Christie Johnstone.
by Charles Reade.
NOTE.
THIS story was written three years ago, and one or two topics in it are not treated exactly as they would be if written by the same hand to-day.
But if the author had retouched those pages with his colors of 1853, he would (he thinks) have destroyed the only merit they have, viz., that of containing genuine contemporaneous verdicts upon a cant that was flourishing like a peony, and a truth that was struggling for bare life, in the year of truth 1850.
He prefers to deal fairly with the public, and, with this explanation and apology, to lay at its feet a faulty but genuine piece of work.
CHAPTER I.
VISCOUNT IPSDEN, aged twenty-five, income eighteen thousand pounds per year, const.i.tution equine, was unhappy! This might surprise some people; but there are certain blessings, the non-possession of which makes more people discontented than their possession renders happy.
Foremost among these are "Wealth and Rank." Were I to add "Beauty" to the list, such men and women as go by fact, not by conjecture, would hardly contradict me.
The fortunate man is he who, born poor, or n.o.body, works gradually up to wealth and consideration, and, having got them, dies before he finds they were not worth so much trouble.
Lord Ipsden started with nothing to win; and naturally lived for amus.e.m.e.nt. Now nothing is so sure to cease to please as pleasure--to amuse, as amus.e.m.e.nt. Unfortunately for himself he could not at this period of his life warm to politics; so, having exhausted his London clique, he rolled through the cities of Europe in his carriage, and cruised its sh.o.r.es in his yacht. But he was not happy!
He was a man of taste, and sipped the arts and other knowledge, as he sauntered Europe round.
But he was not happy.
"What shall I do?" said _l"ennuye"._
"Distinguish yourself," said one.
"How?"
No immediate answer.
"Take a _prima donna_ over," said another.
Well, the man took a _prima donna_ over, which scolded its maid from the Alps to Dover in the _lingua Toscana_ without the _bocca Romana,_ and sang in London without applause; because what goes down at La Scala does not generally go down at Il Teatro della Regina, Haymarket.
So then my lord strolled into Russia; there he drove a pair of horses, one of whom put his head down and did the work; the other pranced and capricoled alongside, all unconscious of the trace. He seemed happier than his working brother; but the biped whose career corresponded with this playful animal"s was not happy!
At length an event occurred that promised to play an adagio upon Lord Ipsden "s mind. He fell in love with Lady Barbara Sinclair; and he had no sooner done this than he felt, as we are all apt to do on similar occasions, how wise a thing he had done!
Besides a lovely person, Lady Barbara Sinclair had a character that he saw would make him; and, in fact, Lady Barbara Sinclair was, to an inexperienced eye, the exact opposite of Lord Ipsden.
Her mental impulse was as plethoric as his was languid.
She was as enthusiastic as he was cool.
She took a warm interest in everything. She believed that government is a science, and one that goes with _copia verborum._
She believed that, in England, government is administered, not by a set of men whose salaries range from eighty to five hundred pounds a year, and whose names are never heard, but by the First Lord of the Treasury, and other great men.
Hence she inferred, that it matters very much to all of us in whose hand is the rudder of that state vessel which goes down the wind of public opinion, without veering a point, let who will be at the helm.
She also cared very much who was the new bishop. Religion--if not religion, theology--would be affected thereby.
She was enthusiastic about poets; imagined their verse to be some sort of clew to their characters, and so on.
She had other theories, which will be indicated by and by; at present it is enough to say that her mind was young, healthy, somewhat original, full of fire and faith, and empty of experience.
Lord Ipsden loved her! it was easy to love her.
First, there was not, in the whole range of her mind and body, one grain of affectation of any sort.
She was always, in point of fact, under the influence of some male mind or other, generally some writer. What young woman is not, more or less, a mirror? But she never imitated or affected; she was always herself, by whomsoever colored.
Then she was beautiful and eloquent; much too high-bred to put a restraint upon her natural manner, she was often more _naive,_ and even brusk, than your would-be aristocrats dare to be; but what a charming abruptness hers was!
I do not excel in descriptions, and yet I want to give you some carnal idea of a certain peculiarity and charm this lady possessed; permit me to call a sister art to my aid.
There has lately stepped upon the French stage a charming personage, whose manner is quite free from the affectation that soils nearly all French actresses--Mademoiselle Madeleine Brohan! When you see this young lady play Mademoiselle La Segli"ere, you see high-bred sensibility personified, and you see something like Lady Barbara Sinclair.
She was a connection of Lord Ipsden"s, but they had not met for two years, when they encountered each other in Paris just before the commencement of this "Dramatic Story," "Novel" by courtesy.
The month he spent in Paris, near her, was a bright month to Lord Ipsden. A bystander would not have gathered, from his manner, that he was warmly in love with this lady; but, for all that, his lordship was gradually uncoiling himself, and gracefully, quietly basking in the rays of Barbara Sinclair.
He was also just beginning to take an interest in subjects of the day--ministries, flat paintings, controversial novels, Cromwell"s spotless integrity, etc.--why not? They interested her.
Suddenly the lady and her family returned to England. Lord Ipsden, who was going to Rome, came to England instead.
She had not been five days in London, before she made her preparations to spend six months in Perthshire.
This brought matters to a climax.
Lord Ipsden proposed in form.
Lady Barbara was surprised; she had not viewed his graceful attentions in that light at all. However, she answered by letter his proposal which had been made by letter.
After a few of those courteous words a lady always bestows on a gentleman who has offered her the highest compliment any man has it in his power to offer any woman, she came to the point in the following characteristic manner:
"The man I marry must have two things, virtues and vices--you have neither. You do nothing, and never will do anything but sketch and hum tunes, and dance and dangle. Forget this folly the day after to-morrow, my dear Ipsden, and, if I may ask a favor of one to whom I refuse that which would not be a kindness, be still good friends with her who will always be
"Your affectionate _Cousin,_
"BARBARA SINCLAIR."
Soon after this effusion she vanished into Perthshire, leaving her cousin stunned by a blow which she thought would be only a scratch to one of his character.