"I have come, my lord," said Roden, "because I do not like to be here in your house under a false pretence."
"A false pretence? What false pretence? I hate false pretences."
"So do I."
"What do you mean by a false pretence now?"
"I fear that they have told you, Lord Kingsbury, that should you give me your daughter as my wife, you will give her to the Duca di Crinola." The Marquis, who was sitting in his arm-chair, shook his head from side to side, and moved his hands uneasily, but made no immediate reply. "I cannot quite tell, my lord, what your own ideas are, because we have never discussed the subject."
"I don"t want to discuss it just at present," said the Marquis.
"But it is right that you should know that I do not claim the t.i.tle, and never shall claim it. Others have done so on my behalf, but with no authority from me. I have no means to support the rank in the country to which it belongs; nor as an Englishman am I ent.i.tled to a.s.sume it here."
"I don"t know that you"re an Englishman," said the Marquis. "People tell me that you"re an Italian."
"I have been brought up as an Englishman, and have lived as one for five-and-twenty years. I think it would be difficult now to rob me of my rights. n.o.body, I fancy, will try. I am, and shall be, George Roden, as I always have been. I should not, of course, trouble you with the matter were it not that I am a suitor for your daughter"s hand. Am I right in supposing that I have been accepted here by you in that light?" This was a question which the Marquis was not prepared to answer at the moment. No doubt the young man had been accepted. Lady Frances had been allowed to go down to Castle Hautboy to meet him as her lover. All the family had been collected to welcome him at the London mansion. The newspapers had been full of mysterious paragraphs in which the future happy bridegroom was sometimes spoken of as an Italian Duke and sometimes as an English Post Office clerk. "Of course he must marry her now," the Marquis had said to his wife, with much anger. "It"s all your sister"s doings," he had said to her again. He had in a soft moment given his affectionate blessing to his daughter in special reference to her engagement. He knew that he couldn"t go back from it now, and had it been possible, would have been most unwilling to give his wife such a triumph. But yet he was not prepared to accept the Post Office clerk simply as a Post Office clerk. "I am sorry to trouble you at this moment, Lord Kingsbury, if you are not well."
"I ain"t well at all. I am very far from well. If you don"t mind I"d rather not talk about it just at present. When I can see Hampstead, then, perhaps, things can be settled." As there was nothing further to be said George Roden took his leave.
CHAPTER XI.
"OF COURSE THERE WAS A BITTERNESS."
It was not surprising that Lord Kingsbury should have been unhappy when Roden was shown up into his room, as Mr. Greenwood had been with him. Mr. Greenwood had called on the previous day, and had been refused admittance. He had then sent in an appeal, asking so piteously for an interview that the Marquis had been unable to repudiate it. Mr. Greenwood knew enough of letter-writing to be able to be effective on such an occasion. He had, he said, lived under the same roof with the Marquis for a quarter of a century. Though the positions of the two men in the world were so different they had lived together as friends. The Marquis throughout that long period had frequently condescended to ask the advice of his chaplain, and not unfrequently to follow it. After all this could he refuse to grant the favour of a last interview? He had found himself unable to refuse the favour. The interview had taken place, and consequently the Marquis had been very unhappy when George Roden was shown up into his room.
The Rector of Appleslocombe was dead. The interview was commenced by a communication to that effect from Mr. Greenwood. The Marquis of course knew the fact,--had indeed already given the living away,--had not delayed a minute in giving it away because of some fear which still pressed upon him in reference to Mr. Greenwood. Nor did Mr.
Greenwood expect to get the living,--or perhaps desire it. But he wished to have a grievance, and to be in possession of a subject on which he could begin to make his complaint. "You must have known, Mr.
Greenwood, that I never intended it for you," said the Marquis. Mr.
Greenwood, seated on the edge of his chair and rubbing his two hands together, declared that he had entertained hopes in that direction.
"I don"t know why you should, then. I never told you so. I never thought of it for a moment. I always meant to put a young man into it;--comparatively young." Mr. Greenwood shook his head and still rubbed his hands. "I don"t know that I can do anything more for you."
"It isn"t much that you have done, certainly, Lord Kingsbury."
"I have done as much as I intend to do," said the Marquis, rousing himself angrily. "I have explained all that by Mr. Roberts."
"Two hundred a year after a quarter of a century!" Mr. Greenwood had in truth been put into possession of three hundred a year; but as one hundred of this came from Lord Hampstead it was not necessary to mention the little addition.
"It is very wrong,--your pressing your way in here and talking to me about it at all."
"After having expected the living for so many years!"
"You had no right to expect it. I didn"t promise it. I never thought of it for a moment. When you asked me I told you that it was out of the question. I never heard of such impertinence in all my life.
I must ask you to go away and leave me, Mr. Greenwood." But Mr.
Greenwood was not disposed to go away just yet. He had come there for a purpose, and he intended to go on with it. He was clearly resolved not to be frightened by the Marquis. He got up from his chair and stood looking at the Marquis, still rubbing his hands, till the sick man was almost frightened by the persistency of his silence. "What is it, Mr. Greenwood, that makes you stand thus? Do you not hear me tell you that I have got nothing more to say to you?"
"Yes, my lord; I hear what you say."
"Then why don"t you go away? I won"t have you stand there staring like that." He still shook his head. "Why do you stand there and shake your head?"
"It must be told, my lord."
"What must be told?"
"The Marchioness!"
"What do you mean, sir? What have you got to say?"
"Would you wish to send for her ladyship?"
"No; I wouldn"t. I won"t send for her ladyship at all. What has her ladyship got to do with it?"
"She promised."
"Promised what?"
"Promised the living! She undertook that I should have Appleslocombe the moment it became vacant."
"I don"t believe a word of it."
"She did. I don"t think that her ladyship will deny it." It might have been so, certainly; and had there been no chance of truth in the statement he would hardly have been so ready to send for Lady Kingsbury. But had she done so the promise would amount to nothing.
Though he was sick and wretched and weak, and in some matters afraid of his wife, there had been no moment of his life in which he would have given way to her on such a subject as this. "She promised it me,--for a purpose."
"A purpose!"
"For a purpose, my lord."
"What purpose?" Mr. Greenwood went on staring and shaking his head and rubbing his hands, till the Marquis, awestruck and almost frightened, put out his hand towards the bell. But he thought of it again. He remembered himself that he had nothing to fear. If the man had anything to say about the Marchioness it might perhaps be better said without the presence of servants. "If you mean to say anything, say it. If not,--go. If you do neither one nor the other very quickly, I shall have you turned out of the house."
"Turned out of the house?"
"Certainly. If you have any threat to make, you had better make it in writing. You can write to my lawyers, or to me, or to Lord Hampstead, or to Mr. Roberts."
"It isn"t a threat. It is only a statement. She promised it me,--for a purpose."
"I don"t know what you mean by a purpose, Mr. Greenwood. I don"t believe Lady Kingsbury made any such promise; but if she did it wasn"t hers to promise. I don"t believe it; but had she promised I should not be bound by it."
"Not if you have not given it away?"
"I have given it away, Mr. Greenwood."
"Then I must suggest--"
"Suggest what!"
"Compensation, my lord. It will only be fair. You ask her ladyship.