"Where have you been all the morning, Charles?" said Lord Marney cominginto his brother's dressing-room a few minutes before dinner; "Arabellahad made the nicest little riding party for you and Lady Joan, and youwere to be found nowhere. If you go on in this way, there is no use ofhaving affectionate relations, or anything else."
"I have been walking about Mowbray. One should see a factory once inone's life."
"I don't see the necessity," said Lord Marney; "I never saw one, andnever intend. Though to be sure, when I hear the rents that Mowbray getsfor his land in their neighbourhood, I must say I wish the worsted workshad answered at Marney. And if it had not been for our poor dear father,they would."
"Our family have always been against manufactories,railroads--everything," said Egremont.
"Railroads are very good things, with high compensation," said LordMarney; "and manufactories not so bad, with high rents; but, after all,these are enterprises for the canaille, and I hate them in my heart."
"But they employ the people, George."
"The people do not want employment; it is the greatest mistake in theworld; all this employment is a stimulus to population. Never mind that;what I came in for, is to tell you that both Arabella and myself thinkyou talk too much to Lady Maud."
"I like her the best."
"What has that to do with it my dear fellow? Business is business. OldMowbray will make an elder son out of his elder daughter. The affairis settled; I know it from the best authority. Talking to Lady Maud isinsanity. It is all the same for her as if Fitz-Warene had never died.And then that great event, which ought to be the foundation of yourfortune, would be perfectly thrown away. Lady Maud, at the best, isnothing more than twenty thousand pounds and a fat living. Besides, sheis engaged to that parson fellow, St Lys.
"St Lys told me to-day that nothing would ever induce him to marry. Hewould practise celibacy, though he would not enjoin it."
"Enjoin fiddle-stick! How came you to be talking to such a sanctifiedimposter; and, I believe, with all his fine phrases, a complete radical.I tell you what, Charles, you must really make way with Lady Joan. Thegrandfather has come to-day, the old Duke. Quite a family party. Itlooks so well. Never was such a golden opportunity. And you must besharp too. That little Jermyn, with his brown eyes and his white hands,has not come down here, in the month of August, with no sport of anykind, for nothing."
"I shall set Lady Firebrace at him."
"She is quite your friend, and a very sensible woman too, Charles, andan ally not to be despised. Lady Joan has a very high opinion of her.There's the bell. Well, I shall tell Arabella that you mean to put upthe steam, and Lady Firebrace shall keep Jermyn off. And perhaps it isas well you did not seem too eager at first. Mowbray Castle, my dearfellow, in spite of its manufactories, is not to be despised. And witha little firmness, you could keep the people out of your park. Mowbraycould do it, only he has no pluck. He is afraid people would say he wasthe son of a footman."
The Duke, who was the father of the Countess de Mowbray, was also lordlieutenant of the county. Although advanced in years, he was stillextremely handsome; with the most winning manners; full of amenityand grace. He had been a roue in his youth, but seemed now the perfectrepresentative of a benignant and virtuous old age. He was universallypopular; admired by young men, adored by young ladies. Lord de Mowbraypaid him the most distinguished consideration. It was genuine. Howevermaliciously the origin of his own father might be represented, nobodycould deprive him of that great fact, his father-in-law; a duke, a dukeof a great house who had intermarried for generations with great houses,one of the old nobility, and something even loftier.
The county of which his grace was Lord Lieutenant was very proud of itsnobility; and certainly with Marney Abbey at one end, and Mowbray Castleat the other, it had just cause; but both these illustrious housesyielded in importance, though not in possessions, to the great peer whowas the governor of the province.
A French actress, clever as French actresses always are, had persuaded,once upon a time, an easy-tempered monarch of this realm, that thepaternity of her coming babe was a distinction of which his majestymight be proud. His majesty did not much believe her; but he was asensible man, and never disputed a point with a woman; so when thebabe was born, and proved a boy, he christened him with his name;and elevated him to the peerage in his cradle by the title of Duke ofFitz-Aquitaine and Marquis of Gascony.
An estate the royal father could not endow him with, for he had spentall his money, mortgaged all his resources, and was obliged to run indebt himself for the jewels of the rest of his mistresses; but he didhis best for the young peer, as became an affectionate father or afond lover. His majesty made him when he arrived at man's estatethe hereditary keeper of a palace which he possessed in the north ofEngland; and this secured his grace a castle and a park. He could wavehis flag and kill his deer; and if he had only possessed an estate, hewould have been as well off as if he had helped conquer the realm withKing William, or plundered the church for King Harry. A revenue musthowever be found for the Duke of Fitz-Aquitaine, and it was furnishedwithout the interference of Parliament, but with a financial dexterityworthy of that assembly--to whom and not to our sovereigns we areobliged for the public debt. The king granted the duke and his heirs forever, a pension on the post-office, a light tax upon coals shipped toLondon, and a tithe of all the shrimps caught on the southern coast.This last source of revenue became in time, with the development ofwatering-places, extremely prolific. And so, what with the foreigncourts and colonies for the younger sons, it was thus contrived veryrespectably to maintain the hereditary dignity of this great peer.
The present Duke of Fitz-Aquitaine had supported the Reform Bill, buthad been shocked by the Appropriation clause; very much admired LordStanley, and was apt to observe, that if that nobleman had been theleader of the conservative party, he hardly knew what he might not havedone himself. But the duke was an old whig, had lived with old whigs allhis life, feared revolution, but still more the necessity of taking hisname out of Brookes', where he had looked in every day or night since hecame of age. So, not approving of what was going on, yet not caring todesert his friends, he withdrew, as the phrase runs, from publiclife; that is to say, was rarely in his seat; did not continue to LordMelbourne the proxy that had been entrusted to Lord Grey; and made torymagistrates in his county though a whig lord lieutenant.
When forces were numbered, and speculations on the future indulged inby the Tadpoles and Tapers, the name of the Duke of Fitz-Aquitaine wasmentioned with a knowing look and in a mysterious tone. Nothing morewas necessary between Tadpole and Taper; but, if some hack in statupupillari happened to be present at the conference, and the gentlenovice greedy for party tattle, and full of admiring reverence forthe two great hierophants of petty mysteries before him, ventured tointimate his anxiety for initiation, the secret was entrusted to him,"that all was right there; that his grace only watched his opportunity;that he was heartily sick of the present men; indeed, would have goneover with Lord Stanley in 1835, had he not had a fit of the gout, whichprevented him from coming up from the north; and though to be sure hisson and brother did vote against the speaker, still that was a mistake;if a letter had been sent, which was not written, they would have votedthe other way, and perhaps Sir Robert might have been in at the presentmoment."
The Duke of Fitz-Aquitaine was the great staple of Lady Firebrace'scorrespondence with Mr Tadpole. "Woman's mission" took the shape to herintelligence of getting over his grace to the conservatives. She wasmuch assisted in these endeavours by the information which she sodexterously acquired from the innocent and incautious Lord Masque.
Egremont was seated at dinner to-day by the side of Lady Joan.Unconsciously to himself this had been arranged by Lady Marney. Theaction of woman on our destiny is unceasing. Egremont was scarcely in ahappy mood for conversation. He was pensive, inclined to be absent; histhoughts indeed were of other things and persons than those around him.Lady Joan however only required
a listener. She did not make enquirieslike Lady Maud, or impart her own impressions by suggesting them as yourown. Lady Joan gave Egremont an account of the Aztec cities, of whichshe had been reading that morning, and of the several historicaltheories which their discovery had suggested; then she imparted her own,which differed from all, but which seemed clearly the right one. Mexicoled to Egypt. Lady Joan was as familiar with the Pharaohs as with theCaciques of the new world. The phonetic system was despatched by theway. Then came Champollion then Paris; then all its celebrities,literary and especially scientific; then came the letter from Aragoreceived that morning; and the letter from Dr Buckland expectedto-morrow. She was delighted that one had written; wondered why theother had not. Finally before the ladies had retired, she had invitedEgremont to join Lady Marney in a visit to her observatory, where theywere to behold a comet which she had been the first to detect.
Lady Firebrace next to the duke indulged in mysterious fiddle-fadde asto the state of parties. She too had her correspondents, and her lettersreceived or awaited. Tadpole said this; Lord Masque, on the contrary,said that: the truth lay perhaps between them; some result developed bythe clear intelligence of Lady Firebrace acting on the data withwhich they supplied her. The duke listened with calm excitement tothe transcendental revelations of his Egeria. Nothing appeared to beconcealed from her; the inmost mind of the sovereign: there was nota royal prejudice that was not mapped in her secret inventory; thecabinets of the whigs and the clubs of the tories, she had the "opensesame" to all of them. Sir Somebody did not want office, though hepretended to; and Lord Nobody did want office, though he pretended hedid not. One great man thought the pear was not ripe; another that itwas quite rotten; but then the first was coming on the stage, and theother was going off. In estimating the accuracy of a political opinion,one should take into consideration the standing of the opinionist.
At the right moment, and when she was sure she was not overheard, LadyFirebrace played her trump card, the pack having been previously cut byMr Tadpole.
"And who do you think Sir Robert would send to Ireland?" and she lookedup in the face of the Duke of Fitz-Aquitaine.
"I suppose the person he sent before," said his grace.
Lady Firebrace shook her head.
"Lord Haddington will not go to Ireland again," replied her ladyship,mysteriously; "mark me. And Lord De Grey does not like to go; and if hedid, there are objections. And the Duke of Northumberland, he will notgo. And who else is there? We must have a nobleman of the highest rankfor Ireland; one who has not mixed himself up with Irish questions; whohas always been in old days for emancipation a conservative, not anorangeman. You understand. That is the person Sir Robert will send, andwhom Sir Robert wants."
"He will have some difficulty in finding such a person," said the duke."If, indeed, the blundering affair of 1834 had not occurred, and thingshad taken their legitimate course, and we had seen a man like LordStanley for instance at the head of affairs, or leading a great party,why then indeed your friends the conservatives,--for every sensibleman must be a conservative, in the right sense of the word,--would havestood in a very different position but now--," and his grace shook hishead.
"Sir Robert will never consent to form a government again without LordStanley," said Lady Firebrace.
"Perhaps not," said the duke.
"Do you know whose name I have heard mentioned in a certain quarteras the person Sir Robert would wish to see in Ireland?" continued LadyFirebrace.
His grace leant his ear.
"The Duke of Fitz-Aquitaine," said Lady Firebrace.
"Quite impossible," said the duke. "I am no party man; if I be anything,I am a supporter of the government. True it is I do not like the waythey are going on, and I disapprove of all their measures; but we muststand by our friends, Lady Firebrace. To be sure, if the country were indanger, and the Queen personally appealed to one, and the conservativeparty were really a conservative party, and not an old crazy factionvamped up and whitewashed into decency--one might pause and consider.But I am free to confess I must see things in a very different conditionto what they are at present before I could be called upon to take thatstep. I must see men like Lord Stanley--"
"I know what you are going to say, my dear Duke of Fitz-Aquitaine. Itell you again Lord Stanley is with us, heart and soul; and before longI feel persuaded I shall see your grace in the Castle of Dublin."
"I am too old; at least, I am afraid so," said the Duke ofFitz-Aquitaine, with a relenting smile.
Book 2 Chapter 16