The Passionate Elopement
inclination to play. Wine had never attracted him save in moments of
high excitement and he was willing to let his love for Phyllida occupy
for ever the sacred inmost shrine of his heart.
Clare remained with him as long as he thought Charles needed his
company, but word arriving that his cousin had died, he returned to
Devonshire, and in the following year you might have read in the
_Gentleman's Magazine_ 'Sir Anthony Clare of Clare Court, Devon, to Miss
Arabella Hopley with L10,000.'
To the end of his days he always said that if he lived his youth over
again, he should not have acted otherwise than he did upon the first of
April 17--. But Tony Clare was obstinate in many ways, and, as I
believe, never admitted the virtue of even a new manure very willingly.
Before Clare left Charles had received a letter from Beau Ripple
inviting him to reside once more at Curtain Wells.
"That is impossible," said Tony stiffly.
"I suppose it is."
"You forget that foolish satire."
"I take it that Ripple intends me to succeed him as King of the Wells."
"The publication of _Curtain Polls_ has made that impossible."
"I don't know. It might incline them to respect me."
Charles was very lonely in Paris after Tony had gone, and when war broke
out again, he decided to go back to England. Just before he started he
received a second epistle from the Beau.
THE GREAT HOUSE,
June 15.
MY DEAR CHARLES,--_Our season will presently evaporate in this
atrocious heat, and your Uncle and I intend to visit Repington
Hall. He is now somewhat recovered of his Disappointment and very
anxious to consult with you as to the advisableness of selling the
Property. I agree with him in thinking that you would not enjoy the
somewhat gross seclusion of a rustick Squire, so that you will
oblige him by returning to England and letting him know your
feelings in the Matter._
_I cannot see you can do better than take up your permanent
residence in Curtain Wells. I do not wish to urge you into a
contemplative Existence too prematurely, but to a man of your
temperament the opportunities of observing human Character must
make an imperious appeal. These I can offer you together with the
pleasant pastime of ruling the fashionable World. You need not fret
yourself with any early indiscretions. They will very soon acquire
a romantick Interest of their own, and I confidently look forward
to your success in the splendid Office I have long wished you to
fulfil. You will have the benefit of my Advice which I hope you
will not find too obtrusive. Come, what do you say? There is a
capital house contiguous to Curtain Garden. I fear I cannot yet
resign the Great House. Your Uncle is willing to buy this property
for you and eagerly looks forward to your acceptance of his Offer.
In this hope he is cordially joined by_
_Your devoted_
HORACE RIPPLE.
Charles hesitated no longer and hurried as quickly as possible to
Repington Hall. The canary-coloured footmen received him with extreme
deference, and he found the wide polished staircase quite easy to climb.
He had been a little afraid of his uncle's sentimental reminiscence, but
as it turned out his fears were groundless. Nothing was said about the
past and the conversation was almost entirely of a financial character.
He spent the remainder of the summer with Sir George Repington at
Scarborough, returning early in the autumn to form the establishment of
his new residence, Dragon Lodge.
He bought a monocle of such thickness that the human countenance seen
through its glass was reduced to the merest pin-point. He procured two
Chinese mutes--Heaven knows how or where--but their names were Ho and
No. His eccentricities would exhaust another volume of description. He
was the famous Beau who appeared on the first of the month in a
light-coloured suit that gradually deepened until, on the last day of
the month, it always achieved blackness. When asked by somebody the
reason of this mode he replied that he was mourning the flight of time:
when asked farther why he was not perpetually funereal in his costume he
replied that the first day of the month always revived his hopes of
immortality. It was observed, however, that in April his dress did not
alter and those who rashly inquired the reason for this exception were
severely rebuked for their curiosity. His library was one of the finest
in England, although it did not contain a single copy of _Curtain
Polls_. The Great Dr. Johnson on one occasion complimented him upon the
selection of his authors, the decorousness of his bindings, and the
rigidity of his ladders.
As Mr. Ripple had prophesied, the indiscretions of his past in course of
time acquired a romantick mystery of their own. He was credited in turn
with a faithless wife immured in a Gothick dungeon in the North-West of
the Island of Sicily, with a prodigiously passionate affair with a
German princess in which he was said to have pinked four Royal Dukes,
and with innumerable other entanglements quite impossible to recount.
All these tales only added to his prestige, while his wealth and
amiability gave him a reputation second to none of the Beaux of the
past. He wrote a number of verses, but never published another volume,
and was probably the original whom Sir Benjamin Backbite copied, though
his reasons for not printing were quite different from those of the
later fop.
He would sometimes return early from assembly, rout, or ridotto to pay a
visit to Mr. Ripple. He would usually find the latter engaged in a game
of picket with Sir George Repington; and, after entertaining the two old
gentlemen with a witty and satirical account of the evening's
entertainment, he would walk slowly back to Dragon Lodge, stare
meditatively at the new motto he had adopted, _Fui decorus_, step into a
small ivory room that opened out of the massive library and take from a
cedar-wood drawer a white swansdown muff.
EXPLICIT