The Divan.
That night Sir Jekyl led the gentlemen in a body to his outpost
quarters, in the rear of civilisation, where they enjoyed their cigars,
brandy and water, and even "swipes," prodigiously. It is a noble
privilege to be so rich as Sir Jekyl Marlowe. The Jewish price for
frankincense was thrice its own weight in gold. How much did that
aromatic blue canopy that rolled dimly over this Turkish divan cost that
off-handed Sybarite? How many scruples of fine gold were floating in
that cloud?
Varbarriere was in his way charmed with his excursion. He enjoyed the
jokes and stories of the younkers, and the satiric slang and
imperturbable good-humour of their host. The twinkle of his eye, from
its deep cavern, and the suavity of his solemn features, testified to
his profound enjoyment of a meeting to which he contributed, it must be
owned, for his own share, little but smoke.
In fact, he was very silent, very observant--observant of more things
than the talk perhaps.
All sorts of things were talked about. Of course, no end of horse and
dog anecdote--something of wine, something of tobacco, something of the
beauties of the opera and the stage, and those sad visions, the fallen
angelic of the demimonde--something, but only the froth and sparkle, of
politics--light conjecture, and pungent scandal, in the spirit of gay
satire and profligate comedy.
"He's a bad dog, St. Evermore. Did not you hear that about the duel?"
said Drayton.
"What?" asked the Baronet, with an unconscious glance at Guy Strangways.
"He killed that French fool--what's his name?--unfairly, they say. There
has been a letter or something in one of the Paris papers about it.
Fired before his time, I think, and very ill feeling against the English
in consequence."
"Oh!" said the Baronet.
"But you know," interposed Doocey, who was an older clubman than
Drayton, and remembering further back, thought that sort of anecdote of
the duel a little maladroit just then and there, "St. Evermore has been
talked about a good deal; there were other things--that horse, you know;
and they say, by Jove! he was licked by Tromboni, at the wings of the
opera, for what he called insulting his wife; and Tromboni says he's a
marquess, and devil knows what beside, at home, and wanted to fight, but
St. Evermore wouldn't, and took his licking."
"He's not a nice fellow by any means; but he's devilish good
company--lots of good stories and capital cigars," said Drayton.
At this point M. Varbarriere was seized with a fit of coughing; and Sir
Jekyl glanced sharply at him; but no, he was not laughing.
The conversation proceeded agreeably, and some charming stories were
told of Sir Paul Blunket, who was not present; and in less than an hour
the party broke up and left Sir Jekyl to his solitary quarters.
The Baronet bid his last guest good-night at the threshold, and then
shut his door and locked himself in. It was his custom, here, to sleep
with his door locked.
"What was that fellow laughing at--Varbarriere? I'm certain he was
laughing. I never saw a fellow with so completely the cut of a
charlatan. I'll write to Charteris to-night. I _must_ learn all about
him."
Then Sir Jekyl yawned, and reflected what a fool Drayton was, what a
fellow to talk, and what asses all fellows were at that age; and, being
sleepy, he postponed his letter to Charteris to the next morning, and
proceeded to undress.
Next morning was bright and pleasant, and he really did not see much
good in writing the letter; and so he put it off to a more convenient
time.
Shortly after the ladies had left the drawing-room for their bed-rooms,
Beatrix, having looked in for a moment to her grandmamma's room, and,
with a kiss and a good-night, taken wing again, there entered to Lady
Alice, as the old plays express it, then composing herself for the
night, Lady Jane's maid, with--
"Please, my lady, my lady wants to know if your ladyship knows where her
ladyship's key may be?"
"_What_ key?"
"The key of her bedchamber, please, my lady."
"Oh! the key of my dressing-room. Tell Lady Jane that I have got the key
of the Window dressing-room, and mean to keep it," replied the old lady,
firmly.
The maid executed a courtesy, and departed; and Lady Alice sank back
again upon her pillow, with her eyes and mouth firmly closed, and the
countenance of an old lady who is conscious of having done her duty upon
one of her sex.
About two minutes later there came a rustle of a dressing-gown and the
patter of a swift-slippered tread through the short passage from the
dressing-room, and, without a knock, Lady Jane, with a brilliant flush
on her face, ruffled into the room, and, with her head very high, and
flashing eyes, demanded--
"Will you be so good, Lady Alice Redcliffe, as to give me the key of my
bed-room?"
To which Lady Alice, without opening her eyes, and with her hands mildly
clasped, in the fashion of a mediæval monument, over her breast, meekly
and firmly made answer--
"If you mean the key of the Window dressing-room, Jane, I have already
told your maid that I mean to _keep_ it!"
"And I'll not leave the room till I get it," cried Lady Jane, standing
fiercely beside the monument.
"Then you'll not leave the room to-night, Jane," replied the statuesque
sufferer on the bed.
"We shall _see_ that. Once more, will you give me my key or not?"
"The key of my dressing-room door is in my possession, and I mean to
keep it," repeated the old lady, with a provoking mildness.
"You shan't, madam--you'll do no such thing. You shall give up the key
you have stolen. I'll lose my life but I'll make you."
"Jane, Jane," said the old lady, "you are sadly changed for the worse
since last I saw you."
"And if _you're_ not, it's only because there was no room for it. Sadly
changed indeed--very true. I don't suffer you to bully me as you used at
Wardlock."
"May Heaven forgive and pardon you!" ejaculated the old lady, with great
severity, rising perpendicularly and raising both her eyes and hands.
"Keep your prayers for yourself, madam, and give me my key," demanded
the incensed young lady.
"I'll do no such thing; I'll do as I said; and I'll pray how I please,
ma'am," retorted the suppliant, fiercely.
"Your prayers don't signify twopence. You've the temper of a fiend, as
all the world knows; and no one can live in the same house with you,"
rejoined Lady Jane.
"That's a wicked lie: my servants live all their days with me."
"Because they know no one else would take them. But you've the temper of
a fury. You haven't a friend left, and everyone hates you."
"Oh! oh! oh!" moaned Lady Alice, sinking back, with her hand pressed to
her heart piteously, and closing her eyes, as she recollected how ill
she was.
"Ho! dear me!" exclaimed Lady Jane, in high disdain. "Had not you better
restore my key before you die, old lady?"
"Jane!" exclaimed Lady Alice, recovering in an instant, "have you no
feeling--you know the state I'm in; and you're bent on killing me with
your unfeeling brutality?"
"You're perfectly well, ma'am, and you look it. I wish I was half as
strong; you oblige me to come all this way, this bitter night, you
odious old woman."
"I see how it is, and why you want the key. A very little more, and I'll
write to General Lennox."
"Do; and he'll horsewhip you."
Lady Jane herself was a little stunned at this speech, when she heard it
from her own lips; and I think would have recalled it.
"Thank you, Jane; I hope you'll _remember_ that. Horsewhip me! No doubt
you wish it; but General Lennox is a gentleman, I hope, _although_ he
has married you; and I don't suppose he would murder a miserable old
woman to gratify you."
"You know perfectly what I mean--if you were a _man_ he would horsewhip
you; you have done nothing but insult me ever since you entered this
house."
"Thank you; it's quite plain. I shan't forget it. I'll ask him, when he
comes, whether he's in the habit of beating women. It is not usual, I
believe, among British officers. It _usen't_ at least; but everything's
getting on--young ladies, and, I suppose, old men--all getting on
famously."
"Give me my key, if you please; and cease talking like a fool," cried
Lady Jane.
"And what _do_ you want of that key? Come, now, young lady, what is it?"
"I don't choose to have my door lie open, and I won't. I've no bolt to
the inside, and I _will_ have my key, madam."
"If that's your object, set your mind at ease. I'll lock your door
myself when you have got to your bed."
"So that if the house takes fire I shall be burnt to death!"
"Pooh! nonsense!"
"And if I am they'll hang _you_, I hope."
"Thank you. Flogged and hanged!" And Lady Alice laughed an exceeding
bitter laugh. "But the wicked violence of your language and _menaces_
shan't deter me from the duty I've prescribed to myself. I'll define my
reasons if you like, and I'll write as soon as you please to General
Lennox."
"I think you're _mad_--I do, I assure you. I'll endure it for once, but
depend on it I'll complain to Sir Jekyl Marlowe, in my husband's
absence, in the morning; and if this sort of thing is to go on, I had
better leave the house forthwith--that's all."
And having uttered these dignified sentences with becoming emphasis, she
sailed luridly away.
"Good-night, Jane," said Lady Alice, with a dry serenity.
"Don't dare, you insupportable old woman, to wish me good-night," burst
out Lady Jane, whisking round at the threshold.
With which speech, having paused for a moment in defiance, she
disappeared, leaving the door wide open, which is, perhaps, as annoying
as clapping it, and less vulgar.