Part 76 (1/2)

Her ladys.h.i.+p cannot intend that I should be turned out of your lords.h.i.+p's house with only two hundred a year, after what has pa.s.sed between me and her ladys.h.i.+p.”

”What pa.s.sed?” said the Marquis, absolutely rousing himself so as to stand erect before the other man.

”I had rather, my lord, you should hear it from her ladys.h.i.+p.”

”What pa.s.sed?”

”There was all that about Lady Frances.”

”What about Lady Frances?”

”Of course I was employed to do all that I could to prevent the marriage. You employed me yourself, my lord. It was you sent me down to see the young man, and explain to him how impertinent he was. It isn't my fault, Lord Kingsbury, if things have got themselves changed since then.”

”You think you ought to make a demand upon me because as my Chaplain you were asked to see a gentleman who called here on a delicate matter?”

”It isn't that I am thinking about. If it had been only that I should have said nothing. You asked me what it was about, and I was obliged to remind you of one thing. What took place between me and her ladys.h.i.+p was, of course, much more particular; but it all began with your lords.h.i.+p. If you hadn't commissioned me I don't suppose her ladys.h.i.+p would ever have spoken to me about Lady Frances.”

”What is it all? Sit down;--won't you?--and tell it all like a man if you have got anything to tell.” The Marquis, fatigued with his exertion, was forced to go back to his chair. Mr. Greenwood also sat down,--but whether or no like a man may be doubted. ”Remember this, Mr. Greenwood, it does not become a gentleman to repeat what has been said to him in confidence,--especially not to repeat it to him or to them from whom it was intended to be kept secret. And it does not become a Christian to endeavour to make ill-blood between a husband and his wife. Now, if you have got anything to say, say it.” Mr.

Greenwood shook his head. ”If you have got nothing to say, go away.

I tell you fairly that I don't want to have you here. You have begun something like a threat, and if you choose to go on with it, you may.

I am not afraid to hear you, but you must say it or go.”

Mr. Greenwood again shook his head. ”I suppose you won't deny that her ladys.h.i.+p honoured me with a very close confidence.”

”I don't know anything about it.”

”Your lords.h.i.+p didn't know that her ladys.h.i.+p down at Trafford used to be talking to me pretty freely about Lord Hampstead and Lady Frances?”

”If you have got anything to say, say it,” screamed the Marquis.

”Of course his lords.h.i.+p and her ladys.h.i.+p are not her ladys.h.i.+p's own children.”

”What has that got to do with it?”

”Of course there was a bitterness.”

”What is that to you? I will hear nothing from you about Lady Kingsbury, unless you have to tell me of some claim to be made upon her. If there has been money promised you, and she acknowledges it, it shall be paid. Has there been any such promise?”

Mr. Greenwood found it very difficult,--nay, quite impossible,--to say in accurate language that which he was desirous of explaining by dark hints. There had, he thought, been something of a compact between himself and the Marchioness. The Marchioness had desired something which she ought not to have desired, and had called upon the Chaplain for more than his sympathy. The Chaplain had been willing to give her more than his sympathy,--had at one time been almost willing to give her very much more. He might possibly, as he now felt, have misinterpreted her wishes. But he had certainly heard from her language so strong, in reference to her husband's children, that he had been justified in considering that it was intended to be secret. As a consequence of this he had been compelled to choose between the Marquis and the Marchioness. By becoming the confidential friend of the one he had necessarily become the enemy of the other.

Then, as a further consequence, he was turned out of the house,--and, as he declared to himself, utterly ruined. Now in this there had certainly been much hards.h.i.+p, and who was to compensate him if not the Marquis?

There certainly had been some talk about Appleslocombe during those moments of hot pa.s.sion in which Lady Kingsbury had allowed herself to say such evil things of Lady Frances and Lord Hampstead. Whether any absolute promise had been given she would probably not now remember.

There certainly had been a moment in which she had thought that her husband's life might possibly pa.s.s away before that of the old rector; and reference may have been made to the fact that had her own darling been the heir, the gift of the living would then have fallen into her own hands. Mr. Greenwood had probably thought more of some possible compensation for the living than of the living itself. He had no doubt endeavoured to frighten her ladys.h.i.+p into thinking that some mysterious debt was due to him, if not for services actually rendered, at any rate for extraordinary confidences. But before he had forced upon her the acknowledgment of the debt, he was turned out of the house! Now this he felt to be hard.

What were two hundred a-year as a pension for a gentleman after such a life-long service? Was it to be endured that he should have listened for so many years to all the abominable politics of the Marquis, and to the anger and disappointment of the Marchioness, that he should have been so closely connected, and for so many years, with luxury, wealth, and rank, and then arrive at so poor an evening of his day? As he thought of this he felt the more ashamed of his misfortune, because he believed himself to be in all respects a stronger man than the Marquis. He had flattered himself that he could lead the Marquis, and had thought that he had been fairly successful in doing so. His life had been idle, luxurious, and full of comfort.

The Marquis had allowed him to do pretty well what he pleased until in an evil hour he had taken the side of the Marchioness in a family quarrel. Then the Marquis, though weak in health,--almost to his death,--had suddenly become strong in purpose, and had turned him abruptly out of the house with a miserable stipend hardly fit for more than a butler! Could it be that he should put up with such usage, and allow the Marquis to escape unscathed out of his hand?

In this condition of mind, he had determined that he owed it to himself to do or say something that should frighten his lords.h.i.+p into a more generous final arrangement. There had been, he said to himself again and again, such a confidence with a lady of so high a rank, that the owner of it ought not to be allowed to languish upon two or even upon three hundred a-year. If the whole thing could really be explained to the Marquis, the Marquis would probably see it himself.

And to all this was to be added the fact that no harm had been done.