From London to Baden.
On the following morning everybody was stirring by times at Mr.
Palliser's house in Park Lane, and the master of that house yawned no
more. There is some life in starting for a long journey, and the life
is the stronger and the fuller if the things and people to be carried
are numerous and troublesome. Lady Glencora was a little troublesome,
and would not come down to breakfast in time. When rebuked on account
of this manifest breach of engagement, she asserted that the next
train would do just as well; and when Mr. Palliser proved to her,
with much trouble, that the next train could not enable them to
reach Paris on that day, she declared that it would be much more
comfortable to take a week in going than to hurry over the ground in
one day. There was nothing she wanted so much as to see Folkestone.
"If that is the case, why did not you tell me so before?" said Mr.
Palliser, in his gravest voice. "Richard and the carriage went down
yesterday, and are already on board the packet."
"If Richard and the carriage are already on board the packet," said
Lady Glencora, "of course we must follow them, and we must put off
the glories of Folkestone till we come back. Alice, haven't you
observed that, in travelling, you are always driven on by some
Richard or some carriage, till you feel that you are a slave?"
All this was trying to Mr. Palliser; but I think that he enjoyed it,
nevertheless, and that he was happy when he found that he did get his
freight off from the Pimlico Station in the proper train.
Of course Lady Glencora and Alice were very ill crossing the Channel;
of course the two maids were worse than their mistresses; of course
the men kept out of their master's way when they were wanted, and
drank brandy-and-water with the steward down-stairs; and of course
Lady Glencora declared that she would not allow herself to be carried
beyond Boulogne that day;--but, nevertheless, they did get on to
Paris. Had Mr. Palliser become Chancellor of the Exchequer, as he had
once hoped, he could hardly have worked harder than he did work. It
was he who found out which carriage had been taken for them, and who
put, with his own hands, the ladies' dressing-cases and cloaks on to
the seats,--who laid out the novels, which, of course, were not read
by the road,--and made preparations as though this stage of their
journey was to take them a week, instead of five hours and a half.
"Oh, dear! how I have slept!" said Lady Glencora, as they came near
to Paris.
"I think you've been tolerably comfortable," said Mr. Palliser,
joyfully.
"Since we got out of that horrid boat I have done pretty well. Why do
they make the boats so nasty? I'm sure they do it on purpose."
"It would be difficult to make them nice, I suppose?" said Alice.
"It is the sea that makes them uncomfortable," said Mr. Palliser.
"Never mind; we shan't have any more of it for twelve months, at any
rate. We can get to the Kurds, Alice, without getting into a packet
again. That, to my way of thinking, is the great comfort of the
Continent. One can go everywhere without being seasick."
Mr. Palliser said nothing, but he sighed as he thought of being absent
for a whole year. He had said that such was his intention, and would
not at once go back from what he himself had said. But how was he to
live for twelve months out of the House of Commons? What was he to
do with himself, with his intellect and his energy, during all these
coming dreary days? And then,--he might have been Chancellor of the
Exchequer! He might even now, at this very moment, have been upon
his legs, making a financial statement of six hours' duration,
to the delight of one-half of the House, and bewilderment of the
other, instead of dragging cloaks across that dingy, dull, dirty
waiting-room at the Paris Station, in which British subjects are kept
in prison while their boxes are being tumbled out of the carriages.
"But we are not to stop here;--are we?" said Lady Glencora,
mournfully.
"No, dear;--I have given the keys to Richard. We will go on at once."
"But can't we have our things?"
"In about half an hour," pleaded Mr. Palliser.
"I suppose we must bear it, Alice?" said Lady Glencora as she got
into the carriage that was waiting for her.
Alice thought of the last time in which she had been in that
room,--when George and Kate had been with her,--and the two girls
had been quite content to wait patiently while their trunks were
being examined. But Alice was now travelling with great people,--with
people who never spoke of their wealth, or seemed ever to think of
it, but who showed their consciousness of it at every turn of their
lives. "After all," Alice had said to herself more than once, "I
doubt whether the burden is not greater than the pleasure."
They stayed in Paris for a week, and during that time Alice found
that she became very intimate with Mr. Palliser. At Matching she
had, in truth, seen but little of him, and had known nothing. Now
she began to understand his character, and learned how to talk to
him. She allowed him to tell her of things in which Lady Glencora
resolutely persisted in taking no interest. She delighted him by
writing down in a little pocket-book the number of eggs that were
consumed in Paris every day, whereas Glencora protested that the
information was worth nothing unless her husband could tell her how
many of the eggs were good, and how many bad. And Alice was glad
to find that a hundred and fifty thousand female operatives were
employed in Paris, while Lady Glencora said it was a great shame,
and that they ought all to have husbands. When Mr. Palliser explained
that that was impossible, because of the redundancy of the female
population, she angered him very much by asserting that she saw a
great many men walking about who, she was quite sure, had not wives
of their own.
"I do so wish you had married him!" Glencora said to Alice that
evening. "You would always have had a pocket-book ready to write down
the figures, and you would have pretended to care about the eggs, and
the bottles of wine, and the rest of it. As for me, I can't do it. If
I see an hungry woman, I can give her my money; or if she be a sick
woman, I can nurse her; or if I hear of a very wicked man, I can hate
him;--but I cannot take up poverty and crime in the lump. I never
believe it all. My mind isn't big enough."
They went into no society at Paris, and at the end of a week were all
glad to leave it.
"I don't know that Baden will be any better," Lady Glencora said;
"but, you know, we can leave that again after a bit,--and so we shall
go on getting nearer to the Kurds."
To this, Mr. Palliser demurred. "I think we had better make up our
mind to stay a month at Baden."
"But why should we make up our minds at all?" his wife pleaded.
"I like to have a plan," said Mr. Palliser.
"And so do I," said his wife,--"if only for the sake of not keeping
it."
"There's nothing I hate so much as not carrying out my intentions,"
said Mr. Palliser.
Upon this, Lady Glencora shrugged her shoulders, and made a mock
grimace to her cousin. All this her husband bore for a while meekly,
and it must be acknowledged that he behaved very well. But, then,
he had his own way in everything. Lady Glencora did not behave very
well,--contradicting her husband, and not considering, as, perhaps,
she ought to have done, the sacrifice he was making on her behalf.
But, then, she had her own way in nothing.
She had her own way in almost nothing; but on one point she did
conquer her husband. He was minded to go from Paris back to Cologne,
and so down the Rhine to Baden. Lady Glencora declared that she hated
the Rhine,--that, of all rivers, it was the most distasteful to
her; that, of all scenery, the scenery of the Rhine was the most
over-praised; and that she would be wretched all the time if she
were carried that way. Upon this, Mr. Palliser referred the matter
to Alice; and she, who had last been upon the Rhine with her
cousins Kate and George Vavasor, voted for going to Baden by way of
Strasbourg.
"We will go by Strasbourg, then," said Mr. Palliser, gallantly.
"Not that I want to see that horrid church again," said Glencora.
"Everything is alike horrid to you, I think," said her husband. "You
are determined not to be contented, so that it matters very little
which way we go."
"That's the truth," said his wife. "It does matter very little."
They got on to Baden,--with very little delay at Strasbourg, and
found half an hotel prepared for their reception. Here the carriage
was brought into use for the first time, and the mistress of the
carriage talked of sending home for Dandy and Flirt. Mr. Palliser,
when he heard the proposition, calmly assured his wife that the
horses would not bear the journey. "They would be so out of
condition," he said, "as not to be worth anything for two or three
months."
"I only meant to ask for them if they could come in a balloon," said
Lady Glencora.
This angered Mr. Palliser, who had really, for a few minutes, thought
of pacifying his wife by sending for the horses.
"Alice," she asked, one morning, "how many eggs are eaten in Baden
every morning before ten o'clock?"
Mr. Palliser, who at the moment was in the act of eating one, threw
down his spoon, and pushed his plate from him.
"What's the matter, Plantagenet?" she asked.
"The matter!" he said. "But never mind; I am a fool to care for it."
"I declare I didn't know that I had done anything wrong," said Lady
Glencora. "Alice, do you understand what it is?"
Alice said that she did understand very well.
"Of course she understands," said Mr. Palliser. "How can she help
it? And, indeed, Miss Vavasor, I am more unhappy than I can express
myself, to think that your comfort should be disturbed in this way."
"Upon my word I think Alice is doing very well," said Lady Glencora.
"What is there to hurt her comfort? Nobody scolds her. Nobody tells
her that she is a fool. She never jokes, or does anything wicked,
and, of course, she isn't punished."
Mr. Palliser, as he wandered that day alone through the gambling-rooms
at the great Assembly House, thought that, after all, it might have
been better for him to have remained in London, to have become
Chancellor of the Exchequer, and to have run all risks.
"I wonder whether it would be any harm if I were to put a few pieces
of money on the table, just once?" Lady Glencora said to her cousin,
on the evening of the same day, in one of those gambling salons.
There had been some music on that evening in one side of the
building, and the Pallisers had gone to the rooms. But as neither
of the two ladies would dance, they had strayed away into the other
apartments.
"The greatest harm in the world!" said Alice; "and what on earth
could you gain by it? You don't really want any of those horrid
people's money?"
"I'll tell you what I want,--something to live for,--some excitement.
Is it not a shame that I see around me so many people getting
amusement, and that I can get none? I'd go and sit out there, and
drink beer and hear the music, only Plantagenet wouldn't let me. I
think I'll throw one piece on to the table to see what becomes of
it."
"I shall leave you if you do," said Alice.
"You are such a prude! It seems to me as if it must have been my
special fate,--my good fate, I mean,--that has thrown me so much with
you. You look after me quite as carefully as Mr. Bott and Mrs. Marsham
ever did; but as I chose you myself, I can't very well complain, and
I can't very well get rid of you."
"Do you want to get rid of me, Cora?"
"Sometimes. Do you know, there are moments when I almost make up my
mind to go headlong to the devil,--when I think it is the best thing
to be done. It's a hard thing for a woman to do, because she has to
undergo so much obloquy before she gets used to it. A man can take to
drinking, and gambling and all the rest of it, and nobody despises
him a bit. The domestic old fogies give him lectures if they can
catch him, but he isn't fool enough for that. All he wants is money,
and he goes away and has his fling. Now I have plenty of money,--or,
at any rate, I had,--and I never got my fling yet. I do feel so
tempted to rebel, and go ahead, and care for nothing."
"Throwing one piece on to the table wouldn't satisfy that longing."
"You think I should be like the wild beast that has tasted blood,
and can't be controlled. Look at all these people here. There are
husbands gambling, and their wives don't know it; and wives gambling,
and their husbands don't know it. I wonder whether Plantagenet ever
has a fling? What a joke it would be to come and catch him!"
"I don't think you need be afraid."
"Afraid! I should like him all the better for it. If he came to me,
some morning, and told me that he had lost a hundred thousand pounds,
I should be so much more at my ease with him."
"You have no chance in that direction, I'm quite sure."
"None the least. He'd make a calculation that the chances were nine
to seven against him, and then the speculation would seem to him to
be madness."
"I don't suppose he'd wish to try, even though he were sure of
winning."
"Of course not. It would be a very vulgar kind of thing then.
Look,--there's an opening there. I'll just put on one napoleon."
"You shall not. If you do, I'll leave you at once. Look at the women
who are playing. Is there one there whom it would not disgrace you to
touch? Look what they are. Look at their cheeks, and their eyes, and
their hands. Those men who rake about the money are bad enough, but
the women look like fiends."
"You're not going to frighten me in that hobgoblin sort of way, you
know. I don't see anything the matter with any of the people."
"What do you think of that young woman who has just got a handful of
money from the man next to her?"
"I think she is very happy. I never get money given to me by
handfuls, and the man to whom I belong gives me no encouragement
when I want to amuse myself." They were now standing near to one end
of the table, and suddenly there came to be an opening through the
crowd up to the table itself. Lady Glencora, leaving Alice's side, at
once stepped up and deposited a piece of gold on one of the marked
compartments. As soon as she placed it she retreated again with
flushed face, and took hold of Alice's arm. "There," she said,
"I have done it." Alice, in her dismay, did not know what step to
take. She could not scold her friend now, as the eyes of many were
turned upon them, nor could she, of course, leave her, as she had
threatened. Lady Glencora laughed with her peculiar little low
laughter, and stood her ground. "I was determined you shouldn't
frighten me out of it," she said.
[Illustration: Lady Glencora at Baden.]
One of the ministers at the table had in the meantime gone on with
the cards, and had called the game; and another minister had gently
pushed three or four more pieces of gold up to that which Lady
Glencora had flung down, and had then cunningly caught her eye, and,
with all the courtesy of which he was master, had pushed them further
on towards her. She had supposed herself to be unknown there in the
salon, but no doubt all the croupiers and half the company knew well
enough who was the new customer at the table. There was still the
space open, near to which she stood, and then someone motioned to her
to come and take up the money which she had won. She hesitated, and
then the croupier asked her, in that low, indifferent voice which
these men always use, whether she desired that her money should
remain. She nodded her head to him, and he at once drew the money
back again to the spot on which she had placed the first napoleon.
Again the cards were turned up softly, again the game was called,
and again she won. The money was dealt out to her,--on this occasion
with a full hand. There were lying there between twenty and thirty
napoleons, of which she was the mistress. Her face had flushed
before, but now it became very red. She caught hold of Alice, who was
literally trembling beside her, and tried to laugh again. But there
was that in her eye which told Alice that she was really frightened.
Some one then placed a chair for her at the table, and in her
confusion, not knowing what she was to do, she seated herself. "Come
away," said Alice, taking hold of her, and disregarding everything
but her own purpose, in the agony of the moment. "You must come
away! You shall not sit there!" "I must get rid of that money," said
Glencora, trying to whisper her words, "and then I will come away."
The croupier again asked her if the money was to remain, and she
again nodded her head. Everybody at the table was now looking at
her. The women especially were staring at her,--those horrid women
with vermilion cheeks, and loud bonnets half off their heads, and
hard, shameless eyes, and white gloves, which, when taken off in the
ardour of the game, disclosed dirty hands. They stared at her with
that fixed stare which such women have, and Alice saw it all, and
trembled.
Again she won. "Leave it," said Alice, "and come away." "I can't
leave it," said Glencora. "If I do, there'll be a fuss. I'll go
the next time." What she said was, of course, in English, and was
probably understood by no one near her; but it was easy to be seen
that she was troubled, and, of course, those around her looked at
her the more because of her trouble. Again that little question and
answer went on between her and the croupier, and on this occasion
the money was piled up on the compartment--a heap of gold which made
envious the hearts of many who stood around there. Alice had now
both her hands on the back of the chair, needing support. If the
devil should persist, and increase that stock of gold again, she
must go and seek for Mr. Palliser. She knew not what else to do. She
understood nothing of the table, or of its laws; but she supposed
all those ministers of the game to be thieves, and believed that
all villainous contrivances were within their capacity. She thought
that they might go on adding to that heap so long as Lady Glencora
would sit there, presuming that they might thus get her into their
clutches. Of course, she did not sift her suspicions. Who does at
such moments? "Come away at once, and leave it," she said, "or I
shall go." At that moment the croupier raked it all up, and carried
it all away; but Alice did not see that this had been done. A hand
had been placed on her shoulder, and as she turned round her face
her eyes met those of Mr. Palliser. "It is all gone," said Glencora,
laughing. And now she, turning round, also saw her husband. "I am so
glad that you are come," said Alice. "Why did you bring her here?"
said Mr. Palliser. There was anger in his tone, and anger in his eye.
He took his wife's arm upon his own, and walked away quickly, while
Alice followed them alone. He went off at once, down the front steps
of the building, towards the hotel. What he said to his wife, Alice
did not hear; but her heart was swelling with the ill-usage to which
she herself was subjected. Though she might have to go back alone
to England, she would tell him that he was ill-treating her. She
followed him on, up into their drawing-room, and there he stood with
the door open in his hand for her, while Lady Glencora threw herself
upon a sofa, and burst out into affected laughter. "Here's a piece of
work," she said, "about a little accident."
"An accident!" said Mr. Palliser.
"Yes, an accident. You don't suppose that I sat down there meaning to
win all that money?" Whereupon he looked at her with scorn.
"Mr. Palliser," said Alice, "you have treated me this evening in a
manner I did not expect from you. It is clear that you blame me."
"I have not said a word, Miss Vavasor."
"No; you have not said a word. You know well how to show your anger
without speaking. As I do not choose to undergo your displeasure, I
will return to England by myself."
"Alice! Alice!" said Glencora, jumping up, "that is nonsense! What
is all this trumpery thing about? Leave me, because he chooses to be
angry about nothing?"
"Is it nothing that I find my wife playing at a common
gambling-table, surrounded by all that is wretched and
vile,--established there, seated, with heaps of gold before her?"
"You wrong me, Plantagenet," said Glencora. "There was only one heap,
and that did not remain long. Did it, Alice?"
"It is impossible to make you ashamed of anything," he said.
"I certainly don't like being ashamed," she answered; "and don't feel
any necessity on this occasion."
"If you don't object, Mr. Palliser," said Alice, "I will go to bed.
You can think over all this at night,--and so can I. Good night,
Glencora." Then Alice took her candle, and marched off to her own
room, with all the dignity of which she was mistress.