not a day elapsed without coningsby being in the company of edith. time was precious for him, for the spires and pinnacles of cambridge already began to loom in the distance, and he resolved to make the most determined efforts not to lose a day of his liberty. and yet to call every morning in the rue de rivoli was an exploit which surpassed even the audacity of love! more than once, making the attempt, his courage failed him, and he turned into the gardens of the tuileries, and only watched the windows of the house. circumstances, however, favoured him: he received a letter from oswald millbank; he was bound to communicate in person this evidence of his friend’s existence; and when he had to reply to the letter, he must necessarily inquire whether his friend’s relatives had any message to transmit to him. these, however, were only slight advantages. what assisted coningsby in his plans and wishes was the great pleasure which sidonia, with whom he passed a great deal of his time, took in the society of the wallingers and their niece. sidonia presented lady wallinger with his opera-box during her stay at paris; invited them frequently to his agreeable dinner-parties; and announced his determination to give a ball, which lady wallinger esteemed a delicate attention to edith; while lady monmouth flattered herself that the festival sprang from the desire she had expressed of seeing the celebrated hotel of sidonia to advantage.
coningsby was very happy. his morning visits to the rue de rivoli seemed always welcome, and seldom an evening elapsed in which he did not find himself in the society of edith. she seemed not to wish to conceal that his presence gave her pleasure, and though she had many admirers, and had an airy graciousness for all of them, coningsby sometimes indulged the exquisite suspicion that there was a flattering distinction in her carriage to himself. under the influence of these feelings, he began daily to be more conscious that separation would be an intolerable calamity; he began to meditate upon the feasibility of keeping a half term, and of postponing his departure to cambridge to a period nearer the time when edith would probably return to england.
in the meanwhile, the parisian world talked much of the grand fete which was about to be given by sidonia. coningsby heard much of it one day when dining at his grandfather’s. lady monmouth seemed very intent on the occasion. even lord monmouth half talked of going, though, for his part, he wished people would come to him, and never ask him to their houses. that was his idea of society. he liked the world, but he liked to find it under his own roof. he grudged them nothing, so that they would not insist upon the reciprocity of cold-catching, and would eat his good dinners instead of insisting on his eating their bad ones.
‘but monsieur sidonia’s cook is a gem, they say,’ observed an attaché of an embassy.
‘i have no doubt of it; sidonia is a man of sense, almost the only man of sense i know. i never caught him tripping. he never makes a false move. sidonia is exactly the sort of man i like; you know you cannot deceive him, and that he does not want to deceive you. i wish he liked a rubber more. then he would be perfect.’
‘they say he is going to be married,’ said the attaché.
‘poh!’ said lord monmouth.
‘married!’ exclaimed lady monmouth. ‘to whom?’
‘to your beautiful countrywoman, “la belle anglaise,” that all the world talks of,’ said the attaché.
‘and who may she be, pray?’ said the marquess. ‘i have so many beautiful countrywomen.’
‘mademoiselle millbank,’ said the attaché.
‘millbank!’ said the marquess, with a lowering brow. ‘there are so many millbanks. do you know what millbank this is, harry?’ he inquired of his grandson, who had listened to the conversation with a rather embarrassed and even agitated spirit.
‘what, sir; yes, millbank?’ said coningsby.
‘i say, do you know who this millbank is?’
‘oh! miss millbank: yes, i believe, that is, i know a daughter of the gentleman who purchased some property near you.’
‘oh! that fellow! has he got a daughter here?’
‘the most beautiful girl in paris,’ said the attaché.
‘lady monmouth, have you seen this beauty, that sidonia is going to marry?’ he added, with a fiendish laugh.
‘i have seen the young lady,’ said lady monmouth; ‘but i had not heard that monsieur sidonia was about to marry her.’
‘is she so very beautiful?’ inquired another gentleman.
‘yes,’ said lady monmouth, calm, but pale.
‘poh!’ said the marquess again.
‘i assure you that it is a fact,’ said the attaché, ‘not at least an on-dit. i have it from a quarter that could not well be mistaken.’
behold a little snatch of ordinary dinner gossip that left a very painful impression on the minds of three individuals who were present.
the name of millbank revived in lord monmouth’s mind a sense of defeat, discomfiture, and disgust; hellingsley, lost elections, and mr. rigby; three subjects which lord monmouth had succeeded for a time in expelling from his sensations. his lordship thought that, in all probability, this beauty of whom they spoke so highly was not really the daughter of his foe; that it was some confusion which had arisen from the similarity of names: nor did he believe that sidonia was going to marry her, whoever she might be; but a variety of things had been said at dinner, and a number of images had been raised in his mind that touched his spleen. he took his wine freely, and, the usual consequence of that proceeding with lord monmouth, became silent and sullen. as for lady monmouth, she had learnt that sidonia, whatever might be the result, was paying very marked attention to another woman, for whom undoubtedly he was giving that very ball which she had flattered herself was a homage to her wishes, and for which she had projected a new dress of eclipsing splendour.
coningsby felt quite sure that the story of sidonia’s marriage with edith was the most ridiculous idea that ever entered into the imagination of man; at least he thought he felt quite sure. but the idlest and wildest report that the woman you love is about to marry another is not comfortable. besides, he could not conceal from himself that, between the wallingers and sidonia there existed a remarkable intimacy, fully extended to their niece. he had seen her certainly on more than one occasion in lengthened and apparently earnest conversation with sidonia, who, by-the-bye, spoke with her often in spanish, and never concealed his admiration of her charms or the interest he found in her society. and edith; what, after all, had passed between edith and himself which should at all gainsay this report, which he had been particularly assured was not a mere report, but came from a quarter that could not well be mistaken? she had received him with kindness. and how should she receive one who was the friend and preserver of her only brother, and apparently the intimate and cherished acquaintance of her future husband? coningsby felt that sickness of the heart that accompanies one’s first misfortune. the illusions of life seemed to dissipate and disappear. he was miserable; he had no confidence in himself, in his future. after all, what was he? a dependent on a man of very resolute will and passions. could he forget the glance with which lord monmouth caught the name of millbank, and received the intimation of hellingsley? it was a glance for a spagnoletto or a caravaggio to catch and immortalise. why, if edith were not going to marry sidonia, how was he ever to marry her, even if she cared for him? oh! what a future of unbroken, continuous, interminable misery awaited him! was there ever yet born a being with a destiny so dark and dismal? he was the most forlorn of men, utterly wretched! he had entirely mistaken his own character. he had no energy, no abilities, not a single eminent quality. all was over!
