The Last Chronicle of Barset

  CHAPTER LXV.

  MISS VAN SIEVER MAKES HER CHOICE.

  Clara Van Siever did stay all that night with Mrs. Broughton. In thecourse of the evening she received a note from her mother, in whichshe was told to come home to breakfast. "You can go back to herafterwards," said Mrs. Van Siever; "and I will see her myself in thecourse of the day, if she will let me." The note was written on ascrap of paper, and had neither beginning nor end; but this was afterthe manner of Mrs. Van Siever, and Clara was not in the least hurtor surprised. "My mother will come to see you after breakfast," saidClara, as she was taking her leave.

  "Oh, goodness! And what shall I say to her?"

  "You will have to say very little. She will speak to you."

  "I suppose everything belongs to her now," said Mrs. Broughton.

  "I know nothing about that. I never do know anything of mamma's moneymatters."

  "Of course she'll turn me out. I do not mind a bit about that,--onlyI hope she'll let me have some mourning." Then she made Clara promisethat she would return as soon as possible, having in Clara's presenceovercome all that feeling of dislike which she had expressed toConway Dalrymple. Mrs. Broughton was generally affectionate tothose who were near to her. Had Musselboro forced himself into herpresence, she would have become quite confidential with him before heleft her.

  "Mr. Musselboro will be here directly," said Mrs. Van Siever, as shewas starting for Mrs. Broughton's house. "You had better tell him tocome to me there; or, stop,--perhaps you had better keep him heretill I come back. Tell him to be sure and wait for me."

  "Very well, mamma. I suppose he can wait below?"

  "Why should he wait below?" said Mrs. Van Siever, very angrily.

  Clara had made the uncourteous proposition to her mother with theexpress intention of making it understood that she would have nothingto say to him. "He can come upstairs if he likes it," said Clara;"and I will go up to my room."

  "If you fight shy of him, miss, you may remember this,--that you willfight shy of me at the same time."

  "I am sorry for that, mamma, for I shall certainly fight shy of Mr.Musselboro."

  "You can do as you please. I can't force you, and I shan't try. ButI can make your life a burden to you,--and I will. What's the matterwith the man that he isn't good enough for you? He's as good as anyof your own people ever was. I hate your new-fangled airs,--withpictures painted on the sly, and all the rest of it. I hate suchways. See what they have brought that wretched man to, and the poorfool his wife. If you go and marry that painter, some of these daysyou'll be very much like what she is. Only I doubt whether he has gotcourage enough to blow his brains out." With these comfortable words,the old woman took herself off, leaving Clara to entertain her loveras best she might choose.

  Mr. Musselboro was not long in coming, and, in accordance with Mrs.Van Siever's implied directions to her daughter, was shown up intothe drawing-room. Clara gave him her mother's message in a very fewwords. "I was expressly told, sir, to ask you to stop, if it is notinconvenient, as she very much wants to see you." Mr. Musselborodeclared that of course he would stop. He was only too happy to havean opportunity of remaining in such delightful society. As Claraanswered nothing to this, he went on to say that he hoped that themelancholy occasion of Mrs. Van Siever's visit to Mrs. Broughtonmight make a long absence necessary,--he did not, indeed, care howlong it might be. He had recovered now from that paleness, and thatwant of gloves and jewellery which had befallen him on the previousday immediately after the sight he had seen in the City. Clara madeno answer to the last speech, but, putting some things together inher work-basket, prepared to leave the room. "I hope you are notgoing to leave me?" he said, in a voice that was intended to conveymuch of love, and something of melancholy.

  "I am so shocked by what has happened, Mr. Musselboro, that I amaltogether unfit for conversation. I was with poor Mrs. Broughtonlast night, and I shall return to her when mamma comes home."

  "It is sad, certainly; but what was there to be expected? If you'donly seen how he used to go on." To this Clara made no answer. "Don'tgo yet," said he; "there is something that I want to say to you.There is, indeed."

  Clara Van Siever was a young woman whose presence of mind rarelydeserted her. It occurred to her now that she must undergo on someoccasion the nuisance of a direct offer from this man, and that shecould have no better opportunity of answering him after her ownfashion than the present. Her mother was absent, and the field washer own. And, moreover, it was a point in her favour that the tragedywhich had so lately occurred, and to which she had just now alluded,would give her a fair excuse for additional severity. At such amoment no man could, she told herself, be justified in making anoffer of his love, and therefore she might rebuke him with the lessremorse. I wonder whether the last words which Conway Dalrymple hadspoken to her stung her conscience as she thought of this! She hadnow reached the door, and was standing close to it. As Mr. Musselborodid not at once begin, she encouraged him. "If you have anythingspecial to tell me, of course I will hear you," she said.

  "Miss Clara," he began, rising from his chair, and coming into themiddle of the room, "I think you know what my wishes are." Then heput his hand upon his heart. "And your respected mother is the sameway of thinking. It's that that emboldens me to be so sudden. Not butwhat my heart has been yours and yours only all along, before the oldlady so much as mentioned it." Clara would give him no assistance,not even the aid of a negative, but stood there quite passive, withher hand on the door. "Since I first had the pleasure of seeing youI have always said to myself, 'Augustus Musselboro, that is the womanfor you, if you can only win her.' But then there was so much againstme,--wasn't there?" She would not even take advantage of this byassuring him that there certainly always had been much against him,but allowed him to go on till he should run out all the length ofhis tether. "I mean, of course, in the way of money," he continued."I hadn't much that I could call my own when your respected mammafirst allowed me to become acquainted with you. But it's differentnow; and I think I may say that I'm all right in that respect. PoorBroughton's going in this way will make it a deal smoother to me; andI may say that I and your mamma will be all in all to each other nowabout money." Then he stopped.

  "I don't quite understand what you mean by all this," said Clara.

  "I mean that there isn't a more devoted fellow in all London thanwhat I am to you." Then he was about to go down on one knee, but itoccurred to him that it would not be convenient to kneel to a ladywho would stand quite close to the door. "One and one, if they're puttogether well, will often make more than two, and so they shall withus," said Musselboro, who began to feel that it might be expedient tothrow a little spirit into his words.

  "If you have done," said Clara, "you may as well hear me for aminute. And I hope you will have sense to understand that I reallymean what I say."

  "I hope you will remember what are your mamma's wishes."

  "Mamma's wishes have no influence whatsoever with me in such mattersas this. Mamma's arrangements with you are for her own convenience,and I am not a party to them. I do not know anything about mamma'smoney, and I do not want to know. But under no possible circumstanceswill I consent to become your wife. Nothing that mamma could say ordo would induce me even to think of it. I hope you will be man enoughto take this for an answer, and say nothing more about it."

  "But, Miss Clara--"

  "It's no good your Miss Claraing me, sir. What I have said you may besure I mean. Good-morning, sir." Then she opened the door, and lefthim.

  "By Jove, she is a Tartar," said Musselboro to himself, when he wasalone. "They're both Tartars, but the younger is the worse." Then hebegan to speculate whether Fortune was not doing the best for him inso arranging that he might have the use of the Tartar-mother's moneywithout binding himself to endure for life the Tartar qualities ofthe daughter.

  It had been understood that Clara was to wait at home till her mothershould return before she again went across to Mrs. Broughton. Atabout eleven
Mrs. Van Siever came in, and her daughter interceptedher at the dining-room door before she had made her way upstairs toMr. Musselboro. "How is she, mamma?" said Clara with something ofhypocrisy in her assumed interest for Mrs. Broughton.

  "She is an idiot," said Mrs. Van Siever.

  "She has had a terrible misfortune!"

  "That is no reason why she should be an idiot; and she is heartlesstoo. She never cared a bit for him;--not a bit."

  "He was a man whom it was impossible to care for much. I will go toher now, mamma."

  "Where is Musselboro?"

  "He is upstairs."

  "Well?"

  "Mamma, that is quite out of the question. Quite. I would not marryhim to save myself from starving."

  "You do not know what starving is yet, my dear. Tell me the truth atonce. Are you engaged to that painter?" Clara paused a moment beforeshe answered, not hesitating as to the expediency of telling hermother any truth on the matter in question, but doubting what thetruth might really be. Could she say that she was engaged to Mr.Dalrymple, or could she say that she was not? "If you tell me a lie,miss, I'll have you put out of the house."

  "You do not know what starving is, my dear."]

  "I certainly shall not tell you a lie. Mr. Dalrymple has asked me tobe his wife, and I have made him no answer. If he asks me again Ishall accept him."

  "Then I order you not to leave this house," said Mrs. Van Siever.

  "Surely I may go to Mrs. Broughton?"

  "I order you not to leave this house," said Mrs. Van Sieveragain,--and thereupon she stalked out of the dining-room and wentupstairs. Clara had been standing with her bonnet on, ready dressedto go out, and the mother made no attempt to send the daughter up toher room. That she did not expect to be obeyed in her order may beinferred from the first words which she spoke to Mr. Musselboro. "Shehas gone off to that man now. You are no good, Musselboro, at thiskind of work."

  "You see, Mrs. Van, he had the start of me so much. And then being atthe West End, and all that, gives a man such a standing with a girl!"

  "Bother!" said Mrs. Van Siever, as her quick ear caught the sound ofthe closing hall-door. Clara had stood a minute or two to consider,and then had resolved that she would disobey her mother. She tried toexcuse her own conduct to her own satisfaction as she went. "Thereare some things," she said, "which even a daughter cannot hear fromher mother. If she chooses to close the door against me, she must doso."

  She found Mrs. Broughton still in bed, and could not but agree withher mother that the woman was both silly and heartless.

  "Your mother says that everything must be sold up," said Mrs.Broughton.

  "At any rate you would hardly choose to remain here," said Clara.

  "But I hope she'll let me have my own things. A great many of themare altogether my own. I know there's a law that a woman may have herown things, even though her husband has,--done what poor Dobbs did.And I think she was hard upon me about the mourning. They never domind giving credit for such things as that, and though there is abill due to Mrs. Morell now, she has had a deal of Dobbs's money."Clara promised her that she should have mourning to her heart'scontent. "I will see to that myself," she said.

  Presently there was a knock at the door, and the discreethead-servant beckoned Clara out of the room. "You are not goingaway," said Mrs. Broughton. Clara promised her that she would notgo without coming back again. "He will be here soon, I suppose, andperhaps you had better see him; though, for the matter of that,perhaps you had better not, because he is so much cut up about poorDobbs." The servant had come up to tell Clara that the "he" inquestion was at the present moment waiting for her below stairs.

  The first words which passed between Dalrymple and Clara hadreference to the widow. He told her what he had learned in theCity,--that Broughton's property had never been great, and thathis personal liabilities at the time of his death were supposed tobe small. But he had fallen lately altogether into the hands ofMusselboro, who, though penniless himself in the way of capital,was backed by the money of Mrs. Van Siever. There was no doubt thatBroughton had destroyed himself in the manner told by Musselboro,but the opinion in the City was that he had done so rather throughthe effects of drink than because of his losses. As to the widow,Dalrymple thought that Mrs. Van Siever, or nominally, perhaps,Musselboro, might be induced to settle an annuity on her, if shewould give up everything quietly. "I doubt whether your mother isnot responsible for everything Broughton owed when he died,--foreverything, that is, in the way of business; and if so, Mrs.Broughton will certainly have a claim upon the estate." It occurredto Dalrymple once or twice that he was talking to Clara about Mrs.Van Siever as though he and Clara were more closely bound togetherthan were Clara and her mother; but Clara seemed to take this in goodpart, and was as solicitous as was he himself in the matter of Mrs.Broughton's interest.

  Then the discreet head-servant knocked and told them that Mrs.Broughton was very anxious to see Mr. Dalrymple, but that MissVan Siever was on no account to go away. She was up, and in herdressing-gown, and had gone into the sitting-room. "I will comedirectly," said Dalrymple, and the discreet head-servant retired.

  "Clara," said Conway, "I do not know when I may have another chanceof asking for an answer to my question. You heard my question?"

  "Yes, I heard it."

  "And will you answer it?"

  "If you wish it, I will."

  "Of course I wish it. You understood what I said upon the doorstepyesterday?"

  "I don't think much of that; men say those things so often. What yousaid before was serious, I suppose?"

  "Serious! Heavens! do you think that I am joking?"

  "Mamma wants me to marry Mr. Musselboro."

  "He is a vulgar brute. It would be impossible."

  "It is impossible; but mamma is very obstinate. I have no fortune ofmy own,--not a shilling. She told me to-day that she would turn meinto the street. She forbade me to come here, thinking I should meetyou; but I came, because I had promised Mrs. Broughton. I am surethat she will never give me one shilling."

  Dalrymple paused for a moment. It was certainly true that he hadregarded Clara Van Siever as an heiress, and had at first beenattracted to her because he thought it expedient to marry an heiress.But there had since come something beyond that, and there was perhapsless of regret than most men would have felt as he gave up his goldenhopes. He took her into his arms and kissed her, and called her hisown. "Now we understand each other," he said.

  "If you wish it to be so."

  "I do wish it."

  "And I shall tell my mother to-day that I am engaged to you,--unlessshe refuses to see me. Go to Mrs. Broughton now. I feel that we arealmost cruel to be thinking of ourselves in this house at such atime." Upon this Dalrymple went, and Clara Van Siever was left toher reflections. She had never before had a lover. She had never hadeven a friend whom she loved and trusted. Her life had been passed atschool till she was nearly twenty, and since then she had been vainlyendeavouring to accommodate herself and her feelings to her mother.Now she was about to throw herself into the absolute power of a manwho was nearly a stranger to her! But she did love him, as she hadnever loved any one else;--and then, on the other side, there was Mr.Musselboro!

  Dalrymple was upstairs for an hour, and Clara did not see him againbefore he left the house. It was clear to her, from Mrs. Broughton'sfirst words, that Conway had told her what had passed. "Of courseI shall never see anything more of either of you now?" said Mrs.Broughton.

  "I should say that probably you will see a great deal of us both."

  "There are some people," said Mrs. Broughton, "who can do well fortheir friends, but can never do well for themselves. I am one ofthem. I saw at once how great a thing it would be for both of you tobring you two together,--especially for you, Clara; and therefore Idid it. I may say that I never had it out of my mind for months past.Poor Dobbs misunderstood what I was doing. God knows how far that mayhave brought about what has happened."

  "Oh, Mrs. Brought
on!"

  "Of course he could not be blind to one thing;--nor was I. I mentionit now because it is right, but I shall never, never allude to itagain. Of course he saw, and I saw, that Conway--was attached tome. Poor Conway meant no harm. I was aware of that. But there wasthe terrible fact. I knew at once that the only cure for him was amarriage with some girl that he could respect. Admiring you as I do,I immediately resolved on bringing you two together. My dear, I havebeen successful, and I heartily trust that you may be happier thanMaria Broughton."

  Miss Van Siever knew the woman, understood all the facts, and pityingthe condition of the wretched creature, bore all this without a wordof rebuke. She scorned to put out her strength against one who was intruth so weak.