it was the heart of the london season, nearly four years ago, twelve months having almost elapsed since the occurrence of those painful passages at hellingsley which closed the last book of this history, and long lines of carriages an hour before midnight, up the classic mount of st. james and along piccadilly, intimated that the world were received at some grand entertainment in arlington street.
it was the town mansion of the noble family beneath whose roof at beaumanoir we have more than once introduced the reader, to gain whose courtyard was at this moment the object of emulous coachmen, and to enter whose saloons was to reward the martyr-like patience of their lords and ladies.
among the fortunate who had already succeeded in bowing to their hostess were two gentlemen, who, ensconced in a good position, surveyed the scene, and made their observations on the passing guests. they were gentlemen who, to judge from their general air and the great consideration with which they were treated by those who were occasionally in their vicinity, were personages whose criticism bore authority.
‘i say, jemmy,’ said the eldest, a dandy who had dined with the regent, but who was still a dandy, and who enjoyed life almost as much as in the days when carlton house occupied the terrace which still bears its name. ‘i say, jemmy, what a load of young fellows there are! don’t know their names at all. begin to think fellows are younger than they used to be. amazing load of young fellows, indeed!’
at this moment an individual who came under the fortunate designation of a young fellow, but whose assured carriage hardly intimated that this was his first season in london, came up to the junior of the two critics, and said, ‘a pretty turn you played us yesterday at white’s, melton. we waited dinner nearly an hour.’
‘my dear fellow, i am infinitely sorry; but i was obliged to go down to windsor, and i missed the return train. a good dinner? who had you?’
‘a capital party, only you were wanted. we had beaumanoir and vere, and jack tufton and spraggs.’
‘was spraggs rich?’
‘wasn’t he! i have not done laughing yet. he told us a story about the little biron who was over here last year; i knew her at paris; and an indian screen. killing! get him to tell it you. the richest thing you ever heard!’
‘who’s your friend?’ inquired mr. melton’s companion, as the young man moved away.
‘sir charles buckhurst.’
‘a—h! that is sir charles buckhurst. glad to have seen him. they say he is going it.’
‘he knows what he is about.’
‘egad! so they all do. a young fellow now of two or three and twenty knows the world as men used to do after as many years of scrapes. i wonder where there is such a thing as a greenhorn. effie crabbs says the reason he gives up his house is, that he has cleaned out the old generation, and that the new generation would clean him.’
‘buckhurst is not in that sort of way: he swears by henry sydney, a younger son of the duke, whom you don’t know; and young coningsby; a sort of new set; new ideas and all that sort of thing. beau tells me a good deal about it; and when i was staying with the everinghams, at easter, they were full of it. coningsby had just returned from his travels, and they were quite on the qui vive. lady everingham is one of their set. i don’t know what it is exactly; but i think we shall hear more of it.’
‘a sort of animal magnetism, or unknown tongues, i take it from your description,’ said his companion.
‘well, i don’t know what it is,’ said mr. melton; ‘but it has got hold of all the young fellows who have just come out. beau is a little bit himself. i had some idea of giving my mind to it, they made such a fuss about it at everingham; but it requires a devilish deal of history, i believe, and all that sort of thing.’
‘ah! that’s a bore,’ said his companion. ‘it is difficult to turn to with a new thing when you are not in the habit of it. i never could manage charades.’
mr. ormsby, passing by, stopped. ‘they told me you had the gout, cassilis?’ he said to mr. melton’s companion.
‘so i had; but i have found out a fellow who cures the gout instanter. tom needham sent him to me. a german fellow. pumicestone pills; sort of a charm, i believe, and all that kind of thing: they say it rubs the gout out of you. i sent him to luxborough, who was very bad; cured him directly. luxborough swears by him.’
‘luxborough believes in the millennium,’ said mr. ormsby.
‘but here’s a new thing that melton has been telling me of, that all the world is going to believe in,’ said mr. cassilis, ‘something patronised by lady everingham.’
‘a very good patroness,’ said mr. ormsby.
‘have you heard anything about it?’ continued mr. cassilis. ‘young coningsby brought it from abroad; didn’t you you say so, jemmy?’
‘no, no, my dear fellow; it is not at all that sort of thing.’
‘but they say it requires a deuced deal of history,’ continued mr. cassilis. ‘one must brush up one’s goldsmith. canterton used to be the fellow for history at white’s. he was always boring one with william the conqueror, julius caesar, and all that sort of thing.’
‘i tell you what,’ said mr. ormsby, looking both sly and solemn, ‘i should not be surprised if, some day or another, we have a history about lady everingham and young coningsby.’
‘poh!’ said mr. melton; ‘he is engaged to be married to her sister, lady theresa.’
‘the deuce!’ said mr. ormsby; ‘well, you are a friend of the family, and i suppose you know.’
‘he is a devilish good-looking fellow, that young coningsby,’ said mr. cassilis. ‘all the women are in love with him, they say. lady eleanor ducie quite raves about him.’
‘by-the-bye, his grandfather has been very unwell,’ said mr. ormsby, looking mysteriously.
‘i saw lady monmouth here just now,’ said mr. melton.
‘oh! he is quite well again,’ said mr. ormsby.
‘got an odd story at white’s that lord monmouth was going to separate from her,’ said mr. cassilis.
‘no foundation,’ said mr. ormsby, shaking his head.
‘they are not going to separate, i believe,’ said mr. melton; ‘but i rather think there was a foundation for the rumour.’
mr. ormsby still shook his head.
‘well,’ continued mr. melton, ‘all i know is, that it was looked upon last winter at paris as a settled thing.’
‘there was some story about some hungarian,’ said mr. cassilis.
‘no, that blew over,’ said mr. melton; ‘it was trautsmansdorff the row was about.’
all this time mr. ormsby, as the friend of lord and lady monmouth, remained shaking his head; but as a member of society, and therefore delighting in small scandal, appropriating the gossip with the greatest avidity.
‘i should think old monmouth was not the sort of fellow to blow up a woman,’ said mr. cassilis.
‘provided she would leave him quietly,’ said mr. melton.
‘yes, lord monmouth never could live with a woman more than two years,’ said mr. ormsby, pensively. ‘and that i thought at the time rather an objection to his marriage.’
we must now briefly revert to what befell our hero after those unhappy occurrences in the midst of whose first woe we left him.
the day after the arrival of mr. rigby at the castle, coningsby quitted it for london, and before a week had elapsed had embarked for cadiz. he felt a romantic interest in visiting the land to which edith owed some blood, and in acquiring the language which he had often admired as she spoke it. a favourable opportunity permitted him in the autumn to visit athens and the aegean, which he much desired. in the pensive beauties of that delicate land, where perpetual autumn seems to reign, coningsby found solace. there is something in the character of grecian scenery which blends with the humour of the melancholy and the feelings of the sorrowful. coningsby passed his winter at rome. the wish of his grandfather had rendered it necessary for him to return to england somewhat abruptly. lord monmouth had not visited his native country since his marriage; but the period that had elapsed since that event had considerably improved the prospects of his party. the majority of the whig cabinet in the house of commons by 1840 had become little more than nominal; and though it was circulated among their friends, as if from the highest authority, that ‘one was enough,’ there seemed daily a better chance of their being deprived even of that magical unit. for the first time in the history of this country since the introduction of the system of parliamentary sovereignty, the government of england depended on the fate of single elections; and indeed, by a single vote, it is remarkable to observe, the fate of the whig government was ultimately decided.
this critical state of affairs, duly reported to lord monmouth, revived his political passions, and offered him that excitement which he was ever seeking, and yet for which he had often sighed. the marquess, too, was weary of paris. every day he found it more difficult to be amused. lucretia had lost her charm. he, from whom nothing could be concealed, perceived that often, while she elaborately attempted to divert him, her mind was wandering elsewhere. lord monmouth was quite superior to all petty jealousy and the vulgar feelings of inferior mortals, but his sublime selfishness required devotion. he had calculated that a wife or a mistress who might be in love with another man, however powerfully their interests might prompt them, could not be so agreeable or amusing to their friends and husbands as if they had no such distracting hold upon their hearts or their fancy. latterly at paris, while lucretia became each day more involved in the vortex of society, where all admired and some adored her, lord monmouth fell into the easy habit of dining in his private rooms, sometimes tête-à-tête with villebecque, whose inexhaustible tales and adventures about a kind of society which lord monmouth had always preferred infinitely to the polished and somewhat insipid circles in which he was born, had rendered him the prime favourite of his great patron. sometimes villebecque, too, brought a friend, male or otherwise, whom he thought invested with the rare faculty of distraction: lord monmouth cared not who or what they were, provided they were diverting.
villebecque had written to coningsby at rome, by his grandfather’s desire, to beg him to return to england and meet lord monmouth there. the letter was couched with all the respect and good feeling which villebecque really entertained for him whom he addressed; still a letter on such a subject from such a person was not agreeable to coningsby, and his reply to it was direct to his grandfather; lord monmouth, however, had entirely given over writing letters.
coningsby had met at paris, on his way to england, lord and lady everingham, and he had returned with them. this revival of an old acquaintance was both agreeable and fortunate for our hero. the vivacity of a clever and charming woman pleasantly disturbed the brooding memory of coningsby. there is no mortification however keen, no misery however desperate, which the spirit of woman cannot in some degree lighten or alleviate. about, too, to make his formal entrance into the great world, he could not have secured a more valuable and accomplished female friend. she gave him every instruction, every intimation that was necessary; cleared the social difficulties which in some degree are experienced on their entrance into the world even by the most highly connected, unless they have this benign assistance; planted him immediately in the position which was expedient; took care that he was invited at once to the right houses; and, with the aid of her husband, that he should become a member of the right clubs.
‘and who is to have the blue ribbon, lord eskdale?’ said the duchess to that nobleman, as he entered and approached to pay his respects.
‘if i were melbourne, i would keep it open,’ replied his lordship. ‘it is a mistake to give away too quickly.’
‘but suppose they go out,’ said her grace.
‘oh! there is always a last day to clear the house. but they will be in another year. the cliff will not be sapped before then. we made a mistake last year about the ladies.’
‘i know you always thought so.’
‘quarrels about women are always a mistake. one should make it a rule to give up to them, and then they are sure to give up to us.’
‘you have no great faith in our firmness?’
‘male firmness is very often obstinacy: women have always something better, worth all qualities; they have tact.’
‘a compliment to the sex from so finished a critic as lord eskdale is appreciated.’
but at this moment the arrival of some guests terminated the conversation, and lord eskdale moved away, and approached a group which lady everingham was enlightening.
‘my dear lord fitz-booby,’ her ladyship observed, ‘in politics we require faith as well as in all other things.’
lord fitz-booby looked rather perplexed; but, possessed of considerable official experience, having held high posts, some in the cabinet, for nearly a quarter of a century, he was too versed to acknowledge that he had not understood a single word that had been addressed to him for the last ten minutes. he looked on with the same grave, attentive stolidity, occasionally nodding his head, as he was wont of yore when he received a deputation on sugar duties or joint-stock banks, and when he made, as was his custom when particularly perplexed, an occasional note on a sheet of foolscap paper.
‘an opposition in an age of revolution,’ continued lady everingham, ‘must be founded on principles. it cannot depend on mere personal ability and party address taking advantage of circumstances. you have not enunciated a principle for the last ten years; and when you seemed on the point of acceding to power, it was not on a great question of national interest, but a technical dispute respecting the constitution of an exhausted sugar colony.’
‘if you are a conservative party, we wish to know what you want to conserve,’ said lord vere.
‘if it had not been for the whig abolition of slavery,’ said lord fitz-booby, goaded into repartee, ‘jamaica would not have been an exhausted sugar colony.’
‘then what you do want to conserve is slavery?’ said lord vere.
‘no,’ said lord fitz-booby, ‘i am never for retracing our steps.’
‘but will you advance, will you move? and where will you advance, and how will you move?’ said lady everingham.
‘i think we have had quite enough of advancing,’ said his lordship. ‘i had no idea your ladyship was a member of the movement party,’ he added, with a sarcastic grin.
‘but if it were bad, lord fitz-booby, to move where we are, as you and your friends have always maintained, how can you reconcile it to principle to remain there?’ said lord vere.
‘i would make the best of a bad bargain,’ said lord fitz-booby. ‘with a conservative government, a reformed constitution would be less dangerous.’
‘why?’ said lady everingham. ‘what are your distinctive principles that render the peril less?’
‘i appeal to lord eskdale,’ said lord fitz-booby; ‘there is lady everingham turned quite a radical, i declare. is not your lordship of opinion that the country must be safer with a conservative government than with a liberal?’
‘i think the country is always tolerably secure,’ said lord eskdale.
lady theresa, leaning on the arm of mr. lyle, came up at this moment, and unconsciously made a diversion in favour of lord fitz-booby.
‘pray, theresa,’ said lady everingham, ‘where is mr. coningsby?’
let us endeavour to ascertain. it so happened that on this day coningsby and henry sydney dined at grillion’s, at an university club, where, among many friends whom coningsby had not met for a long time, and among delightful reminiscences, the unconscious hours stole on. it was late when they quitted grillion’s, and coningsby’s brougham was detained for a considerable time before its driver could insinuate himself into the line, which indeed he would never have succeeded in doing had not he fortunately come across the coachman of the duke of agincourt, who being of the same politics as himself, belonging to the same club, and always black-balling the same men, let him in from a legitimate party feeling; so they arrived in arlington street at a very late hour.
coningsby was springing up the staircase, now not so crowded as it had been, and met a retiring party; he was about to say a passing word to a gentleman as he went by, when, suddenly, coningsby turned deadly pale. the gentleman could hardly be the cause, for it was the gracious and handsome presence of lord beaumanoir: the lady resting on his arm was edith. they moved on while he was motionless; yet edith and himself had exchanged glances. his was one of astonishment; but what was the expression of hers? she must have recognised him before he had observed her. she was collected, and she expressed the purpose of her mind in a distant and haughty recognition. coningsby remained for a moment stupefied; then suddenly turning back, he bounded downstairs and hurried into the cloak-room. he met lady wallinger; he spoke rapidly, he held her hand, did not listen to her answers, his eyes wandered about. there were many persons present, at length he recognised edith enveloped in her mantle. he went forward, he looked at her, as if he would have read her soul; he said something. she changed colour as he addressed her, but seemed instantly by an effort to rally and regain her equanimity; replied to his inquiries with extreme brevity, and lady wallinger’s carriage being announced, moved away with the same slight haughty salute as before, on the arm of lord beaumanoir.
