Kitabı oku: «The Child Wife», sayfa 11
Chapter Twenty Eight.
A Tour in Search of a Title
“I’m sick of England – I am!”
“Why, cousin, you said the same of America!”
“No; only of Newport. And if I did, what matter? I wish I were back in it. Anywhere but here, among these bulls and bull-dogs. Give me New York over all cities in the world.”
“Oh! I agree with you there – that do I – both State and city, if you like.”
It was Julia Girdwood that spoke first, and Cornelia Inskip who replied.
They were seated in a handsome apartment – one of a suite in the Clarendon Hotel, London.
“Yes,” pursued the first speaker; “there one has at least some society; if not the élite, still sufficiently polished for companionship. Here there is none – absolutely none – outside the circle of the aristocracy. Those merchants’ wives and daughters we’ve been compelled to associate with, rich as they are, and grand as they deem themselves, are to me simply insufferable. They can think of nothing but their Queen.”
“That’s true.”
“And I tell you, Cornelia, if a peeress, or the most obscure thing with ‘Lady’ tacked to her name, but bows to one of them, it is remembered throughout their life, and talked of every day among their connections. Only think of that old banker where mamma took us to dine the other day. He had one of the Queen’s slippers framed in a glass case, and placed conspicuously upon his drawing-room mantelshelf. And with what gusto the old snob descanted upon it! How he came to get possession of it; the price he paid; and his exquisite self-gratulation at being able to leave it as a valued heirloom to his children – snobbish as himself! Faugh! ’Tis a flunkeyism intolerable. Among American merchants, one is at least spared such experience as that. Even our humblest shopkeepers would scorn so to exhibit themselves!”
“True, true!” assented Cornelia; who remembered her own father, an humble shopkeeper in Poughkeepsie, and knew that he would have scorned it.
“Yes,” continued Julia, returning to her original theme, “of all cities in the world, give me New York. I can say of it, as Byron did of England, ‘With all thy faults, I love thee still!’ though I suspect when the great poet penned that much-quoted line, he must have been very tired of Italy and the stupid Countess Guiccioli.”
“Ha – ha – ha!” laughed the Poughkeepsian cousin, “what a girl you are, Julia! Well, I’m glad you like our dear native New York.”
“Who wouldn’t, with its gay, pleasant people, and their cheerful give and take? Many faults it has, I admit; bad municipal management – wholesale political corruption. These are but spots on the outward skin of its social life, and will one day be cured. Its great, generous heart, sprung from Hibernia, is still uncontaminated.”
“Hurrah! hurrah!” cried Cornelia, springing up from her seat and clapping her little hands. “I’m glad, cousin, to hear you speak thus of the Irish!”
It will be remembered that she was the daughter of one.
“Yes,” said Julia, for the third time; “New York, of all places, for me! I’m now convinced it’s the finest city in the world!”
“Don’t be so quick in your conclusions, my love! Wait till you’ve seen Paris! Perhaps you may change your mind!”
It was Mrs Girdwood who made these remarks, entering the room at the conclusion of her daughter’s rhapsody.
“I’m sure I won’t mother. Nor you neither. We’ll find Paris just as we’ve found London; the same selfishness, the same social distinctions, the same flunkeyism. I’ve no doubt all monarchical countries are alike.”
“What are you talking about, child? France is now a republic.”
“A nice republic, with an Emperor’s nephew for its President – or rather its Dictator! Every day, as the papers tell us, robbing the people of their rights!”
“Well, my daughter, with that we’ve got nothing to do. No doubt these revolutionary hot-heads need taming down a little, and a Napoleon should be the man to do it. I’m sure we’ll find Paris a very pleasant place. The old titled families, so far from being swept off by the late revolution, are once more holding up their heads. ’Tis said the new ruler encourages them. We can’t fail to get acquainted with some of them. It’s altogether different from the cold-blooded aristocracy of England.”
The last remark was made in a tone of bitterness. Mrs Girdwood had been now several months in London; and though stopping at the Clarendon Hotel – the caravanserai of aristocratic travellers – she had failed to get introduction to the titled of the land.
The American Embassy had been polite to her, both Minister and Secretary – the latter, noted for his urbanity to all, but especially to his own countrymen, or countrywomen, without distinction of class. The Embassy had done all that could be one for an American lady travelling without introductions. But, however rich and accomplished, however beautiful the two girls in her train, Mrs Girdwood could not be presented at Court, her antecedents not being known.
It is true a point might have been strained in her favour; but the American ambassador of that day was as true a toad-eater to England’s aristocracy as could have been found in England itself, and equally fearful of becoming compromised by his introductions. We need not give his name. The reader skilful in diplomatic records can no doubt guess it.
Under these circumstances, the ambitious widow had to submit to a disappointment.
She found little difficulty in obtaining introductions to England’s commonalty. Her riches secured this. But the gentry! these were even less accessible than the exclusives of Newport – the J.’s, and the L.’s, and the B.’s. Titled or untitled, they were all the same. She discovered that a simple country squire was as unapproachable as a peer of the realm – earl, marquis, or duke!
“Never mind, my girls!” was her consolatory speech, to daughter and niece, when the scales first fell from her eyes. “His lordship will soon be here, and then it will be all right.”
His lordship meant Mr Swinton, who had promised to follow them in the “next steamaw.”
But the next steamer came with no such name as Swinton on its passenger list, nor any one bearing the title of “lord.”
And the next, and the next, and some half-dozen others, and still no Swinton, either reported by the papers, or calling at the Clarendon Hotel!
Could an accident have happened to the nobleman, travelling incognito? Or, what caused more chagrin to Mrs Girdwood to conjecture, had he forgotten his promise?
In either case he ought to have written. A gentleman would have done so – unless dead.
But no such death had been chronicled in the newspapers. It could not have escaped the notice of the retail storekeeper’s widow, who each day read the London Times, and with care its list of arrivals.
She became at length convinced, that the accomplished nobleman accidentally picked up in Newport, and afterwards entertained by her in her Fifth Avenue house in New York, was either no nobleman at all, or if one, had returned to his own country under another travelling name, and was there fighting shy of her acquaintance.
It was but poor comfort that many of her countrymen – travellers like themselves – every day called upon them; among others Messrs Lucas and Spiller – such was the cognomen of Mr Lucas’s friend, who, also on a tour of travel, had lately arrived in England.
But neither of them had brought any intelligence, such as Mrs Girdwood sought. Neither knew anything of the whereabouts of Mr Swinton.
They had not seen him since the occasion of that dinner in the Fifth Avenue house; nor had they heard of him again.
It was pretty clear then he had come to England, and was “cutting” them – that is, Mrs Girdwood and her girls.
This was the mother’s reflection.
The thought was enough to drive her out of the country; and out of it she determined to go, partly in search of that title for her daughter she had come to Europe to obtain; and partly to complete, what some of her countrymen are pleased to call, the “Ewropean tower.”
To this the daughter was indifferent, while the niece of coarse made no objection.
They proceeded upon their travels.
Chapter Twenty Nine.
The Lost Lord
Ten days after Mrs Girdwood had taken her departure from the Clarendon Hotel, a gentleman presented himself to the door-porter of that select hostelry, and put the following inquiry:
“Is there a family stopping here, by name Girdwood – a middle-aged lady, with two younger – her daughter and niece; a negro woman for their servant?”
“There was such a fambly – about two weeks ago. They’ve paid their bill, and gone away.”
The janitor laid emphasis on the paying of the bill. It was his best evidence of the respectability of the departed guests.
“Do you know where they’ve gone?”
“Haven’t an idea, sir. They left no address. They ’pear to be Yankees – ’Mericans, I mean,” said the man, correcting himself, in fear of giving offence. “Very respectable people – ladies, indeed – ’specially the young ’uns. I dare say they’ve gone back to the States. That’s what I’ve heerd them call their country.”
“To the States! Surely not?” said the stranger, half questioning himself. “How long since they left the hotel?”
“About a fortnight ago – there or thereabout. I can look at the book and tell you?”
“Pray do!”
The Cerberus of the Clarendon – to an humble applicant for admission into that aristocratic establishment not much milder than he of the seven heads – turned into his box, and commenced examining the register of departures.
He was influenced to this civility by the aspect of the individual who made the request. To all appearance a “reg’lar gentleman,” was the reflection he had indulged in.
“Departures on the 25th,” spoke he, reading from the register: “Lord S – and Lady S – ; the Hon. Augustus Stanton; the Duchess of P – ; Mrs Girdwood and fambly – that’s them. They left on the 25th, sir.”
“The 25th. At what hour?”
“Well, that I can’t remember. You see, there’s so many goin’ and comin’. From their name being high up on the list, I d’say they went by a mornin’ train.”
“You’re sure they left no note for any one?”
“I can ask inside. What name?”
“Swinton – Mr Richard Swinton.”
“Seems to me they inquired for that name, several times. Yes, the old lady did – the mother of the young ladies, I mean. I’ll see if there’s a note.”
The man slippered off towards the office, in the interior of the hotel; leaving Mr Swinton, for it was he, upon the door-mat.
The countenance of the ex-guardsman, that had turned suddenly blank, again brightened up. It was at least gratifying to know that he had been inquired for. It was to be hoped there was a note, that would put him on their trace of travel.
“No, not any,” was the chilling response that came out from the official oracle. “None whatever.”
“You say they made inquiries for a Mr Swinton. Was it from yourself, may I ask?” The question was put seductively, accompanied by the holding out of a cigar-case.
“Thank you, sir,” said the flattered official, accepting the offered weed. “The inquiries were sent down to me from their rooms. It was to ask if a Mr Swinton had called, or left any card. They also asked about a lord. They didn’t give his name. There wasn’t any lord – leastwise not for them.”
“Were there any gentlemen in the habit of visiting them? You’ll find that cigar a good one – I’ve just brought them across the Atlantic. Take another? Such weeds are rather scarce here in London.”
“You’re very kind, sir. Thank you!” and the official helped himself to a second.
“Oh, yes; there were several gentlemen used to come to see them. I don’t think any of them were lords, though. They might be. The ladies ’peared to be very respectable people. I d’say highly respectable.”
“Do you know the address of any of these gentlemen? I ask the question because the ladies are relatives of mine, and I might perhaps find out from some of them where they are gone.”
“They were all strangers to me; and to the hotel. I’ve been at this door for ten years, and never saw one of them before.”
“Can you recollect how any of them looked?”
“Yes; there was one who came often, and used to go out with the ladies. A thick-set gent with lightish hair, and round full face. Sometimes there was a thin-faced man along with him, a younger gent. They used to take the two young ladies a-ridin’ – to Rotten Row; and I think to the Opera.”
“Did you learn their names?”
“No, sir. They used to go and come without giving a card; only the first time, and I didn’t notice what name was on it. They would ask if Mrs Girdwood was in, and then go upstairs to the suite of rooms occupied by the fambly. They ’peared to be intimate friends.”
Swinton saw he had got all the information the man was capable of imparting. He turned to go out, the hall-keeper obsequiously holding the door.
Another question occurred to him.
“Did Mrs Girdwood say anything about coming back here – to the hotel I mean?”
“I don’t know, sir. If you stop a minute I’ll ask.”
Another journey to the oracle inside; another negative response.
“This is cursed luck!” hissed Swinton through his teeth, as he descended the hotel steps and stood upon the flags below. “Cursed luck!” he repeated, as with despondent look and slow, irresolute tread he turned up the street of “our best shopkeepers.”
“Lucas with them to a certainty, and that other squirt! I might have known it, from their leaving New York without telling me where they were going. They must have followed by the very next steamer; and, hang me, if I don’t begin to think that that visit to the gambling-house was a trap – a preconceived plan to deprive me of the chance of getting over after her. By the living G – it has succeeded! Here I am, after months spent in struggling to make up the paltry passage money! And here they are not; and God knows where they are! Curse upon the crooked luck!”
Mr Swinton’s reflections will explain why he had not sooner reported himself at the Bond Street hotel, and show the mistake Mrs Girdwood had made, in supposing he had “cut” them.
The thousand dollars deposited in the New York faro bank was all the money he had in the world; and after taking stock of what might be raised upon his wife’s jewellery, most of which was already under the collateral mortgage of the three golden globes, it was found it would only pay ocean passage for one.
As Fan was determined not to be left behind – Broadway having proved less congenial than Regent Street – the two had to stay in America, till the price of two cabin tickets could be obtained.
With all Mr Swinton’s talent in the “manipulation of pasteboard,” it cost him months to obtain them.
His friend Lucas gone away, he found no more pigeons in America – only hawks!
The land of liberty was not the land for him. Its bird of freedom, type of the falcon tribe, seemed too truly emblematic of its people – certainly of those with whom he had come in contact – and as soon as he could get together enough to pay for a pair of Cunard tickets – second-class at that – he took departure for a clime more congenial, both to himself and his beloved.
They had arrived in London with little more than the clothes they stood in; and taken lodgings in that cheap, semi-genteel neighbourhood where almost every street, square, park, place, and terrace, has got Westbourne for its name.
Toward this quarter Mr Swinton turned his face, after reaching the head of Bond Street; and taking a twopenny “bus,” he was soon after set down at the Royal Oak, at no great distance from his suburban domicile.
“They’re gone!” he exclaimed, stepping inside the late taken apartments, and addressing himself to a beautiful woman, their sole occupant.
It was “Fan,” in a silk gown, somewhat chafed and stained, but once more a woman’s dress! Fan, with her splendid hair almost grown again – Fan no longer disguised as a valet, but restored to the dignity of a wife!
“Gone! From London, do you mean? Or only the hotel?” The question told of her being still in her husband’s confidence. “From both.”
“But you know where, don’t you?”
“I don’t.”
“Do you think they’ve left England?”
“I don’t know what to think. They’ve left the Clarendon on the 25th of last month – ten days ago. And who do you suppose has been there – back and forward to see them?”
“I don’t know.”
“Guess!”
“I can’t.”
She could have given a guess. She had a thought, but she kept it in her own heart, as about the same man she had kept other thoughts before. Had she spoken it, she would have said, “Maynard.”
She said nothing, leaving her husband to explain. He did so, at once undeceiving her.
“Well, it was Lucas. That thick-skulled brute we met in Newport, and afterwards in New York.”
“Ay; better you had never seen him in either place. He proved a useless companion, Dick.”
“I know all that. Perhaps I shall get square with him yet.”
“So they’ve gone; and that, I suppose, will be the end of it. Well, let it be; I don’t care. I’m contented enough to be once more in dear old England!”
“In cheap lodgings like this?”
“In anything. A hovel here is preferable to a palace in America! I’d rather live in a London garret, in these mean lodgings, if you like, than be mistress of that Fifth Avenue house you were so delighted to dine in. I hate their republican country?”
The sentiment was appropriate to the woman who uttered it.
“I’ll be the owner of it yet,” said Swinton, referring not to the country, but the Fifth Avenue house. “I’ll own it, if I have to spend ten years in carrying out the speculation.”
“You still intend going on with it then?”
“Of course I do. Why should I give it up?”
“Perhaps you’ve lost the chance. This Mr Lucas may have got into the lady’s good graces?”
“Bah! I’ve nothing to fear from him – the common-looking brute! He’s after her, no doubt. What of that? I take it he’s not the style to make much way with Miss Julia Girdwood. Besides, I’ve reason to know the mother won’t have it. If I’ve lost the chance in any other way, I may thank you for it, madam.”
“Me! And how, I should like to know?”
“But for you I might have been here months ago; in good time to have taken steps against their departure; or, still better, found some excuse for going along with them. That’s what I could have done. It’s the time we have lost – in getting together the cash to buy tickets for two.”
“Indeed! And I’m answerable for that, I suppose? I think I made up my share. You seem to forget the selling of my gold watch, my rings and bracelets – even to my poor pencil-case?”
“Who gave them to you?”
“Indeed! it’s like you to remember it! I wish I had never accepted them.”
“And I that I had never given them.”
“Wretch!”
“Oh! you’re very good at calling names – ugly ones, too.”
“I’ll call you an uglier still, coward!”
This stung him. Perhaps the only epithet that would; for he not only felt that it was true, but that his wife knew it.
“What do you mean?” he asked, turning suddenly red.
“What I say; that you’re a coward – you know you are. You can safely insult a woman; but when a man stands up you daren’t – no, you daren’t say boo to a goose. Remember Maynard?”
It was the first time the taunt had been openly pronounced; though on more than one occasion since the scenes in Newport, she had thrown out hints of a knowledge of that scheme by which he had avoided meeting the man named. He supposed she had only suspicions, and could know nothing of that letter delivered too late. He had taken great pains to conceal the circumstances. From what she now said, it was evident she knew all.
And she did; for James, the waiter, and other servants, had imparted to her the gossip of the hotel; and this, joined to her own observation of what had transpired, gave the whole story. The suspicion that she knew it had troubled Swinton – the certainty maddened him.
“Say that again!” he cried, springing to his feet; “say it again, and by G – , I’ll smash in your skull?”
With the threat he had raised one of the cane chairs, and held it over her head.
Throughout their oft-repeated quarrels, it had never before come to this – the crisis of a threatened blow.
She was neither large nor strong – only beautiful – while the bully was both. But she did not believe he intended to strike; and she felt that to quail would be to acknowledge herself conquered. Even to fail replying to the defiance.
She did so, with additional acerbity.
“Say what again? Remember Maynard? I needn’t say it; you’re not likely to forget him!”
The words had scarce passed from her lips before she regretted them. At least she had reason: for with a crash, the chair came down upon her head, and she was struck prostrate upon the floor!
