LADY ANNA'S OFFER.
Early in March Lady Anna was convalescent, but had not yet left the
house in Keppel Street,--and the confusion and dismay of the Countess
were greater than ever. Lady Anna had declared that she would not
leave England for the present. She was reminded that at any rate till
the 10th of May she was subject to her mother's control. But by this
time her mother's harshness to her had produced some corresponding
hardness in her. "Yes, mamma;--but I will not go abroad. Things
must be settled, and I am not well enough to go yet." The Countess
asserted that everything could be arranged abroad, that papers could
be sent after them, that Mr. Goffe could come out to them, and with
much show of authority persisted. She would do anything by which
she might be able to remove Lady Anna from the influence of Daniel
Thwaite at the time at which the girl would cease to be subject to
her. But in truth the girl had ceased to be subject to her. "No,
mamma, I will not go. If you will ask Serjeant Bluestone, or Sir
William Patterson, I am sure they will say that I ought not to be
made to go." There were some terrible scenes in which the mother was
driven almost to desperation. Lady Anna repeated to the Countess all
that she had said to Lord Lovel,--and swore to her mother with the
Bible in hand that if ever she became the wife of any man she would
be the wife of Daniel Thwaite. Then the Countess with great violence
knocked the book out of her daughter's grasp, and it was thrown to
the other side of the room. "If this is to go on," said the Countess,
"one of us must die."
"Mamma, I have done nothing to make you so unkind to me. You have not
spoken one word of kindness to me since I came from Yoxham."
"If this goes on I shall never speak a word of kindness to you
again," said the mother.
But in the midst of all this there was one point on which they were
agreed,--on which they came sufficiently near together for action,
though there was still a wide difference between them. Some large
proportion of the property at stake was to be made over to Lord Lovel
on the day that gave the girl the legal power of transferring her
own possessions. The Countess began by presuming that the whole of
Lady Anna's wealth was to be so transferred,--not from any lack of
reverence for the great amount which was in question, but feeling
that for all good purposes it would be safer in the hands of the
Earl than in those of her own child. If it could be arranged that
the tailor could get nothing with his bride, then it might still
be possible that the tailor might refuse the match. At any rate a
quarrel might be fostered and the evil might be staved off. But to
this Lady Anna would not assent. If she might act in this business in
concert with Mr. Thwaite she would be able, she thought, to do better
by her cousin than she proposed. But as she was not allowed to learn
what were Mr. Thwaite's wishes, she would halve her property with her
cousin. As much as this she was willing to do,--and was determined to
do, acting on her own judgment. More she would not do,--unless she
could see Mr. Thwaite. As it stood, her proposition was one which
would, if carried out, bestow something like £10,000 a year upon
the Earl. Then Mr. Goffe was sent for, and Lady Anna was allowed to
communicate her suggestion to the lawyer. "That should require a
great deal of thought," said Mr. Goffe with solemnity. Lady Anna
declared that she had been thinking of it all the time she had been
ill. "But it should not be done in a hurry," said Mr. Goffe. Then
Lady Anna remarked that in the meantime, her cousin, the Earl, the
head of her family, would have nothing to support his title. Mr.
Goffe took his leave, promising to consult his partner, and to see
Mr. Flick.
Mr. Goffe did consult his partner and did see Mr. Flick, and then
Serjeant Bluestone was asked his advice,--and the Solicitor-General.
The Serjeant had become somewhat tired of the Lovels, and did not
care to give any strong advice either in one direction or in the
other. The young lady, he said, might of course do what she liked
with her own when it was her own; but he thought that she should not
be hurried. He pointed it out as a fact that the Earl had not the
slightest claim upon any portion of the estate,--not more than he
would have had if this money had come to Lady Anna from her mother's
instead of from her father's relatives. He was still of opinion that
the two cousins might ultimately become man and wife if matters were
left tranquil and the girl were taken abroad for a year or two. Lady
Anna, however, would be of age in a few weeks, and must of course do
as she liked with her own.
But they all felt that everything would at last be ruled by what the
Solicitor-General might say. The Solicitor-General was going out of
town for a week or ten days,--having the management of a great case
at the Spring Assizes. He would think over Lady Anna's proposition,
and say what he had to say when he returned. Lord Lovel, however,
had been his client, and he had said from first to last that more
was to be done for his client by amicable arrangement than by
hostile opposition. If the Earl could get £10,000 a year by amicable
arrangement, the Solicitor-General would be shown to have been right
in the eyes of all men, and it was probable,--as both Mr. Goffe and
Mr. Flick felt,--that he would not repudiate a settlement of the
family affairs by which he would be proved to have been a discreet
counsellor.
In the meantime it behoved Lord Lovel himself to have an opinion. Mr.
Flick of course had told him of the offer,--which had in truth been
made directly to himself by his cousin. At this time his affairs were
not in a happy condition. A young earl, handsome and well esteemed,
may generally marry an heiress,--if not one heiress then another.
Though he be himself a poor man, his rank and position will stand in
lieu of wealth. And so would it have been with this young earl,--who
was very handsome and excellently well esteemed,--had it not been
that all the world knew that it was his especial business to marry
one especial heiress. He could hardly go about looking for other
honey, having, as he had, one particular hive devoted by public
opinion to himself. After a year or two he might have looked
elsewhere,--but what was he to do in the meantime? He was well nigh
penniless, and in debt. So he wrote a letter to his uncle, the
parson.
It may be remembered that when the uncle and nephew last parted in
London there was not much love between them. From that day to this
they had not seen each other, nor had there been any communication
between them. The horses had been taken away and sold. The rector
had spoken to the ladies of his household more than once with great
bitterness of the young man's ingratitude; and they more than once
had spoken to the rector, with a woman's piteous tenderness, of the
young lord's poverty. But it was all sorrow and distress. For in
truth the rector could not be happy while he was on bad terms with
the head of his family. Then the young lord wrote as though there had
been nothing amiss between them. It had in truth all passed away from
his mind. This very liberal offer had been made to him. It amounted
to wealth in lieu of poverty,--to what would be comfortable wealth
even for an earl. Ten thousand a year was offered to him by his
cousin. Might he accept it? The rector took the letter in good part,
and begged his nephew to come at once to Yoxham. Whereupon the nephew
went to Yoxham.
"What does Sir William say?" asked the rector, who, in spite of
his disapproval of all that Sir William had done, felt that the
Solicitor-General was the man whose influence in the matter would
really prevail.
"He has said nothing as yet. He is out of town."
"Ten thousand a year! Who was it made the offer?"
"She made it herself."
"Lady Anna?"
"Yes;--Lady Anna. It is a noble offer."
"Yes, indeed. But then if she has no right to any of it, what does it
amount to?"
"But she has a right to all of it;--she and her mother between them."
"I shall never believe it, Frederic--never; and not the less so
because they now want to bind you to them by such a compromise as
this."
"I think you look at it in a wrong light, uncle Charles."
"Well;--well. I will say nothing more about it. I don't see why you
shouldn't take it,--I don't indeed. It ought all to have been yours.
Everybody says that. You'll have to buy land, and it won't give you
nearly so much then. I hope you'll buy land all the same, and I do
hope it will be properly settled when you marry. As to marrying, you
will be able to do much better than what you used to think of."
"We won't talk about that, uncle Charles," said the Earl.
As far as the rector's opinion went, it was clear that the offer
might be accepted; but yet it was felt that very much must depend
on what the Solicitor-General might say. Then Miss Lovel gave her
opinion on the matter, which did not altogether agree with that of
her brother. She believed in Lady Anna, whereas the rector professed
that he did not. The rector and Lady Fitzwarren were perhaps the
only two persons who, after all that had been said and done, still
maintained that the Countess was an impostor, and that Lady Anna
would only be Anna Murray, if everybody had his due. Miss Lovel was
quite as anxious on behalf of the Earl as was her brother, but she
clung to the hope of a marriage. "I still think it might all come
right, if you would only wait," said aunt Julia.
"It's all very well talking of waiting, but how am I to live?"
"You could live here, Frederic. There is nothing my brother would
like so much. I thought he would break his heart when the horses were
taken away. It would only be for a year."
"What would come of it?"
"At the end of the year she would be your wife."
"Never!" said the Earl.
"Young men are so impatient."
"Never, under any circumstances, would I ask her again. You may make
your mind up to that. As sure as you stand there, she will marry
Daniel Thwaite, if she lives another twelvemonth."
"You really think so, Frederic?"
"I am sure of it. After what she said to me, it would be impossible I
should doubt it."
"And she will be Lady Anna Thwaite! Oh dear, how horrible. I wish
she had died when she was ill;--I do indeed. A journeyman tailor!
But something will prevent it. I really think that Providence will
interfere to prevent it!" But in reference to the money she gave in
her adhesion. If the great lawyer said that it might be taken,--then
it should be taken. At the end of a week the Earl hurried back to
London to see the great lawyer.