The Claverings

  CHAPTER XVII.

  "LET HER KNOW THAT YOU'RE THERE."

  A week had passed since the evening which Harry had spent in BoltonStreet, and he had not again seen Lady Ongar. He had professed tohimself that his reason for not going there was the non-performanceof the commission which Lady Ongar had given him with referenceto Count Pateroff. He had not yet succeeded in catching the count,though he had twice asked for him in Mount Street and twice at theclub in Pall Mall. It appeared that the count never went to MountStreet, and was very rarely seen at the club. There was some otherclub which he frequented, and Harry did not know what club. On boththe occasions of Harry's calling in Mount Street, the servant hadasked him to go up and see madame; but he had declined to do so,pleading that he was hurried. He was, however, driven to resolve thathe must go direct to Sophie, as otherwise he could find no means ofdoing as he had promised. She probably might put him on the scent ofher brother.

  But there had been another reason why Harry had not gone to BoltonStreet, though he had not acknowledged it to himself. He did notdare to trust himself with Lady Ongar. He feared that he would beled on to betray himself and to betray Florence,--to throw himselfat Julia's feet and sacrifice his honesty, in spite of all hisresolutions to the contrary. He felt when there as the accustomed butrepentant dram-drinker might feel, when having resolved to abstain,he is called upon to sit with the full glass offered before his lips.From such temptation as that the repentant dram-drinker knows thathe must fly. But though he did not go after the fire-water of BoltonStreet, neither was he able to satisfy himself with the cool fountainof Onslow Crescent. He was wretched at this time,--ill-satisfied withhimself and others, and was no fitting companion for Cecilia Burton.The world, he thought, had used him ill. He could have been true toJulia Brabazon when she was well-nigh penniless. It was not for hermoney that he had regarded her. Had he been now a free man,--freefrom those chains with which he had fettered himself at Stratton,--hewould again have asked this woman for her love, in spite of her pasttreachery; but it would have been for her love and not for her moneythat he would have sought her. Was it his fault that he had lovedher, that she had been false to him, and that she had now come backand thrown herself before him? Or had he been wrong because he hadventured to think that he loved another when Julia had deserted him?Or could he help himself if he now found that his love in truthbelonged to her whom he had known first? The world had been verycruel to him, and he could not go to Onslow Crescent and behave thereprettily, hearing the praises of Florence with all the ardour of adiscreet lover.

  He knew well what would have been his right course, and yet he didnot follow it. Let him but once communicate to Lady Ongar the fact ofhis engagement, and the danger would be over, though much, perhaps,of the misery might remain. Let him write to her and mention thefact, bringing it up as some little immaterial accident, and shewould understand what he meant. But this he abstained from doing.Though he swore to himself that he would not touch the dram, he wouldnot dash down the full glass that was held to his lips. He wentabout the town very wretchedly, looking for the count, and regardinghimself as a man specially marked out for sorrow by the cruel hand ofmisfortune. Lady Ongar, in the meantime, was expecting him, and waswaxing angry and becoming bitter towards him because he came not.

  Sir Hugh Clavering was now up in London, and with him was his brotherArchie. Sir Hugh was a man who strained an income, that was handsomeand sufficient for a country gentleman, to the very utmost, wantingto get out of it more than it could be made to give. He was not a manto be in debt, or indulge himself with present pleasures to be paidfor out of the funds of future years. He was possessed of a worldlywisdom which kept him from that folly, and taught him to appreciatefully the value of independence. But he was ever remembering how manyshillings there are in a pound, and how many pence in a shilling. Hehad a great eye to discount, and looked very closely into his bills.He searched for cheap shops;--and some men began to say of him thathe had found a cheap establishment for such wines as he did not drinkhimself! In playing cards and in betting he was very careful, neverplaying high, never risking much, but hoping to turn something by theend of the year, and angry with himself if he had not done so. Anunamiable man he was, but one whose heir would probably not quarrelwith him,--if only he would die soon enough. He had always had ahouse in town, a moderate house in Berkeley Square, which belongedto him and had belonged to his father before him. Lady Claveringhad usually lived there during the season; or, as had latterly beenthe case, during only a part of the season. And now it had come topass, in this year, that Lady Clavering was not to come to London atall, and that Sir Hugh was meditating whether the house in BerkeleySquare might not be let. The arrangement would make the differenceof considerably more than a thousand a year to him. For himself, hewould take lodgings. He had no idea of giving up London in the springand early summer. But why keep up a house in Berkeley Square, as LadyClavering did not use it?

  He was partly driven to this by a desire to shake off the burden ofhis brother. When Archie chose to go to Clavering the house was opento him. That was the necessity of Sir Hugh's position, and he couldnot avoid it unless he made it worth his while to quarrel with hisbrother. Archie was obedient, ringing the bell when he was told,looking after the horses, spying about, and perhaps saving as muchmoney as he cost. But the matter was very different in BerkeleySquare. No elder brother is bound to find breakfast and bed for ayounger brother in London. And yet from his boyhood upwards Archiehad made good his footing in Berkeley Square. In the matter of thebreakfast, Sir Hugh had indeed of late got the better of him. Theservants were kept on board wages, and there were no householdaccounts. But there was Archie's room, and Sir Hugh felt this to be ahardship.

  The present was not the moment for actually driving forth theintruder, for Archie was now up in London, especially under hisbrother's auspices. And if the business on which Captain Claveringwas now intent could be brought to a successful issue, the standingin the world of that young man would be very much altered. Then hewould be a brother of whom Sir Hugh might be proud; a brother whowould pay his way, and settle his points at whist if he lost them,even to a brother. If Archie could induce Lady Ongar to marry him, hewould not be called upon any longer to ring the bells and look afterthe stable. He would have bells of his own, and stables too, andperhaps some captain of his own to ring them and look after them. Theexpulsion, therefore, was not to take place till Archie should havemade his attempt upon Lady Ongar.

  But Sir Hugh would admit of no delay, whereas Archie himself seemedto think that the iron was not yet quite hot enough for striking. Itwould be better, he had suggested, to postpone the work till Juliacould be coaxed down to Clavering in the autumn. He could do the workbetter, he thought, down at Clavering than in London. But Sir Hughwas altogether of a different opinion. Though he had already askedhis sister-in-law to Clavering, when the idea had first come up, hewas glad that she had declined the visit. Her coming might be verywell if she accepted Archie; but he did not want to be troubled withany renewal of his responsibility respecting her, if, as was moreprobable, she should reject him. The world still looked askance atLady Ongar, and Hugh did not wish to take up the armour of a paladinin her favour. If Archie married her, Archie would be the paladin;though, indeed, in that case, no paladin would be needed.

  "She has only been a widow, you know, four months," said Archie,pleading for delay. "It won't be delicate, will it?"

  "Delicate!" said Sir Hugh. "I don't know whether there is much ofdelicacy in it at all."

  "I don't see why she isn't to be treated like any other woman. If youwere to die, you'd think it very odd if any fellow came up to Hermybefore the season was over."

  "Archie, you are a fool," said Sir Hugh; and Archie could see by hisbrother's brow that Hugh was angry. "You say things that for follyand absurdity are beyond belief. If you can't see the peculiaritiesof Julia's position, I am not going to point them out to you."

  "She is peculiar, of course,--having so mu
ch money, and that placenear Guildford, all her own for her life. Of course it's peculiar.But four months, Hugh!"

  "If it had been four days it need have made no difference. A home,with some one to support her, is everything to her. If you wait tilllots of fellows are buzzing round her you won't have a chance. You'llfind that by this time next year she'll be the top of the fashion;and if not engaged to you, she will be to some one else. I shouldn'tbe surprised if Harry were after her again."

  "He's engaged to that girl we saw down at Clavering."

  "What matters that? Engagements can be broken as well as made. Youhave this great advantage over every one, except him, that you can goto her at once without doing anything out of the way. That girl thatHarry has in tow may perhaps keep him away for some time."

  "I tell you what, Hugh, you might as well call with me the firsttime."

  "So that I may quarrel with her, which I certainly should do,--or,rather, she with me. No, Archie; if you're afraid to go alone, you'dbetter give it up."

  "Afraid! I'm not afraid!"

  "She can't eat you. Remember that with her you needn't stand on yourp's and q's, as you would with another woman. She knows what she isabout, and will understand what she has to get as well as what she isexpected to give. All I can say is, that if she accepts you, Hermywill consent that she shall go to Clavering as much as she pleasestill the marriage takes place. It couldn't be done, I suppose, tillafter a year; and in that case she shall be married at Clavering."

  Here was a prospect for Julia Brabazon;--to be led to the same altar,at which she had married Lord Ongar, by Archie Clavering, twelvemonths after her first husband's death, and little more than twoyears after her first wedding! The peculiarity of the position didnot quite make itself apparent either to Hugh or to Archie; but therewas one point which did suggest itself to the younger brother at thatmoment.

  "I don't suppose there was anything really wrong, eh?"

  "Can't say, I'm sure," said Sir Hugh.

  "Because I shouldn't like--"

  "If I were you I wouldn't trouble myself about that. Judge not, thatyou be not judged."

  "Yes, that's true, to be sure," said Archie; and on that point hewent forth satisfied.

  But the job before him was a peculiar job, and that Archie wellknew. In some inexplicable manner he put himself into the scales andweighed himself, and discovered his own weight with fair accuracy.And he put her into the scales, and he found that she was muchthe heavier of the two. How he did this,--how such men as ArchieClavering do do it,--I cannot say; but they do weigh themselves, andknow their own weight, and shove themselves aside as being too lightfor any real service in the world. This they do, though they mayfluster with their voices, and walk about with their noses in theair, and swing their canes, and try to look as large as they may.They do not look large, and they know it; and consequently they ringthe bells, and look after the horses, and shove themselves on oneside, so that the heavier weights may come forth and do the work.Archie Clavering, who had duly weighed himself, could hardly bringhimself to believe that Lady Ongar would be fool enough to marry him!Seven thousand a year, with a park and farm in Surrey, and give itall to him,--him, Archie Clavering, who had, so to say, no weight atall! Archie Clavering, for one, could not bring himself to believeit.

  But yet Hermy, her sister, thought it possible; and though Hermy was,as Archie had found out by his invisible scales, lighter than Julia,still she must know something of her sister's nature. And Hugh, whowas by no means light,--who was a man of weight, with money andposition and firm ground beneath his feet,--he also thought thatit might be so. "Faint heart never won a fair lady," said Archieto himself a dozen times, as he walked down to the Rag. The Ragwas his club, and there was a friend there whom he could consultconfidentially. No; faint heart never won a fair lady; but theywho repeat to themselves that adage, trying thereby to get courage,always have faint hearts for such work. Harry Clavering never thoughtof the proverb when he went a-wooing.

  But Captain Boodle of the Rag,--for Captain Boodle always lived atthe Rag when he was not at Newmarket, or at other racecourses, or inthe neighbourhood of Market Harborough,--Captain Boodle knew a thingor two, and Captain Boodle was his fast friend. He would go to Boodleand arrange the campaign with him. Boodle had none of that hectoring,domineering way which Hugh never quite threw off in his intercoursewith his brother. And Archie, as he went along, resolved that whenLady Ongar's money was his, and when he had a countess for his wife,he would give his elder brother a cold shoulder.

  Boodle was playing pool at the Rag, and Archie joined him; butpool is a game which hardly admits of confidential intercourse asto proposed wives, and Archie was obliged to remain quiet on thatsubject all the afternoon. He cunningly, however, lost a little moneyto Boodle, for Boodle liked to win,--and engaged himself to dineat the same table with his friend. Their dinner they ate almostin silence,--unless when they abused the cook, or made to eachother some pithy suggestion as to the expediency of this or thatdelicacy,--bearing always steadily in view the cost as well asdesirability of the viands. Boodle had no shame in not having thisor that because it was dear. To dine with the utmost luxury at thesmallest expense was a proficiency belonging to him, and of which hewas very proud.

  But after a while the cloth was gone, and the heads of the two menwere brought near together over the small table. Boodle did not speaka word till his brother captain had told his story, had pointed outall the advantages to be gained, explained in what peculiar way thecourse lay open to himself, and made the whole thing clear to hisfriend's eye.

  "They say she's been a little queer, don't they?" said the friendlycounsellor.

  "Of course people talk, you know."

  "Talk, yes; they're talking a doosed sight, I should say. There's nomistake about the money, I suppose?"

  "Oh, none," said Archie, shaking his head vigorously. "Hugh managedall that for her, so I know it."

  "She don't lose any of it because she enters herself for runningagain, does she?"

  "Not a shilling. That's the beauty of it."

  "Was you ever sweet on her before?"

  "What! before Ongar took her? O laws, no. She hadn't a rap, youknow;--and knew how to spend money as well as any girl in London."

  "It's all to begin then, Clavvy; all the up-hill work to be done?"

  "Well, yes; I don't know about up-hill, Doodles. What do you mean byup-hill?"

  "I mean that seven thousand a year ain't usually to be picked upmerely by trotting easy along the flat. And this sort of work isvery up-hill generally, I take it;--unless, you know, a fellow has afancy for it. If a fellow is really sweet on a girl, he likes it, Isuppose."

  "She's a doosed handsome woman, you know, Doodles."

  "I don't know anything about it, except that I suppose Ongar wouldn'thave taken her if she hadn't stood well on her pasterns, and hadsome breeding about her. I never thought much of her sister,--yourbrother's wife, you know,--that is in the way of looks. No doubt sheruns straight, and that's a great thing. She won't go the wrong sideof the post."

  "As for running straight, let me alone for that."

  "Well, now, Clavvy, I'll tell you what my ideas are. When a man'strying a young filly, his hands can't be too light. A touch too muchwill bring her on her haunches, or throw her out of her step. Sheshould hardly feel the iron in her mouth. That's the sort of workwhich requires a man to know well what he's about. But when I've gotto do with a trained mare, I always choose that she shall know thatI'm there! Do you understand me?"

  "Yes; I understand you, Doodles."

  "I always choose that she shall know that I'm there." And CaptainBoodle, as he repeated these manly words with a firm voice, put outhis hands as though he were handling the horse's rein. "Their mouthsare never so fine then, and they generally want to be brought upto the bit, d'ye see?--up to the bit. When a mare has been trainedto her work, and knows what she's at in her running, she's all thebetter for feeling a fellow's hands as she's going. She likes itrather. It g
ives her confidence, and makes her know where she is. Andlook here, Clavvy, when she comes to her fences, give her her head;but steady her first, and make her know that you're there. Damme;whatever you do, let her know that you're there. There's nothing likeit. She'll think all the more of the fellow that's piloting her. Andlook here, Clavvy; ride her with spurs. Always ride a trained marewith spurs. Let her know that they're on; and if she tries to get herhead, give 'em her. Yes, by George, give 'em her." And Captain Boodlein his energy twisted himself in his chair, and brought his heelround, so that it could be seen by Archie. Then he produced a sharpclick with his tongue, and made the peculiar jerk with the muscleof his legs, whereby he was accustomed to evoke the agility of hishorses. After that he looked triumphantly at his friend. "Give 'emher, Clavvy, and she'll like you the better for it. She'll know thenthat you mean it."

  It was thus that Captain Boodle instructed his friend ArchieClavering how to woo Lady Ongar; and Archie, as he listened to hisfriend's words of wisdom, felt that he had learned a great deal."That's the way I'll do it, Doodles," he said, "and upon my word I'mvery much obliged to you."

  "That's the way, you may depend on it. Let her know that you'rethere.--Let her know that you're there. She's done the filly workbefore, you see; and it's no good trying that again."

  Captain Clavering really believed that he had learned a good deal,and that he now knew the way to set about the work before him. Whatsort of spurs he was to use, and how he was to put them on, I don'tthink he did know; but that was a detail as to which he did not thinkit necessary to consult his adviser. He sat the whole evening in thesmoking-room, very silent, drinking slowly iced gin-and-water; andthe more he drank the more assured he felt that he now understood theway in which he was to attempt the work before him. "Let her knowI'm there," he said to himself, shaking his head gently, so that noone should observe him; "yes, let her know I'm there." At this timeCaptain Boodle, or Doodles as he was familiarly called, had againascended to the billiard-room and was hard at work. "Let her knowthat I'm there," repeated Archie, mentally. Everything was containedin that precept. And he, with his hands before him on his knees, wentthrough the process of steadying a horse with the snaffle-rein, justtouching the curb, as he did so, for security. It was but a motion ofhis fingers and no one could see it, but it made him confident thathe had learned his lesson. "Up to the bit," he repeated; "by George,yes; up to the bit. There's nothing like it for a trained mare. Giveher head, but steady her." And Archie, as the words passed across hismemory and were almost pronounced, seemed to be flying successfullyover some prodigious fence. He leaned himself back a little in thesaddle, and seemed to hold firm with his legs. That was the way todo it. And then the spurs! He would not forget the spurs. She shouldknow that he wore a spur, and that, if necessary, he would use it.Then he, too, gave a little click with his tongue, and an acuteobserver might have seen the motion of his heel.

  Two hours after that he was still sitting in the smoking-room,chewing the end of a cigar, when Doodles came down victorious fromthe billiard-room. Archie was half asleep, and did not notice theentrance of his friend. "Let her know that you're there," saidDoodles, close into Archie Clavering's ear,--"damme, let her knowthat you're there." Archie started and did not like the surprise, orthe warm breath in his ear; but he forgave the offence for the wisdomof the words that had been spoken.

  Then he walked home by himself, repeating again and again theinvaluable teachings of his friend.