CHAPTER XLII


Which Treats of the Osborne Family


Considerable time has elapsed since we have seen our respectable friend,

old Mr. Osborne of Russell Square.


He has not been the happiest of mortals since last we met him.


Events have occurred which have not improved his temper,

and in more in stances than one he has not been allowed to have his own way.


To be thwarted in this reasonable desire was always very injurious to the old gentleman;


and resistance became doubly exasperating when gout,

age,

loneliness,

and the force of many disappointments combined to weigh him down.


His stiff black hair began to grow quite white soon after his son's death;


his-face grew redder;


his hands trembled more and more as he poured out his glass of port wine.


He led his clerks a dire life in the City: his family at home were not much happier.


I doubt if Rebecca,

whom we have seen piously praying for Consols,

would have exchanged her poverty and the dare-devil excitement and chances of her life for Osborne's money and the humdrum gloom which enveloped him.


He had proposed for Miss Swartz,

but had been rejected scornfully by the partisans of that lady,

who married her to a young sprig of Scotch nobility.


He was a man to have married a woman out of low life and bullied her dreadfully afterwards;


but no person presented herself suitable to his taste,

and,

instead,

he tyrannized over his unmarried daughter,

at home.


She had a fine carriage and fine horses and sat at the head of a table loaded with the grandest plate.


She had a cheque-book,

a prize footman to follow her when she walked,

unlimited credit,

and bows and compliments from all the tradesmen,

and all the appurtenances of an heiress;


but she spent a woeful time.


The little charity-girls at the Foundling,

the sweeperess at the crossing,

the poorest under-kitchen-maid in the servants' hall,

was happy compared to that unfortunate and now middle-aged young lady.


Frederick Bullock,

Esq.,

of the house of Bullock,

Hulker,

and Bullock,

had married Maria Osborne,

not without a great deal of difficulty and grumbling on Mr. Bullock's part.


George being dead and cut out of his father's will,

Frederick insisted that the half of the old gentleman's property should be settled upon his Maria,

and indeed,

for a long time,

refused,

"to come to the scratch" (it was Mr. Frederick's own expression) on any other terms.


Osborne said Fred had agreed to take his daughter with twenty thousand,

and he should bind himself to no more.


"Fred might take it,

and welcome,

or leave it,

and go and be hanged."


Fred,

whose hopes had been raised when George had been disinherited,

thought himself infamously swindled by the old merchant,

and for some time made as if he would break off the match altogether.


Osborne withdrew his account from Bullock and Hulker's,

went on

'Change with a horsewhip which he swore he would lay across the back of a certain scoundrel that should be nameless,

and demeaned himself in his usual violent manner.


Jane Osborne condoled with her sister Maria during this family feud.


"I always told you,

Maria,

that it was your money he loved and not you,"

she said,

soothingly.


"He selected me and my money at any rate;


he didn't choose you and yours,"

replied Maria,

tossing up her head.


The rapture was,

however,

only temporary.


Fred's father and senior partners counselled him to take Maria,

even with the twenty thousand settled,

half down,

and half at the death of Mr. Osborne,

with the chances of the further division of the property.


So he "knuckled down,"

again to use his own phrase,

and sent old Hulker with peaceable overtures to Osborne.


It was his father,

he said,

who would not hear of the match,

and had made the difficulties;


he was most anxious to keep the engagement.


The excuse was sulkily accepted by Mr. Osborne.


Hulker and Bullock were a high family of the City aristocracy,

and connected with the "nobs" at the West End.


It was something for the old man to be able to say,

"My son,

sir,

of the house of Hulker,

Bullock,

and Co.,

sir;


my daughter's cousin,

Lady Mary Mango,

sir,

daughter of the Right Hon. The Earl of Castlemouldy."


In his imagination he saw his house peopled by the "nobs."


So he forgave young Bullock and consented that the marriage should take place.


It was a grand affair --the bridegroom's relatives giving the breakfast,

their habitations being near St. George's,

Hanover Square,

where the business took place.


The "nobs of the West End" were invited,

and many of them signed the book.


Mr. Mango and Lady Mary Mango were there,

with the dear young Gwendoline and Guinever Mango as bridesmaids;


Colonel Bludyer of the Dragoon Guards (eldest son of the house of Bludyer Brothers,

Mincing Lane),

another cousin of the bridegroom,

and the Honourable Mrs. Bludyer;


the Honourable George Boulter,

Lord Levant's son,

and his lady,

Miss Mango that was;


Lord Viscount Castletoddy;


Honourable James McMull and Mrs. McMull (formerly Miss Swartz);


and a host of fashionables,

who have all married into Lombard Street and done a great deal to ennoble Cornhill.


The young couple had a house near Berkeley Square and a small villa at Roehampton,

among the banking colony there.


Fred was considered to have made rather a mesalliance by the ladies of his family,

whose grandfather had been in a Charity School,

and who were allied through the husbands with some of the best blood in England.


And Maria was bound,

by superior pride and great care in the composition of her visiting-book,

to make up for the defects of birth,

and felt it her duty to see her father and sister as little as possible.


That she should utterly break with the old man,

who had still so many scores of thousand pounds to give away,

is absurd to suppose.


Fred Bullock would never allow her to do that.


But she was still young and incapable of hiding her feelings;


and by inviting her papa and sister to her third-rate parties,

and behaving very coldly to them when they came,

and by avoiding Russell Square,

and indiscreetly begging her father to quit that odious vulgar place,

she did more harm than all Frederick's diplomacy could repair,

and perilled her chance of her inheritance like a giddy heedless creature as she was.


"So Russell Square is not good enough for Mrs. Maria,

hay?"

said the old gentleman,

rattling up the carriage windows as he and his daughter drove away one night from Mrs. Frederick Bullock's,

after dinner.


"So she invites her father and sister to a second day's dinner (if those sides,

or ontrys,

as she calls

'em,

weren't served yesterday,

I'm d --d),

and to meet City folks and littery men,

and keeps the Earls and the Ladies,

and the Honourables to herself.


Honourables?


Damn Honourables.


I am a plain British merchant I am,

and could buy the beggarly hounds over and over.


Lords,

indeed!

--why,

at one of her swarreys I saw one of

'em speak to a dam fiddler --a fellar I despise.


And they won't come to Russell Square,

won't they?


Why,

I'll lay my life I've got a better glass of wine,

and pay a better figure for it,

and can show a handsomer service of silver,

and can lay a better dinner on my mahogany,

than ever they see on theirs --the cringing,

sneaking,

stuck-up fools.


Drive on quick,

James: I want to get back to Russell Square --ha,

ha!"

and he sank back into the corner with a furious laugh.


With such reflections on his own superior merit,

it was the custom of the old gentleman not unfrequently to console himself.


Jane Osborne could not but concur in these opinions respecting her sister's conduct;


and when Mrs. Frederick's first-born,

Frederick Augustus Howard Stanley Devereux Bullock,

was born,

old Osborne,

who was invited to the christening and to be godfather,

contented himself with sending the child a gold cup,

with twenty guineas inside it for the nurse.


"That's more than any of your Lords will give,

I'LL warrant,"

he said and refused to attend at the ceremony.


The splendour of the gift,

however,

caused great satisfaction to the house of Bullock.


Maria thought that her father was very much pleased with her,

and Frederick augured the best for his little son and heir.


One can fancy the pangs with which Miss Osborne in her solitude in Russell Square read the Morning Post,

where her sister's name occurred every now and then,

in the articles headed "Fashionable Reunions,"

and where she had an opportunity of reading a description of Mrs. F. Bullock's costume,

when presented at the drawing room by Lady Frederica Bullock.


Jane's own life,

as we have said,

admitted of no such grandeur.


It was an awful existence.


She had to get up of black winter's mornings to make breakfast for her scowling old father,

who would have turned the whole house out of doors if his tea had not been ready at half-past eight.


She remained silent opposite to him,

listening to the urn hissing,

and sitting in tremor while the parent read his paper and consumed his accustomed portion of muffins and tea.


At half-past nine he rose and went to the City,

and she was almost free till dinner-time,

to make visitations in the kitchen and to scold the servants;


to drive abroad and descend upon the tradesmen,

who were prodigiously respectful;


to leave her cards and her papa's at the great glum respectable houses of their City friends;


or to sit alone in the large drawing-room,

expecting visitors;


and working at a huge piece of worsted by the fire,

on the sofa,

hard by the great Iphigenia clock,

which ticked and tolled with mournful loudness in the dreary room.


The great glass over the mantelpiece,

faced by the other great console glass at the opposite end of the room,

increased and multiplied between them the brown Holland bag in which the chandelier hung,

until you saw these brown Holland bags fading away in endless perspectives,

and this apartment of Miss Osborne's seemed the centre of a system of drawing-rooms.


When she removed the cordovan leather from the grand piano and ventured to play a few notes on it,

it sounded with a mournful sadness,

startling the dismal echoes of the house.


George's picture was gone,

and laid upstairs in a lumber-room in the garret;


and though there was a consciousness of him,

and father and daughter often instinctively knew that they were thinking of him,

no mention was ever made of the brave and once darling son.


At five o'clock Mr. Osborne came back to his dinner,

which he and his daughter took in silence (seldom broken,

except when he swore and was savage,

if the cooking was not to his liking),

or which they shared twice in a month with a party of dismal friends of Osborne's rank and age.


Old Dr. Gulp and his lady from Bloomsbury Square;


old Mr. Frowser,

the attorney,

from Bedford Row,

a very great man,

and from his business,

hand-in-glove with the "nobs at the West End";


old Colonel Livermore,

of the Bombay Army,

and Mrs. Livermore,

from Upper Bedford Place;


old Sergeant Toffy and Mrs. Toffy;


and sometimes old Sir Thomas Coffin and Lady Coffin,

from Bedford Square.


Sir Thomas was celebrated as a hanging judge,

and the particular tawny port was produced when he dined with Mr. Osborne.


These people and their like gave the pompous Russell Square merchant pompous dinners back again.


They had solemn rubbers of whist,

when they went upstairs after drinking,

and their carriages were called at half past ten.


Many rich people,

whom we poor devils are in the habit of envying,

lead contentedly an existence like that above described.


Jane Osborne scarcely ever met a man under sixty,

and almost the only bachelor who appeared in their society was Mr. Smirk,

the celebrated ladies' doctor.


I can't say that nothing had occurred to disturb the monotony of this awful existence: the fact is,

there had been a secret in poor Jane's life which had made her father more savage and morose than even nature,

pride,

and over-feeding had made him.


This secret was connected with Miss Wirt,

who had a cousin an artist,

Mr. Smee,

very celebrated since as a portrait-painter and R.A.,

but who once was glad enough to give drawing lessons to ladies of fashion.


Mr. Smee has forgotten where Russell Square is now,

but he was glad enough to visit it in the year 1818,

when Miss Osborne had instruction from him.


Smee (formerly a pupil of Sharpe of Frith Street,

a dissolute,

irregular,

and unsuccessful man,

but a man with great knowledge of his art) being the cousin of Miss Wirt,

we say,

and introduced by her to Miss Osborne,

whose hand and heart were still free after various incomplete love affairs,

felt a great attachment for this lady,

and it is believed inspired one in her bosom.


Miss Wirt was the confidante of this intrigue.


I know not whether she used to leave the room where the master and his pupil were painting,

in order to give them an opportunity for exchanging those vows and sentiments which cannot be uttered advantageously in the presence of a third party;


I know not whether she hoped that should her cousin succeed in carrying off the rich merchant's daughter,

he would give Miss Wirt a portion of the wealth which she had enabled him to win --all that is certain is that Mr. Osborne got some hint of the transaction,

came back from the City abruptly,

and entered the drawing-room with his bamboo cane;


found the painter,

the pupil,

and the companion all looking exceedingly pale there;


turned the former out of doors with menaces that he would break every bone in his skin,

and half an hour afterwards dismissed Miss Wirt likewise,

kicking her trunks down the stairs,

trampling on her bandboxes,

and shaking his fist at her hackney coach as it bore her away.


Jane Osborne kept her bedroom for many days.


She was not allowed to have a companion afterwards.


Her father swore to her that she should not have a shilling of his money if she made any match without his concurrence;


and as he wanted a woman to keep his house,

he did not choose that she should marry,

so that she was obliged to give up all projects with which Cupid had any share.


During her papa's life,

then,

she resigned herself to the manner of existence here described,

and was content to be an old maid.


Her sister,

meanwhile,

was having children with finer names every year and the intercourse between the two grew fainter continually.


"Jane and I do not move in the same sphere of life,"

Mrs. Bullock said.


"I regard her as a sister,

of course" --which means --what does it mean when a lady says that she regards Jane as a sister?


It has been described how the Misses Dobbin lived with their father at a fine villa at Denmark Hill,

where there were beautiful graperies and peach-trees which delighted little Georgy Osborne.


The Misses Dobbin,

who drove often to Brompton to see our dear Amelia,

came sometimes to Russell Square too,

to pay a visit to their old acquaintance Miss Osborne.


I believe it was in consequence of the commands of their brother the Major in India (for whom their papa had a prodigious respect),

that they paid attention to Mrs. George;


for the Major,

the godfather and guardian of Amelia's little boy,

still hoped that the child's grandfather might be induced to relent towards him and acknowledge him for the sake of his son.


The Misses Dobbin kept Miss Osborne acquainted with the state of Amelia's affairs;


how she was living with her father and mother;


how poor they were;


how they wondered what men,

and such men as their brother and dear Captain Osborne,

could find in such an insignificant little chit;


how she was still,

as heretofore,

a namby-pamby milk-and-water affected creature --but how the boy was really the noblest little boy ever seen --for the hearts of all women warm towards young children,

and the sourest spinster is kind to them.


One day,

after great entreaties on the part of the Misses Dobbin,

Amelia allowed little George to go and pass a day with them at Denmark Hill --a part of which day she spent herself in writing to the Major in India.


She congratulated him on the happy news which his sisters had just conveyed to her.


She prayed for his prosperity and that of the bride he had chosen.


She thanked him for a thousand thousand kind offices and proofs of stead fast friendship to her in her affliction.


She told him the last news about little Georgy,

and how he was gone to spend that very day with his sisters in the country.


She underlined the letter a great deal,

and she signed herself affectionately his friend,

Amelia Osborne.


She forgot to send any message of kindness to Lady O'Dowd,

as her wont was --and did not mention Glorvina by name,

and only in italics,

as the Major's BRIDE,

for whom she begged blessings.


But the news of the marriage removed the reserve which she had kept up towards him.


She was glad to be able to own and feel how warmly and gratefully she regarded him --and as for the idea of being jealous of Glorvina (Glorvina,

indeed!),

Amelia would have scouted it,

if an angel from heaven had hinted it to her.


That night,

when Georgy came back in the pony-carriage in which he rejoiced,

and in which he was driven by Sir Wm.


Dobbin's old coachman,

he had round his neck a fine gold chain and watch.


He said an old lady,

not pretty,

had given it him,

who cried and kissed him a great deal.


But he didn't like her.


He liked grapes very much.


And he only liked his mamma.


Amelia shrank and started;


the timid soul felt a presentiment of terror when she heard that the relations of the child's father had seen him.


Miss Osborne came back to give her father his dinner.


He had made a good speculation in the City,

and was rather in a good humour that day,

and chanced to remark the agitation under which she laboured.


"What's the matter,

Miss Osborne?"

he deigned to say.


The woman burst into tears.


"Oh,

sir,"

she said,

"I've seen little George.


He is as beautiful as an angel --and so like him!"

The old man opposite to her did not say a word,

but flushed up and began to tremble in every limb.


CHAPTER XLIII


In Which the Reader Has to Double the Cape


The astonished reader must be called upon to transport himself ten thousand miles to the military station of Bundlegunge,

in the Madras division of our Indian empire,

where our gallant old friends of the  --th regiment are quartered under the command of the brave Colonel,

Sir Michael O'Dowd.


Time has dealt kindly with that stout officer,

as it does ordinarily with men who have good stomachs and good tempers and are not perplexed over much by fatigue of the brain.


The Colonel plays a good knife and fork at tiffin and resumes those weapons with great success at dinner.


He smokes his hookah after both meals and puffs as quietly while his wife scolds him as he did under the fire of the French at Waterloo.


Age and heat have not diminished the activity or the eloquence of the descendant of the Malonys and the Molloys.


Her Ladyship,

our old acquaintance,

is as much at home at Madras as at Brussels in the cantonment as under the tents.


On the march you saw her at the head of the regiment seated on a royal elephant,

a noble sight.


Mounted on that beast,

she has been into action with tigers in the jungle,

she has been received by native princes,

who have welcomed her and Glorvina into the recesses of their zenanas and offered her shawls and jewels which it went to her heart to refuse.


The sentries of all arms salute her wherever she makes her appearance,

and she touches her hat gravely to their salutation.


Lady O'Dowd is one of the greatest ladies in the Presidency of Madras --her quarrel with Lady Smith,

wife of Sir Minos Smith the puisne judge,

is still remembered by some at Madras,

when the Colonel's lady snapped her fingers in the Judge's lady's face and said SHE'D never walk behind ever a beggarly civilian.


Even now,

though it is five-and-twenty years ago,

people remember Lady O'Dowd performing a jig at Government House,

where she danced down two Aides-de-Camp,

a Major of Madras cavalry,

and two gentlemen of the Civil Service;


and,

persuaded by Major Dobbin,

C.B.,

second in command of the  --th,

to retire to the supper-room,

lassata nondum satiata recessit.


Peggy O'Dowd is indeed the same as ever,

kind in act and thought;


impetuous in temper;


eager to command;


a tyrant over her Michael;


a dragon amongst all the ladies of the regiment;


a mother to all the young men,

whom she tends in their sickness,

defends in all their scrapes,

and with whom Lady Peggy is immensely popular.


But the Subalterns' and Captains' ladies (the Major is unmarried) cabal against her a good deal.


They say that Glorvina gives herself airs and that Peggy herself is intolerably domineering.


She interfered with a little congregation which Mrs. Kirk had got up and laughed the young men away from her sermons,

stating that a soldier's wife had no business to be a parson --that Mrs. Kirk would be much better mending her husband's clothes;


and,

if the regiment wanted sermons,

that she had the finest in the world,

those of her uncle,

the Dean.


She abruptly put a termination to a flirtation which Lieutenant Stubble of the regiment had commenced with the Surgeon's wife,

threatening to come down upon Stubble for the money which he had borrowed from her (for the young fellow was still of an extravagant turn) unless he broke off at once and went to the Cape on sick leave.


On the other hand,

she housed and sheltered Mrs. Posky,

who fled from her bungalow one night,

pursued by her infuriate husband,

wielding his second brandy bottle,

and actually carried Posky through the delirium tremens and broke him of the habit of drinking,

which had grown upon that officer,

as all evil habits will grow upon men.


In a word,

in adversity she was the best of comforters,

in good fortune the most troublesome of friends,

having a perfectly good opinion of herself always and an indomitable resolution to have her own way.


Among other points,

she had made up her mind that Glorvina should marry our old friend Dobbin.


Mrs. O'Dowd knew the Major's expectations and appreciated his good qualities and the high character which he enjoyed in his profession.


Glorvina,

a very handsome,

fresh-coloured,

black-haired,

blue-eyed young lady,

who could ride a horse,

or play a sonata with any girl out of the County Cork,

seemed to be the very person destined to insure Dobbin's happiness --much more than that poor good little weak-spur'ted Amelia,

about whom he used to take on so.


--"Look at Glorvina enter a room,"

Mrs. O'Dowd would say,

"and compare her with that poor Mrs. Osborne,

who couldn't say boo to a goose.


She'd be worthy of you,

Major --you're a quiet man yourself,

and want some one to talk for ye.


And though she does not come of such good blood as the Malonys or Molloys,

let me tell ye,

she's of an ancient family that any nobleman might be proud to marry into."


But before she had come to such a resolution and determined to subjugate Major Dobbin by her endearments,

it must be owned that Glorvina had practised them a good deal elsewhere.


She had had a season in Dublin,

and who knows how many in Cork,

Killarney,

and Mallow?


She had flirted with all the marriageable officers whom the depots of her country afforded,

and all the bachelor squires who seemed eligible.


She had been engaged to be married a half-score times in Ireland,

besides the clergyman at Bath who used her so ill.


She had flirted all the way to Madras with the Captain and chief mate of the Ramchunder East Indiaman,

and had a season at the Presidency with her brother and Mrs. O'Dowd,

who was staying there,

while the Major of the regiment was in command at the station.


Everybody admired her there;


everybody danced with her;


but no one proposed who was worth the marrying --one or two exceedingly young subalterns sighed after her,

and a beardless civilian or two,

but she rejected these as beneath her pretensions --and other and younger virgins than Glorvina were married before her.


There are women,

and handsome women too,

who have this fortune in life.


They fall in love with the utmost generosity;


they ride and walk with half the Army-list,

though they draw near to forty,

and yet the Misses O'Grady are the Misses O'Grady still: Glorvina persisted that but for Lady O'Dowd's unlucky quarrel with the Judge's lady,

she would have made a good match at Madras,

where old Mr. Chutney,

who was at the head of the civil service (and who afterwards married Miss Dolby,

a young lady only thirteen years of age who had just arrived from school in Europe),

was just at the point of proposing to her.


Well,

although Lady O'Dowd and Glorvina quarrelled a great number of times every day,

and upon almost every conceivable subject --indeed,

if Mick O'Dowd had not possessed the temper of an angel two such women constantly about his ears would have driven him out of his senses --yet they agreed between themselves on this point,

that Glorvina should marry Major Dobbin,

and were determined that the Major should have no rest until the arrangement was brought about.


Undismayed by forty or fifty previous defeats,

Glorvina laid siege to him.


She sang Irish melodies at him unceasingly.


She asked him so frequently and pathetically,

Will ye come to the bower?


that it is a wonder how any man of feeling could have resisted the invitation.


She was never tired of inquiring,

if Sorrow had his young days faded,

and was ready to listen and weep like Desdemona at the stories of his dangers and his campaigns.


It has been said that our honest and dear old friend used to perform on the flute in private;


Glorvina insisted upon having duets with him,

and Lady O'Dowd would rise and artlessly quit the room when the young couple were so engaged.


Glorvina forced the Major to ride with her of mornings.


The whole cantonment saw them set out and return.


She was constantly writing notes over to him at his house,

borrowing his books,

and scoring with her great pencil-marks such passages of sentiment or humour as awakened her sympathy.


She borrowed his horses,

his servants,

his spoons,

and palanquin --no wonder that public rumour assigned her to him,

and that the Major's sisters in England should fancy they were about to have a sister-in-law.


Dobbin,

who was thus vigorously besieged,

was in the meanwhile in a state of the most odious tranquillity.


He used to laugh when the young fellows of the regiment joked him about Glorvina's manifest attentions to him.


"Bah!"

said he,

"she is only keeping her hand in --she practises upon me as she does upon Mrs. Tozer's piano,

because it's the most handy instrument in the station.


I am much too battered and old for such a fine young lady as Glorvina."


And so he went on riding with her,

and copying music and verses into her albums,

and playing at chess with her very submissively;


for it is with these simple amusements that some officers in India are accustomed to while away their leisure moments,

while others of a less domestic turn hunt hogs,

and shoot snipes,

or gamble and smoke cheroots,

and betake themselves to brandy-and-water.


As for Sir Michael O'Dowd,

though his lady and her sister both urged him to call upon the Major to explain himself and not keep on torturing a poor innocent girl in that shameful way,

the old soldier refused point-blank to have anything to do with the conspiracy.


"Faith,

the Major's big enough to choose for himself,"

Sir Michael said;


"he'll ask ye when he wants ye";


or else he would turn the matter off jocularly,

declaring that "Dobbin was too young to keep house,

and had written home to ask lave of his mamma."


Nay,

he went farther,

and in private communications with his Major would caution and rally him,

crying,

"Mind your oi,

Dob,

my boy,

them girls is bent on mischief --me Lady has just got a box of gowns from Europe,

and there's a pink satin for Glorvina,

which will finish ye,

Dob,

if it's in the power of woman or satin to move ye."


But the truth is,

neither beauty nor fashion could conquer him.


Our honest friend had but one idea of a woman in his head,

and that one did not in the least resemble Miss Glorvina O'Dowd in pink satin.


A gentle little woman in black,

with large eyes and brown hair,

seldom speaking,

save when spoken to,

and then in a voice not the least resembling Miss Glorvina's --a soft young mother tending an infant and beckoning the Major up with a smile to look at him --a rosy-cheeked lass coming singing into the room in Russell Square or hanging on George Osborne's arm,

happy and loving --there was but this image that filled our honest Major's mind,

by day and by night,

and reigned over it always.


Very likely Amelia was not like the portrait the Major had formed of her: there was a figure in a book of fashions which his sisters had in England,

and with which William had made away privately,

pasting it into the lid of his desk,

and fancying he saw some resemblance to Mrs. Osborne in the print,

whereas I have seen it,

and can vouch that it is but the picture of a high-waisted gown with an impossible doll's face simpering over it --and,

perhaps,

Mr. Dobbin's sentimental Amelia was no more like the real one than this absurd little print which he cherished.


But what man in love,

of us,

is better informed?


--or is he much happier when he sees and owns his delusion?


Dobbin was under this spell.


He did not bother his friends and the public much about his feelings,

or indeed lose his natural rest or appetite on account of them.


His head has grizzled since we saw him last,

and a line or two of silver may be seen in the soft brown hair likewise.


But his feelings are not in the least changed or oldened,

and his love remains as fresh as a man's recollections of boyhood are.


We have said how the two Misses Dobbin and Amelia,

the Major's correspondents in Europe,

wrote him letters from England,

Mrs. Osborne congratulating him with great candour and cordiality upon his approaching nuptials with Miss O'Dowd.


"Your sister has just kindly visited me,"

Amelia wrote in her letter,

"and informed me of an INTERESTING EVENT,

upon which I beg to offer my MOST SINCERE CONGRATULATIONS.


I hope the young lady to whom I hear you are to be UNITED will in every respect prove worthy of one who is himself all kindness and goodness.


The poor widow has only her prayers to offer and her cordial cordial wishes for YOUR PROSPERITY!

Georgy sends his love to HIS DEAR GODPAPA and hopes that you will not forget him.


I tell him that you are about to form OTHER TIES,

with one who I am sure merits ALL YOUR AFFECTION,

but that,

although such ties must of course be the strongest and most sacred,

and supersede ALL OTHERS,

yet that I am sure the widow and the child whom you have ever protected and loved will always HAVE A CORNER IN YOUR HEART" The letter,

which has been before alluded to,

went on in this strain,

protesting throughout as to the extreme satisfaction of the writer.


This letter,

which arrived by the very same ship which brought out Lady O'Dowd's box of millinery from London (and which you may be sure Dobbin opened before any one of the other packets which the mail brought him),

put the receiver into such a state of mind that Glorvina,

and her pink satin,

and everything belonging to her became perfectly odious to him.


The Major cursed the talk of women,

and the sex in general.


Everything annoyed him that day --the parade was insufferably hot and wearisome.


Good heavens!

was a man of intellect to waste his life,

day after day,

inspecting cross-belts and putting fools through their manoeuvres?


The senseless chatter of the young men at mess was more than ever jarring.


What cared he,

a man on the high road to forty,

to know how many snipes Lieutenant Smith had shot,

or what were the performances of Ensign Brown's mare?


The jokes about the table filled him with shame.


He was too old to listen to the banter of the assistant surgeon and the slang of the youngsters,

at which old O'Dowd,

with his bald head and red face,

laughed quite easily.


The old man had listened to those jokes any time these thirty years --Dobbin himself had been fifteen years hearing them.


And after the boisterous dulness of the mess-table,

the quarrels and scandal of the ladies of the regiment!

It was unbearable,

shameful.


"O Amelia,

Amelia,"

he thought,

"you to whom I have been so faithful --you reproach me!

It is because you cannot feel for me that I drag on this wearisome life.


And you reward me after years of devotion by giving me your blessing upon my marriage,

forsooth,

with this flaunting Irish girl!"

Sick and sorry felt poor William;


more than ever wretched and lonely.


He would like to have done with life and its vanity altogether --so bootless and unsatisfactory the struggle,

so cheerless and dreary the prospect seemed to him.


He lay all that night sleepless,

and yearning to go home.


Amelia's letter had fallen as a blank upon him.


No fidelity,

no constant truth and passion,

could move her into warmth.


She would not see that he loved her.


Tossing in his bed,

he spoke out to her.


"Good God,

Amelia!"

he said,

"don't you know that I only love you in the world --you,

who are a stone to me --you,

whom I tended through months and months of illness and grief,

and who bade me farewell with a smile on your face,

and forgot me before the door shut between us!"

The native servants lying outside his verandas beheld with wonder the Major,

so cold and quiet ordinarily,

at present so passionately moved and cast down.


Would she have pitied him had she seen him?


He read over and over all the letters which he ever had from her --letters of business relative to the little property which he had made her believe her husband had left to her --brief notes of invitation --every scrap of writing that she had ever sent to him --how cold,

how kind,

how hopeless,

how selfish they were!


Had there been some kind gentle soul near at hand who could read and appreciate this silent generous heart,

who knows but that the reign of Amelia might have been over,

and that friend William's love might have flowed into a kinder channel?


But there was only Glorvina of the jetty ringlets with whom his intercourse was familiar,

and this dashing young woman was not bent upon loving the Major,

but rather on making the Major admire HER --a most vain and hopeless task,

too,

at least considering the means that the poor girl possessed to carry it out.


She curled her hair and showed her shoulders at him,

as much as to say,

did ye ever see such jet ringlets and such a complexion?


She grinned at him so that he might see that every tooth in her head was sound --and he never heeded all these charms.


Very soon after the arrival of the box of millinery,

and perhaps indeed in honour of it,

Lady O'Dowd and the ladies of the King's Regiment gave a ball to the Company's Regiments and the civilians at the station.


Glorvina sported the killing pink frock,

and the Major,

who attended the party and walked very ruefully up and down the rooms,

never so much as perceived the pink garment.


Glorvina danced past him in a fury with all the young subalterns of the station,

and the Major was not in the least jealous of her performance,

or angry because Captain Bangles of the Cavalry handed her to supper.


It was not jealousy,

or frocks,

or shoulders that could move him,

and Glorvina had nothing more.


So these two were each exemplifying the Vanity of this life,

and each longing for what he or she could not get.


Glorvina cried with rage at the failure.


She had set her mind on the Major "more than on any of the others,"

she owned,

sobbing.


"He'll break my heart,

he will,

Peggy,"

she would whimper to her sister-in-law when they were good friends;


"sure every one of me frocks must be taken in --it's such a skeleton I'm growing."


Fat or thin,

laughing or melancholy,

on horseback or the music-stool,

it was all the same to the Major.


And the Colonel,

puffing his pipe and listening to these complaints,

would suggest that Glory should have some black frocks out in the next box from London,

and told a mysterious story of a lady in Ireland who died of grief for the loss of her husband before she got ere a one.


While the Major was going on in this tantalizing way,

not proposing,

and declining to fall in love,

there came another ship from Europe bringing letters on board,

and amongst them some more for the heartless man.


These were home letters bearing an earlier postmark than that of the former packets,

and as Major Dobbin recognized among his the handwriting of his sister,

who always crossed and recrossed her letters to her brother --gathered together all the possible bad news which she could collect,

abused him and read him lectures with sisterly frankness,

and always left him miserable for the day after "dearest William" had achieved the perusal of one of her epistles --the truth must be told that dearest William did not hurry himself to break the seal of Miss Dobbin's letter,

but waited for a particularly favourable day and mood for doing so.


A fortnight before,

moreover,

he had written to scold her for telling those absurd stories to Mrs. Osborne,

and had despatched a letter in reply to that lady,

undeceiving her with respect to the reports concerning him and assuring her that "he had no sort of present intention of altering his condition."


Two or three nights after the arrival of the second package of letters,

the Major had passed the evening pretty cheerfully at Lady O'Dowd's house,

where Glorvina thought that he listened with rather more attention than usual to the Meeting of the Wathers,

the Minsthrel Boy,

and one or two other specimens of song with which she favoured him (the truth is,

he was no more listening to Glorvina than to the howling of the jackals in the moonlight outside,

and the delusion was hers as usual),

and having played his game at chess with her (cribbage with the surgeon was Lady O'Dowd's favourite evening pastime),

Major Dobbin took leave of the Colonel's family at his usual hour and retired to his own house.


There on his table,

his sister's letter lay reproaching him.


He took it up,

ashamed rather of his negligence regarding it,

and prepared himself for a disagreeable hour's communing with that crabbed-handed absent relative.


...It may have been an hour after the Major's departure from the Colonel's house --Sir Michael was sleeping the sleep of the just;


Glorvina had arranged her black ringlets in the innumerable little bits of paper,

in which it was her habit to confine them;


Lady O'Dowd,

too,

had gone to her bed in the nuptial chamber,

on the ground-floor,

and had tucked her musquito curtains round her fair form,

when the guard at the gates of the Commanding-Officer's compound beheld Major Dobbin,

in the moonlight,

rushing towards the house with a swift step and a very agitated countenance,

and he passed the sentinel and went up to the windows of the Colonel's bedchamber.


"O'Dowd --Colonel!"

said Dobbin and kept up a great shouting.


"Heavens,

Meejor!"

said Glorvina of the curl-papers,

putting out her head too,

from her window.


"What is it,

Dob,

me boy?"

said the Colonel,

expecting there was a fire in the station,

or that the route had come from headquarters.


"I --I must have leave of absence.


I must go to England --on the most urgent private affairs,"

Dobbin said.


"Good heavens,

what has happened!"

thought Glorvina,

trembling with all the papillotes.


"I want to be off --now --to-night,"

Dobbin continued;


and the Colonel getting up,

came out to parley with him.


In the postscript of Miss Dobbin's cross-letter,

the Major had just come upon a paragraph,

to the following effect: --"I drove yesterday to see your old ACQUAINTANCE,

Mrs. Osborne.


The wretched place they live at,

since they were bankrupts,

you know --Mr. S.,

to judge from a BRASS PLATE on the door of his hut (it is little better) is a coal-merchant.


The little boy,

your godson,

is certainly a fine child,

though forward,

and inclined to be saucy and self-willed.


But we have taken notice of him as you wish it,

and have introduced him to his aunt,

Miss O.,

who was rather pleased with him.


Perhaps his grandpapa,

not the bankrupt one,

who is almost doting,

but Mr. Osborne,

of Russell Square,

may be induced to relent towards the child of your friend,

HIS ERRING AND SELF-WILLED SON.


And Amelia will not be ill-disposed to give him up.


The widow is CONSOLED,

and is about to marry a reverend gentleman,

the Rev. Mr. Binny,

one of the curates of Brompton.


A poor match.


But Mrs. O. is getting old,

and I saw a great deal of grey in her hair --she was in very good spirits: and your little godson overate himself at our house.


Mamma sends her love with that of your affectionate,

Ann Dobbin."


CHAPTER XLIV


A Round-about Chapter between London and Hampshire


Our old friends the Crawleys' family house,

in Great Gaunt Street,

still bore over its front the hatchment which had been placed there as a token of mourning for Sir Pitt Crawley's demise,

yet this heraldic emblem was in itself a very splendid and gaudy piece of furniture,

and all the rest of the mansion became more brilliant than it had ever been during the late baronet's reign.


The black outer-coating of the bricks was removed,

and they appeared with a cheerful,

blushing face streaked with white: the old bronze lions of the knocker were gilt handsomely,

the railings painted,

and the dismallest house in Great Gaunt Street became the smartest in the whole quarter,

before the green leaves in Hampshire had replaced those yellowing ones which were on the trees in Queen's Crawley Avenue when old Sir Pitt Crawley passed under them for the last time.


A little woman,

with a carriage to correspond,

was perpetually seen about this mansion;


an elderly spinster,

accompanied by a little boy,

also might be remarked coming thither daily.


It was Miss Briggs and little Rawdon,

whose business it was to see to the inward renovation of Sir Pitt's house,

to superintend the female band engaged in stitching the blinds and hangings,

to poke and rummage in the drawers and cupboards crammed with the dirty relics and congregated trumperies of a couple of generations of Lady Crawleys,

and to take inventories of the china,

the glass,

and other properties in the closets and store-rooms.


Mrs. Rawdon Crawley was general-in-chief over these arrangements,

with full orders from Sir Pitt to sell,

barter,

confiscate,

or purchase furniture,

and she enjoyed herself not a little in an occupation which gave full scope to her taste and ingenuity.


The renovation of the house was determined upon when Sir Pitt came to town in November to see his lawyers,

and when he passed nearly a week in Curzon Street,

under the roof of his affectionate brother and sister.


He had put up at an hotel at first,

but,

Becky,

as soon as she heard of the Baronet's arrival,

went off alone to greet him,

and returned in an hour to Curzon Street with Sir Pitt in the carriage by her side.


It was impossible sometimes to resist this artless little creature's hospitalities,

so kindly were they pressed,

so frankly and amiably offered.


Becky seized Pitt's hand in a transport of gratitude when he agreed to come.


"Thank you,"

she said,

squeezing it and looking into the Baronet's eyes,

who blushed a good deal;


"how happy this will make Rawdon!"

She bustled up to Pitt's bedroom,

leading on the servants,

who were carrying his trunks thither.


She came in herself laughing,

with a coal-scuttle out of her own room.


A fire was blazing already in Sir Pitt's apartment (it was Miss Briggs's room,

by the way,

who was sent upstairs to sleep with the maid).


"I knew I should bring you,"

she said with pleasure beaming in her glance.


Indeed,

she was really sincerely happy at having him for a guest.


Becky made Rawdon dine out once or twice on business,

while Pitt stayed with them,

and the Baronet passed the happy evening alone with her and Briggs.


She went downstairs to the kitchen and actually cooked little dishes for him.


"Isn't it a good salmi?"

she said;


"I made it for you.


I can make you better dishes than that,

and will when you come to see me."


"Everything you do,

you do well,"

said the Baronet gallantly.


"The salmi is excellent indeed."


"A poor man's wife,"

Rebecca replied gaily,

"must make herself useful,

you know";


on which her brother-in-law vowed that "she was fit to be the wife of an Emperor,

and that to be skilful in domestic duties was surely one of the most charming of woman's qualities."


And Sir Pitt thought,

with something like mortification,

of Lady Jane at home,

and of a certain pie which she had insisted on making,

and serving to him at dinner --a most abominable pie.


Besides the salmi,

which was made of Lord Steyne's pheasants from his lordship's cottage of Stillbrook,

Becky gave her brother-in-law a bottle of white wine,

some that Rawdon had brought with him from France,

and had picked up for nothing,

the little story-teller said;


whereas the liquor was,

in truth,

some White Hermitage from the Marquis of Steyne's famous cellars,

which brought fire into the Baronet's pallid cheeks and a glow into his feeble frame.


Then when he had drunk up the bottle of petit vin blanc,

she gave him her hand,

and took him up to the drawing-room,

and made him snug on the sofa by the fire,

and let him talk as she listened with the tenderest kindly interest,

sitting by him,

and hemming a shirt for her dear little boy.


Whenever Mrs. Rawdon wished to be particularly humble and virtuous,

this little shirt used to come out of her work-box.


It had got to be too small for Rawdon long before it was finished.


Well,

Rebecca listened to Pitt,

she talked to him,

she sang to him,

she coaxed him,

and cuddled him,

so that he found himself more and more glad every day to get back from the lawyer's at Gray's Inn,

to the blazing fire in Curzon Street --a gladness in which the men of law likewise participated,

for Pitt's harangues were of the longest --and so that when he went away he felt quite a pang at departing.


How pretty she looked kissing her hand to him from the carriage and waving her handkerchief when he had taken his place in the mail!

She put the handkerchief to her eyes once.


He pulled his sealskin cap over his,

as the coach drove away,

and,

sinking back,

he thought to himself how she respected him and how he deserved it,

and how Rawdon was a foolish dull fellow who didn't half-appreciate his wife;


and how mum and stupid his own wife was compared to that brilliant little Becky.


Becky had hinted every one of these things herself,

perhaps,

but so delicately and gently that you hardly knew when or where.


And,

before they parted,

it was agreed that the house in London should be redecorated for the next season,

and that the brothers' families should meet again in the country at Christmas.


"I wish you could have got a little money out of him,"

Rawdon said to his wife moodily when the Baronet was gone.


"I should like to give something to old Raggles,

hanged if I shouldn't.


It ain't right,

you know,

that the old fellow should be kept out of all his money.


It may be inconvenient,

and he might let to somebody else besides us,

you know."


"Tell him,"

said Becky,

"that as soon as Sir Pitt's affairs are settled,

everybody will be paid,

and give him a little something on account.


Here's a cheque that Pitt left for the boy,"

and she took from her bag and gave her husband a paper which his brother had handed over to her,

on behalf of the little son and heir of the younger branch of the Crawleys.


The truth is,

she had tried personally the ground on which her husband expressed a wish that she should venture --tried it ever so delicately,

and found it unsafe.


Even at a hint about embarrassments,

Sir Pitt Crawley was off and alarmed.


And he began a long speech,

explaining how straitened he himself was in money matters;


how the tenants would not pay;


how his father's affairs,

and the expenses attendant upon the demise of the old gentleman,

had involved him;


how he wanted to pay off incumbrances;


and how the bankers and agents were overdrawn;


and Pitt Crawley ended by making a compromise with his sister-in-law and giving her a very small sum for the benefit of her little boy.


Pitt knew how poor his brother and his brother's family must be.


It could not have escaped the notice of such a cool and experienced old diplomatist that Rawdon's family had nothing to live upon,

and that houses and carriages are not to be kept for nothing.


He knew very well that he was the proprietor or appropriator of the money,

which,

according to all proper calculation,

ought to have fallen to his younger brother,

and he had,

we may be sure,

some secret pangs of remorse within him,

which warned him that he ought to perform some act of justice,

or,

let us say,

compensation,

towards these disappointed relations.


A just,

decent man,

not without brains,

who said his prayers,

and knew his catechism,

and did his duty outwardly through life,

he could not be otherwise than aware that something was due to his brother at his hands,

and that morally he was Rawdon's debtor.


But,

as one reads in the columns of the Times newspaper every now and then,

queer announcements from the Chancellor of the Exchequer,

acknowledging the receipt of 50 pounds from A. B.,

or 10 pounds from W. T.,

as conscience-money,

on account of taxes due by the said A. B. or W. T.,

which payments the penitents beg the Right Honourable gentleman to acknowledge through the medium of the public press --so is the Chancellor no doubt,

and the reader likewise,

always perfectly sure that the above-named A. B. and W. T.


are only paying a very small instalment of what they really owe,

and that the man who sends up a twenty-pound note has very likely hundreds or thousands more for which he ought to account.


Such,

at least,

are my feelings,

when I see A. B. or W. T.'s insufficient acts of repentance.


And I have no doubt that Pitt Crawley's contrition,

or kindness if you will,

towards his younger brother,

by whom he had so much profited,

was only a very small dividend upon the capital sum in which he was indebted to Rawdon.


Not everybody is willing to pay even so much.


To part with money is a sacrifice beyond almost all men endowed with a sense of order.


There is scarcely any man alive who does not think himself meritorious for giving his neighbour five pounds.


Thriftless gives,

not from a beneficent pleasure in giving,

but from a lazy delight in spending.


He would not deny himself one enjoyment;


not his opera-stall,

not his horse,

not his dinner,

not even the pleasure of giving Lazarus the five pounds.


Thrifty,

who is good,

wise,

just,

and owes no man a penny,

turns from a beggar,

haggles with a hackney-coachman,

or denies a poor relation,

and I doubt which is the most selfish of the two.


Money has only a different value in the eyes of each.


So,

in a word,

Pitt Crawley thought he would do something for his brother,

and then thought that he would think about it some other time.


And with regard to Becky,

she was not a woman who expected too much from the generosity of her neighbours,

and so was quite content with all that Pitt Crawley had done for her.


She was acknowledged by the head of the family.


If Pitt would not give her anything,

he would get something for her some day.


If she got no money from her brother-in-law,

she got what was as good as money --credit.


Raggles was made rather easy in his mind by the spectacle of the union between the brothers,

by a small payment on the spot,

and by the promise of a much larger sum speedily to be assigned to him.


And Rebecca told Miss Briggs,

whose Christmas dividend upon the little sum lent by her Becky paid with an air of candid joy,

and as if her exchequer was brimming over with gold --Rebecca,

we say,

told Miss Briggs,

in strict confidence that she had conferred with Sir Pitt,

who was famous as a financier,

on Briggs's special behalf,

as to the most profitable investment of Miss B.'s remaining capital;


that Sir Pitt,

after much consideration,

had thought of a most safe and advantageous way in which Briggs could lay out her money;


that,

being especially interested in her as an attached friend of the late Miss Crawley,

and of the whole family,

and that long before he left town,

he had recommended that she should be ready with the money at a moment's notice,

so as to purchase at the most favourable opportunity the shares which Sir Pitt had in his eye.


Poor Miss Briggs was very grateful for this mark of Sir Pitt's attention --it came so unsolicited,

she said,

for she never should have thought of removing the money from the funds --and the delicacy enhanced the kindness of the office;


and she promised to see her man of business immediately and be ready with her little cash at the proper hour.


And this worthy woman was so grateful for the kindness of Rebecca in the matter,

and for that of her generous benefactor,

the Colonel,

that she went out and spent a great part of her half-year's dividend in the purchase of a black velvet coat for little Rawdon,

who,

by the way,

was grown almost too big for black velvet now,

and was of a size and age befitting him for the assumption of the virile jacket and pantaloons.


He was a fine open-faced boy,

with blue eyes and waving flaxen hair,

sturdy in limb,

but generous and soft in heart,

fondly attaching himself to all who were good to him --to the pony --to Lord Southdown,

who gave him the horse (he used to blush and glow all over when he saw that kind young nobleman) --to the groom who had charge of the pony --to Molly,

the cook,

who crammed him with ghost stories at night,

and with good things from the dinner --to Briggs,

whom he plagued and laughed at --and to his father especially,

whose attachment towards the lad was curious too to witness.


Here,

as he grew to be about eight years old,

his attachments may be said to have ended.


The beautiful mother-vision had faded away after a while.


During near two years she had scarcely spoken to the child.


She disliked him.


He had the measles and the hooping-cough.


He bored her.


One day when he was standing at the landing-place,

having crept down from the upper regions,

attracted by the sound of his mother's voice,

who was singing to Lord Steyne,

the drawing room door opening suddenly,

discovered the little spy,

who but a moment before had been rapt in delight,

and listening to the music.


His mother came out and struck him violently a couple of boxes on the ear.


He heard a laugh from the Marquis in the inner room (who was amused by this free and artless exhibition of Becky's temper) and fled down below to his friends of the kitchen,

bursting in an agony of grief.


"It is not because it hurts me,"

little Rawdon gasped out --"only --only" --sobs and tears wound up the sentence in a storm.


It was the little boy's heart that was bleeding.


"Why mayn't I hear her singing?


Why don't she ever sing to me --as she does to that baldheaded man with the large teeth?"

He gasped out at various intervals these exclamations of rage and grief.


The cook looked at the housemaid,

the housemaid looked knowingly at the footman --the awful kitchen inquisition which sits in judgement in every house and knows everything --sat on Rebecca at that moment.


After this incident,

the mother's dislike increased to hatred;


the consciousness that the child was in the house was a reproach and a pain to her.


His very sight annoyed her.


Fear,

doubt,

and resistance sprang up,

too,

in the boy's own bosom.


They were separated from that day of the boxes on the ear.


Lord Steyne also heartily disliked the boy.


When they met by mischance,

he made sarcastic bows or remarks to the child,

or glared at him with savage-looking eyes.


Rawdon used to stare him in the face and double his little fists in return.


He knew his enemy,

and this gentleman,

of all who came to the house,

was the one who angered him most.


One day the footman found him squaring his fists at Lord Steyne's hat in the hall.


The footman told the circumstance as a good joke to Lord Steyne's coachman;


that officer imparted it to Lord Steyne's gentleman,

and to the servants' hall in general.


And very soon afterwards,

when Mrs. Rawdon Crawley made her appearance at Gaunt House,

the porter who unbarred the gates,

the servants of all uniforms in the hall,

the functionaries in white waistcoats,

who bawled out from landing to landing the names of Colonel and Mrs. Rawdon Crawley,

knew about her,

or fancied they did.


The man who brought her refreshment and stood behind her chair,

had talked her character over with the large gentleman in motley-coloured clothes at his side.


Bon Dieu!

it is awful,

that servants' inquisition!

You see a woman in a great party in a splendid saloon,

surrounded by faithful admirers,

distributing sparkling glances,

dressed to perfection,

curled,

rouged,

smiling and happy --Discovery walks respectfully up to her,

in the shape of a huge powdered man with large calves and a tray of ices --with Calumny (which is as fatal as truth) behind him,

in the shape of the hulking fellow carrying the wafer-biscuits.


Madam,

your secret will be talked over by those men at their club at the public-house to-night.


Jeames will tell Chawles his notions about you over their pipes and pewter beer-pots.


Some people ought to have mutes for servants in Vanity Fair --mutes who could not write.


If you are guilty,

tremble.


That fellow behind your chair may be a Janissary with a bow-string in his plush breeches pocket.


If you are not guilty,

have a care of appearances,

which are as ruinous as guilt.


"Was Rebecca guilty or not?"

the Vehmgericht of tho servants' hall had pronounced against her.


And,

I shame to say,

she would not have got credit had they not believed her to be guilty.


It was the sight of the Marquis of Steyne's carriage-lamps at her door,

contemplated by Raggles,

burning in the blackness of midnight,

"that kep him up,"

as he afterwards said,

that even more than Rebecca's arts and coaxings.


And so --guiltless very likely --she was writhing and pushing onward towards what they call "a position in society,"

and the servants were pointing at her as lost and ruined.


So you see Molly,

the housemaid,

of a morning,

watching a spider in the doorpost lay his thread and laboriously crawl up it,

until,

tired of the sport,

she raises her broom and sweeps away the thread and the artificer.


A day or two before Christmas,

Becky,

her husband and her son made ready and went to pass the holidays at the seat of their ancestors at Queen's Crawley.


Becky would have liked to leave the little brat behind,

and would have done so but for Lady Jane's urgent invitations to the youngster,

and the symptoms of revolt and discontent which Rawdon manifested at her neglect of her son.


"He's the finest boy in England,"

the father said in a tone of reproach to her,

"and you don't seem to care for him,

Becky,

as much as you do for your spaniel.


He shan't bother you much;


at home he will be away from you in the nursery,

and he shall go outside on the coach with me."


"Where you go yourself because you want to smoke those filthy cigars,"

replied Mrs. Rawdon.


"I remember when you liked

'em though,"

answered the husband.


Becky laughed;


she was almost always good-humoured.


"That was when I was on my promotion,

Goosey,"

she said.


"Take Rawdon outside with you and give him a cigar too if you like."


Rawdon did not warm his little son for the winter's journey in this way,

but he and Briggs wrapped up the child in shawls and comforters,

and he was hoisted respectfully onto the roof of the coach in the dark morning,

under the lamps of the White Horse Cellar;


and with no small delight he watched the dawn rise and made his first journey to the place which his father still called home.


It was a journey of infinite pleasure to the boy,

to whom the incidents of the road afforded endless interest,

his father answering to him all questions connected with it and telling him who lived in the great white house to the right,

and whom the park belonged to.


His mother,

inside the vehicle,

with her maid and her furs,

her wrappers,

and her scent bottles,

made such a to-do that you would have thought she never had been in a stage-coach before --much less,

that she had been turned out of this very one to make room for a paying passenger on a certain journey performed some half-score years ago.


It was dark again when little Rawdon was wakened up to enter his uncle's carriage at Mudbury,

and he sat and looked out of it wondering as the great iron gates flew open,

and at the white trunks of the limes as they swept by,

until they stopped,

at length,

before the light windows of the Hall,

which were blazing and comfortable with Christmas welcome.


The hall-door was flung open --a big fire was burning in the great old fire-place --a carpet was down over the chequered black flags --"It's the old Turkey one that used to be in the Ladies' Gallery,"

thought Rebecca,

and the next instant was kissing Lady Jane.


She and Sir Pitt performed the same salute with great gravity;


but Rawdon,

having been smoking,

hung back rather from his sister-in-law,

whose two children came up to their cousin;


and,

while Matilda held out her hand and kissed him,

Pitt Binkie Southdown,

the son and heir,

stood aloof rather and examined him as a little dog does a big dog.


Then the kind hostess conducted her guests to the snug apartments blazing with cheerful fires.


Then the young ladies came and knocked at Mrs. Rawdon's door,

under the pretence that they were desirous to be useful,

but in reality to have the pleasure of inspecting the contents of her band and bonnet-boxes,

and her dresses which,

though black,

were of the newest London fashion.


And they told her how much the Hall was changed for the better,

and how old Lady Southdown was gone,

and how Pitt was taking his station in the county,

as became a Crawley in fact.


Then the great dinner-bell having rung,

the family assembled at dinner,

at which meal Rawdon Junior was placed by his aunt,

the good-natured lady of the house,

Sir Pitt being uncommonly attentive to his sister-in-law at his own right hand.


Little Rawdon exhibited a fine appetite and showed a gentlemanlike behaviour.


"I like to dine here,"

he said to his aunt when he had completed his meal,

at the conclusion of which,

and after a decent grace by Sir Pitt,

the younger son and heir was introduced,

and was perched on a high chair by the Baronet's side,

while the daughter took possession of the place and the little wine-glass prepared for her near her mother.


"I like to dine here,"

said Rawdon Minor,

looking up at his relation's kind face.


"Why?"

said the good Lady Jane.


"I dine in the kitchen when I am at home,"

replied Rawdon Minor,

"or else with Briggs."


But Becky was so engaged with the Baronet,

her host,

pouring out a flood of compliments and delights and raptures,

and admiring young Pitt Binkie,

whom she declared to be the most beautiful,

intelligent,

noble-looking little creature,

and so like his father,

that she did not hear the remarks of her own flesh and blood at the other end of the broad shining table.


As a guest,

and it being the first night of his arrival,

Rawdon the Second was allowed to sit up until the hour when tea being over,

and a great gilt book being laid on the table before Sir Pitt,

all the domestics of the family streamed in,

and Sir Pitt read prayers.


It was the first time the poor little boy had ever witnessed or heard of such a ceremonial.


The house had been much improved even since the Baronet's brief reign,

and was pronounced by Becky to be perfect,

charming,

delightful,

when she surveyed it in his company.


As for little Rawdon,

who examined it with the children for his guides,

it seemed to him a perfect palace of enchantment and wonder.


There were long galleries,

and ancient state bedrooms,

there were pictures and old China,

and armour.


There were the rooms in which Grandpapa died,

and by which the children walked with terrified looks.


"Who was Grandpapa?"

he asked;


and they told him how he used to be very old,

and used to be wheeled about in a garden-chair,

and they showed him the garden-chair one day rotting in the out-house in which it had lain since the old gentleman had been wheeled away yonder to the church,

of which the spire was glittering over the park elms.


The brothers had good occupation for several mornings in examining the improvements which had been effected by Sir Pitt's genius and economy.


And as they walked or rode,

and looked at them,

they could talk without too much boring each other.


And Pitt took care to tell Rawdon what a heavy outlay of money these improvements had occasioned,

and that a man of landed and funded property was often very hard pressed for twenty pounds.


"There is that new lodge-gate,"

said Pitt,

pointing to it humbly with the bamboo cane,

"I can no more pay for it before the dividends in January than I can fly."


"I can lend you,

Pitt,

till then,"

Rawdon answered rather ruefully;


and they went in and looked at the restored lodge,

where the family arms were just new scraped in stone,

and where old Mrs. Lock,

for the first time these many long years,

had tight doors,

sound roofs,

and whole windows.


CHAPTER XLV


Between Hampshire and London


Sir Pitt Crawley had done more than repair fences and restore dilapidated lodges on the Queen's Crawley estate.


Like a wise man he had set to work to rebuild the injured popularity of his house and stop up the gaps and ruins in which his name had been left by his disreputable and thriftless old predecessor.


He was elected for the borough speedily after his father's demise;


a magistrate,

a member of parliament,

a county magnate and representative of an ancient family,

he made it his duty to show himself before the Hampshire public,

subscribed handsomely to the county charities,

called assiduously upon all the county folk,

and laid himself out in a word to take that position in Hampshire,

and in the Empire afterwards,

to which he thought his prodigious talents justly entitled him.


Lady Jane was instructed to be friendly with the Fuddlestones,

and the Wapshots,

and the other famous baronets,

their neighbours.


Their carriages might frequently be seen in the Queen's Crawley avenue now;


they dined pretty frequently at the Hall (where the cookery was so good that it was clear Lady Jane very seldom had a hand in it),

and in return Pitt and his wife most energetically dined out in all sorts of weather and at all sorts of distances.


For though Pitt did not care for joviality,

being a frigid man of poor hearth and appetite,

yet he considered that to be hospitable and condescending was quite incumbent on-his station,

and every time that he got a headache from too long an after-dinner sitting,

he felt that he was a martyr to duty.


He talked about crops,

corn-laws,

politics,

with the best country gentlemen.


He (who had been formerly inclined to be a sad free-thinker on these points) entered into poaching and game preserving with ardour.


He didn't hunt;


he wasn't a hunting man;


he was a man of books and peaceful habits;


but he thought that the breed of horses must be kept up in the country,

and that the breed of foxes must therefore be looked to,

and for his part,

if his friend,

Sir Huddlestone Fuddlestone,

liked to draw his country and meet as of old the F. hounds used to do at Queen's Crawley,

he should be happy to see him there,

and the gentlemen of the Fuddlestone hunt.


And to Lady Southdown's dismay too he became more orthodox in his tendencies every day;


gave up preaching in public and attending meeting-houses;


went stoutly to church;


called on the Bishop and all the Clergy at Winchester;


and made no objection when the Venerable Archdeacon Trumper asked for a game of whist.


What pangs must have been those of Lady Southdown,

and what an utter castaway she must have thought her son-in-law for permitting such a godless diversion!

And when,

on the return of the family from an oratorio at Winchester,

the Baronet announced to the young ladies that he should next year very probably take them to the "county balls,"

they worshipped him for his kindness.


Lady Jane was only too obedient,

and perhaps glad herself to go.


The Dowager wrote off the direst descriptions of her daughter's worldly behaviour to the authoress of the Washerwoman of Finchley Common at the Cape;


and her house in Brighton being about this time unoccupied,

returned to that watering-place,

her absence being not very much deplored by her children.


We may suppose,

too,

that Rebecca,

on paying a second visit to Queen's Crawley,

did not feel particularly grieved at the absence of the lady of the medicine chest;


though she wrote a Christmas letter to her Ladyship,

in which she respectfully recalled herself to Lady Southdown's recollection,

spoke with gratitude of the delight which her Ladyship's conversation had given her on the former visit,

dilated on the kindness with which her Ladyship had treated her in sickness,

and declared that everything at Queen's Crawley reminded her of her absent friend.


A great part of the altered demeanour and popularity of Sir Pitt Crawley might have been traced to the counsels of that astute little lady of Curzon Street.


"You remain a Baronet --you consent to be a mere country gentleman,"

she said to him,

while he had been her guest in London.


"No,

Sir Pitt Crawley,

I know you better.


I know your talents and your ambition.


You fancy you hide them both,

but you can conceal neither from me.


I showed Lord Steyne your pamphlet on malt.


He was familiar with it,

and said it was in the opinion of the whole Cabinet the most masterly thing that had appeared on the subject.


The Ministry has its eye upon you,

and I know what you want.


You want to distinguish yourself in Parliament;


every one says you are the finest speaker in England (for your speeches at Oxford are still remembered).


You want to be Member for the County,

where,

with your own vote and your borough at your back,

you can command anything.


And you want to be Baron Crawley of Queen's Crawley,

and will be before you die.


I saw it all.


I could read your heart,

Sir Pitt.


If I had a husband who possessed your intellect as he does your name,

I sometimes think I should not be unworthy of him --but --but I am your kinswoman now,"

she added with a laugh.


"Poor little penniless,

I have got a little interest --and who knows,

perhaps the mouse may be able to aid the lion."


Pitt Crawley was amazed and enraptured with her speech.


"How that woman comprehends me!"

he said.


"I never could get Jane to read three pages of the malt pamphlet.


She has no idea that I have commanding talents or secret ambition.


So they remember my speaking at Oxford,

do they?


The rascals!

Now that I represent my borough and may sit for the county,

they begin to recollect me!

Why,

Lord Steyne cut me at the levee last year;


they are beginning to find out that Pitt Crawley is some one at last.


Yes,

the man was always the same whom these people neglected: it was only the opportunity that was wanting,

and I will show them now that I can speak and act as well as write.


Achilles did not declare himself until they gave him the sword.


I hold it now,

and the world shall yet hear of Pitt Crawley."


Therefore it was that this roguish diplomatist has grown so hospitable;


that he was so civil to oratorios and hospitals;


so kind to Deans and Chapters;


so generous in giving and accepting dinners;


so uncommonly gracious to farmers on market-days;


and so much interested about county business;


and that the Christmas at the Hall was the gayest which had been known there for many a long day.


On Christmas Day a great family gathering took place.


All the Crawleys from the Rectory came to dine.


Rebecca was as frank and fond of Mrs. Bute as if the other had never been her enemy;


she was affectionately interested in the dear girls,

and surprised at the progress which they had made in music since her time,

and insisted upon encoring one of the duets out of the great song-books which Jim,

grumbling,

had been forced to bring under his arm from the Rectory.


Mrs. Bute,

perforce,

was obliged to adopt a decent demeanour towards the little adventuress --of course being free to discourse with her daughters afterwards about the absurd respect with which Sir Pitt treated his sister-in-law.


But Jim,

who had sat next to her at dinner,

declared she was a trump,

and one and all of the Rector's family agreed that the little Rawdon was a fine boy.


They respected a possible baronet in the boy,

between whom and the title there was only the little sickly pale Pitt Binkie.


The children were very good friends.


Pitt Binkie was too little a dog for such a big dog as Rawdon to play with;


and Matilda being only a girl,

of course not fit companion for a young gentleman who was near eight years old,

and going into jackets very soon.


He took the command of this small party at once --the little girl and the little boy following him about with great reverence at such times as he condescended to sport with them.


His happiness and pleasure in the country were extreme.


The kitchen garden pleased him hugely,

the flowers moderately,

but the pigeons and the poultry,

and the stables when he was allowed to visit them,

were delightful objects to him.


He resisted being kissed by the Misses Crawley,

but he allowed Lady Jane sometimes to embrace him,

and it was by her side that he liked to sit when,

the signal to retire to the drawing-room being given,

the ladies left the gentlemen to their claret --by her side rather than by his mother.


For Rebecca,

seeing that tenderness was the fashion,

called Rawdon to her one evening and stooped down and kissed him in the presence of all the ladies.


He looked her full in the face after the operation,

trembling and turning very red,

as his wont was when moved.


"You never kiss me at home,

Mamma,"

he said,

at which there was a general silence and consternation and a by no means pleasant look in Becky's eyes.


Rawdon was fond of his sister-in-law,

for her regard for his son.


Lady Jane and Becky did not get on quite so well at this visit as on occasion of the former one,

when the Colonel's wife was bent upon pleasing.


Those two speeches of the child struck rather a chill.


Perhaps Sir Pitt was rather too attentive to her.


But Rawdon,

as became his age and size,

was fonder of the society of the men than of the women,

and never wearied of accompanying his sire to the stables,

whither the Colonel retired to smoke his cigar --Jim,

the Rector's son,

sometimes joining his cousin in that and other amusements.


He and the Baronet's keeper were very close friends,

their mutual taste for "dawgs" bringing them much together.


On one day,

Mr. James,

the Colonel,

and Horn,

the keeper,

went and shot pheasants,

taking little Rawdon with them.


On another most blissful morning,

these four gentlemen partook of the amusement of rat-hunting in a barn,

than which sport Rawdon as yet had never seen anything more noble.


They stopped up the ends of certain drains in the barn,

into the other openings of which ferrets were inserted,

and then stood silently aloof,

with uplifted stakes in their hands,

and an anxious little terrier (Mr. James's celebrated "dawg" Forceps,

indeed) scarcely breathing from excitement,

listening motionless on three legs,

to the faint squeaking of the rats below.


Desperately bold at last,

the persecuted animals bolted above-ground --the terrier accounted for one,

the keeper for another;


Rawdon,

from flurry and excitement,

missed his rat,

but on the other hand he half-murdered a ferret.


But the greatest day of all was that on which Sir Huddlestone Fuddlestone's hounds met upon the lawn at Queen's Crawley.


That was a famous sight for little Rawdon.


At half-past ten,

Tom Moody,

Sir Huddlestone Fuddlestone's huntsman,

was seen trotting up the avenue,

followed by the noble pack of hounds in a compact body --the rear being brought up by the two whips clad in stained scarlet frocks --light hard-featured lads on well-bred lean horses,

possessing marvellous dexterity in casting the points of their long heavy whips at the thinnest part of any dog's skin who dares to straggle from the main body,

or to take the slightest notice,

or even so much as wink,

at the hares and rabbits starting under their noses.


Next comes boy Jack,

Tom Moody's son,

who weighs five stone,

measures eight-and-forty inches,

and will never be any bigger.


He is perched on a large raw-boned hunter,

half-covered by a capacious saddle.


This animal is Sir Huddlestone Fuddlestone's favourite horse the Nob.


Other horses,

ridden by other small boys,

arrive from time to time,

awaiting their masters,

who will come cantering on anon.


Tom Moody rides up to the door of the Hall,

where he is welcomed by the butler,

who offers him drink,

which he declines.


He and his pack then draw off into a sheltered corner of the lawn,

where the dogs roll on the grass,

and play or growl angrily at one another,

ever and anon breaking out into furious fight speedily to be quelled by Tom's voice,

unmatched at rating,

or the snaky thongs of the whips.


Many young gentlemen canter up on thoroughbred hacks,

spatter-dashed to the knee,

and enter the house to drink cherry-brandy and pay their respects to the ladies,

or,

more modest and sportsmanlike,

divest themselves of their mud-boots,

exchange their hacks for their hunters,

and warm their blood by a preliminary gallop round the lawn.


Then they collect round the pack in the corner and talk with Tom Moody of past sport,

and the merits of Sniveller and Diamond,

and of the state of the country and of the wretched breed of foxes.


Sir Huddlestone presently appears mounted on a clever cob and rides up to the Hall,

where he enters and does the civil thing by the ladies,

after which,

being a man of few words,

he proceeds to business.


The hounds are drawn up to the hall-door,

and little Rawdon descends amongst them,

excited yet half-alarmed by the caresses which they bestow upon him,

at the thumps he receives from their waving tails,

and at their canine bickerings,

scarcely restrained by Tom Moody's tongue and lash.


Meanwhile,

Sir Huddlestone has hoisted himself unwieldily on the Nob:

"Let's try Sowster's Spinney,

Tom,"

says the Baronet,

"Farmer Mangle tells me there are two foxes in it."


Tom blows his horn and trots off,

followed by the pack,

by the whips,

by the young gents from Winchester,

by the farmers of the neighbourhood,

by the labourers of the parish on foot,

with whom the day is a great holiday,

Sir Huddlestone bringing up the rear with Colonel Crawley,

and the whole cortege disappears down the avenue.


The Reverend Bute Crawley (who has been too modest to appear at the public meet before his nephew's windows),

whom Tom Moody remembers forty years back a slender divine riding the wildest horses,

jumping the widest brooks,

and larking over the newest gates in the country --his Reverence,

we say,

happens to trot out from the Rectory Lane on his powerful black horse just as Sir Huddlestone passes;


he joins the worthy Baronet.


Hounds and horsemen disappear,

and little Rawdon remains on the doorsteps,

wondering and happy.


During the progress of this memorable holiday,

little Rawdon,

if he had got no special liking for his uncle,

always awful and cold and locked up in his study,

plunged in justice-business and surrounded by bailiffs and farmers --has gained the good graces of his married and maiden aunts,

of the two little folks of the Hall,

and of Jim of the Rectory,

whom Sir Pitt is encouraging to pay his addresses to one of the young ladies,

with an understanding doubtless that he shall be presented to the living when it shall be vacated by his fox-hunting old sire.


Jim has given up that sport himself and confines himself to a little harmless duck- or snipe-shooting,

or a little quiet trifling with the rats during the Christmas holidays,

after which he will return to the University and try and not be plucked,

once more.


He has already eschewed green coats,

red neckcloths,

and other worldly ornaments,

and is preparing himself for a change in his condition.


In this cheap and thrifty way Sir Pitt tries to pay off his debt to his family.


Also before this merry Christmas was over,

the Baronet had screwed up courage enough to give his brother another draft on his bankers,

and for no less a sum than a hundred pounds,

an act which caused Sir Pitt cruel pangs at first,

but which made him glow afterwards to think himself one of the most generous of men.


Rawdon and his son went away with the utmost heaviness of heart.


Becky and the ladies parted with some alacrity,

however,

and our friend returned to London to commence those avocations with which we find her occupied when this chapter begins.


Under her care the Crawley House in Great Gaunt Street was quite rejuvenescent and ready for the reception of Sir Pitt and his family,

when the Baronet came to London to attend his duties in Parliament and to assume that position in the country for which his vast genius fitted him.


For the first session,

this profound dissembler hid his projects and never opened his lips but to present a petition from Mudbury.


But he attended assiduously in his place and learned thoroughly the routine and business of the House.


At home he gave himself up to the perusal of Blue Books,

to the alarm and wonder of Lady Jane,

who thought he was killing himself by late hours and intense application.


And he made acquaintance with the ministers,

and the chiefs of his party,

determining to rank as one of them before many years were over.


Lady Jane's sweetness and kindness had inspired Rebecca with such a contempt for her ladyship as the little woman found no small difficulty in concealing.


That sort of goodness and simplicity which Lady Jane possessed annoyed our friend Becky,

and it was impossible for her at times not to show,

or to let the other divine,

her scorn.


Her presence,

too,

rendered Lady Jane uneasy.


Her husband talked constantly with Becky.


Signs of intelligence seemed to pass between them,

and Pitt spoke with her on subjects on which he never thought of discoursing with Lady Jane.


The latter did not understand them,

to be sure,

but it was mortifying to remain silent;


still more mortifying to know that you had nothing to say,

and hear that little audacious Mrs. Rawdon dashing on from subject to subject,

with a word for every man,

and a joke always pat;


and to sit in one's own house alone,

by the fireside,

and watching all the men round your rival.


In the country,

when Lady Jane was telling stories to the children,

who clustered about her knees (little Rawdon into the bargain,

who was very fond of her),

and Becky came into the room,

sneering with green scornful eyes,

poor Lady Jane grew silent under those baleful glances.


Her simple little fancies shrank away tremulously,

as fairies in the story-books,

before a superior bad angel.


She could not go on,

although Rebecca,

with the smallest inflection of sarcasm in her voice,

besought her to continue that charming story.


And on her side gentle thoughts and simple pleasures were odious to Mrs. Becky;


they discorded with her;


she hated people for liking them;


she spurned children and children-lovers.


"I have no taste for bread and butter,"

she would say,

when caricaturing Lady Jane and her ways to my Lord Steyne.


"No more has a certain person for holy water,"

his lordship replied with a bow and a grin and a great jarring laugh afterwards.


So these two ladies did not see much of each other except upon those occasions when the younger brother's wife,

having an object to gain from the other,

frequented her.


They my-loved and my-deared each other assiduously,

but kept apart generally,

whereas Sir Pitt,

in the midst of his multiplied avocations,

found daily time to see his sister-in-law.


On the occasion of his first Speaker's dinner,

Sir Pitt took the opportunity of appearing before his sister-in-law in his uniform --that old diplomatic suit which he had worn when attache to the Pumpernickel legation.


Becky complimented him upon that dress and admired him almost as much as his own wife and children,

to whom he displayed himself before he set out.


She said that it was only the thoroughbred gentleman who could wear the Court suit with advantage: it was only your men of ancient race whom the culotte courte became.


Pitt looked down with complacency at his legs,

which had not,

in truth,

much more symmetry or swell than the lean Court sword which dangled by his side --looked down at his legs,

and thought in his heart that he was killing.


When he was gone,

Mrs. Becky made a caricature of his figure,

which she showed to Lord Steyne when he arrived.


His lordship carried off the sketch,

delighted with the accuracy of the resemblance.


He had done Sir Pitt Crawley the honour to meet him at Mrs. Becky's house and had been most gracious to the new Baronet and member.


Pitt was struck too by the deference with which the great Peer treated his sister-in-law,

by her ease and sprightliness in the conversation,

and by the delight with which the other men of the party listened to her talk.


Lord Steyne made no doubt but that the Baronet had only commenced his career in public life,

and expected rather anxiously to hear him as an orator;


as they were neighbours (for Great Gaunt Street leads into Gaunt Square,

whereof Gaunt House,

as everybody knows,

forms one side) my lord hoped that as soon as Lady Steyne arrived in London she would have the honour of making the acquaintance of Lady Crawley.


He left a card upon his neighbour in the course of a day or two,

having never thought fit to notice his predecessor,

though they had lived near each other for near a century past.


In the midst of these intrigues and fine parties and wise and brilliant personages Rawdon felt himself more and more isolated every day.


He was allowed to go to the club more;


to dine abroad with bachelor friends;


to come and go when he liked,

without any questions being asked.


And he and Rawdon the younger many a time would walk to Gaunt Street and sit with the lady and the children there while Sir Pitt was closeted with Rebecca,

on his way to the House,

or on his return from it.


The ex-Colonel would sit for hours in his brother's house very silent,

and thinking and doing as little as possible.


He was glad to be employed of an errand;


to go and make inquiries about a horse or a servant,

or to carve the roast mutton for the dinner of the children.


He was beat and cowed into laziness and submission.


Delilah had imprisoned him and cut his hair off,

too.


The bold and reckless young blood of ten-years back was subjugated and was turned into a torpid,

submissive,

middle-aged,

stout gentleman.


And poor Lady Jane was aware that Rebecca had captivated her husband,

although she and Mrs. Rawdon my-deared and my-loved each other every day they met.


CHAPTER XLVI


Struggles and Trials


Our friends at Brompton were meanwhile passing their Christmas after their fashion and in a manner by no means too cheerful.


Out of the hundred pounds a year,

which was about the amount of her income,

the Widow Osborne had been in the habit of giving up nearly three-fourths to her father and mother,

for the expenses of herself and her little boy.


With 120_l_.


more,

supplied by Jos,

this family of four people,

attended by a single Irish servant who also did for Clapp and his wife,

might manage to live in decent comfort through the year,

and hold up their heads yet,

and be able to give a friend a dish of tea still,

after the storms and disappointments of their early life.


Sedley still maintained his ascendency over the family of Mr. Clapp,

his ex-clerk.


Clapp remembered the time when,

sitting on the edge of the chair,

he tossed off a bumper to the health of "Mrs. S --,

Miss Emmy,

and Mr. Joseph in India,"

at the merchant's rich table in Russell Square.


Time magnified the splendour of those recollections in the honest clerk's bosom.


Whenever he came up from the kitchen-parlour to the drawing-room and partook of tea or gin-and-water with Mr. Sedley,

he would say,

"This was not what you was accustomed to once,

sir,"

and as gravely and reverentially drink the health of the ladies as he had done in the days of their utmost prosperity.


He thought Miss

'Melia's playing the divinest music ever performed,

and her the finest lady.


He never would sit down before Sedley at the club even,

nor would he have that gentleman's character abused by any member of the society.


He had seen the first men in London shaking hands with Mr. S --;


he said,

"He'd known him in times when Rothschild might be seen on

'Change with him any day,

and he owed him personally everythink."


Clapp,

with the best of characters and handwritings,

had been able very soon after his master's disaster to find other employment for himself.


"Such a little fish as me can swim in any bucket,"

he used to remark,

and a member of the house from which old Sedley had seceded was very glad to make use of Mr. Clapp's services and to reward them with a comfortable salary.


In fine,

all Sedley's wealthy friends had dropped off one by one,

and this poor ex-dependent still remained faithfully attached to him.


Out of the small residue of her income which Amelia kept back for herself,

the widow had need of all the thrift and care possible in order to enable her to keep her darling boy dressed in such a manner as became George Osborne's son,

and to defray the expenses of the little school to which,

after much misgiving and reluctance and many secret pangs and fears on her own part,

she had been induced to send the lad.


She had sat up of nights conning lessons and spelling over crabbed grammars and geography books in order to teach them to Georgy.


She had worked even at the Latin accidence,

fondly hoping that she might be capable of instructing him in that language.


To part with him all day,

to send him out to the mercy of a schoolmaster's cane and his schoolfellows' roughness,

was almost like weaning him over again to that weak mother,

so tremulous and full of sensibility.


He,

for his part,

rushed off to the school with the utmost happiness.


He was longing for the change.


That childish gladness wounded his mother,

who was herself so grieved to part with him.


She would rather have had him more sorry,

she thought,

and then was deeply repentant within herself for daring to be so selfish as to wish her own son to be unhappy.


Georgy made great progress in the school,

which was kept by a friend of his mother's constant admirer,

the Rev. Mr. Binny.


He brought home numberless prizes and testimonials of ability.


He told his mother countless stories every night about his school-companions: and what a fine fellow Lyons was,

and what a sneak Sniffin was,

and how Steel's father actually supplied the meat for the establishment,

whereas Golding's mother came in a carriage to fetch him every Saturday,

and how Neat had straps to his trowsers --might he have straps?


--and how Bull Major was so strong (though only in Eutropius) that it was believed he could lick the Usher,

Mr. Ward,

himself.


So Amelia learned to know every one of the boys in that school as well as Georgy himself,

and of nights she used to help him in his exercises and puzzle her little head over his lessons as eagerly as if she was herself going in the morning into the presence of the master.


Once,

after a certain combat with Master Smith,

George came home to his mother with a black eye,

and bragged prodigiously to his parent and his delighted old grandfather about his valour in the fight,

in which,

if the truth was known he did not behave with particular heroism,

and in which he decidedly had the worst.


But Amelia has never forgiven that Smith to this day,

though he is now a peaceful apothecary near Leicester Square.


In these quiet labours and harmless cares the gentle widow's life was passing away,

a silver hair or two marking the progress of time on her head and a line deepening ever so little on her fair forehead.


She used to smile at these marks of time.


"What matters it,"

she asked,

"For an old woman like me?"

All she hoped for was to live to see her son great,

famous,

and glorious,

as he deserved to be.


She kept his copy-books,

his drawings,

and compositions,

and showed them about in her little circle as if they were miracles of genius.


She confided some of these specimens to Miss Dobbin,

to show them to Miss Osborne,

George's aunt,

to show them to Mr. Osborne himself --to make that old man repent of his cruelty and ill feeling towards him who was gone.


All her husband's faults and foibles she had buried in the grave with him: she only remembered the lover,

who had married her at all sacrifices,

the noble husband,

so brave and beautiful,

in whose arms she had hung on the morning when he had gone away to fight,

and die gloriously for his king.


From heaven the hero must be smiling down upon that paragon of a boy whom he had left to comfort and console her.


We have seen how one of George's grandfathers (Mr. Osborne),

in his easy chair in Russell Square,

daily grew more violent and moody,

and how his daughter,

with her fine carriage,

and her fine horses,

and her name on half the public charity-lists of the town,

was a lonely,

miserable,

persecuted old maid.


She thought again and again of the beautiful little boy,

her brother's son,

whom she had seen.


She longed to be allowed to drive in the fine carriage to the house in which he lived,

and she used to look out day after day as she took her solitary drive in the park,

in hopes that she might see him.


Her sister,

the banker's lady,

occasionally condescended to pay her old home and companion a visit in Russell Square.


She brought a couple of sickly children attended by a prim nurse,

and in a faint genteel giggling tone cackled to her sister about her fine acquaintance,

and how her little Frederick was the image of Lord Claud Lollypop and her sweet Maria had been noticed by the Baroness as they were driving in their donkey-chaise at Roehampton.


She urged her to make her papa do something for the darlings.


Frederick she had determined should go into the Guards;


and if they made an elder son of him (and Mr. Bullock was positively ruining and pinching himself to death to buy land),

how was the darling girl to be provided for?


"I expect YOU,

dear,"

Mrs. Bullock would say,

"for of course my share of our Papa's property must go to the head of the house,

you know.


Dear Rhoda McMull will disengage the whole of the Castletoddy property as soon as poor dear Lord Castletoddy dies,

who is quite epileptic;


and little Macduff McMull will be Viscount Castletoddy.


Both the Mr. Bludyers of Mincing Lane have settled their fortunes on Fanny Bludyer's little boy.


My darling Frederick must positively be an eldest son;


and --and do ask Papa to bring us back his account in Lombard Street,

will you,

dear?


It doesn't look well,

his going to Stumpy and Rowdy's."


After which kind of speeches,

in which fashion and the main chance were blended together,

and after a kiss,

which was like the contact of an oyster --Mrs. Frederick Bullock would gather her starched nurslings and simper back into her carriage.


Every visit which this leader of ton paid to her family was more unlucky for her.


Her father paid more money into Stumpy and Rowdy's.


Her patronage became more and more insufferable.


The poor widow in the little cottage at Brompton,

guarding her treasure there,

little knew how eagerly some people coveted it.


On that night when Jane Osborne had told her father that she had seen his grandson,

the old man had made her no reply,

but he had shown no anger --and had bade her good-night on going himself to his room in rather a kindly voice.


And he must have meditated on what she said and have made some inquiries of the Dobbin family regarding her visit,

for a fortnight after it took place,

he asked her where was her little French watch and chain she used to wear?


"I bought it with my money,

sir,"

she said in a great fright.


"Go and order another like it,

or a better if you can get it,"

said the old gentleman and lapsed again into silence.


Of late the Misses Dobbin more than once repeated their entreaties to Amelia,

to allow George to visit them.


His aunt had shown her inclination;


perhaps his grandfather himself,

they hinted,

might be disposed to be reconciled to him.


Surely,

Amelia could not refuse such advantageous chances for the boy.


Nor could she,

but she acceded to their overtures with a very heavy and suspicious heart,

was always uneasy during the child's absence from her,

and welcomed him back as if he was rescued out of some danger.


He brought back money and toys,

at which the widow looked with alarm and jealousy;


she asked him always if he had seen any gentleman --"Only old Sir William,

who drove him about in the four-wheeled chaise,

and Mr. Dobbin,

who arrived on the beautiful bay horse in the afternoon --in the green coat and pink neck-cloth,

with the gold-headed whip,

who promised to show him the Tower of London and take him out with the Surrey hounds."


At last,

he said,

"There was an old gentleman,

with thick eyebrows,

and a broad hat,

and large chain and seals."


He came one day as the coachman was lunging Georgy round the lawn on the gray pony.


"He looked at me very much.


He shook very much.


I said

'My name is Norval' after dinner.


My aunt began to cry.


She is always crying."


Such was George's report on that night.


Then Amelia knew that the boy had seen his grandfather;


and looked out feverishly for a proposal which she was sure would follow,

and which came,

in fact,

in a few days afterwards.


Mr. Osborne formally offered to take the boy and make him heir to the fortune which he had intended that his father should inherit.


He would make Mrs. George Osborne an allowance,

such as to assure her a decent competency.


If Mrs. George Osborne proposed to marry again,

as Mr. O. heard was her intention,

he would not withdraw that allowance.


But it must be understood that the child would live entirely with his grandfather in Russell Square,

or at whatever other place Mr. O. should select,

and that he would be occasionally permitted to see Mrs. George Osborne at her own residence.


This message was brought or read to her in a letter one day,

when her mother was from home and her father absent as usual in the City.


She was never seen angry but twice or thrice in her life,

and it was in one of these moods that Mr. Osborne's attorney had the fortune to behold her.


She rose up trembling and flushing very much as soon as,

after reading the letter,

Mr. Poe handed it to her,

and she tore the paper into a hundred fragments,

which she trod on.


"I marry again!

I take money to part from my child!

Who dares insult me by proposing such a thing?


Tell Mr. Osborne it is a cowardly letter,

sir --a cowardly letter --I will not answer it.


I wish you good morning,

sir --and she bowed me out of the room like a tragedy Queen,"

said the lawyer who told the story.


Her parents never remarked her agitation on that day,

and she never told them of the interview.


They had their own affairs to interest them,

affairs which deeply interested this innocent and unconscious lady.


The old gentleman,

her father,

was always dabbling in speculation.


We have seen how the wine company and the coal company had failed him.


But,

prowling about the City always eagerly and restlessly still,

he lighted upon some other scheme,

of which he thought so well that he embarked in it in spite of the remonstrances of Mr. Clapp,

to whom indeed he never dared to tell how far he had engaged himself in it.


And as it was always Mr. Sedley's maxim not to talk about money matters before women,

they had no inkling of the misfortunes that were in store for them until the unhappy old gentleman was forced to make gradual confessions.


The bills of the little household,

which had been settled weekly,

first fell into arrear.


The remittances had not arrived from India,

Mr. Sedley told his wife with a disturbed face.


As she had paid her bills very regularly hitherto,

one or two of the tradesmen to whom the poor lady was obliged to go round asking for time were very angry at a delay to which they were perfectly used from more irregular customers.


Emmy's contribution,

paid over cheerfully without any questions,

kept the little company in half-rations however.


And the first six months passed away pretty easily,

old Sedley still keeping up with the notion that his shares must rise and that all would be well.


No sixty pounds,

however,

came to help the household at the end of the half year,

and it fell deeper and deeper into trouble --Mrs. Sedley,

who was growing infirm and was much shaken,

remained silent or wept a great deal with Mrs. Clapp in the kitchen.


The butcher was particularly surly,

the grocer insolent: once or twice little Georgy had grumbled about the dinners,

and Amelia,

who still would have been satisfied with a slice of bread for her own dinner,

could not but perceive that her son was neglected and purchased little things out of her private purse to keep the boy in health.


At last they told her,

or told her such a garbled story as people in difficulties tell.


One day,

her own money having been received,

and Amelia about to pay it over,

she,

who had kept an account of the moneys expended by her,

proposed to keep a certain portion back out of her dividend,

having contracted engagements for a new suit for Georgy.


Then it came out that Jos's remittances were not paid,

that the house was in difficulties,

which Amelia ought to have seen before,

her mother said,

but she cared for nothing or nobody except Georgy.


At this she passed all her money across the table,

without a word,

to her mother,

and returned to her room to cry her eyes out.


She had a great access of sensibility too that day,

when obliged to go and countermand the clothes,

the darling clothes on which she had set her heart for Christmas Day,

and the cut and fashion of which she had arranged in many conversations with a small milliner,

her friend.


Hardest of all,

she had to break the matter to Georgy,

who made a loud outcry.


Everybody had new clothes at Christmas.


The others would laugh at him.


He would have new clothes.


She had promised them to him.


The poor widow had only kisses to give him.


She darned the old suit in tears.


She cast about among her little ornaments to see if she could sell anything to procure the desired novelties.


There was her India shawl that Dobbin had sent her.


She remembered in former days going with her mother to a fine India shop on Ludgate Hill,

where the ladies had all sorts of dealings and bargains in these articles.


Her cheeks flushed and her eyes shone with pleasure as she thought of this resource,

and she kissed away George to school in the morning,

smiling brightly after him.


The boy felt that there was good news in her look.


Packing up her shawl in a handkerchief (another of the gifts of the good Major),

she hid them under her cloak and walked flushed and eager all the way to Ludgate Hill,

tripping along by the park wall and running over the crossings,

so that many a man turned as she hurried by him and looked after her rosy pretty face.


She calculated how she should spend the proceeds of her shawl --how,

besides the clothes,

she would buy the books that he longed for,

and pay his half-year's schooling;


and how she would buy a cloak for her father instead of that old great-coat which he wore.


She was not mistaken as to the value of the Major's gift.


It was a very fine and beautiful web,

and the merchant made a very good bargain when he gave her twenty guineas for her shawl.


She ran on amazed and flurried with her riches to Darton's shop,

in St. Paul's Churchyard,

and there purchased the Parents' Assistant and the Sandford and Merton Georgy longed for,

and got into the coach there with her parcel,

and went home exulting.


And she pleased herself by writing in the fly-leaf in her neatest little hand,

"George Osborne,

A Christmas gift from his affectionate mother."


The books are extant to this day,

with the fair delicate superscription.


She was going from her own room with the books in her hand to place them on George's table,

where he might find them on his return from school,

when in the passage,

she and her mother met.


The gilt bindings of the seven handsome little volumes caught the old lady's eye.


"What are those?"

she said.


"Some books for Georgy,"

Amelia replied --"I --I promised them to him at Christmas."


"Books!"

cried the elder lady indignantly,

"Books,

when the whole house wants bread!

Books,

when to keep you and your son in luxury,

and your dear father out of gaol,

I've sold every trinket I had,

the India shawl from my back even down to the very spoons,

that our tradesmen mightn't insult us,

and that Mr. Clapp,

which indeed he is justly entitled,

being not a hard landlord,

and a civil man,

and a father,

might have his rent.


Oh,

Amelia!

you break my heart with your books and that boy of yours,

whom you are ruining,

though part with him you will not.


Oh,

Amelia,

may God send you a more dutiful child than I have had!

There's Jos,

deserts his father in his old age;


and there's George,

who might be provided for,

and who might be rich,

going to school like a lord,

with a gold watch and chain round his neck --while my dear,

dear old man is without a sh --shilling."


Hysteric sobs and cries ended Mrs. Sedley's speech --it echoed through every room in the small house,

whereof the other female inmates heard every word of the colloquy.


"Oh,

Mother,

Mother!"

cried poor Amelia in reply.


"You told me nothing --I --I promised him the books.


I --I only sold my shawl this morning.


Take the money --take everything" --and with quivering hands she took out her silver,

and her sovereigns --her precious golden sovereigns,

which she thrust into the hands of her mother,

whence they overflowed and tumbled,

rolling down the stairs.


And then she went into her room,

and sank down in despair and utter misery.


She saw it all now.


Her selfishness was sacrificing the boy.


But for her he might have wealth,

station,

education,

and his father's place,

which the elder George had forfeited for her sake.


She had but to speak the words,

and her father was restored to competency and the boy raised to fortune.


Oh,

what a conviction it was to that tender and stricken heart!


CHAPTER XLVII


Gaunt House


All the world knows that Lord Steyne's town palace stands in Gaunt Square,

out of which Great Gaunt Street leads,

whither we first conducted Rebecca,

in the time of the departed Sir Pitt Crawley.


Peering over the railings and through the black trees into the garden of the Square,

you see a few miserable governesses with wan-faced pupils wandering round and round it,

and round the dreary grass-plot in the centre of which rises the statue of Lord Gaunt,

who fought at Minden,

in a three-tailed wig,

and otherwise habited like a Roman Emperor.


Gaunt House occupies nearly a side of the Square.


The remaining three sides are composed of mansions that have passed away into dowagerism --tall,

dark houses,

with window-frames of stone,

or picked out of a lighter red.


Little light seems to be behind those lean,

comfortless casements now,

and hospitality to have passed away from those doors as much as the laced lacqueys and link-boys of old times,

who used to put out their torches in the blank iron extinguishers that still flank the lamps over the steps.


Brass plates have penetrated into the square --Doctors,

the Diddlesex Bank Western Branch --the English and European Reunion,

&c.


--it has a dreary look --nor is my Lord Steyne's palace less dreary.


All I have ever seen of it is the vast wall in front,

with the rustic columns at the great gate,

through which an old porter peers sometimes with a fat and gloomy red face --and over the wall the garret and bedroom windows,

and the chimneys,

out of which there seldom comes any smoke now.


For the present Lord Steyne lives at Naples,

preferring the view of the Bay and Capri and Vesuvius to the dreary aspect of the wall in Gaunt Square.


A few score yards down New Gaunt Street,

and leading into Gaunt Mews indeed,

is a little modest back door,

which you would not remark from that of any of the other stables.


But many a little close carriage has stopped at that door,

as my informant (little Tom Eaves,

who knows everything,

and who showed me the place) told me.


"The Prince and Perdita have been in and out of that door,

sir,"

he had often told me;


"Marianne Clarke has entered it with the Duke of  -- -- --.


It conducts to the famous petits appartements of Lord Steyne --one,

sir,

fitted up all in ivory and white satin,

another in ebony and black velvet;


there is a little banqueting-room taken from Sallust's house at Pompeii,

and painted by Cosway --a little private kitchen,

in which every saucepan was silver and all the spits were gold.


It was there that Egalite Orleans roasted partridges on the night when he and the Marquis of Steyne won a hundred thousand from a great personage at ombre.


Half of the money went to the French Revolution,

half to purchase Lord Gaunt's Marquisate and Garter --and the remainder --" but it forms no part of our scheme to tell what became of the remainder,

for every shilling of which,

and a great deal more,

little Tom Eaves,

who knows everybody's affairs,

is ready to account.


Besides his town palace,

the Marquis had castles and palaces in various quarters of the three kingdoms,

whereof the descriptions may be found in the road-books --Castle Strongbow,

with its woods,

on the Shannon shore;


Gaunt Castle,

in Carmarthenshire,

where Richard II was taken prisoner --Gauntly Hall in Yorkshire,

where I have been informed there were two hundred silver teapots for the breakfasts of the guests of the house,

with everything to correspond in splendour;


and Stillbrook in Hampshire,

which was my lord's farm,

an humble place of residence,

of which we all remember the wonderful furniture which was sold at my lord's demise by a late celebrated auctioneer.


The Marchioness of Steyne was of the renowned and ancient family of the Caerlyons,

Marquises of Camelot,

who have preserved the old faith ever since the conversion of the venerable Druid,

their first ancestor,

and whose pedigree goes far beyond the date of the arrival of King Brute in these islands.


Pendragon is the title of the eldest son of the house.


The sons have been called Arthurs,

Uthers,

and Caradocs,

from immemorial time.


Their heads have fallen in many a loyal conspiracy.


Elizabeth chopped off the head of the Arthur of her day,

who had been Chamberlain to Philip and Mary,

and carried letters between the Queen of Scots and her uncles the Guises.


A cadet of the house was an officer of the great Duke and distinguished in the famous Saint Bartholomew conspiracy.


During the whole of Mary's confinement,

the house of Camelot conspired in her behalf.


It was as much injured by its charges in fitting out an armament against the Spaniards,

during the time of the Armada,

as by the fines and confiscations levied on it by Elizabeth for harbouring of priests,

obstinate recusancy,

and popish misdoings.


A recreant of James's time was momentarily perverted from his religion by the arguments of that great theologian,

and the fortunes of the family somewhat restored by his timely weakness.


But the Earl of Camelot,

of the reign of Charles,

returned to the old creed of his family,

and they continued to fight for it,

and ruin themselves for it,

as long as there was a Stuart left to head or to instigate a rebellion.


Lady Mary Caerlyon was brought up at a Parisian convent;


the Dauphiness Marie Antoinette was her godmother.


In the pride of her beauty she had been married --sold,

it was said --to Lord Gaunt,

then at Paris,

who won vast sums from the lady's brother at some of Philip of Orleans's banquets.


The Earl of Gaunt's famous duel with the Count de la Marche,

of the Grey Musqueteers,

was attributed by common report to the pretensions of that officer (who had been a page,

and remained a favourite of the Queen) to the hand of the beautiful Lady Mary Caerlyon.


She was married to Lord Gaunt while the Count lay ill of his wound,

and came to dwell at Gaunt House,

and to figure for a short time in the splendid Court of the Prince of Wales.


Fox had toasted her.


Morris and Sheridan had written songs about her.


Malmesbury had made her his best bow;


Walpole had pronounced her charming;


Devonshire had been almost jealous of her;


but she was scared by the wild pleasures and gaieties of the society into which she was flung,

and after she had borne a couple of sons,

shrank away into a life of devout seclusion.


No wonder that my Lord Steyne,

who liked pleasure and cheerfulness,

was not often seen after their marriage by the side of this trembling,

silent,

superstitious,

unhappy lady.


The before-mentioned Tom Eaves (who has no part in this history,

except that he knew all the great folks in London,

and the stories and mysteries of each family) had further information regarding my Lady Steyne,

which may or may not be true.


"The humiliations,"

Tom used to say,

"which that woman has been made to undergo,

in her own house,

have been frightful;


Lord Steyne has made her sit down to table with women with whom I would rather die than allow Mrs. Eaves to associate --with Lady Crackenbury,

with Mrs. Chippenham,

with Madame de la Cruchecassee,

the French secretary's wife (from every one of which ladies Tom Eaves --who would have sacrificed his wife for knowing them --was too glad to get a bow or a dinner) with the REIGNING FAVOURITE in a word.


And do you suppose that that woman,

of that family,

who are as proud as the Bourbons,

and to whom the Steynes are but lackeys,

mushrooms of yesterday (for after all,

they are not of the Old Gaunts,

but of a minor and doubtful branch of the house);


do you suppose,

I say (the reader must bear in mind that it is always Tom Eaves who speaks) that the Marchioness of Steyne,

the haughtiest woman in England,

would bend down to her husband so submissively if there were not some cause?


Pooh!

I tell you there are secret reasons.


I tell you that,

in the emigration,

the Abbe de la Marche who was here and was employed in the Quiberoon business with Puisaye and Tinteniac,

was the same Colonel of Mousquetaires Gris with whom Steyne fought in the year

'86 --that he and the Marchioness met again --that it was after the Reverend Colonel was shot in Brittany that Lady Steyne took to those extreme practices of devotion which she carries on now;


for she is closeted with her director every day --she is at service at Spanish Place,

every morning,

I've watched her there --that is,

I've happened to be passing there --and depend on it,

there's a mystery in her case.


People are not so unhappy unless they have something to repent of,"

added Tom Eaves with a knowing wag of his head;


"and depend on it,

that woman would not be so submissive as she is if the Marquis had not some sword to hold over her."


So,

if Mr. Eaves's information be correct,

it is very likely that this lady,

in her high station,

had to submit to many a private indignity and to hide many secret griefs under a calm face.


And let us,

my brethren who have not our names in the Red Book,

console ourselves by thinking comfortably how miserable our betters may be,

and that Damocles,

who sits on satin cushions and is served on gold plate,

has an awful sword hanging over his head in the shape of a bailiff,

or an hereditary disease,

or a family secret,

which peeps out every now and then from the embroidered arras in a ghastly manner,

and will be sure to drop one day or the other in the right place.


In comparing,

too,

the poor man's situation with that of the great,

there is (always according to Mr. Eaves) another source of comfort for the former.


You who have little or no patrimony to bequeath or to inherit,

may be on good terms with your father or your son,

whereas the heir of a great prince,

such as my Lord Steyne,

must naturally be angry at being kept out of his kingdom,

and eye the occupant of it with no very agreeable glances.


"Take it as a rule,"

this sardonic old Laves would say,

"the fathers and elder sons of all great families hate each other.


The Crown Prince is always in opposition to the crown or hankering after it.


Shakespeare knew the world,

my good sir,

and when he describes Prince Hal (from whose family the Gaunts pretend to be descended,

though they are no more related to John of Gaunt than you are) trying on his father's coronet,

he gives you a natural description of all heirs apparent.


If you were heir to a dukedom and a thousand pounds a day,

do you mean to say you would not wish for possession?


Pooh!

And it stands to reason that every great man,

having experienced this feeling towards his father,

must be aware that his son entertains it towards himself;


and so they can't but be suspicious and hostile.


"Then again,

as to the feeling of elder towards younger sons.


My dear sir,

you ought to know that every elder brother looks upon the cadets of the house as his natural enemies,

who deprive him of so much ready money which ought to be his by right.


I have often heard George Mac Turk,

Lord Bajazet's eldest son,

say that if he had his will when he came to the title,

he would do what the sultans do,

and clear the estate by chopping off all his younger brothers' heads at once;


and so the case is,

more or less,

with them all.


I tell you they are all Turks in their hearts.


Pooh!

sir,

they know the world."


And here,

haply,

a great man coming up,

Tom Eaves's hat would drop off his head,

and he would rush forward with a bow and a grin,

which showed that he knew the world too --in the Tomeavesian way,

that is.


And having laid out every shilling of his fortune on an annuity,

Tom could afford to bear no malice to his nephews and nieces,

and to have no other feeling with regard to his betters but a constant and generous desire to dine with them.


Between the Marchioness and the natural and tender regard of mother for children,

there was that cruel barrier placed of difference of faith.


The very love which she might feel for her sons only served to render the timid and pious lady more fearful and unhappy.


The gulf which separated them was fatal and impassable.


She could not stretch her weak arms across it,

or draw her children over to that side away from which her belief told her there was no safety.


During the youth of his sons,

Lord Steyne,

who was a good scholar and amateur casuist,

had no better sport in the evening after dinner in the country than in setting the boys' tutor,

the Reverend Mr. Trail (now my Lord Bishop of Ealing) on her ladyship's director,

Father Mole,

over their wine,

and in pitting Oxford against St. Acheul.


He cried "Bravo,

Latimer!

Well said,

Loyola!"

alternately;


he promised Mole a bishopric if he would come over,

and vowed he would use all his influence to get Trail a cardinal's hat if he would secede.


Neither divine allowed himself to be conquered,

and though the fond mother hoped that her youngest and favourite son would be reconciled to her church --his mother church --a sad and awful disappointment awaited the devout lady --a disappointment which seemed to be a judgement upon her for the sin of her marriage.


My Lord Gaunt married,

as every person who frequents the Peerage knows,

the Lady Blanche Thistlewood,

a daughter of the noble house of Bareacres,

before mentioned in this veracious history.


A wing of Gaunt House was assigned to this couple;


for the head of the family chose to govern it,

and while he reigned to reign supreme;


his son and heir,

however,

living little at home,

disagreeing with his wife,

and borrowing upon post-obits such moneys as he required beyond the very moderate sums which his father was disposed to allow him.


The Marquis knew every shilling of his son's debts.


At his lamented demise,

he was found himself to be possessor of many of his heir's bonds,

purchased for their benefit,

and devised by his Lordship to the children of his younger son.


As,

to my Lord Gaunt's dismay,

and the chuckling delight of his natural enemy and father,

the Lady Gaunt had no children --the Lord George Gaunt was desired to return from Vienna,

where he was engaged in waltzing and diplomacy,

and to contract a matrimonial alliance with the Honourable Joan,

only daughter of John Johnes,

First Baron Helvellyn,

and head of the firm of Jones,

Brown,

and Robinson,

of Threadneedle Street,

Bankers;


from which union sprang several sons and daughters,

whose doings do not appertain to this story.


The marriage at first was a happy and prosperous one.


My Lord George Gaunt could not only read,

but write pretty correctly.


He spoke French with considerable fluency;


and was one of the finest waltzers in Europe.


With these talents,

and his interest at home,

there was little doubt that his lordship would rise to the highest dignities in his profession.


The lady,

his wife,

felt that courts were her sphere,

and her wealth enabled her to receive splendidly in those continental towns whither her husband's diplomatic duties led him.


There was talk of appointing him minister,

and bets were laid at the Travellers' that he would be ambassador ere long,

when of a sudden,

rumours arrived of the secretary's extraordinary behaviour.


At a grand diplomatic dinner given by his chief,

he had started up and declared that a pate de foie gras was poisoned.


He went to a ball at the hotel of the Bavarian envoy,

the Count de Springbock-Hohenlaufen,

with his head shaved and dressed as a Capuchin friar.


It was not a masked ball,

as some folks wanted to persuade you.


It was something queer,

people whispered.


His grandfather was so.


It was in the family.


His wife and family returned to this country and took up their abode at Gaunt House.


Lord George gave up his post on the European continent,

and was gazetted to Brazil.


But people knew better;


he never returned from that Brazil expedition --never died there --never lived there --never was there at all.


He was nowhere;


he was gone out altogether.


"Brazil,"

said one gossip to another,

with a grin --"Brazil is St. John's Wood.


Rio de Janeiro is a cottage surrounded by four walls,

and George Gaunt is accredited to a keeper,

who has invested him with the order of the Strait-Waistcoat."


These are the kinds of epitaphs which men pass over one another in Vanity Fair.


Twice or thrice in a week,

in the earliest morning,

the poor mother went for her sins and saw the poor invalid.


Sometimes he laughed at her (and his laughter was more pitiful than to hear him cry);


sometimes she found the brilliant dandy diplomatist of the Congress of Vienna dragging about a child's toy,

or nursing the keeper's baby's doll.


Sometimes he knew her and Father Mole,

her director and companion;


oftener he forgot her,

as he had done wife,

children,

love,

ambition,

vanity.


But he remembered his dinner-hour,

and used to cry if his wine-and-water was not strong enough.


It was the mysterious taint of the blood;


the poor mother had brought it from her own ancient race.


The evil had broken out once or twice in the father's family,

long before Lady Steyne's sins had begun,

or her fasts and tears and penances had been offered in their expiation.


The pride of the race was struck down as the first-born of Pharaoh.


The dark mark of fate and doom was on the threshold --the tall old threshold surmounted by coronets and caned heraldry.


The absent lord's children meanwhile prattled and grew on quite unconscious that the doom was over them too.


First they talked of their father and devised plans against his return.


Then the name of the living dead man was less frequently in their mouth --then not mentioned at all.


But the stricken old grandmother trembled to think that these too were the inheritors of their father's shame as well as of his honours,

and watched sickening for the day when the awful ancestral curse should come down on them.


This dark presentiment also haunted Lord Steyne.


He tried to lay the horrid bedside ghost in Red Seas of wine and jollity,

and lost sight of it sometimes in the crowd and rout of his pleasures.


But it always came back to him when alone,

and seemed to grow more threatening with years.


"I have taken your son,"

it said,

"why not you?


I may shut you up in a prison some day like your son George.


I may tap you on the head to-morrow,

and away go pleasure and honours,

feasts and beauty,

friends,

flatterers,

French cooks,

fine horses and houses --in exchange for a prison,

a keeper,

and a straw mattress like George Gaunt's."


And then my lord would defy the ghost which threatened him,

for he knew of a remedy by which he could baulk his enemy.


So there was splendour and wealth,

but no great happiness perchance,

behind the tall caned portals of Gaunt House with its smoky coronets and ciphers.


The feasts there were of the grandest in London,

but there was not overmuch content therewith,

except among the guests who sat at my lord's table.


Had he not been so great a Prince very few possibly would have visited him;


but in Vanity Fair the sins of very great personages are looked at indulgently.


"Nous regardons a deux fois" (as the French lady said) before we condemn a person of my lord's undoubted quality.


Some notorious carpers and squeamish moralists might be sulky with Lord Steyne,

but they were glad enough to come when he asked them.


"Lord Steyne is really too bad,"

Lady Slingstone said,

"but everybody goes,

and of course I shall see that my girls come to no harm."


"His lordship is a man to whom I owe much,

everything in life,"

said the Right Reverend Doctor Trail,

thinking that the Archbishop was rather shaky,

and Mrs. Trail and the young ladies would as soon have missed going to church as to one of his lordship's parties.


"His morals are bad,"

said little Lord Southdown to his sister,

who meekly expostulated,

having heard terrific legends from her mamma with respect to the doings at Gaunt House;


"but hang it,

he's got the best dry Sillery in Europe!"

And as for Sir Pitt Crawley,

Bart.


--Sir Pitt that pattern of decorum,

Sir Pitt who had led off at missionary meetings --he never for one moment thought of not going too.


"Where you see such persons as the Bishop of Ealing and the Countess of Slingstone,

you may be pretty sure,

Jane,"

the Baronet would say,

"that we cannot be wrong.


The great rank and station of Lord Steyne put him in a position to command people in our station in life.


The Lord Lieutenant of a County,

my dear,

is a respectable man.


Besides,

George Gaunt and I were intimate in early life;


he was my junior when we were attaches at Pumpernickel together."


In a word everybody went to wait upon this great man --everybody who was asked,

as you the reader (do not say nay) or I the writer hereof would go if we had an invitation.


CHAPTER XLVIII


In Which the Reader Is Introduced to the Very Best of Company


At last Becky's kindness and attention to the chief of her husband's family were destined to meet with an exceeding great reward,

a reward which,

though certainly somewhat unsubstantial,

the little woman coveted with greater eagerness than more positive benefits.


If she did not wish to lead a virtuous life,

at least she desired to enjoy a character for virtue,

and we know that no lady in the genteel world can possess this desideratum,

until she has put on a train and feathers and has been presented to her Sovereign at Court.


From that august interview they come out stamped as honest women.


The Lord Chamberlain gives them a certificate of virtue.


And as dubious goods or letters are passed through an oven at quarantine,

sprinkled with aromatic vinegar,

and then pronounced clean,

many a lady,

whose reputation would be doubtful otherwise and liable to give infection,

passes through the wholesome ordeal of the Royal presence and issues from it free from all taint.


It might be very well for my Lady Bareacres,

my Lady Tufto,

Mrs. Bute Crawley in the country,

and other ladies who had come into contact with Mrs. Rawdon Crawley to cry fie at the idea of the odious little adventuress making her curtsey before the Sovereign,

and to declare that,

if dear good Queen Charlotte had been alive,

she never would have admitted such an extremely ill-regulated personage into her chaste drawing-room.


But when we consider that it was the First Gentleman in Europe in whose high presence Mrs. Rawdon passed her examination,

and as it were,

took her degree in reputation,

it surely must be flat disloyalty to doubt any more about her virtue.


I,

for my part,

look back with love and awe to that Great Character in history.


Ah,

what a high and noble appreciation of Gentlewomanhood there must have been in Vanity Fair,

when that revered and august being was invested,

by the universal acclaim of the refined and educated portion of this empire,

with the title of Premier Gentilhomme of his Kingdom.


Do you remember,

dear M --,

oh friend of my youth,

how one blissful night five-and-twenty years since,

the "Hypocrite" being acted,

Elliston being manager,

Dowton and Liston performers,

two boys had leave from their loyal masters to go out from Slaughter-House School where they were educated and to appear on Drury Lane stage,

amongst a crowd which assembled there to greet the king.


THE KING?


There he was.


Beefeaters were before the august box;


the Marquis of Steyne (Lord of the Powder Closet) and other great officers of state were behind the chair on which he sat,

HE sat --florid of face,

portly of person,

covered with orders,

and in a rich curling head of hair --how we sang God save him!

How the house rocked and shouted with that magnificent music.


How they cheered,

and cried,

and waved handkerchiefs.


Ladies wept;


mothers clasped their children;


some fainted with emotion.


People were suffocated in the pit,

shrieks and groans rising up amidst the writhing and shouting mass there of his people who were,

and indeed showed themselves almost to be,

ready to die for him.


Yes,

we saw him.


Fate cannot deprive us of THAT.


Others have seen Napoleon.


Some few still exist who have beheld Frederick the Great,

Doctor Johnson,

Marie Antoinette,

&c.


--be it our reasonable boast to our children,

that we saw George the Good,

the Magnificent,

the Great.


Well,

there came a happy day in Mrs. Rawdon Crawley's existence when this angel was admitted into the paradise of a Court which she coveted,

her sister-in-law acting as her godmother.


On the appointed day,

Sir Pitt and his lady,

in their great family carriage (just newly built,

and ready for the Baronet's assumption of the office of High Sheriff of his county),

drove up to the little house in Curzon Street,

to the edification of Raggles,

who was watching from his greengrocer's shop,

and saw fine plumes within,

and enormous bunches of flowers in the breasts of the new livery-coats of the footmen.


Sir Pitt,

in a glittering uniform,

descended and went into Curzon Street,

his sword between his legs.


Little Rawdon stood with his face against the parlour window-panes,

smiling and nodding with all his might to his aunt in the carriage within;


and presently Sir Pitt issued forth from the house again,

leading forth a lady with grand feathers,

covered in a white shawl,

and holding up daintily a train of magnificent brocade.


She stepped into the vehicle as if she were a princess and accustomed all her life to go to Court,

smiling graciously on the footman at the door and on Sir Pitt,

who followed her into the carriage.


Then Rawdon followed in his old Guards' uniform,

which had grown woefully shabby,

and was much too tight.


He was to have followed the procession and waited upon his sovereign in a cab,

but that his good-natured sister-in-law insisted that they should be a family party.


The coach was large,

the ladies not very big,

they would hold their trains in their laps --finally,

the four went fraternally together,

and their carriage presently joined the line of royal equipages which was making its way down Piccadilly and St. James's Street,

towards the old brick palace where the Star of Brunswick was in waiting to receive his nobles and gentlefolks.


Becky felt as if she could bless the people out of the carriage windows,

so elated was she in spirit,

and so strong a sense had she of the dignified position which she had at last attained in life.


Even our Becky had her weaknesses,

and as one often sees how men pride themselves upon excellences which others are slow to perceive: how,

for instance,

Comus firmly believes that he is the greatest tragic actor in England;


how Brown,

the famous novelist,

longs to be considered,

not a man of genius,

but a man of fashion;


while Robinson,

the great lawyer,

does not in the least care about his reputation in Westminster Hall,

but believes himself incomparable across country and at a five-barred gate --so to be,

and to be thought,

a respectable woman was Becky's aim in life,

and she got up the genteel with amazing assiduity,

readiness,

and success.


We have said,

there were times when she believed herself to be a fine lady and forgot that there was no money in the chest at home --duns round the gate,

tradesmen to coax and wheedle --no ground to walk upon,

in a word.


And as she went to Court in the carriage,

the family carriage,

she adopted a demeanour so grand,

self-satisfied,

deliberate,

and imposing that it made even Lady Jane laugh.


She walked into the royal apartments with a toss of the head which would have befitted an empress,

and I have no doubt had she been one,

she would have become the character perfectly.


We are authorized to state that Mrs. Rawdon Crawley's costume de cour on the occasion of her presentation to the Sovereign was of the most elegant and brilliant description.


Some ladies we may have seen --we who wear stars and cordons and attend the St. James's assemblies,

or we,

who,

in muddy boots,

dawdle up and down Pall Mall and peep into the coaches as they drive up with the great folks in their feathers --some ladies of fashion,

I say,

we may have seen,

about two o'clock of the forenoon of a levee day,

as the laced-jacketed band of the Life Guards are blowing triumphal marches seated on those prancing music-stools,

their cream-coloured chargers --who are by no means lovely and enticing objects at that early period of noon.


A stout countess of sixty,

decolletee,

painted,

wrinkled with rouge up to her drooping eyelids,

and diamonds twinkling in her wig,

is a wholesome and edifying,

but not a pleasant sight.


She has the faded look of a St. James's Street illumination,

as it may be seen of an early morning,

when half the lamps are out,

and the others are blinking wanly,

as if they were about to vanish like ghosts before the dawn.


Such charms as those of which we catch glimpses while her ladyship's carriage passes should appear abroad at night alone.


If even Cynthia looks haggard of an afternoon,

as we may see her sometimes in the present winter season,

with Phoebus staring her out of countenance from the opposite side of the heavens,

how much more can old Lady Castlemouldy keep her head up when the sun is shining full upon it through the chariot windows,

and showing all the chinks and crannies with which time has marked her face!

No. Drawing-rooms should be announced for November,

or the first foggy day,

or the elderly sultanas of our Vanity Fair should drive up in closed litters,

descend in a covered way,

and make their curtsey to the Sovereign under the protection of lamplight.


Our beloved Rebecca had no need,

however,

of any such a friendly halo to set off her beauty.


Her complexion could bear any sunshine as yet,

and her dress,

though if you were to see it now,

any present lady of Vanity Fair would pronounce it to be the most foolish and preposterous attire ever worn,

was as handsome in her eyes and those of the public,

some five-and-twenty years since,

as the most brilliant costume of the most famous beauty of the present season.


A score of years hence that too,

that milliner's wonder,

will have passed into the domain of the absurd,

along with all previous vanities.


But we are wandering too much.


Mrs. Rawdon's dress was pronounced to be charmante on the eventful day of her presentation.


Even good little Lady Jane was forced to acknowledge this effect,

as she looked at her kinswoman,

and owned sorrowfully to herself that she was quite inferior in taste to Mrs. Becky.


She did not know how much care,

thought,

and genius Mrs. Rawdon had bestowed upon that garment.


Rebecca had as good taste as any milliner in Europe,

and such a clever way of doing things as Lady Jane little understood.


The latter quickly spied out the magnificence of the brocade of Becky's train,

and the splendour of the lace on her dress.


The brocade was an old remnant,

Becky said;


and as for the lace,

it was a great bargain.


She had had it these hundred years.


"My dear Mrs. Crawley,

it must have cost a little fortune,"

Lady Jane said,

looking down at her own lace,

which was not nearly so good;


and then examining the quality of the ancient brocade which formed the material of Mrs. Rawdon's Court dress,

she felt inclined to say that she could not afford such fine clothing,

but checked that speech,

with an effort,

as one uncharitable to her kinswoman.


And yet,

if Lady Jane had known all,

I think even her kindly temper would have failed her.


The fact is,

when she was putting Sir Pitt's house in order,

Mrs. Rawdon had found the lace and the brocade in old wardrobes,

the property of the former ladies of the house,

and had quietly carried the goods home,

and had suited them to her own little person.


Briggs saw her take them,

asked no questions,

told no stories;


but I believe quite sympathised with her on this matter,

and so would many another honest woman.


And the diamonds --"Where the doose did you get the diamonds,

Becky?"

said her husband,

admiring some jewels which he had never seen before and which sparkled in her ears and on her neck with brilliance and profusion.


Becky blushed a little and looked at him hard for a moment.


Pitt Crawley blushed a little too,

and looked out of window.


The fact is,

he had given her a very small portion of the brilliants;


a pretty diamond clasp,

which confined a pearl necklace which she wore --and the Baronet had omitted to mention the circumstance to his lady.


Becky looked at her husband,

and then at Sir Pitt,

with an air of saucy triumph --as much as to say,

"Shall I betray you?"


"Guess!"

she said to her husband.


"Why,

you silly man,"

she continued,

"where do you suppose I got them?


--all except the little clasp,

which a dear friend of mine gave me long ago.


I hired them,

to be sure.


I hired them at Mr. Polonius's,

in Coventry Street.


You don't suppose that all the diamonds which go to Court belong to the wearers;


like those beautiful stones which Lady Jane has,

and which are much handsomer than any which I have,

I am certain."


"They are family jewels,"

said Sir Pitt,

again looking uneasy.


And in this family conversation the carriage rolled down the street,

until its cargo was finally discharged at the gates of the palace where the Sovereign was sitting in state.


The diamonds,

which had created Rawdon's admiration,

never went back to Mr. Polonius,

of Coventry Street,

and that gentleman never applied for their restoration,

but they retired into a little private repository,

in an old desk,

which Amelia Sedley had given her years and years ago,

and in which Becky kept a number of useful and,

perhaps,

valuable things,

about which her husband knew nothing.


To know nothing,

or little,

is in the nature of some husbands.


To hide,

in the nature of how many women?


Oh,

ladies!

how many of you have surreptitious milliners' bills?


How many of you have gowns and bracelets which you daren't show,

or which you wear trembling?


--trembling,

and coaxing with smiles the husband by your side,

who does not know the new velvet gown from the old one,

or the new bracelet from last year's,

or has any notion that the ragged-looking yellow lace scarf cost forty guineas and that Madame Bobinot is writing dunning letters every week for the money!


Thus Rawdon knew nothing about the brilliant diamond ear-rings,

or the superb brilliant ornament which decorated the fair bosom of his lady;


but Lord Steyne,

who was in his place at Court,

as Lord of the Powder Closet,

and one of the great dignitaries and illustrious defences of the throne of England,

and came up with all his stars,

garters,

collars,

and cordons,

and paid particular attention to the little woman,

knew whence the jewels came and who paid for them.


As he bowed over her he smiled,

and quoted the hackneyed and beautiful lines from The Rape of the Lock about Belinda's diamonds,

"which Jews might kiss and infidels adore."


"But I hope your lordship is orthodox,"

said the little lady with a toss of her head.


And many ladies round about whispered and talked,

and many gentlemen nodded and whispered,

as they saw what marked attention the great nobleman was paying to the little adventuress.


What were the circumstances of the interview between Rebecca Crawley,

nee Sharp,

and her Imperial Master,

it does not become such a feeble and inexperienced pen as mine to attempt to relate.


The dazzled eyes close before that Magnificent Idea.


Loyal respect and decency tell even the imagination not to look too keenly and audaciously about the sacred audience-chamber,

but to back away rapidly,

silently,

and respectfully,

making profound bows out of the August Presence.


This may be said,

that in all London there was no more loyal heart than Becky's after this interview.


The name of her king was always on her lips,

and he was proclaimed by her to be the most charming of men.


She went to Colnaghi's and ordered the finest portrait of him that art had produced,

and credit could supply.


She chose that famous one in which the best of monarchs is represented in a frock-coat with a fur collar,

and breeches and silk stockings,

simpering on a sofa from under his curly brown wig.


She had him painted in a brooch and wore it --indeed she amused and somewhat pestered her acquaintance with her perpetual talk about his urbanity and beauty.


Who knows!

Perhaps the little woman thought she might play the part of a Maintenon or a Pompadour.


But the finest sport of all after her presentation was to hear her talk virtuously.


She had a few female acquaintances,

not,

it must be owned,

of the very highest reputation in Vanity Fair.


But being made an honest woman of,

so to speak,

Becky would not consort any longer with these dubious ones,

and cut Lady Crackenbury when the latter nodded to her from her opera-box,

and gave Mrs. Washington White the go-by in the Ring.


"One must,

my dear,

show one is somebody,"

she said.


"One mustn't be seen with doubtful people.


I pity Lady Crackenbury from my heart,

and Mrs. Washington White may be a very good-natured person.


YOU may go and dine with them,

as you like your rubber.


But I mustn't,

and won't;


and you will have the goodness to tell Smith to say I am not at home when either of them calls."


The particulars of Becky's costume were in the newspapers --feathers,

lappets,

superb diamonds,

and all the rest.


Lady Crackenbury read the paragraph in bitterness of spirit and discoursed to her followers about the airs which that woman was giving herself.


Mrs. Bute Crawley and her young ladies in the country had a copy of the Morning Post from town,

and gave a vent to their honest indignation.


"If you had been sandy-haired,

green-eyed,

and a French rope-dancer's daughter,"

Mrs. Bute said to her eldest girl (who,

on the contrary,

was a very swarthy,

short,

and snub-nosed young lady),

"You might have had superb diamonds forsooth,

and have been presented at Court by your cousin,

the Lady Jane.


But you're only a gentlewoman,

my poor dear child.


You have only some of the best blood in England in your veins,

and good principles and piety for your portion.


I,

myself,

the wife of a Baronet's younger brother,

too,

never thought of such a thing as going to Court --nor would other people,

if good Queen Charlotte had been alive."


In this way the worthy Rectoress consoled herself,

and her daughters sighed and sat over the Peerage all night.


A few days after the famous presentation,

another great and exceeding honour was vouchsafed to the virtuous Becky.


Lady Steyne's carriage drove up to Mr. Rawdon Crawley's door,

and the footman,

instead of driving down the front of the house,

as by his tremendous knocking he appeared to be inclined to do,

relented and only delivered in a couple of cards,

on which were engraven the names of the Marchioness of Steyne and the Countess of Gaunt.


If these bits of pasteboard had been beautiful pictures,

or had had a hundred yards of Malines lace rolled round them,

worth twice the number of guineas,

Becky could not have regarded them with more pleasure.


You may be sure they occupied a conspicuous place in the china bowl on the drawing-room table,

where Becky kept the cards of her visitors.


Lord!

lord!

how poor Mrs. Washington White's card and Lady Crackenbury's card --which our little friend had been glad enough to get a few months back,

and of which the silly little creature was rather proud once --Lord!

lord!

I say,

how soon at the appearance of these grand court cards,

did those poor little neglected deuces sink down to the bottom of the pack.


Steyne!

Bareacres,

Johnes of Helvellyn!

and Caerylon of Camelot!

we may be sure that Becky and Briggs looked out those august names in the Peerage,

and followed the noble races up through all the ramifications of the family tree.


My Lord Steyne coming to call a couple of hours afterwards,

and looking about him,

and observing everything as was his wont,

found his ladies' cards already ranged as the trumps of Becky's hand,

and grinned,

as this old cynic always did at any naive display of human weakness.


Becky came down to him presently;


whenever the dear girl expected his lordship,

her toilette was prepared,

her hair in perfect order,

her mouchoirs,

aprons,

scarfs,

little morocco slippers,

and other female gimcracks arranged,

and she seated in some artless and agreeable posture ready to receive him --whenever she was surprised,

of course,

she had to fly to her apartment to take a rapid survey of matters in the glass,

and to trip down again to wait upon the great peer.


She found him grinning over the bowl.


She was discovered,

and she blushed a little.


"Thank you,

Monseigneur,"

she said.


"You see your ladies have been here.


How good of you!

I couldn't come before --I was in the kitchen making a pudding."


"I know you were,

I saw you through the area-railings as I drove up,"

replied the old gentleman.


"You see everything,"

she replied.


"A few things,

but not that,

my pretty lady,"

he said good-naturedly.


"You silly little fibster!

I heard you in the room overhead,

where I have no doubt you were putting a little rouge on --you must give some of yours to my Lady Gaunt,

whose complexion is quite preposterous --and I heard the bedroom door open,

and then you came downstairs."


"Is it a crime to try and look my best when YOU come here?"

answered Mrs. Rawdon plaintively,

and she rubbed her cheek with her handkerchief as if to show there was no rouge at all,

only genuine blushes and modesty in her case.


About this who can tell?


I know there is some rouge that won't come off on a pocket-handkerchief,

and some so good that even tears will not disturb it.


"Well,"

said the old gentleman,

twiddling round his wife's card,

"you are bent on becoming a fine lady.


You pester my poor old life out to get you into the world.


You won't be able to hold your own there,

you silly little fool.


You've got no money."


"You will get us a place,"

interposed Becky,

"as quick as possible."


"You've got no money,

and you want to compete with those who have.


You poor little earthenware pipkin,

you want to swim down the stream along with the great copper kettles.


All women are alike.


Everybody is striving for what is not worth the having!

Gad!

I dined with the King yesterday,

and we had neck of mutton and turnips.


A dinner of herbs is better than a stalled ox very often.


You will go to Gaunt House.


You give an old fellow no rest until you get there.


It's not half so nice as here.


You'll be bored there.


I am.


My wife is as gay as Lady Macbeth,

and my daughters as cheerful as Regan and Goneril.


I daren't sleep in what they call my bedroom.


The bed is like the baldaquin of St. Peter's,

and the pictures frighten me.


I have a little brass bed in a dressing-room,

and a little hair mattress like an anchorite.


I am an anchorite.


Ho!

ho!

You'll be asked to dinner next week.


And gare aux femmes,

look out and hold your own!

How the women will bully you!"

This was a very long speech for a man of few words like my Lord Steyne;


nor was it the first which he uttered for Becky's benefit on that day.


Briggs looked up from the work-table at which she was seated in the farther room and gave a deep sigh as she heard the great Marquis speak so lightly of her sex.


"If you don't turn off that abominable sheep-dog,"

said Lord Steyne,

with a savage look over his shoulder at her,

"I will have her poisoned."


"I always give my dog dinner from my own plate,"

said Rebecca,

laughing mischievously;


and having enjoyed for some time the discomfiture of my lord,

who hated poor Briggs for interrupting his tete-a-tete with the fair Colonel's wife,

Mrs. Rawdon at length had pity upon her admirer,

and calling to Briggs,

praised the fineness of the weather to her and bade her to take out the child for a walk.


"I can't send her away,"

Becky said presently,

after a pause,

and in a very sad voice.


Her eyes filled with tears as she spoke,

and she turned away her head.


"You owe her her wages,

I suppose?"

said the Peer.


"Worse than that,"

said Becky,

still casting down her eyes;


"I have ruined her."


"Ruined her?


Then why don't you turn her out?"

the gentleman asked.


"Men do that,"

Becky answered bitterly.


"Women are not so bad as you.


Last year,

when we were reduced to our last guinea,

she gave us everything.


She shall never leave me,

until we are ruined utterly ourselves,

which does not seem far off,

or until I can pay her the utmost farthing."


" -- -- -- it,

how much is it?"

said the Peer with an oath.


And Becky,

reflecting on the largeness of his means,

mentioned not only the sum which she had borrowed from Miss Briggs,

but one of nearly double the amount.


This caused the Lord Steyne to break out in another brief and energetic expression of anger,

at which Rebecca held down her head the more and cried bitterly.


"I could not help it.


It was my only chance.


I dare not tell my husband.


He would kill me if I told him what I have done.


I have kept it a secret from everybody but you --and you forced it from me.


Ah,

what shall I do,

Lord Steyne?


for I am very,

very unhappy!"


Lord Steyne made no reply except by beating the devil's tattoo and biting his nails.


At last he clapped his hat on his head and flung out of the room.


Rebecca did not rise from her attitude of misery until the door slammed upon him and his carriage whirled away.


Then she rose up with the queerest expression of victorious mischief glittering in her green eyes.


She burst out laughing once or twice to herself,

as she sat at work,

and sitting down to the piano,

she rattled away a triumphant voluntary on the keys,

which made the people pause under her window to listen to her brilliant music.


That night,

there came two notes from Gaunt House for the little woman,

the one containing a card of invitation from Lord and Lady Steyne to a dinner at Gaunt House next Friday,

while the other enclosed a slip of gray paper bearing Lord Steyne's signature and the address of Messrs.


Jones,

Brown,

and Robinson,

Lombard Street.


Rawdon heard Becky laughing in the night once or twice.


It was only her delight at going to Gaunt House and facing the ladies there,

she said,

which amused her so.


But the truth was that she was occupied with a great number of other thoughts.


Should she pay off old Briggs and give her her conge?


Should she astonish Raggles by settling his account?


She turned over all these thoughts on her pillow,

and on the next day,

when Rawdon went out to pay his morning visit to the Club,

Mrs. Crawley (in a modest dress with a veil on) whipped off in a hackney-coach to the City: and being landed at Messrs.


Jones and Robinson's bank,

presented a document there to the authority at the desk,

who,

in reply,

asked her "How she would take it?"


She gently said "she would take a hundred and fifty pounds in small notes and the remainder in one note": and passing through St. Paul's Churchyard stopped there and bought the handsomest black silk gown for Briggs which money could buy;


and which,

with a kiss and the kindest speeches,

she presented to the simple old spinster.


Then she walked to Mr. Raggles,

inquired about his children affectionately,

and gave him fifty pounds on account.


Then she went to the livery-man from whom she jobbed her carriages and gratified him with a similar sum.


"And I hope this will be a lesson to you,

Spavin,"

she said,

"and that on the next drawing-room day my brother,

Sir Pitt,

will not be inconvenienced by being obliged to take four of us in his carriage to wait upon His Majesty,

because my own carriage is not forthcoming."


It appears there had been a difference on the last drawing-room day.


Hence the degradation which the Colonel had almost suffered,

of being obliged to enter the presence of his Sovereign in a hack cab.


These arrangements concluded,

Becky paid a visit upstairs to the before-mentioned desk,

which Amelia Sedley had given her years and years ago,

and which contained a number of useful and valuable little things --in which private museum she placed the one note which Messrs.


Jones and Robinson's cashier had given her.


CHAPTER XLIX


In Which We Enjoy Three Courses and a Dessert


When the ladies of Gaunt House were at breakfast that morning,

Lord Steyne (who took his chocolate in private and seldom disturbed the females of his household,

or saw them except upon public days,

or when they crossed each other in the hall,

or when from his pit-box at the opera he surveyed them in their box on the grand tier) his lordship,

we say,

appeared among the ladies and the children who were assembled over the tea and toast,

and a battle royal ensued apropos of Rebecca.


"My Lady Steyne,"

he said,

"I want to see the list for your dinner on Friday;


and I want you,

if you please,

to write a card for Colonel and Mrs. Crawley."


"Blanche writes them,"

Lady Steyne said in a flutter.


"Lady Gaunt writes them."


"I will not write to that person,"

Lady Gaunt said,

a tall and stately lady,

who looked up for an instant and then down again after she had spoken.


It was not good to meet Lord Steyne's eyes for those who had offended him.


"Send the children out of the room.


Go!"

said he pulling at the bell-rope.


The urchins,

always frightened before him,

retired: their mother would have followed too.


"Not you,"

he said.


"You stop."


"My Lady Steyne,"

he said,

"once more will you have the goodness to go to the desk and write that card for your dinner on Friday?"


"My Lord,

I will not be present at it,"

Lady Gaunt said;


"I will go home."


"I wish you would,

and stay there.


You will find the bailiffs at Bareacres very pleasant company,

and I shall be freed from lending money to your relations and from your own damned tragedy airs.


Who are you to give orders here?


You have no money.


You've got no brains.


You were here to have children,

and you have not had any.


Gaunt's tired of you,

and George's wife is the only person in the family who doesn't wish you were dead.


Gaunt would marry again if you were."


"I wish I were,"

her Ladyship answered with tears and rage in her eyes.


"You,

forsooth,

must give yourself airs of virtue,

while my wife,

who is an immaculate saint,

as everybody knows,

and never did wrong in her life,

has no objection to meet my young friend Mrs. Crawley.


My Lady Steyne knows that appearances are sometimes against the best of women;


that lies are often told about the most innocent of them.


Pray,

madam,

shall I tell you some little anecdotes about my Lady Bareacres,

your mamma?"


"You may strike me if you like,

sir,

or hit any cruel blow,"

Lady Gaunt said.


To see his wife and daughter suffering always put his Lordship into a good humour.


"My sweet Blanche,"

he said,

"I am a gentleman,

and never lay my hand upon a woman,

save in the way of kindness.


I only wish to correct little faults in your character.


You women are too proud,

and sadly lack humility,

as Father Mole,

I'm sure,

would tell my Lady Steyne if he were here.


You mustn't give yourselves airs;


you must be meek and humble,

my blessings.


For all Lady Steyne knows,

this calumniated,

simple,

good-humoured Mrs. Crawley is quite innocent --even more innocent than herself.


Her husband's character is not good,

but it is as good as Bareacres',

who has played a little and not paid a great deal,

who cheated you out of the only legacy you ever had and left you a pauper on my hands.


And Mrs. Crawley is not very well-born,

but she is not worse than Fanny's illustrious ancestor,

the first de la Jones."


"The money which I brought into the family,

sir,"

Lady George cried out --


"You purchased a contingent reversion with it,"

the Marquis said darkly.


"If Gaunt dies,

your husband may come to his honours;


your little boys may inherit them,

and who knows what besides?


In the meanwhile,

ladies,

be as proud and virtuous as you like abroad,

but don't give ME any airs.


As for Mrs. Crawley's character,

I shan't demean myself or that most spotless and perfectly irreproachable lady by even hinting that it requires a defence.


You will be pleased to receive her with the utmost cordiality,

as you will receive all persons whom I present in this house.


This house?"

He broke out with a laugh.


"Who is the master of it?


and what is it?


This Temple of Virtue belongs to me.


And if I invite all Newgate or all Bedlam here,

by  -- -- -- they shall be welcome."


After this vigorous allocution,

to one of which sort Lord Steyne treated his "Hareem" whenever symptoms of insubordination appeared in his household,

the crestfallen women had nothing for it but to obey.


Lady Gaunt wrote the invitation which his Lordship required,

and she and her mother-in-law drove in person,

and with bitter and humiliated hearts,

to leave the cards on Mrs. Rawdon,

the reception of which caused that innocent woman so much pleasure.


There were families in London who would have sacrificed a year's income to receive such an honour at the hands of those great ladies.


Mrs. Frederick Bullock,

for instance,

would have gone on her knees from May Fair to Lombard Street,

if Lady Steyne and Lady Gaunt had been waiting in the City to raise her up and say,

"Come to us next Friday" --not to one of the great crushes and grand balls of Gaunt House,

whither everybody went,

but to the sacred,

unapproachable,

mysterious,

delicious entertainments,

to be admitted to one of which was a privilege,

and an honour,

and a blessing indeed.


Severe,

spotless,

and beautiful,

Lady Gaunt held the very highest rank in Vanity Fair.


The distinguished courtesy with which Lord Steyne treated her charmed everybody who witnessed his behaviour,

caused the severest critics to admit how perfect a gentleman he was,

and to own that his Lordship's heart at least was in the right place.


The ladies of Gaunt House called Lady Bareacres in to their aid,

in order to repulse the common enemy.


One of Lady Gaunt's carriages went to Hill Street for her Ladyship's mother,

all whose equipages were in the hands of the bailiffs,

whose very jewels and wardrobe,

it was said,

had been seized by those inexorable Israelites.


Bareacres Castle was theirs,

too,

with all its costly pictures,

furniture,

and articles of vertu --the magnificent Vandykes;


the noble Reynolds pictures;


the Lawrence portraits,

tawdry and beautiful,

and,

thirty years ago,

deemed as precious as works of real genius;


the matchless Dancing Nymph of Canova,

for which Lady Bareacres had sat in her youth --Lady Bareacres splendid then,

and radiant in wealth,

rank,

and beauty --a toothless,

bald,

old woman now --a mere rag of a former robe of state.


Her lord,

painted at the same time by Lawrence,

as waving his sabre in front of Bareacres Castle,

and clothed in his uniform as Colonel of the Thistlewood Yeomanry,

was a withered,

old,

lean man in a greatcoat and a Brutus wig,

slinking about Gray's Inn of mornings chiefly and dining alone at clubs.


He did not like to dine with Steyne now.


They had run races of pleasure together in youth when Bareacres was the winner.


But Steyne had more bottom than he and had lasted him out.


The Marquis was ten times a greater man now than the young Lord Gaunt of

'85,

and Bareacres nowhere in the race --old,

beaten,

bankrupt,

and broken down.


He had borrowed too much money of Steyne to find it pleasant to meet his old comrade often.


The latter,

whenever he wished to be merry,

used jeeringly to ask Lady Gaunt why her father had not come to see her.


"He has not been here for four months,"

Lord Steyne would say.


"I can always tell by my cheque-book afterwards,

when I get a visit from Bareacres.


What a comfort it is,

my ladies,

I bank with one of my sons' fathers-in-law,

and the other banks with me!"


Of the other illustrious persons whom Becky had the honour to encounter on this her first presentation to the grand world,

it does not become the present historian to say much.


There was his Excellency the Prince of Peterwaradin,

with his Princess --a nobleman tightly girthed,

with a large military chest,

on which the plaque of his order shone magnificently,

and wearing the red collar of the Golden Fleece round his neck.


He was the owner of countless flocks.


"Look at his face.


I think he must be descended from a sheep,"

Becky whispered to Lord Steyne.


Indeed,

his Excellency's countenance,

long,

solemn,

and white,

with the ornament round his neck,

bore some resemblance to that of a venerable bell-wether.


There was Mr. John Paul Jefferson Jones,

titularly attached to the American Embassy and correspondent of the New York Demagogue,

who,

by way of making himself agreeable to the company,

asked Lady Steyne,

during a pause in the conversation at dinner,

how his dear friend,

George Gaunt,

liked the Brazils?


He and George had been most intimate at Naples and had gone up Vesuvius together.


Mr. Jones wrote a full and particular account of the dinner,

which appeared duly in the Demagogue.


He mentioned the names and titles of all the guests,

giving biographical sketches of the principal people.


He described the persons of the ladies with great eloquence;


the service of the table;


the size and costume of the servants;


enumerated the dishes and wines served;


the ornaments of the sideboard;


and the probable value of the plate.


Such a dinner he calculated could not be dished up under fifteen or eighteen dollars per head.


And he was in the habit,

until very lately,

of sending over proteges,

with letters of recommendation to the present Marquis of Steyne,

encouraged to do so by the intimate terms on which he had lived with his dear friend,

the late lord.


He was most indignant that a young and insignificant aristocrat,

the Earl of Southdown,

should have taken the pas of him in their procession to the dining-room.


"Just as I was stepping up to offer my hand to a very pleasing and witty fashionable,

the brilliant and exclusive Mrs. Rawdon Crawley,"

--he wrote --"the young patrician interposed between me and the lady and whisked my Helen off without a word of apology.


I was fain to bring up the rear with the Colonel,

the lady's husband,

a stout red-faced warrior who distinguished himself at Waterloo,

where he had better luck than befell some of his brother redcoats at New Orleans."


The Colonel's countenance on coming into this polite society wore as many blushes as the face of a boy of sixteen assumes when he is confronted with his sister's schoolfellows.


It has been told before that honest Rawdon had not been much used at any period of his life to ladies' company.


With the men at the Club or the mess room,

he was well enough;


and could ride,

bet,

smoke,

or play at billiards with the boldest of them.


He had had his time for female friendships too,

but that was twenty years ago,

and the ladies were of the rank of those with whom Young Marlow in the comedy is represented as having been familiar before he became abashed in the presence of Miss Hardcastle.


The times are such that one scarcely dares to allude to that kind of company which thousands of our young men in Vanity Fair are frequenting every day,

which nightly fills casinos and dancing-rooms,

which is known to exist as well as the Ring in Hyde Park or the Congregation at St. James's --but which the most squeamish if not the most moral of societies is determined to ignore.


In a word,

although Colonel Crawley was now five-and-forty years of age,

it had not been his lot in life to meet with a half dozen good women,

besides his paragon of a wife.


All except her and his kind sister Lady Jane,

whose gentle nature had tamed and won him,

scared the worthy Colonel,

and on occasion of his first dinner at Gaunt House he was not heard to make a single remark except to state that the weather was very hot.


Indeed Becky would have left him at home,

but that virtue ordained that her husband should be by her side to protect the timid and fluttering little creature on her first appearance in polite society.


On her first appearance Lord Steyne stepped forward,

taking her hand,

and greeting her with great courtesy,

and presenting her to Lady Steyne,

and their ladyships,

her daughters.


Their ladyships made three stately curtsies,

and the elder lady to be sure gave her hand to the newcomer,

but it was as cold and lifeless as marble.


Becky took it,

however,

with grateful humility,

and performing a reverence which would have done credit to the best dancer-master,

put herself at Lady Steyne's feet,

as it were,

by saying that his Lordship had been her father's earliest friend and patron,

and that she,

Becky,

had learned to honour and respect the Steyne family from the days of her childhood.


The fact is that Lord Steyne had once purchased a couple of pictures of the late Sharp,

and the affectionate orphan could never forget her gratitude for that favour.


The Lady Bareacres then came under Becky's cognizance --to whom the Colonel's lady made also a most respectful obeisance: it was returned with severe dignity by the exalted person in question.


"I had the pleasure of making your Ladyship's acquaintance at Brussels,

ten years ago,"

Becky said in the most winning manner.


"I had the good fortune to meet Lady Bareacres at the Duchess of Richmond's ball,

the night before the Battle of Waterloo.


And I recollect your Ladyship,

and my Lady Blanche,

your daughter,

sitting in the carriage in the porte-cochere at the Inn,

waiting for horses.


I hope your Ladyship's diamonds are safe."


Everybody's eyes looked into their neighbour's.


The famous diamonds had undergone a famous seizure,

it appears,

about which Becky,

of course,

knew nothing.


Rawdon Crawley retreated with Lord Southdown into a window,

where the latter was heard to laugh immoderately,

as Rawdon told him the story of Lady Bareacres wanting horses and "knuckling down by Jove,"

to Mrs. Crawley.


"I think I needn't be afraid of THAT woman,"

Becky thought.


Indeed,

Lady Bareacres exchanged terrified and angry looks with her daughter and retreated to a table,

where she began to look at pictures with great energy.


When the Potentate from the Danube made his appearance,

the conversation was carried on in the French language,

and the Lady Bareacres and the younger ladies found,

to their farther mortification,

that Mrs. Crawley was much better acquainted with that tongue,

and spoke it with a much better accent than they.


Becky had met other Hungarian magnates with the army in France in 1816-17.


She asked after her friends with great interest The foreign personages thought that she was a lady of great distinction,

and the Prince and the Princess asked severally of Lord Steyne and the Marchioness,

whom they conducted to dinner,

who was that petite dame who spoke so well?


Finally,

the procession being formed in the order described by the American diplomatist,

they marched into the apartment where the banquet was served,

and which,

as I have promised the reader he shall enjoy it,

he shall have the liberty of ordering himself so as to suit his fancy.


But it was when the ladies were alone that Becky knew the tug of war would come.


And then indeed the little woman found herself in such a situation as made her acknowledge the correctness of Lord Steyne's caution to her to beware of the society of ladies above her own sphere.


As they say,

the persons who hate Irishmen most are Irishmen;


so,

assuredly,

the greatest tyrants over women are women.


When poor little Becky,

alone with the ladies,

went up to the fire-place whither the great ladies had repaired,

the great ladies marched away and took possession of a table of drawings.


When Becky followed them to the table of drawings,

they dropped off one by one to the fire again.


She tried to speak to one of the children (of whom she was commonly fond in public places),

but Master George Gaunt was called away by his mamma;


and the stranger was treated with such cruelty finally,

that even Lady Steyne herself pitied her and went up to speak to the friendless little woman.


"Lord Steyne,"

said her Ladyship,

as her wan cheeks glowed with a blush,

"says you sing and play very beautifully,

Mrs. Crawley --I wish you would do me the kindness to sing to me."


"I will do anything that may give pleasure to my Lord Steyne or to you,"

said Rebecca,

sincerely grateful,

and seating herself at the piano,

began to sing.


She sang religious songs of Mozart,

which had been early favourites of Lady Steyne,

and with such sweetness and tenderness that the lady,

lingering round the piano,

sat down by its side and listened until the tears rolled down her eyes.


It is true that the opposition ladies at the other end of the room kept up a loud and ceaseless buzzing and talking,

but the Lady Steyne did not hear those rumours.


She was a child again --and had wandered back through a forty years' wilderness to her convent garden.


The chapel organ had pealed the same tones,

the organist,

the sister whom she loved best of the community,

had taught them to her in those early happy days.


She was a girl once more,

and the brief period of her happiness bloomed out again for an hour --she started when the jarring doors were flung open,

and with a loud laugh from Lord Steyne,

the men of the party entered full of gaiety.


He saw at a glance what had happened in his absence,

and was grateful to his wife for once.


He went and spoke to her,

and called her by her Christian name,

so as again to bring blushes to her pale face --"My wife says you have been singing like an angel,"

he said to Becky.


Now there are angels of two kinds,

and both sorts,

it is said,

are charming in their way.


Whatever the previous portion of the evening had been,

the rest of that night was a great triumph for Becky.


She sang her very best,

and it was so good that every one of the men came and crowded round the piano.


The women,

her enemies,

were left quite alone.


And Mr. Paul Jefferson Jones thought he had made a conquest of Lady Gaunt by going up to her Ladyship and praising her delightful friend's first-rate singing.


CHAPTER L


Contains a Vulgar Incident


The Muse,

whoever she be,

who presides over this Comic History must now descend from the genteel heights in which she has been soaring and have the goodness to drop down upon the lowly roof of John Sedley at Brompton,

and describe what events are taking place there.


Here,

too,

in this humble tenement,

live care,

and distrust,

and dismay.


Mrs. Clapp in the kitchen is grumbling in secret to her husband about the rent,

and urging the good fellow to rebel against his old friend and patron and his present lodger.


Mrs. Sedley has ceased to visit her landlady in the lower regions now,

and indeed is in a position to patronize Mrs. Clapp no longer.


How can one be condescending to a lady to whom one owes a matter of forty pounds,

and who is perpetually throwing out hints for the money?


The Irish maidservant has not altered in the least in her kind and respectful behaviour;


but Mrs. Sedley fancies that she is growing insolent and ungrateful,

and,

as the guilty thief who fears each bush an officer,

sees threatening innuendoes and hints of capture in all the girl's speeches and answers.


Miss Clapp,

grown quite a young woman now,

is declared by the soured old lady to be an unbearable and impudent little minx.


Why Amelia can be so fond of her,

or have her in her room so much,

or walk out with her so constantly,

Mrs. Sedley cannot conceive.


The bitterness of poverty has poisoned the life of the once cheerful and kindly woman.


She is thankless for Amelia's constant and gentle bearing towards her;


carps at her for her efforts at kindness or service;


rails at her for her silly pride in her child and her neglect of her parents.


Georgy's house is not a very lively one since Uncle Jos's annuity has been withdrawn and the little family are almost upon famine diet.


Amelia thinks,

and thinks,

and racks her brain,

to find some means of increasing the small pittance upon which the household is starving.


Can she give lessons in anything?


paint card-racks?


do fine work?


She finds that women are working hard,

and better than she can,

for twopence a day.


She buys a couple of begilt Bristol boards at the Fancy Stationer's and paints her very best upon them --a shepherd with a red waistcoat on one,

and a pink face smiling in the midst of a pencil landscape --a shepherdess on the other,

crossing a little bridge,

with a little dog,

nicely shaded.


The man of the Fancy Repository and Brompton Emporium of Fine Arts (of whom she bought the screens,

vainly hoping that he would repurchase them when ornamented by her hand) can hardly hide the sneer with which he examines these feeble works of art.


He looks askance at the lady who waits in the shop,

and ties up the cards again in their envelope of whitey-brown paper,

and hands them to the poor widow and Miss Clapp,

who had never seen such beautiful things in her life,

and had been quite confident that the man must give at least two guineas for the screens.


They try at other shops in the interior of London,

with faint sickening hopes.


"Don't want

'em,"

says one.


"Be off,"

says another fiercely.


Three-and-sixpence has been spent in vain --the screens retire to Miss Clapp's bedroom,

who persists in thinking them lovely.


She writes out a little card in her neatest hand,

and after long thought and labour of composition,

in which the public is informed that "A Lady who has some time at her disposal,

wishes to undertake the education of some little girls,

whom she would instruct in English,

in French,

in Geography,

in History,

and in Music --address A. O.,

at Mr. Brown's";


and she confides the card to the gentleman of the Fine Art Repository,

who consents to allow it to lie upon the counter,

where it grows dingy and fly-blown.


Amelia passes the door wistfully many a time,

in hopes that Mr. Brown will have some news to give her,

but he never beckons her in.


When she goes to make little purchases,

there is no news for her.


Poor simple lady,

tender and weak --how are you to battle with the struggling violent world?


She grows daily more care-worn and sad,

fixing upon her child alarmed eyes,

whereof the little boy cannot interpret the expression.


She starts up of a night and peeps into his room stealthily,

to see that he is sleeping and not stolen away.


She sleeps but little now.


A constant thought and terror is haunting her.


How she weeps and prays in the long silent nights --how she tries to hide from herself the thought which will return to her,

that she ought to part with the boy,

that she is the only barrier between him and prosperity.


She can't,

she can't.


Not now,

at least.


Some other day.


Oh!

it is too hard to think of and to bear.


A thought comes over her which makes her blush and turn from herself --her parents might keep the annuity --the curate would marry her and give a home to her and the boy.


But George's picture and dearest memory are there to rebuke her.


Shame and love say no to the sacrifice.


She shrinks from it as from something unholy,

and such thoughts never found a resting-place in that pure and gentle bosom.


The combat,

which we describe in a sentence or two,

lasted for many weeks in poor Amelia's heart,

during which she had no confidante;


indeed,

she could never have one,

as she would not allow to herself the possibility of yielding,

though she was giving way daily before the enemy with whom she had to battle.


One truth after another was marshalling itself silently against her and keeping its ground.


Poverty and misery for all,

want and degradation for her parents,

injustice to the boy --one by one the outworks of the little citadel were taken,

in which the poor soul passionately guarded her only love and treasure.


At the beginning of the struggle,

she had written off a letter of tender supplication to her brother at Calcutta,

imploring him not to withdraw the support which he had granted to their parents and painting in terms of artless pathos their lonely and hapless condition.


She did not know the truth of the matter.


The payment of Jos's annuity was still regular,

but it was a money-lender in the City who was receiving it: old Sedley had sold it for a sum of money wherewith to prosecute his bootless schemes.


Emmy was calculating eagerly the time that would elapse before the letter would arrive and be answered.


She had written down the date in her pocket-book of the day when she dispatched it.


To her son's guardian,

the good Major at Madras,

she had not communicated any of her griefs and perplexities.


She had not written to him since she wrote to congratulate him on his approaching marriage.


She thought with sickening despondency,

that that friend --the only one,

the one who had felt such a regard for her --was fallen away.


One day,

when things had come to a very bad pass --when the creditors were pressing,

the mother in hysteric grief,

the father in more than usual gloom,

the inmates of the family avoiding each other,

each secretly oppressed with his private unhappiness and notion of wrong --the father and daughter happened to be left alone together,

and Amelia thought to comfort her father by telling him what she had done.


She had written to Joseph --an answer must come in three or four months.


He was always generous,

though careless.


He could not refuse,

when he knew how straitened were the circumstances of his parents.


Then the poor old gentleman revealed the whole truth to her --that his son was still paying the annuity,

which his own imprudence had flung away.


He had not dared to tell it sooner.


He thought Amelia's ghastly and terrified look,

when,

with a trembling,

miserable voice he made the confession,

conveyed reproaches to him for his concealment.


"Ah!"

said he with quivering lips and turning away,

"you despise your old father now!"


"Oh,

papa!

it is not that,"

Amelia cried out,

falling on his neck and kissing him many times.


"You are always good and kind.


You did it for the best.


It is not for the money --it is --my God!

my God!

have mercy upon me,

and give me strength to bear this trial";


and she kissed him again wildly and went away.


Still the father did not know what that explanation meant,

and the burst of anguish with which the poor girl left him.


It was that she was conquered.


The sentence was passed.


The child must go from her --to others --to forget her.


Her heart and her treasure --her joy,

hope,

love,

worship --her God,

almost!

She must give him up,

and then --and then she would go to George,

and they would watch over the child and wait for him until he came to them in Heaven.


She put on her bonnet,

scarcely knowing what she did,

and went out to walk in the lanes by which George used to come back from school,

and where she was in the habit of going on his return to meet the boy.


It was May,

a half-holiday.


The leaves were all coming out,

the weather was brilliant;


the boy came running to her flushed with health,

singing,

his bundle of school-books hanging by a thong.


There he was.


Both her arms were round him.


No,

it was impossible.


They could not be going to part.


"What is the matter,

Mother?"

said he;


"you look very pale."


"Nothing,

my child,"

she said and stooped down and kissed him.


That night Amelia made the boy read the story of Samuel to her,

and how Hannah,

his mother,

having weaned him,

brought him to Eli the High Priest to minister before the Lord.


And he read the song of gratitude which Hannah sang,

and which says,

who it is who maketh poor and maketh rich,

and bringeth low and exalteth --how the poor shall be raised up out of the dust,

and how,

in his own might,

no man shall be strong.


Then he read how Samuel's mother made him a little coat and brought it to him from year to year when she came up to offer the yearly sacrifice.


And then,

in her sweet simple way,

George's mother made commentaries to the boy upon this affecting story.


How Hannah,

though she loved her son so much,

yet gave him up because of her vow.


And how she must always have thought of him as she sat at home,

far away,

making the little coat;


and Samuel,

she was sure,

never forgot his mother;


and how happy she must have been as the time came (and the years pass away very quick) when she should see her boy and how good and wise he had grown.


This little sermon she spoke with a gentle solemn voice,

and dry eyes,

until she came to the account of their meeting --then the discourse broke off suddenly,

the tender heart overflowed,

and taking the boy to her breast,

she rocked him in her arms and wept silently over him in a sainted agony of tears.


Her mind being made up,

the widow began to take such measures as seemed right to her for advancing the end which she proposed.


One day,

Miss Osborne,

in Russell Square (Amelia had not written the name or number of the house for ten years --her youth,

her early story came back to her as she wrote the superscription) one day Miss Osborne got a letter from Amelia which made her blush very much and look towards her father,

sitting glooming in his place at the other end of the table.


In simple terms,

Amelia told her the reasons which had induced her to change her mind respecting her boy.


Her father had met with fresh misfortunes which had entirely ruined him.


Her own pittance was so small that it would barely enable her to support her parents and would not suffice to give George the advantages which were his due.


Great as her sufferings would be at parting with him she would,

by God's help,

endure them for the boy's sake.


She knew that those to whom he was going would do all in their power to make him happy.


She described his disposition,

such as she fancied it --quick and impatient of control or harshness,

easily to be moved by love and kindness.


In a postscript,

she stipulated that she should have a written agreement,

that she should see the child as often as she wished --she could not part with him under any other terms.


"What?


Mrs. Pride has come down,

has she?"

old Osborne said,

when with a tremulous eager voice Miss Osborne read him the letter.


"Reg'lar starved out,

hey?


Ha,

ha!

I knew she would."


He tried to keep his dignity and to read his paper as usual --but he could not follow it.


He chuckled and swore to himself behind the sheet.


At last he flung it down and,

scowling at his daughter,

as his wont was,

went out of the room into his study adjoining,

from whence he presently returned with a key.


He flung it to Miss Osborne.


"Get the room over mine --his room that was --ready,"

he said.


"Yes,

sir,"

his daughter replied in a tremble.


It was George's room.


It had not been opened for more than ten years.


Some of his clothes,

papers,

handkerchiefs,

whips and caps,

fishing-rods and sporting gear,

were still there.


An Army list of 1814,

with his name written on the cover;


a little dictionary he was wont to use in writing;


and the Bible his mother had given him,

were on the mantelpiece,

with a pair of spurs and a dried inkstand covered with the dust of ten years.


Ah!

since that ink was wet,

what days and people had passed away!

The writing-book,

still on the table,

was blotted with his hand.


Miss Osborne was much affected when she first entered this room with the servants under her.


She sank quite pale on the little bed.


"This is blessed news,

m'am --indeed,

m'am,"

the housekeeper said;


"and the good old times is returning,

m'am.


The dear little feller,

to be sure,

m'am;


how happy he will be!

But some folks in May Fair,

m'am,

will owe him a grudge,

m'am";


and she clicked back the bolt which held the window-sash and let the air into the chamber.


"You had better send that woman some money,"

Mr. Osborne said,

before he went out.


"She shan't want for nothing.


Send her a hundred pound."


"And I'll go and see her to-morrow?"

Miss Osborne asked.


"That's your look out.


She don't come in here,

mind.


No,

by  -- -- --,

not for all the money in London.


But she mustn't want now.


So look out,

and get things right."


With which brief speeches Mr. Osborne took leave of his daughter and went on his accustomed way into the City.


"Here,

Papa,

is some money,"

Amelia said that night,

kissing the old man,

her father,

and putting a bill for a hundred pounds into his hands.


"And --and,

Mamma,

don't be harsh with Georgy.


He --he is not going to stop with us long."


She could say nothing more,

and walked away silently to her room.


Let us close it upon her prayers and her sorrow.


I think we had best speak little about so much love and grief.


Miss Osborne came the next day,

according to the promise contained in her note,

and saw Amelia.


The meeting between them was friendly.


A look and a few words from Miss Osborne showed the poor widow that,

with regard to this woman at least,

there need be no fear lest she should take the first place in her son's affection.


She was cold,

sensible,

not unkind.


The mother had not been so well pleased,

perhaps,

had the rival been better looking,

younger,

more affectionate,

warmer-hearted.


Miss Osborne,

on the other hand,

thought of old times and memories and could not but be touched with the poor mother's pitiful situation.


She was conquered,

and laying down her arms,

as it were,

she humbly submitted.


That day they arranged together the preliminaries of the treaty of capitulation.


George was kept from school the next day,

and saw his aunt.


Amelia left them alone together and went to her room.


She was trying the separation --as that poor gentle Lady Jane Grey felt the edge of the axe that was to come down and sever her slender life.


Days were passed in parleys,

visits,

preparations.


The widow broke the matter to Georgy with great caution;


she looked to see him very much affected by the intelligence.


He was rather elated than otherwise,

and the poor woman turned sadly away.


He bragged about the news that day to the boys at school;


told them how he was going to live with his grandpapa his father's father,

not the one who comes here sometimes;


and that he would be very rich,

and have a carriage,

and a pony,

and go to a much finer school,

and when he was rich he would buy Leader's pencil-case and pay the tart-woman.


The boy was the image of his father,

as his fond mother thought.


Indeed I have no heart,

on account of our dear Amelia's sake,

to go through the story of George's last days at home.


At last the day came,

the carriage drove up,

the little humble packets containing tokens of love and remembrance were ready and disposed in the hall long since --George was in his new suit,

for which the tailor had come previously to measure him.


He had sprung up with the sun and put on the new clothes,

his mother hearing him from the room close by,

in which she had been lying,

in speechless grief and watching.


Days before she had been making preparations for the end,

purchasing little stores for the boy's use,

marking his books and linen,

talking with him and preparing him for the change --fondly fancying that he needed preparation.


So that he had change,

what cared he?


He was longing for it.


By a thousand eager declarations as to what he would do,

when he went to live with his grandfather,

he had shown the poor widow how little the idea of parting had cast him down.


"He would come and see his mamma often on the pony,"

he said.


"He would come and fetch her in the carriage;


they would drive in the park,

and she should have everything she wanted."


The poor mother was fain to content herself with these selfish demonstrations of attachment,

and tried to convince herself how sincerely her son loved her.


He must love her.


All children were so: a little anxious for novelty,

and --no,

not selfish,

but self-willed.


Her child must have his enjoyments and ambition in the world.


She herself,

by her own selfishness and imprudent love for him had denied him his just rights and pleasures hitherto.


I know few things more affecting than that timorous debasement and self-humiliation of a woman.


How she owns that it is she and not the man who is guilty;


how she takes all the faults on her side;


how she courts in a manner punishment for the wrongs which she has not committed and persists in shielding the real culprit!

It is those who injure women who get the most kindness from them --they are born timid and tyrants and maltreat those who are humblest before them.


So poor Amelia had been getting ready in silent misery for her son's departure,

and had passed many and many a long solitary hour in making preparations for the end.


George stood by his mother,

watching her arrangements without the least concern.


Tears had fallen into his boxes;


passages had been scored in his favourite books;


old toys,

relics,

treasures had been hoarded away for him,

and packed with strange neatness and care --and of all these things the boy took no note.


The child goes away smiling as the mother breaks her heart.


By heavens it is pitiful,

the bootless love of women for children in Vanity Fair.


A few days are past,

and the great event of Amelia's life is consummated.


No angel has intervened.


The child is sacrificed and offered up to fate,

and the widow is quite alone.


The boy comes to see her often,

to be sure.


He rides on a pony with a coachman behind him,

to the delight of his old grandfather,

Sedley,

who walks proudly down the lane by his side.


She sees him,

but he is not her boy any more.


Why,

he rides to see the boys at the little school,

too,

and to show off before them his new wealth and splendour.


In two days he has adopted a slightly imperious air and patronizing manner.


He was born to command,

his mother thinks,

as his father was before him.


It is fine weather now.


Of evenings on the days when he does not come,

she takes a long walk into London --yes,

as far as Russell Square,

and rests on the stone by the railing of the garden opposite Mr. Osborne's house.


It is so pleasant and cool.


She can look up and see the drawing-room windows illuminated,

and,

at about nine o'clock,

the chamber in the upper story where Georgy sleeps.


She knows --he has told her.


She prays there as the light goes out,

prays with an humble heart,

and walks home shrinking and silent.


She is very tired when she comes home.


Perhaps she will sleep the better for that long weary walk,

and she may dream about Georgy.


One Sunday she happened to be walking in Russell Square,

at some distance from Mr. Osborne's house (she could see it from a distance though) when all the bells of Sabbath were ringing,

and George and his aunt came out to go to church;


a little sweep asked for charity,

and the footman,

who carried the books,

tried to drive him away;


but Georgy stopped and gave him money.


May God's blessing be on the boy!

Emmy ran round the square and,

coming up to the sweep,

gave him her mite too.


All the bells of Sabbath were ringing,

and she followed them until she came to the Foundling Church,

into which she went.


There she sat in a place whence she could see the head of the boy under his father's tombstone.


Many hundred fresh children's voices rose up there and sang hymns to the Father Beneficent,

and little George's soul thrilled with delight at the burst of glorious psalmody.


His mother could not see him for awhile,

through the mist that dimmed her eyes.


CHAPTER LI


In Which a Charade Is Acted Which May or May Not Puzzle the Reader


After Becky's appearance at my Lord Steyne's private and select parties,

the claims of that estimable woman as regards fashion were settled,

and some of the very greatest and tallest doors in the metropolis were speedily opened to her --doors so great and tall that the beloved reader and writer hereof may hope in vain to enter at them.


Dear brethren,

let us tremble before those august portals.


I fancy them guarded by grooms of the chamber with flaming silver forks with which they prong all those who have not the right of the entree.


They say the honest newspaper-fellow who sits in the hall and takes down the names of the great ones who are admitted to the feasts dies after a little time.


He can't survive the glare of fashion long.


It scorches him up,

as the presence of Jupiter in full dress wasted that poor imprudent Semele --a giddy moth of a creature who ruined herself by venturing out of her natural atmosphere.


Her myth ought to be taken to heart amongst the Tyburnians,

the Belgravians --her story,

and perhaps Becky's too.


Ah,

ladies!

--ask the Reverend Mr. Thurifer if Belgravia is not a sounding brass and Tyburnia a tinkling cymbal.


These are vanities.


Even these will pass away.


And some day or other (but it will be after our time,

thank goodness) Hyde Park Gardens will be no better known than the celebrated horticultural outskirts of Babylon,

and Belgrave Square will be as desolate as Baker Street,

or Tadmor in the wilderness.


Ladies,

are you aware that the great Pitt lived in Baker Street?


What would not your grandmothers have given to be asked to Lady Hester's parties in that now decayed mansion?


I have dined in it --moi qui vous parle,

I peopled the chamber with ghosts of the mighty dead.


As we sat soberly drinking claret there with men of to-day,

the spirits of the departed came in and took their places round the darksome board.


The pilot who weathered the storm tossed off great bumpers of spiritual port;


the shade of Dundas did not leave the ghost of a heeltap.


Addington sat bowing and smirking in a ghastly manner,

and would not be behindhand when the noiseless bottle went round;


Scott,

from under bushy eyebrows,

winked at the apparition of a beeswing;


Wilberforce's eyes went up to the ceiling,

so that he did not seem to know how his glass went up full to his mouth and came down empty;


up to the ceiling which was above us only yesterday,

and which the great of the past days have all looked at.


They let the house as a furnished lodging now.


Yes,

Lady Hester once lived in Baker Street,

and lies asleep in the wilderness.


Eothen saw her there --not in Baker Street,

but in the other solitude.


It is all vanity to be sure,

but who will not own to liking a little of it?


I should like to know what well-constituted mind,

merely because it is transitory,

dislikes roast beef?


That is a vanity,

but may every man who reads this have a wholesome portion of it through life,

I beg: aye,

though my readers were five hundred thousand.


Sit down,

gentlemen,

and fall to,

with a good hearty appetite;


the fat,

the lean,

the gravy,

the horse-radish as you like it --don't spare it.


Another glass of wine,

Jones,

my boy --a little bit of the Sunday side.


Yes,

let us eat our fill of the vain thing and be thankful therefor.


And let us make the best of Becky's aristocratic pleasures likewise --for these too,

like all other mortal delights,

were but transitory.


The upshot of her visit to Lord Steyne was that His Highness the Prince of Peterwaradin took occasion to renew his acquaintance with Colonel Crawley,

when they met on the next day at the Club,

and to compliment Mrs. Crawley in the Ring of Hyde Park with a profound salute of the hat.


She and her husband were invited immediately to one of the Prince's small parties at Levant House,

then occupied by His Highness during the temporary absence from England of its noble proprietor.


She sang after dinner to a very little comite.


The Marquis of Steyne was present,

paternally superintending the progress of his pupil.


At Levant House Becky met one of the finest gentlemen and greatest ministers that Europe has produced --the Duc de la Jabotiere,

then Ambassador from the Most Christian King,

and subsequently Minister to that monarch.


I declare I swell with pride as these august names are transcribed by my pen,

and I think in what brilliant company my dear Becky is moving.


She became a constant guest at the French Embassy,

where no party was considered to be complete without the presence of the charming Madame Ravdonn Cravley.


Messieurs de Truffigny (of the Perigord family) and Champignac,

both attaches of the Embassy,

were straightway smitten by the charms of the fair Colonel's wife,

and both declared,

according to the wont of their nation (for who ever yet met a Frenchman,

come out of England,

that has not left half a dozen families miserable,

and brought away as many hearts in his pocket-book?),

both,

I say,

declared that they were au mieux with the charming Madame Ravdonn.


But I doubt the correctness of the assertion.


Champignac was very fond of ecarte,

and made many parties with the Colonel of evenings,

while Becky was singing to Lord Steyne in the other room;


and as for Truffigny,

it is a well-known fact that he dared not go to the Travellers',

where he owed money to the waiters,

and if he had not had the Embassy as a dining-place,

the worthy young gentleman must have starved.


I doubt,

I say,

that Becky would have selected either of these young men as a person on whom she would bestow her special regard.


They ran of her messages,

purchased her gloves and flowers,

went in debt for opera-boxes for her,

and made themselves amiable in a thousand ways.


And they talked English with adorable simplicity,

and to the constant amusement of Becky and my Lord Steyne,

she would mimic one or other to his face,

and compliment him on his advance in the English language with a gravity which never failed to tickle the Marquis,

her sardonic old patron.


Truffigny gave Briggs a shawl by way of winning over Becky's confidante,

and asked her to take charge of a letter which the simple spinster handed over in public to the person to whom it was addressed,

and the composition of which amused everybody who read it greatly.


Lord Steyne read it,

everybody but honest Rawdon,

to whom it was not necessary to tell everything that passed in the little house in May Fair.


Here,

before long,

Becky received not only "the best" foreigners (as the phrase is in our noble and admirable society slang),

but some of the best English people too.


I don't mean the most virtuous,

or indeed the least virtuous,

or the cleverest,

or the stupidest,

or the richest,

or the best born,

but "the best,"

--in a word,

people about whom there is no question --such as the great Lady Fitz-Willis,

that Patron Saint of Almack's,

the great Lady Slowbore,

the great Lady Grizzel Macbeth (she was Lady G. Glowry,

daughter of Lord Grey of Glowry),

and the like.


When the Countess of Fitz-Willis (her Ladyship is of the Kingstreet family,

see Debrett and Burke) takes up a person,

he or she is safe.


There is no question about them any more.


Not that my Lady Fitz-Willis is any better than anybody else,

being,

on the contrary,

a faded person,

fifty-seven years of age,

and neither handsome,

nor wealthy,

nor entertaining;


but it is agreed on all sides that she is of the "best people."


Those who go to her are of the best: and from an old grudge probably to Lady Steyne (for whose coronet her ladyship,

then the youthful Georgina Frederica,

daughter of the Prince of Wales's favourite,

the Earl of Portansherry,

had once tried),

this great and famous leader of the fashion chose to acknowledge Mrs. Rawdon Crawley;


made her a most marked curtsey at the assembly over which she presided;


and not only encouraged her son,

St. Kitts (his lordship got his place through Lord Steyne's interest),

to frequent Mrs. Crawley's house,

but asked her to her own mansion and spoke to her twice in the most public and condescending manner during dinner.


The important fact was known all over London that night.


People who had been crying fie about Mrs. Crawley were silent.


Wenham,

the wit and lawyer,

Lord Steyne's right-hand man,

went about everywhere praising her: some who had hesitated,

came forward at once and welcomed her;


little Tom Toady,

who had warned Southdown about visiting such an abandoned woman,

now besought to be introduced to her.


In a word,

she was admitted to be among the "best" people.


Ah,

my beloved readers and brethren,

do not envy poor Becky prematurely --glory like this is said to be fugitive.


It is currently reported that even in the very inmost circles,

they are no happier than the poor wanderers outside the zone;


and Becky,

who penetrated into the very centre of fashion and saw the great George IV face to face,

has owned since that there too was Vanity.


We must be brief in descanting upon this part of her career.


As I cannot describe the mysteries of freemasonry,

although I have a shrewd idea that it is a humbug,

so an uninitiated man cannot take upon himself to portray the great world accurately,

and had best keep his opinions to himself,

whatever they are.


Becky has often spoken in subsequent years of this season of her life,

when she moved among the very greatest circles of the London fashion.


Her success excited,

elated,

and then bored her.


At first no occupation was more pleasant than to invent and procure (the latter a work of no small trouble and ingenuity,

by the way,

in a person of Mrs. Rawdon Crawley's very narrow means) --to procure,

we say,

the prettiest new dresses and ornaments;


to drive to fine dinner parties,

where she was welcomed by great people;


and from the fine dinner parties to fine assemblies,

whither the same people came with whom she had been dining,

whom she had met the night before,

and would see on the morrow --the young men faultlessly appointed,

handsomely cravatted,

with the neatest glossy boots and white gloves --the elders portly,

brass-buttoned,

noble-looking,

polite,

and prosy --the young ladies blonde,

timid,

and in pink --the mothers grand,

beautiful,

sumptuous,

solemn,

and in diamonds.


They talked in English,

not in bad French,

as they do in the novels.


They talked about each others' houses,

and characters,

and families --just as the Joneses do about the Smiths.


Becky's former acquaintances hated and envied her;


the poor woman herself was yawning in spirit.


"I wish I were out of it,"

she said to herself.


"I would rather be a parson's wife and teach a Sunday school than this;


or a sergeant's lady and ride in the regimental waggon;


or,

oh,

how much gayer it would be to wear spangles and trousers and dance before a booth at a fair."


"You would do it very well,"

said Lord Steyne,

laughing.


She used to tell the great man her ennuis and perplexities in her artless way --they amused him.


"Rawdon would make a very good Ecuyer --Master of the Ceremonies --what do you call him --the man in the large boots and the uniform,

who goes round the ring cracking the whip?


He is large,

heavy,

and of a military figure.


I recollect,"

Becky continued pensively,

"my father took me to see a show at Brookgreen Fair when I was a child,

and when we came home,

I made myself a pair of stilts and danced in the studio to the wonder of all the pupils."


"I should have liked to see it,"

said Lord Steyne.


"I should like to do it now,"

Becky continued.


"How Lady Blinkey would open her eyes,

and Lady Grizzel Macbeth would stare!

Hush!

silence!

there is Pasta beginning to sing."


Becky always made a point of being conspicuously polite to the professional ladies and gentlemen who attended at these aristocratic parties --of following them into the corners where they sat in silence,

and shaking hands with them,

and smiling in the view of all persons.


She was an artist herself,

as she said very truly;


there was a frankness and humility in the manner in which she acknowledged her origin,

which provoked,

or disarmed,

or amused lookers-on,

as the case might be.


"How cool that woman is,"

said one;


"what airs of independence she assumes,

where she ought to sit still and be thankful if anybody speaks to her!"

"What an honest and good-natured soul she is!"

said another.


"What an artful little minx" said a third.


They were all right very likely,

but Becky went her own way,

and so fascinated the professional personages that they would leave off their sore throats in order to sing at her parties and give her lessons for nothing.


Yes,

she gave parties in the little house in Curzon Street.


Many scores of carriages,

with blazing lamps,

blocked up the street,

to the disgust of No. 100,

who could not rest for the thunder of the knocking,

and of 102,

who could not sleep for envy.


The gigantic footmen who accompanied the vehicles were too big to be contained in Becky's little hall,

and were billeted off in the neighbouring public-houses,

whence,

when they were wanted,

call-boys summoned them from their beer.


Scores of the great dandies of London squeezed and trod on each other on the little stairs,

laughing to find themselves there;


and many spotless and severe ladies of ton were seated in the little drawing-room,

listening to the professional singers,

who were singing according to their wont,

and as if they wished to blow the windows down.


And the day after,

there appeared among the fashionable reunions in the Morning Post a paragraph to the following effect:


"Yesterday,

Colonel and Mrs. Crawley entertained a select party at dinner at their house in May Fair.


Their Excellencies the Prince and Princess of Peterwaradin,

H. E. Papoosh Pasha,

the Turkish Ambassador (attended by Kibob Bey,

dragoman of the mission),

the Marquess of Steyne,

Earl of Southdown,

Sir Pitt and Lady Jane Crawley,

Mr. Wagg,

&c.


After dinner Mrs. Crawley had an assembly which was attended by the Duchess (Dowager) of Stilton,

Duc de la Gruyere,

Marchioness of Cheshire,

Marchese Alessandro Strachino,

Comte de Brie,

Baron Schapzuger,

Chevalier Tosti,

Countess of Slingstone,

and Lady F. Macadam,

Major-General and Lady G. Macbeth,

and (2) Miss Macbeths;


Viscount Paddington,

Sir Horace Fogey,

Hon. Sands Bedwin,

Bobachy Bahawder,"

and an &c.,

which the reader may fill at his pleasure through a dozen close lines of small type.


And in her commerce with the great our dear friend showed the same frankness which distinguished her transactions with the lowly in station.


On one occasion,

when out at a very fine house,

Rebecca was (perhaps rather ostentatiously) holding a conversation in the French language with a celebrated tenor singer of that nation,

while the Lady Grizzel Macbeth looked over her shoulder scowling at the pair.


"How very well you speak French,"

Lady Grizzel said,

who herself spoke the tongue in an Edinburgh accent most remarkable to hear.


"I ought to know it,"

Becky modestly said,

casting down her eyes.


"I taught it in a school,

and my mother was a Frenchwoman."


Lady Grizzel was won by her humility and was mollified towards the little woman.


She deplored the fatal levelling tendencies of the age,

which admitted persons of all classes into the society of their superiors,

but her ladyship owned that this one at least was well behaved and never forgot her place in life.


She was a very good woman: good to the poor;


stupid,

blameless,

unsuspicious.


It is not her ladyship's fault that she fancies herself better than you and me.


The skirts of her ancestors' garments have been kissed for centuries;


it is a thousand years,

they say,

since the tartans of the head of the family were embraced by the defunct Duncan's lords and councillors,

when the great ancestor of the House became King of Scotland.


Lady Steyne,

after the music scene,

succumbed before Becky,

and perhaps was not disinclined to her.


The younger ladies of the house of Gaunt were also compelled into submission.


Once or twice they set people at her,

but they failed.


The brilliant Lady Stunnington tried a passage of arms with her,

but was routed with great slaughter by the intrepid little Becky.


When attacked sometimes,

Becky had a knack of adopting a demure ingenue air,

under which she was most dangerous.


She said the wickedest things with the most simple unaffected air when in this mood,

and would take care artlessly to apologize for her blunders,

so that all the world should know that she had made them.


Mr. Wagg,

the celebrated wit,

and a led captain and trencher-man of my Lord Steyne,

was caused by the ladies to charge her;


and the worthy fellow,

leering at his patronesses and giving them a wink,

as much as to say,

"Now look out for sport,"

one evening began an assault upon Becky,

who was unsuspiciously eating her dinner.


The little woman,

attacked on a sudden,

but never without arms,

lighted up in an instant,

parried and riposted with a home-thrust,

which made Wagg's face tingle with shame;


then she returned to her soup with the most perfect calm and a quiet smile on her face.


Wagg's great patron,

who gave him dinners and lent him a little money sometimes,

and whose election,

newspaper,

and other jobs Wagg did,

gave the luckless fellow such a savage glance with the eyes as almost made him sink under the table and burst into tears.


He looked piteously at my lord,

who never spoke to him during dinner,

and at the ladies,

who disowned him.


At last Becky herself took compassion upon him and tried to engage him in talk.


He was not asked to dinner again for six weeks;


and Fiche,

my lord's confidential man,

to whom Wagg naturally paid a good deal of court,

was instructed to tell him that if he ever dared to say a rude thing to Mrs. Crawley again,

or make her the butt of his stupid jokes,

Milor would put every one of his notes of hand into his lawyer's hands and sell him up without mercy.


Wagg wept before Fiche and implored his dear friend to intercede for him.


He wrote a poem in favour of Mrs. R. C.,

which appeared in the very next number of the Harum-scarum Magazine,

which he conducted.


He implored her good-will at parties where he met her.


He cringed and coaxed Rawdon at the club.


He was allowed to come back to Gaunt House after a while.


Becky was always good to him,

always amused,

never angry.


His lordship's vizier and chief confidential servant (with a seat in parliament and at the dinner table),

Mr. Wenham,

was much more prudent in his behaviour and opinions than Mr. Wagg.


However much he might be disposed to hate all parvenus (Mr. Wenham himself was a staunch old True Blue Tory,

and his father a small coal-merchant in the north of England),

this aide-de-camp of the Marquis never showed any sort of hostility to the new favourite,

but pursued her with stealthy kindnesses and a sly and deferential politeness which somehow made Becky more uneasy than other people's overt hostilities.


How the Crawleys got the money which was spent upon the entertainments with which they treated the polite world was a mystery which gave rise to some conversation at the time,

and probably added zest to these little festivities.


Some persons averred that Sir Pitt Crawley gave his brother a handsome allowance;


if he did,

Becky's power over the Baronet must have been extraordinary indeed,

and his character greatly changed in his advanced age.


Other parties hinted that it was Becky's habit to levy contributions on all her husband's friends: going to this one in tears with an account that there was an execution in the house;


falling on her knees to that one and declaring that the whole family must go to gaol or commit suicide unless such and such a bill could be paid.


Lord Southdown,

it was said,

had been induced to give many hundreds through these pathetic representations.


Young Feltham,

of the  --th Dragoons (and son of the firm of Tiler and Feltham,

hatters and army accoutrement makers),

and whom the Crawleys introduced into fashionable life,

was also cited as one of Becky's victims in the pecuniary way.


People declared that she got money from various simply disposed persons,

under pretence of getting them confidential appointments under Government.


Who knows what stories were or were not told of our dear and innocent friend?


Certain it is that if she had had all the money which she was said to have begged or borrowed or stolen,

she might have capitalized and been honest for life,

whereas,

--but this is advancing matters.


The truth is,

that by economy and good management --by a sparing use of ready money and by paying scarcely anybody --people can manage,

for a time at least,

to make a great show with very little means: and it is our belief that Becky's much-talked-of parties,

which were not,

after all was said,

very numerous,

cost this lady very little more than the wax candles which lighted the walls.


Stillbrook and Queen's Crawley supplied her with game and fruit in abundance.


Lord Steyne's cellars were at her disposal,

and that excellent nobleman's famous cooks presided over her little kitchen,

or sent by my lord's order the rarest delicacies from their own.


I protest it is quite shameful in the world to abuse a simple creature,

as people of her time abuse Becky,

and I warn the public against believing one-tenth of the stories against her.


If every person is to be banished from society who runs into debt and cannot pay --if we are to be peering into everybody's private life,

speculating upon their income,

and cutting them if we don't approve of their expenditure --why,

what a howling wilderness and intolerable dwelling Vanity Fair would be!

Every man's hand would be against his neighbour in this case,

my dear sir,

and the benefits of civilization would be done away with.


We should be quarrelling,

abusing,

avoiding one another.


Our houses would become caverns,

and we should go in rags because we cared for nobody.


Rents would go down.


Parties wouldn't be given any more.


All the tradesmen of the town would be bankrupt.


Wine,

wax-lights,

comestibles,

rouge,

crinoline-petticoats,

diamonds,

wigs,

Louis-Quatorze gimcracks,

and old china,

park hacks,

and splendid high-stepping carriage horses --all the delights of life,

I say,

--would go to the deuce,

if people did but act upon their silly principles and avoid those whom they dislike and abuse.


Whereas,

by a little charity and mutual forbearance,

things are made to go on pleasantly enough: we may abuse a man as much as we like,

and call him the greatest rascal unhanged --but do we wish to hang him therefore?


No. We shake hands when we meet.


If his cook is good we forgive him and go and dine with him,

and we expect he will do the same by us.


Thus trade flourishes --civilization advances;


peace is kept;


new dresses are wanted for new assemblies every week;


and the last year's vintage of Lafitte will remunerate the honest proprietor who reared it.


At the time whereof we are writing,

though the Great George was on the throne and ladies wore gigots and large combs like tortoise-shell shovels in their hair,

instead of the simple sleeves and lovely wreaths which are actually in fashion,

the manners of the very polite world were not,

I take it,

essentially different from those of the present day: and their amusements pretty similar.


To us,

from the outside,

gazing over the policeman's shoulders at the bewildering beauties as they pass into Court or ball,

they may seem beings of unearthly splendour and in the enjoyment of an exquisite happiness by us unattainable.


It is to console some of these dissatisfied beings that we are narrating our dear Becky's struggles,

and triumphs,

and disappointments,

of all of which,

indeed,

as is the case with all persons of merit,

she had her share.


At this time the amiable amusement of acting charades had come among us from France,

and was considerably in vogue in this country,

enabling the many ladies amongst us who had beauty to display their charms,

and the fewer number who had cleverness to exhibit their wit.


My Lord Steyne was incited by Becky,

who perhaps believed herself endowed with both the above qualifications,

to give an entertainment at Gaunt House,

which should include some of these little dramas --and we must take leave to introduce the reader to this brilliant reunion,

and,

with a melancholy welcome too,

for it will be among the very last of the fashionable entertainments to which it will be our fortune to conduct him.


A portion of that splendid room,

the picture gallery of Gaunt House,

was arranged as the charade theatre.


It had been so used when George III was king;


and a picture of the Marquis of Gaunt is still extant,

with his hair in powder and a pink ribbon,

in a Roman shape,

as it was called,

enacting the part of Cato in Mr. Addison's tragedy of that name,

performed before their Royal Highnesses the Prince of Wales,

the Bishop of Osnaburgh,

and Prince William Henry,

then children like the actor.


One or two of the old properties were drawn out of the garrets,

where they had lain ever since,

and furbished up anew for the present festivities.


Young Bedwin Sands,

then an elegant dandy and Eastern traveller,

was manager of the revels.


An Eastern traveller was somebody in those days,

and the adventurous Bedwin,

who had published his quarto and passed some months under the tents in the desert,

was a personage of no small importance.


In his volume there were several pictures of Sands in various oriental costumes;


and he travelled about with a black attendant of most unprepossessing appearance,

just like another Brian de Bois Guilbert.


Bedwin,

his costumes,

and black man,

were hailed at Gaunt House as very valuable acquisitions.


He led off the first charade.


A Turkish officer with an immense plume of feathers (the Janizaries were supposed to be still in existence,

and the tarboosh had not as yet displaced the ancient and majestic head-dress of the true believers) was seen couched on a divan,

and making believe to puff at a narghile,

in which,

however,

for the sake of the ladies,

only a fragrant pastille was allowed to smoke.


The Turkish dignitary yawns and expresses signs of weariness and idleness.


He claps his hands and Mesrour the Nubian appears,

with bare arms,

bangles,

yataghans,

and every Eastern ornament --gaunt,

tall,

and hideous.


He makes a salaam before my lord the Aga.


A thrill of terror and delight runs through the assembly.


The ladies whisper to one another.


The black slave was given to Bedwin Sands by an Egyptian pasha in exchange for three dozen of Maraschino.


He has sewn up ever so many odalisques in sacks and tilted them into the Nile.


"Bid the slave-merchant enter,"

says the Turkish voluptuary with a wave of his hand.


Mesrour conducts the slave-merchant into my lord's presence;


he brings a veiled female with him.


He removes the veil.


A thrill of applause bursts through the house.


It is Mrs. Winkworth (she was a Miss Absolom) with the beautiful eyes and hair.


She is in a gorgeous oriental costume;


the black braided locks are twined with innumerable jewels;


her dress is covered over with gold piastres.


The odious Mahometan expresses himself charmed by her beauty.


She falls down on her knees and entreats him to restore her to the mountains where she was born,

and where her Circassian lover is still deploring the absence of his Zuleikah.


No entreaties will move the obdurate Hassan.


He laughs at the notion of the Circassian bridegroom.


Zuleikah covers her face with her hands and drops down in an attitude of the most beautiful despair.


There seems to be no hope for her,

when --when the Kislar Aga appears.


The Kislar Aga brings a letter from the Sultan.


Hassan receives and places on his head the dread firman.


A ghastly terror seizes him,

while on the Negro's face (it is Mesrour again in another costume) appears a ghastly joy.


"Mercy!

mercy!"

cries the Pasha: while the Kislar Aga,

grinning horribly,

pulls out --a bow-string.


The curtain draws just as he is going to use that awful weapon.


Hassan from within bawls out,

"First two syllables" --and Mrs. Rawdon Crawley,

who is going to act in the charade,

comes forward and compliments Mrs. Winkworth on the admirable taste and beauty of her costume.


The second part of the charade takes place.


It is still an Eastern scene.


Hassan,

in another dress,

is in an attitude by Zuleikah,

who is perfectly reconciled to him.


The Kislar Aga has become a peaceful black slave.


It is sunrise on the desert,

and the Turks turn their heads eastwards and bow to the sand.


As there are no dromedaries at hand,

the band facetiously plays "The Camels are coming."


An enormous Egyptian head figures in the scene.


It is a musical one --and,

to the surprise of the oriental travellers,

sings a comic song,

composed by Mr. Wagg.


The Eastern voyagers go off dancing,

like Papageno and the Moorish King in The Magic Flute.


"Last two syllables,"

roars the head.


The last act opens.


It is a Grecian tent this time.


A tall and stalwart man reposes on a couch there.


Above him hang his helmet and shield.


There is no need for them now.


Ilium is down.


Iphigenia is slain.


Cassandra is a prisoner in his outer halls.


The king of men (it is Colonel Crawley,

who,

indeed,

has no notion about the sack of Ilium or the conquest of Cassandra),

the anax andron is asleep in his chamber at Argos.


A lamp casts the broad shadow of the sleeping warrior flickering on the wall --the sword and shield of Troy glitter in its light.


The band plays the awful music of Don Juan,

before the statue enters.


Aegisthus steals in pale and on tiptoe.


What is that ghastly face looking out balefully after him from behind the arras?


He raises his dagger to strike the sleeper,

who turns in his bed,

and opens his broad chest as if for the blow.


He cannot strike the noble slumbering chieftain.


Clytemnestra glides swiftly into the room like an apparition --her arms are bare and white --her tawny hair floats down her shoulders --her face is deadly pale --and her eyes are lighted up with a smile so ghastly that people quake as they look at her.


A tremor ran through the room.


"Good God!"

somebody said,

"it's Mrs. Rawdon Crawley."


Scornfully she snatches the dagger out of Aegisthus's hand and advances to the bed.


You see it shining over her head in the glimmer of the lamp,

and --and the lamp goes out,

with a groan,

and all is dark.


The darkness and the scene frightened people.


Rebecca performed her part so well,

and with such ghastly truth,

that the spectators were all dumb,

until,

with a burst,

all the lamps of the hall blazed out again,

when everybody began to shout applause.


"Brava!

brava!"

old Steyne's strident voice was heard roaring over all the rest.


"By --,

she'd do it too,"

he said between his teeth.


The performers were called by the whole house,

which sounded with cries of "Manager!

Clytemnestra!"

Agamemnon could not be got to show in his classical tunic,

but stood in the background with Aegisthus and others of the performers of the little play.


Mr. Bedwin Sands led on Zuleikah and Clytemnestra.


A great personage insisted on being presented to the charming Clytemnestra.


"Heigh ha?


Run him through the body.


Marry somebody else,

hay?"

was the apposite remark made by His Royal Highness.


"Mrs. Rawdon Crawley was quite killing in the part,"

said Lord Steyne.


Becky laughed,

gay and saucy looking,

and swept the prettiest little curtsey ever seen.


Servants brought in salvers covered with numerous cool dainties,

and the performers disappeared to get ready for the second charade-tableau.


The three syllables of this charade were to be depicted in pantomime,

and the performance took place in the following wise:


First syllable.


Colonel Rawdon Crawley,

C.B.,

with a slouched hat and a staff,

a great-coat,

and a lantern borrowed from the stables,

passed across the stage bawling out,

as if warning the inhabitants of the hour.


In the lower window are seen two bagmen playing apparently at the game of cribbage,

over which they yawn much.


To them enters one looking like Boots (the Honourable G. Ringwood),

which character the young gentleman performed to perfection,

and divests them of their lower coverings;


and presently Chambermaid (the Right Honourable Lord Southdown) with two candlesticks,

and a warming-pan.


She ascends to the upper apartment and warms the bed.


She uses the warming-pan as a weapon wherewith she wards off the attention of the bagmen.


She exits.


They put on their night-caps and pull down the blinds.


Boots comes out and closes the shutters of the ground-floor chamber.


You hear him bolting and chaining the door within.


All the lights go out.


The music plays Dormez,

dormez,

chers Amours.


A voice from behind the curtain says,

"First syllable."


Second syllable.


The lamps are lighted up all of a sudden.


The music plays the old air from John of Paris,

Ah quel plaisir d'etre en voyage.


It is the same scene.


Between the first and second floors of the house represented,

you behold a sign on which the Steyne arms are painted.


All the bells are ringing all over the house.


In the lower apartment you see a man with a long slip of paper presenting it to another,

who shakes his fists,

threatens and vows that it is monstrous.


"Ostler,

bring round my gig,"

cries another at the door.


He chucks Chambermaid (the Right Honourable Lord Southdown) under the chin;


she seems to deplore his absence,

as Calypso did that of that other eminent traveller Ulysses.


Boots (the Honourable G. Ringwood) passes with a wooden box,

containing silver flagons,

and cries "Pots" with such exquisite humour and naturalness that the whole house rings with applause,

and a bouquet is thrown to him.


Crack,

crack,

crack,

go the whips.


Landlord,

chambermaid,

waiter rush to the door,

but just as some distinguished guest is arriving,

the curtains close,

and the invisible theatrical manager cries out "Second syllable."


"I think it must be

'Hotel,'" says Captain Grigg of the Life Guards;


there is a general laugh at the Captain's cleverness.


He is not very far from the mark.


While the third syllable is in preparation,

the band begins a nautical medley --"All in the Downs,"

"Cease Rude Boreas,"

"Rule Britannia,"

"In the Bay of Biscay O!"

--some maritime event is about to take place.


A ben is heard ringing as the curtain draws aside.


"Now,

gents,

for the shore!"

a voice exclaims.


People take leave of each other.


They point anxiously as if towards the clouds,

which are represented by a dark curtain,

and they nod their heads in fear.


Lady Squeams (the Right Honourable Lord Southdown),

her lap-dog,

her bags,

reticules,

and husband sit down,

and cling hold of some ropes.


It is evidently a ship.


The Captain (Colonel Crawley,

C.B.),

with a cocked hat and a telescope,

comes in,

holding his hat on his head,

and looks out;


his coat tails fly about as if in the wind.


When he leaves go of his hat to use his telescope,

his hat flies off,

with immense applause.


It is blowing fresh.


The music rises and whistles louder and louder;


the mariners go across the stage staggering,

as if the ship was in severe motion.


The Steward (the Honourable G. Ringwood) passes reeling by,

holding six basins.


He puts one rapidly by Lord Squeams --Lady Squeams,

giving a pinch to her dog,

which begins to howl piteously,

puts her pocket-handkerchief to her face,

and rushes away as for the cabin.


The music rises up to the wildest pitch of stormy excitement,

and the third syllable is concluded.


There was a little ballet,

"Le Rossignol,"

in which Montessu and Noblet used to be famous in those days,

and which Mr. Wagg transferred to the English stage as an opera,

putting his verse,

of which he was a skilful writer,

to the pretty airs of the ballet.


It was dressed in old French costume,

and little Lord Southdown now appeared admirably attired in the disguise of an old woman hobbling about the stage with a faultless crooked stick.


Trills of melody were heard behind the scenes,

and gurgling from a sweet pasteboard cottage covered with roses and trellis work.


"Philomele,

Philomele,"

cries the old woman,

and Philomele comes out.


More applause --it is Mrs. Rawdon Crawley in powder and patches,

the most ravissante little Marquise in the world.


She comes in laughing,

humming,

and frisks about the stage with all the innocence of theatrical youth --she makes a curtsey.


Mamma says "Why,

child,

you are always laughing and singing,"

and away she goes,

with --


THE ROSE UPON MY BALCONY


The rose upon my balcony the morning air perfuming Was leafless all the winter time and pining for the spring;


You ask me why her breath is sweet and why her cheek is blooming,

It is because the sun is out and birds begin to sing.


The nightingale,

whose melody is through the greenwood ringing,

Was silent when the boughs were bare and winds were blowing keen: And if,

Mamma,

you ask of me the reason of his singing,

It is because the sun is out and all the leaves are green.


Thus each performs his part,

Mamma,

the birds have found their voices,

The blowing rose a flush,

Mamma,

her bonny cheek to dye;


And there's sunshine in my heart,

Mamma,

which wakens and rejoices,

And so I sing and blush,

Mamma,

and that's the reason why.


During the intervals of the stanzas of this ditty,

the good-natured personage addressed as Mamma by the singer,

and whose large whiskers appeared under her cap,

seemed very anxious to exhibit her maternal affection by embracing the innocent creature who performed the daughter's part.


Every caress was received with loud acclamations of laughter by the sympathizing audience.


At its conclusion (while the music was performing a symphony as if ever so many birds were warbling) the whole house was unanimous for an encore: and applause and bouquets without end were showered upon the Nightingale of the evening.


Lord Steyne's voice of applause was loudest of all.


Becky,

the nightingale,

took the flowers which he threw to her and pressed them to her heart with the air of a consummate comedian.


Lord Steyne was frantic with delight.


His guests' enthusiasm harmonized with his own.


Where was the beautiful black-eyed Houri whose appearance in the first charade had caused such delight?


She was twice as handsome as Becky,

but the brilliancy of the latter had quite eclipsed her.


All voices were for her.


Stephens,

Caradori,

Ronzi de Begnis,

people compared her to one or the other,

and agreed with good reason,

very likely,

that had she been an actress none on the stage could have surpassed her.


She had reached her culmination: her voice rose trilling and bright over the storm of applause,

and soared as high and joyful as her triumph.


There was a ball after the dramatic entertainments,

and everybody pressed round Becky as the great point of attraction of the evening.


The Royal Personage declared with an oath that she was perfection,

and engaged her again and again in conversation.


Little Becky's soul swelled with pride and delight at these honours;


she saw fortune,

fame,

fashion before her.


Lord Steyne was her slave,

followed her everywhere,

and scarcely spoke to any one in the room beside,

and paid her the most marked compliments and attention.


She still appeared in her Marquise costume and danced a minuet with Monsieur de Truffigny,

Monsieur Le Duc de la Jabotiere's attache;


and the Duke,

who had all the traditions of the ancient court,

pronounced that Madame Crawley was worthy to have been a pupil of Vestris,

or to have figured at Versailles.


Only a feeling of dignity,

the gout,

and the strongest sense of duty and personal sacrifice prevented his Excellency from dancing with her himself,

and he declared in public that a lady who could talk and dance like Mrs. Rawdon was fit to be ambassadress at any court in Europe.


He was only consoled when he heard that she was half a Frenchwoman by birth.


"None but a compatriot,"

his Excellency declared,

"could have performed that majestic dance in such a way."


Then she figured in a waltz with Monsieur de Klingenspohr,

the Prince of Peterwaradin's cousin and attache.


The delighted Prince,

having less retenue than his French diplomatic colleague,

insisted upon taking a turn with the charming creature,

and twirled round the ball-room with her,

scattering the diamonds out of his boot-tassels and hussar jacket until his Highness was fairly out of breath.


Papoosh Pasha himself would have liked to dance with her if that amusement had been the custom of his country.


The company made a circle round her and applauded as wildly as if she had been a Noblet or a Taglioni.


Everybody was in ecstacy;


and Becky too,

you may be sure.


She passed by Lady Stunnington with a look of scorn.


She patronized Lady Gaunt and her astonished and mortified sister-in-law --she ecrased all rival charmers.


As for poor Mrs. Winkworth,

and her long hair and great eyes,

which had made such an effect at the commencement of the evening --where was she now?


Nowhere in the race.


She might tear her long hair and cry her great eyes out,

but there was not a person to heed or to deplore the discomfiture.


The greatest triumph of all was at supper time.


She was placed at the grand exclusive table with his Royal Highness the exalted personage before mentioned,

and the rest of the great guests.


She was served on gold plate.


She might have had pearls melted into her champagne if she liked --another Cleopatra --and the potentate of Peterwaradin would have given half the brilliants off his jacket for a kind glance from those dazzling eyes.


Jabotiere wrote home about her to his government.


The ladies at the other tables,

who supped off mere silver and marked Lord Steyne's constant attention to her,

vowed it was a monstrous infatuation,

a gross insult to ladies of rank.


If sarcasm could have killed,

Lady Stunnington would have slain her on the spot.


Rawdon Crawley was scared at these triumphs.


They seemed to separate his wife farther than ever from him somehow.


He thought with a feeling very like pain how immeasurably she was his superior.


When the hour of departure came,

a crowd of young men followed her to her carriage,

for which the people without bawled,

the cry being caught up by the link-men who were stationed outside the tall gates of Gaunt House,

congratulating each person who issued from the gate and hoping his Lordship had enjoyed this noble party.


Mrs. Rawdon Crawley's carriage,

coming up to the gate after due shouting,

rattled into the illuminated court-yard and drove up to the covered way.


Rawdon put his wife into the carriage,

which drove off.


Mr. Wenham had proposed to him to walk home,

and offered the Colonel the refreshment of a cigar.


They lighted their cigars by the lamp of one of the many link-boys outside,

and Rawdon walked on with his friend Wenham.


Two persons separated from the crowd and followed the two gentlemen;


and when they had walked down Gaunt Square a few score of paces,

one of the men came up and,

touching Rawdon on the shoulder,

said,

"Beg your pardon,

Colonel,

I vish to speak to you most particular."


This gentleman's acquaintance gave a loud whistle as the latter spoke,

at which signal a cab came clattering up from those stationed at the gate of Gaunt House --and the aide-de-camp ran round and placed himself in front of Colonel Crawley.


That gallant officer at once knew what had befallen him.


He was in the hands of the bailiffs.


He started back,

falling against the man who had first touched him.


"We're three on us --it's no use bolting,"

the man behind said.


"It's you,

Moss,

is it?"

said the Colonel,

who appeared to know his interlocutor.


"How much is it?"


"Only a small thing,"

whispered Mr. Moss,

of Cursitor Street,

Chancery Lane,

and assistant officer to the Sheriff of Middlesex --"One hundred and sixty-six,

six and eight-pence,

at the suit of Mr. Nathan."


"Lend me a hundred,

Wenham,

for God's sake,"

poor Rawdon said --"I've got seventy at home."


"I've not got ten pounds in the world,"

said poor Mr. Wenham --"Good night,

my dear fellow."


"Good night,"

said Rawdon ruefully.


And Wenham walked away --and Rawdon Crawley finished his cigar as the cab drove under Temple Bar.