r-' M ■A,.-. .,(! ■<') I ■ ■ . ■ , • .1 1,,, ;: >i ■■,,>' ♦•, y-' i ■ 1 a I E) RAFLY OF THE UNIVLRSITY or ILLI NOIS 625 F135 V. I mmmuMBommmsmumm ^£/Z■C*^.^^' FALSE POSITIONS, FALSE POSITIONS on, SKETCHES OF CHAEACTEE. IN TWO VOLUMES. VOL. I. LOXDON : CHAPMAN & HALL, 193, PICCADILLY. 1863 [TJie right of Translation is reserved.] LONDON : BRADBURY AND EVANS, PRINTERS, WHITEFRIARS. i '?^3 a V. I CONTENTS. ^' YI. THE SPELXG-TIiTE OF LIFE 85 V — ♦ — CHAP. PAGE ^ I. THE housekeeper's EOOM .... 1 ^ II. THE GEE-iT HOUSE AXD ITS OWXEE . . . 16 III. TESTAMEXTAEY IXSTEUCTIOIy'S . . . .40 IT. SrEMISES T. EEUDITION 71 YII. THE DISCLOSTJEE 97 VIII. PEOGEESS 135 IX. GUESTS 154 L_ X. THE EXCURSION 182 fi 4j^ XI. IXYESTIGATION- 217 ^ XII. SUSPICIONS 231 ^ Xin. A EEilOTAL 243 •ST> XIY. TEMEEITY 257 FALSE POSITIONS SKETCHES OF CHAEACTER. CHAPTER I. THE housekeeper's ROOM. We know not, reader, whether you belong to that sensitive portion of humanity, which shrinks from beholding things as they are, to whom all the base and sordid machinery upholding the upper and visible surface of society is a fact ignored, or, at least, reso- lutely kept out of sight ; if such be the case, we give you fair warning, our narrative does ^> 2 FAL^E POSITIONS. not concern 3^011. Refinement and good breeding (which, if genuine, is a wider term than is generally supposed) are to be desired, to be caught sight of in transient glimpses, but they have no dwelling place on this earth. We tell of men and women as they are, not as they ought to be. Without fur- ther preface, then, allow us to introduce you to your first acquaintance : Mrs. Margaret Pertinax. Could there be a more perfect picture of animal combined with i-ntellectual enjoyment ? Behold then a lady's maid, not beautiful enough to endanger her character or her own peace of mind, much less that of others, of an age to have all the powers of her mind at their fullest development, evidently in easy circumstances, dressed, according to her notions, in most THE HOUSEKEEPEE S ROOM. 3 piquant and enviable attire,— for to be envied is an ambition with some minds. She is re- dining on an easy, well-cushioned chair, her feet crossed upon a footstool, a cup of very hot, very black tea is steaming on the table beside her, and a plate of hot buttered toast is just soaking as a preparation to being con- sumed. But Mrs. Margaret has food for her mind also : although not alone, her forefinger keeps a book open in her right hand, which is evidently not of a dry nature, but intended for purposes of amusement rather more than edification. Mrs. Margaret Pertinax is rapt for about the tenth time in the course of her life in the sorrows and perplexities of Ceciha. But, amongst the ahens of this vrorld, unal- loyed bliss is of their number. Mrs. Pertinax is in the presence of a creature she detests — 4 FALSE POSITIONS. ^'a low ignorant thing," as sli6 would say herself, *'who is bred and born no one knows where/' — another lady's maid, who is at this moment on her part glaring at her with looks of inextinguishable hate from the other side of the table. The subject of this strong passion is a small old-looking young woman, with some pretensions to good looks, and decided claims to be considered smart. Mrs. Wagstaff, for that was her name, was now on a visit with her mistress at Beaumont, the seat of Mrs. Margaret's young mistress's father, and of necessity was treated with some degree of ceremony ; but this was diminished to the least possible amount. We have often been surprised at the sin- gular code of politeness adopted by domestics. THE housekeeper's ROOM. For instance, when we have visited at houses where it is the excellent custom for family prayers to be read, the ladies' maids of course take precedence of all the other servants, but still those appertaining to the house, if there be a plurality of them, never yield to the visitors ; on they stalk to seat themselves in the chief places of the servants' bench, wdiile their compeer esses, however exalted be the rank of their mistresses, and therefore their own, are contented to occupy the seats below them. It certainly is a digression from the manners of their masters, which servants thus carefully adhere to. On the present occasion, Mrs. Margaret Pertinax flourished the tea-pot, and emptied the whole of its contents into her detested neighbour and companion's cup — her second 6 FALSE POSITIONS. cup it was. Mrs. Wagstaff accepted the at- tention in pleased silence, and hailed the con- clusion of it with a graciously toned "Much obliged, ma'am." "Jeering thing !" muttered Mrs. Pertinax to herself; but she added aloud, "Mr. Porter is late at his tea to-daj^, he won't like hot water for his pains." " Indeed no ; there is nothing makes me so sick in my stomach as w^eak tea. May I trouble you for the loaf, ma'am 1 " She said this eyeing the buttered toast signifi- cantly. " I beg your pardon," ferociously growled out Mrs. Pertinax, greatly thrown off her guard ; " perhaps you'll take some buttered toast." "It does look delicious, thank you ; I'll THE HOUSEKEEPERS ROOM. 7 just take these t^Yo pieces, that is if you don't wish for it all." " Help yourself/' she continued, still in the same placid humour. Conversation had progressed to its present point, when at last the door opened, and a very important member of the household, as every butler is, entered. " I thought, Mr. Porter, you liked your tea comfortable '? " was the greeting he met with from our first acquaintance. " In this you are not mistaken ; and, upon my word, whatever the tea may be, you ladies look very comfortable." " I wonder who'd look after me if I did not take care of myself?" was the rejoinder. *• Every one for themselves is a natural, wholesome, and legitimate principle, and one 8 FALSE rOSlTlOKS. all sensible people ^^all follow. It is not every one who has somebody to do for them besides themselves, and if I did not induster, I should like to know what would become ot me in my old age!" Mrs. Pertinax had very original expressions, especially when, as on the present occasion, excited and wound up, ^' Lazy, idle, cunning things," she continued, " have cunning enough to be ladies and poor people at the same time." Here she hazarded a fiery glance at Mrs. WagstafF, who sat quite unmoved with the settled expression of con- cealed scorn she was in the habit of assuming, when on a visit and on her polite behaviour, " / would never use other people for my own purposes ; / would never play upon the good nature of my betters ; / don't want to get a cold welcome in my old age, when I'd THE HOUSEKEEPEK's ROOM. 9 come beo'oiiicr, and o-et no thanks for it." All this seemed very irrelevant to the design with which the injured Mr. Porter had ap- proached the tea-table. " I beg your pardon, ma'am," he inter- posed ; '' but will you give me my tea, if you l^lease 1 ^' " I think you'd pour it out more to your own liking, Mr. Porter," she said, handing him the tea-pot. He took it, he shook it ; two or three inky drops exuded from the mass of tea leaves within the tea-pot. His brow lowered ; he glanced at Mrs. Pertinax's untouched cup, and then, less manifestly and with' greater slyness, at that of the guest. " There was a very fine cup on the pot, Mr. Porter, for you after Mrs. Wagstaff had drunk her first cup and I had poured out 10 FALSE POSITIONS. mine, but Mrs. Wagstaff was rather dry this evening ; you had better heat the kettle before you put in the water." Mr. Porter's disposition was naturally disposed to be gallant, and even on this occasion the ten- dency stood by him in some degree, but still he could not help feeling he had been treated unjustly, unpleasantly, and selfishly ; but he remedied the matter by peremptorily summoning the pantry boy to clean out the deficient tea-pot, and by adding fresh ele- ments, to compose the fragrant beverage. Injustice generall}^ brings its own punish- ment and recoils upon the perpetrator : he had entered the room full of information in- tended to be imparted to his fair companions, but this design was frustrated by his being made rapidly conscious that they merited THE housekeeper's ROOM. 11 punishment, not gratification, and he deter- mined it should be administered. Still it was needful that they should be advertised that they had lost something, and how to do this without telling required some in- genuity. Mr. Porter possessed abilities that only lacked a larger field for their develop- ment, and he was not long in hitting upon an expedient for stimulating their feminine curiosity to high-pressure and bursting point, and yet communicating absolutely nothing. " It is particularly disagreeable," he ob- served, " to be disturbed in one's ordinary creature-comforts when one's mind has so much to turn over." "Now that is not bad! I should like to know what mighty concerns belong to you 12 FALSE POSITIOIS^S. who have an uiider-butler, a footman, and a pantry-boy to do your bidding ? " " It is quite true that I have got my proper attendants ; but responsibiHty, as Sir Eobert Peel told Her Majesty, is very wearing to a man : besides, the matters that trouble me cannot even be guessed at by you ladies." " How very unkind, Mr. Porter," inter- posed Mrs. WagstafF, in her most insinuating voice ; " surely you must know we should greatly like to hear whatever concerns you, and should be most happy to give our sjm- pathy and advice." This generous proposition was easily seen through and properly estimated. " Women are always curious ; but what I know I know, and what I guess I guess, and THE housekeeper's ROOM. 13 I am not one of those who tell my employer's secrets for the sake of the fairest of the fair." She smiled and giggled, but nevertheless returned to the charge : " I conclude we are all mixed up in this awful secret V " That is as it may be.'' " It is not the custom of Mr. Porter and myself/' snarled Mrs. Pertinax, " to tell the affairs of this family to every travelling stranger with their ears wide open ; however, on this occasion there is nothing to tell." " I suppose there is nothing but what you know. Madam ; be it so, I know more than you do, at all events." That this really was not a case of boasting on his part, was evidently the behef of both his companions, but more particularly that of 14 FALSE POSITIONS. his fellow-servant, for she writhed mani- festly under a sense of the deprivation she was undergoing. A smart ring of the bell called away Mr. Porter, who returned after a short absence shivering with cold, as if he had encountered the open air, but look- ing still more full of pent-up importance than when he left the room. " Mr. Beaumont is very much fatigued, and requested me to tell you to order the house- maid not to enter his room before ten o'clock to-morrow.'*' " I wonder what he has had to fatigue him more to-day than any other since his fall 1 " hastily escaped from Mrs. Pertinax, but she instantly felt her dignity had made an oversight in wondering at any family arrange- ment, and she bridled up under the shelter THE HOUSEKEEPEE's ROOM. 15 of a pretended recollection. " True," she said, " on these nights he always is tired.'' *• On these nights," retorted Mr. Porter, who never felt less inclined to play into her hands and humour her pretensions, "capital ! ha ! ha ! ha ! as if Thursdays and sevenths of Januarys, he had periodical fatigues. Mr. Beaumont is a living Almanack," and he laughed afresh. The outrage was past endurance. Mrs. Pertinax bounced out of the room, casting a withering look at Mrs. Wagstaff, as much as to say, "Stay, you forward thing, for a tete-a-tete." But the look was understood ; however she kept her ground unmoved, and remained to watch Mr. Porter, now fully avenged on the tea question and in the en- ioyment of his " creature -comforts " at their greatest perfection. CHAPTER 11. THE GREAT HOUSE AND ITS OWNER. Having given a glimpse into the house- keeper's room of Beamiiont, some aocomit of the remainder of the estabhshment of ^yhich it formed an integral part is due. The mansion was large, and the interior arrangements handsome and convenient, but it could claim no sort of architectural beauty save a hand- some portico, which was added by the father of the present proprietor, in consequence of an observation made by a visitor, that " a house without a portico was like a face with- out a nose, and wanted dignity/' This cri- ticism came with double force, for he was THE GEE AT HOUSE AND ITS OWXER. 17 touching on the subject of his belongings, but felt flattered at the handsomely implied homage to noses, as he Tvas proud of his own, and had, we verily believe, adapted his character to his nose ; for it is a favourite theory of ours, that the cast of feature oftener decides the tone of the character than the for- mer is impressed by the latter. Indeed, is it to be credited that a pert, turned-up nose grows to suit a gay, flippant disposition, or a solemn Roman nose to aid and abet the awe- inspiring propensities of its possessor 1 On the contrary, we hold that the physiognomy to a great deo:ree suo-o-ests the role in life. To return to the house, however ; it was built of red brick, in the reign of Queen Anne, with stone copings; and the warm colour of the brick was toned down, not VOL. I. C 18 FALSE POSITIOIN^S. merely through the agency of time, but was thickly embroidered over with creeping plants, all chosen with reference to the strength of the perfume of their flowers ; so that on a summer's day it was indeed a goodly structure, calculated to please more senses than one. There w^as something in the rich hue of the solid fjibric which spoke allegorically of warm and lasting household affections ; but we were wrong in stating that the house, with the exception of the portico, was devoid of architectural beauty, for a handsome stone balustrade ran round the top of the house, as a very ornamental finish to the building, which was a httle longer than it was broad. The entrance was to the east, and the reception rooms to the south, opening on a very broad terrace THE GEEAT HOUSE AXD ITS OWXER. 19 terminated on the brow of a hill which be- longed to a series of undulations, more or less abrupt, to the right and left as far as the eje could reach either way ; some of them being clothed with woods that had always been carefully tended to attain to not merely old age but a stout old age, for they had been left room to develope them- selves to their utmost natural bulk. There was one feature in the place possessing a certain kind of peculiarity : at each end of the terrace, which was longer than the house, were two double rows of old hme trees, that formed grass avenues over the hill down to the edge of a small river run- ning at its base : and on the other side of the full, glancing, merry stream, rose a beau- tiful bank of wood, forming large masses of c2 20 FALSE POSITIONS. foliage, such as a painter delights to portray ^vith soft and rounded touches. Is'ear the outer edge of this happy ahode of wood- pigeons, cuckoos, blackbirds, squirrels, and sometimes nightingales, a slender spire arose, thus completing a picture of harmonious beauty, linking the past with the present and future, speaking of earthly happiness, calm resting j)laces, and a world beyond the grave. The very sheep dotting the hills looked as if their wool was whiter and softer than the generality ; but sheep were not the only stock, the more expensive, yet more useless animals, daily becoming, from their increasing rarity, more aristocratic badges. Deer were not absent from this substantial and luxurious dwelling-place. The deer park was not of great extent, but showed THE GREAT PIOUSE AXD ITS OWNER. ^1 to much advantao-e from bein;>: on the side of a hill, and was studded over with huge gnarled oaks, and carpeted with a thicker pile than grass, since of course fern and deer are inseparable companions. The terrace was prettily laid out ; in the centre of it ran a walk sixty feet broad, skirted by alternate chimps of choice shrubs and quaint flower- beds ; exactly in the middle of this there ^Yas a fountain placed, a dolphin being the natural and most ordinary guise for exhi- biting the artificial play of the water. The shrubs and flow^er-beds were hemmed in by a massive balustrade similar to the one crowning the house and f surmounting a low- cut stone ^Tall, stone vases filled with flowers being placed on pedestals at inter- vals that served to break the monotony of 23 FALSE POSITIONS, the balustrades ; indeed, there was so great a profusion of carved stone, that the whole house might have been faced wath the quan- tity employed, and would have been, if it had been an Irish house of the present date. But the founder of the erection belonged to an age and country when the intermixture of brick and stone was considered to contrast and heighten the charms of both, A wdde avenue formed of a single line of gigantic beeches, with a space of grass separating their roots from the gravel drive, and per-- fectly straight, terminated at a massive, old- fashioned, highly-wrought iron gate, flanked by two substantial porters' lodges. The most picturesque features, and those most deeply graven on our memory of this sweet old place, Ave have now described ; suffice it THE GREAT HOUSE AND ITS OWNEK. 23 to add, there was nothing discordant to jar upon the taste of the most critically inclined in those we have left unnoticed. The possessor of this fair domain was an old man of seventy, and he had an only daughter, a child of ten years old. He had married twice, the second time late in life. His first wife was a very youthful attach- ment ; and after four years of married life she died, and her two infant sons did not lono; survive her. These bereavements fell ^vith a stunning effect upon him during all the remainder of his youth and prime; but long after an old college companion had ceased to think of pressing him to pay him a visit in Ireland, a fancy suddenly struck him one day to propose one himself, and he barely waited for the reply to his letter 24 FALSE POSITIONS. before lie started thither. He met with a warm welcome from his contemporary and his two beautiful granddaughters; and it will not be thought strange, however little it may be approved, when we state that the society of the younger of the two girls was yet more gratifying to him than that of his faithful chum ; still we are prepared for a little surprise (though, after all, the case is very common) when we go on to show that the courteous hostess slid into the affianced bride, and thence into the cherished wife. Would that we could stop here, but alas ! we cannot : one short year she "reigned," in all the blessedness of her circumstances, as some of her country- men would call her position, but the same morning that ushered a new existence into THE GKEAT HOUSE AND ITS OWXEE. 2a this struggling ^Yorlcl, lier liusbanci learned he was a second time a widower. To many it would have been no slight aggravation that the cause of so much woe should not be an heir, but to him it made no difference. He heard of his loss, and he heeded nothing further. After a long life spent in desolation, he had scarcely felt him- self restored to his native element, domestic happiness, when he found himself again cast adrift on a waste of solitude, and he re- cognised its old grim and crushing character- istics. He was one of those genial natures that fly from grief as much as possible instead of nourishing it, yet he was fairly bowed down by an affliction that seemed so un- natural ; for how could he have anticipated to be thus left alone, now the winter of his life 26 FALSE POSITIONS. was setting in with seventy % He lived after this some years ; but his days passed heavily, and his smiles were like those of Erin, blended with tears, for he never smiled ex- cept he tried to do so to please his little Evelyn, and then her own gleeful laugh reminded him of her mother, and he fain would weep. The only person whose com- pan}^ he sought was that of his brother, who for some time past had lived in a small house not far off, and who was devoted to farming a property of about three hundred acres, which his elder brother had made over to him on his choosing them instead of receiv- ing his inheritance in money. He also was a widower, and this would seem to be a point of mutual sympathy ; though somehow, it was not ; his decent sorrovf was taken for THE GREAT HOUSE AND ITS OWNER. 27_ granted, but it formed no bond of union between them. The household of this bro- ther consisted of a daughter five years older than Evelyn, and a sister-in-law who was a spinster, with some money in her own power. The latter was consirlerably older than her deceased sister, and had lived with her from the time of her marriage. He was one of those devotees to farming which the army often affords when the sword is turned into a ploughshare. When there seemed a great probability of his elder brother remaining a widower, he had married, and he hoped to have a son, and was greatly disgusted at the appearance of a daughter. After this event, he left his little family residing at Beaumont with his brother, while he went to Gibraltar to attain the colonelcy of his regiment. The 28 FALSE POSITIONS. officer in command Lad urgent reasons for quitting the army, and sold out at regulation price. Colonel Beaumont liked his quarters, and remained above tATO years ; for, although his wife died soon after he had left England, he saw no necessity for hurrying back to his infant dauditer and sister-in-law : but at the end of that jDcriod, he closed ^Yitll his bro- thers ofier respecting the land, and sold out for a laro'e sum of monev. Hitherto he had been in the habit of receiving the interest of his fortune left him by his father. For many 3'ears Colonel Beaumont (as we must now call him) had passed for Mr. Beaumont's heir, because he had come into the world eleven years later. "When there- fore destiny had bestowed a yoimg wife upon the elder brother, the world looked upon THE GREAT HOUSE AST) ITS OWXER. 29 him as an aggrieved person. The junior ^vent the length of believing in his innermost heart that he had dehberately planned and accomplished this injustice, not only of his own free ^vill. but under the promptings of a mean jealousy of his heirship. There are people T\ho would gain sometimes in the estimation of their neighbours if their inmost selves could be revealed ; but often these same characters would approve the sharpest pangs, did they possess even the ordinary discernment resultin^from common percep- tion. 4J«^was a man of fine mind, one in wliich the moral predominated over the intellectual, although the imaginative faculty entered largely into his composition. He had tact enough to fasten upon the wishes of those he loved, and benevolence to make 30 FALSE POSITIONS. him strive for their fulfilment ; but he never traced the origin of those wishes. If he had seen their hideous birthplace, founded some- times in selfishness, avarice, and their long- tribe of kindred and venomous attributes, he would have turned aside for ever from those he trusted and leant upon for consola- tion. Hence, it arose, that when he brought over his Irish bride, he felt a kind of unde- fined sense that he had perpetrated an injur^^ to his brother and betrayed his affection. A kind of shadowy query hovered about his heart to this effect, " Ought not one old fellow to have found the love of an early companion and only brother sufficient for him ; and my gentle niece too 1 '' Colonel Beaumont w^as a shrev^^d man ot clay : he saw that his brother had made a THE GREAT HOUSE AND ITS OWNER. 81 mistake for him, but that was no reason why he was to make a mistake for himself ; and it was certainly much more for his advantage to live on terms of affection with his brother, than to open that brother's eyes by dint of insufferable and arrogant indehcacy of de- meanor. He tacked cleverly before the wind, and conveyed to him the notion that his love for his brother completely hid the wrong, which any human being of common sense could not help being aware of, and actually contrived to insinuate the idea that a debt of gratitude was due to him for bearing no malice. It seemed a monstrous perversion of the minds of both, originating on the one hand in the most guileless amiability, and on the other in the meanest sentiments. Mrs. Beaumont never liked her brother-in-law, but 32 FALSE POSITIONS. she never showed her dishke. Her short career as a wife made many happy, and mor- tified none intentionally; but she came in for her share of individual enmity from the very cause of her own death. When the birth of a daughter was announced to Colonel Beau- mont, it was singular he seemed rather pleased that it was not a son; whereas, having a daughter himself, it would have appeared more probable that he should see with equa- nimity his child supplanted by that sex which not only w\as different from hers, but is gene- rally supposed to have the best right to exist. However, the elder brother, who had a bias for always detecting: whatever looked like virtue in a character, and wholly passing over a suspicion of the contrary, even where circum- stances would seem to warrant it, which in THE GREAT HOUSE AND ITS OWNER. So the present instance was not the case, as soon as he first thought of anything but the re- moval of the person on earth he loved best, he seemed struck by the notice the uncle took of his little niece, and observed to the clergyman of the parish, "What a good heart it showed in Robert to manifest so much in- terest in the baby who took the place as* heiress apparent which Lucy had previously occupied as heiress presumptive." The clergy- man, wdio w^as a plain-spoken man, looking at matters from the exact point of view from w^hence they ought to be scanned, simply returned for answer that "Mr. Beaumont's daughter's birthright was at least as good as Colonel Beaumont's," and the conversation dropped. Years passed on. Evelyn grew in health. 3i FALSE POSITIONS. sense, and beauty. When yet in infancy, a verv conscientious eklerlv iroverness bad been sought out for her, at her father's request, by the excellent clergyman alluded to. This lady watched over her as if she had been her own child ; her nurse had died, but her mother's maid still lived with her, because the gover- ness, who had supreme command over the household, saw that, with all Mrs. Pertinax's innumerable faults, she loved the child as well as her place, and would even, where they clashed, make her own comforts and pleasures subordinate to those of her little charge. Mrs. Rivington was a rare example of a governess promoted to high estate, who kept on the even tenor of her way undisturbed by env}-, and whose sway was loved as well as respected. She gladly afforded an oppor- THE GREAT HOUSE AND ITS OWNER. 35 tunity for his advantage to Colonel Beaumont, by offering to give any assistance in her power to forward the education of his daughter ; and notwithstanding there was five years' differ- ence between the cousins, and therefore they could not pursue their studies in common, yet, as the youngest was of course allowed to learn comparatively very little, there was abundance of time for both. Lucy was a feminine edition of Mr. Beau- mont, and therefore, both in appearance and character, wdiolly unlike her own father. She was affectionate and complying, but de- void of that spice of crotchety fancy which it would have been much to the advantage of all parties if he himself had been without. She availed herself w4th 2;ratitude of Mrs. Eivington's instruction, and loved Evelyn like D 2 .30 FALSE POSITIONS. a younger sister. The distance of one house from another was so short, that she came and returned to the " great house/' as it was called, every day. When it was fine she either walked over attended by Miss Freke's maid, Mrs. Wagstaff, or rode a little pony; and when it rained, the close carriage was sent from Beaumont for her. At the time of Mrs. Wag- stafF's first appearance on our stage, all the inmates of Hazlewood had transferred them- selves to the " great house." Mr. Beaumont had been riding out a few days previously, and his horse had stumbled over the stump of a tree. Being taken by surprise, he lost his seat, and came with considerable violence to the ground. A fall at his time of life was a very serious thing, and he felt unmistaka- ble warnings that his end was approaching. THE GREAT HOUSE AND ITS OWNEE. 37 He became desirous of ^Yinding up his affairs and putting his house in order, before he resigned his thoughts exclusively to the con- templation of another life ; and he was the more anxious to do so as he lived in constant fear of paralysis. It was in autumn ; and the trees were as brilliantly coloured as they ever are in these countries, when one or two evenings after he had met with this accident Mrs. Rivington came to inquire if it would fatigue him if Miss Beaumont were allowed to stay with him a short time, as the child expressed a wish to do so. He was lying on a sofa near the window, for his side had been hurt, and he wished to look upon the landscape that was so suggestive of tender recoUections, and the distant spire, associated with images cal- 38 FALSE POSITIONS. culated to smooth the sohtary road to the tomb. He rejDhed, " Let me speak a few words to you first, madam ; let me thank you for the part you have acted towards my darhng girl. Promise me never to leave her of your own accord without her consent. I need not ask you to cherish her, for that you have always done ; but stay with her always ; promise me always, if you can, at least save under the condition I have speci- fied. Look there, Mrs. Rivington, before the leaves have fallen from those trees yonder I shall be lying in my grave beside those who have gone before me. I wish to see my brother on business. Will 3^ou write to beg him and the ladies to come and stay here, and tell him my reasons, for I cannot bear refusal or delay \ " The note was despatched, THE GREAT HOUSE AND ITS OWNER. S9 and tlie summons was obeyed. The next morning, Colonel Beaumont himself drove to the neighbouring town in his gig, and brought back with him a clever solicitor. His will was drawn up, and signed and sealed in the presence of this functionary of the law and the butler, Mr. Porter, as wit- nesses, and it was the notable advent and departure of this important individual which Mr. Porter had failed to announce to the curious Abigails, knowing, as he did, what various and interesting conjectures would have arisen in the minds of both. CHAPTER III. TESTAMENTARY INSTRUCTIONS. Early on the day alluded to at the con- clusion of the last chapter, the two brothers had had a Ion 2: interview before Colonel Beaumont had started upon his errand, and, moreover, the latter f)erson had left the room of the dying man with the substance of their conversation condensed into a letter addressed to his own self There -was an expression on his face of partial satisfaction, and a certain kind of restlessness, such as a countenance displays when the mind within is busily searching out a resource in diffi- culty. This w^as the aspect he exhibited TESTAMENTARY INSTRUCTIONS. 41 ■while hurrying* to the stables to order the gig in his own person ; and Avhile on ordinary occasions he was usually lavish of directions to the 2:room how he was to harness the horse, greatly to the annoyance of the person officiating, who invariably considered himself as fully competent as any gentleman in the land to the discharge of this duty, yet now he looked on in unbroken silence, save wdien he admonished the servant to bestir himself and make haste. It is further remarkable that, although the wind was keen, being very careful not to catch cold, he had always the habit of never, except in the height of summer, stirring one inch outside the door without a warm lamb's-wool muffler round his throat, he actually left the said valued article lying upon a table in the hall ; never 42 FALSE POSITIOITS. missed it, and was none the worse for his forgetfuhiess. Mr. Perkins (the sohcitor) was not prepared for the sudden call upon him, and tried to defer his services until the next day, remarking that he was engaged about business for a client, which it was of great consequence should be despatched without loss of time. However, Colonel Beaumont would hear of no excuse not to return with him instantly, and the Beaumonts were people of great provincial consideration, and, somehow or other, this generally carries the day w^liere the scale of interests is vibrating in the balance. Mrs. Perkins, too, proved a firm ally. " Why, my dear Jacob," quoth she, in a tone of unfeigned surprise, '' you would never think of allowing Colonel Beaumont to TESTAMENTARY INSTEUCTIOXS. 43 return without jou, "sylien lie himself ca.me for you 1 '' " I should be sorry to disappoint any one who had urgent business ; but people take different views of what is urgent, and it is possible that Colonel Beaumont may want me to draw up the lease of some farm he is taking, and may wish me to view the premises and give him my opinion of the terms ; whereas, I am at present engaged about an affair which will not and ought not to wait." Mrs. Perkins gasped out under her breath an agonised " My dear ! " but ventured upon nothing further ; and Colonel Beaumont rejoined, " If you think Death is in the habit of postponing its visitations to suit your clients, /have not faith to believe it, and I 44 FALSE POSITIONS. must take upon myself the responsibility of going to another of your legal brethren, since you will not come according to my brother's ^^ishes/' " Death ! Your brother ! Is it possible your brother is dying ! Jane, give me my hat this moment ! '' Colonel Beaumont would not have been inconsolable if Islv. Perkins had proved in- vincibly obdurate, because he knew him to be a man of stern integrity and unflinching courage, not merely to tell the truth when asked, but to volunteer advice wdiich he thought right and necessary. Another person with these feehngs, wdio had possessed daring as well as cunning, would have at once selected a different law agent, who would have been a creature of TESTAMENTARY INSTRUCTIONS. 45 his own, and then have invented something hke the obstruction he had met ^Yith, only made it insuperable ; but on this occasion he was timid, and he stuck to the letter of truth from that reason. He did not attemjDt, as he did sometimes, to make his own circumstances, but he adapted ready- made ones to his own private views. Of all the gentlemen in the vicinity, no one was so much beloved as Mr. Beaumont ; and by no one was he more appreciated than by our friend Mr. Perkins, who, how- ever, deplored his want of perception of character, and a headlong infatuation for his brother (so greatly his inferior), and also an ingenuity he possessed in per- suading himself that he could reconcile the most conflictino; interests, and make 46 FALSE POSITIONS. those he loved love each other better than themselves. Mr. Perkins's mind misgave hira when he learnt the occasion of the brother's visit, both because he Avas shocked to hear of the danger of a man he es- teemed as he did Mr. Beaumont, and he thought to himself that Colonel Beaumont's energies "were always called out whenever there was anything stirring to his advan- tage. He remembered how many times he had heard Mr. Beaumont speak of the mis- fortune it was to a woman to be an heiress ; and then he would illustrate the sentiment wdth the case of his first wife's elder sister, who had been an heiress, and who, during her minority, when little more than a child, had been carried off by a designing baro- net : his measures having been concerted so TESTAMENTARY INSTRUCTIONS. 47 skilfully, that it was some days before tliey came upon the track of the fugitives, and then she refused to allow any proceedings to be taken against him, but lingered out a life of sorrow and ill-treatment. Know- ing all this, Mr. Perkins recollected with astonishment that he had never testified the least regret that he had a daughter instead of a son. Being aware of the peculiar nature of the man, and putting all these circum- stances together, Mr. Perkins suddenly gave a sharp blow to his forehead, which, if dealt by any other hand, would have made him start back ynih pain, and he exclaimed aloud, " I have it." " You have what, Mr. Perkins 1 " asked his companion ; but at the same instant he also 48 FALSE POSITIONS. might have ejaculated " I have it ; " for, with the rapidity of hghtning, he perceived the mind of Mr. Perkins as it were a map spread before him, and in it he detected there the sinuosities of his own. " You must excuse me from answering your question," he said, quietly ; " my thoughts w^ere somewhat elaborate, and would not please you : they are not worth your attention, and I beg your pardon for my abrupt exclamation." There was a pause, and Colonel Beaumont was the first to break silence. " You know my brother is dissimilar from the world in general," he observed, " but he is a truly good man, and when he is gone we shall not look upon his fel- low in a hurry." TESTAMENTARY INSTRUCTIONS. 49 " Indeed we shall not," groaned out 'Mw Perkins. "He has some very extraordhiary plans. I tried my utmost to combat them as far as I was concerned, but it was of no use/"^ " Humph/' was the curt reply. " Indeed, I went so far, thinking I should enlist feasibility against himself, as to tell him that his design was against law as well as reason ; but he was fortified against my arguments, and adduced one or two precedents very similar, one particular alone excepted." Here Colonel Beaumont turned his whole body right round to take a leisurely view of Mr. Perkins's physiognomy ; but there was no perceptible change in it, and he merely bowed in return for the scrutiny with which he was honoured. 50 FALSE POSITIONS. The Colonel half wished to be questioned as to the sum and substance of his brother's revelations ; half dreaded it ; but on the whole dread predominated. Mr. Perkins made a mistake, for he thought the wish prepon- derated, and he resolved to disappoint him ; so the conversation remained suspended in a complete syncope until they reached the house. Colonel Beaumont would gladly have made a third with his brother and Mr. Perkins, but the latter requested they might be perfectly alone, while he received his in- structions. Much time w^as consumed in conversa- tion, but comparatively little in executing the will, for Mr. Beaumont ^vas so com- pletely master of his property, that although TESTAMENTARY INSTEUCTIO^'S. 51 the will was a strange one, yet it involved no difficulty ; and Mr. Perkins having put the question to himself, " What is my duty 1 '' " To remonstrate and obey," was the answer of his conscience. The remonstrance was useless, the obedience followed regretfully. Mr. Beaumont requested him to carry out his wishes fully, but to condense the manner of doino- so within the smallest secure com- pass, and Mr. Perkins was one of those members of his profession who, if all were like him, there would need no law reform : he never made a sixpence that was not perfectly equitable — not even by spinning- out the adjustment of the affairs of his employers, wdiich some, deeming themselves scrupulous, would not hesitate to do and consider themselves in honour quite autho- LIBRARY 52 FALSE POSITIONS. risecl in cloiPig. Yet lie heartily disliked the transaction he had been engaged upon, though not fully as bad as he had feared, and he felt quite grateful to Lucy that slie ^vas not a son to be used as an instrument in the hands of his father. He took a mournful leave of Mr. Beau- mont, who he could not help perceiving- was fast sinking ; and declining to remain for dinner, he returned in the carriage which had followed him from his house. In the meantime Colonel Beaumont, as soon as he recovered from the harry of spirits which lasted until he had seen Mr. Perkins fairly off, seated himself by the fire in his bedroom and began to read the document his brother had placed in his hands. It was long, but difficult to decipher from the invalid state of TESTAMENTARY INSTEUCTIOXS. 53 the writer, for it was his own handwriting, written at intervals, accordingly as he was able since his accident, and it ran thus : — " My beloved Beother, " It is an inexpressible comfort to me in this solemn hour, to feel that mj child is under earthly as well as divine protection. I know that 3^ou will love her as if she were your own child, that you will bring her up carefully and religiously, and also not neglect those accomplishments which are desirable in both men and women, especiahy women who need resources to render them independent of trifling amusements and continual company, so that she may resemble her mother, and be an ornament and delight to those around her. My darling Evelyn already shows talent for almost everything. Keep J^Irs. Eivington, if 54 FALSE POSITIONS. she be spared to her, always with her, but let her have the best masters London affords to cultivate her tastes to the highest i^erfection. This wall be a far greater boon to her than a large inheritance. It is an effort to me to write, but I prefer making it to asking Mrs. Rivington to transcribe what I dictate. I thank you, dear Robert, for all your kind con- sideration and brotherly love, which made you think only of niy happiness when I married again. I feel that I owe you a debt of grati- tude, and I wall endeavour in some measure to repay it.'' He had proceeded thus far, when a servant knocked at the door, and summoned him to receive his brother's parting breath, but he first carefully locked up the letter in his desk. That evening Evelyn was indeed an orphan ! CHAPTER IV. SURMISES. We will not dwell upon the passionate grief of the poor child, nor yet upon the sad par- ticulars of the funeral Another tenant had been laid in the quiet burial-place which the spire pointed out to the inhabitants of the mansion, and all the solemn bustle for the dead had given way to the concerns of the living ; and now the will w^as to be opened in the presence of the usual parties. On Mr. Perkins devolved the task of reading it, which he did with a faltering voice, unlike his usual unimpassioned tones. We wall not give the orthodox wording of the will, for w^e dislike 5G FALSE POSITIONS. legal jargon, and we daresay we are not sin- gular in that respect ; but the following was the tenor of the document. It set forth that the testator left his only and well-beloved child Evelyn 20,000/., the interest of which sum was to be apphed for the purposes of her education and maintenance, at the dis- cretion of her affectionate uncle, until she attained the age of fifteen, then the interest was to be paid to herself; the sum of 1000/., free of legacy duty, was bequeathed to a Mr. Ptichard Beaumont, a distant relation. For the space of nine years after the testator's decease. Colonel Beaumont was to enjoy the posses- sion of the mansion, place, and whole property, and at the end of that period, or in case Colonel Beaumont died within that time, the wishes of the testator would have to be SURMISES. 57 further ascertained, bj opening a sealed IDacket, which until then (with the reserved condition understood of Colonel Beaumont's life not lasting) was to be deposited in the bank. There was an urgent request that all Mr. Beaumont's dependents should be retained and kindly treated, as long as there was nothing against them ; and he further notified a wish that the scale of living should not be reduced, for it was stated that if Colonel Beau- mont lived to extreme old age he would be abundantly well off, so he need not lay by money : and it w^as made a point that every- thing about the house, and all the appurte- nances, should be kept up in perfect preserva- tion; and Mr. Beaumont subjoined the remark that he had found his income only sufficient for 58 ' FALSE POSITIONS. that purpose. The fortune of his child would be no drawback to these stipulations ; for this money, placed in the funds, was the sum Colonel Beaumont had forfeited for the pos- session of his farm, together with the interest accumulating since the arrangement had been made; indeed, the whole sum would have been very moderate as the purchase -money for his yaluable farm, but Colonel Beaumont when he made a bargain always made a most excellent one for himself One copy of the will was to be kept by Mr. Perkins. Tremendous was the surprise called forth upon the reading of this strange instrument : a doubt was expressed as to its being allowable to hold good, and Mr. Per- kins was appealed to on the subject. His answer was that of course it would be proper SURMISES. 59 to consult others more competent than him- self on that score, but that he believed, ex- traordinary as the nature of the ^vill was, that it was not irregular, and that at the end of the nine years or sooner, as the contin- gency might turn out, it would be needful to pay the probate duty a second time when the sequence of the will came to be divulged. In his opinion, however, it was perfectly valid. Colonel Beaumont had nothing to learn ; therefore, he availed himself of the oppor- tunity to lay in a little stock of credit for delicacy and brotherly love by absenting himself. He knew well that he could lose nothing by doing so, and he always thought it worth his while to make a character for what are held to be virtues where positive gain could not suffer in the process. All 60 FALSE POSITIONS. present seemed busied in thought, and the reversionary heir (generally a most interest- ing person, and, shrouded in mystery as he was, an all-engrossing one) became the prominent topic for speculation. Gradually an exchange of suppositions was made from one to another ; to some it appeared likely that Mr. Richard Beaumont would be the successful candidate, because he had been remembered substantially in the shape of one thousand pounds clear of legacy duty ; to others it appeared most probable that the niece, to whom not one farthing had been left, should ultimately succeed to all, and would, probably aided by a husband, reheve her father in his old age of the responsibility of his position ; for they went on to argue, — Mr. Beaumont, of course, did not shrink so suinnsEs. 6 1 much from the idea of his niece encountering the perilous post of a woman at the head of a landed estate as he did at his own child being thus exposed to the chances of a great heiress ; and it was evident he did not choose the latter should run that risk or he would have left the property to her at once. These surmises seemed all the more proba- ble on account of the clause relating to Colonel Beaumont's being " well off in any case." It was sino-ular no one thouo-ht of what was o o as likely a whim as any other, that at the end of the nine years he would have the agreeable surprise of discovering a prolonga- tion of his own tenure for life. Every one knew the way in which the misfortunes of his wife's sister had dwelt upon In's memory ; but alb save the principal, agreed that Mr. 62 FALSE POSITIONS. Beaumont had been guilty of error and folly in being swayed by such a consideration to the pecuniary detriment of his daughter and only child : that long bygone misadventure was reckoned no sort of excuse for his con- duct. It would seem that old widowers are liable, like old maids and old bachelors, to eccentricity. It glanced across the minds of one or two that the will ought, as a matter of philanthropy, to be disputed on the ground of the imbecility of dotage, or insanity. Public opinion seemed utterlj^ shocked at the parent disinheriting his child ; but Mr. Perkins was not one of those ; he represented that Mr. Beaumont's mind was as vigorous as his own when he dictated the will to him ; that the motives of his conduct (of which, by-the-bye, he SURMISES. 63 did not approve) would be exhibited in time to those Tvho might live and had patience to wait nine years for the solution of the problem ; and that even if it were any one's interest, which it vras not, to dis- pute the will, at least until Evelyn came of age, it would in no way be to her ad- vantage to prove the insanity of her parent. He advised all her friends to do their duty by her, to bring her up as well, and make her as happy, as possible, and carefully to abstain from insinuating to her young mind that her father had not done her justice. On this head he spoke to Mrs. Eivington, and urged her to be particular about what servants were allowed to say to her. Mrs. Rivington had anticipated this hint, and had no sooner been informed of the event agi- 64 FALSE POSITIONS. tating the whole household than she sent for Mrs. Pertinax, who arrived clad in deep mourning and Avitli a long face suitable to the occasion. " The loss of our kind head/'' observed the governess, " is a sad blow to us all, Mrs. Pertinax — to your young lady especiall}^" " Ah, yes, ma'am ; but the Lord is good, and I trust He will comfort her ; besides, she is very young, ma'am, and she has bril- liant prospects before her, the Lord be praised ! " " You think she is her father's heiress, I suppose." " Why, who's else should she be, ma'am '? " " No one's perhaps ; she is well provided for, but the property does not go to her." " La ! ma'am, what do you mean 1 Who SURMISES. G5 else should it go to, and slie her father's only daughter, only child, and a child it would make any one's heart jump to look upon ! What has the innocent lamb done ? and Avho is the rogue it goes to % " " Stop, stop ; you should not take a leap in the dark, Mrs. Pertinax, for you make great mistakes in that manner; unintentionally you have applied a very disrespectful term to your new master. '^ " I beg your pardon, ma'am, I have no master now, the more's the sorrovf ; I have "industered" for my old age (Mrs. Pertinax laboured under a permanent hallucination as to her remarkable industry), and though I have not arrived at very old age, I have earned enough to keep me while I look out for another situation." 66 FALSE POSITIOIS'S. "I must again observe, you go too fast, for you neither know who your master may be, nor yet do you wish to be sepa- rated from Miss Beaumont. It is well that I am the person to communicate on this point with you, for some might have taken you at your hasty word, and you would have heartily regretted it afterwards. Colonel Beaumont is in possession of this house and estate." " Bless us and save us ! and Mrs. Wagstaff, I guess, is to be housekeeper, and keep the keys, forward thing ! I always knew she was a designing baggage." " I don't exactly understand how her being designing has brought about the pre- sent state of affairs. Doubtless you will have to give up the headship of the housekeeper's SURMISES. 67 room to Miss Freke's maid ; but show your philosophy." " It is quite unpossible, ma'am, to talk to me of philosophy " (Mrs. Rivington smiled at the truth of the observation) ; "in all the novels I ever read, ma'am, since I was born, I never met with such a cruel case as this." "We must do our duty, and it behoves us to submit to the powers that be ; you remem- ber the authority w^e have for this maxim." " It is out of the question, ma am ; I can- not put up wdth that low thing perched above my head ; I should die, ma'am, in the attempt." Mrs. Rivington with difficulty refrained from laughing outright at the ludicrous image the distressed Abigail had conjured up ; but seeing her brow lowering more and more, F 2 C8 FALSE POSITIONS. and that wrath must be checked by the sem- blance of wrath, she added, " Don't let us talk of Mrs. WagstafF, but think of your poor young lady ; let me beg you to consider her good, and her happiness, and never to say the least word to make her feel herself illtreated. She is so young, she will grow up under her present circumstances ; it will not occur to her that they might have been different; she will scarcely know the property came from her father until she is grown up, and I hope liappily married, and in a house of her own. But it is a matter of vital importatice that she should feel kindly to those around her, for, I believe, we derive more happiness from loving others than from the love others bestow upon us." " I don't know, ma'am ; but this I am sure SURMISES. 69 of, that, if anything could make me more miserable than I am now, it would be if I were so base as to love that little upstart, Mrs. Wagstaff/' " I am sorry to see you in this most un- christian frame of mind ; you should curb your temper; but if you really are serious, I will take steps for supplying your place." "Of course, it's /that am to take myself off. Pertinax is always the one to be sent to the rightabouts ; this comes of being fond of one's young lady and not cringing and faw^ning upon every one ; I know it, ma'am, and this is the reason I have always indus- ' tered." " Eeally, you are too absurd. "Will you go, or wdll you stay 1 I give you the option now, but you must make up your mind at once." 70 FALSE POSITIONS. The moment she perceived that Mrs. Eiviiigton's patience was exhausted, she came to her senses, and succinctly rephed, " Stay, to be sure. Mrs. WagstafF shall not have it all to herself, I promise you.'' " Be it so then ; mind that you are cir- cumspect, and never disturb the mind of my dear pupil.'' Mrs. Pertinax seemed quite relieved at getting thus so easily out of a scrape her passions had well nigh betrayed her into, and promised faithfully that not a syllable should escape her to the disadvantage of any one, Mrs. WagstafF alone excepted. CHAPTER y. ERUDITION. Miss Wilhelmina Freke occupies too high a niche amongst the inhabitants of Beau- mont not to be considered a notabihty, and cannot be passed over without very parti- cular mention. Aunt Willy, as her niece and niece-in-law called her, was about forty-five years old. She considered herself still a beauty ; but an instinctive feehng of good policy whispered to her a recommendation to speak of herself as a belle in the past tense, and this she was very fond of doing. She never omitted an opportunity of saying '' When I was a belle f it formed a kind of 72 FALSE POSITIONS. era in the history of the world, that halcyon period, although no mortal man or woman beside herself could recal it to recollection. Her figure was a very cherished source of satisfaction to herself ; and if she had been a mountain instead of a woman, she would have been very picturesque ; for not only w^as she on a large scale, but there was great variety of outline. She adopted a very flashy style of dress. It was lucky for her gratification that she lived to see the polka age ; for, when it came, she exulted in a scarlet polka edged wuth emerald green ; and she was, moreover, not excluded from the advantage of dresses open in front, laced across, and worked chemisettes underneath. She indulged in caps decorated with ribbons and flowers of every hue, sur- EEUDITION. 73 mounting a huge mass of false corkscrew ringlets ; and she was rich in a great variety of fantastic little aprons and parti-coloured mittens. The gaudiest butterfly could not present a more brilliant appearance. Great was her delight when flounces came in. Long- before any one else wore them commencing at the waist, she conceived that amendment upon the fashion prevailing, much to the satisfaction of the shopkeepers and Mrs. Wagstafif; for the former, on the score of the magnitude of her person and the florid style of her dress- making, used to bespeak from the manufac- turer three pieces of all the showy-patterned dresses Miss Freke was sure to purchase at their recommendation ; and the latter found her perquisites were vast. Miss Freke had very small black eyes, 74 FALSE POSITIONS. unsoftened by lashes of any length, cheeks with great inequalities, the hollows of which she would have called dimples, but no one else could, for they were much too extensive and unsymmetrical to deceive the most casual observer. She had a very hooked nose, long upper lip, and tucked-in mouth, and always had a good deal of colour, which was genuine, though often called in question by her acquaintances. She described her style of beauty as having been dazzling; but this was generally ascribed to her dress, if we omit the colour of her eyes and cheeks. It would be doing her great injustice to suppose that she was satisfied with the adorn- ment of her person, for during her whole life she had been bent upon the cultivation of her mind accordino' to her notions. She read ERUDITION. 75 upon all subjects — but rarely light literature, which she considered as almost waste of time. She learnt a smattering of Latin, to help her through all the sciences, and she had end- less collections, in cabinets, of minerals, shells, dried flowers, ferns, lichens, sea- weeds, fossils, dried insects, and manufactured antiquities. She boasted of so very complete a collection of autographs and relics, that the sceptical threw out insinuations of her having originated a new trafiic in the county town — for demand makes a supply — and it was worthy of remark that a shop had sprung up there soon after Miss Freke's setthng in the neighbourhood, and that it was always well supplied with all the articles above-named, and seemed to succeed admirably. A chemical apparatus, a microscope, and a case of mathematical 76 FALSE POSITIONS. instruments, were all things she made use of; but she nearly damaged herself very seriously with the chemical apparatus on one or two occasions, and at last restricted herself to a frequent repetition of a limited number of experiments, which she was very sure she knew how to carry through. She did pretty much what she liked — for Colonel Beaumont had much respect for people of independent fortune, especially when they had the disposal of it after their death as well as during their lives. The onl}^ thing by which he was wholly staggered, and which he summoned fortitude to knock on the head, was, when one day he heard loud hammering, and found a carpenter putting up cases in the hall, which were to contain a collection of comparative anatomy specimens, ERUDITION. 77 and stuffed animals. She wished to study Cuvier and BufFon, but she had not counted the cost, which the Colonel did in the twink- ling of an eye, for he saw^ clearly that such enterprises w^ould draw upon her capital. As it was, he paid her the interest of her fortune, and he clearly perceived it Avas a difficulty with her to square her ideas and habits to her income. Poor Aunt Willy ! She Avas greatly dis- appointed, but she had great deference for her brother-in-law, and stifled the murmurs she felt rising within her. She used to profess contempt for work of every description as being unprofitable, for it w^as so easily accom- plished. She measured profit by difficulty, and had contrived to amass a great hestp of words in her brain, that lay there and did not 78 FALSE POSITIONS. fructify : she was like a dictionary without the explanation of the terms. It was hailed as a joyful epoch by her friends, when work was reduced to a science, and histories of em- broidery came forth fresh and gaudily illumi- nated from the press. Aunt Willy, when this occurred, lost no time in starting a frame, forthwith commencing a mediaeval pattern ; and she carefully selected one which comprised a number of allegorical devices she could not possibly manage to decipher, any more than if they had been Egyptian hieroglyphics. Miss Freke was a good deal too much ab- sorbed in the business of her own education, to interfere in the least with that of the girls. All their well-wishers considered this a piece of good fortune for them, as a person steer- ing for knowledge so completely without com- ERUDITION. 79 pass in lier own case, would have stranded others as well as herself, if they had submitted to her guidance. Mrs. Rivington excelled in judgment and taste, and had tact to procure the means, through the agency of others, for bringing those useful qualities to bear upon the modelling of her pupils. "While Miss Freke laboured away at her own pursuits ; that excellent governess, with skill and gen- tleness, presided over the acquirements she herself was sufficiently conversant with to impart to the cousins. Evelyn had come to an age when she felt that masters ought to be given to her ; Lucy ought to have had them long before ; but Evelyn was Mrs. Eivington's especial charge, and her advan- tage was the principal point with her. Hitherto the governess thought she could 80 FALSE POSITIONS. teach what she ought to learn, and it was an object to remain in the country, being so much more healthy in early years'; but now she wished to carry out Evelyn's father's wishes w4th regard to accomplishments. Ac- cordingly she spoke to that effect to Colonel Beaumont, who at first did not seem to like any change, but finally agreed that a small house in London should be taken for Mrs. Rivington and the girls, while he remained in the country. At first Aunt Willy, too, seemed discomposed at the idea of quitting all her treasures, and seemed to view the project in the light of an interruption to her studies ; but she took courage when she thought of the Royal Institution lectures and the British Museum ; and on further reflection she bethoudit herself that " London is the EKUDITIOX. 81 great seat of everything, learning of course included/' and she said to herself, "I can take lessons in the sciences." Aunt Willy was a harmless creature ; she usually only excited compassion for wasting a whole life in pursuits which, in the estimation of the greater num- ber of persons, were equally barren of utility and amusement. Although her mind may be likened to a child's kite, often soaring without any comprehension, yet, like that toy, it could be drawn down to the earth again ; and so it was whenever it was needed for purposes of general benevolence, but with most alacrity when it could be used in the service of the members of the family of her adoption. For her brother-in-law in particular she had an abject devotion, though her interest was not limited to him. One of her collections I have VOL. I. G S2 FALSE POSITIONS. hitherto omitted to specify ; it was a great store of receipts, from which she doctored all who applied to her, and in simple cases she was of use sometimes, for the prescriptions were not of her own devising. But her daring disposition was consistent even in her pharmacy ; and having begged from her friends and acquaintances all the written wisdom appropriated to their use by the doctors who attended them on various occa- sions, she got them copied for her by a chemist into intelligible English, and never scrupled to use at discretion all the most dangerous remedies for the most severe cases. It was providential that early in her practising career the village JEsculapius detected the chemist making up some strong mineral poisons, for a poor woman who was waiting ERUDITIOIf. 83 for it to be made up to take home to a daughter just attacked with gastric fever. He traced the prescription to Miss Freke, and with a feehng of humanity that did him honour, enjoined the chemist never to make up any of her prescriptions, but alwaj^s to substitute bread and coloured water, accord- ingly as the medicine ordered was to be in pills or liquid ; for powders also he decreed some equally innocuous ingredient. The chemist readily agreed. Miss Freke gave all her remedies gratis, but she practised like the faculty, and did not make them up her- self ; thus, as the bread and water, &c., were put down in her bill under the various heads comprised in the pharmacopeia, those useful articles never before sold to such advantage. With all her absurdities, Miss Willy was a g2 84 FALSE POSITIONS. general favourite, for she was truly kind- hearted, and besides, spectators felt obliged to her for the amusement she afforded them ; moreover, her vanity grated upon no one, it only tended to reconcile her with all the w^orld, because she was pleased with herself She detracted from no one, did not view the youngest and handsomest as rivals, but only regarded them as attractive in a different style from her own ; the charms of the young she regarded as unformed and uncertain, her own as mature and ascertained. Miss -Freke, then, made a welcome member of the party to London, to all but Mrs. Pertinax, as the society of the mistress secured that of the maid. CHAPTER VI. THE SPEIXG-TIME OF LIFE. , It is spring, and hope is tlie order of the season. Everything speaks of progressive improvement; the sun is about to shine more radiantly, the atmosphere to become softer, the landscape to be yet more beautiful. All nature rejoices, and its influence revives the drooping spirit, and makes the glad heart beat ^Yith a fuller pulse ; even to the sick, albeit spring is often fatal to them, yet still to them it appears easier to transcend the gloomy passage of the tomb and realise a glorious future, when resurrection is percep- tible throughout the universe, than at the 86 FALSE POSITIONS. other season equally pernicious in their case, for autumn is the harbinger of decay. In few places does spring foretell more glorious results, than in the situation to which we now invite the reader. Where can we behold more majestic scaffolding for the profuse harvest of leaves which summer will disclose, than in Windsor Forest ? Time stamps the curse man brought upon the world more visibly on himself as age increases, but age adds to the adornment of the rest of nature as a general rule ; and if our first parents had not sinned, this would probably have been the case with the creature that had dominion over all things, for beauty would then have been heightened by increase of intellec- tual development. Those glorious oaks ! what scenes they THE SPRING-TIME OF LIFE. 87 have ^vitnessed ! what memories they are linked with ! have they not beheld most of earth's greatest and best 1 aye ! They have survived all these, and they still flourish in hoary youth, but their time will come, and a vague record of them wdll alone remain in the pages of those they have seen pass away. In these they will be immortahsed, for de- spite the article in the " Edinburgh Review " on the " Vanity and Glory of Literature,'' we cannot but believe that Shakespeare will last as long as the Greek and Latin classics. Fresh from the study of the last, two youths had come out into the forest to breathe the fresh air : the locality combined examples of the magnificence of nature and art. It is true that the former gained by comparison from nearness of view as well as 88 FALSE POSITIOXS. intrinsic superiority, for the Eojal Castle rose in the distance only, Tapoury Hke a gorgeous dream of the night ; but the union of both \Yas such as England can alone afford of all the kingdoms of the earth. Other countries can boast of nothing like Windsor taken all in all, and surely it is a most fitting neighbourhood for the aristrocratic youth of Great Britain to be trained up in during boy- hood. In early life it is aycII to have elevated models for everything, and what a blessing it is when, as in our case, elevation of social position is sj-nonymous with the true great- ness of excellence. How well it is when loyalty to the Sovereign makes loyalty to virtue ! " This certainly is a forest worthy of kings," observed one of the youths alluded THE SPRING-TIME OF LIFE. 89 to, who was apparently between seventeen and eighteen years of age, " I am very sorry to leave it, though I look forward with immense pleasure to Oxford." " Your guardian is a trump, Harcourt. Now, is it not deuced hard that a fellow like me, with such expectations, and when all my grandfathers have been Oxonians, should be sent to study mathematics at Cambridge, because, forsooth, Lord Borrowdale's son has turned into a Puseyite saint at Oxford '? One thing is certain, it would take a great deal to convert me into a saint. I shall perfect myself in the higher branches of arithmetic to enable me to be a knowing hand at New- market, and that is all ; it really is too bad. Will you speak to my father for me if I introduce you to him V\ 90 FALSE POSITIONS. " Upon my word, ^^ou 're a sbar^D fellow to think your father would take me for his counsellor; I really don't pity you, you'll have capital fun." " I hope I shall, and I shall do my best in that line, but you see I want to go to the same university as you do : \i you were going to Cambridge I should prefer it on account of Newmarket, and the Oakley hounds would do for us to go out wath ; but you know I am a shy fellow at making acquaintances ; it is not so very long since I felt quite at home w^ith you, and now, wdien we understand one another, we are to be separated." " I only wish I were in your j)lace, Neville ; you don "t know hov/ little I feel I have to be thankful for. Of all the friends I have, I think you are the luckiest, for you have the THE SPEING-TIME OF LIFE. 91 greatest of all powers, that of shining. Shall I ever forget when you first came to Eton, and Heavyside thought he would floor you by main strength of fist, and I trembled for you, having taken a fancy to you from the first 1 But you made the whole company interfere on your behalf ; your quick reply, * If you w^ere an ox instead of a giant I m.ight find it worth my while to knock you down and turn you into beef, but as it is, I came to herd with gentlemen, not brutes V We all felt so flattered at our acknowledged distinction as Eton men being put so neatly.^' " Well it is lucky I have something, for I have no home. But you want for nothing ; you always seem to me to be monstrously well off, and you do just as you like ; what can a fellow want more ? " 92 FALSE POSITIOXS. " I should like something more, however ; I should, for instance, be ghad of what you have, I should like a knowledge of my expec- tations and niche in life/' "Does your guardian tell you nothing about yourself and your relations 1 '' "Nothing, except that he always expects me to trust to him, and I slicill require nothing in life.'^ " AVell, I really think you might get more out of him than that." " He says that if I make the most of my talents, I may run a brilliant career ; but, to tell you the truth, I should like to hear of some- thino- more substantial than talents. I relish o something less abstract." " Well, well, mind, next time you see the old fellow with the blue muffler, that you THE SPRING-TIME OF LIFE. 93 wring it out of him. Take him by the throat, if necessary, and force him to be explicit. I assm-e you I have an immense regard for you, and I should like to see all right with you. By-the-bye, you must come and stay with us ; we shall have a pleasant time, I am sure, and the hunting is so good and universal that even my little sister rides after the hounds in a way that sometimes makes people stare. She's a merry little girl you'd hke, and has spirits equal to your own. My eldest sisters are quiet girls, but Emily has all the life of the family in her. She's my father's darling. I think, when she is grown up, he will think no one good enough for her to marry. My father is as proud as Lucifer ; but he keeps open house, and of course I ask whom I please, and I hope you will come to us very 94 FALSE POSITlOIsTS, often. No one likes a joke better than he does, as long as it is not directed against himself; so mind you keep clear of that. You must be on your guard, for you are hazardous sometimes, and, occasionally, even I see you are longing to direct your wit against our tutors and temporary betters." " I have been told I have no reverence." " And a most capital deficiency it is. The world takes one entirely at one's own valuation, and if one looks up it always attributes it to one's • own diminutive size. I only beg you will never look down on me — we shall ever be friends — but pray don't despise me." " Come, that's rather good ; you are born with a gold spoon in your mouth." " As long as you don't call myself a spoon, you may talk of my gold plate ; but, as I said THE SPKING-TIME OF LIFE. 95 before, I would give anything to be able to amuse people as jou do. At our present age it is a pre-eminence that is more gratifying than any other, and imagine what it will be when drawing-rooms and a senate are hanging upon powers of raillery 1 Wit and wisdom are supposed to go together, but of the two I would rather be witty. It carries the day over everything, and you seem to me to have everything besides. What can a fellow want more at our stage of life, than Eton and Oxford and lots of money "? You'll find a home for yourself, never fear, and I know many who are only too happy to get away from their homes and governors, and all its attendant train of blessings ; however, I cannot say that. I like the old Count amazingly, and I hope you will also ; and 96 FALSE POSITIONS. when YOU come, \nll let off" a shower of fire- works to make us merry.''* " Thanks. Neville, but they must arise spontaneously : one cannot pack them up, and send them down by the railroad, in the manner they are despatched to Vauxhall. Here we are back again, and there's ohl Waterproof pointing to the head-master, who was never known to stir without au umbrella." CHAPTER VIL THE DISCLOSUEE. It is a common fault with those who have the care of children to forget that the '*' child is father to the man,'"^ and passes through the stao;e of childhood to lead him o-raduallv into the privileges of independent manhood. Parents especially sometimes look upon their children as beings of their own creation, des- tined all their lives to be instruments in their hands ; instruments, indeed, for whose welfare they care, but the mode of that welfare they intend to shape according to their own plea- sure, forgetting their own experience, their own aspirations after freedom, and the proof 98 FALSE- POSITIONS. drawn from their own histories, that every one come to years of discretion must in a great degree exercise his right of private judgment. On the other hand, chikiren are too apt to view those to whom they owe their being in their one-sided capacity of parents. The grand and only responsibility of their lives they consider to be their duty to themselves ; but they also have partial views of duty : they narrow it within the limits of a constant and careful administration to their gratifica- tions, of whatever nature these may be. Once they are thrown into the world, when they are old enough to take their OAvn part, they think their parents' habits, tastes, and wishes are all to centre exclusively in their children. The happy medium is often missed which the grand principle of society exacts, of "give THE DISCLOSURE. 99 and take :" in no relation of life can it be overlooked -with safety. Parents certainly do owe it to their children to guide, but not drive them into the way they conscientiously believe best for them, and to contribute to the utmost of their power to their innocent indulgences ; but they ought to study not to do violence to their dispositions ; and where this is the case, the corresponding return of consideration and gratitude will generally be voluntarily and cheerfully yielded. These reflections are suggested by the know- ledge we have of the thoughts revolving in the mind of an elderly gentleman well wrapped up with a shaded blue and white muffler round his throat, as he drove a gig to the principal town of shire. He was a fair man, but he was becoming very grey ; his H 2 100 FALSE POSITIONS. features were handsome, generally very cold in their expression. It was "well that those hitherto around him never examined into his affections ; for the conclusion would have heen highly unsatisfactory. Not so, however, could the object he was in search of, have taken the soundings for his own separate use of the amount he had to depend upon. It was strange that a man usually so cold could preserve so deep and strong a feeling for one, but it is not the less true ; and the privileged owner of this monopoly was no other than our recent acquaintance Harcourt. The conversance that was bringing him from Eton was the old stage-coach. Colonel Har- court would have preferred his remaining there till the summer vacation ; but when he was convinced bv Mrs. Rivin2:ton that the THE DISCLOSURE. 101 proper season for London was spring, he could not resist the opportunity thus afforded him of having this cherished youth all to himself. He wished to manifest to him unohserved all the love he had hoarded up for years. He resolved that he w^ould attend to his slightest wishes ; he guessed pretty Avell whither these would tend, and he allowed no thought of economy to interfere. A couple of very fine horses and sundry dogs for sporting and loitering delectation awaited him. They had all been provided some time in anticipation of the happy arrival ; and we fear the Jcnow- ledge of tlieir existence had fully divided (if they could he said to share so equally) the mind of Harcourt in the pleasure he felt. Colonel Beaumont was standing in an upper room of the " Risins; Sun" when the smoking 103 FALSE POSITIONS. horses of the Albion coach drew up with a full stop, which plainly indicated that they had had quite enough for the day. A tall, slight, dark youth, with a haughty expression of face, thrust the coachman^s perquisite into his hand, and leaped lightly to the ground. " Is there any horse or carriage awaiting me '? '' he demanded of the waiter, while the porters made all speed to hurry off" with the luggage. " Colonel Beaumont is here, sir ; he came an hour ago in his gig." "Fd rather have ridden," he thought to himself, but nevertheless he ran upstairs, where he was greeted in a manner that the most affectionate father could not have out- done. " You are grown greatly, and very much THE DISCLOSURE. 103 improved ; I rejoice to observe it ; six months have made a wonderful difference." " At my age they generally do, sir," was the laconic reply. "I could not resist the pleasure of be- coming better acquainted with you than I have hitherto been, now I have the house all to myself. I hope you will not grow tired of being alone with me all the spring and beginning of summer." " People are not apt to grow tired of doing what they like," was the dubious answer ; '' but with your permission I am engaged to visit my friend Neville on the 1st of June. You know his father ; I rather think, at least, you did when you were in the army.'^ " Aye, yes ; by-the-bye, a very sensible sort of man, understands the world, and is 104 FALSE POSITIONS. a most excellent father. He is member for the county, and I should think a very ad- vantageous acquaintance for a young man beginning life. How many children has he ^ " " Four, my friend, and three daughters ; two are married.'* " And married well, I suppose, for he is not a man who would hear of his children committing the folly of marrying for love." *' One is married to a nobleman, the other to a very wealthy commoner." " All I advise you is not to lose your heart to the other daughter ; by-the-bye, how old is she ^ " " Fifteen, I beheve." " Fifteen ; that's awkward. I wonder why she is not older." THE DISCLOSURE. 105 " Sirapl}^ because she was not born sooner ; but what of that, sir 1 '' " jSTothing, nothing, only beware ; don't be a goose and fancy yourself in love and all that sort of nonsense. Is she pretty '? '' " Her brother says, beautiful." " Worse and worse. Eecollect you cannot afford to fall in love with portionless, high- born young ladies. I have other views for you." No one will believe in the possibility of a cautious old gentleman running a muck so heedlessly in the face of all the recognised theories of prudence. He could not possibly have devised a worse method to keep a head- strong youth off the quicksand he dreaded for him. If his danger had been great before, he had increased it a thousandfold; but in 106 FALSE POSITIONS. great fear people lose presence of mind, and Tvhere thej strongly love they do not see so clearly. No parent ever had a more fixed determination that he should prosper and be happy in the way he himself should dictate. He consoled himself, however, with the re- flection that Mr. Neville had views for his children fully as rational as any he could have for Harcourt. It must not be supposed that all the time this dialogue was occurring they remained in the dull room of the inn, though, for the sake of continuity of subject, we have re- lated it as above ; but they had lost no time in transferring themselves and the luggage to the gig, which was waiting in readiness, for Harcourt said he preferred losing no time in taking refreshment ; he wished to see THE DISCLOSURE. 107 Beaumont as soon as possible, and he had eaten a plentiful supply of sandwiches by the way. He expressed himself dehghted ^Yith the beauty of the road, which increased at every step, and w^as quite astonished at the burst of exquisite park scenery wdiich greeted him on passing through the entrance-gate, for it is the style of all others which speaks most powerfully to the sympathies, conjuring up associations and images of all that man holds most dear. Colonel Beaumont entered more into the charms of the old place than he had ever done before, now he viewed them through Harcourt's eyes ; he was dehghted at the effect they had upon him, and felicitated himself upon the sagacity which had pro- cured for himself the treat of witnessing, lOS FALSE POSITIONS. unobserved, the pleasure of the youth who had the effect of drawing out such a novel jDortion of his character. Selfishness is a quahty that, when it passes a certain point, is not only self-sus- taining, but preys upon its owner ; and the greatest victim to it, unknowingly to himself, yields gratitude to the object that saves him from that desperate predicament. Hence w^e may observe those characters who have the least general benevolence, and are, con- sequently, most self-occupied, wdiere their affections are engaged, their attachments are more intense than those of others : they create a double kind of complacency, that which the object has of itself, and what they OAve to it for ridding them of themselves. The hall-door bell was duly responded to THE DISCLOSURE. 109 by ]\Ir. Porter, who made a respectful obei- sance, though his countenance expressed both surprise and suspicion at the new- comer, who, for his part, made himself per- fectly at home from the first instant he crossed the threshold. The petulant and proud humility which was manifest in his demeanor with his friend Neville, was replaced now hj an assumption of arrogance, and the exhibition of a vehement determination that no obstacle should intervene between himself and his desires, that Colonel Beaumont translated into the instinct of a gentleman, and the position fate was to have in store for him. Tke servants, on their side, took a less partial view of the instinct, which they attri- buted to the conclusion they came to, that 110 FALSE POSITIONS. he must be an upstart, for no real gentleman, they argued, takes such mighty pains to mark the clifFerence between masters and servants. It was remarkable the insight they seemed, on their own showing, to have ob- tained into the character of the new-comer the very first evening he made his appear- ance ; but the trouble their master had taken to prepare for the amusement and conve- nience of any one apparently so insignificant, had awakened the curiosity of an estabhsh- ment, wdiich was not at all behind-hand in an attribute that everything in their class con- spires to aggravate. Mr. Porter felt the loneliness of his situa- tion, in having no one in his own station to discourse wdth upon the surprising manifesta- tion of character his master was exhibiting, THE DISCLOSUEE. Ill and willingly ^YOuld have drunk vfeak tea for the benefit of Mrs. Pertinax's company, even though his mind was loaded with matter for speculation, and his body needed pro- portionate comfort. And no wonder, for Colonel Beaumont had been overheard to say, when purchasing the horses for the newly- arrived, and agreeing to pay a very long sum for them, the remark was made, that the gentleman for whom they were intended must be very rich, "by no means, so you need not fleece him on that score — they are presents I am making him, for he is my ward." " Colonel Beaumont making presents on that scale to a poor ward ! ! ! " Some object he must have ; but what it could be was passing strange. The housemaid was not without her cause 112 FALSE POSITIONS. for wonderment, since Colonel Beaumont, for the first time in his life, had intruded upon the female department relating to aired beds ; and had given the strictest injunctions that the young gentleman should rim no risk of taking cold on that account — in short, never, since their late beloved master's will had been made known, had there been such unan- imity in the depth and intensity of surprise stirred within the monotonous household of Beaumont. The two gentlemen were seated after dinner in an unusually bland frame of mind, and the fine benevolent face, painted by Sir Thomas Lawrence, seemed to look smilingly upon them from its position over the mantel- piece, as if his characteristic hospitality had outlived his own existence. There was but THE DISCLOSURE. /1 13 one other portrait in the room, and that Avas by another hand, representing an ex- tremely beautiful woman, Evelyn's mother, Avho had earnestly begged that the likeness of her predecessor should remain undisturbed in its original place in the drawing-room. Mr. Beaumont appreciated the feeling that dictated the request, and this was one of the innumerable traits of chai-acter which bound him more closely to the second than even he had been in youth to the first wife. There was a certain significance in his causing his own likeness to be put in the same room with the second, for it used to hang as a pendant to the first, having been painted at the same time. The attention of Harcourt was arrested by the lady's picture ; the artist had been pecu- 114) FALSE POSITIONS. liarly successful, for the original lie copied was one to heighten his fame if he could succeed in impressing her loveKness upon the canvas. There were no accessories about the picture to mark that she was a ladj, or to hand the fashions down to posterity ; and considering what the fashion of the day was then, it was fortunate that she had the good taste to perceive its deformity through the mist of prejudice which custom originates. She suggested her portrait should be taken in the dress of an Irish peasant girl, a large cloak with the hood falling back from her face, but the colour of the cloak red instead of blue. It was extremely well arranged, and the only thing to regret was that her figure was thereby hidden : its perfect proportions were lost in order that the THE DISCLOSURE. 115 disfigurement of the fashion should be ob- viated. " Who is that handsome woman '? " de- manded Harcourt ; " she is not in my style, for I admire fair women, but she is as good a specimen of what a brunette may be as I have ever seen.'^ " She was my brother's second wife, and if she had had a son instead of a daughter, you and I would not be sitting here.'' After having made this emphatic announce- ment, he looked attentively at the youth to observe the manner in which it was received. Harcourt replied, " How was it the pro- perty did not go to his daughter ? " " I suppose he thought women have no business with land, in which opinion I fully concur. A girl, a minor, is like a gosling I 2 116 FALSE POSITIONS. with full-grown feathers to be plucked ; it is all very well where a father can see his daughter settled in life, for then a son-in-law can occupy the place of a son. My poor dear brother certainly showed sense to a considerable extent." " You very naturally think so, sir, as you are the gainer thereby.'' A conscientious twinge on his countenance might have been perceptible to a skilled observer, for it was a home-thrust. "My brother provided most handsomely for his daughter ; twenty thousand pounds will be a nice portion for some young fellow." " Pray, sir, do you think I should have a chance ? " — this he said laughing. "Aye, that you would, and it is my fondest wish.'* THE DISCLOSURE. 117 " You are very good to me, sir ; I wish I knew how it is that I interest you so much : no other guardian that I have seen at Eton ever took half the trouble for their wards that you do for me, wdio am an orphan, with- out family and fortune, a mote in existence. I know not even how I come to be your ward ; by-the-bye, this is a v*ery good time to learn it. Who am I 'i " This simple question produced a most dis- proportionate degree of agitation. Colonel Beaumont remained silent for some minutes, during which the other kept his eyes fixed upon him, amazed at the effect his words had created. At length he exclaimed, ''You have a father ; it is he who now^ speaks to you."' " My father ! you my father '? Then why have you led me this life of humiliation, an 118 * FALSE POSITIONS. outcast from my home, without a position in the world, scarcely daring to say to myself, who am I "? Even now the question has been wrung from me by the agony of suspense.'^ " Ungrateful boy ! is this the way you greet the news you have a father, whose life since your birth has been absorbed in the study of your welfare 1 " " It is a strange mode of showing it, to deny me my home and my very name. But what I can't make out is how you managed it : in general it is not so easy to keep a son * perdu/ and what was your motive? This state of things must cease, however ; I claim my position as your son and heir." " Know, Norman, you may be my son and not be my heir." THE DISCLOSUKE. 119 The flush of indignant triumph which hghted up the handsome features of the eager youth gave place to an expression of bitter mortification and ghastly disappoint- ment. " Is it so ? Are my worst apprehensions confirmed ? Wliy do you dare to trifle with my feelings '? It cannot be. I am your lawful son ; you shall ratify my claim ; you have said it, and you shall keep to it." " Eash boy ! I have not said you are my lawful son, I will not say so ; your impetuosity will ruin your prospects. Be contented, to continue as you are ; I love you as my son. My son you are ; trust me, I will watch over your welfare, and if you will suffer yourself to be guided by me, all that you want, you shall receive ; all that I require is patience." 120 FALSE POSITIONS. " No, sir, never ; money can never give me what my soul pants for — position. I have gnawed the chain of insignificance which binds me to the earth long enough ; give me one breath of hope and I cannot bear it it any longer." " This is silly, Norman, babyish ; ^^our vehemence will only draw attention to what you wish to be kept out of sight. Is it no satisfaction to you to know tliat you are in the house of a father who loves you, and guards your future ? " " None, sir, none. That father has brought me into existence to be a nameless vagabond amidst the society of man — that father disowns me — that father tells me I am heir to nothing, not even his name — that father tells me I am his child, to receive his THE DISCLOSURE. 121 charity as alms, not as a right. It would have been far better, sir, had you never told me you are my father, for then I should have felt grateful to you, and now — " " My son, do not curse your father. Let me conjure you, for your own sake, to let matters stand as hitherto ; let this conversa- tion be as if it had never occurred, and I promise you the day will come, when wealth, position, all that you can desire, shall be yours." " Well, sir, I agree," lie said, after a moody pause. •' I prefer being without a parent, to having one I cannot claim." The father shuddered at the sentiment taken literally ; but nothing more relating to the disclosure passed between them that evening. The elder of the two purposely 122 FALSE POSITIONS. refrained from any further communication, and the yomiger desired none : he had heard more than enough to satisfy his curiosity, and he felt no yearnings of fihal affection for his unknown mother, let her be who she might. Colonel Beaumont had purposely withheld and purposely misrepresented a great deal to his son, for the strong neces- sity there was in his nature to exercise its craftiness, gave him an instinct like that of the camel for water, to discern where safe- guards might be established under circum- stances when to the generality of the world they might be deemed wholly superfluous. He apprehended now that for the accomplish- ment of his ends it would be necessary to hold his son in his power ; and in order to quell the fiery assumption of the youth, his THE DISCLOSUPwE. 123 pride must be kept in subjection, which would have been impossible had he known the real truth. Moreover, he required that his son's parentage should remain a secret, for the influence he was to exert over other parties. But the actual state of affairs was as follows. Some years before he had left the army, and before he had dedicated his luliole mind to the service of gain, there was an occa^sion when his passions mastered his cautious prudence. A sergeant in his regi- ment had died, leaving a beautiful daughter, whom it was his darling hope to raise, as he thought, by educating her to be a nursery governess. Colonel Beaumont having the re- putation and appearance of great steadiness of character, was the person the poor man looked to, to protect his daughter when he 124 FALSE POSITIONS. lay at the point of death. He undertook the office, and fulfilled it, when she was left alone in the world, by endeavouring to seduce her, and then he intended to purchase her silence at a small cost to himself, for he trusted to a bribe inducing some poor man to take her off his hands by marrying her, whenever circumstances should make it convenient to him to get rid of her. But the young woman herself had other views. She had been trained up to the ^visli to become a lad}^; and she possessed shrewd- ness and spirit, and played her cards with so much address, that she contrived to make him write letters, and at the same time pre- served appearances for herself so as to in- volve him in a manner that he must either marry her or be sued for a breach of promise THE DISCLOSURE. 125 of marriage. Either alternative was alarming to the greatest degree, as it would affect his brother towards him, and at that time his brother was a childless widower. He w^as fairly caught in his own toils, but he struck gallantly : he did not surrender unconditionally, and his exactions were im- mense. He represented to the girl that his prospects depended upon his elder brother's estimation of him. He said, and said truly, that this brother had an over sensitiveness about his lineage and gentle blood ; he was ill at the time, his death w^as probable ; and he pledged himself to marry her, provided she took her oath that she would never divulge her marriage until he gave her leave. Her ambition seemed about to be realised 126 FALSE POSITIONS. beyond her most sanguine hopes ; all that was required of her was a little temporary mortification. Thus she bartered present appearances to inherit a rich reality of triumph which she was destined never to enjoy. The marriage was solemnised at so great a distance from the place the regiment he belonged to was quartered in, that it con- tinued a fact unknown, the principals, how- ever, retaining legal proofs thereof ; and she passed as his mistress although really his wife. Such is the world ; his brother officers took no note beyond themselves of a circum- stance appearing to them so unimportant, whereas if he had made a mesalliance, the fact would have been sure to reach his brother. His wife's feelings and degradation THE DISCLOSURE. 127 were nothing in comparison with the risk to his own advantage. His regard for her there- fore increased as time went on, and with unbroken faith in her promise her secret never blazed forth as a nine days' wonder to his confusion and her glorification. Not even the birth of a son moved her to claim his and her own rights. He felt really sorry for her, then, when she was killed by an accident, wdiich happened one day when she was out driving with him : the carriage upset, and she was the only victim. The root of his affection for his infant boy seemed to be the soundest one of the many that were diseased in his composi- tion ; he loved the child for his own sake, as well as for belonging to the same sex as himself, and a little for the sake of its 128 FALSE POSITIONS. mother, more particularly now she was so kind as to be no longer in his way ; for he was one of those people, the measm-e of whose complacency and gratitude is small or great in proportion, not as to whether the benefit be intended or not, but according to the amount received. His child was now all his own, to do what he pleased with, and he cared for it ; and, as we have perceived, gave him, as he grew up, such an education as ought to satisfy the most refined fastidious- ness. Meantime it was an object to Colonel Beaumont that his brother should know that he had a son ; and always fearing that his love of his family and name would induce him to give himself only a life interest in the pro- perty, and entail it upon the Mr. Richard THE DISCLOSUPvE. 129 Beaumont mentioned in the will, he was anxious to have a son whom, together with the mother, he could avow. If the property were entailed upon his son, as would be natural if he had one whose existence w^ere knovrn, he could bring forward his eldest one with the proofs of his legitimacy, when his brother was quietly mouldering into dust. He was always spoken of as being as determined an old bachelor as his brother was an old widower, and he w^as fearful of the consequences of such a conclusion. The very first lady, then, with a good fortune, who was wilHng to take his case into considera- tion, he promoted to the dignity of becoming his wife ; and it is very certain she was not the less compassionate on account of being VOL. I. K 180 FALSE POSITIONS. wholly ignorant of the existence of little Norman. Deceit is ever a downward path, and who- ever enters upon it incurs at the very first step an impetus such as to make it seem necessary for their safety to go lower and lower and faster and faster. Colonel Beau- mont, moreover, was a moral coward ; that frequently led him into wrong, and then made him devise all kinds of wretched Httle subterfuges to prevent his being discovered ; for he dreaded detection, and wished to stand well in the consideration of his neighbours. Thus he had a great many reasons for con- tinuing to keep his family and acquaintances unacquainted with his history to the extent just developed to the reader ; amongst others he was reluctant to give the electric shock THE DISCLOSURE. 131 the intimation would be to the sisterly feel- ings of Miss Freke, who, let it be borne in mind, was an elderly spinster possessing money, and, although he was her senior, yet in his own calculation he was, nevertheless, to be the gainer by her death; for the avari- cious man is always the imaginary successor of those who have anything to leave. From the moment of the simultaneous news of the birth of Evelyn and the death of her mother, his son Norman was to be the " fortunate young fellow ^^ who was to receive her hand and her fortune, and every- thing he could possibly acquire for him. The love of children is often merely a form of egotism, and people think themselves excusable in designs and actions, done as they say for their children's good, that 132 FALSE POSITIONS. they would be ashamed of if they were out of the question ; but Colonel Beaumont does not merit that reproach, for at no period of his life would he have shrunk from doing anything for his own advantage, provided it was unlikely to be discovered, and he acted on the same steadily energetic principle for his son's promotion. But he suffered one great privation, from the centre of his thoughts being unrecog- nised. When one solitary undivided flame burnt upon the altar of his heart, of which he alone was the source, he was continually talking of himself served up in every sort of shape, and good Mr. Beaumont reckoned this amiable simplicity ; though simplicity without innocence results from causes all of which are repulsive, the least offensive of them THE DISCLOSURE. loo being folly, and it should never be confounded "s^ith the sinipKcity arising from its possessor being innocent of almost all the petty and corrupt feelings of our nature. The two brothers were each a sample of a spurious and a genuine quality called by the same name in the mouth of superficial ob- servers. ISTothino; Colonel Beaumont would have liked better than to make his son the same weapon of offence he had made himself to his weary listeners; but events rendered this impossible, and he waited patiently for the time when the embargo w^ould be taken off the theme of his private musings, and in the meanwhile he pleased himself with the notion that, as his brother piqued himself upon his Norman origin, there would be something propitious in the bestowal of the 13 i FALSE POSITIONS. narae of Harcourt as his fictitious surname ; and he chuckled at the idea of the prefix for his Christian name pointing out the origin of the surname. It was, as his son might have retorted, a " babyish " idea, but it proceeded from the incongruous mixture which existed in his character, as indeed it does in that of the generahty of the world, the wisest even not excepted. CHAPTER yilL PPtOGRESS. A SHORT dialogue will frequently give a better key to the characters of the performers therein than the minutest summary would do ; and on that account, in setting forth the circumstances and relative positions of those whose narrative we have undertaken, we have preferred occasionally making them speak for themselves, rather than restricting ourselves to a systematic disquisition upon their respective tendencies. But we do not intend to linger over the school days of our heroine, notwithstanding they w^ere passed without the innumerable disgusts wdiich so 136 FALSE POSITIONS. much enhance the youthful predisposition to anticipate the hberation therefrom, as the period when earth is to be transformed into paradise, and undefined notions are to be reahsed, that no fate can be too brilhant to correspond Avith deserts and expectations. Alas ! it is melancholy to think how much more in after life the reduction of our inor- dinate wishes is indebted to the loss of con- fidence in hope, than to an augmentation of wisdom and humility ! As I have already stated, Mrs. Rivington was eminently judi- cious; she strove in every branch of her pupil's education to ground her thoroughly, that she might thereby avoid that most unpleasant alternative of struggling, in sub- sequent years, to catch up lost time, in anything that was w^orth learning. In do- PROGRESS. 137 ing so she established stej^phig-stones for further sure and rapid progress; for she was convinced that it was a common fault with teachers to take it for granted that w^hat is A B C to themselves is the same to their pupils, whereas it is no such thing. Evelyn had an ardent love for the true and beautiful in everything — the first made her appreciate the mode in which she was taught, and the second adorned and wrought upon the first principles her intellect apprehended. Her hands and voice and feet executed with facility what her imagination conceived ; therefore others participated in the enjoy- ment which some possess vaguelj^ floating in their minds, without the power to arrest and illustrate it to others. Her masters, both for singing and instrumental music, for drawing 138 FALSE POSITIONS. and dancing, with one consent jDronounced that their arts had a great loss in Miss Beau- mont's position in hfe ; for she would have been famous, if she had compelled their ser- vices to earn for herself a livelihood by any one of them. When Monsieur Pivot was holding forth one day, in the inflated language of his nation and profession, on the effect mademoiselle's grace and beauty, and the finish of her steps, would produce if exhibited on the stage, Evelyn burst out laughing, and observed that she had heard that "tours de force," to which she could lay no sort of claim, were what ehcited the rapturous applause of a theatrical audience. "And, after all," she con- tinued, "I am told I shall have to unlearn all my steps ; or if habit should be too strong for me, and I should find myself practising them PROGRESS. 139 in a ball-room, instead of gliding fashionably hither and thither, I shall be criticised un- mercifully ; and then I shall feel very much abashed and provoked with you." '• Ah, cela ! ce serait pour moi un veritable malheur ^ Mais si la destinee eut reserve mademoiselle pour la scene, elle aurait accom- pli un veritable reforme, et elle aurait remplace ces vilaines tours de force, qui font mal a les voir seulement, par la veritable poesie de la danse ; mais puisque ce sort la ne lui est pas accorde mademoiselle de Tautre part doit bannir cette fade air de langueur, qui vient de la sagesse exageree, dont les Anglais se piquent, et mademoiselle doit rendre la gaite un pen plus a la mode." " I must say I would rather extirpate the practice of those dreadful and hideous rect- 140 FALSE POSITIONS. angular positions, that I see exhibited in the shop winclo\YS, .than be applauded to the skies for my proficiency in them ; but I do not feel my vocation to be the reformer of the ball-room any more than of the stage." " Mademoiselle a trop d'esprit pour se moquer de la danse. Cost bien siir que Tesprit se manifesto par les mouvemens du corps comme par tant d'autres moyens, et mademoiselle ne doit pas mepriser la grace et la vivacite que la nature Fa donnee." To this Evelyn had not the least objection, for dancing with her was really the expression of joy and elasticity, which the practice of all nations, both savage and civilised, proves to be an instinctive mode of showing their feelings. When asked whether she liked music or drawing best, she found it difficult to reply; PROGRESS. 141 SO, when subjected to this query, she mahciously resorted to the infant's invariable expedient, when required to say which it loved best, father or mother, and answered " both " : nor would she vouchsafe any other reply, for she said she hated stupid questions. She learnt languages without any trouble, but she used them as a means to an end — to acquaint herself with their literature ; the acquisition of them therefore was a less favourite pursuit than her other accomplish- ments. Mrs. Rivington detected early that Evelyn had warm and strong affections to bestow upon those who had, or whom she believed to have, claims upon her gratitude and esteem ; but she did not love those who surrounded her merely because they existed, although 142 FALSE POSITIONS. she studied to be polite and hide her indifference, however positive might be its nature. Mrs. Rivington rejoiced when it stopped short there, instead of merging into aversion ; and the one person who had been the cause of the discovery of this possibihty, which she often feared would lead to the latter more painful phase of feeling, was Colonel Beaumont. When Evelyn was about fifteen, a circumstance occurred which was near bringing things to a crisis. For many reasons, Colonel Beaumont anxiously desired to shake off Mrs. Riving- ton's presence, but her strong attachment to her pupil and her promise to her dying father, made her overlook all the hints and annoy- ances he ventured to offer to her, to effect his purpose. It will be remembered that, by her PROGRESS. 143 father's will, at the age of fifteen the interest of her 20,000/. was to be joaid to herself, but no notice w^as taken of this provision until a letter was sent to the young lady herself, to Mrs. Hivington, and to Colonel Beaumont, by Mr. Perkins, stating that he felt it his duty to go through the form of inquiring, at the hands of those three parties, whether the condition were fulfilled or not. Colonel Beaumont, on the receipt of this letter, muttered to himself something about "a confounded impudent rascal," but, being warned that letters nearly to the same effect had been written to Mrs. Rivington and Miss Beaumont, he thought it necessary to take steps accordingly ; and he fancied that an extremity, with skill, might still be turned to account : so he informed the two ladies, that Hi FALSE POSITIONS. hitherto, in the plenitude of his generosity, having the income of his niece's fortune to indemnify him for their joint expenses, he had availed himself of Mrs. Rivington's services, but that now the case was altered. Although he should not grudge any cost his niece might incur, Mrs. Rivington was in a totally different position with regard to him, and, indeed, he thought it would be to Miss Beaumont's advantage to acquire the habit of walking alone. Evelyn, on hearing this, reddened ex- cessively, while an unusually haughty expres- sion stamped itself in legible characters on her expressive physiognomy. " I am pro- foundly indebted to you for your charity to me," she burst forth ; " but, considering the manner in which my father provided for the PEOGRESS. 145 obligation, it does not sit too heavily upon my gratitude. However, the case is altered, as you observe ; I am my own mistress, and I can choose my own home : that home is wherever Mrs. Rivington's is. I do not seek to live in your house, sir, but Mrs. Eivington will live in mine. Will you not, dear Mrs. Rivington ? " she added, turning with a deprecatory look towards her. Mrs. Eivington w^as posed by the extreme delicacy of her position, and seemed lost in surprise and perplexity. For that very reason Colonel Beaumont urged her to reply ; but she continued silent ; not so Evelyn, however. "As far as I understand," she said, " the case stands thus : up to the pre- sent time you, sir, received the whole of my income ' to indemnify ' yo7i " (on these words VOL. I. L 146 FALSE POSITIONS. she laid a marked emphasis) " for the ex- penses of Mrs. Rivingtoii and myself, our eating and drinking, servants, and so forth ; at least, I mean you enjoyed the balance of what remained over and above my masters' charges, etcetera, etcetera; and henceforward my income is to be paid to myself. You do not wish to feed Mrs. Rivington and myself for nothing ; on the other hand, I should be equally sorry that you should do so ; but I cannot part with my second mother. You yourself can arrange what proportion you like to receive of my income ; it shall be paid to you ; but let her remain until we can seek a lasting home for our- selves." The wily old gentleman, though far from despising the smallest addition to his PKOGRESS. 147 means, would infinitely have preferred being altogether disembarrassed of Mrs. E-ivington ; but Evelyn was too direct and plain-spoken to admit of any evasion, and he was forced to reply that " her uncle's house, as her near- est living relation, was the proper abode for so very young a lady ; therefore, he expected she would make up her mind to consider it as her permanent home, and as far as he was concerned, on account of his affec- tionate interest in his niece, he should be satisfied to receive 450/. a year, which, con- sidering the advantages she and Mrs. Riving- ton would enjoy in that house, was extremely moderate." He added, "As it is, I don^t know w^hat so young a lady as yourself will do with 250/. a year." This he said with a sickly laugh, which he meant to be jocular. l2 14S FALSE POSITIONS. They submitted in silent disgust. Colonel Beaumont, in appropriating so large a share of his niece's income, had, as he generally had, a double motive. He was quite satisfied with the amount of " finishing " her educa- tion had received, and he infinitely pre- ferred that she should continue to dwell quietly in the country, instead of her going to London to run all the risks she might be subjected to there for the subversion of his cherished plans. Evelyn had at that time a very indistinct notion of the value of money, and fancied she would still be rich with 250/. a year, out of which she was to pay her governess her salary and her maid her wages ; for Colonel Beaumont had not alluded to the former subject, and Evelyn said that "dear Mrs. Bivington must not PROGRESS. 149 have anything to do with her uncle after the affront he had given her." Eveljai also loved ihe place of her birth with an intensity which was of the essence of her nature, and if she had been called upon to execute her own haughty proposal of seeking an abode else- where, she would have suffered proportion- ately. Fortunately, all her previous advan- tages had profited her to the utmost ; and while gaining health and strength in the country, though not naturally very robust, now that she was thrown upon her own resources in a great measure, yet, under the fostering sympathy of Mrs. liivington, that only tended to bring out the latent origi- nality of her mind, which developed itself in whatever she did. There was still another reason why she acquiesced with pleasure in 150 FALSE POSITIONS. this arrangement. After Mrs. Rivington and her bh'thplace, her cousin Lucy stood third in the scale of her affections. We put her third, for she herself did so. She used to say, " Lucy will marr}^ and she will love her husband and her children a great deal better than myself ; bat Beaumont itself will never change towards me. Its speechless sympathy can never be to any one else what it has been to me." There was one subject on which the cousins were utterly at variance. Lucy, amiable, unquestioning, without penetra- tion into character, behoved it to be a right and natural thing to love her father, and did so, and would probably have thought it a matter of course that Evelyn should do so in a lesser deo-ree, had not the more PROGBESS. 151 positive nature of the latter sometimes over- come the efforts she made to restrain herself, and occasionally manifested mmiistakeably the repugnance which had assumed distinct- ness ever since Colonel Beaumont's treatment of Mrs. Rivington had reached its climax. This fact being ascertained, made Lucy feel as if her love for her cousin were disloyalty to her father, and occasioned a certain degree of restraint which must ever arise under similar circumstances. As for the head of this singular household, the same want of delicacy which led to the estrange- ment from himself of the being whom he ought to have considered like a beloved daughter, prevented his even observing it, and if he had perceived it, would not have occasioned him one pang, as he did not ]52 FALSE POSITIONS. anticipate any necessity for the accomplish- ment of his project that she should love himself. To Evelyn herself there was a certain kind of i-elief attendant upon her mind being made up that she disliked Colonel Beaumont ; for there had ever been something distasteful to her about him which she had never suc- ceeded in defmino;. There is a va^'ue sort of suspense in the nature of uncertainty that unhinges the mind as much as most other unpleasant things ; and this operates fully as much with the affections as with any other subject, — far more, even, for therein will be found the centre of all happiness. When strangers used to allude to her feehngs on this subject — taking it for granted that she must be very fond of that externally respect- PROGRESS. 153 able man — she accused herself of hypocrisy ; and still she knew not wherefore. She little guessed how many there are who, steering- clear of ajDparently dishonourable actions towards their fellow-creatures, yet never seek to provoke their love, and thereby will often possess themselves of the confidence and esteem of the public, while they care not to hamper themselves with the appreciation of those they love ; but such men should be looked at through a telescope reversed, for the domestic verdict is the true and real one. Evelyn has taken her first lesson in the reaUties of life : we shall next meet her as a woman. CHAPTER IX. GUESTS. Evelyn had now entered upon her twentieth year, and time had fulfilled all its promises, for she grew up extremely beautiful. Her throat, and the mode in which the well-formed head was set on it, gave her all the stateliness which belongs to tall persons, when they do not fall into the mistake of stooping to appear shorter, a bad carriage being as bad, indeed rather worse, in a tall than in a short person. The hair, a rich dark brown, she sometimes wore braided, and sometimes in long, large curls ; all the features were good, but one of the best and also one of the rarest of good GUESTS. 155 features was the mouth ; the upper Hp was thill and beautifully defined, the shape of a Cupid's bow ; the under one was rather full. Her eves also were of the most beautiful as well as the most uncommon colour in the world, a deep blue, nearly as intense as that of the flower of the gentian eha, and shaded by very dark and lons^ lashes. Her forehead was more remarkable for breadth than height, though not therein deficient ; her nose was small and exquisitely chiselled; and the eyebrows, though very evident, were not so much marked as to be stern, and had space between them. She was generally rather pale ; and the face was rounded w^ithout the chubbiness that mature years seldom lose with advantage, unless re- placed by the symmetry which belonged to our heroine. 156 FALSE POSITIONS. Colonel Beaumont was \Yell aware of these uncommon attractions, and they filled him with terror. He would sometimes mutter to himself — " By Jove ! it was a hicky thing my brother did not leave that girl in possession of a for- tune which would have made numbers snap lier up, were she ever so ugly ; in that case, nothing could have saved her for that foolish boy. He must make haste though. A beauty and 20,000/. down on the nail, may give us some trouble, if we don't take care. Hitherto I have kept her very snug ; but there is no knowing what may happen now." He had said this over and over again to himself, as he sat in his study, sur- rounded by ledgers and account-books, of all sorts, without seeming able to extract any GUESTS. 157 previously imforeseen consolation therefrom ; and he would have probably gone on re- peating the same experiment with the same success for a still greater number of times, had he not been disturbed by a rap at the door, given by the footman. "Please, sir, here is a parcel that was left at the gate by the coach. '^ It was a note made up in the shape of a parcel, to authorise its transmission through another channel besides the mail-bag ; and it was to announce that Norman, whose ar- rival was expected that day, was bringing with him a college chum of his, an extremely fine young fellow — Mr. Maitland, agent to his brother. Lord Maitland, in Ireland. He should travel down in the phaeton of his friend. Colonel Beaumont had been quartered 158 FALSE POSITIONS. long enough in Ireland not to fall into the common error of English people, that the profession of agent is not that of a gentleman ; for many persons do not comprehend that the office of an agent in Ireland is as different a thing from that of an English bailiff, as a " Groom of the Chambers, or the Stole," in the Eoyal Household, is unlike an ordinary stable- groom. He was, therefore, not in the least surprised at the Hon. Mr. Maitland's holding the situation ; but he knew that it very probably gave him a good income, if, as most likely, his brother were rich ; and all the influence his employer was supposed to have, made him, if these advantages were backed by natural ones, a very formidable inmate in his house. GUESTS. 159 The words " college chum " grated very harshly on his mental ear, for had not the daughter of his brother's " college chum " caused his brother to make a fool of him- self in his old age '? He felt greatly displeased when a second and more feeble knock at the door was discouraged from repetition by a harsh intimation to " Come in/^ What a contrast presented itself to the last female image his memory had been occupied with ! This form, like the other in size, far surpassed the ordinary type of woman ; but there was this difference : poor Miss Freke was as much uglier than the usual run of women, as Evelyn was as much more lovely ; the distinction of appear- ance far outstripped that of their ages. 160 FALSE POSITIONS. Colonel Beaumont unconsciously smiled at the comparison, and tins gave him time to recover his equilibrium a little. Miss Freke looked alarmed. " I beg your pardon, sir, for intruding upon you in your private sitting-room, but Professor Pebbles, ■whom I knew in London, has given Lord Carlyon a letter of introduction to me, as he was coming into this neighbourhood to visit the newly-discovered Poman remains. Ho is a young man who has been travelhng in Egypt and the East, and has a great passion for all kinds of antiquities. And, sir, I hope you will excuse the liberty I have taken. He looks delicate, and complains of the dreadful smell of paint in the inn which has been newly done up, so I asked him if he would do us the favour to take up his abode with us GUESTS. 161 while lie remains in these parts, for I was certain you would have called upon him if you had been aware that he was at D ore- ham ; and that you would never forgive me if I were unable to persuade him to transfer his quarters to this house." Aunt Willy prolonged her speech with a faltering voice, under a kind of vague sur- mise that whenever she stopped, something dreadful would ensue, for she perceived the storm gathering on the brow of her respected connection. " Madam,'' said he, in an emphatic tone, " do I understand you aright '? Have you invited some right honourable jackanapes ? some ridiculous young fool " (laying emphasis on the word young), "about whom not a crea- ture in the house knows anything, to come 162 FALSE POSITIONS. and stay in the house with two young wo- men, my daughter and your niece ; my niece and your lamented sister's niece-in-law ^ '' It was the first time she had ever heard herself addressed with a manner of such ominous reproof, and a flickering of wrath gathered round her kind heart ; but when the motive became developed, and she per- ceived only tender interest for the welfare of those she loved most sincerely, the tables were turned completely. She blamed her- self bitterly for imprudence, and she was completely overcome by the allusion to her " lamented " sister. " Good Heavens ! sir, what have I done 1 What can I do or say now, sir '? His father is a very great man" (in common with the rest of the world, Aunt Willy had a predi- GUESTS. 163 lection for rank), " and he is so nice-looking, and so gentleman-like, with such pleasing manners to ladies ; and he is so well-in- formed. He carries about with him a little pocket-case of instruments, that I never could quite learn the use of, but which I know to be necessary in all the discovered sciences ; and he has a little pocket sketch-book, and such an intellectual countenance !" Colonel Beaumont smiled more and more fiercely, though the sentiment he intended to convey was refined scorn ; but there was one qualification attributed to the stranger that was not- unheeded by him, " he had a father a very great man." Norman wished to be in Parliament, and that is a place, he thought, where individual great men outweigh the multitudes outside. It was always well to m2 IQi FALSE POSITIONS. avoid, from policy, giving offence to any one ; but such a person as the one in question — it was not to be thought of ; undoubtedly he might yet be turned to great account in lifting Norman into the House over some small borough, where still the great man's name wrought wonders, notwithstanding Re- form. That his son should trust to his own principles and eloquence for getting there, and serving his ends wdien arrived there, never once entered his speculative head, for the last person on whose resources he ever wished to draw was himself, and he reckoned upon his son's resembhng himself; besides, if nothing else was to be gained, there w^as no knowing wdiat a harvest of good dinners for Norman might be reaped from a Httle inexpensive provincial civility ; and for the GUESTS. 165 rest he trusted to his own management. Having worked himself up to this pleasant frame of mind, for the first time he observed that his sister-in-law was standing, and re- quested her to take a chair while he put to her a few more interrogatories. "I suppose Lord Carlyon accepted your invitation 1 " " Most gratefully and readily." " Humph ! Was Miss Beaumont in the room during the visit % " " She came into the drawing-room just as Lord Carlyon most good-naturedly picked up a little compendium of mineralogical specimens I was so careless as to upset. ' Evelyn, my love,' I began when I saw her — " " Don't trouble yourself to tell me what you said to her, although I have no doubt 166 FALSE POSITIONS. it was most excellent in its kind ; but I wisli to know whether you gave the invitation before or after she had entered "? " " Of course, I did so just as he was going away." "Why, really, I don't see any 'of course ' in the occasion ; it would have been very natural, as you hazarded the thing, to have asked him when he spoke of the smell of paint." " True, sir, and this was early in our con- versation, when I inquired of him what sort of accommodation he had ; but I felt a little nervous about what I should say, not being sure you would like it, for I have never before had a similar opportunity for taking such a step, and this house not being my own — " " Pooh ! pooh ! Madam, the same thing — the same thing," he hastily observed. GUESTS. 167 " I was screwing up my courage till the very last moment, and I also felt very shy.'' (" The old fool ! " thought Colonel Beau- mont to himself) "However, nothing could possibly be more courteous than he was. He observed that he never thought the Eoman remains would have given him half the plea- sure they had been the means of procuring him ; ' and yet,' he added, ' Professor Pebbles did not say too much of them, the mosaic pave- ment being the most perfect of the sort he had ever seen. I am longing to make a party to go to see them again.' " " Thank you, Miss Freke ; I will not de- tain you any longer now, and, wdiile you are about it, you may order another room for a friend of Norman Harcourt's, wdio is bring- ing him down. There will be a gentleman 168 FALSE POSITIONS. a-piece for each of you, —enough and to spare/*^ Evelyn would have considered the super- abundance exemplified in the person of her uncle. The good creature's spirits rose, as she left the study, like a cork to the surface of water after having been forced down by some extraneous pressure, and she no longer felt anything but unalloyed pleasure in the pro- spect of their pleasantly enlarged circle. She hastened to Evelyn to tell her of the luck they M'ere in that day ; for, although aware of the transaction between herself and tlie traveller, she had still to learn the contribu- tion to their entertainment which Norman was about to furnish. She found both the girls in the drawing-room — Lucy putting sundry flowers into china vases, and Evelyn GUESTS. 169 looking over a portfolio of drawings which had been sent her from London to look at. '•'My dear, dear girls!" enthusiastically ex- claimed Miss Freke, " how pleasant we shall be to-day ! I do like sometimes to see a few new people, but only in addition to you, not instead of you." "That was a very pretty ending," observed Evelyn, " for I was beginning to be offended at your delight at seeing novelties, for we flatter ourselves that our society ought to be a subject of never-ending enjoyment, and quite sufficient in itself." "Indeed, I should be very unreasonable if it were not sufficient for me. I love you like sisters, like my children," she added, after a short pause ; " but it is good for us all to 170 FALSE POSITIONS. meet strangers sometimes, and it refreshes one*s ideas." " We must bow to your judgment, Aunt Willj ; your mind needs a little foreign irri- gation which w^e cannot supply; you cannot hide it from us, though you try ; however, we'll forgive you, on the score of your affec- tion for us. And now let me commend you for the very judicious manner in which you have procured us seemingly a very pleasant acquaintance. If I had had a house of my own, I should have been strongly tempted to say exactly what you did, though I fear it would scarcely have been correct ; but Lord Carlyon is so gentlemanlike and agreeable, with just enough of the old school (don't you call it ^) about him, that it would have been a sin to let him take leave of us with a morning call; GUESTS. 171 besides, I detest the smell of paint myself, and it would have been the height of inhos- pitality to leave him exposed thereto. Does mj uncle know of it ^ " "I have just told him, and in return be desired me to order two rooms more, for Norman is coming with a friend of his also." " It never rains but it pours ; and the lilacs will not benefit by the showers more than we shall by such refreshment. It is now Mr. Harcourt's turn to get credit. I hear the sound of the carriage-wheels ; let us be off. I believe ladies show to most advantage when they appear simultaneously with the dinner." They fled ; and which of the three did so with most alacrity it would have been a diffi- cult matter to decide : such elasticity does 173 FALSE POSITIONS. genuine happiness impart, even to those more stricken in years than Miss Freke. It was a custom adopted by Colonel Beau- mont, whenever he indulged in the extremely rare excess of a dinner party, always to send the ladies out according to his own nomina- tion in a loud voice, and he was therefore necessitated to hand out last the lady of great- est distinction present. On this occasion Lord Carlyon was appointed to take out Miss Freke, Mr. Maitland Lucy, and he himself appropri- ated, very punctiliously, Evelyn. Norman was late for dinner, but he no sooner came down than, after carelessly shaking hands with Evelyn, by whose side he took the vacant chair, he descried Lord Carlyon. ''Ha, Carlyon ! is that you ? I am very glad to see you. Where did you spring froniT'' GUESTS. 173 '' I made my appearance with the Ro- man remains, a more interesting mode of studying the classics than the manner ^ve were both engaged in when 1 saw you last ; and I am indebted to the spontaneous hos- pitality of the present company " (looking round and bowing) " for my dehghtful position." "Well, I never should have expected to meet with you rusticatins; down here with the ivy growing upon old Roman walls. I should have thought you would have despised antiquities of home growth too much to con- descend to grubbing on these vulgar shores, when Asia and Africa have been only par- tially skimmed over by you, to say nothing of America, with its Mexican antiquities." " I see you remember my quondam pedan- 1 74 FALSE POSITIONS. try. I have grown wiser now ; indeed, I have embraced the school of minute philo- sophy, and investigate all the wonders around my path and growing up beneath my feet." " So much the better, it will save you a world of trouble. You and Miss Freke must be kindred spirits," he remarked, with a sneer. " I flatter myself we have a great deal in common : we are both interested in a great number of the same pursuits." Miss Freke coloured a still deeper crimson than her cheeks generally wore, suffused by a sense of humble gratitude for the parallel. " A perfect Sir Charles Grandison ! '^ she thought to herself. Meantime Lucy and her neighbour had GUESTS. 175 made rapid strides in each other's acquaint- ance ; they had their own quiet httle tete-a- tete. At first Mr. Maitland had been exces- sively struck by the beauty of Evelyn, but he soon began to criticise. " She is too tall, too regal-looking," he said to himself ; " that woman is born out of the province of her sex, which is to be affectionate and kind, and not to plague one with their preten- sions.'^ He gradually turned his attention to Lucy, who in her way was extremely pretty, and suggested all the meekness and loving- blindly propensities men appreciate. Before the evening was over, he was quite satisfied that she was tJie woman in the world suited to make him happy ; and yet her most pro- minent good quality he considered to be, " that she was so like the rest of her sex." 176 FALSE POSITIONS. He spared himself a great deal of annoyance by fixing his affections so appropriately, for if he had selected Evel^^n he ^YOuld have met with no response. If she were imperious ; imperious men had better keep clear of im- perious women, or the old saying of the con- sequences of " Greek meeting Greek " would be too literally verified. However, we have our own peculiar vie\YS on this subject, and think the curb and spur too much applied to a woman are apt to produce the same effect as on a horse, and to throw her on her mettle, when, if let alone, she would carry her load of the cares and troubles of hfe quietly, like any other well-treated beast of burden. As for Lucy, she set all her cousin's ad- vantages at their legitimate value ; and the possibility of any one in the world preferring GUESTS. 177 lier to Evelyn, seemed entirely out of the question. Therefore an exceedingly pleasing person like Mr. Maitland, seeming to take greater interest in her opinions than in any one else's, had all the charm of a surprise added to the ordinary large amount of grati- fication always conveyed by the disinterested notice of one's fellow-creatures ; while nothing could surpass the propriety of one and all of those opinions. They Avere first tested by books, and her favourites proved to be exactly such as a particular man Avould put into the hands of his wife. Here she was quite right, and she made no mistakes on any other score, for Mr. Maitland talked a good deal, dealt in very comprehensible ideas, which he put forth for her edification, always afterwards asking what she thought on the subject, when VOL. I. K 178 FALSE POSITIONS. she invariably paraphrased his own remark. He, too, was delighted with the uniformity of their notions, which, indeed, was not unaccountable, considering they were from memory, yet extemporary. Colonel Beaumont could never have an- ticipated such brilliant results from such an alarming commencement ; but the crowning piece of good fortune was still in store for him. Lord Carlyon was removed from Evelyn, but Avhen he spoke, his voice was loud enough to be heard by the whole table, and his eyes rested upon Evelyn, as much as to say, " At least I can see you, and you can hear me.'' Norman's vanity took fire ; he was pleased to think he was placed where the admired and envied Lord Carlyon wished to be, and GUESTS. 179 he immediately began to address Evelyn in a low and confidential tone. Lord Carlyon's efforts for the general amusement visibly relaxed, and Norman's exertions increased. Colonel Beaumont took good care to look away, lest his glance should reveal his satisfaction ; and, being at ease as to how things were going on, he discovered various topics in the reserve of his mind, which he leisurely drew out for the amusement of his noble guest, whose habitual self-command enabled him to endure them patiently. Norman was very clever ; no one could be more amusing, w^hen he chose, or more fascinating. The very caprice of his not choosing to be so always, had sometimes a strange attraction, for his fits of inspiration frequently appeared so irrespective of circum- n2 ISO FALSE POSITIONS. stances, that tliej threw a kind of charm around him — he was mysterious ; and so dear is this quahty to the heart of women, that the mystery of iniquity will not seldom have a better chance of success with them, than the too great transparency of character which sometimes accompanies having nothing to hide. In the drawing-room, matters went on equally prosperously. Norman had an ex- cellent voice. Colonel Beaumont was seized with a passion for music, and a,nnounced that he preferred ballads to anything else, the old to the new, and asked Evelyn if she could not sing, with Harcourt, the charming duet, " And ye shall walk in silk attire." Evelyn replied, ''that of all the ballads she could remember, there was not one less GUESTS. 181 calculated to be sung otherwise than as a solo.'^ Mr. Maitland looked surprised at a certain satirical inflexion her voice implied. He thought she might have given a simple ans^yer to the question, and he was very certain Lucy's manner would have been sweeter ; but Colonel Beaumont suggested one of the Irish melodies. Evelyn chose one for three voices, and made Lucy take a part. One song followed another, and thus the evening wore away, every one pleased with himself and with each other, save Lord Carlyon, who had never in his past experience felt so unac- countably dissatisfied. CHAPTER X. THE EXCURSION. The next day was very fine, and it was settled that the whole party should visit the Roman remains alluded to in the last chap- ter. Colonel Beaumont proposed to Harcourt to lend Lucy one of his horses ; Evelyn was to ride her own, and he would accompany the two young ladies. Lord Carlyon, Miss Freke, and himself would go in the open carriage. But Norman negatived this by observing that there was only one woman of his ac- quaintance he ever wished to see mount a horse of his ; because, in general, ladies, though said to have such light hands as to THE EXCURSION". 183 impart a delicacy to the mouth of a horse, with that one exception, he thought, they were always giving unmeaning little chucks to the bridle, of which he did not approve, and he did not wish to be the squire of the ladies. " That's very provoking and absurd of you 1 I know you ride with Miss Neville some- times.'' " That is my principal reason. If she were to hear, as she would do, through our noble traveller, that I made it a practice to ride about with all the ladies in the county, she would no longer value my services ; and her smiles I prize above all things." " I will not stand this folly any longer, boy. I am not to be bearded, sir, in my own house." " Believe me, sir, I know my place in your 184 FALSE POSITIONS. house, but this has nothing to say to my acquiescence in escorting about the Lidies of your family ; at least, I must first of all, sir, trouble you to dress me in the Uvery of a groom, before I feel myself required to obey your orders on that score/'^ " Come, come, Norman, don't be chafed about nothing at all ; but I think you might oblige me by following out my wishes in the use of the horses I gave you." *' For that matter, sir, you may have the horses back again. I hope very soon to em- brace a line of life to acquire independence for myself; and I hope, through the interest of my friend Neville and his father, to be appointed to the Viennese Embassy or some other diplomatic post." *' And, may I presume to ask, is it your THE EXCURSION. 185 intention to apply first for the post of hus- band to the beautiful Miss Neville, or is the appointment to come in the shape of her dowry ? '* JN'orman grew pale with pride and passion, and replied, '' I do not hold myself bound to answer your insulting questions any more than I feel myself required to obey your over- bearing dictation. And now for the business of the day : if you press me any further on this subject, I shall have left this house before half an hour has elapsed." Colonel Beaumont's ingenuity devised a fresh plan. He was aware that juxtaposition during the drive was the grand object to be attained ; as nothing very important in the progress of the affair so near his heart w^as likely to be promoted or hindered, w^hile 186 FALSE POSITIONS. sauntering through the excavations, unless the business were previously forwarded ; so he bethought himself that, as the carriage-horses were spirited, he did not feel himself a match for them. Miss Freke, his daughter. Lord Carlyon, and Mr. Maitland could go inside : it was a low, light little carriage, suited to the country ; and Norman should drive Evelyn on the box, and a servant should ride his hack to be in attendance when they arrived at their destination. It was a capital plan. The first one Norman had opposed rather from a tendency to universal opposition than from any other precise motive, and his propensity on that occasion was satisfied, at least he took no further trouble in the cause of contra- riety. Perhaps a thought passed through his mind that Lord Carlyon would have been THE EXCURSIOIT. 187 very glad to have affairs ordered for him just as he himself had them, and he deter- mined that he would not give him the option of a change. Thus they started ; and poor Lord Car- lyon's pohteness and fortitude were put to a severe test. He never felt less inclined to rehsh the comparison of himself with Miss Freke as a kindred spirit, but he had no- thing for it but resignation. His kind com- panion had serious apprehensions lest he had not shifted his quarters in time; and knowing something of the insidious properties of white lead, she feared that the poison had entered into and was rankling in his constitution. Poor soul ! she little suspected the subtler poison of jealousy that circumstances had lodged in his breast ; and, unfortunately, he 188 FALSE POSITIONS. T^^as not one of those arrogant natures who require a httle pulling down. If he were a fair sample of his class, the term aristocracy would really stand for all that it assumes to itself. Young men called him a prig, because he had other pursuits besides the sports of the field, gambling, and such-like diversions; but those who appreciated worth and talent, which did not alone consist in smart re- partee, said he was an ornament to his family and his country. His fault was over- sensitiveness. If liis claims were not allowed, he withdrew them, and where he was a stranger, they continued undiscovered. Lucy elaborated the platitudes with wdiich Mr. Maitland favoured her to the heart's content of both, and each thought the other the wisest as well as the most adorable either THE EXCURSION. 189 sex on this earth afforded. It was a pleasant drive for every one save Lord Carlyon ; for even j\[iss Freke, though disappointed in the talkative powers of entertainment of her young neighbour, found whatever he did say was in a pleasant manner and to the purpose. It may often be observed that people who have seen a good deal of life, or those wlio have wdiat replaces this experience, namely, an intuitive perception of it, extract a great deal of information regarding the circum- stances, characters, and acquaintances of their fellow-creatures, where they consider them worth their notice at all, and give in exchange an almost imperceptible amount of information relating to themselves. As a general rule for those who take the initiative, it is a good plan to talk to others about 190 FALSE POSITIONS. themselves. Norman opened their tete-d-tete by asking Evelyn "if she and her cousin liked living such a quiet life in the country, or if they ever sighed for some of the dis- tractions of a town life, or the still gayer and far pleasanter society of a country mansion, where open house was kept % ^' " The fact is, if it were not for my caring a great deal for music and drawing, my favourite pursuits," she said, tossing her head jokingly, " and being very fond of that singu- lar though very good creature seated behind us (a person you would do well to leave off laughing at), and of my dear governess that was long ago, my present friend and com- panion, I should be very much disposed to imagine myself buried alive ; if it w^ere not, again, besides all that I have enumerated THE EXCURSION. 191 in the shape of compensation, that I am passionately fond of the beauties of nature, which I maintain are prodigally lavished upon this region ; so you see we manage to jog on, considering ." "And what are Miss Lucy's views upon your mode of passing time '? " " I am happy to say that she has suf- ficiently correct views of the end of our existence, not to esteem the proper mode of passing time is to seek to destroy it. If she had not half the means that we both have for actually enjoying every moment while it lasts, no matter what were her ingredients for concocting happiness, she would manage to contrive a very palatable banquet for her- self ; but yet she is anything but cold or self-occupied." 192 FALSE POSITIONS. " A great many people,'^ Norman cynically remarked, "are not self-occupied, from having greater powers of curiosity than can be satis- fied by the materials their own minds will yield ; perhaps this is her case." " That is a sour view to take of Lucy's amiable qualities. Mrs. Rivington found her mind ready to receive the impress of the motive in life she wished to be the ruling one ; and she stamped there the principle of ever seeking to fulfil her duties. It is an imholy thing to sneer at ; so pray do not. You may depend upon it, if you five long- enough, the day will come when, on the low ground of policy, you will cherish it in the conduct of others towards yourself." " Upon my w^ord, a gown or lawn sleeves would become you admirably. Maitland THE EXCURSION. 193 seems to share your vie^YS, for anything like the sense he seems to have pumped up from the reservoir of that girl's intellect, I could never have anticipated." '' I ^'ish you would not sneer at Lucy. People may have plenty of intellect without originality ; and, moreover, good principle does not argue want of originality, though it has often struck me good people hardly ever get the credit of being clever ; whereas, people have often appeared to me to pass as clever, simply because they are wicked, taking in, tormenting their neigh- bours, and looking down upon every one from the eminence of their own over-topping badness.'' Norman made no reply, and the silence caused an observation of Lucy to be over- 194 FALSE POSITIONS. heard and to call up a smile on the counte- nance of both occupiers of the driver's seat. There was nothing humorous in it, however ; it was simply this : — " There is no country on earth that the society of her husband ought not to make a woman dehght in/' "Well!" said Norman, "if that is not what is called going it, I don't understand the expression, upon my word. I believe Haitian d has committed himself irretrievably, and that he is about to rob you of your companion." " It does sound suspiciously, so I wish, for dear Lucy's sake, you would tell me a little wdiat sort of person your friend Mr. Mait- land is." " That is by far too leading a question for THE EXCURSIOIT. 195 you to expect any one who knows the Avorld to give a direct answer to ; however, you shall have it. He is not a bad fellow, and yet he's not a good fellow ; in other words, he knows how to hold his tongue and not preach to others wdio require it ; but then he is not a good fellow, for no one would ever think of preaching to him. Do you under- stand me V " I think I do ; but, to ascertain the fact, let me know whether you use the epithets good and bad fellow in the signification of the clubs and such-like mascuKne congrega- tions, or as they would be employed by a Professor of Moral Philosophy '? " " I abjure philosophy of every description, the Epicurean not excepted. This age of system is positively disgusting to me. I 2 196 FALSE POSITIONS. should not like to be even amused systema- tically ; but don't let us wander from the point just now. Maitland is the man for the geometrical arrangement of his mind. I dare say at this instant he is hard at work squaring the circle of his duties, and saying to himself, ' Now, shall I marry this charm- ing girl, and continue to be as good an agent to my brother as in my conscience I believe I have been hitherto^' And verily he will do so to his own satisfaction, which is enough for him, though his brother will find the difference when he comes to sit at home fulfilling the duties he and his lady are . con- scientiously^ discharging, the one in being- kept at home, and the other in retaining him there ; I know him so well. He will be one of the most wife-ridden wretches that have THE EXCUESIOX. 197 ever been immolated on the altar of matri- mon}'. The worst of it is, he will imagine he is ruling his wife ; and he is not a man to be laughed out of anything." " What a perfect husband you have been describing : Lucy is in great luck. Yf ell, Carlyon in some respects is not so unlike him, but yet there is a great difference. Maitland would like ail the world to revolve round himself and his wife, while they stood free in their places irradiating the world with their joint beams. Carlyon, on the contrary, although a sun of the first magni- tude, has the misfortune to be humble, and supposes himself called upon to do duty as a planet, not from having an overweening- opinion of other people's non-qualifications ; he is too clever for that, and he must see 198 FALSE POSITIONS. what miserable fools almost every one is. But I think he never compares himself with men, for if he did he would become conceited ; still he brings himself into competition with heroes of his own creation, and of these he considers himself as falling short. I knew him at college, though I never had much to say to him, for I very soon discovered him to be of the phosnix tribe ; and not being of that feather myself, we could not flock together." The rapid transfer of the discourse from the character of Lucy's supposed lover to that of Lord Carlyon, might have made Evelyn very naturally think that Norman was generally consoling her as having a chance ; that she would not be left absolutely forlorn, and need not grudge her cousin her THE EXCURSION. 199 conquest. And she did comment thus upon the circumstance ; but it was strange she went on further to notice that she was at liberty to feel perfectly at home with Mr. Norman Harcourt, as it vras very plain he had no wish to put himself in an attractive point of view as a husband; while a most unusual desire on her part to call in question a neighbour's panegyric immediately manifested itself. " I think you have been describing under the name of Lord Carlyon the most conceited creature I can imagine. I dare say 3^ou have been unjust, but surely you won't tell me that a person who can find no one of all the wise, learned, and good of the earth worthy to bring himself into comparison with, but in despair is obliged to resort to airy fictions of his own for the purpose of 200 FALSE POSITIONS. teaching himself modesty, is a much more self-complacent, ridiculously self- elated indi- vidual than those who believe they may, if they choose, see their own inferiority in some respect or other to people they meet. For instance, I don't know that you are reckoned very humble, but on your own showing you are more so than the paragon you have described." " Pardon me there : I am so extremely well satisfied with myself, that my beau ideal is myself, at least I conjecture so. I never took the trouble of looking either be- yond myself or into my own imagination for a creature more interesting than the one who now speaks to you." Evelyn laughed heartily. " You must accept my compliments upon your self-know- THE EXCURSION. 201 ledge and candour, but your praise is only satire ; I suspect that Lord Carlyon has genuine modesty superadded to his many reasons to be vain/" "Most elder sons of marquises are bol- stered up ^yith all that is valuable/' " As you say, a young nobleman's merit ought to reckon for a great deal.'^ Norman did not expect or relish this assent, and he began humming a beautiful Italian air lately published, which he sud- denly broke off to ask Evelyn, if Colonel Beaumont was very fond of his daughter. " I never heard him say he was not, so I have been obliged to take it for granted ; but I know her to be very much attached to him, though for what reason is not equally plain. '^ 20S FALSE POSITIONS. She seemed hardly aware of the force of what she had said, but it was not without some surprise she heard Norman say, " I am not astonished at your wonder ; " for Colonel Beaumont had always evinced so much re- gard for his ward (as she believed him to be) that she always thought he must like his guardian. Henceforward she established in her mind the notion that there was a sym- pathy of mutual aversion, but she never reflected that the observation he had made might merely refer to her own feehngs, and reveal nothing concerning his own. " Will 3^ou now tell me what is your prin- cipal objection to Colonel Beaumont '? " " I really am puzzled from the multiplicity that crowd upon my recollection, but I hope to do so in a more definite manner than you THE EXCURSION. 203 established tlie resemblance bet^Yeen Lord Carlyon and Mr. Maitland ; for you pro- nounced them to be not so unlike, and you then described a very self-satisfied gentleman, pleased with himself and his wife as a matter of course, and you left him to depict another gentleman so difficult of approbation, that, thinking lowly of himself, he was impartial to all the world of flesh and blood besides. 1 confess myself at a loss to discover the parallel. Your own picture stands out boldly in relief, and is as intelligible as it is distinct." " I see what you are at, you want to go back to that all -exciting subject. Lord Carlyon, but you are in the fashion, and there- fore so far right. jSTow^, though I said those two heroes were alike in some things, I gave no promise that I w^ould say in wdiat they 204 FALSE POSITIONS. consisted. Thus you will please to read a full stop after you have ascertained thus far ; and the subsequent information regarding both was a section of the character of each that I imparted out of the plenitude of my extemporary liberality, being fully cognisant how thankfully you would look through any hght I could throw upon those rare creatures. In return, will you answer my question con- cerning Colonel Beaumont '? ^' " I would willingly speak as saucily as yourself, but the subject is no jesting matter. It has been a great trial to me, since I can remember anything, to have had my destiny in any way linked with his ; and a terrible instinct makes me sometimes fancy he is my evil genius and will wrap my destiny in gloom." THE EXCURSION-. 205 Evelyn shuddered as she spoke : " Come, that is saying a gi'feat deal ; he is a popular man, and he does not seem a villain." *• Ay, he is popular with those who have nothing to say to him, and when he has an opportunity of receiving something for every- thing he gives as good or better in return. But show me, save Lucy, any one wdio really loves him ; tell me of some considerate action, of some spontaneous truth-impressing kind- ness he has ever done. His cold nature has, however, one passion — the love of money ; and he has one princij)le — a determination to gain all he can. If you ask him to lend you a sixpence, he wdll squeeze it out of his fingers as if the little coin were glued to them, and as if he never expected you would return it. Mind, you make this experiment. But all 206 FALSE POSITIONS. this time I have never made out what brought you and him together, nor whence his be- haviour to you ; still there is no harm in my advising you to be on your guard." Norman bit his hps, — which, by-the-bye, considering it is an orthodox practice of people whenever they want their feelings to be unobserved, he might as well have left undone, — told her that he felt himself able to cope with Colonel Beaumont, and in- treated her not to give herself any trouble to ascertain their mutual relationship, as there was nothing exciting or wonderful therein, but simply so ordinary that he would not waste her time by detailing particulars." This was a skilful answer, and it most successfully allayed her inquisitiveness ; for it quieted her fears, involved no contradiction THE EXCUESION. 207 of her opinions, and suggested the notion that perhaps his father or some other rela- tion had chosen him to look after the young man's affairs, because he knew his sharpness on that head, while he was carefully guarded from being a prey to himself. " And," resumed Evelyn, " I can remem- ber when I was a child, and had the fearful affliction to lose my beloved father, who, I am thankful to know, was utterly unlike him, I was struck by the parade he made, in the midst of the prostration of sorrow of high and low surrounding him. He seemed to think it remarkably amiable in him to be sorry, and a circumstance to be noted by the lookers-on. Children sometimes are very acute perceivers of the distinction between 208 FALSE POSITIONS. real and artificial feeling ; and, however you may doubt the fact, I felt disgusted at the evident self-complacency which he derived from believing himself affectionate and sorry : the very notion of his daring to think him- self so seemed profanation to me, child as I was. If it had been a manifestation for one, for whom I had not cared, I should have revolted ; but for such a parent the sliock was terrible. I know not whence the im- pression came, but there it was, and it has never left me. People talk largely of the power of early and tender association. I believe in it most firmly ; but I also hold the association of the perception of what is mean, covetous, artificial, envious, and malicious, to be equally indelible ; and it seems to me that those who have power over the young THE EXCUESION". 209 should not merely in their own persons set a good example, but should seek to sur- round them with influences genial to their moral and worldly welfare ; for these cleave to them throughout their whole career." Evelyn looked at the time like a youthful sibyl. Did she speak as a prophetess — a seer of the past and future '? Her words, — so painful in their nature, hinting such concentration of bitterness, such powers of scorn, where love and admiration were re- pressed for w^ant of food, — as they fell on Norman's ear, withered the jest which played about his lips, as soon as he had recovered from the trouble of dismissing Evelyn's ob- trusive question, and smote his raillery with silence. It is ever a scorching influence upon the young, when those who have had 210 FALSE POSITIONS. the direction of them deal wrongly towards them, and reveal the selfishness of their nature. Let people talk as they like upon the strength of mind, shrewdness of percep- tion, determinedness of will, and machiner^^ of power appertaining to the young they have used for their own purposes, the older should always deal considerately towards the younger. It is the providential part as- signed to them ; and if the craft of years be turned against inexperience, can we wonder at the energy of their indignation ? Trustfulness and gratitude — qualities so pre- cious to the possessors and so beautiful to the beholders — perish in their betrayal. After some minutes, Norman observed that he believed " Uncles were the natural, at all events the historical enemies of their THE EXCURSION. 211 brothers' and sisters' cliildren as a general rule, and for this sim23le reason, that thej, oftener than any other relation, could put in their own pockets, or on their own heads, what they could take away from their nephews and nieces : — in short, appropriation was easy to them/' This speech seemed to furnish both with an ample stock for reflection, for silence continued afterwards unbroken until they reached their destination.- As soon as ever he had the opportunity. Lord Carlyon would gladly have changed his companion for awhile ; but Lucy and Mr. Maitland most pertinaciously continued their never ending dialogue. As ISTorman made it a habit never to do what was disagreeable to him, poor Miss Freke would have had to P2 212 FALSE POSITIONS. stumble througli all the broken ground bj herself, which she had greater facility foi doing than any one else, being short-sighted ; but, like most good-natured people, he was victimised, and moreover he made the dis- covery that taking a gentleman's arm was not in his case now^, as it generally is, a mere matter of form, entailing a very laborious and difficult task upon the lady to keep her own arm in such an attitude as an Indian fakir might accomplish to his satisfaction ; for she was making perpetual false steps, and giving him a series of grasps anc\ chucks wdiicli Norman so strongly condemned in the case of womanly equestrianism. It was not, however, until he was driven to it, that the two " kindred spirits " w^ere thus again brought into such corporeally close quar- THE EXCUESIOX. 213 ters ; but \s^lien Evelyn came forward and offered her assistance to Miss Freke, Lord Carljon intervened with his good oflfices, and for a while he w^as rewarded by securing the two ladies' society, for INTorman remained to look after the feedino; of the horses. When he joined them he gave such a pro- vokingly significant look at Evelyn and the gentleman at wdiose other side she w^as w^alk- ing, that almost unconsciously she held back to continue a tete-cl-tete with Norman. Mr. Xorman, when you cared nothing for her, why did you keep asunder tw^o people, who in your heart you believed would make one another happy 1 Evelyn w^as beautiful, her voice was sweetly modulated, she thought deeply, and expressed herself with the eloquence of truth ; yet on 214 FALSE POSITIONS. account of none of these things did Harcourt seek to engross her notice exclusively to himself. Careless in general about pleasing, save when his vanity was flattered by shining, he delighted to show on all occasions how his conversation could have charms to entice away the attention of a lady admired by a gentleman, who, in London even, that great vortex of society, was the object of warm interest to many parents and their lovely daughters. It was well known that he was a hopeless mark to all but the beauti- ful ; for he was a devotee to beauty, it was his weak point. Beauty alone would not suffice, as he had made evident more than once : he required it to be united to both in- tellect and o;oodness. Into the semblance THE EXCURSIOIS'. 215 of the latter some girls could be drilled, but the former was not so easy ; they might spare themselves the trouble — he saw through artifice. Young as he was, he required so much in a wife, that many began to foretell he would die a bachelor, and thought his younger brother would be a good speculation; while others declared he would be sure to end by espousing some ordinary woman. Notwith- standing, the young nobleman had no mis- givings himself, nor did he ever doubt winding up finally with some piece of perfection, " all his fancy painted her." It was plain to Norman that, to his own mind, he had found his heroine, but he disin- terestedly threw obstacles in the way of a conclusion. A small amount of self-confi- 216 FALSE POSITIONS. dence on the part of Lord Carlyon, would have put Norman to the rout in half a second; but the latter suspected that he was very sensitive on the score of being married for his own sake, and not for his coronet and wealth, and he played with this apprehension to amuse an idle hour. The instance is a common one ; but anything like success on the side where the advantages were least, with such tremendous odds against him, is indeed most rare. CHAPTER XL INVESTIGATION. We will leave the party rambling about, and return to Beaumont. When they were fairly off, and time precluded all chance of a temporary return for parasols or any other lady's gear left behind, Colonel Beaumont retreated to his study, rubbing his hands and nodding to himself, as much as to say " That is as it should be/' He then rang the bell. Mr. Porter appeared. ^' Send Mr. Harcourt's valet to me." *' He's gone to the village, sir." "Let him immediately be summoned thence. 218 FALSE POSITIONS. And stop : was it you yourself who brushed the coat I wore last night '? " " Yes, sir ; no one else/' " Did I leave anything in the pockets 1 '' " Yes, sir, your keys." " Go and fetch them." Porter retired. " Well, that was very unlike me ; but I want a pound, and I am sure I left seven in my writing-desk; so I can see if they are all right." The keys were brought. He counted *' One, two, three, four, five, six, seven. That is all right." Colonel Beaumont invariably never carried a purse, for fear he might be robbed or wheedled out of its contents, though the latter danger was considered by those who knew him purely fictitious. But he always INYESTIGATION. 219 risked one sixpence in his waistcoat, for he could afford the loss of so small a sum, he thought, and it provided him with some money. He now laid two half-sovereigns on the table, while awaiting the arrival of his son's valet. Many fathers, while they lavish money upon their own most trifling whims, regard their children's claims upon their finances as needless and unbecoming extravagances, which require prompt and continual dis- couragement, amounting occasionally to total refusal ; but if Colonel Beaumont had been required to pass judgment upon himself, he would have pronounced his indulgence to Norman his one mad chord — a monomania. He gave him an allowance which furnished him with a valet, and one of a tip-top de- 220 FALSE POSITIONS. scrip tion — a most undeniable gentleman's gentleman, one who contrived to appear the ditto of his master as far as gait was con- cerned, whose glory it was to be taken for him, and who entered into the humours of the company wdierever he and his master chanced to be. He knew too much of the world not to cultivate a talent for acquisi- tiveness of more kinds than one, and nothing could exceed the grace of the bow he made in acknowledgment for one of the gold pieces Colonel Beaumont held in his open hand when he entered the room. "Stop, sir; I don't give that piece of money to you for nothing, as you seem to think ; you'll be so good as to put it on that table until I have asked you a few questions. Do you understand ? " INVESTIGATION. 221 "Yes, sir, perfectly." '•' Well, why don't you do as I desired you 1 " Having thus further admonished the valet, and the little treasure having been placed upon the table, the Colonel went on. " Now remember, if you answer truly all the ques- tions I put to you, you shall have that half- sovereign, and if I find a year hence that you have never told your master a word about my asking you these questions, you shall then have this half-sovereign (holding up the other) ; but if you are sufficiently silly to forget what I tell you, you will inevitably lose your place, for I am certain of hearing about it from your master himself: he would be in a great rage, and I should stop his allowance." " I hold, sir, that it is incumbent upon every 222 FALSE POSITIONS. man of sense to know on which side his bread is buttered ; therefore, sir, you may rely upon me.'' " Be so good then as to take an oath to that effect ; here 's a Bible, and you know I am a Justice of the Peace." " It is rather hard, sir, to make me take an oath, because you are a Justice of the Peace, which I have no thoughts of breaking ; but, however, if it pleases you I will not contradict you, in consideration of the com- pliment you are making me." He then took an oath to divulge whatever Colonel Beau- mont wished to know, and to be as discreet towards his master as he was the contrary with regard to him. Then business began. " Your master often visits a Mr. Neville, member for shire ? " INVESTIGATION-. 223 " Yes, sir, and a capital good house it is : lots of servants, first-rate hounds, lots of company, prime accommodation, the best of good eating and drinking, and plenty of fun. There 's no place we visit that I go to with more pleasure ; the only thing is, they so often sit up late at dances that, if I am not disposed to the servants' edition of the same, and am tired from the exertions of the day, I am such a favourite with the ladies as a partner, I get rather done-up sometimes." " The ladies ! why, do you mean that they make a practice of dancing often in the ser- vants'-hall ? I thought they did so only on very particular occasions." " By ladies, sir, I mean the ladies' maids, the housekeeper, the housemaids, and so forth. 224 FALSE POSITIONS. In our language, sir, we call all the fair sex ladies/' " Ah ! well ; but now tell me, does Mr. Harcourt dance much, and ride much, and talk much to Miss Neville 1 " " To no one else in life, sir ; my master has too much good taste to have eyes or ears for anything inferior to her, sir. She is the *sigh-on-sure' of all beholders." For the first time his vocabulary broke down. He had heard of the word cynosure ; and so well up was he in the epithets of society, now that he had let it slip, he had a floating suspicion it w^as a mistake, perhaps a ridiculous one, and he rapidly continued, to disperse its remem- brance — " The young lady has scores of admirers, noblemen and gentlemen of vast property, but she seems to prefer my m.aster i:j^vestigatiox. 225 to them all ; but some say she is waiting for a duke." " Ha! is it so"?" (he thought this well worth his notice, though he disdained to laugh at the coxcomb s error) ; " and does her father seem to approve of it % " " At all events, I know nothing to the con- trary; and why should he not, sir "? I testify to his merits and his great expectations. In short, sir, I'm proud to be his trumpeter, for he is a very good master to me ; besides my decent wages and allowing me my diversions, he leaves off his coats before they are thread- bare, and his boots before they are out at the toes or run down at the heels. I cannot fault him, sir." " Upon my word, you are a proper puppy.'' " Most young men of my years are, sir," VOL. T, Q 226 FALSE POSITIONS. he quietly replied. " But to continue. The other clay the servants were sounding me as to where my master's property lay, and about what the income might be ; but I was not going to gratify low-bred curiosity, and I evaded their questions by observing, that if my master chose that his affairs should remain mcog., it was not my place to tell them ; and if he chose no such thing, I supposed they would know them as well as I did. But of this be very sure, I added, a gentleman like Colonel Beaumont would not be bothered with a ward whose possessions were not worth something besides trouble. I think that was not bad, sir. And I looked wiser than I was ! " " That would not be very difficult, consider- ing the state of the whole case,'' muttered Colonel Beaumont. INVESTIGATION. 227 " No, indeed, sir ; for all I know of Mr. Harcourt is our mutual dealings, which are highly honourable to his hand and heart." Colonel Beaumont thought it quite unneces- sary to inflict any more of the fellow's im- pudence (or, as the valet would have styled it, gentlemanly coolness) upon himself, so he dismissed him with the most stringent reminders of the penalty of talking in the wrong direction. When he found himself alone, the Colonel immediately set about writing the following letter, but it was not completed without making frequent altera- tions before it was shaped to the satisfaction of the writer : — " Dear Sie, " I trust you will excuse the liberty I am taking in recalling myself to your recol- Q2 228 FALSE POSITIONS. lection. I had the honour of meeting you when I was quartered in Yorkshire, at our mutual friend's house, the hospitable mansion of Dovecote Hall. I understand that jou have shown the greatest kindness to a young man in whom I am deeply interested ; and impressed, as I am, by the remembrance of your urbane manners w^ien we were both younger than we are now, I feel certain that you ^\i\\ consider me only as discharging my bounden duty in making the following dis- closure to your parental heart. I can sym- pathise with a father's feelings, although I can when necessary make a sacrifice of them, as I shall prove to you. I think you are under a mistake about Harcourt, and believe him to be a young man of independent fortune. You may thus permit an attachment to be INVESTIGATION. 229 formed between your lovely daughter and him, which I know to exist in the case of the latter, but which you would never en- courage if aware of the real state of the case. I know young ladies are not always blind to gifts and advantages which I do not think it is partiality in me to attribute to the young- fellow. He has not a sixpence of his own. He is my son, and he is called Harcourt. I leave you to make your own inference. To wound the feelings of a beloved child you and I are aware would be a most painful step ; but to be kind it is sometimes necessary to be cruel. With an effort, I hope I have done my part ; and as a man of honour, all I exact is, that my secret should be kept. If he were ever to be informed that I had written this letter, the consequences would be appalling : 230 FALSE POSITIONS. . lie is of such a fiery temperament. I am aware of the distinguished character you bear for honour ; and that you will consider my request as a solemn pledge given by yourself in return for my disinterested proceeding. " I have the honour to be, sir, "Yours faithfully, " Robert Beaumont. " P.S. Under the seal of secrecy, you are at liberty to make use of the information I have given you to the young lady herself, if you deem it advisable ; and I am sure you will excuse the liberty I take in supposing the possibility of such a course being desirable." The letter was despatched, and he returned to his account books. CHAPTER XII. SUSPICIONS. It was part of Colonel Beaumont's system, that he considered a wrong (no matter of what nature) as no such thing unless the recipient manifested unmistakeablj that he writhed under it. Acting upon this belief on several occasions, in making business arrangements with certain people, he con- trived to take advantage of them, and when they demanded redress he announced that his neighbours were persecuting him. How- ever, he granted justice at last upon their energetic representations that the demands would be continued until it was obtained. On 232 FALSE POSITIONS. the other hand, lie was perpetually alluding to his own acts of generosity, about the nature of which there was considerable difference of opinion. As an instance of what I mean, it was galling to Evelyn to be perpetually reminded that the horse which she paid for was kept at his expense, that, in addition to her being obliged to ride with him, as her attendant on horseback, which in itself w^as a most unpleasant circumstance to her, she disregarded the fact that horse exercise was ordered for her health, and determined upon parting with the animal, taking it for granted that whatever price was got for it, he would put a share thereof in his own pocket, to make up for its past expenses. His behaviour to her beloved Mrs. Eivins;- ton led her to be thus sharp-sighted, or sus- SUSPICIONS. 233 picious, should the term be preferred, for she had a great idea of uniformity throughout a character. No quahty so much as meanness ehcits the sin of hatred in the minds of those who are goaded by the consequences arising from it, especially on the part of those who are them- selves incapable of it ; for ill treatment of any other kind is compatible with much that is deeply attaching. This, however, is a blasting- quality, and imparts its loathsome properties to the sufferers, thereby stabbing with a double edge. Evelyn never saw her maid without thinking of " her retinue," and " her suite," as Colonel Beaumont frequently called her live possessions, conveying a moral under an appearance of jocularity ; and she would sometimes meditate upon the propriety of 234 FALSE POSITIONS. curtailing the number of her attendants, and dispensing Tviih 3Irs. Pertiiiax. But she "^as always restrained from making up her mind to this measure, by the conviction she had of the blo^Y it Tvould be to her, and she valued the Ions: associations connected Tvith her maid ; hence, on her return from her drive, the abigail, being still "with her, Tvas ready to assist her mistress at her toilette and enliven her ^ith conversation. As day by day similar annoyances to those just alluded to were repeated, Evelyn felt them pecuharly, Avhen the only being with whom she enjoyed anything like perfect sympathy, Mrs. Eivington, was, as now, absent. People do not sufficiently reflect that the present becomes the past, but is never lost, and that the sting of memory accumulates SUSPICIONS. 235 the amount of pain. It is a great error to say, " What does it signify when a thing is past 1 " If "the mind is its own place," it is in a great measure its own time also. Is it not the essence of religion to live for the future I Does not the past colour both the present and the future 1 Who would resign the memory of a happy past, and steep the present in forgetful n ess, to escape the contrast, if it be one '? It is, then, the part of a wise ma.n to store up for himself ; and of benevolent and judicious guides to the young to assist in every way they can to gather pleasant memories for the future of their charges. Youth is a time of enjoyment, unless marred by ill-health, or the characters or experimental systems of education on the part of those surrounding it. Evelyn often used to conjure up the days 236 FALSE POSITIONS. gone by, when, in early infancy, she enjoyed prosperity and lightness of heart, and she would say within herself, "What would I give if my father, Mrs. Rivington, and my- self could once again be all alone together! What a happy thing to live in the house of one's father ! True," and she started as it oc- curred to her one day, " this was my father's house/"' Then she thought, " Why is it not mine now 1 He left it to my uncle, Mrs. Pertinax says. What a strange will ! Was there ever a parent who wove such a web of entanglement to hinder the blessed rays of happiness (the conscious or unconscious aim of ah) from warming and cheering the ex- istence he gave me 1 '' She gradually found herself verging to- wards reproaches of a father she had doated SUSPICIONS. 237 upon as a child. She little knew how utterly incapable her father s high-minded soul was of suspecting the sordid baseness of others, for he lacked penetration to discover feelings in which he did not share. It was out of such a train of thought the harsh voice of Mrs. Pertinax roused her. " What do you think, ma'am 1 Colonel Beaumont" (she would never say " my master," or " the master ") " sent for Mr. Harcourt's valet, and I was dying to know the reason, so I thought I'd ask him ; and w^hat do you think, ma'am, the fellow replied ? I always considered him a most respectable young man, come of decent people ; but liars and schemers, ma'am, I cannot endure ; they make me bilious, and I do not like to make little of myself by associating with them." 238 FALSE POSITIONS. " What did he say, Pertinax 1 " observed Evelyn, evidently interested. " He said, ma'am, Colonel Beaumont wanted to get a good receipt for plate powder, and he desired me to be on the look-out at houses where I visit ; and for all the world, ma'am, he said this with an air as if he had the innocence of a lamb and the grandeur of a lion." " Was there anything extraordinary in the demand 1 '' " Oh, ma'am, you're not one of those sim- pletons who believe black is white. The more's the wonder, for your dear father, my late blessed master, did so ; but you were always, as a child, remarkably discerning, and saw with your own eyes, and heard with your own ears, though you would give way SUSPICIONS. 239 to your affections, I dare say, ma'am, where they told a different tale." "But really, this wonderful digression of yours from the plate powder is tantalis- ing."" " Well, ma'am, you ought to know as well as I do. Colonel Beaumont would never notice if the plate was as brown as your hair ; and not a bit about plate powder does he care. It is a dirty lie the fellow has been telling me, after my condescending, too, to ask the question. Now-a-days, ma'am, there's yery little prenciiple.'' " Not much, I believe, at any time. But what do you think made him tell a false- hood 1 " " Because, to be sure, ma'am, he has been, talkino; of what he has no call to." 240 FALSE POSITIONS. " Come now, really you are too absurd, and you have found a mare's nest." " Indeed, ma'am, if I've found a mare's nest, it is proof they are not fables." " That's good ! all the world may be wrong except yourself. You certainly have a comfortable notion of your own judgment. But what could he have to betray '? " " Who knows, ma'am ? It is likely Colonel Beaumont wished to know if his dear ward has been spending too much money," and she sneered as she spoke. " Perhaps so. But this is no business of ours ; we are prying as much as Colonel Beaumont, according to your suspicion." Mrs. Pertinax stood convicted; and Evelyn, having already delivered her opinion upon the guardian to the ward, did not feel her- SUSPICIONS. 241 self required to comment upon the subject of her maid's gossip ; so she made no allu- sion to the matter when she again had an opportunity of canvassing the character of the person on earth she liked least, but with whom her own fate seemed so curi- ously linked. Mrs. Pertinax turned the subject, but Evelyn thought on, painfully contrasting her childhood with her girlhood ; what the latter was and would have been, had her father lived. She fancied herself the idol, and the powerful idol (for, like the rest of her sex, she loved power) of a beloved father ; the centre of society she could choose ; and the designer of schemes she could exe- cute. There she was, an alien in her uncle's house, — that house, she could not comprehend roL. I. B 242 FALSE POSITIONS. why it was not hers ; restricted to a small family circle formed of ties not close or dear enough to satisfy her heart ; possessed of money, but deprived of the use of it (for she found she had barely enough to defray the expenses she deemed necessary) ; and, above and beyond all this, subjected to the daily fretting collision with an individual who shaped her daily life without legitimate authority to do so, and about whom she strongly, though confusedly, believed he had usurped her father's domestic sceptre. CHAPTER XIII. A EEMOYAL. Whex Evelyn's toilette was completed and she descended to the drawing-room, she found Colonel Beaumont alone reading the news- paper. He looked at her with a mien of studied graciousness, and asked her if she had spent a pleasant day. " Yes/' was the sole rejoinder, but the concise monosyllable was pronounced gently. " How long did you spend at the ruins 1 '^ he continued. " I think about an hour and a half" "Did you find Mr. Harcourt a good charioteer ? " 244 FALSE POSITIONS. " Very much so ; and that reminds me I shall feel obliged to you if you will have the goodness to part with my horse for what it will bring." " Why, what's the meaning of this ? Are you so pleased with driving that you wish to do nothing else 1 But you must remember, if you found Mr. Harcourt so agreeable to-day, he will not be here long to guide you on your He hazarded this clumsy joke in the excitement of his desire to have grounds for supposing Evelyn had fallen in love with the person he appointed for her ; but somehow, on this occasion, her behaviour was quite un- moved, probably because her attention was concentrated upon her object and her uncle. " Whatever my motives are, I am very A REMOVAL. 245 sure that I wish to dispose of my horse to the best advantage." Colonel Beaumont felt rather alarmed at the last words, as they manifested an appre- ciation of the very thing he himself most valued, but about which it was not desirable, in his eyes, she should coincide with him, and he replied — " Certainly, if you wish it, but I cannot flatter you that you will get much for it.^' Evelyn also thought this highly probable. Lord Carlyon now entered the room, and looked pleased to see her. "I hope you are not tired after your drive I " " 1^0, I found it very pleasant, and I think I have taken my first lesson in antiqua- rianism.'' 246 FALSE rOSITIONS. " I am charmed to hear it. Still I should not have guessed it, for you seemed to be more occupied with your conversation than "with what you went to see." He had no sooner said this, than he looked as if he feared he had taken a liberty, because he was conscious of the regret he experienced that she did seem so occupied with her dia- logue ; but Evelyn replied with a simplicity which reassured him. " Mr. Harcourt has often the appearance of entertaining one with questions of vital importance to one's self, when his speech runs upon matters such as all the world are equally interested in ; but he handles them with so much energy and point that they enchain one's attention as if they were rife with novelty and import ; for so young A REMOVAL. 247 a man, he takes very unvarnished views of hfe, and I hke truth." " But jou, Miss Beaumont, are very young to think brightness incompatible with truth/' Their conversation began to be alarmingly personal and interesting. Colonel Beaumont did not relish Evelyn's disclosure of the un- particular nature of the terms she was on with Harcourt, but he was somewhat con- soled by the piquancy she gave him credit for. He chimed in — " It is now the fashion wdth youth to be extremely wise, and to prove their wisdom by their invincible dis- gust to existence." Evelyn felt the remark to be not un- founded, so she forgave it ; but it acted like an extinguisher on her reply, for she was never disposed to argue any point with him. 248 FALSE POSITIONS. She liked him too little to wish to bring him over to her ^Yay of thinking upon any subject. The rest of the party now came in, and dinner was announced. Again Harcourt monopolised Evelyn, and again Lord Car- lyon struggled silently to hide his mortifica- tion. He resolved within himself that it was unnecessary any longer to heap up suffering for himself, and he was the more discouraged from the momentary satisfaction he had derived from Evelyn's allusion to the decep- tive manner adopted by Harcourt, that made him for a brief instant conclude that she felt no particular interest in him. Still, when he watched the animated conversation they kept up in an undertone, he believed she had purposely led him and Colonel Beaumont A REMOVAL. 249 astray ; why he never stopped to conjecture. The determination to quit, as he supposed, all possibiHty of ever again seeing Evelyn still unavowedly disengaged, was painful to him in a manner that shocked his own rationality ; for he always calculated upon preserying his complete peace of mind, while he balanced and canvassed the qua- lities of the lady with a special view to the suitability she possessed to become his wife Hitherto he had found this an easy matter, for he had never really cared for any one ; but now the humiliating conviction forced itself upon his mind, after the short acquaintance of a day and half, on bare surmises as to the real character of his heroine, that he should feel himself supremely happy if he could dedi- cate his undoubted attentions, without fear 250 FALSE POSITIONS. of a rebuff, to a young girl immured in the country. His was not an uncommon character, • — at all events he Iiad arrived at that stage of feeling when he would run all chances for the possibility of winning her ; so he quietly set- tled within himself to shun all further fascina^ tion. Evelyn had one immense advantage for the captivation of this parental hero : neither she, nor any of those around her, had the shghtest designs upon his coronet ; and, moreover, she did not care about him, for she required time to form an attachment. Now, although Lord Carlyon never presumed to display his belief with regard to all the young ladies of his acquaintance not other- wise disposed of, that their parents and relations were ready to accept him for a son-in-law, he was aware of the fact. Men A REMOVAL. 251 are truly huntiDg animals: the pursuit, not the acquisition, of their object is what they value. He glanced at Evelyn, w'hen, in the course of the evening, he announced that he Tvas going the next day to keep an appointment he had once thought of post- poning, and thence to take the railroad for Scotland ; but she gave no sign he could translate favourably for himself, and he mourned over the folly which had led him to that part of England. He felt assured, from all appearances, that there was an attachment on both sides between Harcourt and Evelyn ; still, while he pitied himself and commi- serated her likewise, as people always do when they see others approving those about whom their own sentiments are different, he never dreamed of enterins: the lists with 252 FALSE POSITIO:fTS. any one as a rival. It would not have suited the contemplative indolence of his nature. With eyes bent upon his jDlate to conceal their glistening with satisfaction, Colonel Beaumont gave him the fullest and clearest information to speed the parting guest that any visitor, if conscious he were unwelcome, could desire. Aunt Willy alone gave vent to loud and reiterated regrets and remon- strances upon the subject of his exit from this brief scene of feminine good luck ; but disapprobation of the course his sister-in-law, in her overflowing simplicit}^, was pursuing, distorted his manner into the semblance of not relishing the line a sense of duty to his guest imposed upon him, and came in well to reheve the thorough and entire content A REMOVAL. 253 with which otherwise it might have been too apparent he was seconding Lord Carljon's measures for going away. Affairs had taken a gloomy turn, but Miss Freke, on this occasion, possessed a monopoly of comprehension. The weather, hitherto so fine, had changed into a storm of rain and wind, which resounded against the well-closed windows and shutters ; and the elements seemed as if they ought to shake and rattle hospitality into the wily host, while the hint was too broad for the benevolent heart of the lady just named. " The noise of the storm distracted my brother" (as Miss Freke sometimes styled Colonel Beaumont) "from hearing you say that you intend to leave us to-morrow ; but it is not possible that you can go on a touring 254 FALSE POSITIONS. excursion in a storm. What pleasure could you have, Lord Carljon 1 " " Not mucli pleasure, indeed," he replied, with a sHght emphasis on the word pleasure ; " but the more violent the storm, the sooner is it likel}^ to be allayed, particularly when it has got up suddenly ; at least I believe so. But be that as it may, and much obliged as I am for your kindness," looking towards Colonel Beaumont, who had simply given him information such as " Murray's Hand- book " would have supplied, " I must leave my agreeable quarters, and betake myself to the road." "But really is there any reason why you must leave us so soon 'i " she continued, with well-meant pertinacity. *' Colonel Beau- mont, cannot you prove to his lordship A REMOVAL. 255 that he had much better stay -where he While urging his stay with kind officious- ness, this was an unkicky sHp in her mode of doing it to one of his sneering, discordant disposition, and he made the most of it. " What may be a fitting and comphmentary reason in the mouth of a fair lady," he said, glancing the while at her dark, ill-favoured, but good-natured countenance, " would be to the last degree presumptuous in me. I could not tell Lord Carlyon that entertain- ment superior to that which awaits him else- where is at his service, although of course he must be aware that it is as much so as at any hotel in the kingdom." The native meanness of his disposition overcame the habit of good education and 256 FALSE POSITIONS. society, and he wound up this ill-bred speech with a stiff bow, such as the master of an inn might make on receiving promises instead of payment. Even Aunt Willy's guilelessness was not proof against such decided discom- fiture, and she let the matter rest. Another evening jDassed away ; but did these two days leave no trace behind them 1 and shall it be said the past is no more 1 Were not those "brief and passing memories'' rather like the canvas upon which were painted many sweet and bitter fancies 1 CHAPTER XIV. TEMERITY. There was one vacant place at the break- fast table, whicli was soon to be succeeded by another. The zest of jN'orman's enter- tainment was gone, for he had the field to himself, and he had no wish to worry the game, the scent of which he had hitherto followed with so much spirit ; besides, he wished himself in another place, and accor- dingly informed his father that he had seen reason to change his intention, of re- maining some time at home, and proposed to go elsewhere. He told Maitland that he had become so completely a lady's man, and 25S FALSE POSITIO>'S. seemed so well occupied, that he was sure he would not object to remaining at Beaumont a few davs without him imtil his retm-n. This was a cool manner of proceeding with his friend and with Colonel Beaumont's house ; but all awkwardness arisins: from his selfish disreo:ard of his friends feelinfrs was imme- diately obviated by the cordial manner in which Lucy's father begged him to consider the house as his abode for an indefinite period of time. He was not at all unwilling to see his daughter provided for, and Maitland looked for nothing pleasanter than to set about playing the lover more assiduously than ever, when disembarrassed from any, even the most casual, observation of his sarcastic friend Korman. When, however, Lucy's interests had been looked to, Colonel TEMERITY. 259 Beaumont had never for a moment meditated letting his son go his own way ; but he had not for the iirst time to learn with whom he had to deal, and he approached his subject gently. " I am sorry, my boy, you think of moving so soon, for indeed you must suffer me to interfere with your uncomplimentary wishes to leave us. You recollect the desire you expressed for employment the other day, and I have one of three courses to lay before you, all of w^hich will occupy a good deal of time to consider, any one of which will lead to the object to which you aspire, and every one of which will require immediate steps to be taken.'' Of all the very many methods Colonel Beaumont had of being obnoxious to his son, this systematic mode of broaching a subject was one of the worst ; but it was not 3 2 260 FALSE POSITIONS. Norman's way to endure what was disagree- able, and he repHed with an air of great asperity, that he was his own master and should choose his own time for listening to his guardian's propositions, " because," he con- tinued, " you will please to remember that a guardian's office ceases at the age of twenty- one/' " Undoubtedly, but you must not forget that in my case " (here he paused to repress the word expense which rose to his lips, but for which he substituted another), " the respon- sibilities are pecuHar ; and when a man really wishes to make his fortune, permit me to observe you are rather late in the field, and you have allowed some years to pass without availing yourself of the privilege you claim to choose your own course. It is quite useless, TEMERITY. 261 sir, to have any words upon this subject, and you may spare both me and yourself the expenditure of sarcasms. Economise your shot for game that it will reach ; my course is too steadily removed beyond the aim you are now taking to be attained, no matter by what amount of ammunition you may have provided yourself with. At least I beg to know where you are going, and for how longV' " I beg to decline answering either of those questions : the first it does not suit my inclination to reply to ; and the last I cannot answer if I would, for my stay entirely depends upon circumstances." " How lucky! '' thought Colonel Beaumont, " that I wrote my letter in time, for I am certain Norman intends to go to the Nevilles, 262 FALSE POSITIONS. and to propose for Miss Neville. People may talk as they like, schemes are worth trying ; schemes and caution must succeed." The self-willed imperiousness of Norman had been not a little encouraged by the presence of Evelyn, for he recollected the estimation in which she held her uncle ; and his blood boiled at the degradation he behoved was involved in the secret of Colonel Beaumont's interest in himself. He was determined to show her that on his part it was of a nature he could suffer or discard at pleasure ; for the rest it never entered his mind to ask himself whether he had behaved in a manner to make his presence or absence a matter taken account of by the girl whose prospects he had done his utmost to mar. For awhile she also was not aware that TEMERITY. 263 Norman's movements were matters of interest to her. It was not until he had left the house, and she missed his society and compliments, which seldom, when not so broad as to become satire, fall unprized upon the ear of man or woman, — and in his case they were generally administered in the unwholesome and insidious form of comparisons, — that she came to the conviction that she must be remarkably inquisitive, for she often detected herself wondering what could have changed Norman's plans so suddenly, where he had gone to, and whether he was now in the society of ladies. But a curious phenomenon took place in her mind which I beheve is not unparalleled : the more she thought about him the more disposed she was to think it all over again ; and the experiment was repeated times 264 FALSE POSITIONS. without number. Still, as her interest in the subject-matter of her thought strengthened, did the involuntary disapprobation of her reason increase. Colonel Beaumont had always been to her mind the incarnation of all that was detes- table and to be disapproved of; and while iN'orman's external aids of look and voice were before her, she regarded him as the embodiment of all his opposite characteris- tics, and confounded dissimilarity from him with virtue. Occasionally, however, she varied her meditations upon Norman by a passing recollection of Lord Carlyon ; and here she found a harmonious unanimity between her reason and her taste : it is true she could recall no crushing satire nor bril- liant invective, no blasting demonstration of TEMERITY. 265 the utterly unreformable nature of society or man's lot in life ; but she remembered many symptoms of a cultivated mind, a briUiant fancy, and a kind heart. Moreover, she thought it showed wonderful discern- ment on his part to have discovered the excellent substratum to all Aunt Willy's superficial absurdities : and in this way she explained to herself the manner in which her aunt engrossed him to her own exclusion. As for Lucy's thoughts we need not analyse them, for they are preoccupied very much to her own satisfaction, and may very safely be so. Thus we leave matters at Beaumont, and follow our hero in his wan- derings. The storm of the previous night continued, though somewhat abated, but Colonel Beau- 266 FALSE POSITIONS. mont never thought of adducing that as a reason for his remaining where he was ; he knew better than to imagine that the voice of the elements could overpower that of his wilL He knew that his pride, as he called it, was his assailable point ; and when re- pulsed there he consoled himself, as already stated, by the antidote he had delivered to Norman's folly. He had no wish his son's health should suffer, so he ordered the close carriage to convey him to the village where he was to take the coach, much to the irrita- tion of the gentleman himself, who always considered every attention he received from him as a hypocritical attempt to make him forget the injury he had done him in bring- ing him into existence. But still he sub- mitted to the convenience, and was in due TEMERITY. 267 time, after he had been transferred by the coach to London and from thence to , in Warwickshire, safely landed at the ISTeville Arms. The only covered conveyance this little inn possessed was out, and he was therefore compelled to walk up to Neville Court, despite the rain, which came down in torrents. Although he despised chicanery in general, he had purposely avoided a much nearer way by a cross road, because he did not wish Colonel Beaumont to be sure of his destination ; and he supposed that going to London (so frequently and naturally the end and aim of locomotive projects) would set at rest the suspicions which he took for granted would arise in Colonel Beaumont's mind. Still it was early in the evening when he reached the Court, as it was called 268 FALSE POSITIONS. from being built in the continental fashion (so handsome, roomy, and substantial), in the form of a quadrangle. The house had all the appearance of company being expected, and indeed this was of daily repetition. The dining-room could be seen from a path -which led by it to a side-door used by the family and their most intimate guests ; and the table wore an aspect of wealth and magnificence which reminded Norman what value these gifts had in the eyes of their possessor. He thought of his own inheri- tance, of his wishes ; and for the first time in his life his merits appeared to him, intrinsi- cally as well as conventionally, squalid. The ring he gave to the bell was so slight and uncertain, that it remained unanswered until it was repeated with greater force. TEMERITY. 269 When the servant came, to Norman's in- quiry whether Mr. Frederick Neville were at home, he received the reply that he was not yet come, but was expected to arrive with Lord Carl3^on in time for dinner. Norman in thought muttered such a customary mascu- line benediction as generally ensues when a man is annoyed or discomfited : it occurred to him that retribution might follow quickly. " Can I see your master 1 '^ " I'll ask, sir." Norman felt chilled and surprised both at not instantly receiving an answer in the affirmative, and at not being told that the room his friend had habitually set apart for him was ready for him to go to, and that a fire should be lighted there immediately for him. He knew the footman well ; the man's 270 FALSE POSITIONS. manner had always hitherto been obsequious ; now it was barely civil. Norman sat down on one of the crest-emblazoned chairs lining the walls of the passage, and admonished him to make haste and bring him a speedy answer, whereupon the menial slackened in- stead of increasing his speed. Under the so- mixed influence of the strongest passions the most trivial circumstances are noticed ; and even at that moment, when the altered de- meanour of the lacquey fostered so strongly the presentiment of pain and disappointment awaiting him, he remembered with satisfac- tion that his valet was not there to observe his humihation, but had remained with his luggage at the inn, and was to follow with it when a porter could be found to bring it. Then he recurred to the consideration of TEMERITY. 271 "what lie had to recommend himself, and what he had to expect. He had talents, but for what ? How had he used them ? How should he win through them fortune, position, repu- tation ? Miss Neville possessed the recommenda- tions most appreciated and most useful to the female sex, for all that portion of the world deserving of recognition and known under the title of " good society : '^ she was proclaimed to be a beauty and a woman of fashion. Norman well knew that the very qualities for which he prized her raised her pretensions in her own eyes, as well as in those of others. She had always behaved to him with marked partiality ; but then he remembered a promise he had once extracted from his friend, her brother, never to dis- 272 FALSE POSITIONS. close to any one else what, in a paroxysm of despair, he had revealed to him, that he was, in the emphatic language of the world, a mere " nobody " ; and he knew he would keep it like an oath. He felt bitterly that his mode of appearing in society, through his father's one-sided weakness, was such as would not have misbecome a young man with more brilhant certainties. His friend's manner latterly, he fancied, was that of an estranged person. It might be because he deprecated the consequences to his sister arising from their intimacy ; or it might be that his own boyish apprehensions were verified. He felt he was not his equal, and his friend did not relish the assumption of equality. His present reception did not serve to dispel those gloomy forebodings, and TEMERITY. 273 he was upon thorns until the servant re- turned. " My master is most particularly engaged ; but he hopes you will do him the favour to dine and sleep here ; and, if you please, sir, I will show you to your room." - "That is not necessary; I know the way to it as well as you do." " I beg your pardon, sir, but I thought you might be going to your old room, which another gentleman is put into." " Ha ! is that the case 1 Well, go on, and show me the way.'' It was with difficulty that Norman re- strained himself from knocking the fellow down, for he plainly saw he was laughing in his sleeve. Being shown into one of the inferior VOL. I, T 27 i FALSE POSITIONS. bachelors' rooms, he desn^ed that a fire might be hghted instantly ; but his orders were not obeyed before an hour had gone by, and the wet had thoroughly soaked through his clothes. We must leave him shivering, to explain the change that had taken place. That morning's post had brought Mr. Neville Colonel Beaumont's letter, which threw an entirely new light upon an old acquaintance. He was a man of such enormous pride, that the bare notion of a proposal from a man not in every way worthy of his daughter, chafed him not a little; but the hint thrown out that her affections might ac- tually be engaged in favour of a nameless, penniless adventurer, made him rage furiously within. TEMEEITY. 275 This, his favourite daughter, he intended should be a peeress of the first, or second rank at least ; and, while relishing the society of his son^s friend as one of the occasional attractions to his dinner- table, if he had thought it just possible that he might lift his eyes to his daughter, he never supposed that his doing so could be an action amounting to such a flagrant impertinence as now it seemed. He rehed confidently upon his daughter pos- sessing proper ambition ; and, in a certain contingency, he thought all Harcourt would have to do would be to pocket the rebuff on the part of the young lady, and continue the acquaintance or not, according to their mutual or his own individual pleasure. So violent was the shock this letter con- veyed to his paternal feelings that, not being 12 276 FALSE POSITIONS. a man of outward demonstration, if he had been of less careful habits, it is quite possible a fit of apoplexy might have been the consequence. As it was, however, he sum- moned the butler and footman ; informed them that henceforward Mr. Harcourt was not free of the house, but must be con- sidered like any other stranger, and have no particular room assigned to him ; and he then proceeded to the boudoir of his daughter. Agreeably to the anticipations of Colonel Beaumont, he felt himself bound in honour, unless it were absolutely necessary, not to impart anything that could be helped ; so he told her in a general way that he had had certain information that Norman was not qualified to be honoured by that preference TEMERITY. 277 on her part he had reason to suppose he boasted of. He thought it quite possible that the gentleman might pay one more visit, but it should be the last ; and when- ever he came, he requested she would keep her room. Emily really hked Norman ; yet he was not a person for whom she would make sacri- fices. Her notion of a love-match was to come in the shape of an alliance conferring wealth and elevation ; and she was extremely piqued by the boasting her father accused poor Norman of; the more so as she felt conscious that her manner had been too en- couraging, and her self-esteem loathed the idea. She therefore readily gave the promise required of her. If Colonel Beaumont had known the parties ^78 FALSE POSITIONS. as well, reader, as we do, he need not have troubled himself to take the steps he did. He merely hurried on matters ; for when- ever Norman had come to a declaration of his love and his circumstances, the latter would have shown up the former in all its enormity ; and the results would have been the same. Mr. Neville saw a coincidence in the young man^s arrival immediately after his father's letter, that made him consider the missive as a precaution suggested by the father being aware that his son was on the eve of one of his oft-repeated visits, and about to commit himself Still, the letter had more than one effect in bringing matters to a crisis. Not alone was it better that Norman's fascinations should be interrupted in their operation — and TEMERITY. 279 to Emily he was gentle and winning in the most approved fashion of lovers — but had his reception been the same as usual, he might have exercised them to the detriment of others — one, a new-comer, and every way accept- able to Mr. Neville, who was proportionably irritated at his daughter's being secluded owing to Norman's arrival. This was no other than Lord Carlyon. But it is an ill wind that blows no one any good ; and the satisfaction with which Mr. Neville regarded this recent introduction, softened the indignation he felt towards his son for the past jeopardy into which he had thrown his sister. Mr. Neville made nearly the same com- munication to his son as he had imparted previously to • his daughter, as soon as his son arrived with his friend. It was well for all 280 FALSE POSITIONS. parties that it was not until the next day that he found that Lord Carlyon's was a flying visit : dinner, breakfast, and then departure. Frederick did his best by manner and voice to cheer his friend's drooping spirits ; but it was all in vain. The inspiration was not there, and it was universally remarked that Harcourt — yes, Harcourt — young Norman Harcourt was the most silent, most stupid person in the room : he was not so much as an intelligent hs- tener. Opportunity after opportunity he allowed to pass of flooring some puny adver- sary, to the infinite delight of the company ; and more than one Lilliputian genius pur- posely braved the careless giant as they beheld their superiors, but his inferiors, retire TEMERITY. 281 unscathed. JSTorman never even ventured an inquiry as to the unaccountable absence of Emily. His heart was too full of wounded feeling when speaking to her brother, and of instinctively wounded pride when receiv- ing the very casual and distant civilities of her father. Once alone, he seemed roused to an animated perception of the present scene, and this was when Lord Carlyon entered the room. Eecognition was ex- changed, but a close observer might have discerned aversion on the side of both, for there was mutual jealousy. Lord Carlyon, we know, had cause for the past ; Norman felt he would have cause for the future. The want of all appearance of cordiality on the part of the man of great circumstances towards him of small ones, told upon the by- 282 FALSE POSITIONS. standers, and especially upon the host ; it served to enhance his indignation towards the intruder. In short, Lord Carlyon's evenings at Beaumont partook of the nature of Paradise, compared with Harcourt's at Neville Court at the present time. Nor- man retired to rest when the others did, but not to sleep : the fever of his mind was aggravated by the ill effects he sustained from remaining so long in wet clothes ; so the next morning (as is generally the case), because he wished to look particularly well, he looked exactly the reverse. After breakfast, being wound up to a pitch of desperation, he souo'ht and obtained an interview with Mr. Neville. His manner was more embar- rassed than it had ever been before ; but an insane feeling promoted by the fever TEMEEITY. 283 lurking in him, impelled him to the edge of the precipice, and, like a gambler, he resolved to stake everything upon one throw, — vanity, even more than love, prompting him to that desperate course. Bitter was the retribution that followed that master passion. Mr. Neville, on entering the private study, whither Harcourt had preceded him, had made him a very stiff bow, and followed this up, when he found that another bow was all the answer of this significant provocation to confidence, by remarking that he was Har- court's most humble servant. At length Harcourt began : "I hope I shall not be considered as trespassing upon the strength of past favours, if I presume to entreat your interference, or interest, I should rather 284 FALSE POSITIONS. say" (here Mr. Neville's brow darkened tre- mendously, and with difficulty he preserved his good breeding), " to procure for me some post in the Foreign Office or elsewhere that may enable me to raise myself as speedily as possible/' The relief consequent upon the termination of this sentence may be ima- gined ; Mr. Neville felt all the intensity of the humiliation his feelings had been spared. " But pray, sir, above everything, let the situation, if you will kindly use your powerful political connexion in my favour, be one that will not preclude me from climbing. Station more than money is my object, though both are inseparably requisite." Mr. Neville was no longer disposed to criticise the modesty of the youth. It would TEMERITY. 285 have been well for him if JSTorman had known where to stop ; but how few are acquainted with this art in any walk of life ! Mr. Neville^s physiognomy was encouraging. Norman was emboldened, and continued : " Proud hearts like mine can feel gratitude, though not express it ; proud hearts can make it the study of their lives to prove their sense of obligation. I, sir, could live for that purpose, if you will forward my ob- ject, and I could die to show how I should value one other dearer, more inestimable privilege, — the permission, in fighting my w^ay on in life, to strive for a reward. It would be an immense one, I grant ; but I defy the world to produce another more keenly alive to its value. I ask, I implore permission to make myself acceptable to your FALSE POSITIONS. lovely daughter. With her smiles and your interest the world is at my feet ! " During this transcendental flight of lover- hke enthusiasm, Norman had not witnessed the tragic poses of his listener's features ; for when it came to the petitioning part of the business in which his heart was engaged, he had covered his face with his hand from the impulse. Proud natures have to avert the exhibition of their own countenances, when forced by circumstances to unveil their inmost feeUngs. " Mr. Harcourt " (he replied, as soon as he could trust himself to reply), " Mr. Harcourt " (he repeated a second time), " if that be your name, you forget yourself. I conclude you are not ignorant that, let your wealth be what it might or may, there is a bar to your TEMERITY. 287 alliance with mj daughter that no considera- tion can pass over." He paused, then added, " The bar sinister has never yet been quar- tered with the arms of the Nevilles, nor, with my consent, ever will be." In an instant Norman recovered his equi- librium, and rephed, " You are right, sir, the highest rank cannot remove the bar sinister ; curses be on it ! and Miss Neville and the union of anything sinister are not to be thought of. Pardon my presumption." And now he uncovered his face, for his courage returned when he was thrown upon his resources for self-defence. His reason told him, through the medium of two or three short phrases, that the game was up ; and the resignation of despair came to the rescue of his haughty mind. 288 FALSE POSITIONS. This show of fortitude suited Mr. Neville, coupled with the convenience of his ready acquiescence in his views ; so he contented himself with stating that it was best the intercourse between Norman and any member of Mr. Neville's family should be wholly dis- continued until the marriage of either Emily or Norman ; and he offered to procure for him a nomination as attache to any one of the embassies he preferred. Norman, however, was too deeply hurt to avail himself of the opportunity slipping away, never to return ; and he declined the offer in terms for him of almost abject grati- tude, arising, on this occasion, from the nature of his character and his present position. He assured Mr. Neville that no member of his family should suffer from his r / TEMEKITY. 289 intrusion even sls an acquaintance. He left a farewell message for Frederick, and suf- fered himself to be bowed out of tlie room bv his offended host. EXD OF VOL. I. ^-y.1?*II Pf lUJNOIS-URBANA 3 0112 045831101