The Author's Daughter/Chapter 5
CHAPTER V.
RETROSPECTIVE.
But to account for Mrs. Hammond's conduct in some measure, we must go back in her history some twenty years. Though she was not a very genial or benevolent woman she had many excellent qualities, and would never have thrown the burden of little Amy Staunton on her despised neighbours if she had not had a special reason of her own for disliking and suspecting her.
Although Mrs. Hammond had always held her head very high in Australia, and spoke of society in England as if she had always mixed on equal terms with the very best county people; though she dreaded and opposed the intrusion of parvenus and self-made men into the charmed circle of colonial aristocracy, and was especially exclusive with regard to her children, she had at one period of her life been on her promotion, and had begun her career as governess in the family of the wealthy Mr. Derrick, who had made an immense fortune as a cotton manufacturer. She had been educated with great care by a mother who had been left in straitened circumstances, and who had staked her all on that one chance, for she felt sure that if Clarissa Hope once was placed with great people on any footing she was sure to make her way. So Miss Hope had been turned out perfectly competent for a first-class situation according to the requirements of twenty years ago, and had been engaged by Mr. Derrick at a very handsome salary as finishing governess to two young ladies of sixteen and fourteen years of age. Mr. Derrick had bought Stanmore, a fine estate in, ———shire, and was ambitious that his children should take a good place in county society. The only son of the family had been at Oxford and was travelling on the continent when Miss Hope began her educational duties; but before his return she had succeeded in making herself agreeable and almost necessary to the parents and in ingratiating herself also with her pupils; and he had not been long at home before she believed she had made a conquest of John Derrick also. In the last process she lost her own heart more completely than she ever did before or after, for she thought him both handsome and agreeable. To a girl who has been educated to teach, whose whole girlish life has been spent in what is to be useful to her in after life in the seclusion of a boarding-school, who has never been initiated in all the light playful talk, half flirtation, half raillery, that breaks the boundary line between jest and earnest, the first attentions of a disengaged and eligible young gentleman are very likely to be successful. Miss Hope could not detect in the son who was to inherit the fortune the tone of underbreeding too apparent in he father who had acquired it. An Oxford course and a continental tour were correctives that in her opinion could not fail to make him a perfect gentleman; and as he had not hitherto been much in ladies' society, Miss Hope's liveliness, Miss Hope's perfect knowledge of her position, Miss Hope's tact in falling into everybody's ways and never offending or displeasing any one, Miss Hope's playing and singing, especially to the harp, Miss Hope's very handsome face and figure and good style of dress, were working wonders. John Derrick thought her a famous girl with plenty of life, or as he called it of go in her, and he flirted with her on every convenient opportunity, but still with discretion, for his father and mother never suspected anything of it.
But on one unlucky holiday time Miss Hope reluctanly left her delightful situation to spend six weeks with her mother; for in spite of all John Derrick's hints and planning, and Miss Hope's declaration that she did not care for holidays, Mrs. Derrick would not invite her to go to the sea-side with the family. She had the satisfaction of seeing that her admirer was quite as much disappointed as she was herself, and the few parting words he said she felt amounted almost to a declaration of attachment; so she bore the separation as she best could, and charmed her mother and her mother's circle with her accounts of the thorough appreciation she had met with from the whole family at Stanmore.
Unfortunately for Miss Hope's expectations, the Derricks became acquainted at the fashionable watering-place to which they had gone with a family as much superior to them in birth and position as they were beneath them in fortune.
The Earl of Darlington was a poor peer originally, But his extravagant habits had lessened, as far as entails would allow of it, the family property which he had inherited from his father.
The title and the estates descended to a second cousin, and as every encumbrance that could possibly be borne by the property was already heaped on it for the Earl's own expenses, it was likely that his only daughter Lady Eveline would be left penniless at his death. The Earl had married rather late in life, and prudently so far, for he had married an heiress, but as he had imprudently managed that her money should be completely at his own disposal, he had spent it, and was quite capable of spending another fortune like it; for though not young, he had as extravagant tastes and habits as ever. Lady Darlington chafed and fretted and reproached her husband when the money was gone, and bewailed the injustice that had robbed her daughter. On these occasions the Earl used to say—
"No fear of Eveline. She'll marry Herbert and be countess when you are dowager. Have I not kept friends with my heir for the very purpose? And he's a careful follow; he'll nurse the property a bit. I see he can't bear a stick of timber to be cut down; he is just a little too ready with his advice, and if it were not for Eveline I'd fire up. You suppose I have no command of my temper, Lady Darlington, but the curb I put on it in that fellow's presence for Eveline's sake is a tight one, and you reproach me with not caring about my daughter."
"It is only a chance you speak of, Lord Darlington. Eveline is a child yet, and though a pretty one, people do not care about beauty now-a-days. And Herbert Darlington's means are very small just now."
"Small or great, he will be able to live within his means, which is what I never could do," said the Earl laughing, "so he is a richer man than me now, and he has a rich uncle besides. Oh! I should feel quite easy if Eveline was married to him; and depend upon it, when Lady Gower brings her out, that she will be the rage. She has the Darlington countenance, and the family has been noted for beauty for three centuries."
But before Lady Eveline's countenance had come to its full beauty, in fact when she was not sixteen, Mr. Herbert Darlington and his expectations were transferred elsewhere.
He married a Miss Pernnithorne, the only child of a wealthy city-man, and reputed the richest heiress of her time. Lord Darlington was furious in his rage, but he could not have the satisfaction of cutting off his heir with a shilling. He could only cut him in society, and cut down a very little more timber, and Lady Eveline's penniless condition became as great a grief to him as to his lady. The only thing that could be done under the circumstances was, to take a leaf out of Herbert's book, and ally his daughter to wealth, if not to birth; so that when the gout drove Lord Darlington to Brighton, and he found himself placed in the next house to Mr. Anthony Derrick the cotton lord, he determined to cultivate the acquaintance, very much to the satisfaction of Lady Darlington and to the delight of the whole family of Derricks.
Lady Eveline was just sixteen when she met with John Derrick, and though she was in a very different style from Miss Hope, there was no doubt she was a very pretty and elegant girl. The Countess was very courteous to him; the Earl, though of a hasty, irritable temper, was always glad to see him, and the young man was flattered by this introduction into aristocratic society. His father and mother were full of the praises of the Lady Eveline, and his sisters struck up a violent friendship for her. Charlotte and Anne Derrick used to accompany Lady Eveline, with their brother's escort, for walks and rides on the beach, and John was delighted to show his acquaintance that he had a lady of title under his care. He brought forward his stock of small talk, which had been so irresistible to Miss Hope, and Lady Eveline did not seem to dislike it. She had never been in society, or been much with people of her own age. She had missed Herbert Darlington's frequent visits, for they were the only things that had brought any change to her life at home, for her father was very irritable and her mother querulous, and both of them were a great deal older than herself. Her pleasures had been in reading and music, and her education had been but imperfect, at least so far as judgment and principles were concerned. She was a great novel-reader and built many castles in the air of a very romantic kind. She had intense pleasure in out-of-door life, which in the beautiful country about Darlington Castle was always attractive; and as all her pursuits and amusements had been solitary, she enjoyed the change to the bustle and life of a crowded watering-place, and felt the society of companions of her own age pleasant. Still she looked down on her friends too. She had heard the indignation with which her father and mother had spoken of Herbert's mesalliance with Miss Pennithorne, and wondered at their civility to this Manchester family.
After about a month's acquaintance, a convenient opportunity having presented itself, Mr. John Derrick made a formal proposal to the young lady. Lady Eveline was taken by surprise; she had never dreamt of such a thing as that this plebeian young man would fall in love with her; her heart was indifferent and more than indifferent to John Derrick, but she disliked to give pain, and so she listened. It was not at all unpleasant to listen; she had always liked the love passages in her favourite novels and romances better than any other passages in the books, and had often wondered if that was the way in which declarations were made in real life. So she listened much longer than she ought to have done, not as if it were her own concern, but wondering what other people would think of it if they only knew; how amused her mamma would be, and how indignant her papa at the young man's presumption. She was not old enough or thoughtful enough to feel the pain which a fruitless declaration ought to give to a woman. Her lover interpreted her silence as encouragement; he took her hand and was raising it to his lips when Eveline started, and woke to the consciousness that this was really her own affair, and that Mr. John Derrick was entitled to an answer.
"Oh, no!" said she, "I cannot allow of such a thing. What would papa say?"
"But I have your permission, Lady Eveline, to speak to the Earl on this subject?" said John Derrick.
Eveline did not know what her consent to this implied;—she only saw that it would save her from saying anything painful to his feelings, and she felt very certain that her papa would be decided in his answer.
"Oh! yes; I suppose you may speak to him," said she.
"And if I win his consent I may hope for yours?" said the young man eagerly.
"You have not got his consent yet," said she, half seriously, half archly, and she ran out of the room, leaving him in the seventh heaven at the favourable reception she had given to his addresses, while she herself was flattered, amused, and excited, but never dreaming of the possibility of marrying him.
John told his father the result of his interview; indeed he had not made his proposal until Mr. Derrick had both sanctioned and urged it, and the old gentleman went with the lover to the Earl with offers of most liberal settlements, to strengthen his claims to so distinguished an alliance.
They found the Earl in very good humour and by no means unprepared for the overtures they made. Lady Darlington was called into council, and she too looked with favour on a marriage that would secure her poor girl from the poverty she had dreaded for her. She was too young at present, far too young; but if Mr. John Derrick would wait for two or three years they would make no objection. This was acceded to; the old gentleman said they were both young enough, and he thought it would be well for them to wait.
When Lady Eveline was summoned into her father's study, or the room which went by that name in the Brighton establishment, she was astonished and confounded to discover that everyone took it for granted that she had promised to marry Mr. John Derrick, provided he obtained the Earl's consent. Her mother clasped her to her hear, wept over her, and said she knew she should be happy; her father declared that he had no wish but to please her, and that if she had set her heart on this young fellow, he would make no objection on the score of birth or position. Young people would be young people and take fancies to each other to the end of time, and he, the Earl, did not see any good in thwarting them. He had though she would wait till she had been presented before she made conquests, but after all there was no time like the present. Then old Mr. Derrick gravely said that he was most happy that everything had been so pleasantly and amicably arranged, and declared his intention of welcoming Lady Eveline into his family ere long.
"But I am so young," said Eveline, shrinking back from all this congratulation, and feeling, that, through everything that was said by others, John Derrick's eye was fixed on her with an expression of confident success that embarrassed and mortified her. "I am so very young," she repeated.
"So we all say," said the Earl, "but if you are both of the same mind two years hence you will not be too young then."
"But—but—but" said Eveline and then words failed her. Perhaps John Derrick would change his mind in two years' time. It was a distant prospect; a good deal might happen in two years.
"A two years' engagement is not an unreasonably long one," said Mr. Derrick, "so you must wait with patience, my boy."
"But mamma," said Eveline, "don't let it be spoken about."
"Oh, no!" said Lady Darlington, "I think that as you are so young, and as your education is not completed, it would be well that no one knew that you are engaged, particularly if you do not like it mentioned."
Engaged—was she really engaged? It was very strange to be so misunderstood and hemmed in by the parents whom she had trusted to, to get her out of her dilemma without giving her any trouble about it. But she would get out of it somehow. It was a good thing that everybody agreed that it should not be mentioned, not even to Anne or Charlotte—Mr. Derrick promised her that—and then she could talk quietly about it to her mother. She would explain that the marriage was out of the question.
"As to visiting and correspondence," said Lady Darlington, "if the affair is to be kept quiet, it would not be advisable to permit very much of either, but still in moderation we can allow of it. Eveline will pay her promised visit to her aunt, Lady Gower, at Christmas."
"Oh! I had hoped she might have come to Stanmore then," said Mr. Derrick.
"No, that cannot be. It was an old promise that she should go to her aunt's when she was seventeen, for Lady Gower cannot be troubled with chits of children, and Eveline has looked forward to it for years. If you mean to keep this affair unknown, it would be very foolish to have much correspondence or intercourse when she is at Gower's Court," said the Earl.
John Derrick did not altogether like these arrangements, but you cannot say "no" to an Earl whose daughter you wish to marry. He had wished at once to step into the circle of aristocratic society, and to be kept in he background while Lady Eveline was enjoying herself in the gay and fashionable world was losing the best half of the triumph of his success. Eveline was pleased with the provision that her parents made. She did not want to see much of John Derrick, even if it ever came to anything, and as for correspondence, she wondered what in all the world they could find to say to each other. She caught a glance at his face timidly enough; he looked annoyed; she was sure he had not a good temper. He had not the courage to appeal against the hardship of restricted opportunities of lovemaking, but yet he did not like it.
On the whole both father and son were quite satisfied with the result of the interview, and when they were gone Eveline tried to explain to her mother that all this had been taken for granted, and that she had no idea of accepting John Derrick's proposal when she allowed him to speak to her father; but before she began her mother clasped her in her arms and wept over her again, and said she could bear to give her up for her own good and her own happiness, as this undoubtedly was. She had always known she must give her up, but this had come upon her rather soon.
"A great deal too soon, mamma; I cannot understand it at all. After all you and papa said about poor Herbert's marriage to the grand-daughter of a—cobbler—how could you think of my marrying Mr. John Derrick, whose grandfather was—"
"Never mind his grandfather, my dear; it is not his grandfather, or father either, that you are to marry. I had not much of a grandfather, but yet Lord Darlington was only too glad to marry me, and, to tell the truth, if you do not make a good marriage I do not know what is to become of us, for he has made away with all I that. The reason why we were so displeased at Herbert's marriage was that there was a sort of understanding that he was to marry you when you were old enough."
"Oh! that would have been very different," said Lady Eveline.
"Indeed, on the whole I think this is much better for you, because Herbert was poor, at least during his uncle's life-time, and now I hear that old Mr. Herbert has left him his whole fortune, he was so pleased with his prudent marriage. But this Mr. Derrick should have half-a-million, if report speaks true of his father's wealth, and the old gentleman seems as desirous of the alliance with our family as his son is, so that everything will be easy——"
"But mamma," said Iy Eveline, "I am sure I don't like him well enough to marry him."
"Oh! I dare say not; he does not ask you to marry him to-day or to-morrow. I am sure you will like him sufficiently well before there is any call on you to do so, and the young man is really wonderfully well, considering," said the Countess.
"But I ought to tell him how I feel, surely."
"Oh no, dear, there is not the slightest necessity to say any thing about it. He ought to know that a well-brought-up girl does not fall in love with a man before he asks her or at the moment of a proposal. You have given only a little negative encouragement."
"But I did not mean to give him any encouragement at all."
"You are a little goose not to know that referring him to your father was very decided encouragement," said the Countess.
"But I was so sure that he would not approve."
"If he had not been a desirable parti your papa would have put a stop to it at once, but as it is, really, everything that could be wished for you, the Earl sees it as I do, and there was no harm done by your blunder."
So it was settled, and Lady Eveline tried to think it was as well settled as the Earl and Countess said it was, and faintly tried to foster anything she could feel like a prepossession for John Derrick.