There was a look of calm resignation on Charley Vining's face as he met
his father at their early breakfast that morning, to which he had
descended without a trace of excitement. He was certainly carefully
dressed, his dark-blue morning coat and vest and grey trousers fitting
his fine figure admirably, while the utter want of constraint displayed
told of breeding as plainly as did his well-cut handsome features.
Well might Sir Philip gaze with pride in his son's face, lit up now by
the pleasant smile of greeting; and even he, the smooth cleanly-shaven
old courtier of a bygone school, owned to himself that it would be a sin
and a shame to cut off even a hair of the crisp golden beard that swept
down upon his son's breast.
Charley's face was paler now than when we first met him. The ruddy tan
had disappeared, to leave his skin pure, fair, and soft as a woman's;
but there was no show of effeminacy there. His firm look of
determination swept that away, and he was, indeed, that morning a
bridegroom of whom any woman might have been proud.
"A good half-hour yet," said Charley, referring to his watch. "I shall
have a cigar in the shrubbery before we start, dad." And he nodded to
his father and the friends who were to accompany them. "Shall you have
both carriages?"
"Yes, my dear boy, yes!" exclaimed Sir Philip nervously, as his
snuff-box came out as if by instinct. "But, Charley!" he said in a
whisper, "you won't--I don't think I'd smoke this morning!"
"Not smoke, dad!" laughed Charley. "Why not? Perhaps as soon as the
knot is tied, I may be forbidden."
"Stuff, my dear boy! But this morning, think of the odour; the ladies,
Charley, the ladies!"
"My dear father," laughed the young man quite merrily, "surely you are
not going to sprinkle that elaborate frill with snuff. Think, dad, the
ladies, the ladies!"
"Go and have your havana," laughed Sir Philip. "I daresay the fresh air
will take off the smell."
"You won't smoke, of course?" said Charley to his friends.
"O, no, not this morning, thank you," said one. "We'll pay attention to
your boxes when we come back."
Charley nodded carelessly, strolled out in his wedding trim, stood upon
the broad facade, and lit a cigar, and then walked slowly down towards
the avenue.
"Mind, Charley, at half-past ten precisely. Don't forget the
carriages!" cried Sir Philip, throwing up a window as his son passed.
"All right," said Charley quietly; and the next instant he had
disappeared among the trees.
Volume 3, Chapter X.