Dean as his enemy.
At last he burst out in his own defence. "Of course you will
understand, Mr. Battle, that our only object is to have the thing
proved, so that hereafter there may be no trouble."
"Just so, my Lord."
"We do not want to oppose my brother, or to injure his child."
"We want to get at the truth," said the Dean.
"Just so."
"Where there is concealment there must be suspicion," urged the Dean.
"No doubt."
"But everything must be done quite openly," said Lord George. "I would
not have a step taken without the knowledge of Mr. Stokes. If Mr.
Stokes would do it himself on my brother's behalf it would be so much
the better."
"That is hardly probable," said the Dean.
"Not at all probable," said Mr. Battle.
"I couldn't be a party to an adverse suit," said Lord George.
"There is no ground for any suit at all," said the lawyer. "We cannot
bring an action against the Marquis because he chooses to call the lady
he lives with a Marchioness, or because he calls an infant Lord
Popenjoy. Your brother's conduct may be ill-judged. From what you tell
me, I think it is. But it is not criminal."
"Then nothing need be done," said Lord George.
"A great deal may be done. Enquiry may be made now which might
hereafter be impossible." Then he begged that he might have a week to
consider the matter, and requested that the two gentlemen would call
upon him again.