"I WILL NOT DESERT HIM."
Sir Harry, before he had left Humblethwaite for London in October,
had heard enough of his cousin's sins to make him sure that the
match must be opposed with all his authority. Indeed he had so felt
from the first moment in which George had begun to tell him of
what had occurred at Airey Force. He had never thought that George
Hotspur would make a fitting husband for his daughter. But, without
so thinking, he had allowed his mind to dwell upon the outside
advantages of the connection, dreaming of a fitness which he knew did
not exist, till he had vacillated, and the evil thing had come upon
him. When the danger was so close upon him to make him see what it
was, to force him to feel what would be the misery threatened to his
daughter, to teach him to realize his own duty, he condemned himself
bitterly for his own weakness. Could any duty which he owed to the
world be so high or so holy as that which was due from him to his
child? He almost hated his name and title and position as he thought
of the evil that he had already done. Had his cousin George been in
no close succession to the title, would he have admitted a man of
whom he knew so much ill, and of whom he had never heard any good,
within his park palings? And then he could not but acknowledge to
himself that by asking such a one to his house,--a man such as this
young cousin who was known to be the heir to the title,--he had given
his daughter special reason to suppose that she might regard him as
a fitting suitor for her hand. She of course had known,--had felt as
keenly as he had felt, for was she not a Hotspur?--that she would be
true to her family by combining her property and the title, and that
by yielding to such a marriage she would be doing a family duty,
unless there were reasons against it stronger than those connected
with his name. But as to those other reasons, must not her father and
her mother know better than she could know? When she found that the
man was made welcome both in town and country, was it not natural
that she should suppose that there were no stronger reasons? All this
Sir Harry felt, and blamed himself and determined that though he must
oppose his daughter and make her understand that the hope of such a
marriage must be absolutely abandoned, it would be his duty to be
very tender with her. He had sinned against her already, in that he
had vacillated and had allowed that handsome but vile and worthless
cousin to come near her.
In his conduct to his daughter, Sir Harry endeavoured to be just,
and tender, and affectionate; but in his conduct to his wife on
the occasion he allowed himself some scope for the ill-humour not
unnaturally incident to his misfortune. "Why on earth you should
have had him in Bruton Street when you knew very well what he was, I
cannot conceive," said Sir Harry.
"But I didn't know," said Lady Elizabeth, fearing to remind her
husband that he also had sanctioned the coming of the cousin.
"I had told you. It was there that the evil was done. And then to let
them go to that picnic together!"
"What could I do when Mrs. Fitzpatrick asked to be taken? You
wouldn't have had me tell Emily that she should not be one of the
party."
"I would have put it off till he was out of the house."
"But the Fitzpatricks were going too," pleaded the poor woman.
"It wouldn't have happened at all if you had not asked him to stay
till the Monday," said Sir Harry; and to this charge Lady Elizabeth
knew that there was no answer. There she had clearly disobeyed her
husband; and though she doubtless suffered much from some dim idea of
injustice, she was aware that as she had so offended she must submit
to be told that all this evil had come from her wrong-doing.
"I hope she will not be obstinate," said Sir Harry to his wife.
Lady Elizabeth, though she was not an acute judge of character, did
know her own daughter, and was afraid to say that Emily would not
be obstinate. She had the strongest possible respect as well as
affection for her own child; she thoroughly believed in Emily--much
more thoroughly than she did in herself. But she could not say that
in such a matter Emily would not be obstinate. Lady Elizabeth was
very intimately connected with two obstinate persons, one of whom was
young and the other old; and she thought that perhaps the younger was
the more obstinate of the two.
"It is quite out of the question that she should marry him," said Sir
Harry, sadly. Still Lady Elizabeth made no reply. "I do not think
that she will disobey me," continued Sir Harry. Still Lady Elizabeth
said nothing. "If she gives me a promise, she will keep it," said Sir
Harry.
Then the mother could answer, "I am sure she will."
"If the worst come to the worst, we must go away."
"To Scarrowby?" suggested Lady Elizabeth, who hated Scarrowby.
"That would do no good. Scarrowby would be the same as Humblethwaite
to her, or perhaps worse. I mean abroad. We must shut up the place
for a couple of years, and take her to Naples and Vienna, or perhaps
to Egypt. Everything must be changed to her!--that is, if the evil
has gone deep enough."
"Is he so very bad?" asked Lady Elizabeth.
"He is a liar and a blackguard, and I believe him to be a swindler,"
said Sir Harry. Then Lady Elizabeth was mute, and her husband left
her.
At this time he had heard the whole story of the pawning of the
commission, had been told something of money raised by worthless
cheques, and had run to ground that lie about the Goodwood races. But
he had not yet heard anything special of Mrs. Morton. The only attack
on George's character which had as yet been made in the hearing of
Emily had been with reference to the Goodwood races. Mrs. Stackpoole
was a lady of some determination, and one who in society liked to
show that she was right in her assertions, and well informed on
matters in dispute; and she hated Cousin George. There had therefore
come to be a good deal said about the Goodwood meeting, so that the
affair reached Sir Harry's ears. He perceived that Cousin George
had lied, and determined that Emily should be made to know that her
cousin had lied. But it was very difficult to persuade her of this.
That everybody else should tell stories about George and the Goodwood
meeting seemed to her to be natural enough; she contented herself
with thinking all manner of evil of Mr. and Mrs. Stackpoole, and
reiterating her conviction that George Hotspur had not been at the
meeting in question.
"I don't know that it much signifies," Mrs. Stackpoole had said in
anger.
"Not in the least," Emily had replied, "only that I happen to know
that my cousin was not there. He goes to so many race meetings that
there has been some little mistake."
Then Mr. Stackpoole had written to Cousin George, and Cousin George
had thought it wise to make no reply. Sir Harry, however, from other
sources had convinced himself of the truth, and had told his daughter
that there was evidence enough to prove the fact in any court of law.
Emily when so informed had simply held her tongue, and had resolved
to hate Mrs. Stackpoole worse than ever.
She had been told from the first that her engagement with her cousin
would not receive her father's sanction; and for some days after
that there had been silence on the subject at Humblethwaite, while
the correspondence with Mr. Boltby was being continued. Then there
came the moment in which Sir Harry felt that he must call upon his
daughter to promise obedience, and the conversation which has been
described between him and Lady Elizabeth was preparatory to his doing
so.
"My dear," he said to his daughter, "sit down; I want to speak to
you."
He had sent for her into his own morning room, in which she did not
remember to have been asked to sit down before. She would often
visit him there, coming in and out on all manner of small occasions,
suggesting that he should ride with her, asking for the loan of a
gardener for a week for some project of her own, telling him of a big
gooseberry, interrupting him ruthlessly on any trifle in the world.
But on such occasions she would stand close to him, leaning on him.
And he would scold her,--playfully, or kiss her, or bid her begone
from the room,--but would always grant what she asked of him. To him,
though he hardly knew that it was so, such visits from his darling
had been the bright moments of his life. But up to this morning he
had never bade her be seated in that room.
"Emily," he said, "I hope you understand that all this about your
cousin George must be given up." She made no reply, though he waited
perhaps for a minute. "It is altogether out of the question. I am
very, very sorry that you have been subjected to such a sorrow. I
will own that I have been to blame for letting him come to my house."
"No, Papa, no."
"Yes, my dear, I have been to blame, and I feel it keenly. I did not
then know as much of him as I do now, but I had heard that which
should have made me careful to keep him out of your company."
"Hearing about people, Papa! Is that fair? Are we not always hearing
tales about everybody?"
"My dear child, you must take my word for something."
"I will take it for everything in all the world, Papa."
"He has been a thoroughly bad young man."
"But, Papa--"
"You must take my word for it when I tell you that I have positive
proof of what I am telling you."
"But, Papa--"
"Is not that enough?"
"No, Papa. I am heartily sorry that he should have been what you call
a bad young man. I wish young men weren't so bad;--that there were no
racecourses, and betting, and all that. But if he had been my brother
instead of my cousin--"
"Don't talk about your brother, Emily."
"Should we hate him because he has been unsteady? Should we not do
all that we could in the world to bring him back? I do not know that
we are to hate people because they do what they ought not to do."
"We hate liars."
"He is not a liar. I will not believe it."
"Why did he tell you that he was not at those races, when he was
there as surely as you are here? But, my dear, I will not argue about
all this with you. It is not right that I should do so. It is my duty
to inquire into these things, and yours to believe me and to obey
me." Then he paused, but his daughter made no reply to him. He looked
into her face, and saw there that mark about her eyes which he knew
he so often showed himself; which he so well remembered with his
father. "I suppose you do believe me, Emily, when I tell you that he
is worthless."
"He need not be worthless always."
"His conduct has been such that he is unfit to be trusted with
anything."
"He must be the head of our family some day, Papa."
"That is our misfortune, my dear. No one can feel it as I do. But I
need not add to it the much greater misfortune of sacrificing to him
my only child."
"If he was so bad, why did he come here?"
"That is true. I did not expect to be rebuked by you, Emily, but I am
open to that rebuke."
"Dear, dear Papa, indeed I did not mean to rebuke you. But I cannot
give him up."
"You must give him up."
"No, Papa. If I did, I should be false. I will not be false. You say
that he is false. I do not know that, but I will not be false. Let me
speak to you for one minute."
"It is of no use."
"But you will hear me, Papa. You always hear me when I speak to
you." She had left her chair now, and was standing close to him, not
leaning upon him as was her wont in their pleasantest moments of
fellowship, but ready to do so whenever she should find that his mood
would permit it. "I will never marry him without your leave."
"Thanks, Emily; I know how sacred is a promise from you."
"But mine to him is equally sacred. I shall still be engaged to him.
I told him how it would be. I said that, as long as you or Mamma
lived, I would never marry without your leave. Nor would I see him,
or write to him without your knowledge. I told him so. But I told him
also that I would always be true to him. I mean to keep my word."
"If you find him to be utterly worthless, you cannot be bound by such
a promise."
"I hope it may not be so. I do not believe that it is so. I know him
too well to think that he can be utterly worthless. But if he was,
who should try to save him from worthlessness if not his nearest
relatives? We try to reclaim the worst criminals, and sometimes we
succeed. And he must be the head of the family. Remember that. Ought
we not to try to reclaim him? He cannot be worse than the prodigal
son."
"He is ten times worse. I cannot tell you what has been his life."
"Papa, I have often thought that in our rank of life society is
responsible for the kind of things which young men do. If he was at
Goodwood, which I do not believe, so was Mr. Stackpoole. If he was
betting, so was Mr. Stackpoole."
"But Mr. Stackpoole did not lie."
"I don't know that," she said, with a little toss of her head.
"Emily, you have no business either to say or to think it."
"I care nothing for Mr. Stackpoole whether he tells truth or not. He
and his wife have made themselves very disagreeable,--that is all.
But as for George, he is what he is, because other young men are
allowed to be the same."
"You do not know the half of it."
"I know as much as I want to know, Papa. Let one keep as clear of it
as one can, it is impossible not to hear how young men live. And yet
they are allowed to go everywhere, and are flattered and encouraged.
I do not pretend that George is better than others. I wish he were.
Oh, how I wish it! But such as he is he belongs in a way to us, and
we ought not to desert him. He belongs, I know, to me, and I will not
desert him."
Sir Harry felt that there was no arguing with such a girl as this.
Some time since he had told her that it was unfit that he should be
brought into an argument with his own child, and there was nothing
now for him but to fall back upon the security which that assertion
gave him. He could not charge her with direct disobedience, because
she had promised him that she would not do any of those things
which, as a father, he had a right to forbid. He relied fully on her
promise, and so far might feel himself to be safe. Nevertheless he
was very unhappy. Of what service would his child be to him or he
to her, if he were doomed to see her pining from day to day with an
unpermitted love? It was the dearest wish of his heart to make her
happy, as it was his fondest ambition to see her so placed in the
world that she might be the happy transmitter of all the honours
of the house of Humblethwaite,--if she could not transmit all the
honours of the name. Time might help him. And then if she could be
made really to see how base was the clay of which had been made this
image which she believed to be of gold, might it not be that at last
she would hate a thing that was so vile? In order that she might do
so, he would persist in finding out what had been the circumstances
of this young man's life. If, as he believed, the things which George
Hotspur had done were such as in another rank of life would send the
perpetrator to the treadmill, surely then she would not cling to her
lover. It would not be in her nature to prefer that which was foul
and abominable and despised of all men. It was after this, when he
had seen Mr. Boltby, that the idea occurred to him of buying up
Cousin George, so that Cousin George should himself abandon his
engagement.
"You had better go now, my dear," he said, after his last speech. "I
fully rely upon the promise you have made me. I know that I can rely
upon it. And you also may rely upon me. I give you my word as your
father that this man is unfit to be your husband, and that I should
commit a sin greater than I can describe to you were I to give my
sanction to such a marriage."
Emily made no answer to this, but left the room without having once
leaned upon her father's shoulder.
That look of hers troubled him sadly when he was alone. What was to
be the meaning of it, and what the result? She had given him almost
unasked the only promise which duty required her to give, but at the
same time she had assured him by her countenance, as well as by her
words, that she would be as faithful to her lover as she was prepared
to be obedient to her father. And then if there should come a long
contest of that nature, and if he should see her devoted year after
year to a love which she would not even try to cast off from her, how
would he be able to bear it? He, too, was firm, but he knew himself
to be as tender-hearted as he was obstinate. It would be more than
he could bear. All the world would be nothing for him then. And if
there were ever to be a question of yielding, it would be easier
to do something towards lessening the vileness of the man now than
hereafter. He, too, had some of that knowledge of the world which had
taught Lady Altringham to say that the young people in such contests
could always beat the old people. Thinking of this, and of that look
upon his child's brows, he almost vacillated again. Any amount of
dissipation he could now have forgiven; but to be a liar, too, and a
swindler! Before he went to bed that night he had made up his mind to
go to London and to see Mr. Boltby.