The Vanity Girl Part 12

But her exclamation was caused by dismay at recalling that she had addressed him as "Arthur Lonsdale, Esquire," when for the first time in her life she might have written "The Honorable Arthur Lonsdale," for everybody to see. What must he have thought of her ignorance? And now here in a canoe with her was Lord Clarehaven, but, owing to the foolish modesty that English t.i.tles affect, she did not know if he was a marquis, an earl, a viscount, or a mere baron. The prospect of the green river was leaden with the thought of her stupidity.

"You're looking very sad," said Clarehaven. "What's the matter?"

"I was thinking how beautiful it was here," she sighed.

"Topping, isn't it?"

"Topping," she echoed, awarding to the utterance of the epithet as much emotion as if it were robbed from Shakespeare's magic store. Amid a sweet smell of gra.s.s and to the accompaniment of lapping water and a small sibilant wind they lunched on the salmon and mayonnaise, the prawns in aspic, the galantine and cold chicken, the meringues and strawberries of how many Oxford picnics. Above them dreamed a huge sky; elm-trees guarded the near horizon; wasps had not begun, nor did Sylvia tease Dorothy about being related to Lonsdale when Clarehaven presented them as long-lost cousins.

By the end of the afternoon Dorothy had sufficiently confirmed her admirer's first impression to be invited to lunch with him at Christ Church the following day, in which invitation Sylvia was of course included. Then slowly they drifted back down the river, on the dimples and eddies of which the overhanging trees cast a patina as upon the muscles of an ancient bronze.

"How unreal the theater seems!" sighed Dorothy when they drove up to the stage-door.

"Does it?" Sylvia laughed. "It seems to me much more real than our pretty behavior this afternoon."

V

Dorothy slept badly that night. Her regret for the mistake she had made in addressing Arthur Lonsdale as esquire magnified itself horribly in the mean little bedroom of the lodgings in Eden Square. All night long she was waking up to reproach herself for her stupidity in not taking the trouble to make sure who he was before she sent back the note. Her blunder was all the more unpardonable because she should have been sufficiently interested in receiving a letter from a namesake to take this trouble. And now suppose Lord Clarehaven were to put her under the necessity of addressing him on the outside of an envelope? How was she to know what to write? "Lord Clarehaven, Christ Church College"? It sounded rather empty. In any case, she should have to ask for him at the lodge to-morrow, and how the porter would sneer behind her back if she should make a mistake! In despair Dorothy wandered into the next room where Sylvia and Lily were sleeping tranquilly.

"Oh dear!" she lamented.

"What's the matter?" asked Sylvia, jumping up in bed.

"Sylvia, I can't sleep. I think there's a rat in my room. I suppose Arthur Lonsdale didn't say if Lord Clarehaven was a marquis, did he?"

"d.a.m.n your eyes, Dorothy, did you wake me up to ask that? Go and get hold of Debrett, if you want to know so badly."

Dorothy went back to her bedroom in peace of mind. Of course! How easy it was, really, and she fell into a delicious sleep, from which, notwithstanding her disturbed night, she was early awake to dress and be out of the house by ten o'clock in order to search the Oxford bookshops for a _Peerage_.

"We have a _Baronetage_" said one bookseller.

Dorothy shrugged her shoulders compa.s.sionately, and went from shop to shop until she found the big red volume of her desire. She paid without a moment's hesitation the price of it, called a cab, and drove back to Eden Square, that she might have plenty of time to devour the contents before going to Christ Church. Her breath came fast when she actually read Clarehaven and began to absorb the wonderful information below:

CLAREHAVEN, EARL OF. (Clare) [Earl U.K. 1816. Bt. E. 1660.]

ANTHONY GILBERT CLARE, 5th Earl, and 10th Baronet; _b._ Oct. 15, 1882; _s._ 1896; ed. at Eton and Christ Church; is 2d Lieut, in North Devon Dragoons, and patron of one living.

_Arms_--Purpure, two flanches ermine, on a chief sable a moon in her complement argent. _Crest_--A moon in her complement argent, arising from a cloud proper. _Supporters_--Two angels vested purpure, winged and crined or, each holding in the exterior hand a key or. _Motto_--_Claro non clango_.

_Seat_--Clare Court, Devonshire. _Town residence_--129 Curzon Street, W.

_Club_--Bachelors'.

SISTERS LIVING

_Lady_ Arabella. b. 1885.

_Lady_ Constantia. b. 1887.

WIDOW LIVING OF FOURTH EARL

Augusta (Countess of Clarehaven) 2d dau. of 9th Earl of Chatfield: _m._ 1880 the 4th Earl who _d._ 1896. _Residence_--Clare Court, Devonshire.

PREDECESSORS--[1] Anthony Clare, _M.P._ for Devon (a descendant of Richard Fitzgilbert, Baron of Clare, a companion of the Conqueror, son of Gilbert Crispin, Earl of Brione in Normandy, who was son of Geoffrey, a natural son of Richard I. Duke of Normandy), was cr. a Bt. 1660; _d._ 1674; _s._ by his son [2] _Sir_ Gilbert, 2d Bt.; _d._ 1710; _s._ by his son [3] _Sir_ Anthony, 3d Bt.; _d._ 1747; _s._ by his nephew [4] _Sir_ William, 4th Bt.; _d._ 1764; _s._ by his cousin [5] _Sir_ Anthony, 5th Bt.; cr. _Baron Clarehaven_ (peerage of Great Britain) 1796; _d._ 1802; _s._ by his son [6] Gilbert, 2d Baron; cr. _Viscount Clare_ and _Earl of Clarehaven_ (peerage of United Kingdom) 1816; _d._ 1826; _s._ by his son [7] Richard Crispin, 2d Earl. _b._ 1788. _m._ 1818 Lady Caroline Lacey who _d._ 1859, 2d dau. of 3d Marquess of Longlan; _d._ 1864; s. by his son [8] Geoffrey William, _P.C._, 3d Earl. _b._ 1820; sometime Lord Lieut. of Devon; M.P. for S. Devon (C); Vice-Chamberlain of H. M. Queen Victoria's Household. _m._ 1845 the Hon. Louisa Travers, who _d._ 1890, dau. of the 26th Baron Travers; _d._ 1867; _s._ by his son [9] Gilbert Crispin, 4th Earl, _b._ 1845; Lieut. Royal Horse Guards, 1866-67: _m._ 1880 Lady Augusta Fanhope, 2d dau. of 9th Earl of Chatfield; _d._ 1896; _s._ by his son [10] Anthony Gilbert, 5th Earl and present peer; also Viscount Clare and Baron Clarehaven.

Half a dozen times word for word she read through these magic pages, until she felt that she simply could not make a mistake at lunch. Then a page or two farther on, past Clarendon and Clarina, she came to:

CLEVEDEN, BARON. (Lonsdale) [Baron G.B. 1762.]

CHARLES ARTHUR BRABAZON LONSDALE. _G.C.M.G., G.C.I.E._ 5th Baron; _b._ Oct. 10, 1858; _s._ 1888; ed. at Eton and at Ch. Ch. Oxford. (B.A.

1880); is a J.P. and D.L. for Warwickshire and Verderer of the Forest of Arden; Hon. Col. of Yeo.; sat as M.P. for West Warwick--(C) 1880-1884; was a.s.sist. Private Sec. to the Premier--(M. Salisbury) 1885-6; Gov. and Com. in Ch. of E. Australia. 1893-99; and Gov. of Central India.

1899-1901; _K.C.M.G._ 1893; _G.C.M.G._ 1898; _G.C.I.E._ 1899: _m._ 1882 Lady Helen Druce (an Extra Woman of the Bed-chamber to H.M. Queen Victoria), dau. of 10th Earl of Monteith and has issue.

_Arms_--Argent, an oak tree englante vert. _Crest_--A bugle horn or, enguiche and stringed vert. _Supporters_--On either side a forester sounding a horn proper. _Motto_--J'y serai.

_Seat_--Cressingham Hall, Warwick. _Clubs_--Carlton. Travellers'.

SON LIVING

_Hon._ ARTHUR GEORGE MORNINGTON. _b._ Feb. 24, 1883.

DAUGHTER LIVING

_Hon._ Sylvia May. _b._ 1885.

"Sylvia?" Dorothy said to herself. But she decided to stick to the name Dorothy, and went on reading about her family.

BROTHER LIVING

_Rev_. the Hon. George, _b._ 1860; ed. at Eton, and at St. Mary's Coll.

Oxford. (B.A. 1883. M.A. 1886); is R. of Bingham-c.u.m-Bingham Monachorum; _m._ 1894 Mary Alice, dau. of the late Rev. Francis Greville, V. of St.

Wilfred's, Tilchester, and Hon. Canon of Tilchester, and has issue living, Arthur Brabazon--_b._ 1896. Mary--_b._ 1898. Georgina Maud--_b._ 1900. _Residence_--Bingham Rectory, Hants.

SISTERS LIVING

_Hon._ Frances Louisa, _b._ 1863. _m._ 1885 Sir William Honeywood-Greene, 6th Bt. _Residence_--Arden Towers, Warwick.

_Hon._ Caroline, _b._ 1865. _m._ 1886 Sir Stanley Pinkerton, K.C.V.O.

Master of the King's Spaniels. _Residence_--210 Eaton Square, S.W.