A DINNER PARTY AMONG SOME OLD FRIENDS.
Lady Hainault (_née_ Burton, not the Dowager) had asked some one to
dinner, and the question had been whom to ask to meet him. Mary had been
called into consultation, as she generally was on most occasions, and
she and Lady Hainault had made up a list together. Every one had
accepted, and was coming; and here were Mary and Lady Hainault dressed
for dinner, alone in the drawing-room with the children.
"We could not have done better for him, Mary, I think. You must go in to
dinner with him."
"Is Mary going to stop down to dinner?" said the youngest boy; "what a
shame! I sha'n't say my prayers to-night if she don't come up."
The straightforward Gus let his brother know what would be the
consequences of such neglect hereafter, in a plain-spoken way peculiarly
his own.
"Gus! Gus! don't say such things," said Lady Hainault.
"The hymn-book says so, aunt," said Gus, triumphantly; and he quoted a
charming little verse of Dr. Watts's, beginning, "There is a dreadful
Hell."
Lady Hainault might have been puzzled what to say, and Mary would not
have helped her, for they had had an argument about that same hymn-book
(Mary contending that one or two of the hymns were as well left alone at
first), when Flora struck in and saved her aunt, by remarking.
"I shall save up my money and buy some jewels for Mary like aunt's, so
that when she stays down to dinner some of the men may fall in love with
her, and marry her."
"Pooh! you silly goose," said Gus, "those jewels cost sixty million
thousand pounds a-piece. I don't want her to be married till I grow up,
and then I shall marry her myself. Till then, I shall buy her a yellow
wig, like grandma Hainault's, and then nobody will want to marry her."
"Be quiet, Gus," said Lady Hainault.
It was one thing to say "be quiet Gus," and it was another thing to make
him hold his tongue. But, to do Gus justice, he was a good fellow, and
never acted "_enfant terrible_" but to the most select and private
audience. Now he had begun: "I wish some one would marry grandma," when
the door was thrown open, the first guest was announced, and Gus was
dumb.
"General Mainwaring." The general sat down between Lady Hainault and
Mary, and, while talking to them, reached out his broad brown hand and
lifted the youngest boy on his knee, who played with his ribands, and
cried out that he would have the orange and blue one, if he pleased;
while Gus and Flora came and stood at his knee.
He talked to them both sadly in a low voice about the ruin which had
come on Lord Ascot. There was worse than mere ruin, he feared. He feared
there was disgrace. He had been with him that morning. He was a wreck.
One side of his face was sadly pulled down, and he stammered in his
speech. He would get over it. He was only three-and-forty. But he would
not show again in society, he feared. Here was somebody else; they would
change the subject.
Lord Saltire. They were so glad to see him. Every one's face had a kind
smile on it as the old man came and sat down among them. His own smile
was not the least pleasant of the lot, I warrant you.
"So you are talking about poor Ascot, eh?" he said. "I don't know
whether you were or not; but, if you were, let us talk about something
else. You see, my dear Miss Corby, that my prophecy to you on the
terrace at Ravenshoe is falsified. I said they would not fight, and lo,
they are as good as at it."
They talked about the coming war, and Lord Hainault came in and joined
them. Soon after, another guest was announced.
Lady Ascot. She was dressed in dark grey silk, with her white hair
simply parted under a plain lace cap. She looked so calm, so brave, so
kind, so beautiful, as she came with firm strong step in at the door,
that they one and all rose and came towards her. She had always been
loved by them all; how much more deeply was she loved now, when her
bitter troubles had made her doubly sacred!
Lord Saltire gave her his arm, and she came and sat down among them with
her hands calmly folded before her. "I was determined to come and see
you to-night, my dear," she said. "I should break down if I couldn't see
some that I loved. And to-night, in particular" (she looked earnestly at
Lord Saltire). "Is he come yet?"
"Not yet, dear grandma," said Mary.
"No one is coming besides, I suppose?" asked Lady Ascot.
"No one; we are waiting for him."
The door was opened once more, and they all looked curiously round. This
time the servant announced, perhaps in a somewhat louder tone than
usual, as if he were aware that they were more interested,
"Mr. Ravenshoe."
A well-dressed, gentlemanly-looking man came into the room, bearing such
a wonderful likeness to Charles Ravenshoe, that Lady Hainault and
General Mainwaring, the only two who had never seen him before, started,
and thought they saw Charles himself. It was not Charles, though; it was
our old friend whilom pad-groom to Charles Ravenshoe, Esquire, now
himself William Ravenshoe, Esquire, of Ravenshoe.
He was the guest of the evening. He would be heir to Ravenshoe himself
some day; for they had made up their minds that Cuthbert would never
marry. Ravenshoe, as Cuthbert was managing it now, would be worth ten or
twelve thousand a year, and, if these new tin lodes came to anything,
perhaps twenty. He had been a stable-helper, said old Lady
Hainault--the companion of the drunken riots of his foster-brother
impostor, and that quiet gentlemanly creature Welter. If he entered the
house, she left it. To which young Lady Hainault had replied that some
one must ask him to dinner in common decency, if it was only for the
sake of that dear Charles, who had been loved by every one who knew him.
That she intended to ask him to dinner, and that, if her dear
mother-in-law objected to meet him, why the remedy lay with herself.
Somebody must introduce him to some sort of society; and Lord Hainault
and herself had made up their minds to do it, so that further argument
on the subject would be wasted breath. To which the Dowager replied that
she really wished, after all, that Hainault had married that pretty chit
of a thing, Adelaide Summers, as he was thinking of doing; as she, the
Dowager, could not have been treated with greater insolence even by her,
bold as she was. With which Parthian piece of spite she had departed to
Casterton with Miss Hicks, and had so goaded and snapped at that
unfortunate reduced gentlewoman by the way, that at last Hicks, as her
wont was, had turned upon her and given her as good as she brought. If
the Dowager could have heard Lady Hainault telling her lord the whole
business that night, and joking with him about his alleged _penchant_
for Adelaide, and heard the jolly laugh that those two good souls had
about it, her ladyship would have been more spiteful still.
But, nevertheless, Lady Hainault was very nervous about William. When
Mary was consulted, she promptly went bail for his good behaviour, and
pled his case so warmly, that the tears stood in her eyes. Her old
friend William! What innocent plots she and he had hatched together
against the priest in the old times. What a bond there was between them
in their mutual love for him who was lost to them.
But Lady Hainault would be on the safe side; and so only the party named
above were asked. All old friends of the family.
Before dinner was announced, they were all at their ease about him. He
was shy, certainly, but not awkward. He evidently knew that he was asked
there on trial, and he accepted his position. But he was so handsome
(handsomer than poor Charles), he was so gentle and modest,
and--perhaps, too, not least--had such a well-modulated voice, that,
before the evening was over, he had won every one in the room. If he
knew anything of a subject, he helped the conversation quietly, as well
as he could; if he had to confess ignorance (which was seldom, for he
was among well-bred people), he did so frankly, but unobtrusively. He
was a great success.
One thing puzzled him, and pleased him. He knew that he was a person of
importance, and that he was the guest of the evening. But he soon found
that there was another cause for his being interesting to them all, more
powerful than his curious position, or his prospective wealth; and that
was his connection with Charles Ravenshoe, now Horton. _He_ was the hero
of the evening. Half William's light was borrowed from him. He quickly
became aware of it, and it made him happy.
How strange it is that some men have the power of winning such love from
all they meet. I knew one, gone from us now by a glorious death, who had
that faculty. Only a few knew his great worth and goodness; and yet, as
his biographer most truly says, those who once saw his face never forgot
it. Charles Ravenshoe had that faculty also, though, alas! his value,
both in worth and utility, was far inferior to that of the man to whom I
have alluded above.[3] But he had the same infinite kindness towards
everything created; which is part of the secret.
The first hint that William had, as to how deeply important a person
Charles was among the present company, was given him at dinner. Various
subjects had been talked of indifferently, and William had listened,
till Lord Hainault said to William--
"What a strange price people are giving for cobs! I saw one sold to-day
at Tattersall's for ninety guineas."
William answered, "Good cobs are very hard to get, Lord Hainault. I
could get you ten good horses, over fifteen, for one good cob."
Lord Saltire said, "My cob is the best I ever had; and a sweet-tempered
creature. Our dear boy broke it for me at Ravenshoe."
"Dear Charles," said Lady Ascot. "What a splendid rider he was! Dear
boy! He got Ascot to write him a certificate about that sort of thing,
before he went away. Ah, dear!"
"I never thought," said Lord Saltire, quietly, "that I ever should have
cared half as much for anybody as I do for that lad. Do you remember,
Mainwaring," he continued, speaking still lower, while they all sat
hushed, "the first night I ever saw him, when he marked for you and me
at billiards, at Ranford? I don't know why, but I loved the boy from the
first moment I saw him. Both there and ever afterwards, he reminded me
so strongly of Barkham. He had just the same gentle, winning way with
him that Barkham had. Barkham was a little taller, though, I fancy," he
went on, looking straight at Lady Ascot, and taking snuff. "Don't you
think so, Maria?"
No one spoke for a moment.
Lord Barkham had been Lord Saltire's only son. He had been killed in a
duel at nineteen, as I have mentioned before. Lord Saltire very rarely
spoke of him, and, when he did, generally in a cynical manner. But
General Mainwaring and Lady Ascot knew that the memory of that poor boy
was as fresh in the true old heart, after forty years, as it was on the
morning when he came out from his dressing-room, and met them carrying
his corpse upstairs.
"He was a good fellow," said Lord Hainault, alluding to Charles. "He was
a very good fellow."
"This great disappointment which I have had about him," said Lord
Saltire, in his own dry tone, "is a just judgment on me for doing a
good-natured and virtuous action many years ago. When his poor father
Densil was in prison, I went to see him, and reconciled him with his
family. Poor Densil was so grateful for this act of folly on my part,
that I grew personally attached to him; and hence all this misery.
Disinterested actions are great mistakes, Maria, depend upon it."
When the ladies were gone upstairs, William found Lord Saltire beside
him. He talked to him a little time, and then finished by saying--
"You are modest and gentlemanly, and the love you bear for your
foster-brother is very pleasing to me indeed. I am going to put it to
the test. You must come and see me to-morrow morning. I have a great
deal to say to you."
"About him, my lord? Have you heard of him?"
"Not a word. I fear he has gone to America or Australia. He told Lord
Ascot he should do so."
"I'll hunt him to the world's end, my lord," said true William. "And
Cuthbert shall pray for me the while. I fear you are right. But we shall
find him soon."
When they went up into the drawing-room, Mary was sitting on a sofa by
herself. She looked up to William, and he went and sat down by her. They
were quite away from the rest, together.
"Dear William," said Mary, looking frankly at him, and laying her hand
on his.
"I am so glad," said William, "to see your sweet face again. I was down
at Ravenshoe last week. How they love you there! An idea prevails among
old and young that dear Cuthbert is to die, and that I am to marry you,
and that we are to rule Ravenshoe triumphantly. It was useless to
represent to them that Cuthbert would not die, and that you and I most
certainly never would marry one another. My dearest Jane Evans was
treated as a thing of nought. You were elected mistress of Ravenshoe
unanimously."
"How is Jane?"
"Pining, poor dear, at her school. She don't like it."
"I should think not," said Mary. "Give my dear love to her. She will
make you a good wife. How is Cuthbert?"
"Very well in health. No more signs of his heart complaint, which never
existed. But he is peaking at getting no tidings from Charles. Ah, how
he loved him! May I call you 'Mary'?"
"You must not dare to call me anything else. No tidings of him yet?"
"None. I feel sure he is gone to America. We will get him back, Mary.
Never fear."
They talked till she was cheerful, and at last she said--
"William, you were always so well-mannered; but how--how--have you got
to be so gentlemanly in so short a time?"
"By playing at it," said William, laughing. "The stud-groom at Ravenshoe
used always to say I was too much of a gentleman for him. In twenty
years' time I shall pass muster in a crowd. Good-night."
And Charles was playing at being something other than a gentleman all
the time. We shall see who did best in the end.