Part 12 (1/2)
”Ah! there is nothing like old families!” remarked Mrs. Million, with all the awkward feelings of a parvenue.
”Do you think so?” said Vivian; ”I once thought so myself, but I confess that my opinion is greatly changed. After all, what is n.o.ble blood? My eye is now resting on a crowd of n.o.bles; and yet, being among them, do we treat them in a manner differing in any way from that which we should employ to individuals of a lower caste who were equally uninteresting?”
”Certainly not,” said Mrs. Million.
”The height of the ambition of the less exalted ranks is to be n.o.ble, because they conceive to be n.o.ble implies to be superior; a.s.sociating in their minds, as they always do, a pre-eminence over then equals. But to be n.o.ble among n.o.bles, where is the preeminence?”
”Where indeed?” said Mrs. Million; and she thought of herself, sitting the most considered personage in this grand castle, and yet with sufficiently base blood flowing in her veins.
”And thus, in the highest circles,” continued Vivian, ”a man is of course not valued because he is a Marquess or a Duke; but because he is a great warrior, or a great statesman, or very fas.h.i.+onable, or very witty. In all cla.s.ses but the highest, a peer, however unbefriended by nature or by fortune, becomes a man of a certain rate of consequence; but to be a person of consequence in the highest cla.s.s requires something else besides high blood.”
”I quite agree with you in your sentiments, Mr. Grey. Now what character or what situation in life would you choose, if you had the power of making your choice?”
”That is really a most metaphysical question. As is the custom of all young men, I have sometimes, in my reveries, imagined what I conceived to be a lot of pure happiness: and yet Mrs. Million will perhaps be astonished that I was neither to be n.o.bly born nor to acquire n.o.bility, that I was not to be a statesman, or a poet, or a warrior, or a merchant, nor indeed any profession, not even a professional dandy.”
”Oh! love in a cottage, I suppose,” interrupted Mrs. Million.
”Neither love in a cottage, nor science in a cell.”
”Oh! pray tell me what it is.”
”What it is? Oh! Lord Mayor of London, I suppose; that is the only situation which answers to my oracular description.”
”Then you have been joking all this time!”
”Not at all. Come then, let us imagine this perfect lot. In the first place, I would be born in the middle cla.s.ses of society, or even lower, because I would wish my character to be impartially developed. I would be born to no hereditary prejudices, no hereditary pa.s.sions. My course in life should not be carved out by the example of a grandfather, nor my ideas modelled to a preconceived system of family perfection. Do you like my first principle, Mrs. Million?”
”I must hear everything before I give an opinion.”
”When, therefore, my mind was formed, I would wish to become the proprietor of a princely fortune.”
”Yes!” eagerly exclaimed Mrs. Million.
”And now would come the moral singularity of my fate. If I had gained this fortune by commerce, or in any other similar mode, my disposition, before the creation of this fortune, would naturally have been formed, and been permanently developed; and my mind would have been similarly affected, had I succeeded to some ducal father; for I should then, in all probability, have inherited some family line of conduct, both moral and political. But under the circ.u.mstances I have imagined, the result would be far different. I should then be in the singular situation of possessing, at the same time, unbounded wealth, and the whole powers and natural feelings of my mind unoppressed and unshackled. Oh! how splendid would be my career! I would not allow the change in my condition to exercise any influence on my natural disposition. I would experience the same pa.s.sions and be subject to the same feelings, only they should be exercised and influential in a wider sphere. Then would be seen the influence of great wealth, directed by a disposition similar to that of the generality of men, inasmuch as it had been formed like that of the generality of men; and consequently, one much better acquainted with their feelings, their habits, and their wishes. Such a lot would indeed be princely! Such a lot would infallibly ensure the affection and respect of the great majority of mankind; and, supported by them, what should I care if I were misunderstood by a few fools and abused by a few knaves?”
Here came the Marquess to lead the lady to the concert. As she quitted her seat, a smile, beaming with graciousness, rewarded her youthful companion. ”Ah!” thought Mrs. Million, ”I go to the concert, but leave sweeter music than can possibly meet me there. What is the magic of these words? It is not flattery; such is not the language of Miss Gusset! It is not a rifacimento of compliments; such is not the style with which I am saluted by the Duke of Doze and the Earl of Leatherdale!
Apparently I have heard a young philosopher delivering his sentiments upon an abstract point in human life; and yet have I not listened to a brilliant apology for my own character, and a triumphant defence of my own conduct. Of course it was unintentional; and yet how agreeable to be unintentionally defended!” So mused Mrs. Million, and she made a thousand vows not to let a day pa.s.s over without obtaining a pledge from Vivian Grey to visit her on their return to the metropolis.
Vivian remained in his seat for some time after the departure of his companion. ”On my honour, I have half a mind to desert my embryo faction and number myself in her gorgeous retinue. Let me see. What part should I act? her secretary, or her toad-eater, or her physician, or her cook?
or shall I be her page? Me-thinks I should make a pretty page, and hand a chased goblet as gracefully as any monkey that ever bent his knee in a lady's chamber. Well! at any rate, there is this chance to be kept back, as the gambler does his last trump, or the cunning fencer his last ruse.”
He rose to offer his arm to some stray fair one; for crowds were now hurrying to pineapples and lobster salads: that is to say, supper was ready in the Long Gallery.
In a moment Vivian's arm was locked in that of Mrs. Felix Lorraine.
”Oh, Mr. Grey, I have got a much better ghost story than even that of the Leyden Professor for you; but I am so wearied with waltzing that I must tell it you to-morrow. How came you to be so late this morning?
Have you been paying many calls to-day? I quite missed you at dinner. Do you think Ernest Clay handsome? I dare not repeat what Lady Scrope said of you! You are an admirer of Lady Julia Knighton, I believe? I do not much like this plan of supping in the Long Gallery; it is a favourite locale of mine, and I have no idea of my private promenade being invaded by the uninteresting presence of trifles and Italian creams. Have you been telling Mrs. Million that she was very witty?” asked Vivian's companion, with a significant look.
CHAPTER XV