Marion Fay: A Novel

by Anthony Trollope

  CHAPTER XIV.

  COMING HOME FROM HUNTING.

  Lord Hampstead had been discussing with Mr. Amblethwaite thedifficult nature of hunting in such a county as Cumberland. Thehounds were in the road before them with John Peel in the midst ofthem. Dick with the ragged pony was behind, looking after stragglers.Together with Lord Hampstead and the Master was a hard-riding, rough,weather-beaten half-gentleman, half-farmer, named Patterson, wholived a few miles beyond Penrith and was Amblethwaite's right hand inregard to hunting. Just as Crocker joined them the road had becomenarrow, and the young lord had fallen a little behind. Crocker hadseized his opportunity;--but the lord also seized his, and thrusthimself in between Mr. Patterson and the Master. "That's all true,"said the Master. "Of course we don't presume to do the thing as youswells do it down in the Shires. We haven't the money, and we haven'tthe country, and we haven't the foxes. But I don't know whether forhunting we don't see as much of it as you do."

  "Quite as much, if I may take to-day as a sample."

  "Very ordinary;--wasn't it, Amblethwaite?" asked Patterson, who wasquite determined to make the most of his own good things.

  "It was not bad to-day. The hounds never left their scent after theyfound him. I think our hillsides carry the scent better than ourgrasses. If you want to ride, of course, it's rough. But if you likehunting, and don't mind a scramble, perhaps you may see it here aswell as elsewhere."

  "Better, a deal, from all I hear tell," said Patterson. "Did you everhear any music like that in Leicestershire, my lord?"

  "I don't know that ever I did," said Hampstead. "I enjoyed myselfamazingly."

  "I hope you'll come again," said the Master, "and that often."

  "Certainly, if I remain here."

  "I knew his lordship would like it," said Crocker, crowding in on aspot where it was possible for four to ride abreast. "I think it wasquite extraordinary to see how a stranger like his lordship got overour country."

  "Clever little 'orse his lordship's on," said Patterson.

  "It's the man more than the beast, I think," said Crocker, trying toflatter.

  "The best man in England," said Patterson, "can't ride to houndswithout a tidy animal under him."

  "Nor yet can't the best horse in England stick to hounds withouta good man on top of him," said the determined Crocker. Pattersongrunted,--hating flattery, and remembering that the man flattered wasa lord.

  Then the road became narrow again, and Hampstead fell a littlebehind. Crocker was alongside of him in a moment. There seemed tobe something mean in running away from the man;--something at anyrate absurd in seeming to run away from him. Hampstead was ashamedin allowing himself to be so much annoyed by such a cause. He hadalready snubbed the man, and the man might probably be now silent onthe one subject which was so peculiarly offensive. "I suppose," saidhe, beginning a conversation which should show that he was willing todiscuss any general matter with Mr. Crocker, "that the country northand west of Penrith is less hilly than this?"

  "Oh, yes, my lord; a delightful country to ride over in some parts.Is Roden fond of following the hounds, my lord?"

  "I don't in the least know," said Hampstead, curtly. Then he madeanother attempt. "These hounds don't go as far north as Carlisle?"

  "Oh, no, my lord; never more than eight or ten miles from Penrith.They've another pack up in that country; nothing like ours, but stillthey do show sport. I should have thought now Roden would have beenjust the man to ride to hounds,--if he got the opportunity."

  "I don't think he ever saw a hound in his life. I'm rather in ahurry, and I think I shall trot on."

  "I'm in a hurry myself," said Crocker, "and I shall be happy toshow your lordship the way. It isn't above a quarter of a mile'sdifference to me going by Pooley Bridge instead of Dallmaine."

  "Pray don't do anything of the kind; I can find the road." WhereuponHampstead shook hands cordially with the Master, bade Mr. Pattersongood-bye with a kindly smile, and trotted on beyond the hounds asquickly as he could.

  But Crocker was not to be shaken off. The flea-bitten roan was asgood at the end of a day as he was at the beginning, and trottedon gallantly. When they had gone some quarter of a mile Hampsteadacknowledged to himself that it was beyond his power to shake off hisfoe. By that time Crocker had made good his position close alongsideof the lord, with his horse's head even with that of the other."There is a word, my lord, I want to say to you." This Crockermuttered somewhat piteously, so that Hampstead's heart was for themoment softened towards him. He checked his horse and preparedhimself to listen. "I hope I haven't given any offence. I can assureyou, my lord, I haven't intended it. I have so much respect for yourlordship that I wouldn't do it for the world."

  What was he to do? He had been offended. He had intended to show thathe was offended. And yet he did not like to declare as much openly.His object had been to stop the man from talking, and to do so ifpossible without making any reference himself to the subject inquestion. Were he now to declare himself offended he could hardly doso without making some allusion to his sister. But he had determinedthat he would make no such allusion. Now as the man appealed to him,asking as it were forgiveness for some fault of which he was nothimself conscious, it was impossible to refrain from making him someanswer. "All right," he said; "I'm sure you didn't mean anything. Letus drop it, and there will be an end of it."

  "Oh, certainly;--and I'm sure I'm very much obliged to your lordship.But I don't quite know what it is that ought to be dropped. As I amso intimate with Roden, sitting at the same desk with him every dayof my life, it did seem natural to speak to your lordship about him."

  This was true. As it had happened that Crocker, who as well as Rodenwas a Post Office Clerk, had appeared as a guest at Castle Hautboy,it had been natural that he should speak of his office companion toa man who was notoriously that companion's friend. Hampstead did notquite believe in the pretended intimacy, having heard Roden declarethat he had not as yet formed any peculiar friendship at the Office.He had too felt, unconsciously, that such a one as Roden ought notto be intimate with such a one as Crocker. But there was no cause ofoffence in this. "It was natural," he said.

  "And then I was unhappy when I thought from what you said that therehad been some quarrel."

  "There has been no quarrel," said Hampstead.

  "I am very glad indeed to hear that." He was beginning to touch againon a matter that should have been private. What was it to him whetheror no there was a quarrel between Lord Hampstead and Roden. Hampsteadtherefore again rode on in silence.

  "I should have been so very sorry that anything should have occurredto interfere with our friend's brilliant prospects." Lord Hampsteadlooked about to see whether there was any spot at which he could makehis escape by jumping over a fence. On the right hand there was thelake rippling up on to the edge of the road, and on the left was ahigh stone wall, without any vestige of an aperture through it asfar as the eye could reach. He was already making the pace as fastas he could, and was aware that no escape could be effected in thatmanner. He shook his head, and bit the handle of his whip, and lookedstraight away before him through his horse's ears. "You cannot thinkhow proud I've been that a gentleman sitting at the same desk withmyself should have been so fortunate in his matrimonial prospects. Ithink it an honour to the Post Office all round."

  "Mr. Crocker," said Lord Hampstead, pulling up his horse suddenly,and standing still upon the spot, "if you will remain here forfive minutes I will ride on; or if you will ride on I will remainhere till you are out of sight. I must insist that one of thesearrangements be made."

  "My lord!"

  "Which shall it be?"

  "Now I have offended you again."

  "Don't talk of offence, but just do as I bid you. I want to bealone."

  "Is it about the matrimonial alliance?" demanded Crocker almost intears. Thereupon Lord Hampstead turned his horse round and trottedback towards the hounds and horsemen, whom he heard on the roadbehind him. Crocker paused a moment, trying t
o discover by the lightof his own intellect what might have been the cause of this singularconduct on the part of the young nobleman, and then, having failedto throw any light on the matter, he rode on homewards, immersed indeep thought. Hampstead, when he found himself again with his latecompanions, asked some idle questions as to the hunting arrangementsof next week. That they were idle he was quite aware, having resolvedthat he would not willingly put himself into any position in which itmight be probable that he should again meet that objectionable youngman. But he went on with his questions, listening or not listeningto Mr. Amblethwaite's answers, till he parted company with hiscompanions in the neighbourhood of Pooley Bridge. Then he rode aloneto Hautboy Castle, with his mind much harassed by what had occurred.It seemed to him to have been almost proved that George Roden musthave spoken to this man of his intended marriage. In all that theman had said he had suggested that the information had come directfrom his fellow-clerk. He had seemed to declare,--Hampstead thoughtthat he had declared,--that Roden had often discussed the marriagewith him. If so, how base must have been his friend's conduct! Howthoroughly must he have been mistaken in his friend's character! Howegregiously wrong must his sister have been in her estimate of theman! For himself, as long as the question had been simply one of hisown intimacy with a companion whose outside position in the worldhad been inferior to his own, he had been proud of what he had done,and had answered those who had remonstrated with him with a spiritshowing that he despised their practices quite as much as theycould ridicule his. He had explained to his father his own ideas offriendship, and had been eager in showing that George Roden's companywas superior to most young men of his own position. There had beenHautboy, and Scatterdash, and Lord Plunge, and the young Earl ofLongoolds, all of them elder sons, whom he described as young menwithout a serious thought in their heads. What was it to him howRoden got his bread, so long as he got it honestly? "The man'sthe man for a' that." Thus he had defended himself and been quiteconscious that he was right. When Roden had suddenly fallen in lovewith his sister, and his sister had as suddenly fallen in love withRoden,--then he had begun to doubt. A thing which was in itselfmeritorious might become dangerous and objectionable by reason ofother things which it would bring in its train. He felt for a timethat associations which were good for himself might not be so goodfor his sister. There seemed to be a sanctity about her rank whichdid not attach to his own. He had thought that the Post Office clerkwas as good as himself; but he could not assure himself that he wasas good as the ladies of his family. Then he had begun to reason withhimself on this subject, as he did on all. What was there differentin a girl's nature that ought to make her fastidious as to societywhich he felt to be good enough for himself? In entertaining thefeeling which had been strong within him as to that femininesanctity, was he not giving way to one of those empty prejudices ofthe world, in opposition to which he had resolved to make a life-longfight? So he had reasoned with himself; but his reason, though itaffected his conduct, did not reach his taste. It irked him to thinkthere should be this marriage, though he was strong in his resolutionto uphold his sister,--and, if necessary, to defend her. He had notgiven way as to the marriage. It had been settled between himselfand his sister and his father that there should be no meeting of thelovers at Hendon Hall. He did hope that the engagement might dieaway, though he was determined to cling to her even though she clungto her lover. This was his state of mind, when this hideous youngman, who seemed to have been created with the object of showinghim how low a creature a Post Office clerk could be, came acrosshim, and almost convinced him that that other Post Office clerk hadbeen boasting among his official associates of the favours of thehigh-born lady who had unfortunately become attached to him! He wouldstick to his politics, to his Radical theories, to his old ideasabout social matters generally; but he was almost tempted to declareto himself that women for the present ought to be regarded as exemptfrom those radical changes which would be good for men. For himselfhis "order" was a vanity and a delusion; but for his sister it muststill be held as containing some bonds. In this frame of mind hedetermined that he would return to Hendon Hall almost immediately.Further hope of hunting with the Braeside Harriers there was none;and it was necessary for him to see Roden as soon as possible.

  That evening at the Castle Lady Amaldina got hold of him, and askedhim his advice as to her future duties as a married woman. LadyAmaldina was very fond of little confidences as to her future life,and had as yet found no opportunity of demanding the sympathy of hercousin. Hampstead was not in truth her cousin, but they called eachother cousins,--or were called so. None of the Hauteville family feltany of that aversion to the Radicalism of the heir to the marquisatewhich the Marchioness entertained. Lady Amaldina delighted to be Amyto Lord Hampstead, and was very anxious to ask him his advice as toLord Llwddythlw.

  "Of course you know all about my marriage, Hampstead?" she said.

  "I don't know anything about it," Hampstead replied.

  "Oh, Hampstead; how ill-natured!"

  "Nobody knows anything about it, because it hasn't taken place."

  "That is so like a Radical, to be so precise and rational. Myengagement then?"

  "Yes; I've heard a great deal about that. We've been talking aboutthat for--how long shall I say?"

  "Don't be disagreeable. Of course such a man as Llwddythlw can't bemarried all in a hurry just like anybody else."

  "What a misfortune for him!"

  "Why should it be a misfortune?"

  "I should think it so if I were going to be married to you."

  "That's the prettiest thing I have ever heard you say. At any ratehe has got to put up with it, and so have I. It is a bore, becausepeople will talk about nothing else. What do you think of Llwddythlwas a public man?"

  "I haven't thought about it. I haven't any means of thinking. I am socompletely a private man myself, that I know nothing of public men. Ihope he's good at going to sleep."

  "Going to sleep?"

  "Otherwise it must be so dull, sitting so many hours in the House ofCommons. But he's been at it a long time, and I dare say he's used toit."

  "Isn't it well that a man in his position should have a regard to hiscountry?"

  "Every man ought to have a regard to his country;--but a strongerregard, if it be possible, to the world at large."

  Lady Amaldina stared at him, not knowing in the least what he meant."You are so droll," she said. "You never, I think, think of theposition you were born to fill."

  "Oh yes, I do. I'm a man, and I think a great deal about it."

  "But you've got to be Marquis of Kingsbury, and Llwddythlw has got tobe Duke of Merioneth. He never forgets it for a moment."

  "What a nuisance for him,--and for you."

  "Why should it be a nuisance for me? Cannot a woman understand herduties as well as a man?"

  "Quite so, if she knows how to get a glimpse at them."

  "I do," said Lady Amaldina, earnestly. "I am always getting glimpsesat them. I am quite aware of the functions which it will become me toperform when I am Llwddythlw's wife."

  "Mother of his children?"

  "I didn't mean that at all, Hampstead. That's all in the hands of theAlmighty. But in becoming the future Duchess of Merioneth--"

  "That's in the hands of the Almighty, too, isn't it?"

  "No; yes. Of course everything is in God's hands."

  "The children, the dukedom, and all the estates."

  "I never knew any one so provoking," she exclaimed.

  "One is at any rate as much as another."

  "You don't a bit understand me," she said. "Of course if I go and getmarried, I do get married."

  "And if you have children, you do have children. If you do,--and Ihope you will,--I'm sure they'll be very pretty and well behaved.That will be your duty, and then you'll have to see that Llwddythlwhas what he likes for dinner."

  "I shall do nothing of the kind."

  "Then he'll dine at the Club, or at the House of Commons. That's myide
a of married life."

  "Nothing beyond that? No community of soul?"

  "Certainly not."

  "No!"

  "Because you believe in the Trinity, Llwddythlw won't go to heaven.If he were to take to gambling and drinking you wouldn't go to theother place."

  "How can you be so horrid."

  "That would be a community of souls,--as souls are understood. Acommunity of interests I hope you will have, and, in order that youmay, take care and look after his dinner." She could not make muchmore of her cousin in the way of confidence, but she did exact apromise from him, that he would be in attendance at her wedding.

  A few days afterwards he returned to Hendon Park, leaving his sisterto remain for a fortnight longer at Castle Hautboy.