Pelham — Complete

by Baron Edward Bulwer Lytton Lytton

  CHAPTER LXII.

  Noster ludos, spectaverat una, Luserat in campo, Fortunae filius omnes.--Horace.

  I did not leave my room till the first dinner-bell had ceased asufficient time to allow me the pleasing hope that I should have but afew moments to wait in the drawing-room, previous to the grand epochand ceremony of an European day. The manner most natural to me, isone rather open and easy; but I pique myself peculiarly upon a certain(though occasional) air, which keeps impertinence aloof; in fine, I amby no means a person with whom others would lightly take a liberty,or to whom they would readily offer or resent an affront. This day Iassumed a double quantum of dignity, in entering a room which I wellknew must be filled with my enemies; there were a few women round LadyChester, and as I always feel reassured by a sight of the dear sex, Iwalked towards them.

  Judge of my delight, when I discovered amongst the group, Lady HarriettGarrett. It is true that I had no particular predilection for that lady,but the sight of a negress I had seen before, I should have hailedwith rapture in so desolate and inhospitable a place. If my pleasure atseeing Lady Harriett was great, her's seemed equally so at receivingmy salutation. She asked me if I knew Lady Chester--and on my negativereply, immediately introduced me to that personage. I now found myselfquite at home; my spirits rose, and I exerted every nerve to be ascharming as possible. In youth, to endeavour is to succeed.

  I gave a most animated account of the canine battle, interspersed withvarious sarcasms on the owners of the combatants, which were by no meansill-received either by the marchioness or her companions; and, in fact,when the dinner was announced, they all rose in a mirth, sufficientlyunrestrained to be any thing but patrician: for my part, I offered myarm to Lady Harriett, and paid her as many compliments on crossing thesuite that led to the dining-room, as would have turned a much wiserhead than her ladyship's.

  The dinner went off agreeably enough, as long as the women stayed, butthe moment they quitted the room, I experienced exactly the same feelingknown unto a mother's darling, left for the first time at that strange,cold, comfortless place--ycleped a school.

  I was not, however, in a mood to suffer my flowers of oratory to blushunseen. Besides, it was absolutely necessary that I should make a betterimpression upon my host. I leant, therefore, across the table, andlistened eagerly to the various conversations afloat: at last Iperceived, on the opposite side, Sir Lionel Garrett, a personage whomI had not before even inquired after, or thought of. He was busily andnoisily employed in discussing the game-laws. Thank Heaven, thought I, Ishall be on firm ground there. The general interest of the subject,and the loudness with which it was debated, soon drew all the scatteredconversation into one focus.

  "What!" said Sir Lionel, in a high voice, to a modest, shrinking youth,probably from Cambridge, who had supported the liberal side of thequestion--"what! are our interests to be never consulted? Are we tohave our only amusement taken away from us? What do you imagine bringscountry gentlemen to their seats? Do you not know, Sir, the vastimportance our residence at our country houses is to the nation? Destroythe game laws, and you destroy our very existence as a people."

  'Now,' thought I, 'it is my time.' "Sir Lionel," said I, speaking almostfrom one end of the table to the other, "I perfectly agree with yoursentiments; I am entirely of opinion, first, that it is absolutelynecessary for the safety of the nation that game should be preserved;secondly, that if you take away game you take away country gentlemen:no two propositions can be clearer than these; but I do differ from youwith respect to the intended alterations. Let us put wholly out of thequestion, the interests of the poor people, or of society at large:those are minor matters, not worthy of a moment's consideration; let usonly see how far our interests as sportsmen will be affected. I thinkby a very few words I can clearly prove to you, that the proposedalterations will make us much better off than we are at present."

  I then entered shortly, yet fully enough, into the nature of the laws asthey now stood, and as they were intended to be changed. I firstspoke of the two great disadvantages of the present system tocountry gentlemen; viz. in the number of poachers, and the expense ofpreserving. Observing that I was generally and attentively listenedto, I dwelt upon these two points with much pathetic energy; and havingpaused till I had got Sir Lionel and one or two of his supporters toconfess that it would be highly desirable that these defects should, ifpossible, be remedied, I proceeded to show how, and in what manner itwas possible. I argued, that to effect this possibility, was the exactobject of the alterations suggested; I anticipated the objections; Ianswered them in the form of propositions, as clearly and conciselystated as possible; and as I spoke with great civility and conciliation,and put aside every appearance of care for any human being in the worldwho was not possessed of a qualification, I perceived at the conclusionof my harangue, that I had made a very favourable impression. Thatevening completed my triumph: for Lady Chester and Lady Harriett made sogood a story of my adventure with the dogs, that the matter passedoff as a famous joke, and I was soon considered by the whole knot asa devilish amusing, good-natured, sensible fellow. So true is itthat there is no situation which a little tact cannot turn to our ownaccount: manage yourself well, and you may manage all the world.

  As for Lord Chester, I soon won his heart by a few feats ofhorsemanship, and a few extempore inventions respecting the sagacity ofdogs. Three days after my arrival we became inseparable; and I made suchgood use of my time, that in two more, he spoke to me of his friendshipfor Dawton, and his wish for a dukedom. These motives it was easy enoughto unite, and at last he promised me that his answer to my principalshould be as acquiescent as I could desire; the morning after thispromise commenced the great day at Newmarket.

  Our whole party were of course bound to the race-ground, and withgreat reluctance I was pressed into the service. We were not many milesdistant from the course, and Lord Chester mounted me on one of hishorses. Our shortest way lay through rather an intricate series of crossroads: and as I was very little interested in the conversation of mycompanions, I paid more attention to the scenery we passed, than is mycustomary wont: for I study nature rather in men than fields, and findno landscape afford such variety to the eye, and such subject to thecontemplation, as the inequalities of the human heart.

  But there were to be fearful circumstances hereafter to stamp forciblyupon my remembrance some traces of the scenery which now courted andarrested my view. The chief characteristics of the country were broad,dreary plains, diversified at times by dark plantations of fir andlarch; the road was rough and stony, and here and there a melancholyrivulet, swelled by the first rains of spring, crossed our path, andlost itself in the rank weeds of some inhospitable marsh.

  About six miles from Chester Park, to the left of the road, stood an oldhouse with a new face; the brown, time-honoured bricks which composedthe fabric, were strongly contrasted by large Venetian windows newlyinserted in frames of the most ostentatious white. A smart, greenveranda, scarcely finished, ran along the low portico, and formed thetermination to two thin rows of meagre and dwarfish sycamores, which didduty for an avenue, and were bounded, on the roadside, by a spruce whitegate, and a sprucer lodge, so moderate in its dimensions, that it wouldscarcely have boiled a turnip: if a rat had got into it, he might haverun away with it. The ground was dug in various places, as if for thepurpose of further improvements, and here and there a sickly little treewas carefully hurdled round, and seemed pining its puny heart out at theconfinement.

  In spite of all these well-judged and well-thriving graces of art, therewas such a comfortless and desolate appearance about the place, that itquite froze one to look at it; to be sure, a damp marsh on one side, andthe skeleton rafters and beams of an old stable on the other, backed bya few dull and sulky-looking fir trees, might, in some measure, create,or at least considerably add to, the indescribable cheerlessness of thetout ensemble. While I was curiously surveying the various parts of thisnorthern "Delices," and marvelling at the choice of two crows who
were slowly walking over the unwholesome ground, instead of making allpossible use of the black wings with which Providence had gifted them,I perceived two men on horseback wind round from the back part ofthe building and proceed in a brisk trot down the avenue. We had notadvanced many paces before they overtook us; the foremost of them turnedround as he passed me, and pulling up his horse abruptly, discovered tomy dismayed view, the features of Mr. Thornton. Nothing abashed by theslightness of my bow, or the grave stares of my lordly companions, whonever forgot the dignity of their birth, in spite of the vulgarity oftheir tastes, Thornton instantly and familiarly accosted me.

  "Told you so, Mr. Pelham--silent sow, Sure I should have the pleasure ofseeing you, though you kept it so snug. Well, will you bet now? No!--Ah,you're a sly one. Staying here at that nice-looking house--belongs toDawson, an old friend of mine--shall be happy to introduce you!"

  "Sir," said I, abruptly, "you are too good. Permit me to request thatyou will rejoin your friend Mr. Dawson."

  "Oh," said the imperturbable Thornton, "it does not signify; he won't beaffronted at my lagging a little. However," (and here he caught myeye, which was assuming a sternness that perhaps little pleased him,)"however, as it gets late, and my mare is none of the best, I'll wishyou good morning." With these words Thornton put spurs to his horse andtrotted off.

  "Who the devil have you got there, Pelham?" said Lord Chester.

  "A person," said I, "who picked me up at Paris, and insists on the rightof treasure trove to claim me in England. But will you let me ask, in myturn, whom that cheerful mansion we have just left, belongs to?"

  "To a Mr. Dawson, whose father was a gentleman farmer who bred horses,a very respectable person, for I made one or two excellent bargains withhim. The son was always on the turf, and contracted the worst of itshabits. He bears but a very indifferent character, and will probablybecome a complete blackleg. He married, a short time since, a woman ofsome fortune, and I suppose it is her taste which has so altered andmodernized his house. Come, gentlemen, we are on even ground, shall wetrot?"

  We proceeded but a few yards before we were again stopped by aprecipitous ascent, and as Lord Chester was then earnestly engaged inpraising his horse to one of the cavalcade, I had time to remark thespot. At the foot of the hill we were about slowly to ascend, was abroad, uninclosed patch of waste land; a heron, flapping its enormouswings as it rose, directed my attention to a pool overgrown with rushes,and half-sheltered on one side by a decayed tree, which, if one mightjudge from the breadth and hollowness of its trunk, had been a refugeto the wild bird, and a shelter to the wild cattle, at a time when suchwere the only intruders upon its hospitality; and when the country, formiles and leagues round, was honoured by as little of man's care andcultivation as was at present the rank waste which still nourished itsgnarled and venerable roots. There was something remarkably singular andgrotesque in the shape and sinuosity of its naked and spectral branches:two of exceeding length stretched themselves forth, in the verysemblance of arms held out in the attitude of supplication; and the bendof the trunk over the desolate pond, the form of the hoary and blastedsummit, and the hollow trunk, half riven asunder in the shape of limbs,seemed to favour the gigantic deception. You might have imagined it anantediluvian transformation, or a daughter of the Titan race, preservingin her metamorphosis her attitude of entreaty to the merciless Olympian.

  This was the only tree visible; for a turn of the road and theunevenness of the ground, completely veiled the house we had passed,and the few low firs and sycamores which made its only plantations. Thesullen pool--its ghost-like guardian--the dreary heath around, the rudefeatures of the country beyond, and the apparent absence of all humanhabitation, conspired to make a scene of the most dispiriting andstriking desolation. I know not how to account for it, but as I gazedaround in silence, the whole place appeared to grow over my mind, as onewhich I had seen, though dimly and drearily, before; and a nameless andunaccountable presentiment of fear and evil sunk like ice into my heart.We ascended the hill, and the rest of the road being of a kind betteradapted to expedition, we mended our pace and soon arrived at the goalof our journey.

  The race-ground had its customary compliment of knaves and fools--thedupers and the duped. Poor Lady Chester, who had proceeded to the groundby the high road (for the way we had chosen was inaccessible to thosewho ride in chariots, and whose charioteers are set up in high places,)was driving to and fro, the very picture of cold and discomfort; and thefew solitary carriages which honoured the course, looked as miserableas if they were witnessing the funeral of their owner's persons, ratherthan the peril of their characters and purses.

  As we rode along to the betting-post, Sir John Tyrrell passed us: LordChester accosted him familiarly, and the baronet joined us. He had beenan old votary of the turf in his younger days, and he still preservedall his ancient predilection in its favour.

  It seemed that Chester had not met him for many years, and after a shortand characteristic conversation of "God bless me, how long since Isaw you!--d--d good horse you're on--you look thin--admirablecondition--what have you been doing?--grand action--a'n't we behindhand?--famous fore-hand--recollect old Queensberry?--hot in themouth--gone to the devil--what are the odds?" Lord Chester asked Tyrrellto go home with us. The invitation was readily accepted.

  "With impotence of will We wheel, tho' ghastly shadows interpose Roundus, and round each other."--Shelley.

  Now, then, arose the noise, the clatter, the swearing, the lying, theperjury, the cheating, the crowd, the bustle, the hurry, the rush, theheat, the ardour, the impatience, the hope, the terror, the rapture, theagony of the race. Directly the first heat was over, one asked me onething, one bellowed another; I fled to Lord Chester, he did not heed me.I took refuge with the marchioness; she was as sullen as an east windcould make her. Lady Harriett would talk of nothing but the horses: SirLionel would not talk at all. I was in the lowest pit of despondency,and the devils that kept me there were as blue as Lady Chester's nose.Silent, sad, sorrowful, and sulky, I rode away from the crowd, andmoralized on its vicious propensities. One grows marvellously honestwhen the species of cheating before us is not suited to one's self.Fortunately, my better angel reminded me, that about the distance ofthree miles from the course lived an old college friend, blessed, sincewe had met, with a parsonage and a wife. I knew his tastes too well toimagine that any allurement of an equestrian nature could have seducedhim from the ease of his library and the dignity of his books; andhoping, therefore, that I should find him at home, I turned my horse'shead in an opposite direction, and rejoiced at the idea of my escape,bade adieu to the course.

  As I cantered across the far end of the heath, my horse started from anobject upon the ground; it was a man wrapped from head to foot in along horseman's cloak, and so well guarded as to the face, from theraw inclemency of the day, that I could not catch even a glimpse of thefeatures, through the hat and neck-shawl which concealed them. Thehead was turned, with apparent anxiety, towards the distant throng; andimagining the man belonging to the lower orders, with whom I am alwaysfamiliar, I addressed to him, en passant, some trifling remark on theevent of the race. He made no answer. There was something about himwhich induced me to look back several moments after I had lefthim behind. He had not moved an atom. There is such a certainuncomfortableness always occasioned to the mind by stillness and mysteryunited, that even the disguising garb, and motionless silence of theman, innocent as I thought they must have been, impressed themselvesdisagreeably on my meditations as I rode briskly on.

  It is my maxim never to be unpleasantly employed, even in thought, ifI can help it; accordingly, I changed the course of my reflection, andamused myself with wondering how matrimony and clerical dignity sat onthe indolent shoulders of my old acquaintance.