My dear Molly,--When I wrote to you last, we were living, quietly, it is
true, and unostensively, but happily, on the Lake of Comus, and there
we might have passed the whole autumn, had not K. L, with his usual
thoughtfulness for the comfort of his family, got into a row with the
police, and had us sent out of the country.
No less, my dear! Over the frontier in twenty-four hours was the word;
and when Lord George wanted to see some of the great people about it, or
even make a stir in the newspapers, he wouldn't let him. "No," said he,
"the world is getting tired of Englishmen that are wronged by foreign
governments. They say, naturally enough, that there must be some fault
in ourselves, if we are always in trouble, this way; and, besides, I
would not take fifty pounds, and have somebody get up in the House and
move for all the correspondence in the case of Mr. Dodd, so infamously
used by the authorities in Lombardy." Them 's his words, Molly; and when
we told him that it was a fine way of getting known and talked about in
the world, what was his answer do you think? "I don't want notoriety;
and if I did, I 'd write a letter to the 'Times,' and say it was I that
defended Hougoumont, in the battle of Waterloo. There seems to be
a great dispute about it, and I don't see why I could n't put in my
claim."
I suppose after that, Molly, there will be very little doubt that his
head isn't quite right, for he was no more at Waterloo than you or me.
It was a great shock to us when we got the order to march; for on that
same morning the post brought us a letter from James, or, at least, it
came to Lord George, and with news that made me cry with sheer happiness
for full two hours after. I was n't far wrong, Molly, when I told you
that it 's little need he 'd have of learning or a profession. Launch
him out well in life was my words to K. I. Give him ample means to
mix in society and make friends, and see if he won't turn it to good
account. I know the boy well; and that's what K. I. never did,--never
could.
See if I 'm not right, Mary Gallagher. He went down to the baths of--I'm
afraid of the name, but it sounds like "Humbug," as well as I can make
out--and what does he do but make acquaintance with a beautiful young
creature, a widow of nineteen, rolling in wealth, and one of the first
families in France!
How he did it, I can't tell; no more than where he got all the money he
spent there on horses and carriages and dinners, and elegant things that
he ordered for her from Paris. He passed five weeks there, courting her,
I suppose; and then away they went, rambling through Germany, and over
the mountains, down to Venice. She in her own travelling-carriage,
and James driving a team of four beautiful grays of his own; and then
meeting when they stopped at a town, but all with as much discretion as
if it was only politeness between them. At last he pops the question,
Molly; and it turns out that she has no objection in life, only that
she must get a dispensation from the Pope, because she was promised and
betrothed to the King of Naples, or one of his brothers; and though she
married another, she never got what they call a Bull of release.
This is the hardest thing in the world to obtain; and if it was n't that
she has a Cardinal an uncle, she might never get it. At all events,
it will take time, and meanwhile she ought to live in the strictest
retirement. To enable her to do this properly, and also by way of
showing her every attention, James wrote to have an invitation ready for
her to come down to the villa and stay with us on a visit.
By bad luck, my dear, it was the very morning this letter came, K. I.
had got us all ordered away! What was to be done, was now the question;
we daren't trust him with the secret till she was in the house, for we
knew well he 'd refuse to ask her,--say he could n't afford the expense,
and that we were all sworn to ruin him. We left it to Lord George to
manage; and he, at last, got K. I. to fix on Parma for a week or two,
one of the quietest towns in Italy, and where you never see a coach in
the streets, nor even a well-dressed creature oat on Sunday. K. I. was
delighted with it all; saving money is the soul of him, and he never
thinks of anything but when he can make a hard bargain. What he does
with his income, Molly, the saints alone can tell; but I suspect that
there's some sinners, too, know a trifle about it; and the day will come
when I 'll have the proof! Lord G. sent for the landlord's
tariff, and it was reasonable enough. Rooms were to be two
zwanzigers--one-and-fourpence--apiece; breakfast, one; dinner, two
zwanzigers; tea, half a one; no charge for wine of the place; and if we
stayed any time, we were to have the key of a box at the opera.
K. I. was in ecstasy. "If I was to live here five or six years," says
he, "and pay nobody, my affairs wouldn't be so much embarrassed as they
are now!"
"If you 'd cut off your encumbrances, Mr. Dodd," says I, "that would
save something."
"My what?" said he, flaring up, with a face like a turkey-cock.
But I was n't going to dispute with him, Molly; so I swept out of the
room, and threw down a little china flowerpot just to stop him.
The same day we started, and arrived here at the hotel, the "Cour de
Parme," by midnight; it was a tiresome journey, and K. I. made it worse,
for he was fighting with somebody or other the whole time; and Lord
George was not with us, for he had gone off to Milan to meet James; and
Mr. D. was therefore free to get into as many scrapes as he pleased.
I must say, he did n't neglect the opportunity, for he insulted the
passport people and the customhouse officers, and the man at the bridge
of boats, and the postmasters and postilions everywhere. "I did n't come
here to be robbed," said he everywhere; and he got a few Italian words
for "thief," "rogue," "villain," and so on; and if I saw one, I saw ten
knives drawn on him that blessed day. He would n't let Cary translate
for him, but sat on the box himself, and screamed out his directions
like a madman. This went on till we came to a place called San Donino,
and there--it was the last stage from Parma--they told him he could n't
have any horses, though he saw ten of them standing all ready harnessed
and saddled in the stable. I suppose they explained to him the reason,
and that he did n't understand it, for they all got to words together,
and it was soon who 'd scream loudest amongst them.
At last K. I. cried out, "Come down, Paddy, and see if we can't get four
of these beasts to the carriage, and we 'll not ask for a postilion."
Down jumps Paddy out of the rumble, and rushes after him into the
stable. A terrible uproar followed this, and soon after the stable
people, helpers, ostlers, and postboys, were seen running out of
the door for their lives, and K. I. and Paddy after them, with two
rack-staves they had torn out of the manger. "Leave them to me," says K.
I.; "leave them to me, Paddy, and do you go in for the horses; put them
to, and get a pair of reins if you can; if not, jump up on one of the
leaders, and drive away."
If he was bred and born in the place, he could not have known it better,
for he came out the next minute with a pair of horses, that he fastened
to the carriage in a trice, and then hurried back for two more, that
he quickly brought out and put to also. "There 's no whip to be found,"
says he, "but this wattle will do for the leaders; and if your honor
will stir up the wheelers, here 's a nice little handy stable fork to do
it with." With this Paddy sprung into the saddle, K. I. jumped up to the
box, and off they set, tearing down the street like mad. It was pitch
dark, and of course neither of them knew the road; but K. I. screamed
out, "Keep in the middle, Paddy, and don't pull up for any one." We
went through the village at a full gallop, the people all yelling and
shouting after us; but at the end of the street there were two roads,
and Paddy cried out, "Which way now?" "Take the widest, if you can see
it," screamed out K. I.; and away he went, at a pace that made the big
travelling-carriage bump and swing like a boat at sea.
[Illustration: 164]
We soon felt we were going down a dreadful steep, for the carriage was
all but on top of the horses, and K. I. kept screaming out, "Keep up
the pace, Paddy. Make them go, or we'll all be smashed." Just as he
said that I heard a noise, like the sea in a storm,--a terrible sound
of rushing, dashing, roaring water; then a frightful yell from Paddy,
followed by a plunge. "In a river, by ------!" roared out K. I.; and as
he said it, the coach gave a swing over to one side, then righted, then
swung back again, and with a crash that I thought smashed it to atoms,
fell over on one side into the water.
"All right," said K. I.; "I turned the leaders short round and saved
us!" and with that he began tearing and dragging us out. I fell into
a swoon after this, and know no more of what happened. When I came to
myself, I was in a small hut, lying on a bed of chestnut leaves, and the
place crowded with peasants and postilions.
"There 's no mischief done, mamma," said Cary. "Paddy swam the leaders
across beautifully, for the traces snapped at once, and, except the
fright, we 're nothing the worse."
"Where's Mary Anne?" said I.
"Talking to the gentleman who assisted us--outside--some friend of Lord
George's, I believe, for he is with him."
Just as she said this, in comes Mary Anne with Lord George and his
friend.
"Oh, mamma," says she, in a whisper, "you don't know who it is,--the
Prince himself."
"Ah, been and done it, marm," said he, addressing me with his glass in
his eye.
"What, sir?" said I.
"Taken a 'header,' they tell me, eh? Glad there's no harm done."
"His Serene Highness hopes you 'll not mind it, mamma," said Mary Anne.
"Oh, is _that_ it?" said I.
"Yes, mamma. Isn't he delightful,--so easy, so familiar, and so truly
kind also."
"He has just ordered up two of his own carriages to take us on."
By this time his Serene Highness had lighted his cigar, and, seating
himself on a log of wood in the corner of the hut, began smoking. In the
intervals of the puffs he said,--
"Old gent took a wrong turning--should have gone left--water very high,
besides, from the late rains--regular smash--wish I 'd seen it."
K. I. now joined us, all dripping, and hung round with weeds and
water-lilies,--as Lord George said, like an ancient river-god. "In any
other part of the globe," said he, "there would have been a warning of
some kind or other stuck up here to show there was n't a bridge; but
exactly as I said yesterday, these little beggarly States, with their
petty governments, are the curse of Europe."
"Hush, papa, for mercy' sake," whispered Mary Anne; "this is the Prince
himself; it is his Serene Highness--"
"Oh, the devil!" said he.
"My friend, Mr. Dodd, Prince," said Lord George, presenting him with a
sly look, as much as to say, "the same as I told you about."
"Dodd--Dodd--fellow of that name hanged, wasn't there?" said the Prince.
"Yes, your Highness; he was a Dr. Dodd, who committed forgery, and for
whom the very greatest public sympathy was felt at the time," said K. I.
"Your father, eh?"
"No, your Highness, no relation whatever,"
"Won't have him at any price, George," said the Prince, with a wink.
"Never draw a weed, miss?" said he, turning to Mary Anne.
I don't know what she said, but it must have been smart, for his Serene
Highness laughed heartily and said,--
"Egad, I got it there, Tiverton!"
In due time a royal carriage arrived. The Prince himself handed us in,
and we drove off with one of the Court servants on the box. To be sure,
we forgot that we had left K. I. behind; but Mary Anne said he 'd have
no difficulty in finding a conveyance, and the distance was only a few
miles.
"I wish his Serene Highness had not taken away Lord George," said Mary
Anne; "he insists upon his going with him to Venice."
"For my part," said Cary, "though greatly obliged to the Prince for his
opportune kindness to ourselves, I am still more grateful to him for
this service."
On that, my dear, we had a dispute that lasted till we got to our
journey's end; for though the girls never knew what it was to disagree
at home in Dodsborough, here, abroad, Cary's jealousy is such that she
cannot control herself, and says at times the most cruel and unfeeling
things to her sister.
At last we got to the end of this wearisome day, and found ourselves at
the door of the inn. The Court servant said something to the landlord,
and immediately the whole household turned out to receive us; and the
order was given to prepare the "Ambassador's suite of apartments for
us."
"This is the Prince's doing," whispered Mary Anne in my ear. "Did you
ever know such a piece of good fortune?"
The rooms were splendid, Molly; though a little gloomy when we first got
in, for all the hangings were of purple velvet, and the pictures on
the walls were dark and black, so that, though we had two lamps in our
saloon and above a dozen caudles, you could not see more than one-half
the length of it.
I never saw Mary Anne in such spirits in my life. She walked up and
down, admiring everything, praising everything; then she 'd sit down to
the piano and play for a few minutes, and then spring up and waltz about
the room like a mad thing. As for Cary, I didn't know what became of
her till I found that she had been downstairs with the landlord, getting
him to send a conveyance back for her father, quite forgetting, as Mary
Anne said, that any fuss about the mistake would only serve to expose
us. And there, Molly, once for all, is the difference between the two
girls! The one has such a knowledge of life and the world, that she
never makes a blunder; and the other, with the best intentions, is
always doing something wrong!
We waited supper for K. I. till past one o'clock; but, with his usual
selfishness and disregard of others, he never came till it was nigh
three, and then made such a noise as to wake up the whole house. It
appeared, too, that he missed the coach that was sent to meet him, and
he and Paddy Byrne came the whole way on foot! Let him do what he will,
he has a knack of bringing disgrace on his family! The fatigue and wet
feet, and his temper more than either, brought back the gout on him, and
he did n't get up till late in the afternoon. We were in the greatest
anxiety to tell him about James; but there was no saying what humor he'd
be in, and how he'd take it. Indeed, his first appearance did not augur
well. He was cross with everything and everybody. He said that sleeping
on that grand bed with the satin hangings was like lying in state after
death, and that our elegant drawing-room was about as comfortable as a
cathedral.
He got into a little better temper when the landlord came up with the
bill of fare, and to consult him about the dinner.
"Egad!" said he, "I've ordered fourteen dishes; so I don't think they'll
make much out of the two zwanzigers a head!" Out of decency he had to
order champagne, and a couple of bottles of Italian wine of a very high
quality. "It's like all my economy," says he; "five shillings for a
horse, and a pound to get him shod!"
We saw it was best to wait till dinner was over before we spoke to him;
and, indeed, we were right, for he dined very heartily, finished the two
bottles every glass, and got so happy and comfortable that Mary Anne sat
down to the piano to sing for him.
"Thank you, my darling," said he, when she was done. "I 've no doubt
that the song is a fine one, and that you sung it well, but I can't
follow the words, nor appreciate the air. I like something that touches
me either with an old recollection, or by some suggestion for the
future; and if you 'd try and remember the 'Meeting of the Waters,' or
'Where's the Slave so lowly'--"
"I 'm afraid, sir, I cannot gratify you," said she; and it was all she
could do to get out of the room before he heard her sobbing.
"What's the matter, Jemi," said he, "did I say anything wrong? Is Molly
angry with me?"
"Will you tell me," said I, "when you ever said anything right? Or do
you do anything from morning till night but hurt the feelings and dance
upon the tenderest emotions of your whole family? I've submitted to it
so long," said I, "that I have no heart left in me to complain; but now
that you drive me to it, I 'll tell you my mind;" and so I did, Molly,
till he jumped up at last, put on his hat, and rushed downstairs into
the street. After which I went to my room, and cried till bedtime! As
poor Mary Anne said to me, "There was a refined cruelty in that request
of papa's I can never forget;" nor is it to be expected she should!
The next morning at breakfast he was in a better humor, for the table
was covered with delicacies of every kind, fruit and liqueurs besides.
"Not dear at eightpence, Jemi," he 'd say, at every time he filled his
plate. "Just think the way one is robbed by servants, when you see what
can be had for a 'zwanziger;'" and he made Cary take down a list of the
things, just to send to the "Times," and show how the English hotels
were cheating the public.
We saw that this was a fine opportunity to tell him about James, and so
Mary Anne undertook the task. "And so he never went to London at all,"
he kept repeating all the while. No matter what she said about the
Countess, and her fortune, and her great connections; nothing came out
of his lips but the same words.
"Don't you perceive," said I, at last, for I could n't bear it any
longer, "that he did better,--that the boy took a shorter and surer road
in life than a shabby place under the Crown!"
"May be so," said he, with a deep sigh,--"may be so! but I ought to
be excused if I don't see at a glance how any man makes his fortune by
marriage!"
I knew that he meant that for a provocation, Molly, but I bit my lips
and said nothing.
We then explained to him that we had sent off a note to the Countess,
asking her to pass a few weeks with us, and were in hourly expectation
of her arrival.
He gave another heavy sigh, and drank off a glass of Curacoa.
Mary Anne went on about our good luck in finding such a capital hotel,
so cheap and in such a sweet retired spot,--just the very thing the
Countess would like.
"Never went to London at all!" muttered K. I., for he could n't get his
thoughts out of the old track. And, indeed, though we were all talking
to him for more than an hour afterwards, it was easy to see that he was
just standing still on the same spot as before. I don't ever remember
passing a day of such anxiety as that, for every distant noise of
wheels, every crack of a postilion's whip, brought us to the window to
see if they were coming. We delayed dinner till seven o'clock, and put
K. I.'s watch back, to persuade him it was only five; we loitered and
lingered over it as long as we could, but no sight nor sound was there
of their coming.
"Tell Paddy to fetch my slippers, Molly," said K. I., as we got into the
drawing-room.
"Oh, papa! impossible," said she; "the Countess may arrive at any
moment."
"Think of his never going to London at all," said he, with a groan.
I almost cried with spite, to see a man so lost to every sentiment of
proper pride, and even dead to the prospects of his own children!
"Don't you think I might have a cigar?" said he.
"Is it here, papa?" said Mary Anne. "The smell of tobacco would
certainly disgust the Countess."
"He thinks it would be more flattering to receive her into all the
intimacy of the family," said I, "and see us without any disguise."
"Egad, then," said he, bitterly, "she's come too late for _that_; she
should have made our acquaintance before we began vagabondizing over
Europe, and pretending to fifty things we 've no right to!"
"Here she is,--here they are!" screamed Mary Anne at this moment; and,
with a loud noise like thunder, the heavy carriage rolled under the
arched gateway, while crack--crack--crack went the whips, and the big
bell of the ball began ringing away furiously.
"_I'm_ off, at all events," said K. I.; and snatching one of the candles
off the table, he rushed out of the room as hard as he could go.
I had n't more than time to put my cap straight on my head, when I heard
them on the stairs; and then, with a loud bang of the folding-doors, the
landlord himself ushered them into the room. She was leaning on James's
arm, but the minute she saw me, she rushed forward and kissed my hand!
I never was so ashamed in my life, Molly. It was making me out such a
great personage at once, that I thought I 'd have fainted at the very
notion. As to Mary Anne, they were in each other's arms in a second,
and kissed a dozen times. Cary, however, with a coldness that I'll never
forgive her for, just shook hands with her, and then turned to embrace
James a second time.
While Mary Anne was taking off her shawl and her bonnet, I saw that she
was looking anxiously about the room.
"What is it?" said I to Mary Anne,--"what does she want?" "She's asking
where's the Prince; she means papa," whispered Mary Anne to me; and
then, in a flash, I saw the way James represented us. "Tell her, my
dear," said I, "that the Prince was n't very well, and has gone to bed."
But she was too much engaged with us all to ask more about him, and we
all sat down to tea, the happiest party ever you looked at. I had
time now to look at her; and really, Molly, I must allow, she was the
handsomest creature I ever beheld. She was a kind of a Spanish beauty,
brown, and with jet-black eyes and hair, but a little vermilion on her
cheeks, and eyelashes that threw a shadow over the upper part of her
face. As to her teeth, when she smiled,--I thought Mary Anne's good, but
they were nothing in comparison. When she caught me looking at her, she
seemed to guess what was passing in my mind, for she stooped down and
kissed my hand twice or thrice with rapture.
It was a great loss to me, as you may suppose, that I could n't speak
to her, nor understand what she said to me; but I saw that Mary Anne
was charmed with her, and even Cary--cold and distant as she was at
first--seemed very much taken with her afterwards.
When tea was over, James sat down beside me, and told me everything.
"If the governor will only behave handsomely for a week or two," said
he,--"I ask no more,--that lovely creature and four thousand a year are
all my own." He went on to show me that we ought to live in a certain
style--not looking too narrowly into the cost of it--while she was with
us. "She can't stay after the fourteenth," said he, "for her uncle the
Cardinal is to be at Pisa that day, and she must be there to meet him;
so that, after all, it's only three weeks I 'm asking for, and a couple
of hundred pounds will do it all. As for me," said he, "I'm regularly
aground,--haven't a ten-pound note remaining, and had to sell my 'drag'
and my four grays at Milan, to get money to come on here."
He then informed me that her saddle-horses would arrive in a day or two,
and that we should immediately provide others, to enable him and the
girls to ride out with her. "She is used to every imaginable luxury,"
said he, "and has no conception that want of means could be the
impediment to having anything one wished for."
I promised him to do my best with his father, Molly: but you may guess
what a task that was; for, say what I could, the only remark I could get
out of him was, "It's very strange that he never went to London."
After all, Molly, I might have spared myself all my fatigue and all my
labor, if I had only had the common-sense to remember what he was,--what
he is,--ay, and what he will be--to the end of the chapter. He was n't
well in the room with her the next morning, when I saw the old fool
looking as soft and as sheepish at her as if he was making love himself.
I own to you, Molly, I think she encouraged it. She had that French way
with her, that seems to say, "Look as long as you like, and I don't mind
it;" and so he did,--and even after breakfast I caught him peeping under
the "Times" at her foot, which, I must say, was beautifully shaped and
small; not but that the shoe had a great deal to say to it.
"I hope you 're pleased, Mr. Dodd?" said I, as I passed behind his
chair.
"Yes," said he; "the funds is rising."
"I mean with the prospect," said I.
"Yes," said he; "we 'll be all looking up presently."
"Better than looking down," said I, "you old fool!"
I could n't help it, Molly, if it was to have spoiled everything,--the
words would come out.
He got very red in the face, Molly, but said nothing, and so I left
him to his own reflections. And it is what I'm now going to do with
yourself, seeing that I 've come to the end of all my news, and
carefully jotted down everything that has occurred here for your
benefit. Four days have now passed over, and they don't seem like as
many hours, though the place itself has not got many amusements.
The young people ride out every morning on horseback, and rarely come
back until time to dress for dinner. Then we all meet; and I must say
a more elegant display I never witnessed! The table covered with plate,
and beautiful colored glass globes filled with flowers. The girls in
full dress,--for the Countess comes down as if she was going to a Court,
and wears diamond combs in her head, and a brooch of the same, as large
as a cheese-plate. I too do my best to make a suitable appearance,--in
crimson velvet and a spangled turban, with a deep fall of gold
fringe,--and, except the "Prince,"--as we call K. I.,--we are all fit to
receive the Emperor of Russia. In the evening we have music and a game
of cards, except on the opera nights, which we never miss; and then,
with a nice warm supper at twelve o'clock, Molly, we close as pleasant
a day as you could wish. Of course I can't tell you much more about
the Countess, for I 'm unable to talk to her, but she and Mary Anne are
never asunder; and, though Cary still plays cold and retired, she can't
help calling her a lovely creature.
It seems there is some new difficulty about the dispensation; and the
Cardinal requires her to do "some meritorious works," I think they call
them, before he 'll ask for it. But if ever there was a saintly young
creature, it is herself; and I hear she's up at five o'clock every
morning just to attend first mass.
Here they are now, coming up the stairs, and I have n't more than time
to seal this, and write myself
Your attached friend,
Jemima Dodd.
Mary Anne begs you will tell Kitty Doolan that she has not been able to
write to her, with all the occupation she has lately had, but will take
the very first moment to send her at least a few lines. As James's good
luck will soon be no secret, you may tell it to Kitty, and I think it
won't be thrown away on her, as I suspect she was making eyes at him
herself, though she might be his mother!