RUDHAM PARK.
Lord George had undertaken to leave Manor Cross by the middle of
August, but when the first week of that month had passed away he had
not as yet made up his mind what he would do with himself. Mr. Knox had
told him that should he remain with his mother the Marquis would not,
as Mr. Knox thought, take further notice of the matter; but on such
terms as these he could not consent to live in his brother's house.
On a certain day early in August Lord George had gone with a return
ticket to a town but a few miles distant from Brotherton to sit on a
committee for the distribution of coals and blankets, and in the
afternoon got into a railway carriage on his way home. How great was
his consternation when, on taking his seat, he found that his brother
was seated alongside of him! There was one other old gentleman in the
carriage, and the three passengers were all facing the engine. On two
of the seats opposite were spread out the Marquis's travelling
paraphernalia,--his French novel, at which he had not looked, his
dressing bag, the box in which his luncheon had been packed, and his
wine flask. There was a small basket of strawberries, should he be
inclined to eat fruit, and an early peach out of a hothouse, with some
flowers. "God Almighty, George;--is that you?" he said. "Where the
devil have you been?"
"I've been to Grumby."
"And what are the people doing at Grumby?"
"Much the same as usual. It was the coal and blanket account."
"Oh!--the coal and blanket account! I hope you liked it." Then he
folded himself afresh in his cloaks, ate a strawberry, and looked as
though he had taken sufficient notice of his brother.
But the matter was very important to Lord George. Nothing ever seemed
to be of importance to the Marquis. It might be very probable that the
Marquis, with half-a-dozen servants behind him, should drive up to the
door at Manor Cross without having given an hour's notice of his
intention. It seemed to be too probable to Lord George that such would
be the case now. For what other reason could he be there? And then
there was his back. Though they had quarrelled he was bound to ask
after his brother's back. When last they two had met, the Marquis had
been almost carried into the room by two men. "I hope you find yourself
better than when I last saw you," he said, after a pause of five
minutes.
"I've not much to boast of. I can just travel, and that's all."
"And how is--Popenjoy?"
"Upon my word I can't tell you. He has never seemed to be very well
when I've seen him."
"I hope the accounts have been better," said Lord George, with
solicitude.
"Coal and blanket accounts!" suggested the Marquis. And then the
conversation was again brought to an end for five minutes.
But it was essential that Lord George should know whither his brother
was going. If to Manor Cross, then, thought Lord George, he himself
would stay at an inn at Brotherton. Anything, even the deanery, would
be better than sitting at table with his brother, with the insults of
their last interview unappeased. At the end of five minutes he plucked
up his courage, and asked his brother another question. "Are you going
to the house, Brotherton?"
"The house! What house? I'm going to a house, I hope."
"I mean to Manor Cross."
"Not if I know it. There is no house in this part of the country in
which I should be less likely to show my face." Then there was not
another word said till they reached the Brotherton Station, and there
the Marquis, who was sitting next the door, requested his brother to
leave the carriage first. "Get out, will you?" he said. "I must wait
for somebody to come and take these things. And don't trample on me
more than you can help." This last request had apparently been made,
because Lord George was unable to step across him without treading on
the cloak.
"I will say good-bye, then," said Lord George, turning round on the
platform for a moment.
"Ta, ta," said the Marquis, as he gave his attention to the servant who
was collecting the fruit, and the flowers, and the flask. Lord George
then passed on out of the station, and saw no more of his brother.
"Of course he is going to Rudham," said Lady Susanna, when she heard
the story. Rudham Park was the seat of Mr. De Baron, Mrs. Houghton's
father, and tidings had reached Manor Cross long since that the Marquis
had promised to go there in the autumn. No doubt other circumstances
had seemed to make it improbable that the promise should be kept.
Popenjoy had gone away ill,--as many said, in a dying condition. Then
the Marquis had been thrown into a fireplace, and report had said that
his back had been all but broken. It had certainly been generally
thought that the Marquis would go nowhere after that affair in the
fireplace, till he returned to Italy. But Lady Susanna was, in truth,
right. His Lordship was on his way to Rudham Park.
Mr. De Baron, of Rudham Park, though a much older man than the Marquis,
had been the Marquis's friend,--when the Marquis came of age, being
then the Popenjoy of those days and a fast young man known as such
about England. Mr. De Baron, who was a neighbour, had taken him by the
hand. Mr. De Baron had put him in the way of buying and training
race-horses, and had, perhaps, been godfather to his pleasures in other
matters. Rudham Park had never been loved at Manor Cross by others than
the present Lord, and for that reason, perhaps, was dearer to him. He
had promised to go there soon after his return to England, and was now
keeping his promise. On his arrival there the Marquis found a houseful
of people. There were Mr. and Mrs. Houghton, and Lord Giblet, who,
having engaged himself rashly to Miss Patmore Green, had rushed out of
town sooner than usual that he might devise in retirement some means of
escaping from his position; and, to Lord Giblet's horror, there was
Mrs. Montacute Jones, who, he well knew, would, if possible, keep him
to the collar. There was also Aunt Julia, with her niece Guss, and of
course, there was Jack De Baron. The Marquis was rather glad to meet
Jack, as to whom he had some hope that he might be induced to run away
with Lord George's wife, and thus free the Germain family from that
little annoyance. But the guest who surprised the Marquis the most, was
the Baroness Banmann, whose name and occupation he did not at first
learn very distinctly.
"All right again, my lord?" asked Mr. De Baron, as he welcomed his
noble guest.
"Upon my word I'm not, then. That coal-heaving brute of a parson pretty
nearly did for me."
"A terrible outrage it was."
"Outrage! I should think so. There's nothing so bad as a clerical
bully. What was I to do with him? Of course he was the stronger. I
don't pretend to be a Samson. One doesn't expect that kind of thing
among gentlemen?"
"No, indeed."
"I wish I could have him somewhere with a pair of foils with the
buttons off. His black coat shouldn't save his intestines. I don't
know what the devil the country is come to, when such a fellow as that
is admitted into people's houses."
"You won't meet him here, Brotherton."
"I wish I might. I think I'd manage to be even with him before he got
away. Who's the Baroness you have got?"
"I don't know much about her. My daughter Adelaide,--Mrs. Houghton, you
know,--has brought her down. There's been some row among the women up
in London. This is one of the prophets, and I think she is brought here
to spite Lady Selina Protest who has taken an American prophetess by
the hand. She won't annoy you, I hope?"
"Not in the least. I like strange wild beasts. And so that is Captain
De Baron, of whom I have heard?"
"That is my nephew, Jack. He has a small fortune of his own, which he
is spending fast. As long as it lasts one has to be civil to him."
"I am delighted to meet him. Don't they say he is sweet on a certain
young woman?"
"A dozen, I believe."
"Ah,--but one I know something of."
"I don't think there is anything in that, Brotherton;--I don't, indeed,
or I shouldn't have brought him here."
"I do, though. And as to not bringing him here, why shouldn't you bring
him? If she don't go off with him, she will with somebody else, and the
sooner the better, according to my ideas." This was a matter upon which
Mr. De Baron was not prepared to dilate, and he therefore changed the
subject.
"My dear Lord Giblet, it is such a pleasure to me to meet you here,"
old Mrs. Jones said to that young nobleman. "When I was told you were
to be at Rudham, it determined me at once." This was true, for there
was no more persistent friend living than old Mrs. Jones, though it
might be doubted whether, on this occasion, Lord Giblet was the friend
on whose behalf she had come to Rudham.
"It's very nice, isn't it?" said Lord Giblet, gasping.
"Hadn't we a pleasant time of it with our little parties in Grosvenor
Place?"
"Never liked anything so much in life; only I don't think that fellow
Jack De Baron, dances so much better than other people, after all?"
"Who says he does? But I'll tell you who dances well. Olivia Green was
charming in the Kappa-kappa. Don't you think so?"
"Uncommon pretty." Lord Giblet was quite willing to be understood to
admire Miss Patmore Green, though he thought it hard that people should
hurry him on into matrimony.
"The most graceful girl I ever saw in my life, certainly," said Mrs.
Montacute Jones. "His Royal Highness, when he heard of the engagement,
said that you were the happiest man in London."
Lord Giblet could not satisfy himself by declaring that H.R.H. was an
old fool, as poor Mary had done on a certain occasion,--but at the
present moment he did not feel at all loyal to the Royal Family
generally. Nor did he, in the least, know how to answer Mrs. Jones. She
had declared the engagement as a fact, and he did not quite dare to
deny it altogether. He had, in an unguarded moment, when the weather
had been warm and the champagne cool, said a word with so definite a
meaning that the lady had been justified in not allowing it to pass by
as idle. The lady had accepted him, and on the following morning he had
found the lock of hair and the little stud which she had given him, and
had feverish reminiscences of a kiss. But surely he was not a bird to
be caught with so small a grain of salt as that! He had not as yet seen
Mr. Patmore Green, having escaped from London at once. He had answered
a note from Olivia, which had called him "dearest Charlie" by a counter
note, in which he had called her "dear O," and had signed himself "ever
yours, G," promising to meet her up the river. But of course he had not
gone up the river! The rest of the season might certainly be done
without assistance from him. He knew that he would be pursued. He could
not hope not to be pursued. But he had not thought that Mrs. Montacute
Jones would be so quick upon him. It was impossible that H.R.H should
have heard of any engagement as yet. What a nasty, false, wicked old
woman she was! He blushed, red as a rose, and stammered out that he
"didn't know." He was only four-and-twenty, and perhaps he didn't know.
"I never saw a girl so much in love in my life," continued Mrs. Jones.
"I know her just as well as if she were my own, and she speaks to me as
she doesn't dare to speak to you at present. Though she is barely
twenty-one, she has been very much sought after already, and the very
day she marries she has ten thousand pounds in her own hands. That
isn't a large fortune, and of course you don't want a large fortune,
but it isn't every girl can pay such a sum straight into her husband's
bank the moment she marries!"
"No, indeed," said Lord Giblet. He was still determined that nothing
should induce him to marry Miss Green; but nevertheless, behind that
resolution there was a feeling, that if anything should bring about the
marriage, such a sum of ready money would be a consolation. His father,
the Earl of Jopling, though a very rich man, kept him a little close,
and ten thousand pounds would be nice. But then, perhaps the old woman
was lying.
"Now I'll tell you what I want you to do," said Mrs. Jones, who was
resolved that if the game were not landed it should not be her fault.
"We go from here to Killancodlem next week. You must come and join
us."
"I've got to go and grouse at Stranbracket's," said Lord Giblet, happy
in an excuse.
"It couldn't be better. They're both within eight miles of Dunkeld." If
so, then ropes shouldn't take him to Stranbracket's that year. "Of
course you'll come. It's the prettiest place in Perth, though I say it,
as oughtn't. And she will be there. If you really want to know a girl,
see her in a country house."
But he didn't really want to know the girl. She was very nice, and he
liked her uncommonly, but he didn't want to know anything more about
her. By George! Was a man to be persecuted this way, because he had
once spooned a girl a little too fiercely? As he thought of this he
almost plucked up his courage sufficiently to tell Mrs. Jones that she
had better pick out some other young man for deportation to
Killancodlem. "I should like it ever so," he said.
"I'll take care that you shall like it, Lord Giblet. I think I may
boast that when I put my wits to work I can make my house agreeable.
I'm very fond of young people, but there's no one I love as I do Olivia
Green. There isn't a young woman in London has so much to be loved for.
Of course you'll come. What day shall we name?"
"I don't think I could name a day."
"Let us say the 27th. That will give you nearly a week at the grouse
first. Be with us to dinner on the 27th."
"Well,--perhaps I will."
"Of course you will. I shall write to Olivia to-night, and I daresay
you will do so also."
Lord Giblet, when he was let to go, tried to suck consolation from the
L10,000. Though he was still resolved, he almost believed that Mrs.
Montacute Jones would conquer him. Write to Olivia to-night! Lying,
false old woman! Of course she knew that there was hardly a lady in
England to whom it was so little likely that he should write as to Miss
Patmore Green. How could an old woman, with one foot in the grave, be
so wicked? And why should she persecute him? What had he done to her?
Olivia Green was not her daughter, or even her niece. "So you are going
to Killancodlem?" Mrs. Houghton said to him that afternoon.
"She has asked me," said Lord Giblet.
"It's simply the most comfortable house in all Scotland, and they tell
me some of the best deer-stalking. Everybody likes to get to
Killancodlem. Don't you love old Mrs. Jones?"
"Charming old woman!"
"And such a friend! If she once takes to you she never drops you."
"Sticks like wax, I should say."
"Quite like wax, Lord Giblet. And when she makes up her mind to do a
thing she always does it. It's quite wonderful; but she never gets
beaten."
"Doesn't she now?"
"Never. She hasn't asked us to Killancodlem yet, but I hope she will."
A manly resolution now roused itself in Lord Giblet's bosom that he
would be the person to beat Mrs. Jones at last. But yet he doubted. If
he were asked the question by anyone having a right to ask he could not
deny that he had proposed to marry Miss Patmore Green.
"So you've come down to singe your wings again?" said Mrs. Houghton to
her cousin Jack.
"My wings have been burned clean away already, and, in point of fact, I
am not half so near to Lady George here as I was in London."
"It's only ten miles."
"If it were five it would be the same. We're not in the same set down
in Barsetshire."
"I suppose you can have yourself taken to Brotherton if you please?"
"Yes,--I can call at the deanery; but I shouldn't know what to say when
I got there."
"You've become very mealy-mouthed of a sudden."
"Not with you, my sweet cousin. With you I can discuss the devil and
all his works as freely as ever; but with Lady George, at her father's
house, I think I should be dumb. In truth, I haven't got anything to
say to her."
"I thought you had."
"I know you think so; but I haven't. It is quite on the card that I may
ride over some day, as I would to see my sister."
"Your sister!"
"And that I shall make eager enquiries after her horse, her pet dog,
and her husband."
"You will be wrong there, for she has quarrelled with her husband
altogether."
"I hope not."
"They are not living together, and never even see each other. He's at
Manor Cross, and she's at the deanery. She's a divinity to you, but
Lord George seems to have found her so human that he's tired of her
already."
"Then it must be his own fault."
"Or perhaps yours, Jack. You don't suppose a husband goes through a
little scene like that at Mrs. Jones' without feeling it?"
"He made an ass of himself, and a man generally feels that afterwards,"
said Jack.
"The truth is, they're tired of each other. There isn't very much in
Lord George, but there is something. He is slow, but there is a certain
manliness at the bottom of it. But there isn't very much in her!"
"That's all you know about it."
"Perhaps you may know her better, but I never could find anything. You
confess to being in love, and of course a lover is blind. But where you
are most wrong is in supposing that she is something so much better
than other women. She flirted with you so frankly that she made you
think her a goddess."
"She never flirted with me in her life."
"Exactly;--because flirting is bad, and she being a goddess cannot do
evil. I wish you'd take her in your arms and kiss her."
"I shouldn't dare."
"No;--and therefore you're not in the way to learn that she's a woman
just the same as other women. Will Mrs. Jones succeed with that stupid
young man?"
"With Giblet? I hope so. It can't make any difference to him whether
it's this one or another, and I do like Mrs. Jones."
"Would they let me have just a little lecture in the dining-room?"
asked the Baroness of her friend, Aunt Ju. There had been certain
changes among the Disabilities up in London. Lady Selina Protest had
taken Dr. Olivia Q. Fleabody altogether by the hand, and had appointed
her chief professor at the Institute, perhaps without sufficient
authority. Aunt Ju had been cast into the shade, and had consequently
been driven to throw herself into the arms of the Baroness. At present
there was a terrible feud in which Aunt Ju was being much worsted. For
the Baroness was an old Man of the Sea, and having got herself on to
Aunt Ju's shoulders could not be shaken off. In the meantime Dr.
Fleabody was filling the Institute, reaping a golden harvest, and
breaking the heart of the poor Baroness, who had fallen into much
trouble and was now altogether penniless.
"I'm afraid not," said Aunt Ju. "I'm afraid we can't do that."
"Perhaps de Marquis would like it?"
"I hardly think so."
"He did say a word to me, and I tink he would like it. He vant to
understand."
"My dear Baroness, I'm sure the Marquis of Brotherton does not care
about it in the least. He is quite in the dark on such subjects--quite
benighted." What was the use, thought the Baroness, of bringing her
down to a house in which people were so benighted that she could not be
allowed to open her mouth or carry on her profession. Had she not been
enticed over from her own country in order that she might open her
mouth, and preach her doctrine, and become a great and a wealthy woman?
There was a fraud in this enforced silence which cut her to the very
quick. "I tink I shall try," she said, separating herself in her wrath
from her friend.