The Master of the Ceremonies

Carboro'! It was such anexaltation--greater than his highest dreams. But before him stood thatwithered old man, scanning him with his sharp eyes, and ready to probehim with his bitterly venomed tongue. He, to be the husband of hisbeautiful child. It was sacrilege.

  "We agreed to be quite frank," said Lord Carboro' sharply.

  Denville drew a long breath, and biting his lip, called up before hismental vision the sweet soft face of his child wearing a new horror ashe bore her this news, and trampling down, as it were, the greattemptation, he cast off his mincing ways, his servile politeness, and ina quick, firm voice exclaimed:

  "Will your lordship commence and set me the example? What do you mean?"

  "Come, I like that, Denville. Spoken like a man. Well, I'll be frank.I have long been thinking of your child, and watching her, and as I havewatched her I have loved--no, that is absurd at my age--my liking forher has grown. I have put it off and it has come back, and I have putit off again as I have heard some bit of scandal, but she has alwayscome out of it so spotless and well that I have grown more--well,infatuated."

  He paused for a minute, and then went on speaking earnestly.

  "Then came that horror at your house, just as I had made up my mind tospeak to you; and I said no: it was impossible; but the feeling grew.Yes, man, even at my age."

  Denville bowed, and drew himself up very stiffly.

  "I waited, Denville, and was about to speak to you when this affair withRockley and the duel took place, and I stopped at home and sworehorribly; but the feeling still grew and grew, and as that has allpassed away, I now ask you if you will give me your consent. I ask youas a gentleman, Denville, to address her and ask her if she will be mywife."

  Denville did not answer, for a tremendous struggle was going on withinhis breast, and it was hard to say which side would win.

  "Hah!" said Lord Carboro', speaking quickly; "you say I am very old.Granted. That I ought to think of my coffin instead of a wife.Granted. That I am an old fool; but there I join issue."

  Denville had raised his hands deprecatingly.

  "I am not an old fool, Denville."

  "No, my lord, you are not."

  "I'll tell you why. I have said to myself that if this beautiful youngcreature swore to be my faithful wife I could trust her. She would be asweet companion for my declining years; and, God bless her! if sheconsented, I would repay her for the sacrifice. In a few years I shouldleave her young, rich, titled, and free to choose some more suitablecompanion than the old man she had tended to his grave."

  There were no marks lying on the ground as those two elderly men stoodface to face alone on the short turf of the Downs; but it seemed as ifthey must have dropped a tear.

  Neither spoke for some minutes, and then it was the Master of theCeremonies.

  "My lord," he said firmly, "you have given me this commission for my sonas a bribe."

  "No, no, Denville, I swear I have not."

  "Take it back, my lord, for what you ask is impossible."

  "Impossible?"

  "Fate has been very hard to me, my lord, and the burden has been tooheavy at times to bear; but I cannot do this thing. I love my child toowell."

  They stood gazing out to sea for some minutes, and only the rushing ofthe wind was heard, or the wailing cry of the gulls, but at last LordCarboro' spoke.

  "Denville, I did not know you," he said gravely. "I thought I had todeal with a different man; but don't let us be hasty. As to thecommission, it is your boy's, and may he deserve it. As to what we havesaid, let us wait. Don't refuse me absolutely, and don't say a word toMiss Denville. Give me leave to visit at your house, and let mattersslide for a few months. Things may shape themselves so that you maychange your mind; do you consent to this?"

  "It would be like buoying your lordship up with false hopes."

  "That is my look-out, sir; do you consent?"

  "I am your lordship's obedient, humble servant."

  "You are the man I offer to make my father-in-law? Answer me, sir, likea man."

  "I consent."

  "That's better. Denville, your hand. In future I shall know you as theman I have seen to-day. I never respected you one half so much before."

  Volume Two, Chapter XI.

  JAMES BELL'S DECISION.

  It was in honour of Morton Denville's reception into the regiment thatthe Master of the Ceremonies received. There had been some difficultyin the matter, but on the very first night that the young man dined atthe mess, when, urged by Major Rockley, his brother-officers had decidedto send him to Coventry, it so happened that "a certain gentleman" wasat Saltinville and had expressed his intention to Colonel Lascelles oflooking in.

  Consequently, it was decided not to transport the young subaltern to theMidlands that night; and as it happened His Royal Highness asked theColonel who the tall youth was, ordered him to be introduced, and shookhands with the young man.

  "Devilish gentlemanly fellow, your father, my lad. Always looks agentleman, and carries a devilish good pinch of snuff. My complimentsto him, and tell him I was glad to oblige Carboro'."

  "They were all as civil to me as could be, after that, Clairy," saidMorton, relating the meeting at home. "Even Rockley shook hands afterdinner, when we'd had a lot of claret, and he apologised about beingcarried away, he called it, and said we were brother-officers now, andmust be good friends. I don't like him, though."

  Claire turned pale.

  "I say, though, Clairy, I haven't said a word to the dad, but what am Ito do? I turned cold and hot, and queer as could be yesterday. Whom doyou think I met?"

  Claire knew what was coming, but she did not speak.

  "Fred. I'd half forgotten about him, and he's in my troop."

  "Did--did Fred speak, Morton?"

  "No; he cut me dead, and of course he is James Bell in the regimentalbooks; but, I say, isn't it awkward? I can't know him, you see, as mybrother: what shall I do?"

  "Fred has shown you," said Claire huskily, as her troubles seemed to beon the increase. "I will try and persuade him to leave the regiment.We must buy him out."

  "Yes, to be sure," cried the boy. "Oh, I say, what a clever old girlyou are, Sis! Why, you're better than a mother."

  Claire smiled sadly as he kissed her and left the house.

  That night she wrote to Private James Bell about the difficulty--a longsisterly letter, offering to get the money to buy his discharge, andalluding to everything as tenderly as the subject would allow.

  In due time a crisp short reply came back:

  "Dear Claire,

  "No, I shall not leave the regiment. I want to keep my eye on theMajor. Tell Morton not to be afraid. I am only James Bell, and I shallnever presume. I am too well disciplined for that. Take care of yourdear self.

  "Good-bye, F."

  Claire wept over the letter, and hid it with her treasures. Thedifficulty seemed to have passed away, and she felt lighter at heart.

  She had to prepare too for the evening that the Master of the Ceremonieshad determined to give, not because he could afford it, but nominally,as intimated, in honour of his son's receiving a commission, moreespecially because Lord Carboro' had wished it, and said that he shouldcome.

  With such a visitor to give _eclat_ to the proceedings, the difficultywas how to arrange to issue invitations, for Denville, with throbbingbreast, felt that no one would decline.

  He was in a tremor for days, as he thought the matter over, and wasswayed by his ambition and his true manhood, to and fro.

  At times he raised his eyes to find that Claire was watching him, andher cold candid look made him shrink within himself, as he thought ofthe past, and he shivered in dread lest she should display that terriblerepugnance again, instead of the sad, half despondent distance that hadbecome her manner and her bearing towards him.

  She never kissed him, but, when he took her hand, she suffered him topress his lips to her brow without flinching as she had at first, and hesighed and accepted his
fate.

  There had been times of late when the entanglement of his younger son'sposition in the regiment, with an elder brother a private in the ranks,had half driven him mad, keeping him awake night after night; and Clairehad lain weeping despairingly as she had heard him pace his room, butthe horrible difficulty he had been anticipating did not seem to comehome, and he waited for the Nemesis that would some day arrive, hopingthat he might be allowed time to complete his plans before the boltfell.

  He sat one morning, deciding with Claire to whom invitations were to beissued. Lady Drelincourt would come of course, as Lord Carboro' wouldbe there, and several other notables had been invited.

  "Then the officers of the regiment, of course."

  Claire