The Great House Part 17

"My cousin, Lord Audley, has asked me to marry him, and I have consented. Nothing beyond this is fixed, and no announcement will be made until my uncle has recovered his strength. But I feel that I owe it to you to let you know this at once.

"I owe you something more. You crowned your kindness by doing me a great honor. I could not reply in substance otherwise than I did, but for the foolish criticisms of an inexperienced girl, I ask you to believe that I feel deep regret.

"When we meet I hope that we may meet as friends. If I can believe this it will add something to the happiness of my engagement. My uncle is better, but little stronger than when you saw him.

"I am, truly yours, "Mary Audley."

He stood looking at it for a long time, and only by an effort could he control the emotion that strove to master him. Then his thoughts travelled to the other, the man who had won her, the man who had got the better of him from the first, who had played the Jacob from the moment of their meeting on the steamer; and a pa.s.sion of jealousy swept him away. He swore aloud.

Mr. Colet leapt in his chair. "Mr. Ba.s.set!" he cried. And then, in a different tone, "You have bad news, I fear?"

The other laughed bitterly. "Bad news?" he repeated, and Colet saw that his face was white and that the letter shook in his hand. "The Government's out, and that's bad news. The pig's ill, and that's bad news. Your mother's dead, and that's bad news!"

"Swearing makes no news better," Colet said mildly.

"Not even the pig? If your--if Etruria died, and some one told you that she was dead, you wouldn't swear? You wouldn't curse G.o.d?"

"G.o.d forbid!" the clergyman cried in horror.

"What would you do then?"

"Try so to live, Mr. Ba.s.set, that we might meet again!"

"Rubbish, man!" Ba.s.set retorted rudely. "Try instead not to be a prig!"

"If I could be of use?"

"You cannot, nor any one else," Ba.s.set answered. "There, say no more. The worst is over. We've played our little part and--what's the odds how we played it?"

"Much when the curtain falls," the poor clergyman ventured.

"Well, I'll go and eat something. Hunger is one more grief!" And Ba.s.set went out.

He came back ten minutes later, pale but quiet. "Sorry, Colet," he said. "Very rude, I am afraid! I had bad news, but I am right now. Wasn't there another letter for me?"

He found the letter and read it listlessly. He tossed it across the table to his guest. "News is plentiful to-day," he said.

Colet took the letter and read it. It was from a Mr. Hatton, better known to him than to Ba.s.set, and the owner of one of the two small factories in Riddsley. It was an invitation to contest the borough in opposition to young Mottisfont.

"If it were a question, respected sir," Hatton wrote, "of Whigs and Tories we should not approach you. But as the result must depend upon the proportions in which the Tory party splits for and against Sir Robert Peel upon the Corn Laws, we, who are in favor of repeal, recognize the advantage of being represented by a moderate Tory. The adherence to Sir Robert of Sir James Graham in the North and of Lord Lincoln in the Midlands proves that there are landowners who place their country before their rents, and it is in the hope that you, sir, are of the number that we invite you to give us that a.s.sistance which your ancient name must afford.

"We are empowered to promise you the support of the Whig party in the borough, conditioned only upon your support of the repeal of the Corn Laws, leaving you free on other points. The Audley influence has been hitherto paramount, but we believe that the time has come to free the borough from the last remnant of the Feudal system.

"A deputation will wait upon you to give you such a.s.surances as you may desire. But as Parliament meets on an early date, and the present member may at once apply for the Chiltern Hundreds, we shall be glad to have your answer before the New Year."

"Well?" Ba.s.set asked. "What do you think?"

"It opens a wide door."

"If you wish to have your finger pinched," Ba.s.set replied, flippantly, "it does. I don't know that it is an opening to anything else." And as Colet refrained from speaking, "You don't think," he went on, "that it's a way into Parliament? A repealer has as much chance of getting in for Riddsley against the Audley interest as you have of being an archdeacon! Of course the Radicals want a fight if they can find a man fool enough to spend his money. But as for winning, they don't dream of it."

"It is better to lose in some causes than to win in others."

Ba.s.set laughed. "Do you know why they have come to me? They think that I shall carry John Audley with me and divide the Audley interest. There's nothing in it, but that's the notion."

"Why look at the seamy side?" Colet objected. "I suppose there always is one, but I don't think that it was at that side Sir Robert looked when he made up his mind to put the country first and his party second! I don't think that it was at that side he looked when he determined to eat his words and pocket his pride, rather than be responsible for famine in Ireland! Believe me, Mr. Ba.s.set," the clergyman continued earnestly, "it was no easy change of opinion. Before he came to that resolution, proud, cold man as I am told he is, many a sight and sound must have knocked at the door of his mind; a scene of poverty he pa.s.sed in his carriage, a pa.s.sage in some report, a speech through which he seemed to sleep, a begging letter--one by one they pressed the door inwards, till at last, with--it may be with misery, he came to see what he must do!"

"Possibly."

"The call came, he had to answer it. Here is a call to you."

"And do you think," the other retorted, "that I can answer it more cheaply than Sir Robert? So far as I have thought it out, I am with him. But do you think I could do this," he tapped the letter, "without misery--of a different kind it may be? I am not a public man, I have served no apprenticeship to it, I've not addressed a meeting three times in my life, I don't know what I should say or how I should say it. And for Hatton and his friends, they would rub me up a dozen times a day."

"Non sine pulvere!" Mr. Colet murmured.

"Dust enough there'll be! I don't doubt that. And dirt. But there's another thing." He paused, and turning, knocked the fire together. He was nearly a minute about it, while the other waited. "There's another thing," he repeated. "I am not going into this business to pay out a private grudge, and I want to be clear that I am not doing that. And I'm not going into this simply for what I can get out of it. Ambition is a poor stayer with me, a washy chestnut. It would not carry me through, Colet. If I go into this, it will be because I believe in it. It seems as if I were preaching," he continued awkwardly. "But there's nothing but belief will carry me through, and unless I am clear--I'll not start. I'll not start, although I want to make a fresh start badly! Devilish badly, if you'll excuse me!"

"And how will you----"

"Make certain? I don't know. I must fight it out by myself--go up on the hill and think it out. I must believe in the thing, or I must leave it alone!"

"Just so," said Mr. Colet. And prudent for once he said no more.

CHAPTER XXIV.

AN AGENT OF THE OLD SCHOOL.

It is doubtful if even the great Reform Bill of '32, which shifted the base of power from the upper to the middle cla.s.s, awoke more bitter feelings that did the volte face of Peel in the winter of '45. Since the days of Pitt no statesman had enjoyed the popularity or wielded the power which had been Sir Robert's when he had taken office four years before. He had been more than the leader of the Tory party; he had been its re-creator. He had been more than the leader of the landed interest; he had been its pride. Men who believed that upon the welfare of that interest rested the stability of the const.i.tution, men with historic names had walked on his right hand and on his left, had borne his train and carried his messages. All things, his origin, his formality, his pride, his quiet domestic life, even his moderation, had been forgiven in the man who had guided the Tories through the bad days, had led them at last to power, and still stood between them and the mutterings of this new industrial England, that hydra-like threatened and perplexed them.

And then--he had betrayed them. Suddenly, some held; in a panic, scared by G.o.d knows what bugbear! Coldly and deliberately, said others, spreading his treachery over years, laughing in his sleeve as he led them to the fatal edge. Those who took the former view made faint excuse for him, and perhaps still clung to him. Those who held the latter thought no price too high, no sacrifice too costly, no effort too great, if they could but punish the traitor! If they could but pillory him for all to see.

So, in a moment, in the autumn of '45, as one drop of poison will cloud the fairest water, the face of public life was changed. Bitterness was infused into it, friend was parted from friend and son from father, the oldest alliances were dissolved. Men stood gaping, at a loss whither to turn and whom to trust. Many who had never in all their lives made up their own minds were forced to have an opinion and choose a side; and as that process is to some men as painful as a labor to a woman, the effect was to embitter things farther. How could one who for years past had cursed Cobden in all companies, and in moments of relaxation had drunk to a "b.l.o.o.d.y War and a Wet Harvest," turn round and join the Manchester School? It could be done, it was done, but with what a rending of bleeding sinews only the sufferers knew!

Strange to say, few gave weight to Sir Robert's plea of famine in Ireland. Still more strange, when events bore out his alarm, when in the course of a year or two a quarter of a million in that unhappy country died of want, public feeling changed little. Those who had remained with him, stood with him still. Those who had banded themselves against him, held their ground. Only a handful allowed that he was honest, after all. Nor was it until he, who rode his horse like a sack, had died like a demi-G.o.d, with a city hanging on his breath, and weeping women filling all the streets about the house, that the traitor became the patriot.

But this is to antic.i.p.ate. In December of '45, few men believed in famine. Few thought much of dearth. The world was angry, blood was hot, many dreamt of vengeance. Meantime Manchester exulted, and Coal, Iron, Cotton toasted Peel. But even they marvelled that the man who had been chosen to support the Corn Laws had the courage to repeal them!

Upon no one in the whole country did the news fall with more stunning effect than upon poor Stubbs at Riddsley. He had suspected Peel. He had disliked his measures, and doubted whither he was moving. He had even on the occasion of his resignation predicted that Sir Robert would support the repeal; but he had not thought worse of him than that, and the event left him not uncertain, nor under any stress as to making up his mind, but naked, as it were, in an east wind. He felt older. He owned that his generation was pa.s.sing. He numbered the friends he had left and found them few. And though he continued to a.s.sert that no man had ever pitted himself against the land whom the land had not broken, doubt began to creep into his mind. There were hours when he foresaw the end of the warm farming days, of game and sport, of Horn and Corn, ay, and of the old toast, "The farmer's best friend--the landlord," to which he had replied at many an audit dinner.

One thing remained--the Riddsley election. He found some comfort in that. He drew some pleasure from the thought that Sir Robert might do what he pleased at Tamworth, he might do what he pleased in the Cabinet, in the Commons--there were toadies and turn-coats everywhere; but Riddsley would have none of him! Riddsley would remain faithful! Stubbs steeped himself in the prospect of the election, and in preparations for it. A dozen times a day he thanked his stars that the elder Mottisfont's weakness for Peel had provided this opening for his energies.

Not that even on this ground he was quite happy. There was a little bitter in the cup. He hardly owned it to himself, he did not dream of whispering it to others, but at the bottom of his mind he had ever so faint a doubt of his employer. A hint dropped here, a word there, a veiled question--he could not say which of these had given him the notion that his lordship hung between two opinions, and even--no wonder that Stubbs dared not whisper it to others--was weighing which would pay him best!

Such a thought was treason, however, and Stubbs buried it and trampled on it, before he went jauntily into the snug little meeting at the Audley Arms, which he had summoned to hear the old member's letter read and to accept the son as a candidate in his father's place. Those whom the agent had called were few and trusty; young Mottisfont himself, the rector and Dr. Pepper, Bagenal the maltster, Hogg the saddler, Musters the landlord, the "Duke" from the Leasows (which was within the borough), and two other tradesmen. Stubbs had no liking for big meetings. He had been bred up to believe that speeches were lost labor, and if they must be made should be made at the Market Ordinary.

At such a gathering as this he was happy. He had the strings in his own hands. The work to be done was at his fingers' ends. At this table he was as great a man as my lord. With young Mottisfont, who was by way of being a Bond Street dandy, solemn, taciturn, and without an opinion of his own, he was not likely to have trouble. The rector was enthusiastic but indolent, Pepper an old friend. The rest were Stubbs's most obedient.

Stubbs read the retiring member's letter, and introduced the candidate. The rector boomed through a few phrases of approbation, Dr. Pepper seconded, the rest cried "Hear! hear!"

"There's little to say," Stubbs went on. "I take it that we are all of one mind, gentlemen, to return Mr. Mottisfont in his father's place?"

"Hear! hear!" from all. "In the old interest?" Stubbs went on, looking round the table. "And on the clear understanding that Mr. Mottisfont is returned to oppose any tampering with the protection of agriculture."

"That is so," said Mr. Mottisfont.

"I will see that that is embodied in Mr. Mottisfont's address," Stubbs continued. "There must be no mistake. These are queer times----"

"Sad times!" said the rector, shaking his head.

"Terrible times!" said the maltster, shaking his.

"Never did I dream I should live to see 'em," said old Hayward. "'Tisn't a month since a chap came on my land, ay, up to my very door, and said things--I'll be d.a.m.ned if I did not think he'd turn the cream sour! And when I cried 'Sam! fetch a pitchfork and rid me of this rubbish----'"

"I know, Hayward," Stubbs said, cutting him short. "I know. You told me about it. You did very well. But to business. It shall be a short address--just that one point. We are all agreed, I think, gentlemen?"

All were agreed.

"I'll see that it is printed in good time," Stubbs continued. "I don't think that we need trouble you further, Mr. Mottisfont. There's a fat-stock sale this day fortnight. Perhaps you'll dine and say a few words? I'll let you know if it is necessary. There'll be no opposition. Hatton will have a meeting at the Inst.i.tute, but nothing will come of it."

"That's all then, is it?" said the London man, sticking his gla.s.s in his eye with a sigh of relief.

"That's all," Stubbs replied. "If you can attend this day fortnight so much the better. The farmers like it, and they've fourteen votes in the borough. Thank you, gentlemen, that's all."

"I think you've forgotten one thing, Mr. Stubbs," said old Hayward, with a twinkle.

"To be sure, I have. Ring the bell, Musters, and send up the two bottles of your '20 port that I ordered and some gla.s.ses. A gla.s.s of Musters' '20 port, Mr. Mottisfont, won't hurt you this cold day. And we must drink your health. And, Musters, when these gentlemen go down, see that they have what they call for."

The port was sipped, tasted. Mr. Mottisfont's health was drunk, and various compliments were paid to his father. The rector took his two gla.s.ses; so did young Mottisfont, who woke up and vowed that he had tasted none better in St. James's Street. "Is it Garland's?" he asked.

"It is, sir," Musters said, much pleased.

"I thought it was--none better!" said young Mottisfont, also pleased. "The old Duke drinks no other."

"Fine tipple! Fine tipple!" said the other "Duke." In the end a third bottle was ordered, of which Musters and old Hayward drank the better part.

At one of these meetings a sad thing had happened. A rash tradesman had proposed his lordship's health. Of course he had been severely snubbed. It had been considered most indecent. But on this occasion no one was so simple as to name my lord, and Stubbs felt with satisfaction that all had pa.s.sed as it should. So had candidates been chosen as long as he could remember.

But call no man happy until the day closes. As he left the house Bagenal the maltster tacked himself on to him. "I'd a letter from George this morning," he said. George was his son, articled to Mr. Stubbs, and now with Mr. Stubbs's agents in town. "He saw his lordship one day last week."

"Ay, ay. I suppose Master George was in the West End? Wasting his time, Bagenal, I'll be bound."

"I don't know about that. Young fellows like to see things. He went with a lot of chaps to see the crowd outside Sir Robert's. They'd read in a paper that all the n.o.bs were to be seen going in and out. Anyway, he went, and the first person he saw going in was his lordship!"

Mr. Stubbs walked a few yards in silence. Then, "Well, he's no sight to George," he said. "It seems to me they were both wasting their time. I told his lordship he'd do no good. When half the dukes in England have been at Peel, d--n him, it wasn't likely he'd change his course for his lordship! It wasn't to be expected, Bagenal. Did George stop to see him come out?"

"He did. And in a thundering temper my lord looked."

"Ay, ay! Well I told him how it would be."

"They were going in and out like bees, George said."

"Ay, ay."

They parted on that, and the lawyer went into his office. But his face was gloomy. "Ay, like bees!" he muttered. "After the honey! I wonder what he asked for! Whatever it was he couldn't have paid the price! I thought he knew that. I've a good mind--but there, we've held it so long, grandfather, father, and son--I can't afford to give it up."

He turned into his office, but the day was spoiled for him. And the day was not done yet. He had barely sat down before his clerk a thin, gray-haired man, high-nosed, with a look of breeding run to seed, came in, and closed the door behind him. Farthingale was as well known in Riddsley as the Maypole; gossip had it that he was a by-blow of an old name. "I've heard something," he said darkly, "and the sooner you know it the better. They've got a man."

Stubbs shrugged his shoulders. "For repeal in Riddsley?" he said. "You're dreaming."

The clerk smiled. "Well, you'd best be awake," he said. He had been long enough with Stubbs to take a liberty. "Who do you think it is?" he continued, rubbing his chin with the feather-end of a quill.

"Some methodist parson!"

Farthingale shook his head. "Guess again, sir," he said. "You're cold at present. It's a bird of another feather."

"A pretty big fool whoever he is!"

"Mr. Ba.s.set of Blore. I have it on good authority."

Stubbs stared. He was silent for a time, thinking hard. "Somebody's fooled you," he said at last, but in a different tone. "He's never shown a sign of coming out."

The clerk looked wise. "It's true," he said. "It cost me four goes of brown brandy at the Portcullis."

"Well, you may score that to me," Stubbs answered. "Ba.s.set, eh? Well, he's throwing his money into the gutter if it's true, and he hasn't much to spare. I see Hatton's point. He's not the fool."

"No. He's an old bird is Hatton."

"But I don't see where Squire Ba.s.set comes in."

Farthingale looked wiser than ever. "Well," he said, "he may have a score to pay, too. And if he has, there's more ways than one of paying it!"

"What score?"

"Ah, I'm not saying that. Mr. John Audley's may be--against his lordship."

"Umph! If you paid off yours at the Portcullis," Stubbs retorted, losing his temper, "the landlord wouldn't be sorry! Scores are a deal too much in your way, Farthingale!" he continued, severely, forgetting in his annoyance the four goes of brown brandy. "You're too much at home among 'em. Don't bring me c.o.c.k-and-bull stories like this! I don't believe it. And get to that lease!"

But sure enough Farthingale's story proved to be well founded, for a week later it was known for certain in Riddsley that Mr. Ba.s.set of Blore was coming out, and that there would be a fight for the borough.