Plump, blonde Lady Millet uttered an ejaculation and made a gesture of
annoyance as she settled herself in a luxurious lounge.
"Now, do for goodness' sake wipe your eyes, Gertrude, and be sensible if
you can! I declare it's enough to worry one to death. Once for all, I
tell you I do not like these Huishes, and what your father could have
been about to listen to your uncle Robert and bring that young man here
I can't think."
Gertrude Millet forced back her tears, and bent lower over some work
upon which she was engaged in the drawing-room of her father's house in
Grosvenor Square.
"They are very plebeian sort of people, and they have no money; but
because his father was an old friend of your uncle Robert's when he was
a young man, this Mr John Huish must be invited here, and you, you
silly child! must let him make eyes at you."
"Really, mamma--"
"Now do let me speak, Gertrude," said Lady Millet severely. "It is as I
say, and I will not have it. Sentimentality does very well for
low-class people, but we have a position to maintain, and I have other
views for you."
"But, mamma, you never thought Frank Morrison plebeian," said Gertrude,
raising her bright grey eyes to bring them to bear on her dignified
mother, who was arranging the lace about her plump white throat.
"My dear child, comparisons are odious, and at your age you should allow
people to think for you. Does it ever occur to you that your mother's
sole wish--the object for which she almost entirely lives--is to see her
child happily settled in life? No, no; don't speak, please: you hurt
me. I consented to your sister Renee's union with Frank for many
reasons. Certainly his family is plebeian, but he is a young man whom I
am rejoiced to see determined to make use of his wealth to his own
elevation--to marry well, and be the founder of a new family of gentry."
"But I'm sure Renee is not happy, mamma."
"Then, in her position, it is her own fault, my dear, of course. I had
been married years before I had a second carriage. Once for all, there
is no comparison between Frank and this Mr Huish. If it had not been
out of commiseration for your uncle Robert--it being his wish--Mr Huish
would not have been received here at all."
Gertrude bit her nether lip, and bent lower over her work as sweet and
lovable a face as girl of twenty could have.
"Your uncle is a most unhappy man; and if he were not so rich people
would call him insane, living such an absurd life as he does. I often
feel as if I must go and rouse him up, and force him to act like a
Christian. By the way, you have not been to see him lately?"
"No, mamma."
"Call, then, soon. He must not be neglected. We have our duties to do,
and that is one of them. He is always kind to you?"
"Always, mamma."
"That is right. You must humour him, for he seems to have taken a most
unnatural dislike to Richard."
"Yes, mamma."
"Do you think so?" said Lady Millet sharply.
"He forbade Dick to call again after he had importuned him for money."
"Foolish, reckless boy! That's the way young people always seem to me
determined to wreck their prospects. Your uncle Robert has no one else
to leave his money to but you children, and yet you persist in running
counter to his wishes."
"I, mamma?"
"All of you. Do you suppose because he desired your father to take a
little more notice of this John Huish that you were to throw yourself at
his head?"
Gertrude squeezed her eyelids very tightly together, and took three or
four stitches in the dark.
"I have always found Uncle Robert particularly kind to me."
"And so he would be to Renee and to Richard if they were not so foolish.
I declare I don't know what that boy can possibly do with his money.
But, there, I suppose being in a regiment is expensive."
"Do you like Major Malpas, mamma?" said Gertrude suddenly.
"Certainly not!" said Lady Millet tartly; "and really, Gertrude, you are
a most extraordinary girl! John Huish one moment, Major Malpas the
next. Huish was bad enough; now don't, for goodness' sake, go throwing
yourself at Major Malpas."
"Mamma!"
"Will you let me speak, child?" cried Lady Millet angrily. "I don't
know what you girls are thinking about! Why, you are as bad as Renee!
If I had not been firm, she would have certainly accepted him, and he is
a man of most expensive habits. It was most absurd of Renee. But
there: that's over. But I do rather wonder at Frank making so much of a
friend of him. Oh dear me, no, Gertrude! that would be impossible!"
"Of course, mamma!"
"Then why did you talk in that tone?"
"Because I don't like Major Malpas, and I am sure Renee does not,
either."
"Of course she does not. She is a married lady. Surely she can be
civil to people without always thinking of liking! It was a curious
chance that Richard should be gazetted into the same regiment; and under
the circumstances I have been bound to invite him and that other
officer, Captain Glen, here, for they can help your brother, no doubt, a
great deal. You see, I have to think of everything, for your poor
father only thinks now of his dinners and his clubs."
Gertrude sighed and went on with her work, while Lady Millet yawned, got
up, looked out of the window, and came back.
"Quite time the carriage was round. Then I am to go alone?"
"I promised Renee to be in this morning," said Gertrude quietly.
"Ah, well; then I suppose you must stop. I wonder whether Lady
Littletown will take any notice of Richard now he is at Hampton Court?"
"I should think she would, mamma. She is always most friendly."
"Friendly, but not trustworthy, my dear. A terribly scheming woman,
Gertrude. Her sole idea seems to be match-making. But, there, Richard
is too young to become her prey!"
Gertrude's brow wrinkled, and she looked wonderingly at her mother,
whose face was averted.
"I have been looking up the Glens. Not a bad family, but a younger
branch. I suppose Richard will accompany his brother officer here one
of these days. By the way, my dear, Lord Henry Moorpark seemed rather
attentive to you at the Lindleys the other night."
"Yes, mamma," said Gertrude quietly; "he took me in to supper, and sat
and chatted with me a long time."
"Yes; I noticed that he did."
"I like Lord Henry, mamma; he is so kind and gentle and courteous."
"Very, my dear."
"One always feels as if one could confide in him--he is so fatherly,
and--"
"My dear Gertrude!"
"What have I said, mamma?"
"Something absurd. Fatherly! What nonsense! Lord Henry is in the
prime of life, and you must not talk like that. You girls are so
foolish! You think of no one but boys with pink and white faces and
nothing to say for themselves. Lord Henry Moorpark is a most
_distingue_ gentle--I mean a nobleman; and judging from the attentions
he began to pay you the other night, I--"
"Oh, mamma! surely you cannot think that?"
"And pray why not, Gertrude?" said Lady Millet austerely. "Why should
not I think _that_? Do you suppose I wish to see my youngest daughter
marry some penniless boy? Do, pray, for goodness' sake, throw away all
that bread-and-butter, schoolgirl, sentimental nonsense. It is quite on
the cards that Lord Henry Moorpark may propose for you."
"Oh dear," thought Gertrude; "and I was talking to him so warmly about
John Huish!"
Gertrude's red lips parted, showing her white teeth, and the peachy pink
faded out of her cheeks as she sat there with her face contracting, and
a cloud seemed to come over her young life, in whose shadow she saw
herself, and her future as joyless as that of the sister who had been
married about a year earlier to a wealthy young north Yorkshire
manufacturer, who was now neglecting her and making her look old before
her time.
"There, it must be nearly three," said Lady Millet, rising; "I'll go and
put on my things. I shall not come in again, Gertrude. Give my love to
Renee, and if Lord Henry Moorpark does come--but, there, I have perfect
faith in your behaving like a sensible girl. By the way, Richard may
run up. If he does, try and keep him to dinner. I don't half like his
being at that wretched Hampton Court; it is so terribly suggestive of
holiday people and those dreadful vans."
With these words Lady Millet sailed out of the room, thinking to herself
that a better managing mother never lived, and a quarter of an hour
after she entered her carriage to go and distribute cards at the houses
of her dearest friends.
Volume 1, Chapter IV.