another year elapsed; not so fruitful in incidents to coningsby as the preceding ones, and yet not unprofitably passed. it had been spent in the almost unremitting cultivation of his intelligence. he had read deeply and extensively, digested his acquisitions, and had practised himself in surveying them, free from those conventional conclusions and those traditionary inferences that surrounded him. although he had renounced his once cherished purpose of trying for university honours, an aim which he found discordant with the investigations on which his mind was bent, he had rarely quitted cambridge. the society of his friends, the great convenience of public libraries, and the general tone of studious life around, rendered an university for him a genial residence. there is a moment in life, when the pride and thirst of knowledge seem to absorb our being, and so it happened now to coningsby, who felt each day stronger in his intellectual resources, and each day more anxious and avid to increase them. the habits of public discussion fostered by the debating society were also for coningsby no inconsiderable tie to the university. this was the arena in which he felt himself at home. the promise of his eton days was here fulfilled. and while his friends listened to his sustained argument or his impassioned declamation, the prompt reply or the apt retort, they looked forward with pride through the vista of years to the time when the hero of the youthful club should convince or dazzle in the senate. it is probable then that he would have remained at cambridge with slight intervals until he had taken his degree, had not circumstances occurred which gave altogether a new turn to his thoughts.
when lord monmouth had fixed his wedding-day he had written himself to coningsby to announce his intended marriage, and to request his grandson’s presence at the ceremony. the letter was more than kind; it was warm and generous. he assured his grandson that this alliance should make no difference in the very ample provision which he had long intended for him; that he should ever esteem coningsby his nearest relative; and that, while his death would bring to coningsby as considerable an independence as an english gentleman need desire, so in his lifetime coningsby should ever be supported as became his birth, breeding, and future prospects. lord monmouth had mentioned to lucretia, that he was about to invite his grandson to their wedding, and the lady had received the intimation with satisfaction. it so happened that a few hours after, lucretia, who now entered the private rooms of lord monmouth without previously announcing her arrival, met villebecque with the letter to coningsby in his hand. lucretia took it away from him, and said it should be posted with her own letters. it never reached its destination. our friend learnt the marriage from the newspapers, which somewhat astounded him; but coningsby was fond of his grandfather, and he wrote lord monmouth a letter of congratulation, full of feeling and ingenuousness, and which, while it much pleased the person to whom it was addressed, unintentionally convinced him that coningsby had never received his original communication. lord monmouth spoke to villebecque, who could throw sufficient light upon the subject, but it was never mentioned to lady monmouth. the marquess was a man who always found out everything, and enjoyed the secret.
rather more than a year after the marriage, when coningsby had completed his twenty-first year, the year which he had passed so quietly at cambridge, he received a letter from his grandfather, informing him that after a variety of movements lady monmouth and himself were established in paris for the season, and desiring that he would not fail to come over as soon as practicable, and pay them as long a visit as the regulations of the university would permit. so, at the close of the december term, coningsby quitted cambridge for paris.
passing through london, he made his first visit to his banker at charing cross, on whom he had periodically drawn since he commenced his college life. he was in the outer counting-house, making some inquiries about a letter of credit, when one of the partners came out from an inner room, and invited him to enter. this firm had been for generations the bankers of the coningsby family; and it appeared that there was a sealed box in their possession, which had belonged to the father of coningsby, and they wished to take this opportunity of delivering it to his son. this communication deeply interested him; and as he was alone in london, at an hotel, and on the wing for a foreign country, he requested permission at once to examine it, in order that he might again deposit it with them: so he was shown into a private room for that purpose. the seal was broken; the box was full of papers, chiefly correspondence: among them was a packet described as letters from ‘my dear helen,’ the mother of coningsby. in the interior of this packet there was a miniature of that mother. he looked at it; put it down; looked at it again and again. he could not be mistaken. there was the same blue fillet in the bright hair. it was an exact copy of that portrait which had so greatly excited his attention when at millbank! this was a mysterious and singularly perplexing incident. it greatly agitated him. he was alone in the room when he made the discovery. when he had recovered himself, he sealed up the contents of the box, with the exception of his mother’s letters and the miniature, which he took away with him, and then re-delivered it to his banker for custody until his return.
coningsby found lord and lady monmouth in a splendid hotel in the faubourg st. honoré, near the english embassy. his grandfather looked at him with marked attention, and received him with evident satisfaction. indeed, lord monmouth was greatly pleased that harry had come to paris; it was the university of the world, where everybody should graduate. paris and london ought to be the great objects of all travellers; the rest was mere landscape.
it cannot be denied that between lucretia and coningsby there existed from the first a certain antipathy; and though circumstances for a short time had apparently removed or modified the aversion, the manner of the lady when coningsby was ushered into her boudoir, resplendent with all that parisian taste and luxury could devise, was characterised by that frigid politeness which had preceded the days of their more genial acquaintance. if the manner of lucretia were the same as before her marriage, a considerable change might however be observed in her appearance. her fine form had become more developed; while her dress, that she once neglected, was elaborate and gorgeous, and of the last mode. lucretia was the fashion of paris; a great lady, greatly admired. a guest under such a roof, however, coningsby was at once launched into the most brilliant circles of parisian society, which he found fascinating.
the art of society is, without doubt, perfectly comprehended and completely practised in the bright metropolis of france. an englishman cannot enter a saloon without instantly feeling he is among a race more social than his compatriots. what, for example, is more consummate than the manner in which a french lady receives her guests! she unites graceful repose and unaffected dignity, with the most amiable regard for others. she sees every one; she speaks to every one; she sees them at the right moment; she says the right thing; it is utterly impossible to detect any difference in the position of her guests by the spirit in which she welcomes them. there is, indeed, throughout every circle of parisian society, from the chateau to the cabaret, a sincere homage to intellect; and this without any maudlin sentiment. none sooner than the parisians can draw the line between factitious notoriety and honest fame; or sooner distinguished between the counterfeit celebrity and the standard reputation. in england, we too often alternate between a supercilious neglect of genius and a rhapsodical pursuit of quacks. in england when a new character appears in our circles, the first question always is, ‘who is he?’ in france it is, ‘what is he?’ in england, ‘how much a-year?’ in france, ‘what has he done?’
