The Small House at Allington
are not the first! Mr. Pratt, I give you my word as a gentleman, I do
not understand it. I have lived a good deal out of the world, and am,
therefore, perhaps, more astonished than I ought to be."
"Mr. Dale, I feel for you--"
"Feel for me! What is to become of my girl? And do you suppose that
I will let this other marriage go on; that I will not tell the
De Courcys, and all the world at large, what sort of a man this
is;--that I will not get at him to punish him? Does he think that I
will put up with this?"
"I do not know what he thinks; I must only beg that you will not mix
me up in the matter--as though I were a participator in his offence."
"Will you tell him from me that I desire to see him?"
"I do not think that that would do any good."
"Never mind, sir; you have brought me his message; will you have the
goodness now to take back mine to him?"
"Do you mean at once--this evening,--now?"
"Yes, at once--this evening,--now;--this minute."
"Ah; he has left the club; he is not here now; he went when I came to
you."
"Then he is a coward as well as a scoundrel." In answer to which
assertion, Mr. Fowler Pratt merely shrugged his shoulders.
"He is a coward as well as a scoundrel. Will you have the kindness to
tell your friend from me that he is a coward and a scoundrel,--and a
liar, sir."
"If it be so, Miss Dale is well quit of her engagement."
"That is your consolation, is it? That may be all very well
now-a-days; but when I was a young man, I would sooner have burnt out
my tongue than have spoken in such a way on such a subject. I would,
indeed. Good-night, Mr. Pratt. Pray make your friend understand that
he has not yet seen the last of the Dales; although, as you hint, the
ladies of that family will no doubt have learned that he is not fit
to associate with them." Then, taking up his hat, the squire made his
way out of the club.
"I would not have done it," said Pratt to himself, "for all the
beauty, and all the wealth, and all the rank that ever were owned by
a woman."
CHAPTER XXVI.
LORD DE COURCY IN THE BOSOM OF HIS FAMILY.
Lady Julia De Guest had not during her life written many letters to
Mr. Dale of Allington, nor had she ever been very fond of him. But
when she felt certain how things were going at Courcy, or rather, as
we may say, how they had already gone, she took pen in hand, and sat
herself to work, doing, as she conceived, her duty by her neighbour.
MY DEAR MR. DALE [she said],
I believe I need make no secret of having known that your
niece Lilian is engaged to Mr. Crosbie, of London. I think
it proper to warn you that if this be true Mr. Crosbie is
behaving himself in a very improper manner here. I am not
a person who concerns myself much in the affairs of other
people; and under ordinary circumstances, the conduct of
Mr. Crosbie would be nothing to me,--or, indeed, less
than nothing; but I do to you as I would wish that others
should do unto me. I believe it is only too true that
Mr. Crosbie has proposed to Lady Alexandrina De Courcy,
and been accepted by her. I think you will believe that
I would not say this without warrant, and if there be
anything in it, it may be well, for the poor young lady's
sake, that you should put yourself in the way of learning
the truth.
Believe me to be yours sincerely,
JULIA DE GUEST.
Courcy Castle, Thursday.
The squire had never been very fond of any of the De Guest family,
and had, perhaps, liked Lady Julia the least of them all. He was wont
to call her a meddling old woman,--remembering her bitterness and
pride in those now long bygone days in which the gallant major had
run off with Lady Fanny. When he first received this letter, he did
not, on the first reading of it, believe a word of its contents.
"Cross-grained old harridan," he said out loud to his nephew. "Look
what that aunt of yours has written to me." Bernard read the letter
twice, and as he did so his face became hard and angry.
"You don't mean to say you believe it?" said the squire.
"I don't think it will be safe to disregard it."
"What! you think it possible that your friend is doing as she says?"
"It is certainly possible. He was angry when he found that Lily had
no fortune."
"Heavens, Bernard! And you can speak of it in that way?"
"I don't say that it is true; but I think we should look to it. I
will go to Courcy Castle and learn the truth."
The squire at last decided that he would go. He went to Courcy
Castle, and found that Crosbie had started two hours before his
arrival. He asked for Lady Julia, and learned from her that Crosbie
had actually left the house as the betrothed husband of Lady
Alexandrina.
"The countess, I am sure, will not contradict it, if you will see
her," said Lady Julia. But this the squire was unwilling to do. He
would not proclaim the wretched condition of his niece more loudly
than was necessary, and therefore he started on his pursuit of
Crosbie. What was his success on that evening we have already
learned.
Both Lady Alexandrina and her mother heard of Mr. Dale's arrival at
the castle, but nothing was said between them on the subject. Lady
Amelia Gazebee heard of it also, and she ventured to discuss the
matter with her sister.
"You don't know exactly how far it went, do you?"
"No; yes;--not exactly, that is," said Alexandrina.
"I suppose he did say something about marriage to the girl?"
"Yes, I'm afraid he did."
"Dear, dear! It's very unfortunate. What sort of people are those
Dales? I suppose he talked to you about them."
"No, he didn't; not very much. I daresay she is an artful, sly thing!
It's a great pity men should go on in such a way."
"Yes, it is," said Lady Amelia. "And I do suppose that in this case
the blame has been more with him than with her. It's only right I
should tell you that."
"But what can I do?"
"I don't say you can do anything; but it's as well you should know."
"But I don't know, and you don't know; and I can't see that there is
any use talking about it now. I knew him a long while before she did,
and if she has allowed him to make a fool of her, it isn't my fault."
"Nobody says it is, my dear."
"But you seem to preach to me about it. What can I do for the girl?
The fact is, he don't care for her a bit, and never did."
"Then he shouldn't have told her that he did."
"That's all very well, Amelia; but people don't always do exactly all
that they ought to do. I suppose Mr. Crosbie isn't the first man that
has proposed to two ladies. I dare say it was wrong, but I can't help
it. As to Mr. Dale coming here with a tale of his niece's wrongs, I
think it very absurd,--very absurd indeed. It makes it look as though
there had been a scheme to catch Mr. Crosbie, and it's my belief that
there was such a scheme."
"I only hope that there'll be no quarrel."
"Men don't fight duels now-a-days, Amelia."
"But do you remember what Frank Gresham did to Mr. Moffat when he
behaved so badly to poor Augusta?"
"Mr. Crosbie isn't afraid of that kind of thing. And I always thought
that Frank was very wrong,--very wrong indeed. What's the good of two
men beating each other in the street?"
"Well; I'm sure I hope there'll be no quarrel. But I own I don't like
the look of it. You see the uncle must have known all about it, and
have consented to the marriage, or he would not have come here."
"I don't see that it can make any difference to me, Amelia."
"No, my dear, I don't see that it can. We shall be up in town soon,
and I will see as much as possible of Mr. Crosbie. The marriage, I
hope, will take place soon."
"He talks of February."
"Don't put it off, Alley, whatever you do. There are so many slips,
you know, in these things."
"I'm not a bit afraid of that," said Alexandrina, sticking up her
head.
"I daresay not; and you may be sure that we will keep an eye on him.
Mortimer will get him up to dine with us as often as possible, and as
his leave of absence is all over, he can't get out of town. He's to
be here at Christmas, isn't he?"
"Of course he is."
"Mind you keep him to that. And as to these Dales, I would be very
careful, if I were you, not to say anything unkind of them to any
one. It sounds badly in your position." And with this last piece of
advice Lady Amelia Gazebee allowed the subject to drop.
On that day Lady Julia returned to her own home. Her adieux to the
whole family at Courcy Castle were very cold, but about Mr. Crosbie
and his lady-love at Allington she said no further word to any of
them. Alexandrina did not show herself at all on the occasion, and
indeed had not spoken to her enemy since that evening on which she
had felt herself constrained to retreat from the drawing-room.
"Good-by," said the countess. "You have been so good to come, and we
have enjoyed it so much."
"I thank you very much. Good morning," said Lady Julia, with a
stately courtesy.
"Pray remember me to your brother. I wish we could have seen him; I
hope he has not been hurt by the--the bull." And then Lady Julia went
her way.
"What a fool I have been to have that woman in the house," said the
countess, before the door was closed behind her guest's back.
"Indeed you have," said Lady Julia, screaming back through the
passage. Then there was a long silence, then a suppressed titter, and
after that a loud laugh.
"Oh, mamma, what shall we do?" said Lady Amelia.
"Do!" said Margaretta; "why should we do anything? She has heard the
truth for once in her life."
"Dear Lady Dumbello, what will you think of us?" said the countess,
turning round to another guest, who was also just about to depart.
"Did any one ever know such a woman before?"
"I think she's very nice," said Lady Dumbello, smiling.
"I can't quite agree with you there," said Lady Clandidlem. "But I
do believe she means to do her best. She is very charitable, and all
that sort of thing."
"I'm sure I don't know," said Rosina. "I asked her for a subscription
to the mission for putting down the Papists in the west of Ireland,
and she refused me point-blank."
"Now, my dear, if you're quite ready," said Lord Dumbello, coming
into the room. Then there was another departure; but on this occasion
the countess waited till the doors were shut, and the retreating
footsteps were no longer heard. "Have you observed," said she to Lady
Clandidlem, "that she has not held her head up since Mr. Palliser
went away?"
"Indeed I have," said Lady Clandidlem. "As for poor Dumbello, he's
the blindest creature I ever saw in my life."
"We shall hear of something before next May," said Lady De Courcy,
shaking her head; "but for all that she'll never be Duchess of
Omnium."
"I wonder what your mamma will say of me when I go away to-morrow,"
said Lady Clandidlem to Margaretta, as they walked across the hall
together.
"She won't say that you are going to run away with any gentleman,"
said Margaretta.
"At any rate not with the earl," said Lady Clandidlem. "Ha, ha, ha!
Well, we are all very good-natured, are we not? The best is that it
means nothing."
Thus by degrees all the guests went, and the family of the De Courcys
was left to the bliss of their own domestic circle. This, we may
presume, was not without its charms, seeing that there were so many
feelings in common between the mother and her children. There were
drawbacks to it, no doubt, arising perhaps chiefly from the earl's
bodily infirmities. "When your father speaks to me," said Mrs. George
to her husband, "he puts me in such a shiver that I cannot open my
mouth to answer him."
"You should stand up to him," said George. "He can't hurt you, you
know. Your money's your own; and if I'm ever to be the heir, it won't
be by his doing."