The coach being full, seemed to preclude all possibility of Elkerton’s admittance. But he was not so easily put off: and telling Mrs. Ashwood he intended to go home to sup with her, he stepped immediately in, and ordered his servant, who waited at the coach door with a flambeau, to direct his vis-a-vis to follow.
Rochely, who meant to have wished them a good night after seeing them to their carriage, was too much hurt by this happy essay of assurance not to resolve to counteract * *it’s consequences. Elkerton, though not a very young man, was near twenty years younger than Rochely; besides the income of his business (for he was in trade) he had a large independent fortune, of which he was extremely lavish; his equipages were splendid; his house most magnificently furnished; and his cloaths the most expensive that could be bought.
Rochely, whose ideas of elegance, manners, or taste, were not very refined, had no notion that the absurdity of Elkerton, or his disagreeable person, would prevent his being a very formidable rival. He therefore saw him with great pain accompany Emmeline home; and though he had formed no positive designs himself, he could not bear to suppose that another might form them with success.
Directing therefore his chariot to follow the coach, he was set down at the door a few minutes after Mrs. Ashwood and her party; where Emmeline, still more displeased with Elkerton, and having been teized by his impertinent admiration the whole way, looked as if she could have burst into tears.
Mrs. Ashwood, in a very ill humour, hardly attended to his flourishing speeches with common civility; he had therefore recourse to Miss Galton, to whom he was giving the history of his travels, which seemed to take up much of his thoughts.
Miss Galton, who by long dependance and repeated disappointments had acquired the qualifications necessary for a patient hearer, acquiesced in smiling silence to all his assertions; looked amazed in the right place; and heard, with great complacency, his wonderful success at cards, and the favour he was in with women of the first fashion at Spa.
The entrance of Mr. Rochely gave no interruption to his discourse. He bowed slightly to him without rising, and then went on, observing that he had now seen every part of Europe worth seeing, and meant, at least for some years, to remain in England; the ladies of which country he preferred to every other, and therefore intended taking a wife among them. Fortune was, he declared, to him no object; but he was determined to marry the handsomest woman he could meet with, for whom he was now looking out.
As he said this, he turned his eyes towards Emmeline; who affecting not to hear him, tho’ he spoke in so loud a tone as to make it unavoidable, was talking in a low voice to Mr. Rochely.
Rochely placing himself close to her, had thrown his arm over the back of her chair; and leaning forward, attended to her with an expression in his countenance of something between apprehension and hope, that gave it the most grotesque look imaginable.
Mrs. Ashwood, who had been entertained apart by Mr. Hanbury, now hurried over the supper; during which Elkerton, still full of himself, engrossed almost all the conversation; gave a detail of the purchases he had made abroad, and the trouble he had to land them; interspersed with bon mots of French Marquises and German Barons, and witty remarks of an English Duke with whom he had crossed the water on his return. But whatever story he told, himself was still forwardest in the picture; his project of marrying an handsome wife was again repeated; and he told the party how charming a house he had bought in Kent, and how he had furnished his library.
Rochely, who lay in wait to revenge himself for all the mortifications he had suffered from him during the evening, took occasion to say, in his grave, cold manner, ‘to be sure a man of your taste and erudition, Mr. Elkerton, cannot do without a library; but for my part, I think you will find no books can say so much to the purpose as those kept by your late father in Milk-Street, Cheapside.’
Elkerton turned pale at this sneer; but forcing a smile of contempt, answered, ‘You bankers have no ideas out of your compting-houses; and rich as ye are, will never be any thing but des bourgeois les plus grossieres! For my part I see no reason why — why a man’s being in business, should prevent his enjoying the elegancies and agréments of life, especially if he can afford it; as it is well known, I believe, even to you, Sir, that I can.”
‘Oh! Sir,’ replied Rochely, ‘I know your late father was reputed to have died rich, and that no body has made a better figure about town than you have, ever since.’
‘As to figure, Sir,’ returned the other, ‘it is true I like to have every thing about me comme il faut. And though I don’t make fifty per cent. of money, as some gentlemen do in your way of business, I assure you, Sir, I do nothing that I cannot very well afford.’
Mrs. Ashwood, who thought it very likely a quarrel might ensue, here endeavoured to put an end to such very unpleasant discourse; and prevented Mr. Hanbury, who equally hated them both, from trying to irritate them farther, to which he maliciously inclined.
The hints, however, of fatigue, given by her and Miss Mowbray, obliged Mr. Rochely to ring that his chariot might be called, which had waited at the door; while Elkerton, who had a pair of beautiful pied horses in his vis-à-vis, desired to have them sent for from a neighbouring inn— ‘for I’ said he, rising and strutting round the room, ‘never suffer my people or my horses to wait in the streets.’
He then leant over Emmeline’s chair, and began in a court tone to renew his compliments. But she suddenly arose; and begging Mrs. Ashwood would give her leave to retire, wished Mr. Rochely and ladies a good night; and slightly curtseying to Elkerton, who was putting himself into the attitude for a speech and a bow, she tripped away.
Rochely, as soon as she was gone, hastened to his chariot; and Elkerton, whose people were in no haste to leave the ale-house, begged to sit down ‘till they came.
Mrs. Ashwood had been the whole evening particularly out of humour, and being no longer able to command it, answered peevishly, ‘that her house was much at his service, but that she was really so much fatigued she must retire — however,’ said she, ‘Miss Galton, you will be so good as to stay with Mr. Elkerton — good night to you, Sir!’
He was no sooner alone with Miss Galton, than he desired her, after a speech (which he endeavoured to season with as much flattery as it would bear) to tell him who Emmeline was?
‘Upon my word, Sir,’ answered she, ‘it is more than I know. Her name is Mowbray; and she is somehow connected with the family of Lord Montreville; but what relation,’ (sneeringly answered she) ‘I really cannot pretend even to guess.’
‘A relation of Lord Montreville!’ cried Elkerton; ‘why I knew his Lordship intimately when I was abroad three or four years ago. He was at Naples with his son, his lady, and two daughters; and I was domesticated, absolutely domesticated, among them. But pray what relation to them can this Miss Mowbray be?’
‘Probably,’ said Miss Galton, ‘as you know his Lordship, you may know what connections and family he has. I suppose she may be his cousin — or his niece — or his —— .’
Here she hesitated and smiled; and Elkerton, whose carriage was now at the door, and who had a clue which he thought would procure him all the information he wanted, took leave of Miss Galton; desiring her to tell Mrs. Ashwood that he should wait upon her again in a few days.
CHAPTER XIII
Delamere continued in Norfolk only a few weeks after his father and the family came thither. During that time, he appeared restless and dissatisfied; his former vivacity was quite lost; he shunned society; and passed almost all his time in the fields, under pretence of hunting or shooting, tho’ the greatest satisfaction those amusements now afforded him was the opportunity they gave him of absenting himself from home. He seldom returned thither ‘till six or seven o’clock; dined alone in his own apartment; and affected to be too much fatigued to be able to meet the party who assembled to cards in the evening.
Lady Mary Otley and her daughter, a widow lady of small fortune in the neighbourhood, with Lord and Lady Mont
reville and their eldest daughter, made up a party without him. Augusta Delamere had been left in their way from the North, with a relation of his Lordship’s who lived near Scarborough, with whom she was to remain two months.
The party at Audley-Hall was soon encreased by Sir Richard Crofts and his eldest son, who came every autumn on a visit to Lord Montreville, and who was his most intimate friend.
Lord Montreville, during the short time he studied at the Temple, became acquainted with Sir Richard, then clerk to an attorney in the city; who, tho’ there was a great difference in their rank, had contrived to gain the regard and esteem of his Lordship (then Mr. Frederic Mowbray) and was, when he came to his estate, entrusted with it’s management; a trust which he appeared to execute with such diligence and integrity, that he soon obtained the entire confidence of his patron; and by possessing great ductility and great activity, he was soon introduced into a higher line of life, and saw himself the companion and friend of those, to whom, at his setting out, he appeared only an humble retainer.
Born in Scotland, he boasted of his ancestry, tho’ his immediate predecessors were known to be indigent and obscure; and tho’ he had neither eminent talents, nor any other education than what he had acquired at a free-school in his native town, he had, by dint of a very common understanding, steadily applied to the pursuit of one point; and assisted by the friendship of Lord Montreville, acquired not only a considerable fortune, but a seat in Parliament and a great deal of political interest, together with the title of a Baronet.
He had less understanding than cunning; less honesty than industry; and tho’ he knew how to talk warmly and plausibly of honour, justice, and integrity, he was generally contented only to talk of them, seldom so imprudent as to practice them when he could get place or profit by their sacrifice.
He had that sort of sagacity which enabled him to enter into the characters of those with whom he conversed: he knew how to humour their prejudices, and lay in wait for their foibles to turn them to his own advantage.
To his superiors, the cringing parasite; to those whom he thought his inferiors, proud, supercilious, and insulting; and his heart hardening as his prosperity encreased, he threw off, as much as he could, every connection that reminded him of the transactions of his early life, and affected to live only among the great, whose luxuries he could now reach, and whose manners he tried to imitate.
He had two sons by an early marriage with a woman of small fortune, who was fortunately dead; for had she lived, she would probably have been concealed, lest she should disgrace him.
To his sons, however, he had given that sort of education which was likely to fit them for places under government; and he had long secretly intended the eldest for one of the Miss Delameres.
Delamere, all warmth and openness himself, detested the narrow-minded and selfish father; and had shewn so much coolness towards the sons, that Sir Richard foresaw he would be a great impediment to his designs, and had therefore the strongest motive for trying to persuade Lord Montreville, that to send him on another tour to the Continent, would be the best means of curing him of what this deep politician termed ‘a ridiculous and boyish whim, which his Lordship ought at all events to put an end to before it grew of a more dangerous consequence.’
Mr. Crofts, as he was no sportsman, passed his mornings in riding out with Miss Delamere and Miss Otley, or attending on the elder ladies in their airings: while Delamere, who wished equally to shun Miss Otley, whom he determined never to marry, and Crofts, whom he despised and hated, lived almost alone, notwithstanding the entreaties of his father and the anger of his mother.
Her Ladyship, who had never any command over her passions, harrassed him, whenever they met, with sarcasms and reflections. Lady Mary, scorning to talk to a young man who was blind to the merits of her daughter, talked at him whenever she found an opportunity; and exclaimed against the disobedience, dissipation, and ill-breeding of modern young men: while Miss Otley affected a pretty disdain; and flirted violently with Mr. Crofts, as if to shew him that she was totally indifferent to his neglect.
The temper of Delamere was eager and irritable; and he bore the unpleasantness of this society, whenever he was forced to mix in it, with a sort of impatient contempt. But as he hourly found it more irksome, and the idea of Emmeline press every day more intensely on his heart, he determined, at the end of the third week, to go to London.
Not chusing to have any altercation with either Lord or Lady Montreville, he one evening ordered his man to have his horses ready at five o’clock the next day, saying he was to meet the foxhounds at some distance from home; and having written a letter to his Lordship, in which he told him he was going to London for a fortnight, (which letter he left on the table in his dressing-room) he mounted his horse, and was soon in town; but instead of going to the house of his father in Berkley-Square, he took lodgings in Pall-Mall.
Every night he frequented those public places which were yet open, in hopes of finding Emmeline; and his servant was constantly employed for the same purpose; but as he had no trace of her, all his enquiries were fruitless.
On the night that Emmeline was at the play, he had been at Covent-garden Theatre, and meant to have looked into the other house; but was detained by meeting a young foreigner from whom he had received civilities at Turin, ‘till the house was empty. So narrowly did he miss finding her he so anxiously sought.
Elkerton, in looking about for the happy woman who was worthy the exalted situation of being his wife, had yet seen none whom he thought so likely to succeed to that honour as Miss Mowbray; and if she was, on enquiry, found to be as she was represented, (related to Lord Montreville) it would be so great an additional advantage, that he determined in that case to lay himself and his pied horses, his house in Kent, his library, and his fortune, all at her feet immediately. Nor did he once suffer himself to suspect that there was a woman on earth who could withstand such a torrent of good fortune.
In pursuance therefore of this resolution, he determined to make enquiry of Lord Montreville himself; of whom he had just known so much at Naples as to receive cards of invitation to Lady Montreville’s conversationes.
There, he mingled with the croud; and was slightly noticed as an Englishman of fortune; smiled at for his affectation of company and manners, which seemed foreign to his original line of life; and then forgotten.
But Elkerton conceived this to be more than introduction enough; and dressing himself in what he thought un disabille la plus imposante, and with his servants in their morning liveries, he stopped at the door of Lord Montreville.
‘Lord Montreville was not at home.’
‘When was he expected?’
‘It was uncertain: his Lordship was at Audley-hall, and might be in town in a fortnight; or might not come up till the meeting of Parliament.’
‘And are all the family there?’ enquired Elkerton of the porter.
‘No, Sir; Mr. Delamere is in town.’
‘And when can I see Mr. Delamere?’
The porter could not tell, as he did not live in Berkley-Square.
‘Where, then, is he?’
‘At lodgings in Pall-Mall:’ (for Delamere had left his direction with his father’s servants.)
Elkerton therefore took the address with a pencil; and determined, without farther reflection, to drive thither.
It was about four o’clock, and in the middle of November, when Delamere had just returned to his lodgings, to dress before he met his foreign friend, and some other young men, to dine at a tavern in St. James’s-Street, when a loud rap at the door announced a visitor.
Millefleur having no orders to the contrary, and being dazzled with the splendour of Elkerton’s equipage, let him in; and he was humming an Italian air out of tune, in Delamere’s drawing-room, when the latter came out in his dressing-gown and slippers to receive him.
Delamere, on seeing the very odd figure and baboonish face of Elkerton, instead of that of somebody he knew, stopped short and mad
e a grave bow.
Elkerton advancing towards him, bowed also profoundly, and said, ‘I am charmed, Sir, with being permitted the honour of paying you my devoirs.’
Delamere concluded from his look and bow, as well as from a foreign accent, (which Elkerton had affected ‘till it was become habitual) that the man was either a dancing master or a quack doctor, sent to him by some of his companions, who frequently exercised on each other such efforts of practical wit. He therefore being not without humour, bowed again more profoundly than before; and answered, ‘that the honour was entirely his, tho’ he did not know how he had deserved it.’
‘I was so fortunate, Sir,’ resumed Elkerton, ‘so fortunate as to — have the honour — the happiness — of knowing Lord Montreville and Lady Montreville a few years ago at Naples.’
Delamere, still confirmed in his first idea, answered, ‘very probably, Sir.’
‘And, Sir,’ continued Elkerton, ‘I now waited upon you, as his Lordship is not in town.’
‘Indeed, Sir, you are too obliging.’
‘To ask, Sir, a question, which I hope will not be deemed — be deemed—’ (a word did not immediately occur) ‘be deemed — improper — intrusive — impertinent — inquisitive — presuming — —’
‘I dare say, Sir, nothing improper, intrusive, impertinent, inquisitive, or presuming, is to be apprehended from a gentleman of your appearance.’
Delamere expected something very ridiculous to follow this ridiculous introduction, and with some difficulty forbore laughing.
Elkerton went on ——
‘It relates, Sir, to a Lady.’
‘Pray, Sir, proceed. I am really impatient where a lady is concerned.’
‘You are acquainted, Sir, with a lady of the name of Ashwood, who lives at Clapham?’
Charlotte Smith- Collected Poetical Works Page 39
