The News about Mr. Mildmay and Sir Everard
Fitzgibbon and Phineas started together from Pall Mall for Portman
Square,--as both of them had promised to call on Lady Laura,--but
Fitzgibbon turned in at Brooks’s as they walked up St. James’s
Square, and Phineas went on by himself in a cab. “You should belong
here,” said Fitzgibbon as his friend entered the cab, and Phineas
immediately began to feel that he would have done nothing till he
could get into Brooks’s. It might be very well to begin by talking
politics at the Reform Club. Such talking had procured for him his
seat at Loughshane. But that was done now, and something more than
talking was wanted for any further progress. Nothing, as he told
himself, of political import was managed at the Reform Club. No
influence from thence was ever brought to bear upon the adjustment of
places under the Government, or upon the arrangement of cabinets. It
might be very well to count votes at the Reform Club; but after the
votes had been counted,--had been counted successfully,--Brooks’s was
the place, as Phineas believed, to learn at the earliest moment what
would be the exact result of the success. He must get into Brooks’s,
if it might be possible for him. Fitzgibbon was not exactly the man
to propose him. Perhaps the Earl of Brentford would do it.
Lady Laura was at home, and with her was sitting--Mr. Kennedy.
Phineas had intended to be triumphant as he entered Lady Laura’s
room. He was there with the express purpose of triumphing in the
success of their great party, and of singing a pleasant paean in
conjunction with Lady Laura. But his trumpet was put out of tune at
once when he saw Mr. Kennedy. He said hardly a word as he gave his
hand to Lady Laura,--and then afterwards to Mr. Kennedy, who chose
to greet him with this show of cordiality.
“I hope you are satisfied, Mr. Finn,” said Lady Laura, laughing.
“Oh yes.”
“And is that all? I thought to have found your joy quite
irrepressible.”
“A bottle of soda-water, though it is a very lively thing when
opened, won’t maintain its vivacity beyond a certain period, Lady
Laura.”
“And you have had your gas let off already?”
“Well,--yes; at any rate, the sputtering part of it. Nineteen is very
well, but the question is whether we might not have had twenty-one.”
“Mr. Kennedy has just been saying that not a single available vote
has been missed on our side. He has just come from Brooks’s, and that
seems to be what they say there.”
So Mr. Kennedy also was a member of Brooks’s! At the Reform Club
there certainly had been an idea that the number might have been
swelled to twenty-one; but then, as Phineas began to understand,
nothing was correctly known at the Reform Club. For an accurate
appreciation of the political balance of the day, you must go to
Brooks’s.
“Mr. Kennedy must of course be right,” said Phineas. “I don’t
belong to Brooks’s myself. But I was only joking, Lady Laura. There
is, I suppose, no doubt that Lord de Terrier is out, and that is
everything.”
“He has probably tendered his resignation,” said Mr. Kennedy.
“That is the same thing,” said Phineas, roughly.
“Not exactly,” said Lady Laura. “Should there be any difficulty about
Mr. Mildmay, he might, at the Queen’s request, make another attempt.”
“With a majority of nineteen against him!” said Phineas. “Surely Mr.
Mildmay is not the only man in the country. There is the Duke, and
there is Mr. Gresham,--and there is Mr. Monk.” Phineas had at his
tongue’s end all the lesson that he had been able to learn at the
Reform Club.
“I should hardly think the Duke would venture,” said Mr. Kennedy.
“Nothing venture, nothing have,” said Phineas. “It is all very well
to say that the Duke is incompetent, but I do not know that anything
very wonderful is required in the way of genius. The Duke has held
his own in both Houses successfully, and he is both honest and
popular. I quite agree that a Prime Minister at the present day
should be commonly honest, and more than commonly popular.”
“So you are all for the Duke, are you?” said Lady Laura, again
smiling as she spoke to him.
“Certainly;--if we are deserted by Mr. Mildmay. Don’t you think so?”
“I don’t find it quite so easy to make up my mind as you do. I am
inclined to think that Mr. Mildmay will form a government; and as
long as there is that prospect, I need hardly commit myself to an
opinion as to his probable successor.” Then the objectionable Mr.
Kennedy took his leave, and Phineas was left alone with Lady Laura.
“It is glorious;--is it not?” he began, as soon as he found the field
to be open for himself and his own manoeuvring. But he was very
young, and had not as yet learned the manner in which he might best
advance his cause with such a woman as Lady Laura Standish. He was
telling her too clearly that he could have no gratification in
talking with her unless he could be allowed to have her all to
himself. That might be very well if Lady Laura were in love with him,
but would hardly be the way to reduce her to that condition.
“Mr. Finn,” said she, smiling as she spoke, “I am sure that you did
not mean it, but you were uncourteous to my friend Mr. Kennedy.”
“Who? I? Was I? Upon my word, I didn’t intend to be uncourteous.”
“If I had thought you had intended it, of course I could not tell you
of it. And now I take the liberty;--for it is a liberty--”
“Oh no.”
“Because I feel so anxious that you should do nothing to mar your
chances as a rising man.”
“You are only too kind to me,--always.”
“I know how clever you are, and how excellent are all your instincts;
but I see that you are a little impetuous. I wonder whether you will
be angry if I take upon myself the task of mentor.”
“Nothing you could say would make me angry,--though you might make me
very unhappy.”
“I will not do that if I can help it. A mentor ought to be very old,
you know, and I am infinitely older than you are.”
“I should have thought it was the reverse;--indeed, I may say that I
know that it is,” said Phineas.
“I am not talking of years. Years have very little to do with the
comparative ages of men and women. A woman at forty is quite old,
whereas a man at forty is young.” Phineas, remembering that he had
put down Mr. Kennedy’s age as forty in his own mind, frowned when
he heard this, and walked about the room in displeasure. “And
therefore,” continued Lady Laura, “I talk to you as though I were a
kind of grandmother.”
“You shall be my great-grandmother if you will only be kind enough to
me to say what you really think.”
“You must not then be so impetuous, and you must be a little
more careful to be civil to persons to whom you may not take any
particular fancy. Now Mr. Kennedy is a man who may be very useful to
you.”
“I do not want Mr. Kennedy to be of use to me.”
“That is what I call being impetuous,--being young,--being a boy. Why
should not Mr. Kennedy be of use to you as well as any one else? You
do not mean to conquer the world all by yourself.”
“No;--but there is something mean to me in the expressed idea that
I should make use of any man,--and more especially of a man whom I
don’t like.”
“And why do you not like him, Mr. Finn?”
“Because he is one of my Dr. Fells.”
“You don’t like him simply because he does not talk much. That
may be a good reason why you should not make of him an intimate
companion,--because you like talkative people; but it should be no
ground for dislike.”
Phineas paused for a moment before he answered her, thinking whether
or not it would be well to ask her some question which might produce
from her a truth which he would not like to hear. Then he did ask it.
“And do you like him?” he said.
She too paused, but only for a second. “Yes,--I think I may say that
I do like him.”
“No more than that?”
“Certainly no more than that;--but that I think is a great deal.”
“I wonder what you would say if any one asked you whether you liked
me,” said Phineas, looking away from her through the window.
“Just the same;--but without the doubt, if the person who questioned
me had any right to ask the question. There are not above one or two
who could have such a right.”
“And I was wrong, of course, to ask it about Mr. Kennedy,” said
Phineas, looking out into the Square.
“I did not say so.”
“But I see you think it.”
“You see nothing of the kind. I was quite willing to be asked the
question by you, and quite willing to answer it. Mr. Kennedy is a man
of great wealth.”
“What can that have to do with it?”
“Wait a moment, you impetuous Irish boy, and hear me out.” Phineas
liked being called an impetuous Irish boy, and came close to her,
sitting where he could look up into her face; and there came a smile
upon his own, and he was very handsome. “I say that he is a man of
great wealth,” continued Lady Laura; “and as wealth gives influence,
he is of great use,--politically,--to the party to which he belongs.”
“Oh, politically!”
“Am I to suppose you care nothing for politics? To such men, to men
who think as you think, who are to sit on the same benches with
yourself, and go into the same lobby and be seen at the same club,
it is your duty to be civil both for your own sake and for that of
the cause. It is for the hermits of society to indulge in personal
dislikings,--for men who have never been active and never mean to be
active. I had been telling Mr. Kennedy how much I thought of you,--as
a good Liberal.”
“And I came in and spoilt it all.”
“Yes, you did. You knocked down my little house, and I must build it
all up again.”
“Don’t trouble yourself, Lady Laura.”
“I shall. It will be a great deal of trouble,--a great deal, indeed;
but I shall take it. I mean you to be very intimate with Mr. Kennedy,
and to shoot his grouse, and to stalk his deer, and to help to
keep him in progress as a liberal member of Parliament. I am quite
prepared to admit, as a friend, that he would go back without some
such help.”
“Oh;--I understand.”
“I do not believe that you do understand at all, but I must endeavour
to make you do so by degrees. If you are to be my political pupil,
you must at any rate be obedient. The next time you meet Mr. Kennedy,
ask him his opinion instead of telling him your own. He has been in
Parliament twelve years, and he was a good deal older than you when
he began.” At this moment a side door was opened, and the red-haired,
red-bearded man whom Phineas had seen before entered the room. He
hesitated a moment, as though he were going to retreat again, and
then began to pull about the books and toys which lay on one of the
distant tables, as though he were in quest of some article. And he
would have retreated had not Lady Laura called to him.
“Oswald,” she said, “let me introduce you to Mr. Finn. Mr. Finn, I do
not think you have ever met my brother, Lord Chiltern.” Then the two
young men bowed, and each of them muttered something. “Do not be in a
hurry, Oswald. You have nothing special to take you away. Here is Mr.
Finn come to tell us who are all the possible new Prime Ministers. He
is uncivil enough not to have named papa.”
“My father is out of the question,” said Lord Chiltern.
“Of course he is,” said Lady Laura, “but I may be allowed my little
joke.”
“I suppose he will at any rate be in the Cabinet,” said Phineas.
“I know nothing whatever about politics,” said Lord Chiltern.
“I wish you did,” said his sister,--“with all my heart.”
“I never did,--and I never shall, for all your wishing. It’s the
meanest trade going I think, and I’m sure it’s the most dishonest.
They talk of legs on the turf, and of course there are legs; but what
are they to the legs in the House? I don’t know whether you are in
Parliament, Mr. Finn.”
“Yes, I am; but do not mind me.”
“I beg your pardon. Of course there are honest men there, and no
doubt you are one of them.”
“He is indifferent honest,--as yet,” said Lady Laura.
“I was speaking of men who go into Parliament to look after
Government places,” said Lord Chiltern.
“That is just what I’m doing,” said Phineas. “Why should not a man
serve the Crown? He has to work very hard for what he earns.”
“I don’t believe that the most of them work at all. However, I beg
your pardon. I didn’t mean you in particular.”
“Mr. Finn is such a thorough politician that he will never forgive
you,” said Lady Laura.
“Yes, I will,” said Phineas, “and I’ll convert him some day. If he
does come into the House, Lady Laura, I suppose he’ll come on the
right side?”
“I’ll never go into the House, as you call it,” said Lord Chiltern.
“But, I’ll tell you what; I shall be very happy if you’ll dine with
me to-morrow at Moroni’s. They give you a capital little dinner at
Moroni’s, and they’ve the best Château Yquem in London.”
“Do,” said Lady Laura, in a whisper. “Oblige me.”
Phineas was engaged to dine with one of the Vice-Chancellors on the
day named. He had never before dined at the house of this great law
luminary, whose acquaintance he had made through Mr. Low, and he had
thought a great deal of the occasion. Mrs. Freemantle had sent him
the invitation nearly a fortnight ago, and he understood there was to
be an elaborate dinner party. He did not know it for a fact, but he
was in hopes of meeting the expiring Lord Chancellor. He considered
it to be his duty never to throw away such a chance. He would in
all respects have preferred Mr. Freemantle’s dinner in Eaton Place,
dull and heavy though it might probably be, to the chance of Lord
Chiltern’s companions at Moroni’s. Whatever might be the faults of
our hero, he was not given to what is generally called dissipation
by the world at large,--by which the world means self-indulgence. He
cared not a brass farthing for Moroni’s Château Yquem, nor for the
wondrously studied repast which he would doubtless find prepared for
him at that celebrated establishment in St. James’s Street;--not a
farthing as compared with the chance of meeting so great a man as
Lord Moles. And Lord Chiltern’s friends might probably be just the
men whom he would not desire to know. But Lady Laura’s request
overrode everything with him. She had asked him to oblige her, and of
course he would do so. Had he been going to dine with the incoming
Prime Minister, he would have put off his engagement at her request.
He was not quick enough to make an answer without hesitation; but
after a moment’s pause he said he should be most happy to dine with
Lord Chiltern at Moroni’s.
“That’s right; 7.30 sharp,--only I can tell you you won’t meet any
other members.” Then the servant announced more visitors, and Lord
Chiltern escaped out of the room before he was seen by the new
comers. These were Mrs. Bonteen and Laurence Fitzgibbon, and then Mr.
Bonteen,--and after them Mr. Ratler, the Whip, who was in a violent
hurry, and did not stay there a moment, and then Barrington Erle and
young Lord James Fitz-Howard, the youngest son of the Duke of St.
Bungay. In twenty or thirty minutes there was a gathering of liberal
political notabilities in Lady Laura’s drawing-room. There were two
great pieces of news by which they were all enthralled. Mr. Mildmay
would not be Prime Minister, and Sir Everard Powell was--dead. Of
course nothing quite positive could be known about Mr. Mildmay. He
was to be with the Queen at Windsor on the morrow at eleven o’clock,
and it was improbable that he would tell his mind to any one before
he told it to her Majesty. But there was no doubt that he had engaged
“the Duke,”--so he was called by Lord James,--to go down to Windsor
with him, that he might be in readiness if wanted. “I have learned
that at home,” said Lord James, who had just heard the news from his
sister, who had heard it from the Duchess. Lord James was delighted
with the importance given to him by his father’s coming journey.
From this, and from other equally well-known circumstances, it was
surmised that Mr. Mildmay would decline the task proposed to him.
This, nevertheless, was only a surmise,--whereas the fact with
reference to Sir Everard was fully substantiated. The gout had flown
to his stomach, and he was dead. “By ---- yes; as dead as a herring,”
said Mr. Ratler, who at that moment, however, was not within hearing
of either of the ladies present. And then he rubbed his hands, and
looked as though he were delighted. And he was delighted,--not
because his old friend Sir Everard was dead, but by the excitement
of the tragedy. “Having done so good a deed in his last moments,”
said Laurence Fitzgibbon, “we may take it for granted that he will
go straight to heaven.” “I hope there will be no crowner’s quest,
Ratler,” said Mr. Bonteen; “if there is I don’t know how you’ll
get out of it.” “I don’t see anything in it so horrible,” said
Mr. Ratler. “If a fellow dies leading his regiment we don’t think
anything of it. Sir Everard’s vote was of more service to his country
than anything that a colonel or a captain can do.” But nevertheless
I think that Mr. Ratler was somewhat in dread of future newspaper
paragraphs, should it be found necessary to summon a coroner’s
inquisition to sit upon poor Sir Everard.
While this was going on Lady Laura took Phineas apart for a moment.
“I am so much obliged to you; I am indeed,” she said.
“What nonsense!”
“Never mind whether it’s nonsense or not;--but I am. I can’t explain
it all now, but I do so want you to know my brother. You may be of
the greatest service to him,--of the very greatest. He is not half so
bad as people say he is. In many ways he is very good,--very good.
And he is very clever.”
“At any rate I will think and believe no ill of him.”
“Just so;--do not believe evil of him,--not more evil than you see. I
am so anxious,--so very anxious to try to put him on his legs, and I
find it so difficult to get any connecting link with him. Papa will
not speak with him,--because of money.”
“But he is friends with you.”
“Yes; I think he loves me. I saw how distasteful it was to you to go
to him;--and probably you were engaged?”
“One can always get off those sort of things if there is an object.”
“Yes;--just so. And the object was to oblige me;--was it not?”
“Of course it was. But I must go now. We are to hear Daubeny’s
statement at four, and I would not miss it for worlds.”
“I wonder whether you would go abroad with my brother in the autumn?
But I have no right to think of such a thing;--have I? At any rate
I will not think of it yet. Good-bye,--I shall see you perhaps on
Sunday if you are in town.”
Phineas walked down to Westminster with his mind very full of Lady
Laura and Lord Chiltern. What did she mean by her affectionate
manner to himself, and what did she mean by the continual praises
which she lavished upon Mr. Kennedy? Of whom was she thinking most,
of Mr. Kennedy, or of him? She had called herself his mentor. Was
the description of her feelings towards himself, as conveyed in that
name, of a kind to be gratifying to him? No;--he thought not. But
then might it not be within his power to change the nature of those
feelings? She was not in love with him at present. He could not make
any boast to himself on that head. But it might be within his power
to compel her to love him. The female mentor might be softened. That
she could not love Mr. Kennedy, he thought that he was quite sure.
There was nothing like love in her manner to Mr. Kennedy. As to Lord
Chiltern, Phineas would do whatever might be in his power. All that
he really knew of Lord Chiltern was that he had gambled and that he
had drunk.