CAPTAIN BATSBY IN LOMBARD STREET.
It was not till Colonel Stubbs had been three or four days at
Stalham, basking in the sunshine of Ayala's love, that any of the
Stalham family heard of the great event which had occurred in the
life of Ayala's third lover. During that walk to and from Gobblegoose
Wood something had been said between the lovers as to Captain
Batsby,--something, no doubt, chiefly in joke. The idea of the poor
Captain having fallen suddenly into so melancholy a condition was
droll enough. "But he never spoke to me," said Ayala. "He doesn't
speak very much to any one," said the Colonel, "but he thinks a great
deal about things. He has had ever so many affairs with ever so many
ladies, who generally, I fancy, want to marry him because of his
money. How he has escaped so long nobody knows." A man when he has
just engaged himself to be married is as prone as ever to talk of
other men "escaping," feeling that, though other young ladies were no
better than evils to be avoided, his young lady is to be regarded as
almost a solitary instance of a blessing. Then, two days afterwards,
arrived the news of the trip to Ostend. Sir Harry received a letter
from a friend in which an account was given of his half-brother's
adventure. "What do you think has happened?" said Sir Harry, jumping
up from his chair at the breakfast table.
"What has happened?" asked his wife.
"Benjamin has run off to Ostend with a young lady."
"Benjamin,--with a young lady!" exclaimed Lady Albury. Ayala and
Stubbs were equally astonished, each of them knowing that the
Captain had been excluded from Stalham because of the ardour of his
unfortunate love for Ayala. "Ayala, that is your doing!"
"No!" said Ayala. "But I am very glad if he's happy."
"Who is the young lady?" asked Stubbs.
"It is that which makes it so very peculiar," said Sir Harry, looking
at Ayala. He had learned something of the Tringle family, and was
aware of Ayala's connection with them.
"Who is it, Harry?" demanded her ladyship.
"Sir Thomas Tringle's younger daughter."
"Gertrude!" exclaimed Ayala, who also knew of the engagement with Mr.
Houston.
"But the worst of it is," continued Sir Harry, "that he is not at
all happy. The young lady has come back, while nobody knows what has
become of Benjamin."
"Benjamin never will get a wife," said Lady Albury. Thus all the
details of the little event became known at Stalham,--except the
immediate condition and whereabouts of the lover.
Of the Captain's condition and whereabouts something must be told.
When the great disruption came, and he had been abused and ridiculed
by Sir Thomas at Ostend, he felt that he could neither remain there
where the very waiters knew what had happened, nor could he return
to Dover in the same vessel with Sir Thomas and his daughter. He
therefore took the first train and went to Brussels.
But Brussels did not offer him many allurements in his present frame
of mind. He found nobody there whom he particularly knew, and nothing
particular to do. Solitude in a continental town with no amusements
beyond those offered by the table d'hôte and the theatre is
oppressing. His time he endeavoured to occupy with thinking of the
last promise he had made to Gertrude. Should he break it or should
he keep it? Sir Thomas Tringle was, no doubt, a very rich man,--and
then there was the fact which would become known to all the world,
that he had run off with a young lady. Should he ultimately succeed
in marrying the young lady the enterprise would bear less of an
appearance of failure than it would do otherwise. But then, should
the money not be forthcoming, the consolation coming from the
possession of Gertrude herself would hardly suffice to make him a
happy man. Sir Thomas, when he came to consider the matter, would
certainly feel that his daughter had compromised herself by her
journey, and that it would be good for her to be married to the man
who had taken her. It might be that Sir Thomas would yield, and
consent to make, at any rate, some compromise. A rumour had reached
his ears that Traffick had received £200,000 with the elder daughter.
He would consent to take half that sum. After a week spent amidst
the charms of Brussels he returned to London, without any public
declaration of his doing so,--"sneaked back," as a friend of his said
of him at the club;--and then went to work to carry out his purpose
as best he might. All that was known of it at Stalham was that he had
returned to his lodgings in London.
On Friday, the 11th of April, when Ayala was a promised bride of
nearly two weeks' standing, and all the uncles and aunts were aware
that her lot in life had been fixed for her, Sir Thomas was alone in
the back-room in Lombard Street, with his mind sorely diverted from
the only joy of his life. The whole family were now in town, and
Septimus Traffick with his wife was actually occupying a room in
Queen's Gate. How it had come to pass Sir Thomas hardly knew. Some
word had been extracted from him signifying a compliance with a
request that Augusta might come to the house for a night or two until
a fitting residence should be prepared for her. Something had been
said of Lord Boardotrade's house being vacated for her and her
husband early in April. An occurrence to which married ladies are
liable was about to take place with Augusta, and Sir Thomas certainly
understood that the occurrence was to be expected under the roof of
the coming infant's noble grandfather. Something as to ancestral
halls had been thrown out in the chance way of conversation. Then he
certainly had assented to some minimum of London hospitality for his
daughter,--as certainly not including the presence of his son-in-law;
and now both of them were domiciled in the big front spare bed-room
at Queen's Gate! This perplexed him sorely. And then Tom had been
brought up from the country still as an invalid, his mother moaning
and groaning over him as though he were sick almost past hope of
recovery. And yet the nineteenth of the month, now only eight days
distant, was still fixed for his departure. Tom, on the return of his
mother from Stalham, had to a certain extent accepted as irrevocable
the fact of which she bore the tidings. Ayala was engaged to Stubbs,
and would, doubtless, with very little delay, become Mrs. Jonathan
Stubbs. "I knew it," he said; "I knew it. Nothing could have
prevented it unless I had shot him through the heart. He told me that
she had refused him; but no man could have looked like that after
being refused by Ayala." Then he never expressed a hope again. It
was all over for him as regarded Ayala. But still he refused to be
well, or even, for a day or two, to leave his bed. He had allowed
his mother to understand that if the fact of her engagement were
indubitably brought home to him he would gird up his loins for his
journey and proceed at once wherever it might be thought good to send
him. His father had sternly reminded him of his promise; but, when
so reminded, Tom had turned himself in his bed and uttered groans
instead of replies. Now he had been brought up to London and was
no longer actually in bed; but even yet he had not signified his
intention of girding up his loins and proceeding upon his journey.
Nevertheless the preparations were going on, and, under Sir Thomas's
directions, the portmanteaus were already being packed. Gertrude also
was a source of discomfort to her father. She considered herself
to have been deprived of her two lovers, one after the other, in a
spirit of cruel parsimony. And with this heavy weight upon her breast
she refused to take any part in the family conversations. Everything
had been done for Augusta, and everything was to be done for Tom. For
her nothing had been done, and nothing had been promised;--and she
was therefore very sulky. With these troubles all around him, Sir
Thomas was sitting oppressed and disheartened in Lombard Street on
Friday, the 11th of April.
Then there entered to him one of the junior clerks with a card
announcing the name of Captain Batsby. He looked at it for some
seconds before he gave any notification of his intention, and then
desired the young man to tell the gentleman that he would not see
him. The message had been delivered, and Captain Batsby with a frown
of anger on his brow was about to shake the dust off from his feet on
the uncourteous threshold when there came another message saying that
Captain Batsby could go in and see Sir Thomas if he wished it. Upon
this he turned round and was shown into the little sitting-room.
"Well, Captain Batsby," said Sir Thomas; "what can I do for you now?
I am glad to see that you have come back safely from foreign parts."
"I have called," said the Captain, "to say something about your
daughter."
"What more can you have to say about her?"
At this the Captain was considerably puzzled. Of course Sir Thomas
must know what he had to say. "The way in which we were separated at
Ostend was very distressing to my feelings."
"I daresay."
"And also I should think to Miss Tringle's."
"Not improbably. I have always observed that when people are
interrupted in the performance of some egregious stupidity their
feelings are hurt. As I said before, what can I do for you now?"
"I am very anxious to complete the alliance which I have done myself
the honour to propose to you."
"I did not know that you had proposed anything. You came down to my
house under a false pretence; and then you persuaded my daughter,--or
else she persuaded you,--to go off together to Ostend. Is that what
you call an alliance?"
"That, as far as it went was,--was an elopement."
"Am I to understand that you now want to arrange another elopement,
and that you have come to ask my consent?"
"Oh dear no."
"Then what do you mean by completing an alliance?"
"I want to make," said the Captain, "an offer for the young lady's
hand in a proper form. I consider myself to be in a position which
justifies me in doing so. I am possessed of the young lady's
affections, and have means of my own equal to those which I presume
you will be disposed to give her."
"Very much better means I hope, Captain Batsby. Otherwise I do not
see what you and your wife would have to live upon. I will tell you
exactly what my feelings are in this matter. My daughter has gone
off with you, forgetting all the duty that she owed to me and to her
mother, and throwing aside all ideas of propriety. After that I will
not say that you shall not marry her if both of you think fit. I do
not doubt your means, and I have no reason for supposing that you
would be cruel to her. You are two fools, but after all fools must
live in the world. What I do say is, that I will not give a sixpence
towards supporting you in your folly. Now, Captain Batsby, you can
complete the alliance or not as you please."
Captain Batsby had been called a fool also at Ostend, and there,
amidst the distressing circumstances of his position, had been
constrained to bear the opprobious name, little customary as it is
for one gentleman to allow himself to be called a fool by another;
but now he had collected his thoughts, had reminded himself of his
position in the world, and had told himself that it did not become
him to be too humble before this City man of business. It might have
been all very well at Ostend; but he was not going to be called a
fool in London without resenting it. "Sir Thomas," said he, "fool and
folly are terms which I cannot allow you to use to me."
"If you do not present yourself to me here, Captain Batsby, or at my
own house,--or, perhaps I may say, at Ostend,--I will use no such
terms to you."
"I suppose you will acknowledge that I am entitled to ask for your
daughter's hand."
"I suppose you will acknowledge that when a man runs away with my
daughter I am entitled to express my opinion of his conduct."
"That is all over now, Sir Thomas. What I did I did for love. There
is no good in crying over spilt milk. The question is as to the
future happiness of the young lady."
"That is the only wise word I have heard you say, Captain Batsby.
There is no good in crying after spilt milk. Our journey to Ostend is
done and gone. It was not very agreeable, but we have lived through
it. I quite think that you show a good judgment in not intending to
go there again in quest of a clergyman. If you want to be married
there are plenty of them in London. I will not oppose your marriage,
but I will not give you a shilling. No man ever had a better
opportunity of showing the disinterestedness of his affection. Now,
good morning."
"But, Sir Thomas--"
"Captain Batsby, my time is precious. I have told you all that there
is to tell." Then he stood up, and the Captain with a stern demeanour
and angry brow left the room and took himself in silence away from
Lombard Street.
"Do you want to marry Captain Batsby?" Sir Thomas said to his
daughter that evening, having invited her to come apart with him
after dinner.
"Yes, I do."
"You think that you prefer him on the whole to Mr. Houston?"
"Mr. Houston is a scoundrel. I wish that you would not talk about
him, papa."
"I like him so much the best of the two," said Sir Thomas. "But of
course it is for you to judge. I could have brought myself to give
something to Houston. Luckily, however, Captain Batsby has got an
income of his own."
"He has, papa."
"And you are sure that you would like to take him as your husband?"
"Yes, papa."
"Very well. He has been with me to-day."
"Is he in London?"
"I tell you that he has been with me to-day in Lombard Street."
"What did he say? Did he say anything about me?"
"Yes, my dear. He came to ask me for your hand."
"Well, papa."
"I told him that I should make no objection,--that I should leave
it altogether to you. I only interfered with one small detail as to
my own wishes. I assured him that I should never give him or you
a single shilling. I don't suppose it will matter much to him, as
he has, you know, means of his own." It was thus that Sir Thomas
punished his daughter for her misconduct.
Captain Batsby and the Trafficks were acquainted with each other. The
Member of Parliament had, of course, heard of the journey to Ostend
from his wife, and had been instigated by her to express an opinion
that the young people ought to be married. "It is such a very serious
thing," said Augusta to her husband, "to be four hours on the sea
together! And then you know--!" Mr. Traffick acknowledged that it was
serious, and was reminded by his wife that he, in the capacity of
brother, was bound to interfere on his sister's behalf. "Papa, you
know, understands nothing about these kind of things. You, with your
family interest, and your seat in Parliament, ought to be able to
arrange it." Mr. Traffick probably knew how far his family interest
and his seat in Parliament would avail. They had, at any rate, got
him a wife with a large fortune. They were promising for him, still
further, certain domiciliary advantages. He doubted whether he could
do much for Batsby; but still he promised to try. If he could arrange
these matters it might be that he would curry fresh favour with Sir
Thomas by doing so. He therefore made it his business to encounter
Captain Batsby on the Sunday afternoon at a club to which they both
belonged. "So you have come back from your little trip?" said the
Member of Parliament.
The Captain was not unwilling to discuss the question of their family
relations with Mr. Traffick. If anybody would have influence with Sir
Thomas it might probably be Mr. Traffick. "Yes; I have come back."
"Without your bride."
"Without my bride,--as yet. That is a kind of undertaking in which a
man is apt to run many dangers before he can carry it through."
"I dare say. I never did anything of the kind myself. Of course you
know that I am the young lady's brother-in-law."
"Oh yes."
"And therefore you won't mind me speaking. Don't you think you ought
to do something further?"
"Something further! By George, I should think so," said the Captain,
exultingly. "I mean to do a great many things further. You don't
suppose I am going to give it up?"
"You oughtn't, you know. When a man has taken a girl off with him in
that way, he should go on with it. It's a deuced serious thing, you
know."
"It was his fault in coming after us."
"That was a matter of course. If he hadn't done it, I must. I have
made the family my own, and, of course, must look after its honour."
The noble scion of the house of Traffick, as he said this, showed by
his countenance that he perfectly understood the duty which
circumstances had imposed upon him.
"He made himself very rough, you know," said the Captain.
"I dare say he would."
"And said things,--well,--things which he ought not to have said."
"In such a case as that a father may say pretty nearly what comes
uppermost."
"That was just it. He did say what came uppermost,--and very rough it
was."
"What does it matter?"
"Not much if he'd do as he ought to do now. As you are her
brother-in-law, I'll tell you just how it stands. I have been to him
and made a regular proposal."
"Since you have been back?"
"Yes; the day before yesterday. And what do you think he says?"
"What does he say?"
"He gives his consent; only--"
"Only what?"
"He won't give her a shilling! Such an idea, you know! As though she
were to be punished after marriage for running away with the man she
did marry."
"Take your chance, Batsby," said the Member of Parliament.
"What chance?"
"Take your chance of the money. I'd have done it; only, of course,
it was different with me. He was glad to catch me, and therefore the
money was settled."
"I've got a tidy income of my own, you know," said the Captain,
thinking that he was entitled to be made more welcome as a son-in-law
than the younger son of a peer who had no income.
"Take your chance," continued Traffick. "What on earth can a man
like Tringle do with his money except give it to his children? He is
rough, as you say, but he is not hard-hearted, nor yet stubborn. I
can do pretty nearly what I like with him."
"Can you, though?"
"Yes; by smoothing him down the right way. You run your chance, and
we'll get it all put right for you." The Captain hesitated, rubbing
his head carefully to encourage the thoughts which were springing up
within his bosom. The Honourable Mr. Traffick might perhaps succeed
in getting the affair put right, as he called it, in the interest
rather of the elder than of the second daughter. "I don't see how
you can hesitate now, as you have been off with the girl," said Mr.
Traffick.
"I don't know about that. I should like to see the money settled."
"There would have been nothing settled if you had married her at
Ostend."
"But I didn't," said the Captain. "I tell you what you might do. You
might talk him over and make him a little more reasonable. I should
be ready to-morrow if he'd come forward."
"What's the sum you want?"
"The same as yours, I suppose."
"That's out of the question," said Mr. Traffick, shaking his head.
"Suppose we say sixty thousand pounds." Then after some chaffering on
the subject it was decided between them that Mr. Traffick should use
his powerful influence with his father-in-law to give his daughter on
her marriage,--say a hundred thousand pounds if it were possible, or
sixty thousand pounds at the least.