Mary, Countess of ---, was, thirty years ago, Mary Sewell, daughter of a Taunton linen-draper. The business, profitable enough as country businesses go, was inadequate for the needs of the Sewell family, consisting, as I believe it did, of seven boys and eight girls. Mary, the youngest, as soon as her brief schooling was over, had to shift for herself. She seems to have tried her hand at one or two things, finally taking service with a cousin, a baker and confectioner, who was doing well in Oxford Street. She must have been a remarkably attractive girl; she"s a handsome woman now. I can picture that soft creamy skin when it was fresh and smooth, and the West of England girls run naturally to dimples and eyes that glisten as though they had been just washed in morning dew. The shop did a good trade in ladies" lunches--it was the gla.s.s of sherry and sweet biscuit period. I expect they dressed her in some neat-fitting grey or black dress, with short sleeves, showing her plump arms, and that she flitted around the marble-topped tables, smiling, and looking cool and sweet. There the present Earl of ---, then young Lord C---, fresh from Oxford, and new to the dangers of London bachelordom, first saw her. He had accompanied some female relatives to the photographer"s, and, hotels and restaurants being deemed impossible in those days for ladies, had taken them to Sewell"s to lunch. Mary Sewell waited upon the party; and now as many of that party as are above ground wait upon Mary Sewell."
"He showed good sense in marrying her," I said, "I admire him for it."
The doctor"s sixty-four Lafitte was excellent. I felt charitably inclined towards all men and women, even towards earls and countesses.
"I don"t think he had much to do with it," laughed the doctor, "beyond being, like Barkis, "willing." It"s a queer story; some people profess not to believe it, but those who know her ladyship best think it is just the story that must be true, because it is so characteristic of her. And besides, I happen to know that it is true."
"I should like to hear it," I said.
"I am going to tell it you," said the doctor, lighting a fresh cigar, and pushing the box towards me.
I will leave you to imagine the lad"s suddenly developed appet.i.te for decantered sherry at sixpence a gla.s.s, and the familiar currant bun of our youth. He lunched at Sewell"s shop, he tea"d at Sewell"s, occasionally he dined at Sewell"s, off cutlets, followed by a.s.sorted pastry. Possibly, merely from fear lest the affair should reach his mother"s ears, for he was neither worldly-wise nor vicious, he made love to Mary under an a.s.sumed name; and to do the girl justice, it must be remembered that she fell in love with and agreed to marry plain Mr. John Robinson, son of a colonial merchant, a gentleman, as she must have seen, and a young man of easy means, but of a position not so very much superior to her own. The first intimation she received that her lover was none other than Lord C---, the future Earl of ---, was vouchsafed her during a painful interview with his lordship"s mother.
"I never knew it, madam," a.s.serted Mary, standing by the window of the drawing-room above the shop, "upon my word of honour, I never knew it."
"Perhaps not," answered her ladyship coldly. "Would you have refused him if you had?"
"I cannot tell," was the girl"s answer; "it would have been different from the beginning. He courted me and asked me to be his wife."
"We won"t go into all that," interrupted the other; "I am not here to defend him. I do not say he acted well. The question is, how much will compensate you for your natural disappointment?"
Her ladyship prided herself upon her bluntness and practicability. As she spoke she took her cheque-book out of her reticule, and, opening it, dipped her pen into the ink. I am inclined to think that the flutter of that cheque-book was her ladyship"s mistake. The girl had common sense, and must have seen the difficulties in the way of a marriage between the heir to an earldom and a linen-draper"s daughter; and had the old lady been a person of discernment, the interview might have ended more to her satisfaction. She made the error of judging the world by one standard, forgetting there are individualities. Mary Sewell came from a West of England stock that, in the days of Drake and Frobisher, had given more than one able-bodied pirate to the service of the country, and that insult of the cheque-book put the fight into her. Her lips closed with a little snap, and the fear fell from her.
"I am sorry I don"t see my way to obliging your ladyship," she said.
"What do you mean, girl?" asked the elder woman.
"I don"t mean to be disappointed," answered the girl, but she spoke quietly and respectfully. "We have pledged our word to one another. If he is a gentleman, as I know he is, he will keep his, and I shall keep mine."
Then her ladyship began to talk reason, as people do when it is too late.
She pointed out to the girl the difference of social position, and explained to her the miseries that come from marrying out of one"s station. But the girl by this time had got over her surprise, and perhaps had begun to reflect that, in any case, a countess-ship was worth fighting for. The best of women are influenced by such considerations.
"I am not a lady, I know," she replied quietly, "but my people have always been honest folk, well known, and I shall try to learn. I am not wishing to speak disrespectfully of my betters, but I was in service before I came here, ma"am, as lady"s maid, in a place where I saw much of what is called Society. I think I can be as good a lady as some I know, if not better."
The countess began to grow angry again. "And who do you think will receive you?" she cried, "a girl who has served in a pastry-cook"s shop!"
"Lady L--- came from behind the bar," Mary answered, "and that"s not much better. And the d.u.c.h.ess of C---, I have heard, was a ballet girl, but n.o.body seems to remember it. I don"t think the people whose opinion is worth having will object to me for very long." The girl was beginning rather to enjoy the contest.
"You profess to love my son," cried the countess fiercely, "and you are going to ruin his life. You will drag him down to your own level."
The girl must have looked rather fine at that moment, I should dearly love to have been present.
"There will be no dragging down, my lady," she replied, "on either side.
I do love your son very dearly. He is one of the kindest and best of gentlemen. But I am not blind, and whatever amount of cleverness there may be between us belongs chiefly to me. I shall make it my duty to fit myself for the position of his wife, and to help him in his work. You need not fear, my lady, I shall be a good wife to him, and he shall never regret it. You might find him a richer wife, a better educated wife, but you will never find him a wife who will be more devoted to him and to his interests."
That practically brought the scene to a close. The countess had sense enough to see that she was only losing ground by argument. She rose and replaced her cheque-book in her bag.
"I think, my good girl, you must be mad," she said; "if you will not allow me to do anything for you, there"s an end to the matter. I did not come here to quarrel with you. My son knows his duty to me and to his family. You must take your own course, and I must take mine."
"Very well, my lady," said Mary Sewell, holding the door open for her ladyship to pa.s.s out, "we shall see who wins."
But however brave a front Mary Sewell may have maintained before the enemy, I expect she felt pretty limp when thinking matters calmly over after her ladyship"s departure. She knew her lover well enough to guess that he would be as wax in the firm hands of his mother, while she herself would not have a chance of opposing her influence against those seeking to draw him away from her. Once again she read through the few schoolboy letters he had written her, and then looked up at the framed photograph that hung above the mantelpiece of her little bedroom. The face was that of a frank, pleasant-looking young fellow, lightened by eyes somewhat large for a man, but spoiled by a painfully weak mouth. The more Mary Sewell thought, the more sure she felt in her own mind that he loved her, and had meant honestly by her. Did the matter rest with him, she might reckon on being the future Countess of ---, but, unfortunately for her, the person to be considered was not Lord C---, but the present Countess of ---. From childhood, through boyhood, into manhood it had never once occurred to Lord C--- to dispute a single command of his mother"s, and his was not the type of brain to readily receive new ideas.
If she was to win in the unequal contest it would have to be by art, not by strength. She sat down and wrote a letter which under all the circ.u.mstances was a model of diplomacy. She knew that it would be read by the countess, and, writing it, she kept both mother and son in mind.
She made no reproaches, and indulged in but little sentiment. It was the letter of a woman who could claim rights, but who asked only for courtesy. It stated her wish to see him alone and obtain from his own lips the a.s.surance that he wished their engagement to cease. "Do not fear," Mary Sewell wrote, "that I shall be any annoyance to you. My own pride would not let me urge you to marry me against your desire, and I care for you too much to cause you any pain. a.s.sure me with your own lips that you wish our engagement to be at an end, and I shall release you without another word."
The family were in town, and Mary sent her letter by a trusty hand. The countess read it with huge satisfaction, and, re-sealing it, gave it herself into her son"s hands. It promised a happy solution of the problem. In imagination, she had all the night been listening to a vulgar breach of promise case. She herself had been submitted to a most annoying cross-examination by a pert barrister. Her son"s a.s.sumption of the name of Robinson had been misunderstood and severely commented upon by the judge. A sympathetic jury had awarded thumping damages, and for the next six months the family t.i.tle would be a peg on which music-hall singers and comic journalists would hang their ribald jokes. Lord C--- read the letter, flushed, and dutifully handed it back to his mother. She made pretence to read it as for the first time, and counselled him to accord the interview.
"I am so glad," she said, "that the girl is taking the matter sensibly.
We must really do something for her in the future, when everything is settled. Let her ask for me, and then the servants will fancy she"s a lady"s maid or something of that sort, come after a place, and won"t talk."
So that evening Mary Sewell, addressed by the butler as "young woman,"
was ushered into the small drawing-room that connects the library of No.
--- Grosvenor Square with the other reception rooms. The countess, now all amiability, rose to meet her.
"My son will be here in a moment," she explained, "he has informed me of the purport of your letter. Believe me, my dear Miss Sewell, no one can regret his thoughtless conduct more than I do. But young men will be young men, and they do not stop to reflect that what may be a joke to them may be taken quite seriously by others."
"I don"t regard the matter as a joke, my lady," replied Mary somewhat curtly.
"Of course not, my dear," added the countess, "that"s what I"m saying. It was very wrong of him altogether. But with your pretty face, you will not, I am sure, have long to wait for a husband; we must see what we can do for you."
The countess certainly lacked tact; it must have handicapped her exceedingly.
"Thank you," answered the girl, "but I prefer to choose my own."
Fortunately--or the interview might have ended in another quarrel--the cause of all the trouble at this moment entered the room, and the countess, whispering a few final words of instruction to him as she pa.s.sed out, left them together.
Mary took a chair in the centre of the room, at equal distance from both doors. Lord C---, finding any sort of a seat uncomfortable under the circ.u.mstances, preferred to stand with his back to the mantelpiece. Dead silence was maintained for a few seconds, and then Mary, drawing the daintiest of handkerchiefs from her pocket, began to cry. The countess must have been a poor diplomatist, or she might have thought of this; or she may have remembered her own appearance on the rare occasions when she herself, a big, raw-boned girl, had attempted the softening influence of tears, and have attached little importance to the possibility. But when these soft, dimpled women cry, and cry quietly, it is another matter.
Their eyes grow brighter, and the tears, few and far between, lie like dewdrops on a rose leaf.
Lord C--- was as tender-hearted a lout as ever lived. In a moment he was on his knees with his arm round the girl"s waist, pouring out such halting words of love and devotion as came to his unready brain, cursing his fate, his earldom, and his mother, and a.s.suring Mary that his only chance of happiness lay in his making her his countess. Had Mary liked to say the word at that moment, he would have caught her to his arms, and defied the whole world--for the time being. But Mary was a very practical young woman, and there are difficulties in the way of handling a lover, who, however ready he may be to do your bidding so long as your eyes are upon him, is liable to be turned from his purpose so soon as another influence is subst.i.tuted for your own. His lordship suggested an immediate secret marriage. But you cannot run out into the street, knock up a clergyman, and get married on the spot, and Mary knew that the moment she was gone his lordship"s will would revert to his mother"s keeping. Then his lordship suggested flight, but flight requires money, and the countess knew enough to keep his lordship"s purse in her own hands. Despair seized upon his lordship.
"It"s no use," he cried, "it will end in my marrying her."
"Who"s she?" exclaimed Mary somewhat quickly.
His lordship explained the position. The family estates were heavily enc.u.mbered. It was deemed advisable that his lordship should marry Money, and Money, in the person of the only daughter of rich and ambitious parvenus, had offered itself--or, to speak more correctly, had been offered.
"What"s she like?" asked Mary.
"Oh, she"s nice enough," was the reply, "only I don"t care for her and she doesn"t care for me. It won"t be much fun for either of us," and his lordship laughed dismally.
"How do you know she doesn"t care for you?" asked Mary. A woman may be critical of her lover"s shortcomings, but at the very least he is good enough for every other woman.
"Well, she happens to care for somebody else," answered his lordship, "she told me so herself."
That would account for it.