"You"d sooner write a report,--wouldn"t you,--about the products of the country?"
"A great deal sooner," said the Paragon.
"But you see we haven"t all of us got products to write about. I don"t care very much about it myself;--but if you don"t mind I"ll ask mamma." Of course he was obliged to consent, and merely informed her as she went off with the letter that a servant was waiting for an answer.
"To go to Lord Rufford"s!" said Lady Augustus.
"From Monday till Wednesday, mamma. Of course we must go."
"I promised poor Mrs. Gore."
"Nonsense, mamma! The Gores can do very well without us. That was only to be a week and we can still stay out our time. Of course this has only been sent because we are here."
"I should say so. I don"t suppose Lord Rufford would care to know Mr.
Morton. Lady Penwether goes everywhere; doesn"t she?"
"Everywhere. It would suit me to a "t" to get on to Lady Penwether"s books. But, mamma, of course it"s not that. If Lord Rufford should say a word it is so much easier to manage down in the country than up in London. He has 40,000 a year, if he has a penny."
"How many girls have tried the same thing with him! But I don"t mind.
I"ve always said that John Morton and Bragton would not do."
"No, mamma; you haven"t. You were the first to say they would do."
"I only said that if there were nothing else--"
"Oh, mamma, how can you say such things! Nothing else,--as if he were the last man! You said distinctly that Bragton was 7,000 a year, and that it would do very well. You may change your mind if you like; but it"s no good trying to back out of your own doings."
"Then I have changed my mind."
"Yes,--without thinking what I have to go through. I"m not going to throw myself at Lord Rufford"s head so as to lose my chance here;--but we"ll go and see how the land lies. Of course you"ll go, mamma."
"If you think it is for your advantage, my dear."
"My advantage! It"s part of the work to be done and we may as well do it. At any rate I"ll tell him to accept. We shall have this odious American with us, but that can"t be helped."
"And the old woman?"
"Lord Rufford doesn"t say anything about her. I don"t suppose he"s such a m.u.f.f but what he can leave his grandmother behind for a couple of days." Then she went back to Morton and told him that her mother was particularly anxious to make the acquaintance of Lady Penwether and that she had decided upon going to Rufford Hall. "It will be a very nice opportunity," said she, "for you to become acquainted with Lord Rufford."
Then he was almost angry. "I can make plenty of such opportunities for myself, when I want them," he said. "Of course if you and Lady Augustus like it, we will go. But let it stand on its right bottom."
"It may stand on any bottom you please."
"Do you mean to ride the man"s horse?"
"Certainly I do. I never refuse a good offer. Why shouldn"t I ride the man"s horse? Did you never hear before of a young lady borrowing a gentleman"s horse?"
"No lady belonging to me will ever do so,--unless the gentleman be a very close friend indeed."
"The lady in this case does not belong to you, Mr. Morton, and therefore, if you have no other objection, she will ride Lord Rufford"s horse. Perhaps you will not think it too much trouble to signify the lady"s acceptance of the mount in your letter." Then she swam out of the room knowing that she left him in anger. After that he had to find Mr. Gotobed. The going was now decided on as far as he was concerned, and it would make very little difference whether the American went or not,--except that his letter would have been easier to him in accepting the invitation for three persons than for four.
But the Senator was of course willing. It was the Senator"s object to see England, and Lord Rufford"s house would be an additional bit of England. The Senator would be delighted to have an opportunity of saying what he thought about Goarly at Lord Rufford"s table. After that, before this weary letter could be written, he was compelled to see his grandmother and explain to her that she had been omitted.
"Of course, ma"am, they did not know that you were at Bragton, as you were not in the carriage at the "meet.""
"That"s nonsense, John. Did Lord Rufford suppose that you were entertaining ladies here without some one to be mistress of the house? Of course he knew that I was here. I shouldn"t have gone;--you may be sure of that. I"m not in the habit of going to the houses of people I don"t know. Indeed I think it"s an impertinence in them to ask in that way. I"m surprised that you would go on such an invitation."
"The Trefoils knew them."
"If Lady Penwether knew them why could not Lady Penwether ask them independently of us? I don"t believe they ever spoke to Lady Penwether in their lives. Lord Rufford and Miss Trefoil may very likely be London acquaintances. He may admire her and therefore choose to have her at his ball. I know nothing about that. As far as I am concerned he"s quite welcome to keep her."
All this was not very pleasant to John Morton. He knew already that his grandmother and Lady Augustus hated each other, and said spiteful things not only behind each other"s backs, but openly to each other"s faces. But now he had been told by the girl who was engaged to be his wife that she did not belong to him; and by his grandmother,--who stood to him in the place of his mother,--that she wished that this girl belonged to some one else! He was not quite sure that he did not wish it himself. But, even were it to be so, and should there be reason for him to be gratified at the escape, still he did not relish the idea of taking the girl himself to the other man"s house. He wrote the letter, however, and dispatched it. But even the writing of it was difficult and disagreeable. When various details of hospitality have been offered by a comparative stranger a man hardly likes to accept them all. But in this case he had to do it. He would be delighted, he said, to stay at Rufford Hall from the Monday to the Wednesday;--Lady Augustus and Miss Trefoil would also be delighted;--and so also would Mr. Gotobed be delighted. And Miss Trefoil would be further delighted to accept Lord Rufford"s offer of a horse for the Tuesday. As for himself, if he rode at all, a horse would come for him to the meet. Then he wrote another note to Mr.
Harry Stubbings, bespeaking a mount for the occasion.
On that evening the party at Bragton was not a very pleasant one. "No doubt you are intimate with Lady Penwether, Lady Augustus," said Mrs.
Morton. Now Lady Penwether was a very fashionable woman whom to know was considered an honour.
"What makes you ask, ma"am?" said Lady Augustus.
"Only as you were taking your daughter to her brother"s house, and as he is a bachelor."
"My dear Mrs. Morton, really you may leave me to take care of myself and of my daughter too. You have lived so much out of the world for the last thirty years that it is quite amusing."
"There are some persons" worlds that it is a great deal better for a lady to be out of," said Mrs. Morton. Then Lady Augustus put up her hands, and turned round, and affected to laugh, of all which things Mr. Gotobed, who was studying English society, made notes in his own mind.
"What sort of position does that man Goarly occupy here?" the Senator asked immediately after dinner.
"No position at all," said Morton.
"Every man created holds some position as I take it. The land is his own."
"He has I believe about fifty acres."
"And yet he seems to be in the lowest depth of poverty and ignorance."
"Of course he mismanages his property and probably drinks."
"I dare say, Mr. Morton. He is proud of his rights, and talked of his father and his grandfather, and yet I doubt whether you would find a man so squalid and so ignorant in all the States. I suppose he is injured by having a lord so near him."
"Quite the contrary if he would be amenable."
"You mean if he would be a creature of the lord"s. And why was that other man so uncivil to me;--the man who was the lord"s gamekeeper?"
"Because you went there as a friend of Goarly."
"And that"s his idea of English fair play?" asked the Senator with a jeer.
"The truth is, Mr. Gotobed," said Morton endeavouring to explain it all, "you see a part only and not the whole. That man Goarly is a rascal."
"So everybody says."