CHAPTER XX.
THE SCHEME IS SUCCESSFUL.
When the matter was mentioned to George Roden by his mother he couldsee no reason why she should not dine at Hendon Hall. He himself wasglad to have an opportunity of getting over that roughness of feelingwhich had certainly existed between him and his friend when theyparted with each other on the road. As to his mother, it would bewell that she should so far return to the usages of the world as todine at the house of her son's friend. "It is only going back to whatyou used to be," he said.
"You know nothing of what I used to be," she replied, almost angrily.
"I ask no questions, and have endeavoured so to train myself that Ishould care but little about it. But I knew it was so." Then aftera pause he went back to the current of his thoughts. "Had my fatherbeen a prince I think that I should take no pride in it."
"It is well to have been born a gentleman," she said.
"It is well to be a gentleman, and if the good things which aregenerally attendant on high birth will help a man in reaching noblefeelings and grand resolves, so it may be that to have been well bornwill be an assistance. But if a man derogates from his birth,--as somany do,--then it is a crime."
"All that has to be taken for granted, George."
"But it is not taken for granted. Though the man himself be knave,and fool, and coward, he is supposed to be ennobled because the bloodof the Howards run in his veins. And worse again: though he has giftsof nobility beyond compare he can hardly dare to stand upright beforelords and dukes because of his inferiority."
"That is all going away."
"Would that it could be made to go a little faster. It may be helpedin its going. It may be that in these days the progress shall beaccelerated. But you will let me write to Hampstead and say that youwill come." She assented, and so that part of the little dinner-partywas arranged.
After that she herself contrived to see the Quaker one evening on hisreturn home. "Yes," said Mr. Fay; "I have heard thy proposition fromMarion. Why should the young lord desire such a one as I am to sit athis table?"
"He is George's intimate friend."
"That thy son should choose his friend well, I surely believe,because I see him to be a prudent and wise young man, who doesnot devote himself over-much to riotous amusements." George didoccasionally go to a theatre, thereby offending the Quaker'sjudgment, justifying the "overmuch," and losing his claim to a fullmeasure of praise. "Therefore I will not quarrel with him that he haschosen his friend from among the great ones of the earth. But like tolike is a good motto. I fancy that the weary draught-horse, such as Iam, should not stable himself with hunters and racers."
"This young man affects the society of such as yourself and George,rather than that of others nobly born as himself."
"I do not know that he shows his wisdom the more."
"You should give him credit at any rate for good endeavours."
"It is not for me to judge him one way or the other. Did he ask thatMarion should also go to his house?"
"Certainly. Why should not the child see something of the world thatmay amuse her?"
"Little good can come to my Marion from such amusements, Mrs. Roden;but something, perhaps, of harm. Wilt thou say that such recreationmust necessarily be of service to a girl born to perform the hardduties of a strict life?"
"I would trust Marion in anything," said Mrs. Roden, eagerly.
"So would I; so would I. She hath ever been a good girl."
"But do you not distrust her if you shut her up, and are afraid toallow her even to sit at table in a strange house?"
"I have never forbidden her to sit at thy table," said the Quaker.
"And you should let her go specially as a kindness to me. For myson's sake I have promised to be there, and it would be a comfort tome to have another woman with me."
"Then you will hardly need me," said Mr. Fay, not without a touch ofjealousy.
"He specially pressed his request that you would come. It is amongsuch as you that he would wish to make himself known. Moreover, ifMarion is to be there, you, I am sure, will choose to accompany her.Would you not wish to see how the child bears herself on such anoccasion?"
"On all occasions, at all places, at all hours, I would wish to havemy child with me. There is nothing else left to me in all the worldon which my eye can rest with pleasure. But I doubt whether it may befor her good." Then he took his departure, leaving the matter stillundecided, speaking of it with words which seemed to imply that hemust ultimately refuse, but impressing Mrs. Roden with a convictionthat he would at last accept the invitation.
"Doest thou wish it thyself?" he said to his daughter before retiringto rest that night.
"If you will go, father, I should like it."
"Why shouldst thou like it? What doest thou expect? Is it because theyoung man is a lord, and that there will be something of the gildedgrandeur of the grand ones of the earth to be seen about his houseand his table?"
"It is not for that, father."
"Or is it because he is young and comely, and can say soft things assuch youths are wont to say, because he will smell sweetly of scentsand lavender, because his hand will be soft to the touch, with ringson his fingers, and jewels perhaps on his bosom like a woman?"
"No, father; it is not for that."
"The delicacies which he will give thee to eat and to drink; thesweetmeats and rich food cannot be much to one nurtured as thou hastbeen."
"Certainly not, father; they can be nothing to me.
"Then why is it that thou wouldst go to his house?"
"It is that I may hear you, father, speak among men."
"Nay," said he, laughing, "thou mayst hear me better speak among menat King's Court in the City. There I can hold my own well enough,but with these young men over their wine, I shall have but little tosay, I fancy. If thou hast nothing to gain but to hear thy old fathertalk, the time and money will be surely thrown away."
"I would hear him talk, father."
"The young lord?"
"Yes; the young lord. He is bright and clever, and, coming fromanother world than our world, can tell me things that I do not know."
"Can he tell thee aught that is good?"
"From what I hear of him from our friend he will tell me, I think,naught that is bad. You will be there to hear, and to arrest hiswords if they be evil. But I think him to be one from whose mouth noguile or folly will be heard."
"Who art thou, my child, that thou shouldst be able to judge whetherwords of guile are likely to come from a young man's lips?" But thishe said smiling and pressing her hand while he seemed to rebuke her.
"Nay, father; I do not judge. I only say that I think it might beso. They are not surely all false and wicked. But if you wish itotherwise I will not utter another syllable to urge the request."
"We will go, Marion. Thy friend urged that it is not good that thoushouldst always be shut up with me alone. And, though I may distrustthe young lord as not knowing him, my confidence in thee is suchthat I think that nothing will ever shake it." And so it was settledthat they should all go. He would send to a livery stable and hire acarriage for this unusual occasion. There should be no need for theyoung lord to send them home. Though he did not know, as he said,much of the ways of the outside world, it was hardly the custom forthe host to supply carriages as well as viands. When he dined, as hedid annually, with the elder Mr. Pogson, Mr. Pogson sent him home inno carriage. He would sit at the lord's table, but he would go andcome as did other men.
On the Friday named the two ladies and the two men arrived at HendonHall in something more than good time. Hampstead hopped and skippedabout as though he were delighted as a boy might have been at theircoming. It may be possible that there was something of guile evenin this, and that he had calculated that he might thus best createquickly that intimacy with the Quaker and his daughter which he feltto be necessary for his full enjoyment of the evening. If the Quakerhimself expected much of that gilding of which he had spoken he was
certainly disappointed. The garniture of Hendon Hall had always beensimple, and now had assumed less even of aristocratic finery than itused to show when prepared for the use of the Marchioness. "I'm gladyou've come in time," said he, "because you can get comfortably warmbefore dinner." Then he fluttered about round Mrs. Roden, paying herattention much rather than Marion Fay,--still with some guile, asknowing that he might thus best prepare for the coming of future goodthings. "I suppose you found it awfully cold," he said.
"I do not know that we were awed, my lord," said the Quaker. "But thewinter has certainly set in with some severity."
"Oh, father!" said Marion, rebuking him.
"Everything is awful now," said Hampstead, laughing. "Of course theword is absurd, but one gets in the way of using it because otherpeople do."
"Nay, my lord, I crave pardon if I seemed to criticize thy language.Being somewhat used to a sterner manner of speaking, I took the wordin its stricter sense."
"It is but slang from a girl's school, after all," said Roden.
"Now, Master George, I am not going to bear correction from you,"said Hampstead, "though I put up with it from your elders. Miss Fay,when you were at school did they talk slang?"
"Where I was at school, Lord Hampstead," Marion answered, "we werekept in strict leading-strings. Fancy, father, what Miss Watson wouldhave said if we had used any word in a sense not used in adictionary."
"Miss Watson was a sensible woman, my dear, and understood well,and performed faithfully, the duties which she had undertaken. I donot know that as much can be said of all those who keep fashionableseminaries for young ladies at the West End."
"Miss Watson had a red face, and a big cap, and spectacles;--had shenot?" said Hampstead, appealing to Marion Fay.
"Miss Watson," said Mrs. Roden, "whom I remember to have seen oncewhen Marion was at school with her, was a very little woman, withbright eyes, who wore her own hair, and always looked as though shehad come out of a bandbox."
"She was absolutely true to her ideas of life, as a Quaker shouldbe," said Mr. Fay, "and I only hope that Marion will follow herexample. As to language, it is, I think, convenient that to a certainextent our mode of speech should consort with our mode of living. Youwould not expect to hear from a pulpit the phrases which belong to aracecourse, nor would the expressions which are decorous, perhaps, inaristocratic drawing-rooms befit the humble parlours of clerks andartisans."
"I never will say that anything is awful again," said Lord Hampstead,as he gave his arm to Mrs. Roden, and took her in to dinner.
"I hope he will not be angry with father," whispered Marion Fay toGeorge Roden, as they walked across the hall together.
"Not in the least. Nothing of that kind could anger him. If yourfather were to cringe or to flatter him then he would be disgusted."
"Father would never do that," said Marion, with confidence.
The dinner went off very pleasantly, Hampstead and Roden takingbetween them the weight of the conversation. The Quaker was perhapsa little frightened by the asperity of his own first remark, andate his good things almost in silence. Marion was quite contentedto listen, as she had told her father was her purpose; but it wasperhaps to the young lord's words that she gave attention rather thanto those of his friends. His voice was pleasant to her ears. Therewas a certain graciousness in his words, as to which she did notsuppose that their softness was specially intended for her hearing.Who does not know the way in which a man may set himself at work togain admission into a woman's heart without addressing hardly a wordto herself? And who has not noted the sympathy with which the womanhas unconsciously accepted the homage? That pressing of the hand,that squeezing of the arm, that glancing of the eyes, which arecommon among lovers, are generally the developed consequences offormer indications which have had their full effect, even though theywere hardly understood, and could not have been acknowledged, atthe time. But Marion did, perhaps, feel that there was something ofworship even in the way in which her host looked towards her withrapid glances from minute to minute, as though to see that if notwith words, at any rate with thoughts, she was taking her sharein the conversation which was certainly intended for her delight.The Quaker in the mean time ate his dinner very silently. He wasconscious of having shown himself somewhat of a prig about that slangphrase, and was repenting himself. Mrs. Roden every now and thenwould put in a word in answer rather to her son than to the host, butshe was aware of those electric sparks which, from Lord Hampstead'send of the wire, were being directed every moment against MarionFay's heart.
"Now just for the fashion of the thing you must sit here for aquarter of an hour, while we are supposed to be drinking our wine."This was said by Lord Hampstead when he took the two ladies into thedrawing-room after dinner.
"Don't hurry yourselves," said Mrs. Roden. "Marion and I are oldfriends, and will get on very well."
"Oh yes," said Marion. "It will be pleasure enough to me just tosit here and look around me." Then Hampstead knelt down betweenthem, pretending to doctor up the fire, which certainly required nodoctoring. They were standing, one on one side and the other on theother, looking down upon him.
"You are spoiling that fire, Lord Hampstead," said Mrs. Roden.
"Coals were made to be poked. I feel sure of that. Do take the pokerand give them one blow. That will make you at home in the house forever, you know." Then he handed the implement to Marion. She couldhardly do other than take it in her hand. She took it, blushed up tothe roots of her hair, paused a moment, and then gave the one blow tothe coals that had been required of her. "Thanks," said he, noddingat her as he still knelt at her feet and took the poker from her;"thanks. Now you are free of Hendon Hall for ever. I wouldn't haveany one but a friend poke my fire." Upon that he got up and walkedslowly out of the room.
"Oh, Mrs. Roden," said Marion, "I wish I hadn't done it."
"It doesn't matter. It was only a joke."
"Of course it was a joke! but I wish I hadn't done it. It seemed atthe moment that I should look to be cross if I didn't do as he bademe. But when he had said that about being at home--! Oh, Mrs. Roden,I wish I had not done it."
"He will know that it was nothing, my dear. He is good-humoured andplayful, and likes the feeling of making us feel that we are notstrangers." But Marion knew that Lord Hampstead would not take it asmeaning nothing. Though she could see no more than his back as hewalked out of the room, she knew that he was glowing with triumph.
"Now, Mr. Fay, here is port if you like, but I recommend you to stickto the claret."
"I have pretty well done all the sticking, my lord, of which I amcompetent," said the Quaker. "A little wine goes a long way with me,as I am not much used to it."
"Wine maketh glad the heart of man," said Roden.
"True enough, Mr. Roden. But I doubt whether it be good that a man'sheart should be much gladdened. Gladness and sorrow counterbalanceeach other too surely. An even serenity is best fitted to human life,if it can be reached."
"A level road without hills," said Hampstead. "They say that horsesare soonest tired by such travelling."
"They would hardly tell you so themselves if they could give theirexperience after a long day's journey." Then there was a pause, butMr. Fay continued to speak. "My lord, I fear I misbehaved myself inreference to that word 'awful' which fell by chance from thy mouth."
"Oh, dear no; nothing of the kind."
"I was bethinking me that I was among the young men in our courtin Great Broad Street, who will indulge sometimes in a manner oflanguage not befitting their occupation at the time, or perhaps theirstation in life. I am wont then to remind them that words duringbusiness hours should be used in their strict sense. But, my lord, ifyou will take a farm horse from his plough you cannot expect from himthat he should prance upon the green."
"It is because I think that there should be more mixing between whatyou call plough horses and animals used simply for play, that I havebeen so proud to make you welcome here. I hope it may not be by manythe last tim
e that you will act as a living dictionary for me. If youwon't have any more wine we will go to them in the drawing-room."
Mrs. Roden very soon declared it necessary that they should startback to Holloway. Hampstead himself did not attempt to delay them.The words that had absolutely passed between him and Marion hadhardly been more than those which have been here set down, but yethe felt that he had accomplished not only with satisfaction but withsome glory to himself the purpose for which he had specially invitedhis guests. His scheme had been carried out with perfect success.After the manner in which Marion had obeyed his behest about thefire, he was sure that he was justified in regarding her as a friend.