Part 23 (1/2)
”I agree with you, sir,” answered the stranger, with another. ”But, heavens!”--and the stranger started; for at that moment his eye caught for the first time, at the far end of the room, the youthful and brilliant countenance of Lucy Brandon,--”do I see rightly, or is that Miss Brandon?”
”It is indeed that lovely young lady,” said Mr. -------. ”I congratulate you on knowing one so admired. I suppose that you, being blessed with her acquaintance, do not need the formality of my introduction?”
”Umph!” said the stranger, rather shortly and uncourteously. ”No!
Perhaps you had better present me!”
”By what name shall I have that honour, sir?” discreetly inquired the nomenclator.
”Clifford!” answered the stranger; ”Captain Clifford!” Upon this the prim master of the ceremonies, threading his path through the now fast-filling room, approached towards Lucy to obey Mr. Clifford's request. Meanwhile that gentleman, before he followed the steps of the tutelary spirit of the place, paused and said to his friends, in a tone careless yet not without command, ”Hark ye, gentlemen; oblige me by being as civil and silent as ye are able; and don't thrust yourselves upon me, as you are accustomed to do, whenever you see no opportunity of indulging me with that honour with the least show of propriety!” So saying, and waiting no reply, Mr. Clifford hastened after the master of the ceremonies.
”Our friend grows mighty imperious!” said Long Ned, whom our readers have already recognized in the tall stranger.
”'T is the way with your rising geniuses,” answered the moralizing Augustus Tomlinson. ”Suppose we go to the cardroom and get up a rubber!”
”Well thought of,” said Ned, yawning,--a thing he was very apt to do in society; ”and I wish nothing worse to those who try our rubbers than that they may be well cleaned by them.” Upon this witticism the Colossus of Roads, glancing towards the gla.s.s, strutted off, arm-in-arm with his companion, to the card-room.
During this short conversation the re-introduction of Mr. Clifford (the stranger of the Rectory and deliverer of Dr. Slopperton) to Lucy Brandon had been effected, and the hand of the heiress was already engaged, according to the custom of that time, for the two ensuing dances.
It was about twenty minutes after the above presentation had taken place that Lord Mauleverer and William Brandon entered the rooms; and the buzz created by the appearance of the noted peer and the distinguished lawyer had scarcely subsided, before the royal personage expected to grace the ”festive scene” (as the newspapers say of a great room with plenty of miserable-looking people in it) arrived. The most attractive persons in Europe may be found among the royal family of England, and the great personage then at Bath, in consequence of certain political intrigues, wished, at that time especially, to make himself as popular as possible.
Having gone the round of the old ladies, and a.s.sured them, as the ”Court Journal” a.s.sures the old ladies at this day, that they were ”morning stars” and ”swan-like wonders,” the prince espied Brandon, and immediately beckoned to him with a familiar gesture. The smooth but saturnine lawyer approached the royal presence with the manner that peculiarly distinguished him, and which blended in no ungraceful mixture a species of stiffness that pa.s.sed with the crowd for native independence, with a supple insinuation that was usually deemed the token of latent benevolence of heart. There was something, indeed, in Brandon's address that always pleased the great; and they liked him the better because, though he stood on no idle political points, mere differences in the view taken of a hairbreadth,--such as a corn-law or a Catholic bill, alteration in the Church or a reform in parliament,--yet he invariably talked so like a man of honour (except when with Mauleverer) that his urbanity seemed attachment to individuals, and his concessions to power sacrifices of private opinion for the sake of obliging his friends.
”I am very glad indeed,” said the royal personage, ”to see Mr. Brandon looking so much better. Never was the crown in greater want of his services; and if rumour speak true, they will soon be required in another department of his profession.”
Brandon bowed, and answered,--
”So please your royal highness, they will always be at the command of a king from wh.o.r.e I have experienced such kindness, in any capacity for which his Majesty may deem them fitting.”
”It is true, then!” said his royal highness, significantly. ”I congratulate you! The quiet dignity of the bench must seem to you a great change after a career so busy and restless.”
”I fear I shall feel it so at first, your royal highness,” answered Brandon, ”for I like even the toil of my profession; and at this moment, when I am in full practice, it more than ever--But” (checking himself at once) ”his Majesty's wishes, and my satisfaction in complying with them, are more than sufficient to remove any momentary regret I might otherwise have felt in quitting those toils which have now become to me a second nature.”
”It is possible,” rejoined the prince, ”that his Majesty took into consideration the delicate state of health which, in common with the whole public, I grieve to see the papers have attributed to one of the most distinguished ornaments of the bar.”
”So please your royal highness,” answered Brandon, coolly, and with a smile which the most piercing eye could not have believed the mask to the agony then gnawing at his nerves, ”it is the interest of my rivals to exaggerate the little ailments of a weak const.i.tution. I thank Providence that I am now entirely recovered; and at no time of my life have I been less unable to discharge--so far as my native and mental, incapacities will allow--the duties of any occupation, however arduous.
Nay, as the brute grows accustomed to the mill, so have I grown wedded to business; and even the brief relaxation I have now allowed myself seems to me rather irksome than pleasurable.”
”I rejoice to hear you speak thus,” answered his royal highness, warmly; ”and I trust for many years, and,” added he, in a lower tone, ”in the highest chamber of the senate, that we may profit by your talents.
The times are those in which many occasions occur that oblige all true friends of the Const.i.tution to quit minor employment for that great const.i.tutional one that concerns us all, the highest and the meanest; and” (the royal voice sank still lower) ”I feel justified in a.s.suring you that the office of chief-justice alone is not considered by his Majesty as a sufficient reward for your generous sacrifice of present ambition to the difficulties of government.”
Brandon's proud heart swelled, and that moment the veriest pains of h.e.l.l would scarcely have been felt.
While the aspiring schemer was thus agreeably engaged, Mauleverer, sliding through the crowd with that grace which charmed every one, old and young, and addressing to all he knew some lively or affectionate remark, made his way to the dancers, among whom he had just caught a glimpse of Lucy. ”I wonder,” he thought, ”whom she is dancing with.
I hope it is that ridiculous fellow, Mossop, who tells a good story against himself; or that handsome a.s.s, Belmont, who looks at his own legs, instead of seeming to have eyes for no one but his partner. Ah! if Tarquin had but known women as well as I do, he would have had no reason to be rough with Lucretia. 'T is a thousand pities that experience comes, in women as in the world, just when it begins to be no longer of use to us!”
As he made these moral reflections, Mauleverer gained the dancers, and beheld Lucy listening, with downcast eyes and cheeks that evidently blushed, to a young man whom Mauleverer acknowledged at once to be one of the best-looking fellows he had ever seen. The stranger's countenance, despite an extreme darkness of complexion, was, to be sure, from the great regularity of the features, rather effeminate; but, on the other hand, his figure, though slender and graceful, betrayed to an experienced eye an extraordinary proportion of sinew and muscle; and even the dash of effeminacy in the countenance was accompanied by so manly and frank an air, and was so perfectly free from all c.o.xcombry or self-conceit, that it did not in the least decrease the prepossessing effect of his appearance. An angry and bitter pang shot across that portion of Mauleverer's frame which the earl thought fit, for want of another name, to call his heart. ”How cursedly pleased she looks!”
muttered he. ”By Heaven! that stolen glance under the left eyelid, dropped as suddenly as it is raised; and he--ha! how firmly he holds that little hand! I think I see him paddle with it; and then the dog's earnest, intent look,--and she all blushes, though she dare not look up to meet his gaze, feeling it by intuition. Oh, the demure, modest, shamefaced hypocrite! How silent she is! She can prate enough to me! I would give my promised garter if she would but talk to him. Talk, talk, laugh, prattle, only simper, in G.o.d's name, and I shall be happy. But that bashful, blus.h.i.+ng silence,--it is insupportable. Thank Heaven, the dance is over! Thank Heaven, again! I have not felt such pains since the last nightmare I had after dining with her father!”