"He might have been a Dean if he had been a practical man," whispered Lady Montfort to Mr. Neuchatel, "and on the high road to a bishopric."
"That is what we want, Lady Montfort," said Mr. Neuchatel; "we want a few practical men. If we had a practical man as Chancellor of the Exchequer, we should not be in the sc.r.a.pe in which we now are."
"It is not likely that Penruddock will leave the Church with a change of government possibly impending. We could do nothing for him with his views, but he will wait for Peel."
"Oh! Peel will never stand those high-fliers. He put the Church into a Lay Commission during his last government."
"Penruddock will never give up Anglicanism while there is a chance of becoming a Laud. When that chance vanishes, trust my word, Penruddock will make his bow to the Vatican."
"Well, I must say," said Lord Roehampton, "if I were a clergyman I should be a Roman Catholic."
"Then you could not marry. What a compliment to Lady Roehampton!"
"Nay; it is because I could not marry that I am not a clergyman."
Endymion had taken Adriana down to dinner. She looked very well, and was more talkative than usual.
"I fear it will be a very great confusion--this general election," she said. "Papa was telling us that you think of being a candidate."
"I am a candidate, but without a seat to captivate at present," said Endymion; "but I am not without hopes of making some arrangement."
"Well, you must tell me what your colours are."
"And will you wear them?"
"Most certainly; and I will work you a banner if you be victorious."
"I think I must win with such a prospect."
"I hope you will win in everything."
When the ladies retired, Berengaria came and sate by the side of Lady Roehampton.
"What a dreary dinner!" she said.
"Do you think so?"
"Well, perhaps it was my own fault. Perhaps I am not in good cue, but everything seems to me to go wrong."
"Things sometimes do go wrong, but then they get right."
"Well, I do not think anything will ever get right with me."
"Dear Lady Montfort, how can you say such things? You who have, and have always had, the world at your feet--and always will have."
"I do not know what you mean by having the world at my feet. It seems to me that I have no power whatever--I can do nothing. I am vexed about this business of your brother. Our people are so stupid. They have no resource. When I go to them and ask for a seat, I expect a seat, as I would a shawl at Howell and James" if I asked for one. Instead of that they only make difficulties. What our party wants is a Mr. Tadpole; he out-manoeuvres them in every corner."
"Well, I shall be deeply disappointed--deeply pained," said Lady Roehampton, "if Endymion is not in this parliament, but if we fail I will not utterly despair. I will continue to do what I have done all my life, exert my utmost will and power to advance him."
"I thought I had will and power," said Lady Montfort, "but the conceit is taken out of me. Your brother was to me a source of great interest, from the first moment that I knew him. His future was an object in life, and I thought I could mould it. What a mistake! Instead of making his fortune I have only dissipated his life."
"You have been to him the kindest and the most valuable of friends, and he feels it."
"It is no use being kind, and I am valuable to no one. I often think if I disappeared to-morrow no one would miss me."
"You are in a morbid mood, dear lady. To-morrow perhaps everything will be right, and then you will feel that you are surrounded by devoted friends, and by a husband who adores you."
Lady Montfort gave a scrutinising glance at Lady Roehampton as she said this, then shook her head. "Ah! there it is, dear Myra. You judge from your own happiness; you do not know Lord Montfort. You know how I love him, but I am perfectly convinced he prefers my letters to my society."
"You see what it is to be a Madame de Sevigne," said Lady Roehampton, trying to give a playful tone to the conversation.
"You jest," said Lady Montfort; "I am quite serious. No one can deceive me; would that they could! I have the fatal gift of reading persons, and penetrating motives, however deep or complicated their character, and what I tell you about Lord Montfort is unhappily too true."
In the meantime, while this interesting conversation was taking place, the gentleman who had been the object of Lady Montfort"s eulogium, the gentleman who always out-manoeuvred her friends at every corner, was, though it was approaching midnight, walking up and down Carlton Terrace with an agitated and indignant countenance, and not alone.
"I tell you, Mr. Waldershare, I know it; I have it almost from Lord Beaumaris himself; he has declined to support our man, and no doubt will give his influence to the enemy."
"I do not believe that Lord Beaumaris has made any engagement whatever."
"A pretty state of affairs!" exclaimed Mr. Tadpole. "I do not know what the world has come to. Here are gentlemen expecting high places in the Household, and under-secretaryships of state, and actually giving away our seats to our opponents."
"There is some family engagement about this seat between the Houses of Beaumaris and Montfort, and Lord Beaumaris, who is a young man, and who does not know as much about these things as you and I do, naturally wants not to make a mistake. But he has promised nothing and n.o.body.
I know, I might almost say I saw the letter, that he wrote to Lord Montfort this day, asking for an interview to-morrow morning on the matter, and Lord Montfort has given him an appointment for to-morrow.
This I know."
"Well, I must leave it to you," said Mr. Tadpole. "You must remember what we are fighting for. The const.i.tution is at stake."
"And the Church," said Waldershare.
"And the landed interest, you may rely upon it," said Mr. Tadpole.
"And your Lordship of the Treasury _in posse_, Tadpole. Truly it is a great stake."
CHAPTER LXXI
The interview between the heads of the two great houses of Montfort and Beaumaris, on which the fate of a ministry might depend, for it should always be recollected that it was only by a majority of one that Sir Robert Peel had necessitated the dissolution of parliament, was not carried on exactly in the spirit and with the means which would have occurred to and been practised by the race of Tadpoles and Tapers.
Lord Beaumaris was a very young man, handsome, extremely shy, and one who had only very recently mixed with the circle in which he was born.
It was under the influence of Imogene that, in soliciting an interview with Lord Montfort, he had taken for him an unusual, not to say unprecedented step. He had conjured up to himself in Lord Montfort the apparition of a haughty Whig peer, proud of his order, prouder of his party, and not over-prejudiced in favour of one who had quitted those sacred ranks, freezing with arrogant reserve and condescending politeness. In short, Lord Beaumaris was extremely nervous when, ushered by many servants through many chambers, there came forward to receive him the most sweetly mannered gentleman alive, who not only gave him his hand, but retained his guest"s, saying, "We are a sort of cousins, I believe, and ought to have been acquainted before, but you know perhaps my wretched state," though what that was n.o.body exactly did know, particularly as Lord Montfort was sometimes seen wading in streams breast-high while throwing his skilful line over the rushing waters. "I remember your grandfather," he said, "and with good cause. He pouched me at Harrow, and it was the largest pouch I ever had. One does not forget the first time one had a five-pound note."
And then when Lord Beaumaris, blushing and with much hesitation, had stated the occasion of his asking for the interview that they might settle together about the representation of Northborough in harmony with the old understanding between the families which he trusted would always be maintained, Lord Montfort a.s.sured him that he was personally obliged to him by his always supporting Odo, regretted that Odo would retire, and then said if Lord Beaumaris had any brother, cousin, or friend to bring forward, he need hardly say Lord Beaumaris might count upon him.
"I am a Whig," he continued, "and so was your father, but I am not particularly pleased with the sayings and doings of my people. Between ourselves, I think they have been in a little too long, and if they do anything very strong, if, for instance, they give office to O"Connell, I should not be at all surprised if I were myself to sit on the cross benches."
It seems there was no member of the Beaumaris family who wished at this juncture to come forward, and being a.s.sured of this, Lord Montfort remarked there was a young man of promise who much wished to enter the House of Commons, not unknown, he believed, to Lord Beaumaris, and that was Mr. Ferrars. He was the son of a distinguished man, now departed, who in his day had been a minister of state. Lord Montfort was quite ready to support Mr. Ferrars, if Lord Beaumaris approved of the selection, but he placed himself entirely in his hands.
Lord Beaumaris, blushing, said he quite approved of the selection; knew Mr. Ferrars very well, and liked him very much; and if Lord Montfort sanctioned it, would speak to Mr. Ferrars himself. He believed Mr.