The Hand of Ethelberta: A Comedy in Chapters

  32. A ROOM IN ENCKWORTH COURT

  'Are you sure the report is true?'

  'I am sure that what I say is true, my lord; but it is hardly to becalled a report. It is a secret, known at present to nobody but myselfand Mrs. Doncastle's maid.'

  The speaker was Lord Mountclere's trusty valet, and the conversation wasbetween him and the viscount in a dressing-room at Enckworth Court, onthe evening after the meeting of archaeologists at Corvsgate Castle.

  'H'm-h'm; the daughter of a butler. Does Mrs. Doncastle know of thisyet, or Mr. Neigh, or any of their friends?'

  'No, my lord.'

  'You are quite positive?'

  'Quite positive. I was, by accident, the first that Mrs. Menlove namedthe matter to, and I told her it might be much to her advantage if shetook particular care it should go no further.'

  'Mrs. Menlove! Who's she?'

  'The lady's-maid at Mrs. Doncastle's, my lord.'

  'O, ah--of course. You may leave me now, Tipman.' Lord Mountclereremained in thought for a moment. 'A clever little puss, to hoodwink usall like this--hee-hee!' he murmured. 'Her education--how finished; andher beauty--so seldom that I meet with such a woman. Cut down my elms toplease a butler's daughter--what a joke--certainly a good joke! Tointerest me in her on the right side instead of the wrong was strange.But it can be made to change sides--hee-hee!--it can be made to changesides! Tipman!'

  Tipman came forward from the doorway.

  'Will you take care that that piece of gossip you mentioned to me is notrepeated in this house? I strongly disapprove of talebearing of anysort, and wish to hear no more of this. Such stories are never true.Answer me--do you hear? Such stories are never true.'

  'I beg pardon, but I think your lordship will find this one true,' saidthe valet quietly.

  'Then where did she get her manners and education? Do you know?'

  'I do not, my lord. I suppose she picked 'em up by her wits.'

  'Never mind what you suppose,' said the old man impatiently. 'Whenever Iask a question of you tell me what you know, and no more.'

  'Quite so, my lord. I beg your lordship's pardon for supposing.'

  'H'm-h'm. Have the fashion-books and plates arrived yet?'

  'Le Follet has, my lord; but not the others.'

  'Let me have it at once. Always bring it to me at once. Are there anyhandsome ones this time?'

  'They are much the same class of female as usual, I think, my lord,' saidTipman, fetching the paper and laying it before him.

  'Yes, they are,' said the viscount, leaning back and scrutinizing thefaces of the women one by one, and talking softly to himself in a waythat had grown upon him as his age increased. 'Yet they are very well:that one with her shoulder turned is pure and charming--the brown-hairedone will pass. All very harmless and innocent, but without character; nosoul, or inspiration, or eloquence of eye. What an eye was hers! Thereis not a girl among them so beautiful. . . . Tipman! Come and take itaway. I don't think I will subscribe to these papers any longer--howlong have I subscribed? Never mind--I take no interest in these things,and I suppose I must give them up. What white article is that I see onthe floor yonder?'

  'I can see nothing, my lord.'

  'Yes, yes, you can. At the other end of the room. It is a whitehandkerchief. Bring it to me.'

  'I beg pardon, my lord, but I cannot see any white handkerchief.Whereabouts does your lordship mean?'

  'There in the corner. If it is not a handkerchief, what is it? Walkalong till you come to it--that is it; now a little further--now yourfoot is against it.'

  'O that--it is not anything. It is the light reflected against theskirting, so that it looks like a white patch of something--that is all.'

  'H'm-hm. My eyes--how weak they are! I am getting old, that's what itis: I am an old man.'

  'O no, my lord.'

  'Yes, an old man.'

  'Well, we shall all be old some day, and so will your lordship, Isuppose; but as yet--'

  'I tell you I am an old man!'

  'Yes, my lord--I did not mean to contradict. An old man in one sense--oldin a young man's sense, but not in a house-of-parliament or historicalsense. A little oldish--I meant that, my lord.'

  'I may be an old man in one sense or in another sense in your mind; butlet me tell you there are men older than I--'

  'Yes, so there are, my lord.'

  'People may call me what they please, and you may be impertinent enoughto repeat to me what they say, but let me tell you I am not a very oldman after all. I am not an old man.'

  'Old in knowledge of the world I meant, my lord, not in years.'

  'Well, yes. Experience of course I cannot be without. And I like whatis beautiful. Tipman, you must go to Knollsea; don't send, but goyourself, as I wish nobody else to be concerned in this. Go to Knollsea,and find out when the steamboat for Cherbourg starts; and when you havedone that, I shall want you to send Taylor to me. I wish Captain Strongto bring the Fawn round into Knollsea Bay. Next week I may want you togo to Cherbourg in the yacht with me--if the Channel is pretty calm--andthen perhaps to Rouen and Paris. But I will speak of that to-morrow.'

  'Very good, my lord.'

  'Meanwhile I recommend that you and Mrs. Menlove repeat nothing you mayhave heard concerning the lady you just now spoke of. Here is a slightpresent for Mrs. Menlove; and accept this for yourself.' He handedmoney.

  'Your lordship may be sure we will not,' the valet replied.