Part 81 (1/2)
”Do you know about the Parliament plan, then?” Pen asked.
”Know?--all the world knows! I have heard it talked about many times.
Lady Rockminster's doctor talked about it to-day. I daresay it will be in the Chatteris paper to-morrow. It is all over the county that Sir Francis Clavering, of Clavering, is going to retire, in behalf of Mr.
Arthur Pendennis, of Fairoaks; and that the young and beautiful Miss Blanche Amory is----”
”What! that too?” asked Pendennis.
”That, too, dear Arthur. Tout se sait, as somebody would say, whom I intend to be very fond of; and who I am sure is very clever and pretty.
I have had a letter from Blanche. The kindest of letters. She speaks so warmly of you, Arthur! I hope--I know she feels what she writes.--When is it to be, Arthur? Why did you not tell me? I may come and live with you then, mayn't I?”
”My home is yours, dear Laura, and everything I have,” Pen said. ”If I did not tell you, it was because--because--I do not know: nothing is decided as yet. No words have pa.s.sed between us. But you think Blanche could be happy with me--don't you? Not a romantic fondness, you know.
I have no heart, I think; I've told her so: only a sober-sided attachment:--and want my wife on one side of the fire and my sister on the other,--Parliament in the session and Fairoaks in the holidays, and my Laura never to leave me until somebody who has a right comes to take her away.”
Somebody who has a right--somebody with a right! Why did Pen, as he looked at the girl and slowly uttered the words, begin to feel angry and jealous of the invisible somebody with the right to take her away?
Anxious, but a minute ago, how she would take the news regarding his probable arrangements with Blanche, Pen was hurt somehow that she received the intelligence so easily, and took his happiness for granted.
”Until somebody comes,” Laura said, with a laugh, ”I will stay at home and be aunt Laura, and take care of the children when Blanche is in the world. I have arranged it all. I am an excellent housekeeper. Do you know I have been to market at Paris with Mrs. Beck, and have taken some lessons from M. Grandjean? And I have had some lessons in Paris in singing too, with the money which you sent me, you kind boy: and I can sing much better now: and I have learned to dance, though not so well as Blanche; and when you become a minister of state, Blanche shall present me:” and with this, and with a provoking good-humour, she performed for him the last Parisian curtsey.
Lady Rockminster came in whilst this curtsey was being performed, and gave to Arthur one finger to shake; which he took, and over which he bowed as well as he could, which, in truth, was very clumsily.
”So you are going to be married, sir,” said the old lady.
”Scold him, Lady Rockminster, for not telling us,” Laura said, going away: which, in truth, the old lady began instantly to do. ”So you are going to marry, and to go into Parliament in place of that good-for-nothing Sir Francis Clavering. I wanted him to give my grandson his seat--why did he not give my grandson his seat? I hope you are to have a great deal of money with Miss Amory. I wouldn't take her without a great deal.”
”Sir Francis Clavering is tired of Parliament,” Pen said, wincing, ”and--and I rather wish to attempt that career. The rest of the story is at least premature.”
”I wonder, when you had Laura at home, you could take up with such an affected little creature as that,” the old lady continued.
”I am very sorry Miss Amory does not please your ladys.h.i.+p,” said Pen, smiling.
”You mean--that it is no affair of mine, and that I am not going to marry her. Well, I'm not, and I'm very glad I am not--a little odious thing--when I think that a man could prefer her to my Laura, I've no patience with him, and so I tell you, Mr. Arthur Pendennis.”
”I am very glad you see Laura with such favourable eyes,” Pen said.
”You are very glad, and you are very sorry. What does it matter, sir, whether you are very glad or very sorry? A young man who prefers Miss Amory to Miss Bell has no business to be sorry or glad. A young man who takes up with such a crooked lump of affectation as that little Amory,--for she is crooked, I tell you she is,--after seeing my Laura, has no right to hold up his head again. Where is your friend Bluebeard?
The tall young man, I mean,--Warrington, isn't his name? Why does he not come down, and marry Laura? What do the young men mean by not marrying such a girl as that? They all marry for money now. You are all selfish and cowards. We ran away with each other, and made foolish matches in my time. I have no patience with the young men! When I was at Paris in the winter, I asked all the three attaches at the Emba.s.sy why they did not fall in love with Miss Bell? They laughed--they said they wanted money.
You are all selfish--you are all cowards.”
”I hope before you offered Miss Bell to the attaches,” said Pen, with some heat, ”you did her the favour to consult her?”
”Miss Bell has only a little money. Miss Bell must marry soon. Somebody must make a match for her, sir; and a girl can't offer herself,” said the old dowager, with great state. ”Laura, my dear, I've been telling your cousin that all the young men are selfish; and that there is not a pennyworth of romance left among them. He is as bad as the rest.”
”Have you been asking Arthur why he won't marry me?” said Laura, with a kindling smile, coming back and taking her cousin's hand. (She had been away, perhaps, to hide some traces of emotion, which she did not wish others to see.) ”He is going to marry somebody else; and I intend to be very fond of her, and to go and live with them, provided he then does not ask every bachelor who comes to his house, why he does not marry me?”
The terrors of Pen's conscience being thus appeased, and his examination before Laura over without any reproaches on the part of the latter, Pen began to find that his duty and inclination led him constantly to Baymouth, where Lady Rockminster informed him that a place was always reserved for him at her table. ”And I recommend you to come often,” the old lady said, ”for Grandjean is an excellent cook, and to be with Laura and me will do your manners good. It is easy to see that you are always thinking about yourself. Don't blush and stammer--almost all young men are always thinking about themselves. My sons and grandsons always were until I cured them. Come here, and let us teach you to behave properly; you will not have to carve, that is done at the side-table. Hecker will give you as much wine as is good for you; and on days when you are very good and amusing you shall have some champagne. Hecker, mind what I say. Mr. Pendennis is Miss Laura's brother; and you will make him comfortable, and see that he does not have too much wine, or disturb me whilst I am taking my nap after dinner. You are selfish: I intend to cure you of being selfish. You will dine here when you have no other engagements; and if it rains you had better put up at the hotel.” As long as the good lady could order everybody round about her, she was not hard to please; and all the slaves and subjects of her little dowager court trembled before her, but loved her.
She did not receive a very numerous or brilliant society. The doctor, of course, was admitted as a constant and faithful visitor; the vicar and his curate; and on public days the vicar's wife and daughters, and some of the season visitors at Baymouth, were received at the old lady's entertainments: but generally the company was a small one, and Mr.
Arthur drank his wine by himself, when Lady Rockminster retired to take her doze, and to be played and sung to sleep by Laura after dinner.
”If my music can give her a nap,” said the good-natured girl, ”ought I not to be very glad that it can do so much good? Lady Rockminster sleeps very little of nights: and I used to read to her until I fell ill at Paris, since when she will not hear of my sitting up.”