The Man in Black: An Historical Novel of the Days of Queen Anne

by G. P. R. James

  CHAPTER XIII.

  Mrs. Hazleton was or affected to be a good deal flustered by the eventwhich had just taken place, but after a number of certain gracefulattitudes, assumed without the slightest appearance of affectation,she recovered her calmness, and proceeded with the business in hand.That business was soon terminated, so far as the full and entireacceptance of Mr. Marlow's proposal went, and immediately after theconclusion of breakfast, Sir Philip Hastings ordered his horses todepart. Mrs. Hazleton fain would have detained him, for she foresawthat his going might be a signal for Mr. Marlow's going also, and itwas not a part of her policy to assume the matronly character sodistinctly as to invite him to remain in her house alone. Sir Philiphowever was inexorable, and returned to his own dwelling, renewing hisinvitation to his new acquaintance.

  Mrs. Hazleton bade him adieu, with the greatest appearance ofcordiality; but I am very much afraid, if one had possessed the powerof looking into her heart, one would have a picture very differentfrom that presented by her face. Sir Philip Hastings had said and donethings since he had entered her dwelling the night before, which Mrs.Hazleton was not a woman to forget or forgive. He had thwarted herschemes, he had mortified her vanity, he had wounded her pride; andshe was one of those women who bide their time, but have a strongtenacity of resentments.

  When he was gone, however, she played a new game with Mr. Marlow. Sheinsisted upon his remaining for the day, but with a fine sense ofexternal proprieties, she informed him that she expected a charmingelderly lady of her acquaintance to pass a few days with her, to whomshe should particularly like to introduce him.

  This was false, be it remarked; but she immediately took measures tomake it true. Now, there is in every neighborhood more than one ofthat class called good creatures. For this office, an abundant storeof real or assumed soft stupidity is required; but it is a somewhatdifficult part to play, for with this stupidity there must also be aconsiderable portion of fine tact, to guard the performer against anyof those blunders into which good-natured people are continuallyplunging. Drill and discipline are also necessary, in order to bealways on the look out for hints, to appreciate them properly, tocomprehend that friends may say one thing and mean another, and to askno questions of any kind. There were no less than three of these goodcreatures in this Mrs. Hazleton's immediate neighborhood; and during afew moments' retreat to her own little writing-room, she laid herfinger upon her fair temple, and thought them well over. Mrs. WinifredEdgeby was the first who suggested herself to the mind of the fairlady. She had many of the requisites. She dressed well, talked well,and had an air of style and fashion about her; was perfectlyinnocuous, and skilful in divining the purposes and wishes of a friendor patron; but there was an occasional touch of subacrid humor abouther which Mrs. Hazleton did not half like. It gave an impression ofseeing too clearly, of perceiving much more than she pretended toperceive.

  The second was Mrs. Warmington, a widow, not very rich, and not indeedvery refined; gay, talkative, somewhat boisterous, yet full of a sounddiscretion in never committing herself or a friend. She had also muchexperience, for she had been twice married, and twice a widow, andthus had had her misfortunes. The third was a Miss Goodenough, themost silent, quiet, stilly person in the world, moving about the housewith the step of a cat, and a face of infinite good nature to thewhole human race. She was to all appearance the pink of gentleness andweak good nature; but her silence was invaluable.

  After some consideration Mrs. Hazleton decided upon the widow, andinstantly dispatched a note with her own carriage, begging Mrs.Warmington to come over immediately and spend a few days with her, asa young gentleman had arrived upon a visit, and it would be indecorousto entertain him alone.

  Mrs. Warmington understood it all in an instant. She said to her. If,"Ho, ho! a young gentleman come to stay--wanted a duenna! Matrimony inthe wind! Heigho! she must be six and thirty--six and thirty from twoand fifty leave sixteen points against me, and long odds. Well,well,--I have had my share;" and Mrs. Warmington laughed aloud.However, she would neither keep Mrs. Hazleton's carriage waiting, norMrs. Hazleton herself in suspense, for there were various littlecomforts and conveniences in the good will of that lady which Mrs.Warmington was eager to cultivate. She had, too, a shrewd suspicionthat the enmity of Mrs. Hazleton might become a thing to be seriouslydreaded; and therefore, whichever side of the question she looked at,she saw reasons for seeking the beautiful widow's good graces. Hermaid was called, her clothes packed up, and she entered the carriageand drove away, while in the mean time Mrs. Hazleton had beenexpatiating to Mr. Marlow upon all the high qualities and points ofexcellence in her friend Mrs. Warmington. She was too skilful,moreover, to bring her good taste and judgment into question with heryoung friend, by raising expectations which might be disappointed. Shetherefore threw in insinuations of a few faults and failings in dearMadam Warmington's manner and demeanor. But then she said she was sucha good creature at heart, that although the very fastidious affectedto censure, she herself forgot all little blemishes in the inherentexcellence of the person.

  Moreover, upon the plea of looking at the ground which was the subjectof Mr. Marlow's claim, she led him out for a long, pleasant ramblethrough the park. She took him amongst old hawthorn trees, throughgroves of chestnuts by the banks of the stream, and along paths wherethe warm sunshine played through the brown and yellow leaves above,gilding their companions which had fallen earlier than themselves tothe sward below. It was a very lover-like walk indeed--one wherenature speaks to the heart, wakening sweet influences, and charmingthe spirit up from hard and cold indifference. Mrs. Hazleton felt surethat Mr. Marlow would not forget that walk, and she took care toimpress it as deeply as possible upon his memory. Nor did she want anyof the means to do so. Her mind was highly cultivated for the age inwhich she lived, her taste fine, her information extensive. She coulddiscourse of foreign lands, of objects and scenes of deep interest,great beauty, and rich associations,--of courts and cities far away,of music, painting, flowers in other lands, of climates rich insunshine and of genial warmth; and through the whole she had the artto throw a sort of magic glow from her own mind which brightened allshe spoke of.

  She was very charming that day, indeed, and Mr. Marlow felt the spell,but he did not fall in love.

  Now what was the object of using all these powers upon him? Was Mrs.Hazleton a person very susceptible, or very covetous of the tenderpassion? Since her return to England she had refused some half-dozenvery eligible offers from handsome, agreeable, estimable men, and theworld in general had set her down for a person as cold as a stone. Itmight be so, but there are some stones, which, when you heat them,acquire intense fervor, and retain it longer than any other substance.Every body in the world has his peculiarities, his whims, caprices,crochets if you will. Mrs. Hazleton had gazed over the handsome, theglittering and the gay, with the most perfect indifference. She hadlistened to professions of love with a tranquil, easy balance power,which weighed to a grain the advantages of matrimony and widowhood,without suffering the dust of passion to give even a shake to thescale. Before the preceding night she had only seen Mr. Marlow once,but the moment she set eyes upon him--the moment she heard his voice,she had said to herself, "If ever I marry again, that is the man."There is no explaining these sympathetic attractions, impulses, orwhatever they may be called; but I think, from some observation ofhuman nature, it will be found that in those persons where they arethe least frequent, they are the most powerful and persevering whenthey do exist.

  Not long after their first meeting, some intimation occurredof a claim on the part of Mr. Marlow to a portion of the lady'sproperty--that portion that she loved best. The very idea of partingwith it at all, of being forced to give it up, was most painful anddistressing to her. Yet that made no difference whatever in herfeelings towards Mr. Marlow. Communications of various kinds tookplace between lawyers, and the opposite counsel were as firm as arock. Mrs. Hazleton thought it very hard, very unjust, very wrong; butthat changed not in the lea
st her feelings towards Mr. Marlow. Naymore, with that delicate art of combination in which ladies are formedto excel, she conceived and manipulated with great dexterity a schemefor bringing herself and Mr. Marlow into frequent personalcommunication, and for causing somebody to suggest to him a marriagewith her own beautiful self, as the best mode of settling the disputedclaim.

  O those fine and delicate threads of intrigue, how frail they are, andhow much depends upon every one of them, be it in the warp or the woofof a scheme! We have seen that in this case, one of them gave wayunder the rough handling of Sir Philip Hastings, and the whole fabricwas in imminent danger of running down and becoming nothing but araveled skein. Mrs. Hazleton was resolved that it should not be so,and now she was busily engaged in the attempt to knot together thebroken thread, and to lay all the others straight and in right orderagain. This was the secret of the whole matter.

  She exerted all her charms, and could Waller but have seen her weshould have had such an account of the artillery of her eyes, theinsidious attack of her smile, and the whole host of powerfuladversaries brought to bear against the object of her assault in hergracefully moving form and heaving bosom, that Saccharissa would havemelted away like a wet lump of sugar in the comparison.

  Then again when she had produced an effect, and saw clear anddistinctly that he thought her lovely, and very charming too, sheseemed to fall into a pleasant sort of languid melancholy, which waseven more charming still. The brook was bubbling and murmuring attheir feet, dashing clear and bright over its stony bed, and changingthe brown rock, the water weed, or the leaf beneath, into gems by themagic of its own brightness. The boughs were waving over head, coveredwith many-colored foliage, and the sun, glancing through, not onlyenriched the tints above, but checkered the mossy path along whichthey wandered like a chess-board of brown and gold. Some of the lateautumn birds uttered their short sweet songs from the copse hard by,and the musical wind came sighing up from the valley, as if nature hadfurnished Eolus with a harp. It was in short quite a scene, and amoment for a widow to make love to a young man. They were silent forsome little time, and then Mrs. Hazleton said, with her soft, sweet,round voice, "Is not all this very charming, Mr. Marlow?"

  Her tone was quite a sad one, but not with that sort of pleasantsadness which often mingles with our happiest moments, giving themeven a higher zest, like the flattened notes when a fine piece ofmusic passes gently from the major into the minor key, but really sad,profoundly sad.

  "Very charming, indeed," replied her young companion, looking round toher face with some surprise.

  "And what am I to do without it, when you turn me out of my house!"said the lady, answering his glance with a melancholy smile.

  "Turn you out of your house!" exclaimed Mr. Marlow; "I hope you do notsuppose, my dear madam, that I could dream of such a thing. Oh, no! Iwould not for the world deprive such a scene of its brightestornament. Some arrangement can be easily effected, even if my claimshould prove satisfactory to those you appoint to investigate it, bywhich the neighborhood will not be deprived of the happiness of yourpresence."

  Mrs. Hazleton felt that she had made a great step, and as she wellknew that there was no chance of his proposing then and there, sheresolved not to risk losing ground by any farther advance, even whileshe secured some present benefits from that which was gained. "Well,well," she said, "Mr. Marlow, I am quite sure you are very kind andvery generous, and we can talk of that matter hereafter. Only there isone thing you must promise me, which is, that in regard to anyarrangements respecting the house you will not leave them to besettled by cold lawyers or colder friends, who cannot enter into myfeelings in regard to this place, or your own liberal and kindlyfeelings either. Let us settle it some day between ourselves," sheadded, with a light laugh, "in a t?te-?-t?te like this. I do notsuppose you are afraid of being overreached by me in a bargain. Butnow let us turn our steps back towards the house, for I expect Mrs.Warmington early, and I must not be absent when she arrives."

  Mrs. Warmington was there already; for the t?te-?-t?te had lastedlonger than Mrs. Hazleton knew. However, Mrs. Hazleton's first taskwas to inform her fair friend and counsellor of the cause of Mr.Marlow's being there; her next to tell her that all had been settledas to the claim, by that tiresome man Sir Philip Hastings, withoutwhat she considered due deliberation, and that the only thing whichremained to be arranged was in regard to the house, respecting whichMrs. Hazleton communicated a certain portion of her own inclinations,and of Mr. Marlow's kind view of the matter.

  Now, strange to say, this was the turning point of fate for Mrs.Hazleton, Mr. Marlow, and most of the persons mentioned in thishistory. It was then that Mrs. Warmington suggested a scheme which shethought would suit her friend well.

  "Why do you not offer him in exchange--for the time at allevents--your fine old house on the side of Hartwell--Hartwell Place?It is only seven miles off. It is ready furnished to his hand, andmust be worth a great deal more than the bare walls of this. Besidesit would be pleasant to have him in the neighborhood."

  Pause, Mrs. Hazleton! pause and meditate over all the consequences;for be assured much depends upon these few simple words.

  Mrs. Hazleton did pause--Mrs. Hazleton did meditate. She ran over inher head the list of all the families in the neighborhood. In none ofthem could she see a probable rival. There were plenty of marriedwomen, old maids, young girls; but she saw nobody to fear, and with aproud consciousness of her own beauty and worth; she took herresolution. That very evening she proposed to Mr. Marlow what herfriend had suggested. It was accepted.

  Mrs. Hazleton had made one miscalculation, and her fate and Mr.Marlow's were decided.