“Jeames,” she said, “go and make my compliments to Sir Peter, and say
to him that if he has nothing better to do, I would be glad to see him
at once. And order the coach.”
Jeames departed.
I sat in adoring silence, oblivious of Daphne, but gazing at Lady
Arabella until she exclaimed pettishly,--
“La! Have I got a cross-eye or a crooked nose, Mr. Richard, that you
can’t take your eyes off me?”
“You have neither,” I replied gallantly. “And my name is not Mr.
Richard, but Mr. Glyn, at your ladyship’s service.”
“Arabella,” said Lady Hawkshaw in a voice of thunder, “be more
particular in your address to young gentlemen.”
“Oh, yes, ma’am!” pertly replied Lady Arabella. “But such _very_ young
gentlemen, like Mr. Glyn, or Mr. Thin, or whatever his name may be, are
always difficult to please in the way of address. If you are familiar,
they are affronted; and if you are reserved, they think you are making
game of them.”
By this speech I discovered that although Lady Hawkshaw might rule her
world, terrorize Sir Peter, and make the Lords of the Admiralty her
humble servitors, she had one rebel in the camp, and that was Lady
Arabella Stormont. I saw that her remarks displeased Lady Hawkshaw, but
she endured them in silence. Who, though, would not endure anything
from that cherub mouth and those dazzling eyes?
Sir Peter now appeared and greeted me.
“Sir Peter,” said Lady Hawkshaw in her usual authoritative manner, “you
will go in the coach with me to the bank, with Richard Glyn, to deposit
his money. You will be ready in ten minutes, when the coach will be at
the door.”
“I will go with you, Madam,” replied Sir Peter; “but I shall order
my horse, and ride a-horseback, because I do not like riding in that
damned stuffy coach. And besides, when you and your feathers get in,
there is no room for me.”
“You ride a-horseback!” sniffed Lady Hawkshaw. “Even the grooms and
stable boys laugh at you. You are always talking some sea nonsense
about keeping the horse’s head to the wind, and yawing and luffing and
bowsing at the bowline, and what not; and besides, I am afraid to trust
you since Brown Jane threw you in the Park.”
It ended by Sir Peter’s going in the coach, where the little man lay
back in the corner, nearly smothered by Lady Hawkshaw’s voluminous
robe, and pishing and pshawing the whole way.
But I was quite happy,--albeit I was the victim of Lady Hawkshaw in
having my money kept for me,--for on the seat beside me was Lady
Arabella, who chose to go with us. She made much game of me, but I
had the spirit to answer her back. After placing the money, we took
an airing in the park, and then returned to dinner at five o’clock. I
neither knew nor cared what became of Daphne; for was I not with the
adored Lady Arabella?
That night Lady Hawkshaw was at home, and I had my first experience
of a London rout. The card-tables were set on the lower floor, for
although Lady Hawkshaw hated cards, yet it was commonly said that no
one could entertain company in London without them.
And that night I made a strange and terrible discovery. Lady Arabella
was a gamester of the most desperate character, in ready money, as far
as her allowance as a minor permitted, and in promises to pay, when she
came into her fortune, as far as such promises would be accepted. But
they were not much favored by the gentlemen and ladies who played with
her; for the chances of her marrying before her majority were so great,
that her I O U’s were not considered of much value, and found few
takers, even when accompanied by Lady Arabella’s most brilliant smiles;
for your true gamester is impervious to smiles or frowns, insensible to
beauty--in short, all his faculties are concentrated on the odd trick.
A great mob of fine people came and there was a supper, and many wax
lights, and all the accessories of a fashionable rout. I wandered
about, knowing no one, but observant of all. I noticed that a very
clever device was hit upon by Lady Arabella and others who liked
high play, which Lady Hawkshaw disliked very much. The stakes were
nominally very small, but in reality they were very large, shillings
actually signifying pounds. All of the people who practised this were
in one of the lower rooms, while Sir Peter, who was allowed to play
six-penny whist, and those who in good faith observed Lady Hawkshaw’s
wishes, were in a room to themselves. I must not forget to mention,
among the notable things at this rout, Lady Hawkshaw’s turban. It was
a construction of feathers, flowers, beads, and every other species
of ornament, the whole capped with the celebrated tiara which had
been bought from the Portuguese, and the diamond necklace beamed upon
her black velvet bosom. Sir Peter seemed quite enchanted with her
appearance, as she loomed a head taller than any woman in the rooms,
and evidently considered her a combination of Venus and Minerva--not
that the pair ceased squabbling on that account. I think they disagreed
violently on every detail of the party, and Sir Peter was routed at
every point.
Among those who did not play was Daphne, then quite as tall as I and
well on into her sixteenth year. I could not but acknowledge her to
be a pretty slip of a girl, and we sat in a corner and I told her
about our bloody doings on the _Ajax_, until she stopped her ears and
begged me to desist. I regarded Daphne with condescension, then; but I
perceived that she was sharp of wit and nimble of tongue, much more so
than her cousin, Lady Arabella.
After a while I left Daphne and went back to watch Lady Arabella. I
soon saw that she was a very poor player, and lost continually; but
that only whetted her appetite for the game. Presently a gentleman
entered, and, walking about listlessly, although he seemed to be
known to everybody present, approached me. It was Captain Overton, as
handsome, as _distrait_, as on the first and only time I had seen him.
Much to my surprise, he recognized me and came up and spoke to me,
making me a very handsome compliment upon the performances of the
_Ajax_.
“And is my cousin, Mr. Vernon, here to-night?” he asked, smiling.
I replied I supposed not; he had received no card when we had parted
that morning, and I knew of none since.
“I shall be very glad to meet him,” said Overton. “I think him a fine
fellow, in spite of our disagreement. I see you are not playing.”
“I have no taste for play, strange to say.”
“Do not try to acquire it,” he said; “it is wrong, you may depend upon
it; but indulgence in it makes many believe it to be right. Every time
you look at a sin, it gets better looking.”
I was surprised to hear sin mentioned in the society of such elegant
and well-bred sinners as I saw around me, who never alluded to it,
except officially, as it were, on Sunday, when they all declared
themselves miserable sinners--for that occasion only. Overton then
sauntered over toward Lady Arabella, who seemed to recognize his
approach by instinct. She turned to him, her cards in her hands, and
flushed deeply; he gazed at her sternly as if in reproof, and, after a
slight remark or two, moved off, to her evident chagrin.