"The mine--the Lisconnor scheme--is bankrupt."
"Is that all?"
"All! Why, it is ruin--utter ruin! Every shilling that you had in the world is gone, and I have done it all." And once more his feelings overcame him, and he sobbed convulsively.
"But, my dear, dear brother," said she, fondly, "if it"s lost, it"s lost, and there"s no help for it; and let us never fret over what binds us only the closer together. You can"t get rid of me, now, for I declare, George, no earthly consideration will make me accept Mr.
Cutbill."
"Oh, how can you jest this way, Julia, at such a moment!"
"I a.s.sure you I am most serious. I know that man intends to propose to me, and you are just in the humor to mix up our present misfortunes and his pretensions, and actually espouse his cause; but it"s no use, George, no use whatever. I "ll not consent. Go downstairs, now. Stay, let me wipe those red eyes. Don"t let that man see any trace of this sorrow about you; bear up quietly and well. You shall see that I do not give counsel without being able to show example. Go down now, and I "ll follow you."
As he left the room she sat down, and accidentally so as to see her face in the gla.s.s. The forced smile which she had put on was only slowly vanishing from her features, and she was shocked at the pallor that now succeeded.
"I _am_ looking very ill," muttered she. "There"s no denying it. That man will certainly see how this news has struck me down, and I would not that he should witness my want of courage. I wish I had--no, I don"t.
I "d not put on rouge if I had it; but I wish we were alone to-day, and could talk over our fortune together. Perhaps it "s as well as it is."
And now she arose and descended the stairs hastily, as though not to give herself time for further thought.
Cutbill was in the act of cautioning L"Estrange against speaking of the Lisconnor misfortune to his sister when she entered the room. "Do you forget me, Miss L"Estrange," said he, coming forward, "or am I to remind you that we met in Ireland?"
"Forget you, Mr. Cutbill," replied she, laughingly; "how can I forget the charming tenor who sang second to me, or the gallant cavalier who rode out with me?"
"Ay, but I got a roll in a duck-pond that day," said he, grimly. "You persuaded me to let the beast drink, and he lay down in the water and nearly squashed me."
"Oh, you almost killed me with laughter. I had to hold on by the crutch of my saddle to save myself from falling into the pond."
"And I hear you made a sketch of me."
"Have you not seen it? I declare I thought I had shown it to you; but I will after dinner if I can find it."
The dinner was announced at this moment, and they proceeded to the dining-room.
"Taste is everything," said Cutbill, as he unfolded his napkin, and surveyed the table, decked out with fruit and flowers with a degree of artistic elegance that appealed even to _him_. "Taste is everything. I declare to you that Howell and James would pay fifty pounds down just for that urn as it stands there. How you twined those lilies around it in that way is quite beyond me."
As the dinner went on, he was in ecstasy with everything.
"Don"t part with your cook, even after they make a bishop of you," said he. "I don"t know the French name of that dish, but I believe it"s a stewed hare. Might I send my plate twice?"
"Mr. Cutbill saw the Bramleighs at Como, Julia," said L"Estrange, to take him, if possible, off the subject of the entertainment.
"I did, indeed. I met them at that very hotel that was once Queen Caroline"s house. There they were diverting themselves,--boating and going about just as if the world had gone all right with them; and Bramleigh told me one morning that he had cashed the last check for fifty pounds."
"And is he really determined to touch nothing of his property till the law a.s.sures him that his right is undeniable?"
"Worse than that, far worse; he has quarrelled with old Sedley, his father"s law-agent for forty years, and threatened him with an action for having entered into a compromise without instructions or permission; and he is wrong, clearly wrong, for I saw the correspondence, and if it goes before a jury, they "ll say at once that there was consent."
"Had he then forgotten it?" asked Julia.
"No, he neither forgets nor remembers; but he has a sort of flighty way of getting himself into a white heat of enthusiasm; and though he cools down occasionally into a little common sense, it does n"t last; he rushes back into his heroics, and raves about saving him from himself, rescuing him from the ign.o.ble temptation of self-interest, and such like balderdash."
"There must be a great deal of true n.o.bility in such a nature," said Julia.
"I"ll tell you what, there is; and it runs through them all except the eldest daughter, and that puppy the diplomatist--there"s madness!"
"Madness?"
"Well, I call it madness. Suppose now I was to decline taking another gla.s.s of that wine--Steinheimer, I think it"s called--till I saw your brother"s receipt for the payment of it, would n"t you say I was either mad or something very near it?"
"I don"t see the parity between the two cases," said Julia.
"Ah, you "re too sharp for me, Miss Julia, too sharp; but I "m right all the same. Is n"t Jack Bramleigh mad? Is it anything but madness for a man to throw up his commission and go and serve as a sailor--before the mast or behind it, I don"t care which; but isn"t that madness?"
Julia felt a sense of sickness almost to fainting, but she never spoke nor stirred, while George, quickly noticing her state, turned towards Cutbill and said,--
"What news have you of him? he was a great favorite of mine."
"Of yours and of everybody"s," said Cutbill. And now the color rushed back to Julia"s cheek, and had Cutbill but looked towards her, it is very probable he would greatly have misconstrued the smile she gave him.
"I wish I had news of him: but for these last few months I have none.
When he got out to China he found that great house, Alc.o.c.k and Baines, smashed--all the tea-merchants were smashed--and they tell me that he shipped with a Yankee for Constantinople."
"You heard from him, then?"
"No; he never writes to any one. He may send you a newspaper, or a piece of one, to show where he is; but he says he never was able to say what was in his head, and he always found he was writing things out of the "Complete Correspondent.""
"Poor Jack!"
"Shall I go and look after your coffee, George? You say you like me to make it myself," said Julia; and she arose and left the room almost before he could reply.
"You "ll never marry while she"s your housekeeper, I see that," said Cutbill, as the door closed after her.
"She is my greatest comfort in life," said the other, warmly.
"I see it all; and the whole time of dinner I was thinking what a pity it was--No matter, I "ll not say what I was going to say. I "m glad you have n"t told her of the smash till I see what I can do with the old Viscount."
"But I have told her; she knows it all."
"And do you tell me she had that heavy load on her heart all the time she was talking and laughing there?"
L"Estrange nodded.
"It"s only women bear up that way. Take my word for it, if it had been one of us he "d not have come down to dinner, he "d not have had pluck to show himself. There"s where they beat us, sir,--that"s real courage."
"You are not taking your wine," said L"Estrange, seeing him pa.s.s the bottle.
"No; I want my head clear this evening, I want to be cool and collected. I"ll not drink any more. Tell me about yourself a little; how do you get on here? do you like the place? do you like the people?"
"The place is charming; we like it better every day we live in it."
"And the people--the English, I mean; what of them?"