The Small House at Allington
enough, he had himself been thinking of marriage at that moment.
How would it have been with him had he known the beautiful Griselda
before the Dumbello alliance had been arranged? Would he have married
her? Would he have been comfortable if he had married her? Of
course he could not marry now, seeing that he was in love with Lady
Dumbello, and that the lady in question, unfortunately, had a husband
of her own; but though he had been thinking of marrying, he did not
like to have the subject thus roughly thrust before his eyes, and,
as it were, into his very lap by his uncle's agent. Mr. Fothergill,
no doubt, saw the first symptom of outraged dignity, for he was a
clever, sharp man. But, perhaps, he did not in truth much regard it.
Perhaps he had received instructions which he was bound to regard
above all other matters.
"I hope you'll excuse me, Mr. Palliser, I do, indeed; but I say it
because I am half afraid of some,--some,--some diminution of good
feeling, perhaps, I had better call it, between you and your uncle.
Anything of that kind would be such a monstrous pity."
"I am not aware of any such probability."
This Mr. Palliser said with considerable dignity; but when the words
were spoken he bethought himself whether he had not told a fib.
"No; perhaps not. I trust there is no such probability. But the duke
is a very determined man if he takes anything into his head;--and
then he has so much in his power."
"He has not me in his power, Mr. Fothergill."
"No, no, no. One man does not have another in his power in this
country,--not in that way; but then you know, Mr. Palliser, it would
hardly do to offend him; would it?"
"I would rather not offend him, as is natural. Indeed, I do not wish
to offend any one."
"Exactly so; and least of all the duke, who has the whole property in
his own hands. We may say the whole, for he can marry to-morrow if he
pleases. And then his life is so good. I don't know a stouter man of
his age, anywhere."
"I'm very glad to hear it."
"I'm sure you are, Mr. Palliser. But if he were to take offence, you
know?"
"I should put up with it."
"Yes, exactly; that's what you would do. But it would be worth while
to avoid it, seeing how much he has in his power."
"Has the duke sent you to me now, Mr. Fothergill?"
"No, no, no,--nothing of the sort. But he dropped words the other day
which made me fancy that he was not quite,--quite,--quite at ease
about you. I have long known that he would be very glad indeed to
see an heir born to the property. The other morning,--I don't know
whether there was anything in it,--but I fancied he was going to make
some change in the present arrangements. He did not do it, and it
might have been fancy. Only think, Mr. Palliser, what one word of
his might do! If he says a word, he never goes back from it." Then,
having said so much, Mr. Fothergill went his way.
Mr. Palliser understood the meaning of all this very well. It
was not the first occasion on which Mr. Fothergill had given him
advice,--advice such as Mr. Fothergill himself had no right to give
him. He always received such counsel with an air of half-injured
dignity, intending thereby to explain to Mr. Fothergill that he was
intruding. But he knew well whence the advice came; and though, in
all such cases, he had made up his mind not to follow such counsel,
it had generally come to pass that Mr. Palliser's conduct had more or
less accurately conformed itself to Mr. Fothergill's advice. A word
from the duke might certainly do a great deal! Mr. Palliser resolved
that in that affair of Lady Dumbello he would follow his own devices.
But, nevertheless, it was undoubtedly true that a word from the duke
might do a great deal!
We, who are in the secret, know how far Mr. Palliser had already
progressed in his iniquitous passion before he left Hartlebury.
Others, who were perhaps not so well informed, gave him credit
for a much more advanced success. Lady Clandidlem, in her letter
to Lady De Courcy, written immediately after the departure of Mr.
Palliser, declared that, having heard of that gentleman's intended
matutinal departure, she had confidently expected to learn at the
breakfast-table that Lady Dumbello had flown with him. From the tone
of her ladyship's language, it seemed as though she had been robbed
of an anticipated pleasure by Lady Dumbello's prolonged sojourn
in the halls of her husband's ancestors. "I feel, however, quite
convinced," said Lady Clandidlem, "that it cannot go on longer than
the spring. I never yet saw a man so infatuated as Mr. Palliser. He
did not leave her for one moment all the time he was here. No one
but Lady Hartletop would have permitted it. But, you know, there is
nothing so pleasant as good old family friendships."
CHAPTER XLIV.
VALENTINE'S DAY AT ALLINGTON.
Lily had exacted a promise from her mother before her illness,
and during the period of her convalescence often referred to it,
reminding her mother that that promise had been made, and must be
kept. Lily was to be told the day on which Crosbie was to be married.
It had come to the knowledge of them all that the marriage was to
take place in February. But this was not sufficient for Lily. She
must know the day.
And as the time drew nearer,--Lily becoming stronger the while, and
less subject to medical authority,--the marriage of Crosbie and
Alexandrina was spoken of much more frequently at the Small House.
It was not a subject which Mrs. Dale or Bell would have chosen for
conversation; but Lily would refer to it. She would begin by doing so
almost in a drolling strain, alluding to herself as a forlorn damsel
in a play-book; and then she would go on to speak of his interests as
a matter which was still of great moment to her. But in the course of
such talking she would too often break down, showing by some sad word
or melancholy tone how great was the burden on her heart. Mrs. Dale
and Bell would willingly have avoided the subject, but Lily would not
have it avoided. For them it was a very difficult matter on which
to speak in her hearing. It was not permitted to them to say a word
of abuse against Crosbie, as to whom they thought that no word of
condemnation could be sufficiently severe; and they were forced to
listen to such excuses for his conduct as Lily chose to manufacture,
never daring to point out how vain those excuses were.
Indeed, in those days Lily reigned as a queen at the Small House.
Ill-usage and illness together falling into her hands had given her
such power, that none of the other women were able to withstand it.
Nothing was said about it; but it was understood by them all, Jane
and the cook included, that Lily was for the time paramount. She was
a dear, gracious, loving, brave queen, and no one was anxious to
rebel;--only that those praises of Crosbie were so very bitter in the
ears of her subjects. The day was named soon enough, and the tidings
came down to Allington. On the fourteenth of February, Crosbie was
to be made a happy man. This was not known to the Dales till the
twelfth, and they would willingly have spared the knowledge then, had
it been possible to spare it. But it was not so, and on that evening
Lily was told.
During these days, Bell used to see her uncle daily. Her visits were
made with the pretence of taking to him information as to Lily's
health; but there was perhaps at the bottom of them a feeling that,
as the family intended to leave the Small House at the end of March,
it would be well to let the squire know that there was no enmity in
their hearts against him. Nothing more had been said about their
moving,--nothing, that is, from them to him. But the matter was going
on, and he knew it. Dr. Crofts was already in treaty on their behalf
for a small furnished house at Guestwick. The squire was very sad
about it,--very sad indeed. When Hopkins spoke to him on the subject,
he sharply desired that faithful gardener to hold his tongue, giving
it to be understood that such things were not to be made matter
of talk by the Allington dependants till they had been officially
announced. With Bell during these visits he never alluded to the
matter. She was the chief sinner, in that she had refused to marry
her cousin, and had declined even to listen to rational counsel upon
the matter. But the squire felt that he could not discuss the subject
with her, seeing that he had been specially informed by Mrs. Dale
that his interference would not be permitted; and then he was perhaps
aware that if he did discuss the subject with Bell, he would not gain
much by such discussion. Their conversation, therefore, generally
fell upon Crosbie, and the tone in which he was mentioned in the
Great House was very different from that assumed in Lily's presence.
"He'll be a wretched man," said the squire, when he told Bell of the
day that had been fixed.
"I don't want him to be wretched," said Bell. "But I can hardly think
that he can act as he has done without being punished."
"He will be a wretched man. He gets no fortune with her, and she will
expect everything that fortune can give. I believe, too, that she
is older than he is. I cannot understand it. Upon my word, I cannot
understand how a man can be such a knave and such a fool. Give my
love to Lily. I'll see her to-morrow or the next day. She's well rid
of him; I'm sure of that;--though I suppose it would not do to tell
her so."
The morning of the fourteenth came upon them at the Small House,
as comes the morning of those special days which have been long
considered, and which are to be long remembered. It brought with it a
hard, bitter frost,--a black, biting frost,--such a frost as breaks
the water-pipes, and binds the ground to the hardness of granite.
Lily, queen as she was, had not yet been allowed to go back to her
own chamber, but occupied the larger bed in her mother's room, her
mother sleeping on a smaller one.
"Mamma," she said, "how cold they'll be!" Her mother had announced to
her the fact of the black frost, and these were the first words she
spoke.
"I fear their hearts will be cold also," said Mrs. Dale. She ought
not to have said so. She was transgressing the acknowledged rule
of the house in saying any word that could be construed as being
inimical to Crosbie or his bride. But her feeling on the matter was
too strong, and she could not restrain herself.
"Why should their hearts be cold? Oh, mamma, that is a terrible thing
to say. Why should their hearts be cold?"
"I hope it may not be so."
"Of course you do; of course we all hope it. He was not cold-hearted,
at any rate. A man is not cold-hearted, because he does not know
himself. Mamma, I want you to wish for their happiness."
Mrs. Dale was silent for a minute or two before she answered this,
but then she did answer it. "I think I do," said she. "I think I do
wish for it."
"I am very sure that I do," said Lily.
At this time Lily had her breakfast upstairs, but went down into the
drawing-room in the course of the morning.
"You must be very careful in wrapping yourself as you go downstairs,"
said Bell, who stood by the tray on which she had brought up the
toast and tea. "The cold is what you would call awful."
"I should call it jolly," said Lily, "if I could get up and go out.
Do you remember lecturing me about talking slang the day that he
first came?"
"Did I, my pet?"
"Don't you remember, when I called him a swell? Ah, dear! so he was.
That was the mistake, and it was all my own fault, as I had seen it
from the first."
Bell for a moment turned her face away, and beat with her foot
against the ground. Her anger was more difficult of restraint than
was even her mother's,--and now, not restraining it, but wishing to
hide it, she gave it vent in this way.