CHAPTER II.
TRUE TIDINGS.
The Foreign Office, from top to bottom, was very much moved on theoccasion,--and not without cause. The title of Di Crinola was quitehistoric, and had existed for centuries. No Duca di Crinola,--at anyrate, no respectable Duca di Crinola,--could be in England even asa temporary visitant without being considered as entitled to someconsideration from the Foreign Office. The existing duke of thatname, who had lately been best known, was at present a member of theItalian Ministry. Had he come he would have been entitled to greatconsideration. But he, as now appeared, was not the real Duca diCrinola. The real duke was an Englishman,--or an Anglicized Italian,or an Italianized Englishman. No one in the Foreign Office, not eventhe most ancient pundit there, quite knew what he was. It was clearthat the Foreign Office must take some notice of the young nobleman.But in all this was not contained more than half of the real reasonsfor peculiar consideration. This Anglicized Italian Duca was knownto be engaged to the daughter of an English Marquis, to a lady who,if not niece, was next door to being niece to the Secretary of Statefor Foreign Affairs himself! Many years must have passed since anindividual had sprung into notice so interesting in many differentways to all the body of the Foreign Office!
And this personage was a clerk in the Post Office! There had no doubtbeen a feeling in the Foreign Office, if not of actual disgrace, atany rate of mingled shame and regret, that a niece of their Secretaryof State should have engaged herself to one so low. Had he beenin the Foreign Office himself something might have been made ofhim;--but a Clerk in the Post Office! The thing had been whisperedabout and talked over, till there had come up an idea that LadyFrances should be sent away on some compulsory foreign mission, soas to be out of the pernicious young man's reach. But now it turnedout suddenly that the young man was the Duca di Crinola, and it wasevident to all of them that Lady Frances Trafford was justified inher choice.
But what was to be done with the Duca? Rumours reached the ForeignOffice that the infatuated young nobleman intended to adhere to hismost unaristocratic position. The absurdity of a clerk of the thirdclass in one of the branches of the Post Office, with a salary ofa hundred and seventy a year, and sitting in the same room withCrockers and Bobbins while he would have to be called by everybodythe Duca di Crinola, was apparent to the mind of the lowest ForeignOffice official. It couldn't be so, they said to each other.Something must be done. If Government pay were necessary to him,could he not be transformed by a leap into the Elysium of their owndepartment, where he might serve with some especial name invented forthe occasion? Then there arose questions which no man could answer.Were he to be introduced into this new-fangled office proposed forhim, would he come in as an Englishman or an Italian; and if as anEnglishman, was it in accordance with received rules of etiquettethat he should be called Duca di Crinola? Would it be possible inso special a case to get special permission from the Crown; or ifnot, could he be appointed to the Foreign Office as a foreigner? Thespecial permission, though it was surrounded by so many difficulties,yet seemed to be easier and less monstrous than this lattersuggestion. They understood that though he could not well bedismissed from the office which he already held, it might bedifficult to appoint a foreign nobleman to the performance of dutieswhich certainly required more than ordinary British tendencies. Inthis way the mind of the Foreign Office was moved, and the coming ofthe young duke was awaited with considerable anxiety.
The news went beyond the Foreign Office. Whether it was that theSecretary of State himself told the story to the ladies of hishousehold, or that it reached them through private secretaries, itwas certainly the case that Lady Persiflage was enabled to write avery interesting letter to her sister, and that Lady Amaldina tookthe occasion of congratulating her cousin and of informing her lover.
Lady Kingsbury, when she received the news, was still engaged inpointing out to her husband the iniquity of his elder children inhaving admitted the visit of Mr. Roden to Hendon Hall. This, shepersisted in saying, had been done in direct opposition to mostsolemn promises made by all the parties concerned. The Marquis atthe time had recovered somewhat of his strength, in consequence, aswas said among the household, of the removal of Mr. Greenwood intoShrewsbury. And the Marchioness took advantage of this improvedcondition on the part of her husband to make him sensible of theabominable iniquity of which the young persons had been guilty.The visit had occurred two months since, but the iniquity to LadyKingsbury's thinking still demanded express condemnation and, ifpossible, punishment. "A direct and premeditated falsehood on thepart of them all!" said Lady Kingsbury, standing over her husband,who was recumbent on the sofa in his own room.
"No; it wasn't," said the Marquis, who found it easier to deny thewhole charge than to attempt in his weakness to divide the guilt.
"My dear! When she was allowed to go to Hendon Hall, was it not doneon a sacred pledge that she should not see that horrid man? Did notHampstead repeat the promise to my own ears?"
"How could he help his coming? I wish you wouldn't trouble me aboutit any more."
"Then I suppose that she is to have your leave to marry the manwhenever she chooses!"
Then he roused himself with whatever strength he possessed, andbegged her to leave him. With much indignation she stalked out of theroom, and going to her apartments found the following letter, whichhad just arrived from her sister;--
MY DEAR CLARA,--
As you are down in the country, I suppose the news about Fanny's "young man" has not yet reached you.
Fanny's young man! Had Fanny been the housemaid, it was thus thatthey might have spoken of her lover. Could it be that "Fanny and heryoung man" had already got themselves married? Lady Kingsbury, whenshe read this, almost let the letter drop from her hand, so much wasshe disgusted by the manner in which her sister spoke of this mostunfortunate affair.
I heard something of it only yesterday, and the rest of the details to-day. As it has come through the Foreign Office you may be quite sure that it is true, though it is so wonderful. The young man is not George Roden at all, nor is he an Englishman. He is an Italian, and his proper name and title is Duca di Crinola.
Again Lady Kingsbury allowed the letter almost to drop; but on thisoccasion with feelings of a very different nature. What! not GeorgeRoden! Not a miserable clerk in the English Post Office! Duca diCrinola;--a title of which she thought that she remembered to haveheard as belonging to some peculiarly ancient family! It was not tobe believed. And yet it came from her sister, who was usually correctin all such matters;--and came also from the Foreign Office, whichshe regarded as the one really trustworthy source of information asto foreign matters of an aristocratic nature. "Duca di Crinola!" shesaid to herself, as she went on with the reading of her letter.
There is a long story of the marriage of his mother which I do not quite understand as yet, but it is not necessary to the facts of the case. The young man has been recognized in his own country as entitled to all the honours of his family, and must be received so by us. Persiflage says that he will be ready to present him at Court on his return as Duca di Crinola, and will ask him at once to dine in Belgrave Square. It is a most romantic story, but must be regarded by you and me as being very fortunate, as dear Fanny had certainly set her heart upon marrying the man. I am told that he inherits nothing but the bare title. Some foreign noblemen are, you know, very poor; and in this case the father, who was a "_mauvais sujet_," contrived to destroy whatever rights of property he had. Lord Kingsbury probably will be able to do something for him. Perhaps he may succeed in getting official employment suited to his rank. At any rate we must all of us make the best of him for Fanny's sake. It will be better to have a Duca di Crinola among us, even though he should not have a shilling, than a Post Office clerk with two or three hundred a year.
I asked Persiflage to write to Lord Kingsbury; but he tells me that I must do it all, because he is so busy. Were my brother-in-law well
enough I think he should come up to town to make inquiry himself and to see the young man. If he cannot do so, he had better get Hampstead to take him down to Trafford. Hampstead and this young Duchino are luckily bosom friends. It tells well for Hampstead that, after all, he did not go so low for his associates as you thought he did. Amaldina intends to write to Fanny to congratulate her.
Your affectionate sister,
GERALDINE PERSIFLAGE.
Duca di Crinola! She could not quite believe it;--and yet she didbelieve it. Nor could she be quite sure as to herself whether she washappy in believing it or the reverse. It had been terrible to her tothink that she should have to endure the name of being stepmother toa clerk in the Post Office. It would not be at all terrible to herto be stepmother to a Duca di Crinola, even though the stepson wouldhave no property of his own. That little misfortune would, as far asthe feelings of society went, be swallowed up amidst the attributesof rank. Nothing would sound better than Duchessa or Duchessina!And, moreover, it would be all true! This was no paltry title whichmight be false, or might have been picked up, any how, the otherday. All the world would know that the Italian Duke was the linealrepresentative of a magnificent family to whom this identical rankhad belonged for many years. There were strong reasons for taking theyoung Duke and the young Duchess to her heart at once.
But then there were other reasons why she should not wish it to betrue. In the first place she hated them both. Let the man be Duca diCrinola as much as he might, he would still have been a Post Officeclerk, and Lady Frances would have admitted his courtship havingbelieved him at the time to have been no more than a Post Officeclerk. The sin would have been not the less abominable in the choiceof her lover, although it might be expedient that the sin should beforgiven. And then the girl had insulted her, and there had been thatbetween them which would prevent the possibility of future love; andwould it not be hard upon her darlings if it should become necessaryto carve out from the family property a permanent income for thisItalian nobleman, and for a generation of Italian noblemen to come;and then what a triumph would this be for Hampstead, who, of allhuman beings, was the most distasteful to her.
But upon the whole she thought it would be best to accept the Duca.She must, indeed, accept him. Nothing that she could do would restorethe young man to his humble desk and humble name. Nor would theMarquis be actuated by any prayer of hers in reference to the carvingof the property. It would be better for her to accept the young Dukeand the young Duchess, and make the best of them. If only the storyshould at last be shown to be true!
The duty was imposed on her of communicating the story to theMarquis; but before she did so she was surprised by a visit fromMr. Greenwood. Mr. Roberts had used no more than the violence ofargument, and Mr. Greenwood had been induced to take himself toShrewsbury on the day named for his departure. If he went he wouldhave L200 a year from the Marquis,--and L100 would be added by LordHampstead, of which the Marquis need not know anything. Unless hewent on the day fixed that L100 would not be added. A good deal wassaid on either side, but he went. The Marquis had refused to see him.The Marchioness had bade him adieu in a most formal manner,--in amanner quite unbecoming those familiar suggestions which, he thought,had been made to him as to a specially desirable event. But he hadgone, and as he went he told himself that circumstances might yetoccur in the family which might be of use to him. He, too, had heardthe great family news,--perhaps through some under-satellite of theForeign Office, and he came with the idea that he would be the firstto make it known at Trafford Park.
He would have asked for the Marquis, but he knew that the Marquiswould not receive him. Lady Kingsbury consented to see him, and hewas ushered up to the room to which he had so often made his waywithout any asking. "I hope you are well, Mr. Greenwood," she said."Are you still staying in the neighbourhood?" It was, however, wellknown at Trafford that he was at Shrewsbury.
"Yes, Lady Kingsbury. I have not gone from the neighbourhood. Ithought that perhaps you might want to see me again."
"I don't know that we need trouble you, Mr. Greenwood."
"I have come with some news respecting the family." As he said thishe managed to assume the old look, and stood as though he had nevermoved from the place since he had last been in the room.
"Do sit down, Mr. Greenwood. What news?"
"Mr. George Roden, the clerk in the Post Office--"
But she was not going to have the tidings repeated to her by him, soas to give him any claim to gratitude for having brought them. "Youmean the Duca di Crinola!"
"Oh," exclaimed Mr. Greenwood.
"I have heard all that, Mr. Greenwood."
"That the Post Office clerk is an Italian nobleman?"
"It suited the Italian nobleman for a time to be a Post Office clerk.That is what you mean."
"And Lady Frances is to be allowed--"
"Mr. Greenwood, I must ask you not to discuss Lady Frances here."
"Oh! Not to discuss her ladyship!"
"Surely you must be aware how angry the Marquis has been about it."
"Oh!" He had not seated himself, nor divested himself of thatinquisitorial appearance which was so distasteful to her. "We used todiscuss Lady Frances sometimes, Lady Kingsbury."
"I will not discuss her now. Let that be enough, Mr. Greenwood."
"Nor yet Lord Hampstead."
"Nor yet Lord Hampstead. I think it very wrong of you to come afterall that took place. If the Marquis knew it--"
Oh! If the Marquis knew it! If the Marquis knew all, and if otherpeople knew all! If it were known how often her ladyship had spoken,and how loud, as to the wished-for removal to a better world of hislordship's eldest son! But he could not dare to speak it out. And yetit was cruel on him! He had for some days felt her ladyship to beunder his thumb, and now it seemed that she had escaped from him."Oh! very well, Lady Kingsbury. Perhaps I had better go,--just forthe present." And he went.
This served, at least, for corroboration. She did not dare to keepthe secret long from her husband, and therefore, in the course ofthe evening, went down with her sister's letter in her hand. "What!"said the Marquis, when the story had been read to him. "What! Duca diCrinola."
"There can't be a doubt about it, my dear."
"And he a clerk in the Post Office?"
"He isn't a clerk in the Post Office now."
"I don't quite see what he will be then. It appears that he hasinherited nothing."
"My sister says nothing."
"Then what's the good of his title. There is nothing so perniciousin the world as a pauper aristocracy. A clerk in the Post Office isentitled to have a wife, but a poor nobleman should at any rate lethis poverty die with himself."
This was a view of the case which had not hitherto presented itselfto Lady Kingsbury. When she suggested to him that the young noblemanshould be asked down to Trafford, he did not seem to see that itwas at all necessary. It would be much better that Fanny shouldcome back. The young nobleman would, he supposed, live in his owncountry;--unless, indeed, the whole tale was a cock-and-bull storymade up by Persiflage at the Foreign Office. It was just the sort ofthing, he said, that Persiflage would do. He had said not a word asto carving an income out of the property for the young noble couplewhen she left him.