“O, if I only dared!” she sighed.
“Sir Benjamin,” I cried, rising instantly, “escort us to the gates,
please, and call a coach.”
An hour later I broke upon his lordship’s privacy.
“Nunky,” I cried, “I want permission for a new toy, please.”
He looked up askew. He was in the hands of his valet.
“I have been taking thought for my reputation,” I said, “and desire a
duenna.”
He screwed out a laugh and an oath.
“I’ll have no old hags about.”
“’Tis a young hag but a little older than myself. Will you let me?”
“No, I won’t.”
“It will please me.”
“No.”
“It will spite Lady Sophia to death.”
“Curse it, you viper! I’ll think about it.”
“Very well. I’ll bring her to be introduced.” And, before he could
remonstrate, I was gone.
We found him in demi-toilette when I returned, dragging my reluctant
baggage with me, like a lamb to the slaughter. She was as terrified as
if ’twere for him I coveted her, and not for myself. He started,
seeing her, and came and put his hand on her shoulder.
“Well, I vow,” said he, “’tis a toy for a king. Whence come you,
child? From my sister? She was wise to dismiss you, egad!”
XXIII.
I AM MADE FORTUNE’S MISTRESS
I have ruled myself all my life to be none but Fortune’s mistress.
Let who will question it, the gift of fine clothes has never bought my
independence. Honesty, as the little plant of that name tells us, may
go dressed in satin. And, as with me, so would I have it with my
sister.
I was not long in discovering that I had erred in bringing her to
Berkeley Square, though I will not, for her sake, detail the processes
of my enlightenment. Let it suffice to say that the nobleman, my
guardian, was not exactly intellectual. He was one of those who, like
Tony Lumpkin, reckon beauty by bulk; and in that respect, it is
certain, Patty could more than fill my place with him. She had no
notion, of course, dear innocent, that she was being invited to do so.
She was all blindness and affection; but that made it none the less my
duty to save her the consequences of her own simplicity, seeing how it
was I had unwittingly brought it imperilled. The worldly may sneer and
welcome. That I _did_ preserve her, and at the last cost to myself, is
the only proof needed of that same disinterested honesty which in the
beginning had welcomed her, without a selfish second thought, to its
arms.
Now, the moment I realised my mistake, I set myself to combat its
results. I think I may say I gave my lord some _mauvais quarts
d’heure_. He, for his part, when I thought it time to throw off the
mask, did not spare me insult and brutality. In very disdain I will
not report the quarrel. And all the while the silly child its subject
trembled apart, in an atmosphere she felt but could not understand,
while the shepherdess and the butcher disputed for her possession.
At length came the climax. One day, at the end of a furious scene, he
told me roundly that he had had enough of me, and that it would be
well for me to agree to commute my proposed settlement for--for what?
A sum that was less than a valet’s pension. I refused it; I refused
everything. Let that at least speak in my vindication. He assured me
that in that case I had nothing further to expect from him. The
dotard! Did he laugh when I told him, perfectly quietly, that I quite
understood that the debt was mine, and that I should pay it? Did he
still count himself the better tactician, when I affected to be
terrified over my own rashness, and to slink away from him to lament
and reconsider?
I went straight to my bedroom, where for an hour or two I sat writing.
At the end, I despatched two letters, one to the _World_, one to Mr.
Roper, who lived hard by, and whose reply I set myself to await with
what philosophy I could muster. It came in a little; and then,
singing, I sought out Patty, in the pretty boudoir that was hers of
late. She flew to greet me, and coaxed me to a couch. The moment we
were seated, I hushed her head into my breast.
“Patty,” I whispered, “do you love the earl?”