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CHAPTER LXXVI

VERY CONFIDENTIAL CONVERSATION

When Lockwood returned, only in time to dress for dinner, Walpole, whose room adjoined his, threw open the door between them and entered. He had just accomplished a most careful ‘tie,’ and came in with the air of one fairly self-satisfied and happy.

‘You look quite triumphant this evening,’ said the major, half sulkily.

‘So I am, old fellow; and so I have a right to be. It’s all done and settled.’

‘Already?’

‘Ay, already. I asked her to take a stroll with me in the garden; but we sauntered off into the plantation. A woman always understands the exact amount of meaning a man has in a request of this kind, and her instinct reveals to her at once whether he is eager to tell her some bit of fatal scandal of one of her own friends, or to make her a declaration.’

A sort of sulky grunt was Lockwood’s acknowledgment of this piece of abstract wisdom – a sort of knowledge he never listened to with much patience.

‘I am aware,’ said Walpole flippantly, ‘the female nature was an omitted part in your education, Lockwood, and you take small interest in those nice distinctive traits which, to a man of the world, are exactly what the stars are to the mariner.’

‘Finding out what a woman means by the stars does seem very poor fun.’

‘Perhaps you prefer the moon for your observation,’ replied Walpole; and the easy impertinence of his manner was almost too much for the other’s patience.

‘I don’t care for your speculations – I want to hear what passed between you and the Greek girl.’

‘The Greek girl will in a very few days be Mrs. Walpole, and I shall crave a little more deference for the mention of her.’

‘I forgot her name, or I should not have called her with such freedom! What is it?’

‘Kostalergi. Her father is Kostalergi, Prince of Delos.’

‘All right; it will read well in the Post.’

‘My dear friend, there is that amount of sarcasm in your conversation this evening, that to a plain man like myself, never ready to reply, and easily subdued by ridicule, is positively overwhelming. Has any disaster befallen you that you are become so satirical and severe?’

‘Never mind me– tell me about yourself,’ was the blunt reply.

‘I have not the slightest objection. When we had walked a little way together, and I felt that we were beyond the risk of interruption, I led her to the subject of my sudden reappearance here, and implied that she, at least, could not have felt much surprise. “You remember,” said I, “I promised to return?”

‘“There is something so conventional,” said she, “in these pledges, that one comes to read them like the ‘yours sincerely’ at the foot of a letter.”

‘“I ask for nothing better,” said I, taking her up on her own words, “than to be ‘yours sincerely.’ It is to ratify that pledge by making you ‘mine sincerely’ that I am here.”

‘“Indeed!” said she slowly, and looking down.

‘“I swear it!” said I, kissing her hand, which, however, had a glove on.’

‘Why not her cheek?’

‘That is not done, major mine, at such times.’

‘Well, go on.’

‘I can’t recall the exact words, for I spoke rapidly; but I told her I was named Minister at a foreign Court, that my future career was assured, and that I was able to offer her a station, not, indeed, equal to her deserts, but that, occupied by her, would be only less than royal.’

‘At Guatemala!’ exclaimed the other derisively.

‘Have the kindness to keep your geography to yourself,’ said Walpole. ‘I merely said in South America, and she had too much delicacy to ask more.’

‘But she said Yes? She consented?’

‘Yes, sir, she said she would venture to commit her future to my charge.’

‘Didn’t she ask you what means you had? what was your income?’

‘Not exactly in the categorical way you put it, but she alluded to the possible style we should live in.’

‘I’ll swear she did. That girl asked you, in plain words, how many hundreds or thousands you had a year?’

‘And I told her. I said, “It sounds humbly, dearest, to tell you we shall not have fully two thousand a year; but the place we are going to is the cheapest in the universe, and we shall have a small establishment of not more than forty black and about a dozen white servants, and at first only keep twenty horses, taking our carriages on job.”’

‘What about pin-money?’

‘There is not much extravagance in toilet, and so I said she must manage with a thousand a year.’

‘And she didn’t laugh in your face?’

‘No, sir! nor was there any strain upon her good-breeding to induce her to laugh in my face.’

‘At all events, you discussed the matter in a fine practical spirit. Did you go into groceries? I hope you did not forget groceries?’

‘My dear Lockwood, let me warn you against being droll. You ask me for a correct narrative, and when I give it, you will not restrain that subtle sarcasm the mastery of which makes you unassailable.’

‘When is it to be? When is it to come off? Has she to write to His Serene Highness the Prince of What’s-his-name?’

‘No, the Prince of What’s-his-name need not be consulted; Lord Kilgobbin will stand in the position of father to her.’

Lockwood muttered something, in which ‘Give her away!’ were the only words audible. ‘I must say,’ added he aloud, ‘the wooing did not take long.’

‘You forget that there was an actual engagement between us when I left this for London. My circumstances at that time did not permit me to ask her at once to be my wife; but our affections were pledged, and – even if more tender sentiments did not determine – my feeling, as a man of honour, required I should come back here to make her this offer.’

‘All right; I suppose it will do – I hope it will do; and after all, I take it, you are likely to understand each other better than others would.’

‘Such is our impression and belief.’

‘How will your own people – how will Danesbury like it?’

‘For their sakes I trust they will like it very much; for mine, it is less than a matter of indifference to me.’

‘She, however – she will expect to be properly received amongst them?’

‘Yes,’ cried Walpole, speaking for the first time in a perfectly natural tone, divested of all pomposity. ‘Yes, she stickles for that, Lockwood. It was the one point she seemed to stand out for. Of course I told her she would be received with open arms by my relatives – that my family would be overjoyed to receive her as one of them. I only hinted that my lord’s gout might prevent him from being at the wedding. I’m not sure Uncle Danesbury would not come over. “And the charming Lady Maude,” asked she, “would she honour me so far as to be a bridesmaid?”’

‘She didn’t say that?’

‘She did. She actually pushed me to promise I should ask her.’

‘Which you never would.’

‘Of that I will not affirm I am quite positive; but I certainly intend to press my uncle for some sort of recognition of the marriage – a civil note; better still, if it could be managed, an invitation to his house in town.’

‘You are a bold fellow to think of it.’

‘Not so bold as you imagine. Have you not often remarked that when a man of good connections is about to exile himself by accepting a far-away post, whether it be out of pure compassion or a feeling that it need never be done again, and that they are about to see the last of him; but, somehow – whatever the reason – his friends are marvellously civil and polite to him, just as some benevolent but eccentric folk send a partridge to the condemned felon for his last dinner.’

‘They do that in France.’

‘Here it would be a rumpsteak; but the sentiment is the same. At all events, the thing is as I told you, and I do not despair of Danesbury.’

‘For the letter, perhaps not; but he’ll never ask you to Bruton Street, nor, if he did, could you accept.’

‘You are thinking of Lady Maude.’

‘I am.’

‘There would be no difficulty in that quarter. When a Whig becomes Tory, or a Tory Whig, the gentlemen of the party he has deserted never take umbrage in the same way as the vulgar dogs below the gangway; so it is in the world. The people who must meet, must dine together, sit side by side at flower-shows and garden-parties, always manage to do their hatreds decorously, and only pay off their dislikes by instalments. If Lady Maude were to receive my wife at all, it would be with a most winning politeness. All her malevolence would limit itself to making the supposed underbred woman commit a gaucherie, to do or say something that ought not to have been done or said; and, as I know Nina can stand the test, I have no fears for the experiment.’

A knock at the door apprised them that the dinner was waiting, neither having heard the bell which had summoned them a quarter of an hour before. ‘And I wanted to hear all about your progress,’ cried Walpole, as they descended the staircase together.

‘I have none to report,’ was the gruff reply.

‘Why, surely you have not passed the whole day in Kearney’s company without some hint of what you came here for?’

But at the same moment they were in the dining-room.

‘We are a man party to-day, I am sorry to say,’ cried old Kearney, as they entered. ‘My niece and my daughter are keeping Miss O’Shea company upstairs. She is not well enough to come down to dinner, and they have scruples about leaving her in solitude.’

‘At least we’ll have a cigar after dinner,’ was Dick’s ungallant reflection as they moved away.

CHAPTER LXXVII

TWO YOUNG LADIES ON MATRIMONY

‘I hope they had a pleasanter dinner downstairs than we have had here,’ said Nina, as, after wishing Miss O’Shea a good-night, the young girls slowly mounted the stairs.

‘Poor old godmother was too sad and too depressed to be cheerful company; but did she not talk well and sensibly on the condition of the country? was it not well said, when she showed the danger of all that legislation which, assuming to establish right, only engenders disunion and class jealousy?’

‘I never followed her; I was thinking of something else.’

‘She was worth listening to, then. She knows the people well, and she sees all the mischief of tampering with natures so imbued with distrust. The Irishman is a gambler, and English law-makers are always exciting him to play.’

‘It seems to me there is very little on the game.’

‘There is everything – home, family, subsistence, life itself – all that a man can care for.’

‘Never mind these tiresome themes; come into my room; or I’ll go to yours, for I’m sure you’ve a better fire; besides, I can walk away if you offend me: I mean offend beyond endurance, for you are sure to say something cutting.’

‘I hope you wrong me, Nina.’

‘Perhaps I do. Indeed, I half suspect I do; but the fact is, it is not your words that reproach me, it is your whole life of usefulness is my reproach, and the least syllable you utter comes charged with all the responsibility of one who has a duty and does it, to a mere good-for-nothing. There, is not that humility enough?’

‘More than enough, for it goes to flattery.’

‘I’m not a bit sure all the time that I’m not the more lovable creature of the two. If you like, I’ll put it to the vote at breakfast.’

‘Oh, Nina!’

‘Very shocking, that’s the phrase for it, very shocking! Oh dear, what a nice fire, and what a nice little snug room; how is it, will you tell me, that though my room is much larger and better furnished in every way, your room is always brighter and neater, and more like a little home? They fetch you drier firewood, and they bring you flowers, wherever they get them. I know well what devices of roguery they practise.’

‘Shall I give you tea?’

‘Of course I’ll have tea. I expect to be treated like a favoured guest in all things, and I mean to take this arm-chair, and the nice soft cushion for my feet, for I warn you, Kate, I’m here for two hours. I’ve an immense deal to tell you, and I’ll not go till it’s told.’

‘I’ll not turn you out.’

‘I’ll take care of that; I have not lived in Ireland for nothing. I have a proper sense of what is meant by possession, and I defy what your great Minister calls a heartless eviction. Even your tea is nicer, it is more fragrant than any one else’s. I begin to hate you out of sheer jealousy.’

‘That is about the last feeling I ought to inspire.’

‘More humility; but I’ll drop rudeness and tell you my story, for I have a story to tell. Are you listening? Are you attentive? Well, my Mr. Walpole, as you called him once, is about to become so in real earnest. I could have made a long narrative of it and held you in weary suspense, but I prefer to dash at once into the thick of the fray, and tell you that he has this morning made me a formal proposal, and I have accepted him. Be pleased to bear in mind that this is no case of a misconception or a mistake. No young gentleman has been petting and kissing my hand for another’s; no tender speeches have been uttered to the ears they were not meant for. I have been wooed this time for myself, and on my own part I have said Yes.’

‘You told me you had accepted him already. I mean when he was here last.’

‘Yes, after a fashion. Don’t you know, child, that though lawyers maintain that a promise to do a certain thing, to make a lease or some contract, has in itself a binding significance, that in Cupid’s Court this is not law? and the man knew perfectly that all passed between us hitherto had no serious meaning, and bore no more real relation to marriage than an outpost encounter to a battle. For all that has taken place up to this, we might never fight – I mean marry – after all. The sages say that a girl should never believe a man means marriage till he talks money to her. Now, Kate, he talked money; and I believed him.’

‘I wish you would tell me of these things seriously, and without banter.’

‘So I do. Heaven knows I am in no jesting humour. It is in no outburst of high spirits or gaiety a girl confesses she is going to marry a man who has neither wealth nor station to offer, and whose fine connections are just fine enough to be ashamed of him.’

‘Are you in love with him?’

‘If you mean, do I imagine that this man’s affection and this man’s companionship are more to me than all the comforts and luxuries of life with another, I am not in love with him; but if you ask me, am I satisfied to risk my future with so much as I know of his temper, his tastes, his breeding, his habits, and his abilities, I incline to say Yes. Married life, Kate, is a sort of dietary, and one should remember that what he has to eat of every day ought not to be too appetising.’

‘I abhor your theory.’

‘Of course you do, child; and you fancy, naturally enough, that you would like ortolans every day for dinner; but my poor cold Greek temperament has none of the romantic warmth of your Celtic nature. I am very moderate in my hopes, very humble in all my ambitions.’

‘It is not thus I read you.’

‘Very probably. At all events, I have consented to be Mr. Walpole’s wife, and we are to be Minister Plenipotentiary and Special Envoy somewhere. It is not Bolivia, nor the Argentine Republic, but some other fabulous region, where the only fact is yellow fever.’

‘And you really like him?’

‘I hope so, for evidently it must be on love we shall have to live, one half of our income being devoted to saddle-horses and the other to my toilet.’

‘How absurd you are!’

‘No, not I. It is Mr. Walpole himself, who, not trusting much to my skill at arithmetic, sketched out this schedule of expenditure; and then I bethought me how simple this man must deem me. It was a flattery that won me at once. Oh! Kate dearest, if you could understand the ecstasy of being thought, not a fool, but one easily duped, easily deceived!’

‘I don’t know what you mean.’

‘It is this, then, that to have a man’s whole heart – whether it be worth the having is another and a different question – you must impress him with his immense superiority in everything – that he is not merely physically stronger than you, and bolder and more courageous, but that he is mentally more vigorous and more able, judges better, decides quicker, resolves more fully than you; and that, struggle how you will, you pass your life in eternally looking up to this wonderful god, who vouchsafes now and then to caress you, and even say tender things to you.’

‘Is it, Nina, that you have made a study of these things, or is all this mere imagination?’

‘Most innocent young lady! I no more dreamed of these things to apply to such men as your country furnishes – good, homely, commonplace creatures – than I should have thought of asking you to adopt French cookery to feed them. I spoke of such men as one meets in what I may call the real world: as for the others, if they feel life to be a stage, they are always going about in slipshod fashion, as if at rehearsal. Men like your brother and young O’Shea, for instance – tossed here and there by accidents, made one thing by a chance, and something else by a misfortune. Take my word for it, the events of life are very vulgar things; the passions and emotions they evoke, these constitute the high stimulants of existence, they make the gross jeu, which it is so exciting to play.’

‘I follow you with some difficulty; but I am rude enough to own I scarcely regret it.’

‘I know, I know all about that sweet innocence that fancies to ignore anything is to obliterate it; but it’s a fool’s paradise, after all, Kate. We are in the world, and we must accept it as it is made for us.’

‘I’ll not ask, does your theory make you better, but does it make you happier?’

‘If being duped were an element of bliss, I should say certainly not happier, but I doubt the blissful ignorance of your great moralist. I incline to believe that the better you play any game – life amongst the rest – the higher the pleasure it yields. I can afford to marry, without believing my husband to be a paragon – could you do as much?’

‘I should like to know that I preferred him to any one else.’

‘So should I, and I would only desire to add “to every one else that asked me.” Tell the truth, Kate dearest, we are here all alone, and can afford sincerity. How many of us girls marry the man we should like to marry, and if the game were reversed, and it were to be we who should make the choice – the slave pick out his master – how many, think you, would be wedded to their present mates?’

‘So long as we can refuse him we do not like, I cannot think our case a hard one.’

‘Neither should I if I could stand fast at three-and-twenty. The dread of that change of heart and feeling that will come, must come, ten years later, drives one to compromise with happiness, and take a part of what you once aspired to the whole.’

‘You used to think very highly of Mr. Walpole; admired, and I suspect you liked him.’

‘All true – my opinion is the same still. He will stand the great test that one can go into the world with him and not be ashamed of him. I know, dearest, even without that shake of the head, the small value you attach to this, but it is a great element in that droll contract, by which one person agrees to pit his temper against another’s, and which we are told is made in heaven, with angels as sponsors. Mr. Walpole is sufficiently good-looking to be prepossessing, he is well bred, very courteous, converses extremely well, knows his exact place in life, and takes it quietly but firmly. All these are of value to his wife, and it is not easy to over-rate them.’

‘Is that enough?’

‘Enough for what? If you mean for romantic love, for the infatuation that defies all change of sentiment, all growth of feeling, that revels in the thought, experience will not make us wiser, nor daily associations less admiring, it is not enough. I, however, am content to bid for a much humbler lot. I want a husband who, if he cannot give me a brilliant station, will at least secure me a good position in life, a reasonable share of vulgar comforts, some luxuries, and the ordinary routine of what are called pleasures. If, in affording me these, he will vouchsafe to add good temper, and not high spirits – which are detestable – but fair spirits, I think I can promise him, not that I shall make him happy, but that he will make himself so, and it will afford me much gratification to see it.’

‘Is this real, or – ’

‘Or what? Say what was on your lips.’

‘Or are you utterly heartless?’ cried Kate, with an effort that covered her face with blushes.

‘I don’t think I am,’ said she oddly and calmly; ‘but all I have seen of life teaches me that every betrayal of a feeling or a sentiment is like what gamblers call showing your hand, and is sure to be taken advantage of by the other players. It’s an ugly illustration, dear Kate, but in the same round game we call life there is so much cheating that if you cannot afford to be pillaged, you must be prudent.’

‘I am glad to feel that I can believe you to be much better than you make yourself.’

‘Do so, and as long as you can.’

There was a pause of several moments after this, each apparently following out her own thoughts.

‘By the way,’ cried Nina suddenly, ‘did I tell you that Mary wished me joy this morning. She had overheard Mr. Gorman’s declaration, and believed he had asked me to be his wife.’

‘How absurd!’ said Kate, and there was anger as well as shame in her look as she said it.

‘Of course it was absurd. She evidently never suspected to whom she was speaking, and then – ’ She stopped, for a quick glance at Kate’s face warned her of the peril she was grazing. ‘I told the girl she was a fool, and forbade her to speak of the matter to any one.’

‘It is a servants’-hall story already,’ said Kate quietly.

‘Do you care for that?’

‘Not much; three days will see the end of it.’

‘I declare, in your own homely way, I believe you are the wiser of the two of us.’

‘My common sense is of the very commonest,’ said Kate, laughing; ‘there is nothing subtle nor even neat about it.’

‘Let us see that! Give me a counsel or, rather, say if you agree with me. I have asked Mr. Walpole to show me how his family accept my entrance amongst them; with what grace they receive me as a relative. One of his cousins called me the Greek girl, and in my own hearing. It is not, then, over-caution on my part to inquire how they mean to regard me. Tell me, however, Kate, how far you concur with me in this. I should like much to hear how your good sense regards the question. Should you have done as I have?’

‘Answer me first one question. If you should learn that these great folks would not welcome you amongst them, would you still consent to marry Mr. Walpole?’

‘I’m not sure, I am not quite certain, but I almost believe I should.’

‘I have, then, no counsel to give you,’ said Kate firmly. ‘Two people who see the same object differently cannot discuss its proportions.’

‘I see my blunder,’ cried Nina impetuously. ‘I put my question stupidly. I should have said, “If a girl has won a man’s affections and given him her own – if she feels her heart has no other home than in his keeping – that she lives for him and by him – should she be deterred from joining her fortunes to his because he has some fine connections who would like to see him marry more advantageously?”’ It needed not the saucy curl of her lip as she spoke to declare how every word was uttered in sarcasm. ‘Why will you not answer me?’ cried she at length; and her eyes shot glances of fiery impatience as she said it.

‘Our distinguished friend Mr. Atlee is to arrive to-morrow, Dick tells me,’ said Kate, with the calm tone of one who would not permit herself to be ruffled.

‘Indeed! If your remark has any apropos at all, it must mean that in marrying such a man as he is, one might escape all the difficulties of family coldness, and I protest, as I think of it, the matter has its advantages.’

A faint smile was all Kate’s answer.

‘I cannot make you angry; I have done my best, and it has failed. I am utterly discomfited, and I’ll go to bed.’

‘Good-night,’ said Kate, as she held out her hand.

‘I wonder is it nice to have this angelic temperament – to be always right in one’s judgments, and never carried away by passion? I half suspect perfection does not mean perfect happiness.’

‘You shall tell me when you are married,’ said Kate, with a laugh; and Nina darted a flashing glance towards her, and swept out of the room.