'Are you sure the report is true?'
'I am sure that what I say is true, my lord; but it is hardly to be
called a report. It is a secret, known at present to nobody but myself
and Mrs. Doncastle's maid.'
The speaker was Lord Mountclere's trusty valet, and the conversation was
between him and the viscount in a dressing-room at Enckworth Court, on
the evening after the meeting of archaeologists at Corvsgate Castle.
'H'm-h'm; the daughter of a butler. Does Mrs. Doncastle know of this
yet, or Mr. Neigh, or any of their friends?'
'No, my lord.'
'You are quite positive?'
'Quite positive. I was, by accident, the first that Mrs. Menlove named
the matter to, and I told her it might be much to her advantage if she
took particular care it should go no further.'
'Mrs. Menlove! Who's she?'
'The lady's-maid at Mrs. Doncastle's, my lord.'
'O, ah--of course. You may leave me now, Tipman.' Lord Mountclere
remained in thought for a moment. 'A clever little puss, to hoodwink us
all like this--hee-hee!' he murmured. 'Her education--how finished; and
her beauty--so seldom that I meet with such a woman. Cut down my elms to
please a butler's daughter--what a joke--certainly a good joke! To
interest me in her on the right side instead of the wrong was strange.
But it can be made to change sides--hee-hee!--it can be made to change
sides! Tipman!'
Tipman came forward from the doorway.
'Will you take care that that piece of gossip you mentioned to me is not
repeated in this house? I strongly disapprove of talebearing of any
sort, and wish to hear no more of this. Such stories are never true.
Answer me--do you hear? Such stories are never true.'
'I beg pardon, but I think your lordship will find this one true,' said
the valet quietly.
'Then where did she get her manners and education? Do you know?'
'I do not, my lord. I suppose she picked 'em up by her wits.'
'Never mind what you suppose,' said the old man impatiently. 'Whenever I
ask a question of you tell me what you know, and no more.'
'Quite so, my lord. I beg your lordship's pardon for supposing.'
'H'm-h'm. Have the fashion-books and plates arrived yet?'
'Le Follet has, my lord; but not the others.'
'Let me have it at once. Always bring it to me at once. Are there any
handsome ones this time?'
'They are much the same class of female as usual, I think, my lord,' said
Tipman, fetching the paper and laying it before him.
'Yes, they are,' said the viscount, leaning back and scrutinizing the
faces of the women one by one, and talking softly to himself in a way
that had grown upon him as his age increased. 'Yet they are very well:
that one with her shoulder turned is pure and charming--the brown-haired
one will pass. All very harmless and innocent, but without character; no
soul, or inspiration, or eloquence of eye. What an eye was hers! There
is not a girl among them so beautiful. . . . Tipman! Come and take it
away. I don't think I will subscribe to these papers any longer--how
long have I subscribed? Never mind--I take no interest in these things,
and I suppose I must give them up. What white article is that I see on
the floor yonder?'
'I can see nothing, my lord.'
'Yes, yes, you can. At the other end of the room. It is a white
handkerchief. Bring it to me.'
'I beg pardon, my lord, but I cannot see any white handkerchief.
Whereabouts does your lordship mean?'
'There in the corner. If it is not a handkerchief, what is it? Walk
along till you come to it--that is it; now a little further--now your
foot is against it.'
'O that--it is not anything. It is the light reflected against the
skirting, so that it looks like a white patch of something--that is all.'
'H'm-hm. My eyes--how weak they are! I am getting old, that's what it
is: I am an old man.'
'O no, my lord.'
'Yes, an old man.'
'Well, we shall all be old some day, and so will your lordship, I
suppose; but as yet--'
'I tell you I am an old man!'
'Yes, my lord--I did not mean to contradict. An old man in one sense--old
in a young man's sense, but not in a house-of-parliament or historical
sense. A little oldish--I meant that, my lord.'
'I may be an old man in one sense or in another sense in your mind; but
let me tell you there are men older than I--'
'Yes, so there are, my lord.'
'People may call me what they please, and you may be impertinent enough
to repeat to me what they say, but let me tell you I am not a very old
man after all. I am not an old man.'
'Old in knowledge of the world I meant, my lord, not in years.'
'Well, yes. Experience of course I cannot be without. And I like what
is beautiful. Tipman, you must go to Knollsea; don't send, but go
yourself, as I wish nobody else to be concerned in this. Go to Knollsea,
and find out when the steamboat for Cherbourg starts; and when you have
done that, I shall want you to send Taylor to me. I wish Captain Strong
to bring the Fawn round into Knollsea Bay. Next week I may want you to
go to Cherbourg in the yacht with me--if the Channel is pretty calm--and
then perhaps to Rouen and Paris. But I will speak of that to-morrow.'
'Very good, my lord.'
'Meanwhile I recommend that you and Mrs. Menlove repeat nothing you may
have heard concerning the lady you just now spoke of. Here is a slight
present for Mrs. Menlove; and accept this for yourself.' He handed
money.
'Your lordship may be sure we will not,' the valet replied.