Orley Farm (Serial)/Chapter 38
CHAPTER XXXVIII.
OH, INDEED!
The dinner on that day at The Cleeve was not very dull. Peregrine had some hopes that the idea of the marriage might be abandoned, and was at any rate much better disposed towards Lady Mason than he had been. He spoke to her, asking her whether she had been out, and suggesting roast mutton or some such creature comfort. This was lost neither on Sir Peregrine nor on Mrs. Orme, and they both exerted themselves to say a few words in a more cheery tone than had been customary in the house for the last day or two. Lady Mason herself did not say much; but she had sufficient tact to see the effort which was being made; and though she spoke but little she smiled and accepted graciously the courtesies that were tendered to her.
Then the two ladies went away, and Peregrine was again left with his grandfather. 'That was a nasty accident that Graham had going out of Monkton Grange,' said he, speaking on the moment of his closing the dining-room door after his mother. 'I suppose you heard all about it, sir?' Having fought his battle so well before dinner, he was determined to give some little rest to his half vanquished enemy.
'The first tidings we heard were that he was dead,' said Sir Peregtine, filling his glass.
'No; he wasn't dead. But of course you know that now. He broke an arm and two ribs, and got rather a bad squeeze. He was just behind me, you know, and I had to wait for him. I lost the run, and had to see Harriet Tristram go away with the best lead any one has had to a fast thing this year. That's an uncommon nasty place at the back of Monkton Grange.'
'I hope, Peregrine, you don't think too much about Harriet Tristram.'
'Think of her! who? I? Think of her in what sort of a way? I think she goes uncommonly well to hounds.'
'That may be, but I should not wish to see you pin your happiness on any lady that was celebrated chiefly for going well to hounds.'
'Do you mean marry her?' and Peregrine immediately made a strong comparison in his mind between Miss Tristram and Madeline Staveley.
'Yes; that's what I did mean.'
'I wouldn't have her if she owned every fox-cover in the county. No, by Jove! I know a trick worth two of that. It's jolly enough to see them going, but as to being in love with them—in that sort of way—'
'You are quite right, my boy; quite right. It is not that that a man wants in a wife.'
'No,' said Peregrine, with a melancholy cadence in his voice, thinking of what it was that he did want. And so they sat sipping their wine. The turn which the conversation had taken had for the moment nearly put Lady Mason out of the young man's head.
'You would be very young to marry yet,' said the baronet.
'Yes, I should be young; but I don't know that there is any harm in that.'
'Quite the contrary, if a young man feels himself to be sufficiently settled. Your mother I know would be very glad that you should marry early;—and so should I, if you married well.'
What on earth could all this mean? It could not be that his grandfather knew that he was in love with Miss Staveley; and had this been known his grandfather would not have talked of Harriet Tristram. 'Oh yes; of course a fellow should marry well. I don't think much of marrying for money.'
'Nor do I, Peregrine;—I think very little of it.'
'Nor about being of very high birth.'
'Well; it would make me unhappy—very unhappy if you were to marry below your own rank.'
'What do you call my own rank?'
'I mean any girl whose father is not a gentleman, and whose mother is not a lady; and of whose education among ladies you could not feel certain.'
'I could be quite certain about her,' said Peregrine, very innocently.
'Her! what her?'
'Oh, I forgot that we were talking about nobody.'
'You don't mean Harriet Tristram?'
'No, certainly not.'
'Of whom were you thinking, Peregrine? May I ask—if it be not too close a secret?' And then again there was a pause, during which Peregrine emptied his glass and filled it again. He had no objection to tall to his grandfather about Miss Staveley, but he felt ashamed of having allowed the matter to escape him in this sort of way. 'I will tell you why I ask, my boy,' continued the baronet. 'I am going to do that which many people will call a very foolish thing.'
'You mean about Lady Mason.'
'Yes; I mean my own marriage with Lady Mason. We will not talk about that just at present, and I only mention it to explain that before I do so, I shall settle the property permanently. If you were married I should at once divide it with you. I should like to keep the old house myself, till I die———'
'Oh, sir!'
'But sooner than give you cause of offence I would give that up.'
'I would not consent to live in it unless I did so as your guest.'
'Until your marriage I think of settling on you a thousand a year;—but it would add to my happiness if I thought it likely that you would marry soon. Now may I ask of whom were you thinking?'
Peregrine paused for a second or two before he made any reply, and then he brought it out boldly. 'I was thinking of Madeline Staveley.'
'Then, my boy, you were thinking of the prettiest girl and the best-bred lady in the county. Here's her health;' and he filled for himself a bumper of claret. 'You couldn't have named a woman whom I should be more proud to see you bring home. And your mother's opinion of her is the same as mine. I happen to know that;' and with a look of triumph he drank his glass of wine, as though much that was very joyful to him had been already settled.
'Yes,' said Peregrine mournfully, 'she is a very nice girl; at least I think so.'
'The man who can win her, Peregrine, may consider himself to be a lucky fellow. You were quite right in what you were saying about money. No man feels more sure of that than I do. But if I am not mistaken Miss Staveley will have something of her own. I rather think that Arbuthnot got ten thousand pounds.'
'I'm sure I don't know, sir,' said Peregrine; and his voice was by no means as much elated as that of his grandfather.
'I think he did; or if he didn't get it all, the remainder is settled on him. And the judge is not a man to behave better to one child than to another.'
'I suppose not.'
'And then the conversation flagged a little, for the enthusiasm was all one side. It was moreover on that side which naturally would have been the least enthusiastic. Poor Peregrine had only told half his secret as yet, and that not the most important half. To Sir Peregrine the tidings, as far as he had heard them, were very pleasant. He did not say to himself that he would purchase his grandson's assent to his own marriage by giving his consent to his grandson's marriage. But it did seem to him that the two affairs, acting upon each other, might both be made to run smooth. His heir could have made no better choice in selecting the lady of his love. Sir Peregrine had feared much that some Miss Tristram or the like might have been tendered to him as the future Lady Orme, and he was agreeably surprised to find that a new mistress for The Cleeve had been so well chosen. He would be all kindness to his grandson and win from him, if it might be possible, reciprocal courtesy and complaisance. 'Your mother will be very pleased when she hears this,' he said.
'I meant to tell my mother,' said Peregrine, still very dolefully, 'but I do not know that there is anything in it to please her. I only said that I—I admired Miss Staveley.'
'My dear boy, if you'll take my advice you'll propose to her at once. You have been staying in the same house with her, and———'
'But I have.'
'Have what?'
'I have proposed to her.'
'Well?'
'And she has refused me. You know all about it now, and there's no such great cause for joy.'
'Oh, you have proposed to her. Have you spoken to her father or mother?'
'What was the use when she told me plainly that she did not care for me? Of course I should have asked her father. As to Lady Staveley, she and I got on uncommonly well. I'm almost inclined to think that she would not have objected.'
'It would be a very nice match for them, and I dare say she would not have objected.' And then for some ten minutes they sat looking at the fire. Peregrine had nothing more to say about it, and the baronet was thinking how best he might encourage his grandson.
'You must try again, you know,' at last he said.
'Well; I fear not. I do not think it would be any good. I'm not quite sure she does not care for some one else?'
'Who is he?'
'Oh, a fellow that's there. The man who broke his arm. I don't say she does, you know, and of course you won't mention it.'
Sir Peregrine gave the necessary promises, and then endeavoured to give encouragement to the lover. He would himself see the judge, if it were thought expedient, and explain what liberal settlement would be made on the lady in the event of her altering her mind. 'Young ladies, you know, are very prone to alter their minds on such matters,' said the old man. In answer to which Peregrine declared his conviction that Madeline Staveley would not alter her mind. But then do not all despondent lovers hold that opinion of their own mistresses?
Sir Peregrine had been a great gainer by what had occurred, and so he felt it. At any rate all the novelty of the question of his own marriage was over, as between him and Peregrine; and then he had acquired a means of being gracious which must almost disarm his grandson of all power of criticism. When he, an old man, was ready to do so much to forward the views of a young man, could it be possible that the young man should oppose his wishes? And Peregrine was aware that his power of opposition was thus lessened.
In the evening nothing remarkable occurred between them. Each had his or her own plans; but these plans could not be furthered by anything to be said in a general assembly. Lady Mason had already told to Mrs. Orme all that had passed in the drawing-room before dinner, and Sir Peregrine had determined that he would consult Mrs. Orme as to that matter regarding Miss Staveley. He did not think much of her refusal. Young ladies always do refuse—at first.
On the day but one following this there came another visit from Mr. Furnival, and he was for a long time closeted with Sir Peregrine. Matthew Round had, he said, been with him, and had felt himself obliged in the performance of his duty to submit a case to counsel on behalf of his client Joseph Mason. He had not as yet received the written opinion of Sir Richard Leatheram, to whom he had applied; but nevertheless, as he wished to give every possible notice, he had called to say that his firm were of opinion that an action must be brought either for forgery or for perjury.
'For perjury!' Mr. Furnival had said.
'Well; yes. We would wish to be as little harsh as possible. But if we convict her of having sworn falsely when she gave evidence as to having copied the codicil herself, and having seen it witnessed by the pretended witnesses;—why in that case of course the property would go back.'
'I can't give any opinion as to what might be the result in such a case,' said Mr. Furnival.
Mr. Round had gone on to say that he thought it improbable that the action could he tried before the summer assizes.
'The sooner the better as far as we are concerned,' said Mr. Furnival.
'If you really mean that, I will see that there shall be no unnecessary delay.' Mr. Furnival had declared that he did really mean it, and so the interview had ended.
Mr. Furnival had really meant it, fully concurring in the opinion which Mr. Chaffanbrass had expressed on this matter; but nevertheless the increasing urgency of the case had almost made him tremble. He still carried himself with a brave outside before Mat Round, protesting as to the utter absurdity as well as cruelty of the whole proceeding; but his conscience told him that it was not absurd. 'Perjury!' he said to himself, and then he rang the bell for Crabwitz. The upshot of that interview was that Mr. Crabwitz received a commission to arrange a meeting between that great barrister, the member for the Essex Marshes, and Mr. Solomon Aram.
'Won't it look rather, rather—rather—; you know what I mean, sir?' Crabwitz had asked.
'We must fight these people with their own weapons,' said Mr. Furnival;—not exactly with justice, seeing that Messrs. Round and Crook were not at all of the same calibre in the profession as Mr. Solomon Aram.
Mr. Furnival had already at this time seen Mr. Slow, of the firm of Slow and Bideawhile, who were Sir Peregrine's solicitors. This he had done chiefly that he might be able to tell Sir Peregrine that he had seen him. Mr. Slow had declared that the case was one which his firm would not be prepared to conduct, and he named a firm to which he should recommend his client to apply. But Mr. Furnival, carefully considering the whole matter, had resolved to take the advice and benefit by the experience of Mr. Chaffanbrass.
And then he went down once more to The Cleeve. Poor Mr. Furnival! In these days he was dreadfully buffeted about both as regards his outer man and his inner conscience by this unfortunate case, giving up to it time that would otherwise have turned itself into heaps of gold; giving up domestic conscience—for Mrs. Furnival was still hot in her anger against poor Lady Mason; and giving up also much peace of mind, for he felt that he was soiling his hands by dirty work. But he thought of the lady's pale sweet face, of her tear-laden eye, of her soft beseeching tones, and gentle touch; he thought of these things—as he should not have thought of them;—and he persevered.
On this occasion he was closeted with Sir Peregrine for a couple of hours, and each heard much from the other that surprised him very much. Sir Peregrine, when he was told that Mr. Solomon Aram from Bucklersbury, and Mr. Chaffanbrass from the Old Bailey, were to be retained for the defence of his future wife, drew himself up and said that he could hardly approve of it. The gentlemen named were no doubt very clever in criminal concerns; he could understand as much as that, though he had not had great opportunity of looking into affairs of that sort. But surely, in Lady Mason's case, assistance of such a description would hardly be needed. Would it not be better to consult Messrs. Slow and Bideawhile?
And then it turned out that Messrs. Slow and Bideawhile had been consulted; and Mr. Furnival, not altogether successfully, endeavoured to throw dust into the baronet's eyes, declaring that in a combat with the devil one must use the devil's weapons. He assured Sir Peregrine that he had given the matter his most matured and indeed most painful professional consideration; there were unfortunate circumstances which required peculiar care; it was a matter which would depend entirely on the evidence of one or two persons who might be suborned; and in such a case it would be well to trust to those who knew how to break down and crush a lying witness. In such work as that Slow and Bideawhile would be innocent and ignorant as babes. As to breaking down and crushing a witness anxious to speak the truth, Mr. Furnival at that time said nothing.
'I will not think that falsehood and fraud can prevail,' said Sir Peregrine proudly.
'But they do prevail sometimes,' said Mr. Furnival. And then with much outer dignity of demeanour, but with some shame-faced tremblings of the inner man hidden under the guise of that outer dignity, Sir Peregrine informed the lawyer of his great purpose.
'Indeed!' said Mr. Furnival, throwing himself back into his chair with a start.
'Yes, Mr. Furnival. I should not have taken the liberty to trouble you with a matter so private in its nature, but for your close professional intimacy and great friendship with Lady Mason.'
'Oh, indeed!' said Mr. Furnival; and the baronet could understand from the lawyer's tone that even he did not approve.