It is not to be supposed that all the enterprises of the Company of Disentanglers were fortunate. n.o.body can command success, though, on the other hand, a number of persons, civil and military, are able to keep her at a distance with surprising uniformity. There was one cla.s.s of business which Merton soon learned to renounce in despair, just as some sorts of maladies defy our medical science.
"It is curious, and not very creditable to our chemists," Merton said, "that love philtres were once as common as seidlitz powders, while now we have lost that secret. The wrong persons might drink love philtres, as in the case of Tristram and Iseult. Or an unskilled rural pract.i.tioner might send out the wrong drug, as in the instance of Lucretius, who went mad in consequence."
"Perhaps," remarked Logan, "the chemist was voting at the Comitia, and it was his boy who made a mistake about the mixture."
"Very probably, but as a rule, the love philtres _worked_. Now, with all our boasted progress, the secret is totally lost. Nothing but a love philtre would be of any use in some cases. There is Lord Methusalem, eighty if he is a day."
"Methusalem has been unco "wastefu" in wives"!" said Logan.
"His family have been consulting me--the women in tears. He _will_ marry his grandchildren"s German governess, and there is nothing to be done. In such cases nothing is ever to be done. You can easily distract an aged man"s volatile affections, and attach them to a new charmer. But she is just as ineligible as the first; marry he _will_, always a young woman.
Now if a respectable virgin or widow of, say, fifty, could hand him a love philtre, and gain his heart, appearances would, more or less, be saved. But, short of philtres, there is nothing to be done. We turn away a great deal of business of that sort."
The Society of Disentanglers, then, reluctantly abandoned dealings in this cla.s.s of affairs.
In another distressing business, Merton, as a patriot, was obliged to abandon an attractive enterprise. The Marquis of Seakail was serving his country as a volunteer, and had been mentioned in despatches. But, to the misery of his family, he had entangled himself, before his departure, with a young lady who taught in a high school for girls. Her character was unimpeachable, her person graceful; still, as her father was a butcher, the duke and d.u.c.h.ess were reluctant to a.s.sent to the union. They consulted Merton, and a.s.sured him that they would not flinch from expense. A great idea flashed across Merton"s mind. He might send out a stalwart band of Disentanglers, who, disguised as the enemy, might capture Seakail, and carry him off prisoner to some retreat where the fairest of his female staff (of course with a suitable chaperon), would await him in the character of a daughter of the hostile race. The result would probably be to detach Seakail"s heart from his love in England. But on reflection, Merton felt that the scheme was unworthy of a patriot.
Other painful cases occurred. One lady, a mother, of resolute character, consulted Merton on the case of her son. He was betrothed to an excitable girl, a neighbour in the country, who wrote long literary letters about Mr. George Meredith"s novels, and (when abroad) was a perfect Baedeker, or Murray, or Mr. Augustus Hare: instructing through correspondence. So the matron complained, but this was not the worst of it. There was an unhappy family history, of a kind infinitely more common in fiction than in real life. To be explicit, even according to the ideas of the most abject barbarians, the young people, unwittingly, were too near akin for matrimony.
"There is nothing for it but to tell both of them the truth," said Merton. "This is not a case in which we can be concerned."
The resolute matron did not take his counsel. The man was told, not the girl, who died in painful circ.u.mstances, still writing. Her letters were later given to the world, though obviously not intended for publication, and only calculated to waken unavailing grief among the sentimental, and to make the judicious tired. There was, however, a case in which Merton may be said to have succeeded by a happy accident. Two visitors, ladies, were ushered into his consulting room; they were announced as Miss Baddeley and Miss Crofton.
Miss Baddeley was attired in black, wore a thick veil, and trembled a good deal. Miss Crofton, whose dress was a combination of untoward but decisive hues, and whose hat was enormous and flamboyant, appeared to be the other young lady"s _confidante_, and conducted the business of the interview.
"My dear friend, Miss Baddeley," she began, when Miss Baddeley took her hand, and held it, as if for protection and sympathy. "My dear friend,"
repeated Miss Crofton, "has asked me to accompany her, and state her case. She is too highly strung to speak for herself."
Miss Baddeley wrung Miss Crofton"s hand, and visibly quivered.
Merton a.s.sumed an air of sympathy. "The situation is grave?" he asked.
"My friend," said Miss Crofton, thoroughly enjoying herself, "is the victim of pa.s.sionate and unavailing remorse, are you not, Julia?" Julia nodded.
"Deeply as I sympathise," said Merton, "it appears to me that I am scarcely the person to consult. A mother now--"
"Julia has none."
"Or a father or sister?"
"But for me, Julia is alone in the world."
"Then," said Merton, "there are many periodicals especially intended for ladies. There is _The Woman of the World_, _The Girl"s Guardian Angel_, _Fashion and Pa.s.sion_, and so on. The Editors, in their columns, reply to questions in cases of conscience. I have myself read the replies to _Correspondents_, and would especially recommend those published in a serial conducted by Miss Annie Swan."
Miss Crofton shook her head.
"Miss Baddeley"s social position is not that of the people who are answered in periodicals."
"Then why does she not consult some discreet and learned person, her spiritual director? Remorse (entirely due, no doubt, to a conscience too delicately sensitive) is not in our line of affairs. We only advise in cases of undesirable matrimonial engagements."
"So we are aware," said Miss Crofton. "Dear Julia _is_ engaged, or rather entangled, in--how many cases, dear?"
Julia shook her head and sobbed behind her veil.
"Is it one, Julia--nod when I come to the exact number--two? three?
four?"
At the word "four" Julia nodded a.s.sent.
Merton very much wished that Julia would raise her veil. Her figure was excellent, and with so many sins of this kind on her remorseful head, her face, Merton thought, must be worth seeing. The case was new. As a rule, clients wanted to disentangle their friends and relations. _This_ client wanted to disentangle herself.
"This case," said Merton, "will be difficult to conduct, and the expenses would be considerable. I can hardly advise you to incur them. Our ordinary method is to throw in the way of one or other of the engaged, or entangled persons, some one who is likely to distract their affections; of course," he added, "to a more eligible object. How can I hope to find an object more eligible, Miss Crofton, than I must conceive your interesting friend to be?"
Miss Crofton caressingly raised Julia"s veil. Before the victim of remorse could bury her face in her hands, Merton had time to see that it was a very pretty one. Julia was dark, pale, with "eyes like billiard b.a.l.l.s" (as a celebrated amateur once remarked), with a beautiful mouth, but with a somewhat wildly enthusiastic expression.
"How can I hope?" Merton went on, "to find a worthier and more attractive object? Nay, how can I expect to secure the services not of one, but of _four_--"
"Three would do, Mr. Merton," explained Miss Crofton. "Is it not so, Julia dearest?"
Julia again nodded a.s.sent, and a sob came from behind the veil, which she had resumed.
"Even three," said Merton, gallantly struggling with a strong inclination to laugh, "present difficulties. I do not speak the idle language of compliment, Miss Crofton, when I say that our staff would be overtaxed by the exigencies of this case. The expense also, even of three--"
"Expense is no object," said Miss Crofton.
"But would it not, though I seem to speak against my own interests, be the wisest, most honourable, and infinitely the least costly course, for Miss Baddeley openly to inform her suitors, three out of the four at least, of the actual posture of affairs? I have already suggested that, as the lady takes the matter so seriously to heart, she should consult her director, or, if of the Anglican or other Protestant denomination, her clergyman, who I am sure will agree with me."
Miss Crofton shook her head. "Julia is unattached," she said.
"I had gathered that to one of the four Miss Baddeley was--not indifferent," said Merton.
"I meant," said Miss Crofton severely, "that Miss Baddeley is a Christian unattached. My friend is sensitive, pa.s.sionate, and deeply religious, but not a member of any recognised denomination. The clergy--"
"They never leave one alone," said Julia in a musical voice. It was the first time that she had spoken. "Besides--" she added, and paused.
"Besides, dear Julia _is_--entangled with a young clergyman whom, almost in despair, she consulted on her case--at a picnic," said Miss Crofton, adding, "he is prepared to seek a martyr"s fate, but he insists that she must accompany him."
"How unreasonable!" murmured Merton, who felt that this recalcitrant clergyman was probably not the favourite out of the field of four.
"That is what _I_ say," remarked Miss Crofton. "It is unreasonable to expect Julia to accompany him when she has so much work to overtake in the home field. But that is the way with all of them."
"All of them!" exclaimed Merton. "Are all the devoted young men under vows to seek the crown of martyrdom? Does your friend act as recruiting sergeant, if you will pardon the phrase, for the n.o.ble army of martyrs?"
"_Three_ of them have made the most solemn promises."
"And the fourth?"
"_He_ is not in holy orders."