THE DRIVE
Sunday came, and with it the visit to South Kensington, where Aunt
Jerningham lived; and Atlee found himself seated beside Lady Maude in a
fine roomy barouche, whirling along at a pace that our great moralist
himself admits to be amongst the very pleasantest excitements humanity can
experience.
‘I hope you will add your persuasions to mine, Mr. Atlee, and induce my
uncle to take these horses with him to Turkey. You know Constantinople, and
can say that real carriage-horses cannot be had there.’
‘Horses of this size, shape, and action the Sultan himself has not the
equals of.’
‘No one is more aware than my lord,’ continued she, ‘that the measure of an
ambassador’s influence is, in a great degree, the style and splendour in
which he represents his country, and that his household, his equipage, his
retinue, and his dinners, should mark distinctly the station he assumes to
occupy. Some caprice of Mr. Walpole’s about Arab horses--Arabs of bone and
blood he used to talk of--has taken hold of my uncle’s mind, and I half
fear that he may not take the English horses with him.’
‘By the way,’ said Atlee, half listlessly, ‘where _is_ Walpole? What has
become of him?’
‘He is in Ireland at this moment.’
‘In Ireland! Good heavens! has he not had enough of Ireland?’
‘Apparently not. He went over there on Tuesday last.’
‘And what can he possibly have to do in Ireland?’
‘I should say that _you_ are more likely to furnish the answer to that
question than I. If I’m not much mistaken, his letters are forwarded to the
same country-house where you first made each other’s acquaintance.’
‘What, Kilgobbin Castle?’
‘Yes, it is something Castle, and I think the name you mentioned.’
‘And this only puzzles me the more,’ added Atlee, pondering. ‘His first
visit there, at the time I met him, was a mere accident of travel--a
tourist’s curiosity to see an old castle supposed to have some historic
associations.’
‘Were there not some other attractions in the spot?’ interrupted she,
smiling.
‘Yes, there was a genial old Irish squire, who did the honours very
handsomely, if a little rudely, and there were two daughters, or a daughter
and a niece, I’m not very clear which, who sang Irish melodies and talked
rebellion to match very amusingly.’
‘Were they pretty?’
‘Well, perhaps courtesy would say “pretty,” but a keener criticism would
dwell on certain awkwardnesses of manner--Walpole called them Irishries.’
‘Indeed!’
‘Yes, he confessed to have been amused with the eccentric habits and odd
ways, but he was not sparing of his strictures afterwards.’
‘So that there were no “tendernesses?”’
‘Oh, I’ll not go that far. I rather suspect there were “tendernesses,”
but only such as a fine gentleman permits himself amongst semi-savage
peoples--something that seems to say, “Be as fond of me as you like, and it
is a great privilege you enjoy; and I, on my side, will accord you such of
my affections as I set no particular store by.” Just as one throws small
coin to a beggar.’
‘Oh, Mr. Atlee!’
‘I am ashamed to own that I have seen something of this kind myself.’
‘It is not like my cousin Cecil to behave in that fashion.’
‘I might say, Lady Maude, that your home experiences of people would prove
a very fallacious guide as to what they might or might not do in a society
of whose ways you know nothing.’
‘A man of honour would always be a man of honour.’
‘There are men, and men of honour, as there are persons of excellent
principles with delicate moral health, and they--I say it with regret--must
be satisfied to be as respectably conducted as they are able.’
‘I don’t think you like Cecil,’ said she, half-puzzled by his subtlety, but
hitting what she thought to be a ‘blot.’
‘It is difficult for me to tell his cousin what I should like to say in
answer to this remark.’
‘Oh, have no embarrassment on that score. There are very few people less
trammelled by the ties of relationship than we are. Speak out, and if you
want to say anything particularly severe, have no fears of wounding my
susceptibilities.’
‘And do you know, Lady Maude,’ said he, in a voice of almost confidential
meaning, ‘this was the very thing I was dreading? I had at one time a good
deal of Walpole’s intimacy--I’ll not call it friendship, for somehow there
were certain differences of temperament that separated us continually. We
could commonly agree upon the same things; we could never be one-minded
about the same people. In _my_ experiences, the world is by no means the
cold-hearted and selfish thing _he_ deems it; and yet I suppose, Lady
Maude, if there were to be a verdict given upon us both, nine out of ten
would have fixed on _me_ as the scoffer. Is not this so?’
The artfulness with which he had contrived to make himself and his
character a question of discussion achieved only a half-success, for she
only gave one of her most meaningless smiles as she said, ‘I do not know; I
am not quite sure.’
‘And yet I am more concerned to learn what _you_ would think on this score
than for the opinion of the whole world.’
Like a man who has taken a leap and found a deep ‘drop’ on the other side,
he came to a dead halt as he saw the cold and impassive look her features
had assumed. He would have given worlds to recall his speech and stand as
he did before it was uttered; for though she did not say one word, there
was that in her calm and composed expression which reproved all that
savoured of passionate appeal. A now-or-never sort of courage nerved him,
and he went on: ‘I know all the presumption of a man like myself daring to
address such words to you, Lady Maude; but do you remember that though all
eyes but one saw only fog-bank in the horizon, Columbus maintained there
was land in the distance; and so say I, “He who would lay his fortunes
at your feet now sees high honours and great rewards awaiting him in the
future. It is with you to say whether these honours become the crowning
glories of a life, or all pursuit of them be valueless!” May I--dare I
hope?’
‘This is Lebanon,’ said she; ‘at least I think so’; and she held her glass
to her eye. ‘Strange caprice, wasn’t it, to call her house Lebanon because
of those wretched cedars? Aunt Jerningham is so odd!’
‘There is a crowd of carriages here,’ said Atlee, endeavouring to speak
with unconcern.
‘It is her day; she likes to receive on Sundays, as she says she escapes
the bishops. By the way, did you tell me you were an old friend of hers, or
did I dream it?’
‘I’m afraid it was the vision revealed it?’
‘Because, if so, I must not take you in. She has a rule against all
presentations on Sundays--they are only her intimates she receives on that
day. We shall have to return as we came.’
‘Not for worlds. Pray let me not prove an embarrassment. You can make your
visit, and I will go back on foot. Indeed, I should like a walk.’
‘On no account! Take the carriage, and send it back for me. I shall remain
here till afternoon tea.’
‘Thanks, but I hold to my walk.’
‘It is a charming day, and I’m sure a walk will be delightful.’
‘Am I to suppose, Lady Maude,’ said he, in a low voice, as he assisted her
to alight, ‘that you will deign me a more formal answer at another time to
the words I ventured to address you? May I live in the hope that I shall
yet regard this day as the most fortunate of my life?’
‘It is wonderful weather for November--an English November, too. Pray let
me assure you that you need not make yourself uneasy about what you were
speaking of. I shall not mention it to any one, least of all to “my lord”;
and as for myself, it shall be as completely forgotten as though it had
never been uttered.’
And she held out her hand with a sort of cordial frankness that actually
said, ‘There, you are forgiven! Is there any record of generosity like
this?’
Atlee bowed low and resignedly over that gloved hand, which he felt he was
touching for the last time, and turned away with a rush of thoughts through
his brain, in which certainly the pleasantest were not the predominating
ones.
He did not dine that day at Bruton Street, and only returned about ten
o’clock, when he knew he should find Lord Danesbury in his study.
‘I have determined, my lord,’ said he, with somewhat of decision in his
tone that savoured of a challenge, ‘to go over to Ireland by the morning
mail.’
Too much engrossed by his own thoughts to notice the other’s manner, Lord
Danesbury merely turned from the papers before him to say, ‘Ah, indeed!
it would be very well done. We were talking about that, were we not,
yesterday? What was it?’
‘The Greek--Kostalergi’s daughter, my lord?’
‘To be sure. You are incredulous about her, ain’t you?’
‘On the contrary, my lord, I opine that the fellow has told us the truth. I
believe he has a daughter, and destines this money to be her dowry.’
‘With all my heart; I do not see how it should concern me. If I am to pay
the money, it matters very little to me whether he invests it in a Greek
husband or the Double Zero--speculations, I take it, pretty much alike.
Have you sent a telegram?’
‘I have, my lord. I have engaged your lordship’s word that you are willing
to treat.’
‘Just so; it is exactly what I am! Willing to treat, willing to hear
argument, and reply with my own, why I should give more for anything than
it is worth.’
‘We need not discuss further what we can only regard from one point of
view, and that our own.’
Lord Danesbury started. The altered tone and manner struck him now for the
first time, and he threw his spectacles on the table and stared at the
speaker with astonishment.
‘There is another point, my lord,’ continued Atlee, with unbroken calm,
‘that I should like to ask your lordship’s judgment upon, as I shall in
a few hours be in Ireland, where the question will present itself. There
was some time ago in Ireland a case brought under your lordship’s notice
of a very gallant resistance made by a family against an armed party who
attacked a house, and your lordship was graciously pleased to say that some
recognition should be offered to one of the sons--something to show how the
Government regarded and approved his spirited conduct.’
‘I know, I know; but I am no longer the Viceroy.’
‘I am aware of that, my lord, nor is your successor appointed; but any
suggestion or wish of your lordship’s would be accepted by the Lords
Justices with great deference, all the more in payment of a debt. If, then,
your lordship would recommend this young man for the first vacancy in the
constabulary, or some place in the Customs, it would satisfy a most natural
expectation, and, at the same time, evidence your lordship’s interest for
the country you so late ruled over.’
‘There is nothing more pernicious than forestalling other people’s
patronage, Atlee. Not but if this thing was to be done for yourself--’
‘Pardon me, my lord, I do not desire anything for myself.’
‘Well, be it so. Take this to the Chancellor or the
Commander-in-Chief’--and he scribbled a few hasty lines as he talked--‘and
say what you can in support of it. If they give you something good, I shall
be heartily glad of it, and I wish you years to enjoy it.’
Atlee only smiled at the warmth of interest for him which was linked with
such a shortness of memory; but was too much wounded in his pride to reply.
And now, as he saw that his lordship had replaced his glasses and resumed
his work, he walked noiselessly to the door and withdrew.