CHAPTER XXIX. I MEET A VERY GREAT YOUNG MAN
The French clock had struck four, and I was beginning to fear that,despite my note, the captain's pride forbade his coming to Mr. Manners'shouse, when in he walked, as tho' 'twere no novelty to have his nameannounced. And so straight and handsome was he, his dark eye flashingwith the self-confidence born in the man, that the look of uneasiness Ihad detected upon Mrs. Manners's face quickly changed to one of surpriseand pleasure. Of course the good lady had anticipated a sea-captain ofa far different mould. He kissed her hand with a respectful grace, andthen her daughter's, for Dorothy had come back to us, calmer. And I wasfilled with joy over his fine appearance. Even Dorothy was struck bythe change the clothes had made in him. Mrs. Manners thanked him verytactfully for restoring me to them, as she was pleased to put it, towhich John Paul modestly replied that he had done no more than anotherwould under the same circumstances. And he soon had them both charmed byhis address.
"Why, Richard," said Dorothy's mother aside to me, "surely this cannotbe your sea-captain!"
I nodded merrily. But John Paul's greatest triumph was yet to come. Forpresently Mr. Marmaduke arrived from White's, and when he had greeted mewith effusion he levelled his glass at the corner of the room.
"Ahem!" he exclaimed. "Pray, my dear, whom have you invited to-day?" Andwithout awaiting her reply, as was frequently his habit, he turned tome and said: "I had hoped we were to have the pleasure of Captain Paul'scompany, Richard. For I must have the chance before you go of claspingthe hand of your benefactor."
"You shall have the chance, at least, sir," I replied, a fieryexultation in my breast. "Mr. Manners, this is my friend, Captain Paul."
The captain stood up and bowed gravely at the little gentleman's blanklyamazed countenance.
"Ahem," said he; "dear me, is it possible!" and advanced a step, butthe captain remained immovable. Mr. Marmaduke fumbled for his snuff-box,failed to find it, halted, and began again, for he never was knownto lack words for long: "Captain, as one of the oldest friends of Mr.Lionel Carvel, I claim the right to thank you in his name for yourgallant conduct. I hear that you are soon to see him, and to receive hisobligations from him in person. You will not find him lacking, sir, I'llwarrant."
Such was Mr. Marmaduke's feline ingenuity! I had a retort ready, and Isaw that Mrs. Manners, long tried in such occasions, was about to pouroil on the waters. But it was Dorothy who exclaimed:
"What captain! are you, too, going to Maryland?"
John Paul reddened.
"Ay, that he is, Dolly," I cut in hurriedly. "Did you imagine I wouldlet him escape so easily? Henceforth as he has said, he is to be anAmerican."
She flashed at me such a look as might have had a dozen differentmeanings, and in a trice it was gone again under her dark lashes.
Dinner was got through I know not how. Mr. Manners led the talk, andspoke more than was needful concerning our approaching voyage. He was atgreat pains to recommend the Virginia packet, which had made the fastestpassage from the Capes; and she sailed, as was no doubt most convenient,the Saturday following. I should find her a comfortable vessel, and hewould oblige me with a letter to Captain Alsop. Did Captain Paul knowhim? But the captain was describing West Indian life to Mrs. Manners.Dorothy had little to say; and as for me, I was in no very pleasanthumour.
I gave a deaf ear to Mr. Marmaduke's sallies, to speculate on the natureof the disgrace which Chartersea was said to hold over his head. Andtwenty times, as I looked upon Dolly's beauty, I ground my teeth atthe notion of returning home. I have ever been slow of suspicion, butsuddenly it struck me sharply that Mr. Manners's tactics must have adeeper significance than I had thought. Why was it that he feared mypresence in London?
As we made our way back to the drawing-room, I was hoping for a talkwith Dolly (alas! I should not have many more), when I heard a voicewhich sounded strangely familiar.
"You know, Comyn," it was saying, "you know I should be at thePrincess's were I not so completely worn out. I was up near all of lastnight with Rosette."
Mr. Marmaduke, entering before us, cried:--
"The dear creature! I trust you have had medical attendance, Mr.Walpole."
"Egad!" quoth Horry (for it was he), "I sent Favre to Hampstead to fetchDr. Pratt, where he was attending some mercer's wife. It seems thatRosette had got into the street and eaten something horrible out of thekennel. I discharged the footman, of course."
"A plague on your dog, Horry," said my Lord, yawning, and was about toadd something worse, when he caught sight of Dorothy.
Mr. Walpole bowed over her hand.
"And have you forgotten so soon your Windsor acquaintances, Mr.Walpole?" she asked, laughing.
"Bless me," said Horry, looking very hard at me, "so it is, so itis. Your hand, Mr. Carvel. You have only to remain in London, sir, todiscover that your reputation is ready-made. I contributed my mite. Foryou must know that I am a sort of circulating library of odd news whichthose devils, the printers, contrive to get sooner or later--Heavenknows how! And Miss Manners herself has completed your fame. Yes, thestory of your gallant rescue is in all the clubs to-day. Egad, sir, youcome down heads up, like a loaded coin. You will soon be a factor inChange Alley." And glancing slyly at the blushing Dolly, he continued:
"I have been many things, Miss Manners, but never before an instrumentof Providence. And so you discovered your rough diamond yesterday, andhave polished him in a day. O that Dr. Franklin had profited as wellby our London tailors! The rogue never told me, when he was ordering meabout in his swan-skin, that he had a friend in Arlington Street, and areigning beauty. But I like him the better for it."
"And I the worse," said Dolly.
"I perceive that he still retains his body-guard," said Mr. Walpole;"Captain--"
"Paul," said Dolly, seeing that we would not help him out.
"Ah, yes. These young princes from the New World must have their suites.You must bring them both some day to my little castle at StrawberryHill."
"Unfortunately, Mr. Walpole, Mr. Carvel finds that he must return toAmerica," Mr. Marmaduke interjected. He had been waiting to get in thisword.
Comyn nudged me. And I took the opportunity, in the awkward silence thatfollowed, to thank Mr. Walpole for sending his coach after us.
"And pray where did you get your learning?" he demanded abruptly of thecaptain, in his most patronizing way. "Your talents are wasted at sea,sir. You should try your fortune in London, where you shall be undermy protection, sir. They shall not accuse me again of stifling younggenius. Stay," he cried, warming with generous enthusiasm, "stay, I havean opening. 'Twas but yesterday Lady Cretherton told me that shestood in need of a tutor for her youngest son, and you shall have theposition."
"Pardon me, sir, but I shall not have the position," said John Paul,coolly. And Horry might have heeded the danger signal. I had seen itmore than once on board the brigantine John, and knew what was coming.
"Faith, and why not, sir? If I recommend you, why not, sir?"
"Because I shall not take it," he said. "I have my profession, Mr.Walpole, and it is an honourable one. And I would not exchange it, sir,were it in your power to make me a Gibbon or a Hume, or tutor to hisRoyal Highness, which it is not."
Thus, for the second time, the weapon of the renowned master ofStrawberry was knocked from his hand at a single stroke of hisstrange adversary. I should like to describe John Paul as he made thatspeech,--for 'twas not so much the speech as the atmosphere of it. Thosewho heard and saw were stirred with wonder, for Destiny lay bare thatinstant, just as the powers above are sometimes revealed at a singlelightning-bolt. Mr. Walpole made a reply that strove hard to beindifferent; Mr. Marmaduke stuttered, for he was frightened, as littlesouls are apt to be at such times. But my Lord Comyn, forever natural,forever generous, cried out heartily:--
"Egad, captain, there you are a true sailor! Which would you rather havebeen, I say, William Shakespeare or Sir Francis?"
"Which would you rather be, Richa
rd," said Dolly to me, under herbreath, "Horace Walpole or Captain John Paul? I begin to like yourcaptain better."
Willy nilly, Mr. Walpole was forever doing me a service. Now, in orderto ignore the captain more completely, he sat him down to engage Mr.and Mrs. Manners. Comyn was soon hot in an argument with John Paulconcerning the seagoing qualities of a certain frigate, every rope andspar of which they seemed to know. And so I stole a few moments withDorothy.
"You are going to take the captain to Maryland, Richard?" she asked,playing with her fan.
"I intend to get him the Belle of the Tye. 'Tis the least I can do. ForI am at my wits' end how to reward him, Dolly. And when are you comingback?" I whispered earnestly, seeing her silent.
"I would that I knew, Richard," she replied, with a certain sadness thatwent to my heart, as tho' the choice lay beyond her. Then she changed."Richard, there was more in Mr. Lloyd's letter than mamma told you of.There was ill news of one of your friends."
"News!"
She looked at me fixedly, and then continued, her voice so low that Iwas forced to bend over:
"Yes. You were not told that Patty Swain fell in a faint when she heardof your disappearance. You were not told that the girl was ill for aweek afterwards. Ah, Richard, I fear you are a sad flirt. Nay, you maybenefit by the doubt,--perchance you are going home to be married."
You may be sure that this intelligence, from Dorothy's lips, onlyincreased my trouble and perplexity.
"You say that Patty has been ill?"
"Very ill," says she, with her lips tight closed.
"Indeed, I grieve to hear of it," I replied; "but I cannot think that myaccident had anything to do with the matter."
"Young ladies do not send their fathers to coffee-houses to preventduels unless their feelings are engaged," she flung back.
"You have heard the story of that affair, Dorothy. At least enough of itto do me justice."
She was plainly agitated.
"Has Lord Comyn--"
"Lord Comyn has told you the truth," I said; "so much I know."
Alas for the exits and entrances of life! Here comes the footman.
"Mr. Fox," said he, rolling the name, for it was a great one.
Confound Mr. Fox! He might have waited five short minutes.
It was, in truth, none other than that precocious marvel of England whobut a year before had taken the breath from the House of Commons, andhad sent his fame flying over the Channel and across the wide Atlantic;the talk of London, who set the fashions, cringed not before whitehairs, or royalty, or customs, or institutions, and was now, at one andtwenty, Junior Lord of the Admiralty--Charles James Fox. His face wasdark, forbidding, even harsh--until he smiled. His eyebrows were heavyand shaggy, and his features of a rounded, almost Jewish mould. He putme in mind of the Stuarts, and I was soon to learn that he was descendedfrom them.
As he entered the room I recall remarking that he was possessed of thesupremest confidence of any man I had ever met. Mrs. Manners he greetedin one way, Mr. Marmaduke in another, and Mr. Walpole in still another.To Comyn it was "Hello, Jack," as he walked by him. Each, as it were,had been tagged with a particular value.
Chagrined as I was at the interruption, I was struck with admiration.For the smallest actions of these rare men of master passions so compelus. He came to Dorothy, whom he seemed not to have perceived at first,and there passed between them such a look of complete understanding thatI suddenly remembered Comyn's speech of the night before, "Now it isCharles Fox." Here, indeed, was the man who might have won her. And yetI did not hate him. Nay, I loved him from the first time he addressedme. It was Dorothy who introduced us.
"I think I have heard of you, Mr. Carvel," he said, making a barelyperceptible wink at Comyn.
"And I think I have heard of you, Mr. Fox," I replied.
"The deuce you have, Mr. Carvel!" said he, and laughed. And Comynlaughed, and Dorothy laughed, and I laughed. We were friends from thatmoment.
"Richard has appeared amongst us like a comet," put in the ubiquitousMr. Manners, "and, I fear, intends to disappear in like manner."
"And where is the tail of this comet?" demanded Fox, instantly; "for Iunderstood there was a tail."
John Paul was brought up, and the Junior Lord of the Admiralty lookedhim over from head to toe. And what, my dears, do you think he said tohim?
"Have you ever acted, Captain Paul?"
The captain started back in surprise.
"Acted!" he exclaimed; "really, sir, I do not know. I have never beenupon the boards."
Mr. Fox vowed that he could act: that he was sure of it, from thecaptain's appearance.
"And I, too, am sure of it, Mr. Fox," cried Dorothy; clapping her hands."Persuade him to stay awhile in London, that you may have him at yournext theatricals at Holland House. Why, he knows Shakespeare and Popeand--and Chaucer by heart, and Ovid and Horace,--is it not so, Mr.Walpole?"
"Is not what so, my dear young lady?" asked Mr. Walpole, pretending notto have heard.
"There!" exclaimed Dolly, pouting, when the laughter had subsided; "youmake believe to care something about me, and yet will not listen to whatI say."
I had seen at her feet our own Maryland gallants, the longest of whosereputations stretched barely from the James to the Schuylkill; but herein London men were hanging on her words whose names were familiarlyspoken in Paris, and Rome, and Geneva. Not a topic was broached by Mr.Walpole or Mr. Fox, from the remonstrance of the Archbishop againstmasquerades and the coming marriage of my Lord Albemarle to the rightsand wrongs of Mr. Wilkes, but my lady had her say. Mrs. Manners seemedmore than content that she should play the hostess, which she didto perfection. She contrived to throw poisoned darts at the owner ofStrawberry that started little Mr. Marmaduke to fidgeting in his seat,and he came to the rescue with all the town-talk at his command. He knewlittle else. Could Mr. Walpole tell him of this club of both sexes juststarted at Almack's? Mr. Walpole could tell a deal, tho' he took thepains first to explain that he was becoming too old for such frivolousand fashionable society. He could not, for the life of him, say why hewas included. But, in spite of Mr. Walpole, John Paul was led out in thepaces that best suited him, and finally, to the undisguised delightof Mr. Fox, managed to trip Horry upon an obscure point in Athenianliterature. And this broke up the company.
As we took our leave Dorothy and Mr. Fox were talking together withlowered voices.
"I shall see you before I go," I said to her.
She laughed, and glanced at Mr. Fox.
"You are not going, Richard Carvel," said she.
"That you are not, Richard Carvel," said Mr. Fox.
I smiled, rather lamely, I fear, and said good night.