Looking round her with a gla.s.s, which Mrs. Pompley was in the habit of declaring that "Mrs. M"Catchley used like an angel," this lady suddenly perceived Leonard Fairfield; and his quiet, simple, thoughtful air and look so contrasted with the stiff beaux to whom she had been presented, that, experienced in fashion as so fine a personage must be supposed to be, she was nevertheless deceived into whispering to Mrs. Pompley,
"That young man has really an air distingue; who is he?"
"Oh," said Mrs. Pompley, in unaffected surprise, "that is the nephew of the rich Vulgarian I was telling you of this morning."
"Ah! and you say that he is Mr. Arundel"s heir?"
"Avenel--not Arundel--my sweet friend."
"Avenel is not a bad name," said Mrs. M"Catchley. "But is the uncle really so rich?"
"The colonel was trying this very day to guess what he is worth; but he says it is impossible to guess it."
"And the young man is his heir?"
"It is thought so; and reading for College, I hear. They say he is clever."
"Present him, my love; I like clever people," said Mrs. M"Catchley, falling back languidly.
About ten minutes afterwards, Richard Avenel having effected his escape from the colonel, and his gaze being attracted towards the sofa-table by the buzz of the admiring crowd, beheld his nephew in animated conversation with the long cherished idol of his dreams. A fierce pang of jealousy shot through his breast. His nephew had never looked so handsome and so intelligent; in fact, poor Leonard had never before been drawn out by a woman of the world, who had learned how to make the most of what little she knew. And as jealousy operates like a pair of bellows on incipient flames, so, at first sight of the smile which the fair widow bestowed upon Leonard, the heart of Mr. Avenel felt in a blaze.
He approached with a step less a.s.sured than usual, and, overhearing Leonard"s talk, marvelled much at the boy"s audacity. Mrs. M"Catchley had been speaking of Scotland and the Waverley Novels, about which Leonard knew nothing. But he knew Burns, and on Burns he grew artlessly eloquent. Burns the poet and peasant--Leonard might well be eloquent on him. Mrs. M"Catchley was amused and pleased with his freshness and naivete, so unlike anything she had ever heard or seen, and she drew him on and on till Leonard fell to quoting. And Richard heard, with less respect for the sentiment than might be supposed, that
"Rank is but the guinea"s stamp, The man"s the gowd for a" that."
"Well!" exclaimed Mr. Avenel. "Pretty piece of politeness to tell that to a lady like the Honourable Mrs. M"Catch ley! You"ll excuse him, ma"am."
"Sir!" said Mrs. M"Catchley, startled, and lifting her gla.s.s. Leonard, rather confused, rose and offered his chair to Richard, who dropped into it. The lady, without waiting for formal introduction, guessed that she saw the rich uncle. "Such a sweet poet-Burns!" said she, dropping her gla.s.s. "And it is so refreshing to find so much youthful enthusiasm,"
she added, pointing her fan towards Leonard, who was receding fast among the crowd.
"Well, he is youthful, my nephew,--rather green!"
"Don"t say green!" said Mrs. M"Catchley. Richard blushed scarlet. He was afraid he had committed himself to some expression low and shocking. The lady resumed, "Say unsophisticated."
"A tarnation long word," thought Richard; but he prudently bowed and held his tongue.
"Young men nowadays," continued Mrs. M"Catchley, resettling herself on the sofa, "affect to be so old. They don"t dance, and they don"t read, and they don"t talk much! and a great many of them wear toupets before they are two-and-twenty!"
Richard mechanically pa.s.sed his hand through his thick curls. But he was still mute; he was still ruefully chewing the cud of the epithet "green." What occult horrid meaning did the word convey to ears polite?
Why should he not say "green"?
"A very fine young man your nephew, sir," resumed Mrs. M" Catchley.
Richard grunted.
"And seems full of talent. Not yet at the University? Will he go to Oxford or Cambridge?"
"I have not made up my mind yet if I shall send him to the University at all."
"A young man of his expectations!" exclaimed Mrs. M"Catchley, artfully.
"Expectations!" repeated Richard, firing up. "Has he been talking to you of his expectations?"
"No, indeed, sir. But the nephew of the rich Mr. Avenel! Ah, one hears a great deal, you know, of rich people; it is the penalty of wealth, Mr.
Avenel!"
Richard was very much flattered. His crest rose.
"And they say," continued Mrs. M"Catchley, dropping out her words very slowly, as she adjusted her blonde scarf, "that Mr. Avenel has resolved not to marry."
"The devil they do, ma"am!" bolted out Richard, gruffly; and then, ashamed of his lapsus linguae, screwed up his lips firmly, and glared on the company with an eye of indignant fire.
Mrs. M"Catchley observed him over her fan. Richard turned abruptly, and she withdrew her eyes modestly, and raised the fan.
"She"s a real beauty," said Richard, between his teeth. The fan fluttered.
Five minutes afterwards, the widow and the bachelor seemed so much at their ease that Mrs. Pompley, who had been forced to leave her friend, in order to receive the dean"s lady, could scarcely believe her eyes when she returned to the sofa.
Now, it was from that evening that Mr. Richard Avenel exhibited the change of mood which I have described; and from that evening he abstained from taking Leonard with him to any of the parties in the Abbey Gardens.
CHAPTER IX.
Some days after this memorable soiree, Colonel Pompley sat alone in his study (which opened pleasantly on an old-fashioned garden), absorbed in the house bills. For Colonel Pompley did not leave that domestic care to his lady,--perhaps she was too grand for it. Colonel Pompley with his own sonorous voice ordered the joints, and with his own heroic hands dispensed the stores. In justice to the colonel, I must add--at whatever risk of offence to the fair s.e.x--that there was not a house at Screwstown so well managed as the Pompleys"; none which so successfully achieved the difficult art of uniting economy with show. I should despair of conveying to you an idea of the extent to which Colonel Pompley made his income go. It was but seven hundred a year; and many a family contrived to do less upon three thousand. To be sure, the Pompleys had no children to sponge upon them. What they had they spent all on themselves. Neither, if the Pompleys never exceeded their income, did they pretend to live much within it. The two ends of the year met at Christmas,--just met, and no more.
Colonel Pompley sat at his desk. He was in his well-brushed blue coat, b.u.t.toned across his breast, his gray trousers fitted tight to his limbs, and fastened under his boots with a link chain. He saved a great deal of money in straps. No one ever saw Colonel Pompley in dressing-gown and slippers. He and his house were alike in order--always fit to be seen
"From morn to noon, from noon to dewy eve."
The colonel was a short compact man, inclined to be stout,--with a very red face, that seemed not only shaved, but rasped. He wore his hair cropped close, except just in front, where it formed what the hairdresser called a feather, but it seemed a feather of iron, so stiff and so strong was it. Firmness and precision were emphatically marked on the colonel"s countenance. There was a resolute strain on his features, as if he was always employed in making the two ends meet!
So he sat before his house-book, with his steel-pen in his hand, and making crosses here and notes of interrogation there.
"Mrs. M"Catchley"s maid," said the colonel to himself, "must be put upon rations. The tea that she drinks! Good heavens!--tea again!"
There was a modest ring at the outer door. "Too early for a visitor!"
thought the colonel. "Perhaps it is the water-rates."
The neat man-servant--never seen beyond the offices, save in grande tenue, plushed and powdered-entered and bowed. "A gentleman, sir, wishes to see you."
"A gentleman," repeated the colonel, glancing towards the clock. "Are you sure it is a gentleman?"
The man hesitated. "Why, sir, I ben"t exactly sure; but he speaks like a gentleman. He do say he comes from London to see you, sir."
A long and interesting correspondence was then being held between the colonel and one of his wife"s trustees touching the investment of Mrs. Pompley"s fortune. It might be the trustee,--nay, it must be. The trustee had talked of running down to see him.