This very reasonable speech added nothing to Mr Allandale’s comfort. He said heavily. ‘I’m obliged to you, sir. I might remind you that the attachment between us was formed more than a year ago, and has but been strengthened by the passage of time, but I shall not do so.’
‘As we see,’ murmured Cardross dryly.
‘The force of your objection is fully felt by me,’ continued Mr Allandale, embarking on one of his rehearsed periods. ‘It might well be thought that Lady Letitia is as yet too young to be permitted to follow the dictates of her heart. Moreover, no one is more conscious than I that in so doing she would be held, in vulgar parlance, to have thrown herself away.’
‘Yes, well, do let us talk in vulgar parlance!’ begged Cardross. ‘Not to wrap the matter up in clean linen, my sister is a foolish chit with a turn for the high-romantical; and you, my dear sir, are not very much wiser! Her fortune apart – and you need not tell me that you wish her fortune at Jericho, because I acquit you of hanging out for a rich wife – I can conceive of few more unsuitable partners for a man in your position. You have your career before you: I wish you very well, and in proof of this can only advise you not to saddle yourself with an extravagant and shatterbrained little puss for a wife!’
Considerably taken-aback by this forthright speech, Mr Allandale could think of nothing better to say than: ‘Am I to understand, then, that you refuse your consent to our betrothal, sir?’
‘For the present, most certainly you are!’ returned the Earl. ‘You look to be a man of sense, so you will not, I hope, accuse me of cruelty. I have not said, nor shall I, that I will never give my consent; I don’t even say that you must wait until Letty comes of age. But do, I beg of you, consider my position in this! Can you feel that I should honourably have fulfilled my charge if I allowed a chit who has not yet reached her eighteenth year to tie herself up in matrimony to a young man in your circumstances?’
‘No,’ said Mr Allandale bleakly.
The Earl was conscious of an impulse to retract, even to bestow his blessing on the lovers. He quelled it, saying cheerfully: ‘Of course you cannot! But if, in a couple of years’ time, you are both still of the same mind, and you come to me again with this proposal, I must be hardhearted indeed to refuse my consent.’
‘I do not anticipate being in England in a couple of years’ time,’ said Mr Allandale, more bleakly still. ‘It was my intention to have explained to your lordship at the outset that I was emboldened to come to you today by the circumstance of my having been appointed to a very advantageous post. I owe this advancement in part to the kind offices of Lord Roxwell, who was formerly much attached to my father; and I have every reason to expect that it will lead, should I acquit myself creditably, to more rapid promotion than has hitherto seemed probable.’
‘I am sure you will acquit yourself admirably, and must beg leave to congratulate you on your good fortune. I collect that you are to join one of our embassies?’
‘Yes, sir. I am appointed – that is to say, I shall, within the next three months be appointed to the staff of our minister at the Court of the Regent of Portugal.’
‘The Regent of Portugal?’ repeated Cardross. ‘But he is in Brazil!’
Mr Allandale inclined his head. ‘Just so, sir,’ he agreed.
‘Good God!’ ejaculated Cardross. ‘Were you proposing in all seriousness to take Letty to South America? You must be mad!’
‘She assures me,’ said Mr Allandale earnestly, ‘that she would like it above all things.’
‘And what the devil do you imagine she knows about it?’ demanded Cardross.
‘I am credibly informed,’ offered Mr Allandale, ‘that the climate at Rio de Janeiro is salubrious.’
‘Oh, take a damper!’ said Cardross impatiently. ‘Did this cork-brained notion come out of your head, or hers? Did she persuade you to come here today, or – No, of course she did! You at least cannot have supposed that there was the least likelihood of my consenting to such a preposterous scheme!’
‘No,’ said Mr Allandale. ‘I must own that I had little hope of obtaining your lordship’s consent. I am aware that in your eyes the scheme must seem preposterous.’
‘And how does it seem in yours?’ enquired the Earl curiously. ‘You have been acquainted with my sister for more than a year, after all!’
‘Were it not for your lordship’s refusal to entertain my proposal, I should have no hesitation in asking Lady Letitia to accompany me, as my wife, to Brazil.’
‘The devil you wouldn’t!’
‘I believe her to be equal to anything,’ said Mr Allandale reverently. ‘When I first learned of the appointment, I confess that the very natural feeling of delight I experienced was instantly tempered – I might almost say dissipated – by the same doubt of which your lordship is conscious. I could not believe that a delicately nurtured female – and one, moreover, of such tender years – could contemplate without dismay the several evils attaching to the appointment. The discomforts of a long sea-voyage! the going amongst foreigners! the separation from her relations! I promise you, sir, every disagreeable possibility that presented itself to my mind was at once communicated to her by me. But nothing was ever like her spirit! What inconveniences there may be she will not regard; and although I do not anticipate that there is any danger to be apprehended, that she would meet with the same trust and courage which she shows in being willing to bestow her hand upon one whose prosperity must depend upon his own exertions!’
The thought of this nobility overcame him so much that his voice thickened, and he was obliged to blow his nose. Its effect upon Cardross was to exasperate him into saying, with a snap: ‘I suppose she told you so!’
‘Yes,’ replied Mr Allandale simply.
‘Did she also work on you to come here today with your fantastic proposal?’
‘She certainly thought that with my advancement now secured we might hope for some relenting on your part,’ admitted Mr Allandale.
The Earl looked him over somewhat grimly. ‘But you did not think so, Mr Allandale, did you?’
‘Well –’
‘It appears to me, my dear sir, that you are as wax in my sister’s hands! It is a reflection which fills me with deep misgiving. I know Letty to be as headstrong as she is bird-witted, and what she may next bully or bewitch you into doing there is no saying – though I might hazard a guess!’
‘If you mean, sir, that I might be tempted to elope with Lady Letitia you may be easy!’ returned Mr Allandale, reddening. ‘Even if I were not a man of honour, my circumstances must forbid me to embark on anything of a clandestine nature.’ He drew a breath, and continued with a little difficulty: ‘You were kind enough, my lord, to acquit me of hanging out (as you phrased it) for a rich wife. That is true, for, in fact, I had not, until I met Lady Letitia, any thought of marriage at all. My widowed parent, though possessed of a respectable jointure, is quite unable to support the expense of educating my younger brothers and sisters without my assistance; and until they are established creditably I must not – indeed, I cannot! – marry a female who has no fortune of her own. Just a genteel fortune, to match my own. I never contemplated marriage to a great heiress – and, to own the truth, it is not what I like! However, I daresay it may be possible to form some kind of a trust which would ensure that I should not benefit by anything more than a reasonable amount.’
‘The matter is not of pressing importance,’ said the Earl. ‘Until she reaches the age of five-and-twenty my sister’s fortune is in my hands, and her allowance is at my discretion. If I chose to do it, I could cut off every penny of it.’
‘I cannot believe, sir, that you would be guilty of such inhumanity!’ said Mr Allandale, in a voice of strong censure.
‘There would be no inhumanity,’ replied Cardross coolly. ‘Letty would merely be obliged to continue living in my house, and her dre
ss-bills would be paid by me. I may add that I already pay quite a number of them. I am afraid you would find her very expensive, for she never has a feather to fly with, you know.’
‘I am aware that she has not been taught habits of economy,’ said Mr Allandale stiffly. ‘Indeed, she has told me so herself, and has regretted it. She is very willing to learn, and I hope to teach her to manage better.’
‘Yes, in my more optimistic moments I too indulge that hope,’ agreed Cardross. ‘Go and take up this appointment of yours, and I’ll engage to do my best to instil some small knowledge of economy into her head while you are away. Who knows? You may return to find her quite prudent!’
Mr Allandale rose, and walked over to the window. He said, staring out of it: ‘I do not imagine that it will be of any use to return. Not, of course, that I contemplate passing the rest of my life in Brazil, but –’ He stopped, and cleared his throat. ‘I cannot flatter myself that I shall find her still unattached. So much sought-after – and by men of far greater address than will ever be mine – separated from me for a prolonged period, and by such a distance – No, it would be too much to expect of her! She will wed another.’
‘The same fate may as easily overtake you, my dear sir,’ remarked the Earl.
‘No,’ said Mr Allandale baldly. He added, after a pause: ‘My feeling is unalterable. I am not subject to fits of gallantry, sir. I had even believed myself to be proof against – But from the moment when I first saw your sister, I knew myself lost! I struggled against it, for the unsuitability of the match was as plain to me as it is to you. It was to no avail. I shall never marry any other lady.’
‘Ah!’ murmured the Earl, looking amused. ‘I remember that I said much the same thing myself – a good many years ago. She was ravishingly beautiful – at least, I know I thought so, though, to own the truth, I can now only vaguely recall her face to my mind.’
‘I am happy to afford your lordship entertainment!’ said Mr Allandale, in rather less measured accents.
‘No, you are not,’ replied Cardross, rising. ‘You would like to plant me a facer, and I’m sure I don’t wonder at it. Nothing is more exasperating than to be obliged to listen to advice based on experience which is necessarily wider than your own – particularly when you have an uneasy suspicion that it may be good!’
‘I have no such suspicion,’ instantly retorted Mr Allandale. ‘I venture to think that my nature is more tenacious than your lordship’s!’
‘In that case,’ said Cardross, with unimpaired good-humour, ‘I shall expect to see you again upon your return from Rio de Janeiro. In the meantime, accept my best wishes for your success in that salubrious locality!’
‘Do you forbid me to hold further communication with Lady Letitia, sir?’ demanded Mr Allandale, somewhat reluctantly taking the hand that was being held out to him.
‘My dear sir, do let me assure you that I am neither so gothic nor so cork-brained! I daresay you will meet Letty at any number of parties. As for clandestine meetings, I am persuaded that your sense of propriety must be safeguard enough.’
‘Anything of a clandestine nature is repugnant to me,’ stated Mr Allandale. ‘I can only beg of you, sir, to consider well before you blight, perhaps for ever, the happiness of two persons, one of whom is – or should be – dear to you! I reject – indeed, I scorn! – your suggestions of inconstancy, but too well do I know the arts that are employed in the world of fashion to detach from an unworthy object the affections of such as Lady Letitia! All is sacrificed to pride and consequence! If I were in more affluent circumstances, I believe no considerations of propriety could avail to prevent me – But it serves no purpose to continue talking!’
‘None whatsoever,’ agreed Cardross, leading the way to the door. ‘It might even lead me to take you in dislike, and that, you know, would be fatal to your chances!’
Three
Any scheme of intercepting her lover on his way out of the house which Letty might have cherished was frustrated by the Earl’s escorting him to the front-door, and seeing him safely off the premises. He strolled back to the library; and, after hesitating for a moment or two at the head of the stairs, from which post of vantage she had watched Mr Allandale’s departure, Letty ran lightly down, and herself entered the library.
Cardross was engaged in mending a pen, but he looked up, and, when he saw his half-sister backed against the door, an urgent question in her speaking eyes, abandoned this task. A laugh quivered in his voice as he said: ‘Letty, you goose! Did you really think that I should succumb to that unfortunate young man’s oratory? Do forgive me! But surely he is a very dull dog?’
‘I don’t care for that,’ she said, swallowing a sob. ‘He is not dull to me. I love him!’
‘You must do so indeed! I should have supposed him to be the last man to take your fancy, too.’
‘Well, he is not, and even if you are my guardian I won’t submit to having my husband chosen for me by you!’
‘Certainly not. It’s plain I should make a poor hand at it.’
Hope gleamed in her eyes; she moved towards him, and laid a coaxing hand on his arm. ‘Dear Giles, if you please, may I marry him?’
He gave her hand a pat, but said: ‘Why, yes, Letty, when you are older.’
‘But, Giles, you don’t understand! He is going away to Brazil!’
‘So he informed me.’
‘Are you thinking that perhaps it might not suit me to live there? I believe the climate is perfectly healthy!’
‘Salubrious,’ he interpolated.
‘Yes, and in any event I am never ill! You may ask my aunt if it’s not so!’
‘I am sure it is. Don’t let us fall into another exhausting argument! I have already endured a great deal of eloquence today, but it would take much more than eloquence to make me consent to your marriage to an indigent young man who proposes to take you to the other end of the world before you are eighteen, or have been out a year.’
‘That doesn’t signify! And although I own it would be imprudent to marry Jeremy if I were indigent too I am not indigent, so that’s of no consequence either!’
‘I promise you I shan’t refuse my consent on that head, if, when he returns from Brazil, you still wish to marry him.’
‘And what if some odious, designing female has lured him into marrying her?’ she demanded.
‘He assures me that his nature is tenacious, so we must hope that he will be proof against all designing females,’ he replied lightly.
‘You don’t hope that! You don’t wish me ever to marry him!’
‘No, of course I don’t! Good God, child, how could I wish you to throw yourself away so preposterously, far less help you to do it when you are hardly out of the schoolroom?’
‘If he were a man of rank and fortune you wouldn’t say I was too young!’
‘If he were a man of rank and fortune, my dear, he would not be taking up a post as some kind of secretary in Rio de Janeiro. But if it comforts you at all I don’t wish to see you married to anyone for a year or two yet.’
‘Oh, don’t talk to me as if I were a silly little child!’ she cried passionately.
‘Well, I don’t think you are very wise,’ he said.
‘No, perhaps I’m not wise, but I’m not a child, and I know my own mind! You aren’t very wise either, if you think I shall change it, or forget Jeremy! I shall remember, and be unhappy for two whole years, and very likely more! I daresay you don’t care for that, for I see that you aren’t kind, which I thought you were, but, on the contrary, perfectly heartless!’
‘Not a bit of it!’ he said cheerfully. ‘With the best will in the world to do it, I fancy you won’t fall quite into dejection. There will still be balls to attend, and new, and extremely expensive dresses to buy.’
‘I don’t want them!’
‘I wis
h I might believe you! Do you mean to abjure the fashionable life?’
She threw him a smouldering look. ‘You may laugh at me, but I warn you, Cardross, I am determined to marry Jeremy, do what you will to prevent me!’
He replied only with an ironical bow; and after staring defiantly at him for an instant, she swept from the room with an air of finality only marred by the unfortunate circumstance of her shutting a fold of her gown of delicate lilac muslin in the door, and being obliged to open it again to release the fabric.
Twenty minutes later Nell came softly into the room. The Earl looked up impatiently, but when he saw his wife standing on the threshold his expression changed, and he smiled at her, saying in a funning tone: ‘How do you contrive, Nell, always to appear prettier than I remembered you?’
She blushed adorably. ‘Well, I did hope you would think I looked becomingly in this gown,’ she confessed naïvely.
‘I do. Did you put it on to dazzle me into paying for it?’
This was said so quizzically that her spirits rose. It had taken a great deal of resolution to bring her to the library that morning, for a most unwelcome missive had been delivered by the penny post. Since the Earl paid five shillings to the General Post Office every quarter for the privilege of receiving an early London delivery Madame Lavalle’s civil reminder to her ladyship that a court dress of Chantilly lace was still unpaid for had lain on Nell’s breakfast-tray. It was not an encouraging start to the day. It had quite destroyed Nell’s appetite, and had filled her with so much frightened dismay that for an unreasoning hour she could think of no other way out of her difficulties than to board the first mail-coach bound for Devonshire, and there to seek refuge with her mama. A prolonged period of reflection, however, showed her the unwisdom of this course, and convinced her that since it was extremely unlikely that a thunderbolt would descend mercifully upon her head there was nothing for it but to make a clean breast of the matter to Cardross, devoutly trusting that he would understand how it had come about that she had forgotten to give him Madame Lavalle’s bill with all the others which he had commanded her to produce.