A Rich Man's Relatives Volume III Part 10

"I vill rekvest you to valk aside vit me one instant, sair. Dis vay."

Randolph followed, and presently they were out of the crowd, pacing the gra.s.s in silence. Rouget cleared his throat, pushed out his chest, and strove to be grand once more.

"It surprises me, Mistaire Jordan, to observe you in ze society of Mademoiselle Rouget. I demand zat you do not intrude yourself again."

"Not speak to my promised wife, Mr. Rouget? I do not understand."

"Understand zen, sair, zat mademoiselle is no more promessed to you.

You mus be fol to expect it. Ze son of your fazer mus know so much. He has vat you call 'chiselled' and 'gouged' me of my money, and my shares, and land. He has----"

"Mr. Rouget! Is it the part of a gentleman to speak of my father in such terms to me? I did not think you would have done it. I know nothing of business transactions between you and my father. I presume both are men of the world. It would be impertinent in me to inquire into your affairs. But you yourself have sanctioned my pretensions to Adeline's hand, and our engagement."

"Have ze bounty to speake of Mademoiselle Rouget by her proper t.i.tle--Mademoiselle Rouget de La Hache-young sair! Ze promesse or contract is now forfeit, as you should know, by ze _chicane_ of--of _monsieur voire pere_," with a shrug and a low bow. "I mus rekvest you vill not again intrude yourself on ze presence of mademoiselle my daughtaire, who is on ze point to make a retraite at ze Convent of ze Sacred Heart, and von day may have ze blessedness to become _religieuse_. Mademoiselle Rouget vill not be at home to you in future." And thereupon the little gentleman executed his very finest bow, exhibiting both rows of his perfectly-fitting false teeth from ear to ear, and turned away. He was surprised, a minute later, on turning his head, to observe that Randolph, at a yard or two of distance, was pursuing the same course as himself towards where his daughter was sitting.

"Mistaire Jordan! I protest! Have I not defended you from coming in presence of my daughtaire? Vould you draw _esclandre_ on mademoiselle before _tout le monde?_"

"I must return Mademoiselle Rouget's fan, sir."

Rouget held forth his hand ready to become the bearer; but, disregarding the motion, Randolph only quickened his pace, Rouget following as quickly as he dared without appearing to run a race.

Randolph arrived first, and presented the fan, saying, "I shall pa.s.s your garden gate ten minutes before seven," and withdrew in time to make way for Rouget, who presented his arm with a ceremonious bow, and led his daughter from the ground.

Their walk homeward could not have been a happy one. When Randolph met Adeline, at ten minutes before seven, her face was flushed and her eyes swollen.

"Adeline! have you consented to be made a nun, then?"

"Not if I know it! Not if my Randolphe ees true."

"Are you game to run away, Adeline? It would be a sin to cut off all that splendid hair. My mother is at Long Branch. Shall we go to her? I have money enough to take us down."

"Long Branch! It vould be divine! my Randolphe. Ze saison ees not yet there pa.s.sed. I vill go. But--for ze toilettes? And so many are demanded zere. But yes! I do see ze vay. I vill send ze robes to _cette chere_ Mlle. Pet.i.tot, and she vill forvard by express."

"The very thing! I hate the bother of women's trunks. Besides, we could not get them out of the house. You can stroll in to Mlle.

Pet.i.tot after dinner and explain. She will do anything to oblige a friend. And then your maid can bundle the things over the wall, from the one garden to the other, and Mlle. Pet.i.tot will do the rest. Our train leaves at half-past eleven to-night. I shall be at the corner with a cab at eleven sharp. Be sure and bring as little baggage as you can; nothing but what I can carry on the run from here to the corner, for you know we might be chased, and then it would be convent, sure--a hand-bag is the best thing."

"There is the dinner bell. _Au revoir_. I shall be ready at eleven."

Amelia Jordan was surprised rather than pleased, three days after, when the cards of her "children" were brought up to her with her morning tea. They had arrived late overnight, she was told, too late to disturb her, and they hoped to see her at breakfast about ten.

"Oh, you imprudent children!" she cried an hour later, meeting them in a broad verandah overlooking the sea. "You impetuous, inconsiderate, absurd pair of children. And to come to Long Branch, of all places. Do you know how much a day it costs to live here? And what about gowns, Adeline? You can scarcely come down to breakfast, even once, in that travelling suit, and a.s.suredly you must not be seen in it again after half-past eleven."

"We came to you, mother, because we had no one else," said Randolph.

"Adeline has run away, without a single thing, unless Mlle. Pet.i.tot should send her some clothes, and that depends on the maid's being able to throw them over the garden wall."

"You pair of babies! Adeline, the very wisest thing that you can do is to go right back home again."

"They'd stick her into a convent, mother. Her father told me himself he meant to. Besides, she's _your_ daughter now as much as his. We stopped over in New York yesterday and got married."

"Good gracious! I never heard anything so preposterous. And how do you propose to live?"

"We mean to live with _you_, mother, to comfort your failing years like dutiful children?"

"Well, now, that really is kind of you, I must say. The sooner I get back to my quiet little house at St. Euphrase, then, the better. I cannot afford to support a family of three at Long Branch. It costs a great deal too much for the mere living, not to speak of the dressing.

Again, at St. Euphrase, I can make you young people work for your board, as, of course, being honest, you would like. Randolph shall dig the garden and Adeline shall milk the cows. That will save me two servants' wages."

"_Mais, madame_," whimpered Adeline, "Randolphe has me promessed to come to Long Branch for to see ze gaieties."

"My child, you have no clothes to appear in. You will have to look at the gaieties from your bedroom window, and even your meals will have to be brought you. Are you aware that three new gowns every day is the smallest number in which any self-respecting woman can appear at Long Branch? You need not smile, it is no laughing matter. You will compromise me hopelessly if you come downstairs, and, I may add, that any things Mlle. Pet.i.tot may send you will not help you here.

Tailor-made gowns are _de rigueur_, and above all, they must be indubitably new, and worn for the very first time. I would recommend a bilious attack, my dear; keep your room. And, after all, a fict.i.tious attack of bile is better than the real thing. I will arrange for our going back to Canada, and with that view, perhaps, I had better begin by writing your mother. She will be anxious to know what has become of you, and I dare say I shall be able to make your peace now, more easily than later."

"Ah! _Chere madame_, do not write. Zey vill send me to ze _couvent_. I know so vell. And never to come out again. And zere I shall be made make ze _grande retraite_ for always for marrying me vidout consent.

And it will be so _triste_, have _pitie, ma mere_."

"My dear child, you may trust me. I have no intention of giving you up, all the archbishops in Lower Canada shall not deprive my boy of his wife. Now, be sensible, for once! Go back to your room, and I will do my best for you."

And poor Adeline, like a naughty child, went upstairs to her room.

That day Amelia had a long letter to write. She liked letter-writing, for she imagined she had a talent for affairs, and this is what she wrote:

"Long Branch.

"My Dear Madame Rouget,

"I have been so startled this morning by the totally undreamt of appearance of your daughter in company with my boy Randolph. They informed me that they stopped over at New York and were married, and have now come on here to favour me with a visit during their honeymoon. I am powerless, therefore, to separate them, as otherwise I would. I hasten to inform you of this, judging from my own feelings that you will be thankful to learn that your daughter, on her disappearance, has fallen into good hands. At the same time, permit me to a.s.sure you, dear Madame Rouget, that this--I scarcely know how to express my feelings on the subject--this elopement is none of my devising. I neither instigated, a.s.sisted, nor approve it. The children are of different faiths, and I fear poor Adeline has no fortune, and no prospect of ever having any. She has come here claiming my maternal care, and, actually, she has not a gown fit to appear at breakfast in.

I have recommended her to keep her room, and, if you are the reasonable person I have believed you, I shall see that she stays there till she has received her mother's forgiveness for this very foolish step. Indeed, it is superabundantly foolish, and you may a.s.sure M. Rouget, from me, that I deplore it far more than he possibly can. To think that my cherished son should have married a French woman, and without _dot_. It is mortifying. When there are differences of religion there ought to be compensation. M. Rouget will reply that it is owing to Randolph's father that his daughter is not suitably dowered. Perhaps so; I shall not express an opinion; but, for myself, I feel untrammelled by such a consideration. When I was married myself, my dearest father saw that I did not go to my husband penniless. He availed himself of our admirable Lower Canada law, and I was _separee des biens_. I have my own income, which no one can touch, and my own house at St. Euphrase, bought with my own money. If La Hache--what is left of it--were settled on your daughter in the same way, it might prove a blessing some day.

"And this brings me to my purpose in writing you. Dear Madame Rouget, had we not better make a virtue of necessity and accept an accomplished fact? It would be better, surely, to have our children properly married in a church than merely for them to have been buckled together by a Yankee magistrate. My boy insists that M. Rouget shall a.s.sure him on this point before he returns to Canada. His wife, as he calls her, being under legal age, if any difficulty is made, he threatens to continue living in this country, which I am sure you would regret as much as I shall. As to their plans, the young people can live with me till some employment is found for Randolph. The Minister of Drainage and Irrigation should be able to find him something.

"As to their religion, they have already settled that question for themselves, having adopted civil marriage. Had Randolph's suit progressed, as was at one time contemplated, it is probable that, as he is no bigot, he might have acquiesced in any wishes of his _fiancee_ or her family; but now they have forbidden the match, and yet it has taken place. I will not consent to any disrespect being now shown to our venerable Church of England, and, indeed, I have never been able to understand how one section of the Catholic Church can claim superiority over another. No doubt when the present difficulty shall have been arranged, the young couple, who appear devotedly attached to each other, will grow into each other's views, and both be of the same communion. Meanwhile, I am aware that in your church there are difficulties connected with mixed marriages; but his grace the archbishop, as I have been informed, holds discretionary power to grant a dispensation for sufficient reason. I am confident his grace will see such reasons in the present case, as otherwise our hapless children will be condemned to remain in this most undevout republic, and may become the prey of no one knows what pernicious sect.

"a.s.suring you of my entire sympathy, and begging that you will not defer your reply, for in truth the hotel bills at Lone Branch for a party of three are enough to make one shudder, believe me,

"Dear Madame Rouget,

"Yours in parallel tribulation,

"Amelia Jordan."

"Now!" cried the lady, throwing down her pen; "I defy them to pretend that _we_ wanted their alliance!" Then she read the letter over, frowning at it critically the while.

"It is an impertinent letter--or insolent, rather; but what is one to do? If one shows a t.i.ttle of respect they take it as their due, and become so hoity-toity one can do nothing with them."

The letter duly reached its destination, and was fumed and growled over by magnates both of Church and State. Nothing could be done, however, and, therefore, like prudent people, they yielded--yielded, too, with a very tolerable grace; and Amelia returned to St. Euphrase triumphant, leading her children in her suite, and with a vastly heightened opinion of her own cleverness.