Jack made a gesture of impatience, and, as if desirous to change the subject, said, "What "s the matter with our distinguished guest? Is he ill, that he won"t dine below-stairs to-day?"
"He calls it a slight return of his Greek fever, and begs to be excused from presenting himself at dinner."
"He and Temple have been writing little three-cornered notes to each other all the morning. I suppose it is diplomatic usage."
The tone of irritation he spoke in seemed to show that he was actually seeking for something to vent his anger upon, and trying to provoke some word of contradiction or dissent; but she was silent, and for some seconds they walked on without speaking.
"Look!" cried he, suddenly; "there goes Julia. Do you see her yonder on the path up the cliff; and who is that clambering after her? I"ll be shot if it"s not Lord Culduff."
"Julia has got her drawing-book, I see. They"re on some sketching excursion."
"He was n"t long in throwing off his Greek fever, eh?" cried Jack, indignantly. "It"s cool, isn"t it, to tell the people in whose house he is stopping that he is too ill to dine with them, and then set out gallivanting in this fashion?"
"Poor old man!" said she, in a tone of half-scornful pity.
"Was I right about Julia now?" cried he, angrily. "I told you for whose captivation all her little gracefulnesses were intended. I saw it the first night he stood beside her at the piano. As Marion said, she is determined to bring him down. She saw it as well as I did."
"What nonsense you are talking, Jack; as if Julia would condescend--"
"There "s no condescension, Nelly," he broke in. "The man is a Lord, and the woman he marries will be a peeress; and there "s not another country in Europe in which that word means as much. I take it, we need n"t go on to the cottage now?"
"I suppose we could scarcely overtake them?"
"Overtake them! Why should we try? Even _my_ tact, Nelly, that you sneered at so contemptuously a while ago, would save me from such a blunder. Come, let"s go home and forget, if we can, all that we came about. _I_ at least will try and do so."
"My dear, dear Jack, this is very foolish jealousy."
"I am not jealous, Nelly. I"m angry; but it is with myself. I ought to have known what humble pretensions mine were, and I ought to have known how certainly a young lady, bred as young ladies are now-a-days, would regard them as less than humble; but it all comes of this idle sh.o.r.e-going, good-for-nothing life. They "ll not catch me at it again, that"s all."
"Just listen to me patiently, Jack. Listen to me for one moment."
"Not for half a moment. I can guess everything you want to say to me, and I tell you frankly, I don"t care to hear it. Tell me whatever you like to-morrow--"
He tried to finish his speech, but his voice grew thick and faltering, and he turned away and was silent.
They spoke little to each other as they walked homewards. A chance remark on the weather, or the scenery, was all that pa.s.sed till they reached the little lawn before the door.
"You"ll not forget your pledge, Jack, for to-morrow?" said Ellen, as he turned towards her before ascending the steps.
"I "ll not forget it," said he, coldly, and he moved off as he spoke, and entered an alley of the shrubbery.
CHAPTER XVIII. A DULL DINNER.
The family dinner on that day at Castello was somewhat dull. The various attempts to secure a party for the ensuing Sat.u.r.day, which had been fixed on to celebrate Jack"s promotion, had proved failures. When Temple arrived at Longworth"s he learned that the host and "his guest were from home and not to return for some days--we have seen how it fared as to the L"Estranges--so that the solitary success was Captain Craufurd, a gentleman who certainly had not won the suffrages of the great house.
There were two vacant places besides at the table; for butlers are fond of recording, by napkins and covers, how certain of our friends a.s.sume to treat us, and thus, as it were, contrast their own formal observances of duty with the laxer notions of their betters.
"Lord Culduff is not able to dine with us," said Colonel Bramleigh, making the apology as well to himself as to the company.
"No, papa," said Marion; "he hopes to appear in the drawing-room in the evening."
"If not too much tired by his long walk," broke in Jack.
"What walk are you dreaming of?" asked Marion.
"An excursion he made this morning down the coast, sketching or pretending to sketch. Nelly and I saw him clambering up the side of a cliff--"
"Oh, quite impossible; you must be mistaken."
"No," said Nelly, "there was no mistake. I saw him as plainly as I see you now; besides, it is not in these wild regions so distinguished a figure is like to find its counterpart."
"But why should he not take his walk? why not sketch, or amuse himself in any way he pleased?" asked Temple.
"Of course it was open to him to do so," said the Colonel; "only that to excuse his absence he ought not to have made a pretext of being ill."
"I think men are "ill" just as they are "out,"" said Temple. "I am ill if I am asked to do what is disagreeable to me, as I am out to the visit of a bore."
"So that to dine with us was disagreeable to Lord Culduff?" asked Jack.
"It was evidently either an effort to task his strength, or an occasion which called for more exertion than he felt equal to," said Temple, pompously.
"By Jove!" cried Jack, "I hope I "ll never be a great man! I trust sincerely _I_ may never arrive at that eminence in which it will task my energies to eat my dinner and chat with the people on either side of me."
"Lord Culduff converses: he does not chat; please to note the distinction, Jack."
"That "s like telling me he does n"t walk, but he swaggers."
It was fortunate at this moment, critical enough as regarded the temper of all parties, that Mr. Cutbill entered, full of apologies for being late, and bursting to recount the accidents that befell him, and all the incidents of his day. A quick glance around the table a.s.sured him of Lord Culduff"s absence, and it was evident from the sparkle of his eye that the event was not disagreeable to him.
"Is our n.o.ble friend on the sick list?" asked he, with a smile.
"Indisposed," said Temple, with the air of one who knew the value of a word that was double-shotted.
"I "ve got news that will soon rally him," continued Cut-bill. "They"ve struck a magnificent vein this morning, and within eighty yards of the surface. Plmmys, the Welsh inspector, p.r.o.nounced it good Cardiff, and says, from the depth of "the lode," that it must go a long way."
"Harding did not give me as encouraging news yesterday," said Colonel Bramleigh, with a dubious smile.
"My tidings date from this morning--yesterday was the day before the battle; besides, what does Harding know about coal?"
"He knows a little about everything," said Augustus.
"That makes all the difference. What people want is not the men who know things currently, but know them well and thoroughly. Eh, Captain," said he to Jack, "what would you say to popular notions about the navy?"
"Cutty"s right," said Jack. "Amateurship is all humbug."