"Are you serious?"
"Yes."
"Well, then, she receives this evening. I did not mean to go; but when my party breaks up"--
"You can call for me at "The Travellers." Do!
"Next--you knew Lady Jane Horton better even than I did, at least in the last year of her life." Harley sighed, and Egerton turned and stirred the fire.
"Pray, did you ever see at her house, or hear her speak of, a Mrs.
Bertram?"
"Of whom?" said Egerton, in a hollow voice, his face still turned towards the fire.
"A Mrs. Bertram; but heavens! my dear fellow, what is the matter? Are you ill?"
"A spasm at the heart--that is all--don"t ring--I shall be better presently--go on talking. Mrs.---- why do you ask?"
"Why! I have hardly time to explain; but I am, as I told you, resolved on righting my old Italian friend, if Heaven will help me, as it ever does help the just when they bestir themselves; and this Mrs. Bertram is mixed up in my friend"s affairs."
"His! How is that possible?"
Harley rapidly and succinctly explained. Audley listened attentively, with his eyes fixed on the floor, and still seeming to labor under great difficulty of breathing.
At last he answered, "I remember something of this Mrs.--Mrs.--Bertram.
But your inquiries after her would be useless. I think I have heard that she is long since dead; nay, I am sure of it."
"Dead!--that is most unfortunate. But do you know any of her relations or friends? Can you suggest any mode of tracing this packet if it came to her hands?"
"No."
"And Lady Jane had scarcely any friend that I remember, except my mother, and she knows nothing of this Mrs. Bertram. How unlucky! I think I shall advertise. Yet, no. I could only distinguish this Mrs. Bertram from any other of the same name, by stating with whom she had gone abroad, and that would catch the attention of Peschiera, and set him to counterwork us."
"And what avails it?" said Egerton. "She whom you seek is no more--no more!" He paused, and went on rapidly--"The packet did not arrive in England till years after her death--was no doubt returned to the post-office--is destroyed long ago."
Harley looked very much disappointed. Egerton went on in a sort of set mechanical voice, as if not thinking of what he said, but speaking from the dry practical mode of reasoning which was habitual to him, and by which the man of the world destroys the hopes of an enthusiast. Then starting up at the sound of the first thundering knock at the street door, he said, "Hark! you must excuse me."
"I leave you, my dear Audley. Are you better now?"
"Much, much--quite well. I will call for you, probably between eleven and twelve."
CHAPTER VIII.
If any one could be more surprised at seeing Lord L"Estrange at the house of Madame di Negra that evening than the fair hostess herself, it was Randal Leslie. Something instinctively told him that this visit threatened interference with whatever might be his ultimate projects in regard to Riccabocca and Violante. But Randal Leslie was not one of those who shrink from an intellectual combat. On the contrary, he was too confident of his powers of intrigue, not to take a delight in their exercise. He could not conceive that the indolent Harley could be a match for his own restless activity and dogged perseverance. But in a very few moments fear crept on him. No man of his day could produce a more brilliant effect than Lord L"Estrange, when he deigned to desire it. Without much pretence to that personal beauty which strikes at first sight, he still retained all the charm of countenance, and all the grace of manner which had made him in boyhood the spoiled darling of society.
Madame di Negra had collected but a small circle round her, still it was of the _elite_ of the great world; not, indeed, those more precise and reserved _dames du chateau_, whom the lighter and easier of the fair dispensers of fashion ridicule as prudes; but, nevertheless, ladies were there, as unblemished in reputation as high in rank; flirts and coquettes, perhaps--nothing more; in short, "charming women"--the gay b.u.t.terflies that hover over the stiff parterre. And there were amba.s.sadors and ministers, and wits and brilliant debaters, and first-rate dandies (dandies, when first-rate, are generally very agreeable men). Amongst all these various persons, Harley, so long a stranger to the London world, seemed to make himself at home with the ease of an Alcibiades. Many of the less juvenile ladies remembered him, and rushed to claim his acquaintance, with nods, and becks, and wreathed smiles. He had ready compliments for each. And few indeed were there, men or women, for whom Harley L"Estrange had not appropriate attraction.
Distinguished reputation as a soldier and scholar, for the grave; whim and pleasantry for the gay; novelty for the sated; and for the more vulgar natures, was he not Lord L"Estrange, unmarried, heir to an ancient earldom, and some fifty thousand a-year?
Not till he had succeeded in the general effect--which, it must be owned, he did his best to create--did Harley seriously and especially devote himself to his hostess. And then he seated himself by her side; and as if in compliment to both, less pressing admirers insensibly slipped away and edged off.
Frank Hazeldean was the last to quit his ground behind Madame di Negra"s chair; but when he found that the two began to talk in Italian, and he could not understand a word they said, he too--fancying, poor fellow, that he looked foolish, and cursing his Eaton education that had neglected, for languages spoken by the dead, of which he had learned little, those still in use among the living, of which he had learned naught--retreated towards Randal, and asked wistfully, "Pray, what age should you say L"Estrange was? He must be devilish old, in spite of his looks. Why, he was at Waterloo!"
"He is young enough to be a terrible rival," answered Randal, with artful truth.
Frank turned pale, and began to meditate dreadful bloodthirsty thoughts, of which hair-triggers and Lord"s Cricket-ground formed the staple.
Certainly there was apparent ground for a lover"s jealousy. For Harley and Beatrice now conversed in a low tone, and Beatrice seemed agitated, and Harley earnest. Randal himself grew more and more perplexed. Was Lord L"Estrange really enamored of the Marchesa? If so, farewell to all hopes of Frank"s marriage with her! Or was he merely playing a part in Riccabocca"s interest; pretending to be the lover, in order to obtain an influence over her mind, rule her through her ambition, and secure an ally against her brother? Was this _finesse_ compatible with Randal"s notions of Harley"s character? Was it consistent with that chivalric and soldierly spirit of honor which the frank n.o.bleman affected, to make love to a woman in a mere _ruse de guerre_? Could mere friendship for Riccabocca be a sufficient inducement to a man, who, whatever his weaknesses or his errors, seemed to wear on his very forehead a soul above deceit, to stoop to paltry means, even for a worthy end? At this question, a new thought flashed upon Randal--might not Lord L"Estrange have speculated himself upon winning Violante?--would not that account for all the exertions he had made on behalf of her inheritance at the court of Vienna--exertions of which Peschiera and Beatrice had both complained? Those objections which the Austrian government might take to Violante"s marriage with some obscure Englishman would probably not exist against a man like Harley L"Estrange, whose family not only belonged to the highest aristocracy of England, but had always supported opinions in vogue amongst the leading governments of Europe. Harley himself, it is true, had never taken part in politics, but his notions were, no doubt, those of a high-born soldier, who had fought, in alliance with Austria, for the restoration of the Bourbons. And this immense wealth--which Violante might lose if she married one like Randal himself--her marriage with the heir of the Lansmeres might actually tend only to secure. Could Harley, with all his own expectations, be indifferent to such a prize?--and no doubt he had learned Violante"s rare beauty in his correspondence with Riccabocca.
Thus considered, it seemed natural to Randal"s estimate of human nature, that Harley"s more prudish scruples of honor, as regards what is due to women, could not resist a temptation so strong. Mere friendship was not a motive powerful enough to shake them, but ambition was.
While Randal was thus cogitating, Frank thus suffering, and many a whisper, in comment on the evident flirtation between the beautiful hostess and the accomplished guest, reached the ears both of the brooding schemer and the jealous lover, the conversation between the two objects of remark and gossip had taken a new turn. Indeed, Beatrice had made an effort to change it.
"It is long, my lord," said she, still speaking Italian, "since I have heard sentiments like those you address to me; and if I do not feel myself wholly unworthy of them, it is from the pleasure I have felt in reading sentiments equally foreign to the language of the world in which I live." She took a book from the table as she spoke: "Have you seen this work?"
Harley glanced at the t.i.tle-page. "To be sure I have, and I know the author."
"I envy you that honor. I should so like also to know one who has discovered to me deeps in my own heart which I had never explored."
"Charming Marchesa, if the book has done this, believe me that I have paid you no false compliment--formed no overflattering estimate of your nature; for the charm of the work is but in its simple appeal to good and generous emotions, and it can charm none in whom those emotions exist not!"
"Nay, that cannot be true, or why is it so popular?"
"Because good and generous emotions are more common to the human heart than we are aware of till the appeal comes."
"Don"t ask me to think that! I have found the world so base."
"Pardon me a rude question; but what do you know of the world?"
Beatrice looked first in surprise at Harley, then glanced round the room with significant irony.
"As I thought; you call this little room "the world." Be it so. I will venture to say, that if the people in this room were suddenly converted into an audience before a stage, and you were as consummate in the actor"s art as you are in all others that please and command--"
"Well?"
"And were to deliver a speech full of sordid and base sentiments, you would be hissed. But let any other woman, with half your powers, arise and utter sentiments sweet and womanly, or honest and lofty--and applause would flow from every lip, and tears rush to many a worldly eye. The true proof of the inherent n.o.bleness of our common nature is in the sympathy it betrays with what is n.o.ble wherever crowds are collected. Never believe the world is base;--if it were so, no society could hold together for a day. But you would know the author of this book? I will bring him to you."
"Do."
"And now," said Harley rising, and with his candid winning smile, "do you think we shall ever be friends?"
"You have startled me so, that I can scarcely answer. But why would you be friends with me?"
"Because you need a friend. You have none?"
"Strange flatterer!" said Beatrice, smiling, though very sadly; and looking up, her eye caught Randal"s.
"Pooh!" said Harley, "you are too penetrating to believe that you inspire friendship _there_. Ah, do you suppose that, all the while I have been conversing with you, I have not noticed the watchful gaze of Mr. Randal Leslie? What tie can possibly connect you together I know not yet; but I soon shall."