Alice, or the Mysteries — Complete
and that shortly before his death he sold the greater part of
his interest in this city. His young wife, I suppose, liked the
neighbourhood of London; and when elderly gentlemen _do_ marry, you
know they are no longer their own masters; but if you had ever come to
Fulham--ah! then, indeed, my uncle would have rejoiced to see his old
friend."
"Your lordship thinks so," said Mr. Winsley with a sardonic smile. "You
are mistaken; I did call at Fulham; and though I sent in my card, Lord
Vargrave's servant (he was then My Lord) brought back word that his
lordship was not at home."
"But that must have been true; he was out, you may depend on it."
"I saw him at the window, my lord," said Mr. Winsley, taking a pinch of
snuff.
"Oh, the deuce! I'm in for it," thought Lumley.--"Very strange,
indeed! but how can you account for it? Ah, perhaps the health of Lady
Vargrave--she was so very delicate then, and my poor uncle lived for
her--you know that he left all his fortune to Miss Cameron?"
"Miss Cameron! Who is she, my lord?"
"Why, his daughter-in-law; Lady Vargrave was a widow,--a Mrs. Cameron."
"Mrs. Cam--I remember now,--they put Cameron in the newspapers; but I
thought it was a mistake. But, perhaps" (added Winsley, with a sneer of
peculiar malignity),--"perhaps, when your worthy uncle thought of being
a peer, he did not like to have it known that he married so much beneath
him."
"You quite mistake, my dear sir; my uncle never denied that Mrs. Cameron
was a lady of no fortune or connections,--widow to some poor Scotch
gentleman, who died I think in India."
"He left her very ill off, poor thing; but she had a great deal of
merit, and worked hard; she taught my girls to play--"
"Your girls! did Mrs. Cameron ever reside in C-----?"
"To be sure; but she was then called Mrs. Butler--just as pretty a name
to my fancy."
"You must make a mistake: my uncle married this lady in Devonshire."
"Very possibly," quoth the brewer, doggedly. "Mrs. Butler left the town
with her little girl some time before Mr. Templeton married."
"Well, you are wiser than I am," said Lumley, forcing a smile. "But how
can you be sure that Mrs. Butler and Mrs. Cameron are one and the same
person? You did not go into the house, you could not have seen Lady
Vargrave" (and here Lumley shrewdly guessed--if the tale were true--at
the cause of his uncle's exclusion of his old acquaintance).
"No! but I saw her ladyship on the lawn," said Mr. Winsley, with another
sardonic smile; "and I asked the porter at the lodge as I went out if
that was Lady Vargrave, and he said, 'yes.' However, my lord, bygones
are bygones,--I bear no malice; your uncle was a good man: and if he had
but said to me, 'Winsley, don't say a word about Mrs. Butler,' he might
have reckoned on me just as much as when in his elections he used to put
five thousand pounds in my hands, and say, 'Winsley, no bribery,--it is
wicked; let this be given in charity.' Did any one ever know how that
money went? Was your uncle ever accused of corruption? But, my lord,
surely you will take some refreshment?"
"No, indeed; but if you will let me dine with you tomorrow, you'll
oblige me much; and, whatever my uncle's faults (and latterly, poor man,
he was hardly in his senses; what a will he made!) let not the nephew
suffer for them. Come, Mr. Winsley," and Lumley held out his hand with
enchanting frankness, "you know my motives are disinterested; I have
no parliamentary interest to serve, we have no constituents for our
Hospital of Incurables; and--oh! that's right,--we're friends, I see!
Now I must go and look after my ward's houses. Let me see, the agent's
name is--is--"
"Perkins, I think, my lord," said Mr. Winsley, thoroughly softened by
the charm of Vargrave's words and manner. "Let me put on my hat, and
show you his house."
"Will you? That's very kind; give me all the election news by the
way--you know I was once within an ace of being your member."
Vargrave learned from his new friend some further particulars relative
to Mrs. Butler's humble habits and homely mode of life at C-----, which
served completely to explain to him why his proud and worldly uncle
had so carefully abstained from all intercourse with that city, and had
prevented the nephew from standing for its vacant representation. It
seemed, however, that Winsley--whose resentment was not of a very active
or violent kind--had not communicated the discovery he had made to his
fellow townspeople; but had contented himself with hints and aphorisms,
whenever he had heard the subject of Mr. Templeton's marriage discussed,
which had led the gossips of the place to imagine that he had made a
much worse selection than he really had. As to the accuracy of Winsley's
assertion, Vargrave, though surprised at first, had but little doubt
on consideration, especially when he heard that Mrs. Butler's principal
patroness had been the Mrs. Leslie, now the intimate friend of Lady
Vargrave. But what had been the career, what the earlier condition and
struggles of this simple and interesting creature? With her appearance
at C-----, commenced all that surmise could invent. Not greater was the
mystery that wrapped the apparition of Manco Capac by the lake Titiaca,
than that which shrouded the places and the trials whence the lowly
teacher of music had emerged amidst the streets of C------.
Weary, and somewhat careless, of conjecture, Lord Vargrave, in dining
with Mr. Winsley, turned the conversation upon the business on which he
had principally undertaken his journey,--namely, the meditated purchase
of Lisle Court.
"I myself am not a very good judge of landed property," said Vargrave;
"I wish I knew of an experienced surveyor to look over the farms and
timber: can you help me to such a one?"
Mr. Winsley smiled, and glanced at a rosy-cheeked young lady, who
simpered and turned away. "I think my daughter could recommend one to
your lordship, if she dared."
"Oh, Pa!"
"I see. Well, Miss Winsley, I will take no recommendation but yours."
Miss Winsley made an effort.
"Indeed, my lord, I have always heard Mr. Robert Hobbs considered very
clever in his profession."
"Mr. Robert Hobbs is my man! His good health--and a fair wife to him."
Miss Winsley glanced at Mamma, and then at a younger sister; and then
there was a titter, and then a fluttering, and then a rising, and Mr.
Winsley, Lord Vargrave, and the slim secretary were left alone.
"Really, my lord," said the host, resettling himself, and pushing the
wine, "though you have guessed our little family arrangement, and I have
some interest in the recommendation, since Margaret will be Mrs. Robert
Hobbs in a few weeks, yet I do not know a more acute, intelligent young
man anywhere. Highly respectable, with an independent fortune; his
father is lately dead, and made at least thirty thousand pounds in
trade. His brother Edward is also dead; so he has the bulk of the
property, and he follows his profession merely for amusement. He would
consider it a great honour."
"And where does he live?"
"Oh, not in this county,--a long way off; close to -----; but it is all
in your lordship's road. A very nice house he has, too. I have known his
family since I was a boy; it is astonishing how his father improved the
place,--it was a poor little lath-and-plaster cottage when the late Mr.
Hobbs bought it, and it is now a very excellent family house."
"Well, you shall give me the address and a letter of introduction,
and so much for that matter. But to return to politics;" and here Lord
Vargrave ran eloquently on, till Mr. Winsley thought him the only man in
the world who could save the country from that utter annihilation, the
possibility of which he had never even suspected before.
It may be as well to add, that, on wishing Lord Vargrave good-night,
Mr. Winsley whispered in his ear, "Your lordship's friend, Lord Staunch,
need be under no apprehension,--we are all right!"
CHAPTER III.
THIS is the house, sir.--_Love's Pilgrimage_, Act iv, sc. 2.
Redeunt Saturnia regna.*--VIRGIL.
* "A former state of things returns."
THE next morning, Lumley and his slender companion were rolling rapidly
over the same road on which, sixteen years ago, way-worn and weary,
Alice Darvil had first met with Mrs. Leslie; they were talking about a
new opera-dancer as they whirled by the very spot.
It was about five o'clock in the afternoon, the next day, when the
carriage stopped at a cast-iron gate, on which was inscribed this
epigraph, "Hobbs' lodge--Ring the Bell."
"A snug place enough," said Lord Vargrave, as they were waiting the
arrival of the footman to unbar the gate.
"Yes," said Mr. Howard. "If a retired Cit could be transformed into a
house, such is the house he would be."
Poor Dale Cottage,--the home of Poetry and Passion! But change visits
the Commonplace as well as the Romantic. Since Alice had pressed to
that cold grating her wistful eyes, time had wrought his allotted
revolutions; the old had died, the young grown up. Of the children
playing on the lawn, death had claimed some, and marriage others,--and
the holiday of youth was gone for all.
The servant opened the gate. Mr. Robert Hobbs was at home; he had
friends with him,--he was engaged; Lord Vargrave sent in his card, and
the introductory letter from Mr. Winsley. In two seconds, these missives
brought to the gate Mr. Robert Hobbs himself, a smart young man, with
a black stock, red whiskers, and an eye-glass pendant to a hair-chain
which was possibly _a gage d'amour_ from Miss Margaret Winsley.
A profusion of bows, compliments, apologies, etc., the carriage drove up
the sweep, and Lord Vargrave descended, and was immediately ushered into
Mr. Hobbs's private room. The slim secretary followed, and sat silent,
melancholy, and upright, while the peer affably explained his wants and
wishes to the surveyor.
Mr. Hobbs was well acquainted with the locality of Lisle Court, which
was little more than thirty miles distant, he should be proud to
accompany Lord Vargrave thither the next morning. But, might he venture,
might he dare, might he presume--a gentleman who lived at the town of
----- was to dine with him that day; a gentleman of the most profound
knowledge of agricultural affairs; a gentleman who knew every farm,
almost every acre, belonging to Colonel Maltravers; if his lordship
could be induced to waive ceremony, and dine with Mr. Hobbs; it might be
really useful to meet this gentleman. The slim secretary, who was very
hungry, and who thought he sniffed an uncommonly savoury smell, looked
up from his boots. Lord Vargrave smiled.
"My young friend here is too great an admirer of Mrs. Hobbs--who is to
be--not to feel anxious to make the acquaintance of any member of the
family she is to enter."
Mr. George Frederick Augustus Howard blushed indignant refutation of the
calumnious charge. Vargrave continued,--"As for me, I shall be
delighted to meet any friends of yours, and am greatly obliged for your
consideration. We may dismiss the postboys, Howard; and what time shall
we summon them,--ten o'clock?"
"If your lordship would condescend to accept a bed, we can accommodate
your lordship and this gentleman, and start at any hour in the morning
that--"
"So be it," interrupted Vargrave. "You speak like a man of business.
Howard, be so kind as to order the horses for six o'clock to-morrow.
We'll breakfast at Lisle Court."
This matter settled, Lord Vargrave and Mr. Howard were shown into their
respective apartments. Travelling dresses were changed, the dinner put
back, and the fish over-boiled; but what mattered common fish, when Mr.
Hobbs had just caught such a big one? Of what consequence he should be
henceforth and ever! A peer, a minister, a stranger to the county,--to