Part 43 (1/2)
added he, rising from the table, as he finished off the last gla.s.s in the decanter. ”I shall call at Downing Street to-morrow for that letter of Upton's, and, with your permission, will deposit it in your hands afterwards.”
Harcourt accompanied him to the door with thanks. Profuse, indeed, was he in his recognitions, desiring to get him clear off the ground before any further allusions on his part, or rejoinders from Glencore, might involve them all in new complications.
”I know that fellow well,” cried Glencore, almost ere the door closed on him. ”He is just what I remember him some twenty years ago. Dressed up in the cast-off vices of his betters, he has pa.s.sed for a man of fas.h.i.+on amongst his own set, while he is regarded as a wit by those who mistake malevolence for humor. I ask no other test of a society than that such a man is endured in it.”
”I sometimes suspect,” said Harcourt, ”that the world never believes these fellows to be as ill-natured as then-tongues bespeak them.”
”You are wrong, George; the world knows them well. The estimation they are held in is, for the reflective flattery by which each listener to their sarcasms soothes his own conscience as he says, 'I could be just as bitter, if I consented to be as bad.'''
”I cannot at all account for Upton's endurance of such a man,” said Harcourt.
”As there are men who fancy that they strengthen their animal system by braving every extreme of climate, so Upton imagines that he invigorates his _morale_ by a.s.sociating with all kinds and descriptions of people; and there is no doubt that in doing so he extends the sphere of his knowledge of mankind. After all,” muttered he, with a sigh, ”it 's only learning the geography of a land too unhealthy to live in.”
Glencore arose as he said this, and, with a nod of leave-taking, retired to his room.
CHAPTER x.x.xVI. A FEVERED MIND
Harcourt pa.s.sed the morning of the following day in watching the street for Scaresby's arrival. Glencore's impatience had grown into absolute fever to obtain the missing letter, and he kept asking every moment at what hour he had promised to be there, and wondering at his delay.
Noon pa.s.sed over,--one o'clock; it was now nearly half-past, as a carriage drove hastily to the door.
”At last,” cried Glencore, with a deep sigh.
”Sir Gilbert Bruce, sir, requests to know if you can receive him,” said the servant to Harcourt.
”Another disappointment!” muttered Glencore, as he left the room, when Harcourt motioned to the servant to introduce the visitor.
”My dear Colonel Harcourt,” cried the other, entering, ”excuse a very abrupt call; but I have a most pressing need of your a.s.sistance. I hear you can inform me of Lord Glencore's address.”
”He is residing in North Wales at present. I can give you his post town.”
”Yes, but can I be certain that he will admit me if I should go down there? He is living, I hear, in strict retirement, and I am anxious for a personal interview.”
”I cannot insure you that,” said Harcourt. ”He does live, as you have heard, entirely estranged from all society. But if you write to him--”
”Ah! there's the difficulty. A letter and its reply takes some days.”
”And is the matter, then, so very imminent?”
”It is so; at least it is thought to be so by an authority that neither you nor I will be likely to dispute. You know his Lords.h.i.+p intimately, I fancy?”
”Perhaps. I may call myself as much his friend as any man living.”
”Well, then, I may confide to you my business with him. It happened that, a few days back, Lord Adderley was on a visit with the King at Brighton, when a foreign messenger arrived with despatches. They were, of course, forwarded to him there; and as the King has a pa.s.sion for that species of literature, he opened them all himself. Now, I suspect that his Majesty cares more for the amusing incidents which occasionally diversify the life of foreign courts than for the great events of politics. At all events, he devours them with avidity, and seems conversant with the characters and private affairs of some hundreds of people he has never seen, nor in all likelihood will ever see! In turning over the loose pages of one of the despatches from Naples, I think, he came upon what appeared to be a fragment of a letter. Of what it was, or what it contained, I have not the slightest knowledge.
Adderley himself has not seen it, nor any one but the King. All I know is that it concerns in some way Lord Glencore; for immediately on reading it he gave me instructions to find him out, and send him down to Brighton.”
”I am afraid, were you to see Glencore, your mission would prove a failure. He has given up the world altogether, and even a royal command would scarcely withdraw him from his retirement.”
”At all events, I must make the trial. You can let me have his address, and perhaps you would do more, and give me some sort of introduction to him,--something that might smooth down the difficulty of a first visit.”