nothing was talked of in yorkshire but mr. arundel dacre’s speech. all the world flocked to castle dacre to compliment and to congratulate; and an universal hope was expressed that he might come in for the county, if indeed the success of his eloquence did not enable his uncle to preoccupy that honour. even the calm mr. dacre shared the general elation, and told the duke of st. james regularly every day that it was all owing to him. may dacre was enthusiastic; but her gratitude to him was synonymous with her love for arundel, and valued accordingly. the duke, however, felt that he had acted at once magnanimously, generously, and wisely. the consciousness of a noble action is itself ennobling. his spirit expanded with the exciting effects which his conduct had produced; and he felt consolation under all his misery from the conviction that he had now claims to be remembered, and perhaps regarded, when he was no more among them.
the bill went swimmingly through the commons, the majority of two gradually swelling into eleven; and the important night in the lords was at hand.
‘lord faulconcourt writes,’ said mr. dacre, ‘that they expect only thirty-eight against us.’
‘ah! that terrible house of lords!’ said miss dacre. ‘let us see: when does it come on, the day after tomorrow? scarcely forty-eight hours and all will be over, and we shall be just where we were. you and your friends manage very badly in your house,’ she added, addressing herself to the duke.
‘i do all i can,’ said his grace, smiling. ‘burlington has my proxy.’
‘that is exactly what i complain of. on such an occasion, there should be no proxies. personal attendance would indicate a keener interest in the result. ah! if i were duke of st. james for one night!’
‘ah! that you would be duchess of st. james!’ thought the duke; but a despairing lover has no heart for jokes, and so he did not give utterance to the wish. he felt a little agitated, and caught may dacre’s eye. she smiled, and slightly blushed, as if she felt the awkwardness of her remark, though too late.
the duke retired early, but not to sleep. his mind was busied on a great deed. it was past midnight before he could compose his agitated feelings to repose, and by five o’clock he was again up. he dressed himself, and then put on a rough travelling coat, which, with a shawl, effectually disguised his person; and putting in one pocket a shirt, and in the other a few articles from his dressing-case, the duke of st. james stole out of castle dacre, leaving a note for his host, accounting for his sudden departure by urgent business at hauteville, and promising a return in a day or two.
the fresh morn had fully broke. he took his hurried way through the long dewy grass, and, crossing the park, gained the road, which, however, was not the high one. he had yet another hour’s rapid walk, before he could reach his point of destination; and when that was accomplished, he found himself at a small public-house, bearing for a sign his own arms, and situated in the high road opposite his own park. he was confident that his person was unknown to the host, or to any of the early idlers who were lingering about the mail, then breakfasting.
‘any room, guard, to london?’
‘room inside, sir: just going off.’
the door was opened, and the duke of st. james took his seat in the edinburgh and york mail. he had two companions: the first, because apparently the most important, was a hard-featured, grey-headed gentleman, with a somewhat supercilious look, and a mingled air of acuteness and conceit; the other was a humble-looking widow in her weeds, middle-aged, and sad. these persons had recently roused themselves from their nocturnal slumbers, and now, after their welcome meal and hurried toilet, looked as fresh as birds.
‘well! now we are off,’ said the gentleman. ‘very neat, cleanly little house this, ma’am,’ continued he to his companion. ‘what is the sign?’ ‘the hauteville arms.’ ‘oh! hauteville; that is — that is, let me see! the st. james family. ah! a pretty fool that young man has made of himself, by all accounts. eh! sir?’
‘i have reason to believe so,’ said the duke.
‘i suppose this is his park, eh? hem! going to london, sir?’
‘i am.’
‘ah! hem! hauteville park, i suppose, this. fine ground wasted. what the use of parks is, i can’t say.’
‘the place seems well kept up,’ said the widow.
‘so much the worse; i wish it were in ruins.’
‘well, for my part,’ continued the widow in a low voice, ‘i think a park nearly the most beautiful thing we have. foreigners, you know, sir ——’
‘ah! i know what you are going to say,’ observed the gentleman in a curt, gruffish voice. ‘it is all nonsense. foreigners are fools. don’t talk to me of beauty; a mere word. what is the use of all this? it produces about as much benefit to society as its owner does.’
‘and do you think his existence, then, perfectly useless?’ asked the duke.
‘to be sure, i do. so the world will, some day or other. we are opening our eyes fast. men begin to ask themselves what the use of an aristocracy is. that is the test, sir.’
‘i think it not very difficult to demonstrate the use of an aristocracy,’ mildly observed the duke.
‘pooh! nonsense, sir! i know what you are going to say; but we have got beyond all that. have you read this, sir? this article on the aristocracy in “the screw and lever review?”’
‘i have not, sir.’
‘then i advise you to make yourself master of it, and you will talk no more of the aristocracy. a few more articles like this, and a few more noblemen like the man who has got this park, and people will open their eyes at last.’
‘i should think,’ said his grace, ‘that the follies of the man who had got this park have been productive of evil only to himself. in fact, sir, according to your own system, a prodigal noble seems to be a very desirable member of the commonwealth and a complete leveller.’
‘we shall get rid of them all soon, sir,’ said his companion, with a malignant smile.
‘i have heard that he is very young, sir,’ remarked the widow.
‘what is that to you or me?’
‘ah! youth is a trying time. let us hope the best! he may turn out well yet, poor soul!’
‘i hope not. don’t talk to me of poor souls. there is a poor soul,’ said the utilitarian, pointing to an old man breaking stones on the highway. ‘that is what i call a poor soul, not a young prodigal, whose life has been one long career of infamous debauchery.’
‘you appear to have heard much of this young nobleman,’ said the duke; ‘but it does not follow, sir, that you have heard truth.’
‘very true, sir,’ said the widow. ‘the world is very foul-mouthed. let us hope he is not so very bad.’
‘i tell you what, my friends; you know nothing about what you are talking of. i don’t speak without foundation. you have not the least idea, sir, how this fellow has lived. now, what i am going to tell you is a fact: i know it to be a fact. a very intimate friend of mine, who knows a person, who is a very intimate friend of an intimate friend of a person, who knows the duke of st. james, told me himself, that one night they had for supper — what do you think ma’am? — venison cutlets, each served up in a hundred pound note!’
‘mercy!’ exclaimed the widow.
‘and do you believe it?’ asked the duke.
‘believe it! i know it!’
‘he is very young,’ said the widow. ‘youth is a very trying time.’
‘nothing to do with his youth. it’s the system, the infernal system. if that man had to work for his bread, like everybody else, do you think he would dine off bank notes? no! to be sure he wouldn’t! it’s the system.’
‘young people are very wild!’ said the widow.
‘pooh! ma’am. nonsense! don’t talk cant. if a man be properly educated, he is as capable at one-and-twenty of managing anything, as at any time in his life; more capable. look at the men who write “the screw and lever;” the first men in the country. look at them. not one of age. look at the man who wrote this article on the aristocracy: young duncan macmorrogh. look at him, i say, the first man in the country by far.’
‘i never heard his name before,’ calmly observed the duke.
‘not heard his name? not heard of young duncan macmorrogh, the first man of the day, by far; not heard of him? go and ask the marquess of sheepshead what he thinks of him. go and ask lord two and two what he thinks of him. duncan dines with lord two and two every week.’
the duke smiled, and his companion proceeded.
‘well, again, look at his friends. there is young first principles. what a ?head that fellow has got! here, this article on india is by him. he’ll knock up their charter. he is a clerk in the india house. up to the detail, you see. let me read you this passage on monopolies. then there is young tribonian quirk. by g — what a mind that fellow has got! by g — nothing but first principles will go down with these fellows! they laugh at anything else. by g — sir, they look upon the administration of the present day as a parcel of sucking babes! when i was last in town, quirk told me that he would not give that for all the public men that ever existed! he is keeping his terms at gray’s inn. this article on a new code is by him. shows as plain as light, that, by sticking close to first principles, the laws of the country might be carried in every man’s waistcoat pocket.’
the coach stopped, and a colloquy ensued.
‘any room to selby?’
‘outside or in?’
‘out, to be sure.’
‘room inside only.’
‘well! in then.’
the door opened, and a singularly quaint-looking personage presented himself. he was very stiff and prim in his appearance; dressed in a blue coat and scarlet waistcoat, with a rich bandanna handkerchief tied very neatly round his neck, and a very new hat, to which his head seemed little habituated.
‘sorry to disturb you, ladies and gentlemen: not exactly the proper place for me. don’t be alarmed. i’m always respectful wherever i am. my rule through life is to be respectful.’
‘well, now, in with you,’ said the guard.
‘be respectful, my friend, and don’t talk so to an old soldier who has served his king and his country.’
off they went.
‘majesty’s service?’ asked the stranger of the duke.
‘i have not that honour.’
‘hum! lawyer, perhaps?’
‘not a lawyer.’
‘hum! a gentleman, i suppose?’
the duke was silent; and so the stranger addressed himself to the anti-aristocrat, who seemed vastly annoyed by the intrusion of so low a personage.
‘going to london, sir?’
‘i tell you what, my friend, at once; i never answer impertinent questions.’
‘no offence, i hope, sir! sorry to offend. i’m always respectful. madam! i hope i don’t inconvenience you; i should be sorry to do that. we sailors, you know, are always ready to accommodate the ladies.’
‘sailor!’ exclaimed the acute utilitarian, his curiosity stifling his hauteur. ‘why! just now, i thought you were a soldier.’
‘well! so i am.’
‘well, my friend, you are a conjuror then.’
‘no, i ayn’t; i’m a marine.’
‘a very useless person, then.’
‘what do you mean?’
‘i mean to say, that if the sailors were properly educated, such an amphibious corps would never have been formed, and some of the most atrocious sinecures ever tolerated would consequently not have existed.’
‘sinecures! i never heard of him. i served under lord combermere. maybe you have heard of him, ma’am? a nice man; a beautiful man. i have seen him stand in a field like that, with the shot falling about him like hail, and caring no more for them than peas.’
‘if that were for bravado,’ said the utilitarian, ‘i think it a very silly thing.’
‘bravado! i never heard of him. it was for his king and country.’
‘was it in india?’ asked the widow.
‘in a manner, ma’am,’ said the marine, very courteously. ‘at bhurtpore, up by pershy, and thereabouts; the lake of cashmere, where all the shawls come from. maybe you have heard of cashmere, ma’am?’
‘“who has not heard of the vale of cashmere!’” hummed the duke to himself.
‘ah! i thought so,’ said the marine; ‘all people know much the same; for some have seen, and some have read. i can’t read, but i have served my king and country for five-and-twenty years, and i have used my eyes.’
‘better than reading,’ said the duke, humouring the character.
‘i’ll tell you what,’ said the marine, with a knowing look. ‘i suspect there is a d — d lot of lies in your books. i landed in england last seventh of june, and went to see st. paul’s. “this is the greatest building in the world,” says the man. thinks i, “you lie.” i did not tell him so, because i am always respectful. i tell you what, sir; maybe you think st. paul’s the greatest building in the world, but i tell you what, it’s a lie. i have seen one greater. maybe, ma’am, you think i am telling you a lie too; but i am not. go and ask captain jones, of the 58th. i went with him: i give you his name: go and ask captain jones, of the 58th, if i be telling you a lie. the building i mean is the palace of the sultan acber; for i have served my king and country five-and-twenty years last seventh of june, and have seen strange things; all built of precious stones, ma’am. what do you think of that? all built of precious stones; carnelian, of which you make your seals; as sure as i’m a sinner saved. if i ayn’t speaking the truth, i am not going to selby. maybe you’d like to know why i am going to selby? i’ll tell you what. five-and-twenty years have i served my king and country last seventh of june. now i begin with the beginning. i ran away from home when i was eighteen, you see! and, after the siege of bhurtpore, i was sitting on a bale of silk alone, and i said to myself, i’ll go and see my mother. sure as i am going to selby, that’s the whole. i landed in england last seventh of june, absent five-and-twenty years, serving my king and country. i sent them a letter last night. i put it in the post myself. maybe i shall be there before my letter now.’
‘to be sure you will,’ said the utilitarian; ‘what made you do such a silly thing? why, your letter is in this coach.’
‘well! i shouldn’t wonder. i shall be there before my letter now. all nonsense, letters: my wife wrote it at falmouth.’
‘you are married, then?’ said the widow.
‘ayn’t i, though? the sweetest cretur, madam, though i say it before you, that ever lived.’
‘why did you not bring your wife with you?’ asked the widow.
‘and wouldn’t i be very glad to? but she wouldn’t come among strangers at once; and so i have got a letter, which she wrote for me, to put in the post, in case they are glad to see me, and then she will come on.’
‘and you, i suppose, are not sorry to have a holiday?’ said the duke.
‘ayn’t i, though? ayn’t i as low about leaving her as ever i was in my life; and so is the poor cretur. she won’t eat a bit of victuals till i come back, i’ll be sworn; not a bit, i’ll be bound to say that; and myself, although i am an old soldier and served my king and country for five-and-twenty years, and so got knocked about, and used to anything, as it were, i don’t know how it is, but i always feel queer whenever i am away from her. i shan’t make a hearty meal till i see her. somehow or other, when i am away from her, everything feels dry in the throat.’
‘you are very fond of her, i see,’ said the duke.
‘and ought i not to be? didn’t i ask her three times before she said yes? those are the wives for wear, sir. none of the fruit that falls at a shaking for me! hasn’t she stuck by me in every climate, and in every land i was in? not a fellow in the company had such a wife. wouldn’t i throw myself off this coach this moment, to give her a moment’s peace? that i would, though; d —— me if i wouldn’t.’
‘hush! hush!’ said the widow; ‘never swear. i am afraid you talk too much of your love,’ she added, with a faint smile.
‘ah! you don’t know my wife, ma’am. are you married, sir?’
‘i have not that happiness,’ said the duke.
‘well, there is nothing like it! but don’t take the fruit that falls at a shake. but this, i suppose, is selby?’
the marine took his departure, having stayed long enough to raise in the young duke’s mind curious feelings.
as he was plunged into reverie, and as the widow was silent, conversation was not resumed until the coach stopped for dinner.
‘we stop here half-an-hour, gentlemen,’ said the guard. ‘mrs. burnet,’ he continued, to the widow, ‘let me hand you out.’
they entered the parlour of the inn. the duke, who was ignorant of the etiquette of the road, did not proceed to the discharge of his duties, as the youngest guest, with all the promptness desired by his fellow-travellers.
‘now, sir,’ said an outside, ‘i will thank you for a slice of that mutton, and will join you, if you have no objection in a bottle of sherry.’
‘what you please, sir. may i have the pleasure of helping you, ma’am?’
after dinner the duke took advantage of a vacant outside place.
tom rawlins was the model of a guard. young, robust, and gay, he had a letter, a word, or a wink for all he met. all seasons were the same to him; night or day he was ever awake, and ever alive to all the interest of the road; now joining in conversation with a passenger, shrewd, sensible, and respectful; now exchanging a little elegant badinage with the coachman; now bowing to a pretty girl; now quizzing a passer-by; he was off and on his seat in an instant, and, in the whiff of his cigar, would lock a wheel, or unlock a passenger.
from him the young duke learned that his fellow-inside was mr. duncan macmorrogh, senior, a writer at edinburgh, and, of course, the father of the first man of the day. tom rawlins could not tell his grace as much about the principal writer in ‘the screw and lever review’ as we can; for tom was no patron of our periodical literature, farther than a police report in the publican’s journal. young duncan macmorrogh was a limb of the law, who had just brought himself into notice by a series of articles in ‘the screw and lever,’ in which he had subjected the universe piecemeal to his critical analysis. duncan macmorrogh cut up the creation, and got a name. his attack upon mountains was most violent, and proved, by its personality, that he had come from the lowlands. he demonstrated the inutility of all elevation, and declared that the andes were the aristocracy of the globe. rivers he rather patronised; but flowers he quite pulled to pieces, and proved them to be the most useless of existences. duncan macmorrogh informed us that we were quite wrong in supposing ourselves to be the miracle of creation. on the contrary, he avowed that already there were various pieces of machinery of far more importance than man; and he had no doubt, in time, that a superior race would arise, got by a steam-engine on a spinning-jenny.
the other ‘inside’ was the widow of a former curate of a northumbrian village. some friend had obtained for her only child a clerkship in a public office, and for some time this idol of her heart had gone on prospering; but unfortunately, of late, charles burnet had got into a bad set, was now involved in a terrible scrape, and, as tom rawlins feared, must lose his situation and go to ruin.
‘she was half distracted when she heard it first, poor creature! i have known her all my life, sir. many the kind word and glass of ale i have had at her house, and that’s what makes me feel for her, you see. i do what i can to make the journey easy to her, for it is a pull at her years. god bless her! there is not a better body in this world; that i will, say for her. when i was a boy, i used to be the playfellow in a manner with charley burnet: a gay lad, sir, as ever you’d wish to see in a summer’s day, and the devil among the girls always, and that’s been the ruin of him; and as open-a-hearted fellow as ever lived. d—— me! i’d walk to the land’s end to save him, if it were only for his mother’s sake, to say nothing of himself.’
‘and can nothing be done?’ asked the duke.
‘why, you see, he is back in ￡ s. d.; and, to make it up, the poor body must sell her all, and he won’t let her do it, and wrote a letter like a prince (no room, sir), as fine a letter as ever you read (hilloa, there! what! are you asleep?)— as ever you read on a summer’s day. i didn’t see it, but my mother told me it was as good as e’er a one of the old gentleman’s sermons. “mother,” said he, “my sins be upon my own head. i can bear disgrace (how do, mr. wilkins?), but i cannot bear to see you a beggar!”’
‘poor fellow!’
‘ay! sir, as good-a-hearted fellow as ever you’d wish to meet!’
‘is he involved to a great extent, think you?’
‘oh! a long figure, sir (i say, betty, i’ve got a letter for you from your sweetheart), a very long figure, sir (here, take it!); i should be sorry (don’t blush; no message?)— i should be sorry to take two hundred pounds to pay it. no, i wouldn’t take two hundred pounds, that i wouldn’t (i say, jacob, stop at old bag smith’s).’
night came on, and the duke resumed his inside place. mr. macmorrogh went to sleep over his son’s article; and the duke feigned slumber, though he was only indulging in reverie. he opened his eyes, and a light, which they passed, revealed the countenance of the widow. tears were stealing down her face.
‘i have no mother; i have no one to weep for me,’ thought the duke; ‘and yet, if i had been in this youth’s station, my career probably would have been as fatal. let me assist her. alas! how i have misused my power, when, even to do this slight deed, i am obliged to hesitate, and consider whether it be practicable.’
the coach again stopped for a quarter of an hour. the duke had, in consideration of the indefinite period of his visit, supplied himself amply with money on repairing to dacre. besides his purse, which was well stored for the road, he had somewhat more than three hundred pounds in his notebook. he took advantage of their tarrying, to inclose it and its contents in a sheet of paper with these lines:
‘an unknown friend requests mrs. burnet to accept this token of his sympathy with suffering virtue.’
determined to find some means to put this in her possession before their parting, he resumed his place. the scotchman now prepared for his night’s repose. he produced a pillow for his back, a bag for his feet, and a cap for his head. these, and a glass of brandy-and-water, in time produced a due effect, and he was soon fast asleep. even to the widow, night brought some solace. the duke alone found no repose. unused to travelling in public conveyances at night, and unprovided with any of the ingenious expedients of a mail coach adventurer, he felt all the inconveniences of an inexperienced traveller. the seat was unendurably hard, his back ached, his head whirled, the confounded sherry, slight as was his portion, had made him feverish, and he felt at once excited and exhausted. he was sad, too; very depressed. alone, and no longer surrounded with that splendour which had hitherto made solitude precious, life seemed stripped of all its ennobling spirit. his energy vanished. he repented his rashness; and the impulse of the previous night, which had gathered fresh power from the dewy moon, vanished. he felt alone, and without a friend, and night passed without a moment’s slumber, watching the driving clouds.
the last fifteen miles seemed longer than the whole journey. at st. alban’s he got out, took a cup of coffee with tom rawlins, and, although the morning was raw, again seated himself by his side. in the first gloomy little suburb mrs. burnet got out. the duke sent rawlins after her with the parcel, with peremptory instructions to leave it. he watched the widow protesting it was not hers, his faithful emissary appealing to the direction, and with delight he observed it left in her hands. they rattled into london, stopped in lombard street, reached holborn, entered an archway; the coachman threw the whip and reins from his now careless hands. the duke bade farewell to tom rawlins, and was shown to a bed.
