it was not with feelings of extreme satisfaction that mr. rigby returned to london. the loss of hellingsley, followed by the loss of the borough to hellingsley’s successful master, were not precisely the incidents which would be adduced as evidence of mr. rigby’s good management or good fortune. hitherto that gentleman had persuaded the world that he was not only very clever, but that he was also always in luck; a quality which many appreciate more even than capacity. his reputation was unquestionably damaged, both with his patron and his party. but what the tapers and the tadpoles thought or said, what even might be the injurious effect on his own career of the loss of this election, assumed an insignificant character when compared with its influence on the temper and disposition of the marquess of monmouth.
and yet his carriage is now entering the courtyard of monmouth house, and, in all probability, a few minutes would introduce him to that presence before which he had, ere this, trembled. the marquess was at home, and anxious to see mr. rigby. in a few minutes that gentleman was ascending the private staircase, entering the antechamber, and waiting to be received in the little saloon, exactly as our coningsby did more than five years ago, scarcely less agitated, but by feelings of a very different character.
‘well, you made a good fight of it,’ exclaimed the marquess, in a cheerful and cordial tone, as mr. rigby entered his dressing-room. ‘patience! we shall win next time.’
this reception instantly reassured the defeated candidate, though its contrast to that which he expected rather perplexed him. he entered into the details of the election, talked rapidly of the next registration, the propriety of petitioning; accustomed himself to hearing his voice with its habitual volubility in a chamber where he had feared it might not sound for some time.
‘d——n politics!’ said the marquess. ‘these fellows are in for this parliament, and i am really weary of the whole affair. i begin to think the duke was right, and it would have been best to have left them to themselves. i am glad you have come up at once, for i want you. the fact is, i am going to be married.’
this was not a startling announcement to mr. rigby; he was prepared for it, though scarcely could have hoped that he would have been favoured with it on the present occasion, instead of a morose comment on his misfortunes. marriage, then, was the predominant idea of lord monmouth at the present moment, in whose absorbing interest all vexations were forgotten. fortunate rigby! disgusted by the failure of his political combinations, his disappointments in not dictating to the county and not carrying the borough, and the slight prospect at present of obtaining the great object of his ambition, lord monmouth had resolved to precipitate his fate, was about to marry immediately, and quit england.
‘you will be wanted, rigby,’ continued the marquess. ‘we must have a couple of trustees, and i have thought of you as one. you know you are my executor; and it is better not to bring in unnecessarily new names into the management of my affairs. lord eskdale will act with you.’
rigby then, after all, was a lucky man. after such a succession of failures, he had returned only to receive fresh and the most delicate marks of his patron’s good feeling and consideration. lord monmouth’s trustee and executor! ‘you know you are my executor.’ sublime truth! it ought to be blazoned in letters of gold in the most conspicuous part of rigby’s library, to remind him perpetually of his great and impending destiny. lord monmouth’s executor, and very probably one of his residuary legatees! a legatee of some sort he knew he was. what a splendid memento mori! what cared rigby for the borough of darlford? and as for his political friends, he wished them joy of their barren benches. nothing was lost by not being in this parliament.
it was then with sincerity that rigby offered his congratulations to his patron. he praised the judicious alliance, accompanied by every circumstance conducive to worldly happiness; distinguished beauty, perfect temper, princely rank. rigby, who had hardly got out of his hustings’ vein, was most eloquent in his praises of madame colonna.
‘an amiable woman,’ said lord monmouth, ‘and very handsome. i always admired her; and an agreeable person too; i dare say a very good temper, but i am not going to marry her.’
‘might i then ask who is—’
‘her step-daughter, the princess lucretia,’ replied the marquess, quietly, and looking at his ring.
here was a thunderbolt! rigby had made another mistake. he had been working all this time for the wrong woman! the consciousness of being a trustee alone sustained him. there was an inevitable pause. the marquess would not speak however, and rigby must. he babbled rather incoherently about the princess lucretia being admired by everybody; also that she was the most fortunate of women, as well as the most accomplished; he was just beginning to say he had known her from a child, when discretion stopped his tongue, which had a habit of running on somewhat rashly; but rigby, though he often blundered in his talk, had the talent of extricating himself from the consequence of his mistakes.
‘and madame must be highly gratified by all this?’ observed mr. rigby, with an enquiring accent. he was dying to learn how she had first received the intelligence, and congratulated himself that his absence at his contest had preserved him from the storm.
‘madame colonna knows nothing of our intentions,’ said lord monmouth. ‘and by the bye, that is the very business on which i wish to see you, rigby. i wish you to communicate them to her. we are to be married, and immediately. it would gratify me that the wife of lucretia’s father should attend our wedding. you understand exactly what i mean, rigby; i must have no scenes. always happy to see the princess colonna under my roof; but then i like to live quietly, particularly at present; harassed as i have been by the loss of these elections, by all this bad management, and by all these disappointments on subjects in which i was led to believe success was certain. madame colonna is at home;’ and the marquess bowed mr. rigby out of the room.
