Kitabı oku: «The Bramleighs of Bishop's Folly», sayfa 10

CHAPTER XVII. AT CASTELLO

A private letter from a friend had told Jack Bramleigh that his father’s opposition to the Government had considerably damaged his chance of being employed, but that he possibly might get a small command on the African station. With what joy then did he receive the “official,” marked on H.M.‘s service, informing him that he was appointed to the “Sneezer” despatch gunboat, to serve in the Mediterranean, and enjoining him to repair to town without unnecessary delay, to receive further orders.

He had forborne, as we have seen, to tell Julia his former tidings. They were not indeed of a nature to rejoice over, but here was great news. He only wanted two more years to be qualified for his “Post,” and once a captain, he would have a position which might warrant his asking Julia to be his wife, and thus was it that the great dream of his whole existence was interwoven into his career, and his advancement as a sailor linked with his hopes as a lover; and surely it is well for us that ambitions in life appeal to us in other and humbler ways than by the sense of triumph, and that there are better rewards for success than either the favor of princes or the insignia of rank.

To poor Jack, looking beyond that two years, it was not a three-decker, nor even frigate, it was the paradise of a cottage overgrown with sweetbrier and honeysuckle, that presented itself, – and a certain graceful figure, gauzy and floating, sitting in the porch, while he lay at her feet, lulled by the drowsy ripple of the little trout-stream that ran close by. So possessed was he by this vision, so entirely and wholly did it engross him, that it was with difficulty he gave coherent replies to the questions poured in upon him at the breakfast-table, as to the sort of service he was about to be engaged in, and whether it was as good or a better thing than he had been expecting.

“I wish you joy, Jack,” said Augustus. “You’re a lucky dog to get afloat again so soon. You have n’t been full six months on half-pay.”

“I wish you joy, too,” said Temple, “and am thankful to Fate it is you, and not I, have to take the command of H.M.‘s gunboat ‘Sneezer.’”

“Perhaps, all things considered, it is as well as it is,” said Jack, dryly.

“It is a position of some importance. I mean it is not the mere command of a small vessel,” said Marion, haughtily; for she was always eager that every incident that befell the family should redound to their distinction, and subserve their onward march to greatness.

“Oh, Jack,” whispered Nelly, “let us walk over to the cottage, and tell them the news;” and Jack blushed as he squeezed her hand in gratitude for the speech.

“I almost wonder they gave you this, Jack,” said his father, “seeing how active a part I took against them; but I suppose there is some truth in the saying that Ministers would rather soothe enemies than succor friends.”

“Don’t you suspect, papa, that Lord Culduff may have had some share in this event? His influence, I know, is very great with his party,” said Marion.

“I hope and trust not,” burst out Jack; “rather than owe my promotion to that bewigged old dandy, I ‘d go and keep a lighthouse.”

“A most illiberal speech,” said Temple. “I was about to employ a stronger word, but still not stronger than my sense of its necessity.”

“Remember, Temple,” replied Jack, “I have no possible objection to his being your patron. I only protest that he shan’t be mine. He may make you something ordinary or extraordinary to-morrow, and I ‘ll never quarrel about it.”

“I am grateful for the concession,” said the other, bowing.

“If it was Lord Culduff that got you this step,” said Colonel Bramleigh, “I must say nothing could be more delicate than his conduct; he never so much as hinted to me that he had taken trouble in the matter.”

“He is such a gentleman!” said Marion, with a very enthusiastic emphasis on the word.

“Well, perhaps it’s a very ignoble confession,” said Nelly; “but I frankly own I ‘d rather Jack owed his good fortune to his good fame than to all the peers in the calendar.”

“What pains Ellen takes,” said Marion, “to show that her ideas of life and the world are not those of the rest of us.”

“She has me with her whenever she goes into the lobby,” said Jack, “or I ‘ll pair with Temple, who is sure to be on the stronger side.”

“Your censure I accept as a compliment,” said Temple.

“And is this all our good news has done for us, – to set us exchanging tart speeches and sharp repartees with each other?” said Colonel Bramleigh. “I declare it is a very ungracious way to treat pleasant tidings. Go out, boys, and see if you could n’t find some one to dine with us, and wet Jack’s commission as they used to call it long ago.”

“We can have the L’Estranges and our amiable neighbor, Captain Craufurd,” said Marion; “but I believe our resources end with these.”

“Why not look up the Frenchman you smashed some weeks ago, Jack?” said Augustus; “he ought to be about by this time, and it would only be common decency to show him some attention.”

“With all my heart. I’ll do anything you like but talk French with him. But where is he to be found?”

“He stops with Longworth,” said Augustus, “which makes the matter awkward. Can we invite one without the other, and can we open our acquaintance with Longworth by an invitation to dinner?”

“Certainly not,” chimed in Temple. “First acquaintance admits of no breaches of etiquette. Intimacies may, and rarely, too, forgive such.”

“What luck to have such a pilot to steer us through the narrow channel of proprieties,” cried Jack, laughing.

“I think, too, it would be as well to remember,” resumed Temple, “that Lord Culdufif is our guest, and to whatever accidents of acquaintanceship we may be ready to expose ourselves, we have no right to extend these casualties to him.”

“I suspect we are not likely to see his lordship to-day, at least. He has sent down his man to beg he may be excused from making his appearance at dinner: a slight attack of gout confines him to his room,” said Marion.

“That ‘s not the worst bit of news I ‘ve heard to-day,” broke in Jack. “Dining in that old cove’s company is the next thing to being tried by a court-martial. I fervently hope he ‘ll be on the sick list till I take my departure.”

“As to getting these people together to-day, it’s out of the question,” said Augustus. “Let us say Saturday next, and try what we can do.”

This was agreed upon, Temple being deputed to ride over to Longworth’s, leaving to his diplomacy to make what further advances events seemed to warrant, – a trustful confidence in his tact to conduct a nice negotiation being a flattery more than sufficient to recompense his trouble. Jack and Nelly would repair to the cottage to secure the L’Estranges. Craufurd could be apprised by a note.

“Has Cutbill got the gout, too?” asked Jack. “I have not seen him this morning.”

“No; that very cool gentleman took out my cob pony, Fritz, this morning at daybreak,” said Augustus, “saying he was off to the mines at Lisconnor, and would n’t be back till evening.”

“And do you mean to let such a liberty pass unnoticed?” asked Temple.

“A good deal will depend upon how Fritz looks after his journey. If I see that the beast has not suffered, it is just possible I may content myself with a mere intimation that I trust the freedom may not be repeated.”

“You told me Anderson offered you two hundred for that cob,” broke in Temple.

“Yes, and asked how much more would tempt me to sell him.”

“If he were a peer of the realm, and took such a liberty with me, I ‘d not forgive him,” said Temple, as he arose and left the room in a burst of indignation.

“I may say we are a very high-spirited family,” said Jack, gravely, “and I ‘ll warn the world not to try any familiarities with us.”

“Come away, naughty boy,” whispered Eleanor; “you are always trailing your coat for some one to stand upon.”

“Tell me, Nelly,” said he, as they took their way through the pinewood that led to the cottage, “tell me, Nelly, am I right or wrong in my appreciation – for I really want to be just and fair in the matter – are we Bramleighs confounded snobs?”

The downright honest earnestness with which he put the question made her laugh heartily, and for some seconds left her unable to answer him.

“I half suspect that we may be, Jack,” said she, still smiling.

“I’m certain of one thing,” continued he, in the same earnest tone; “our distinguished guest deems us such. There is a sort of simpering enjoyment of all that goes on around him, and a condescending approval of us that seems to say, ‘Go on, you ‘ll catch the tone yet. You ‘re not doing badly by any means.’ He pushed me to the very limit of my patience the other day with this, and I had to get up from luncheon and leave the house to avoid being openly rude to him. Do you mind my lighting a cigar, Nelly, for I ‘ve got myself so angry that I want a weed to calm me down again?”

“Let us talk of something else; for on this theme I’m not much better tempered than yourself.”

“There ‘s a dear good girl,” said he, drawing her towards him, and kissing her cheek. “I ‘d have sworn you felt as I did about this old fop; and we must be arrant snobs, Nelly, or else his coming down amongst us here would not have broken us all up, setting us exchanging sneers and scoffs, and criticising each other’s knowledge of life. Confound the old humbug; let us forget him.”

They walked along without exchanging a word for full ten minutes or more, till they reached the brow of the cliff, from which the pathway led down to the cottage. “I wonder when I shall stand here again?” said he, pausing. “Not that I ‘m going on any hazardous service, or to meet a more formidable enemy than a tart flag-captain; but the world has such strange turns and changes that a couple of years may do anything with a man’s destiny.”

“A couple of years may make you a post-captain, Jack; and that will be quite enough to change your destiny.”

He looked affectionately towards her for a moment, and then turned away to hide the emotion he could not master.

“And then, Jack,” said she, caressingly, “it will be a very happy day that shall bring us to this spot again.”

“Who knows, Nelly?” said he, with a degree of agitation that surprised her. “I have n’t told you that Julia and I had a quarrel the last time we met.”

“A quarrel!”

“Well, it was something very like one. I told her there were things about her manner, – certain ways she had that I didn’t like; and I spoke very seriously to her on the subject. I did n’t go beating about, but said she was too much of a coquette.”

“Oh, Jack!”

“It’s all very well to be shocked, and cry out, ‘Oh, Jack!’ but isn’t it true? Haven’t you seen it yourself? Hasn’t Marion said some very strange things about it?”

“My dear Jack, I need n’t tell you that we girls are not always fair in our estimates of each other, even when we think we are, – and it is not always that we want to think so. Julia is not a coquette in any sense that the word carries censure, and you were exceedingly wrong to tell her she was.”

“That’s how it is!” cried he, pitching his cigar away in impatience. “There’s a freemasonry amongst you that calls you all to arms the moment one is attacked. Is n’t it open to a man to tell the girl he hopes to make his wife that there are things in her manner he does n’t approve of and would like changed?”

“Certainly not; at least it would require some nicer tact than yours to approach such a theme with safety.”

“Temple, perhaps, could do it,” said he, sneeringly.

“Temple certainly would not attempt it.”

Jack made a gesture of impatience, and, as if desirous to change the subject, said, “What ‘s the matter with our distinguished guest? Is he ill, that he won’t dine below-stairs to-day?”

“He calls it a slight return of his Greek fever, and begs to be excused from presenting himself at dinner.”

“He and Temple have been writing little three-cornered notes to each other all the morning. I suppose it is diplomatic usage.”

The tone of irritation he spoke in seemed to show that he was actually seeking for something to vent his anger upon, and trying to provoke some word of contradiction or dissent; but she was silent, and for some seconds they walked on without speaking.

“Look!” cried he, suddenly; “there goes Julia. Do you see her yonder on the path up the cliff; and who is that clambering after her? I’ll be shot if it’s not Lord Culduff.”

“Julia has got her drawing-book, I see. They’re on some sketching excursion.”

“He was n’t long in throwing off his Greek fever, eh?” cried Jack, indignantly. “It’s cool, isn’t it, to tell the people in whose house he is stopping that he is too ill to dine with them, and then set out gallivanting in this fashion?”

“Poor old man!” said she, in a tone of half-scornful pity.

“Was I right about Julia now?” cried he, angrily. “I told you for whose captivation all her little gracefulnesses were intended. I saw it the first night he stood beside her at the piano. As Marion said, she is determined to bring him down. She saw it as well as I did.”

“What nonsense you are talking, Jack; as if Julia would condescend – ”

“There ‘s no condescension, Nelly,” he broke in. “The man is a Lord, and the woman he marries will be a peeress; and there ‘s not another country in Europe in which that word means as much. I take it, we need n’t go on to the cottage now?”

“I suppose we could scarcely overtake them?”

“Overtake them! Why should we try? Even my tact, Nelly, that you sneered at so contemptuously a while ago, would save me from such a blunder. Come, let’s go home and forget, if we can, all that we came about. I at least will try and do so.”

“My dear, dear Jack, this is very foolish jealousy.”

“I am not jealous, Nelly. I’m angry; but it is with myself. I ought to have known what humble pretensions mine were, and I ought to have known how certainly a young lady, bred as young ladies are now-a-days, would regard them as less than humble; but it all comes of this idle shore-going, good-for-nothing life. They ‘ll not catch me at it again, that’s all.”

“Just listen to me patiently, Jack. Listen to me for one moment.”

“Not for half a moment. I can guess everything you want to say to me, and I tell you frankly, I don’t care to hear it. Tell me whatever you like to-morrow – ”

He tried to finish his speech, but his voice grew thick and faltering, and he turned away and was silent.

They spoke little to each other as they walked homewards. A chance remark on the weather, or the scenery, was all that passed till they reached the little lawn before the door.

“You’ll not forget your pledge, Jack, for to-morrow?” said Ellen, as he turned towards her before ascending the steps.

“I ‘ll not forget it,” said he, coldly, and he moved off as he spoke, and entered an alley of the shrubbery.

CHAPTER XVIII. A DULL DINNER

The family dinner on that day at Castello was somewhat dull. The various attempts to secure a party for the ensuing Saturday, which had been fixed on to celebrate Jack’s promotion, had proved failures. When Temple arrived at Longworth’s he learned that the host and ‘his guest were from home and not to return for some days – we have seen how it fared as to the L’Estranges – so that the solitary success was Captain Craufurd, a gentleman who certainly had not won the suffrages of the great house.

There were two vacant places besides at the table; for butlers are fond of recording, by napkins and covers, how certain of our friends assume to treat us, and thus, as it were, contrast their own formal observances of duty with the laxer notions of their betters.

“Lord Culduff is not able to dine with us,” said Colonel Bramleigh, making the apology as well to himself as to the company.

“No, papa,” said Marion; “he hopes to appear in the drawing-room in the evening.”

“If not too much tired by his long walk,” broke in Jack.

“What walk are you dreaming of?” asked Marion.

“An excursion he made this morning down the coast, sketching or pretending to sketch. Nelly and I saw him clambering up the side of a cliff – ”

“Oh, quite impossible; you must be mistaken.”

“No,” said Nelly, “there was no mistake. I saw him as plainly as I see you now; besides, it is not in these wild regions so distinguished a figure is like to find its counterpart.”

“But why should he not take his walk? why not sketch, or amuse himself in any way he pleased?” asked Temple.

“Of course it was open to him to do so,” said the Colonel; “only that to excuse his absence he ought not to have made a pretext of being ill.”

“I think men are ‘ill’ just as they are ‘out,’” said Temple. “I am ill if I am asked to do what is disagreeable to me, as I am out to the visit of a bore.”

“So that to dine with us was disagreeable to Lord Culduff?” asked Jack.

“It was evidently either an effort to task his strength, or an occasion which called for more exertion than he felt equal to,” said Temple, pompously.

“By Jove!” cried Jack, “I hope I ‘ll never be a great man! I trust sincerely I may never arrive at that eminence in which it will task my energies to eat my dinner and chat with the people on either side of me.”

“Lord Culduff converses: he does not chat; please to note the distinction, Jack.”

“That ‘s like telling me he does n’t walk, but he swaggers.”

It was fortunate at this moment, critical enough as regarded the temper of all parties, that Mr. Cutbill entered, full of apologies for being late, and bursting to recount the accidents that befell him, and all the incidents of his day. A quick glance around the table assured him of Lord Culduff’s absence, and it was evident from the sparkle of his eye that the event was not disagreeable to him.

“Is our noble friend on the sick list?” asked he, with a smile.

“Indisposed,” said Temple, with the air of one who knew the value of a word that was double-shotted.

“I ‘ve got news that will soon rally him,” continued Cut-bill. “They’ve struck a magnificent vein this morning, and within eighty yards of the surface. Plmmys, the Welsh inspector, pronounced it good Cardiff, and says, from the depth of ‘the lode,’ that it must go a long way.”

“Harding did not give me as encouraging news yesterday,” said Colonel Bramleigh, with a dubious smile.

“My tidings date from this morning – yesterday was the day before the battle; besides, what does Harding know about coal?”

“He knows a little about everything,” said Augustus.

“That makes all the difference. What people want is not the men who know things currently, but know them well and thoroughly. Eh, Captain,” said he to Jack, “what would you say to popular notions about the navy?”

“Cutty’s right,” said Jack. “Amateurship is all humbug.”

“Who is Longworth?” asked Cutbill. “Philip Longworth?”

“A neighbor of ours; we are not acquainted, but we know that there is such a person,” said Colonel Bramleigh.

“He opines,” continued Cutbill, “that this vein of ours runs direct from his land, and I suspect he’s not wrong; and he wants to know what we mean to do, – he ‘ll either sell or buy. He came over this morning to Kilmannock with a French friend, and we took our breakfast together. Nice fellows, both of them, and wide awake, too; especially the Frenchman. He was with Lesseps in Egypt, in what capacity I couldn’t find out; but I see he’s a shrewd fellow.”

“With Lesseps?” said Colonel Bramleigh, showing a quicker and more eager interest than before; for his lawyer had told him that the French claimant to his property had been engaged on the works of the Suez Canal.

“Yes; he spoke as if he knew Lesseps well, and talked of the whole undertaking like one who understood it.”

“And what is he doing here?”

“Writing a book, I fancy; an Irish tour, – one of those mock sentimentalities with bad politics and false morality Frenchmen ventilate about England. He goes poking into the cabins and asking the people about their grievances; and now he says he wants to hear the other side, and learn what the gentlemen say.”

“We ‘ll have to ask him over here,” said Colonel Bramleigh, coolly, as if the thought had occurred to him then for the first time.

“He’ll amuse you, I promise you,” said Cutbill.

“I’d like to meet him,” said Jack. “I had the ill-luck to bowl him over in the hunting-field, and cost him a broken leg. I ‘d like to make all the excuses in my power to him.”

“He bears no malice about it; he said it was all his own fault, and that you did your best to pick him up, but your horse bolted with you.”

“Let’s have him to dinner by all means,” said Augustus; “and now that Temple has made a formal visit, I take it we might invite him by a polite note.”

“You must wait till he returns the call,” said Marion, stiffly.

“Not if we want to show a courteous desire to make his acquaintance,” said Temple. “Attentions can be measured as nicely and as minutely as medicaments.”

“All I say,” said Jack, “is, have him soon, or I may chance to miss him; and I ‘m rather curious to have a look at him.”

Colonel Bramleigh turned a full look at Jack, as though his words had some hidden meaning in them; but the frank and easy expression of the sailor’s face reassured him at once.

“I hope the fellow won’t put us in his book,” said Temple. “You are never quite safe with these sort of people.”

“Are we worth recording?” asked Jack, with a laugh.

Temple was too indignant to make any answer, and Cutbill went on: “The authorship is only a suspicion of mine, remember. It was from seeing him constantly jotting down little odds and ends in his note-book that I came to that conclusion; and Frenchmen are not much given to minute inquiries if they have not some definite object in view.”

Again was Bramleigh’s attention arrested; but, as before, he saw that the speaker meant no more than the words in their simplest acceptance conveyed.

A violent ringing of the door-bell startled the company; and after a moment’s pause of expectancy a servant entered to say that a Government messenger had arrived with some important despatches for Lord Culduff, which required personal delivery and acceptance.

“Will you step up, Mr. Cutbill, and see if his Lordship is In his room?”

“I’ll answer for it he ‘s not,” said Jack to his father.

Cutbill rose, however, and went on his mission; but instead of returning to the dining-room, it was perceived that he proceeded to find the messenger, and conduct him upstairs.

“Well, Nelly,” said Marion, in a whisper, “what do you say now; is it so certain that it was Lord Culduff you saw this morning?”

“I don’t know what to make of it. I was fully as sure as Jack was.”

“I’ll wager he’s been offered Paris,” said Temple, gravely.

“Offered Paris?” cried Jack; “what do you mean?”

“I mean the embassy, of course,” replied he, contemptuously. “Without,” added he, “they want him in the Cabinet.”

“And is it really by men like this the country is governed?” said Nelly, with a boldness that seemed the impulse of indignation.

“I ‘m afraid so,” said Marion, scornfully. “Mr. Canning and Lord Palmerston were men very like this, – were they not, Temple?”

“Precisely; Lord Culduff is exactly of the same order, however humble the estimate Ellen may form of such people.”

“I ‘m all impatience for the news,” said Augustus. “I wish Cutbill would come down at once.”

“I ‘ll take the odds that he goes to F. O.,” said Temple.

“What the deuce could he do in China?” cried Jack, whose ear had led him into a cruel blunder.

Temple scarcely smiled at what savored of actual irreverence, and added, “If so, I ‘ll ask to be made private secretary.”

“Mr. Temple, sir, his Lordship would be glad to see you upstairs for a moment,” said a footman, entering. And Temple arose and left the room, with a pride that might have accompanied him if summoned to a cabinet council.

“More mysteries of State,” cried Jack. “I declare, girls, the atmosphere of political greatness is almost suffocating me. I wonder how Cutty stands it!”

A general move into the drawing-room followed this speech; and as Jack sauntered in he slipped his arm within Nelly’s and led her towards a window. “I can’t bear this any longer, Nelly, – I must trip my anchor and move away. I ‘d as soon be lieutenant to a port admiral as live here. You’re all grown too fine for me.”

“That’s not it at all, Jack,” said she, smiling. “I see how you ‘ve been trying to bully yourself by bullying us this hour back; but it will be all right to-morrow. We ‘ll go over to the cottage after breakfast.”

“You may; I’ll not, I promise you,” said he, blushing deeply.

“Yes, you will, my dear Jack,” said she, coaxingly; “and you ‘ll be the first to laugh at your own foolish jealousy besides, – if Julia is not too angry with you to make laughing possible.”

“She may be angry or pleased, it’s all one to me now,” said he, passionately. “When I told her she was a coquette, I did n’t believe it; but, by Jove, she has converted me to the opinion pretty quickly!”

“You ‘re a naughty boy, and you ‘re in a bad humor, and I’ll say no more to you now.”

“Say it now, I advise you, if you mean to say it,” said he, shortly; but she laughed at his serious face, and turned away without speaking.

“Is n’t the cabinet council sitting late?” asked Augustus of Marion. “They have been nigh two hours in conference.”

“I take it it must be something of importance,” replied she.

“Isn’t Cutbill in it?” asked Augustus, mockingly.

“I saw Mr. Cutbill go down the avenue, with his cigar in his mouth, just after we came into the drawing-room.”

“I ‘ll go and try to pump him,” said Jack. “One might do a grand thing on the Stock Exchange if he could get at State secrets like these.” And as Jack went out a silence fell over the party, only broken by the heavy breathing of Colonel Bramleigh as he slept behind his newspaper. At last the door opened gently, and Temple moved quietly across the room, and tapping his father on the shoulder,’ whispered something in his ear. “What – eh?” cried Colonel Bramleigh, waking up. “Did you say ‘out’?”

Another whisper ensued, and the Colonel arose and left the room, followed by Temple.

“Isn’t Temple supremely diplomatic to-night?” said Nelly.

“I ‘m certain he is behaving with every becoming reserve and decorum,” said Marion, in a tone of severe rebuke.

When Colonel Bramleigh entered the library, Temple closed and locked the door, and in a voice of some emotion said, “Poor Lord Culduff; it’s a dreadful blow. I don’t know how he’ll bear up against it.”

“I don’t understand it,” said Bramleigh, peevishly. “What’s this about a change of Ministry and a dissolution? Did you tell me the Parliament was dissolved?”

“No, sir. I said that a dissolution was probable. The Ministry have been sorely pressed in the Lords about Culduff’s appointment, and a motion to address the Crown to cancel it has only been met by a majority of three. So small a victory amounts to a defeat, and the Premier writes to beg Lord Culdufif will at once send in his resignation, as the only means to save the party.”

“Well, if it’s the only thing to do, why not do it?”

“Culdufif takes a quite different view of it. He says that to retire is to abdicate his position in public life; that it was Lord Rigglesworth’s duty to stand by a colleague to the last; that every Minister makes it a point of honor to defend a subordinate; and that – ”

“I only half follow you. What was the ground of the attack? Had he fallen into any blunder, – made any serious mistake?”

“Nothing of the kind, sir; they actually complimented his abilities, and spoke of his rare capacity. It was one of those bursts of hypocrisy we have every now and then in public life, to show the world how virtuous we are. They raked up an old story of thirty years ago of some elopement or other, and affected to see in this escapade a reason against his being employed to represent the Crown.”

“I ‘m not surprised – not at all surprised. There is a strong moral feeling in the heart of the nation, that no man, however great his abilities, can outrage with impunity.”

“If they dealt with him thus hardly in the Lords, we can fancy how he will be treated in the Lower House, where Rigby Norton has given notice of a motion respecting his appointment. As Lord Rigglesworth writes, ‘R. N. has got up your whole biography, and is fully bent on making you the theme of one of his amusing scurrilities. Is it wise, is it safe to risk this? He ‘ll not persevere – he could not persevere – in his motion, if you send in your resignation. We could not – at least so Gore, our whip, says – be sure of a majority were we to divide; and even a majority of, say thirty, to proclaim you moral, would only draw the whole press to open your entire life, and make the world ring with your, I suppose, very common and every-day iniquities.’”

“I declare I do not see what can be alleged against this advice. It seems to me most forcible and irrefragable.”

“Very forcible, as regards the position of the Cabinet; but, as Lord Culduff says, ruin, positive ruin to him.”

“Ruin of his own causing.”

Temple shrugged his shoulders in a sort of contemptuous impatience; the sentiment was one not worth a reply.

“At all events, has he any other course open to him?”

“He thinks he has; at least, he thinks that, with your help and co-operation, there may be another course. The attack is to come from below the gangway on the Opposition side. It was to sit with these men you contested a county, and spent nigh twenty thousand pounds. You have great claims on the party. You know them all personally, and have much influence with them. Why, then, not employ it in his behalf?”

“To suppress the motion, you mean?”

Temple nodded.

“They ‘d not listen to it, not endure it for a moment. Norton would n’t give up an attack for which he had prepared himself if he were to find out, in the interval, that the object of it was an angel. As I heard him say one day at ‘the Reform,’ ‘Other men have their specialities. One fellow takes sugar, one the malt-duties, one Servia, or maybe, Ireland; my line is a good smashing personality. Show me a fellow – of course I mean a political opponent – who has been giving himself airs as a colonial governor, or “swelling” it as a special envoy at a foreign court, and if I don’t find something in his despatches to exhibit him as a false prophet, a dupe, or a blunderer, and if I can’t make the House laugh at him, don’t call me Rigby Norton.’ He knows he does these things better than any man in England, and he does them in a spirit that never makes him an enemy.”