"Out the whole day!"

"And the 'Dalton'? for she has rather a good head, if I don't mistake her."

"She took the carriage into town, and has not returned."

"By Jove! I'd write a line to Sir Stafford; I 'd tell him that I was going for change of ah--, and all that sort of thing, to Como for a week or two, and that these people were so pestering and pressing, and all that; that, in fact, you were worried to death about it; and finding that your means were so very limited--"

"But he has been most liberal. His generosity has been without bounds."

"So much the better; he'll come down all the readier now."

"I feel shame at such a course," said she, in a weak, faint voice.

"As I don't precisely know what that sensation is, I can't advise against it; but it must needs be a very powerful emotion, if it prevent you accepting money."

"Can you think of nothing else, Norwood?"

"To be sure I can--there are twenty ways to do the thing. Close the shutters, and send for Buccellini; be ill dangerously ill and leave this to-morrow, at daybreak; or give a ball, like Dashwood, and start when the company are at supper. You lose the spoons and forks, to be sure; but that can't be helped. You might try and bully them, too though perhaps it 's late for that; and lastly and, I believe, best of all raise a few hundreds, and pay them each something."

"But how or where raise the money?"

"Leave that to me, if it must be done. The great benefactor of mankind was the fellow that invented bills. The glorious philanthropist that first devised the bright expedient of living by paper, when bullion failed, was a grand and original genius. How many a poor fellow might have been rescued from the Serpentine by a few words scrawled over a five-shilling stamp! What a turn to a man's whole earthly career has been often given, as his pen glided over the imaginative phrase 'I promise to pay'!"

Lady Hester paid no attention to the Viscount's moralizings. Shame indignant shame monopolized all her feelings.

"Well," said she, at last, "I believe it must be so. I cannot endure this any longer. Jekyl has behaved shamefully; and George I 'll never forgive. They ought to have taken care of all this. And now, Norwood, to procure the money what is to be done?"

"Here 's the patent treasury for pocket use the 'Young Man's Best Companion,'" said he, taking out of a black morocco case three or four blank bill-stamps, together with a ma.s.s of acceptances of various kinds, the proceeds of various play debts, the majority of which he well knew to be valueless. "What amount will be sufficient, how much shall we draw for?" said he, seating himself, pen in hand, at the table.

"I cannot even guess," said she, trembling with embarra.s.sment and confusion. "There are all these people's accounts and letters. I suppose they are all horrid cheats. I 'm sure I never got half the things, and that the rest are already paid for. But no matter now; let us have done with them at any cost."

"'Morlandi, coachmaker' pretty well for Signer Morlandi!" said Norwood "eleven hundred scudi for repairs to carriages for destroying your patent axles, and replacing English varnish by the lacquer of a tea-tray something less than two hundred and fifty pounds!"

"He is an obliging creature," said Lady Hester, "and always punctual."

"In that case we 'll deal generously with him. He shall have half his money, if he gives a receipt in full."

"'Legendre, coiffeur; eight thousand francs.' Pas mal, Monsieur Legendre! kid gloves and perfumes, Madonna bands and Maca.s.sar oil, are costly things to deal in."

"That is really iniquitous," said Lady Hester. "I see every bouquet is put down at a hundred francs!"

"A conservatory, at that rate, is better property than a coal-mine.

Shall we say one thousand francs for this honest coiffeur?"

"Impossible! He would scorn such an offer."

"Pardon me. I know these people somewhat better and longer than you do; and so far even from suffering in his estimation if that were a matter of any consequence you will rise in his good opinion. An Italian always despises a dupe, but entertains a sincere respect for all who detect knavery. I 'll set him down for one thousand, to be increased to fifteen hundred if he'll tell me how to cut down his neighbor, Guercini."

"What of Guercini? How much is his claim?"

"A trifle under five thousand crowns."

"Nearly one thousand pounds!" exclaimed she. "Say, rather, eleven hundred and upwards," said Norwood.

"It is incredible how little I've had from him: a few trifling rings and brooches; some insignificant alterations and new settings; one or two little presents to Kate; and, I really believe, nothing more."

"We are getting deeper and deeper," said Norwood, turning over the bills. "Contardo, the wine-merchant, and Frisani, table-decker, are both large claimants. If pine-apples were the daily food of the servants'

hall, they could scarcely cut a more formidable figure in the reckoning, indeed, if the whole establishment did nothing but munch them during all their leisure hours, the score need not be greater. Do you know, Hester, that the rogueries of the Continent are a far heavier infliction than the income-tax, and that the boasted economy of a foreign residence is sensibly diminished by the unfortunate fact that one honest tradesman is not to be found from Naples to the North Pole? They are Spartans in deceit, and only disgraced whenever the rascality is detected. Now, it is quite absurd to read such an item as this: 'Bonbons and dried fruits, three hundred and seventy crowns!' Why, if your guests were stuffed with marrons glaces, this would be an exaggeration."

"You are very tiresome, Norwood," said she, peevishly. "I don't want to be told that these people are all knaves; their character for honesty is no affair of mine; if it were, Buccellini could easily mesmerize any one of them and learn all his secrets. I only wish to get rid of them, it 's very distressing to hear their dreadful voices, and see their more dreadful selves in the court beneath."

"The task is somewhat more difficult than I bargained for," said Norwood, thoughtfully. "I fancied a few 'hundreds' would suffice, but we must read 'thousands' instead. In any case, I 'll hold a conference with them, and see what can be done."

"Do so, then, and lose no time, for I see Midchekoff s cha.s.seur below, and I 'm sure the Prince is coming."

Norwood gave her a look which made her suddenly become scarlet, and then left the room without speaking.

If he had not been himself a debtor with the greater number of those who waited below, few could have acquitted themselves more adroitly in such a mission. He was an adept in that clever game by which duns are foiled and tradesmen mollified; he knew every little menace and every flattery to apply to them, when to soothe and when to snub them. All these arts he was both ready and willing to exercise, were it not for the unpleasant difficulty that his own embarra.s.sments rendered him a somewhat dubious amba.s.sador. In fact, as he himself phrased it, "it was playing advocate with one leg in the dock."

He lingered a little, therefore, as he went; he stopped on the landing of the stairs to peep out on the tumultuous a.s.semblage beneath, like a general surveying the enemy's line before the engagement; nor was he over-pleased to remark that little Purvis was bustling about among the crowd, note-book and pencil in hand, palpably taking evidence and storing up facts for future mention. As he was still looking, the great gate was thrown open with a crash, and a caleche, dirty and travel-stained, was whirled into the court by three steaming and panting posters. After a brief delay, a short, thick-set figure, enveloped in travelling-gear, descended, and putting, as it seemed, a few questions as to the meaning of the a.s.sembled throng, entered the house.

Curious to learn who, what, and whence the new arrival came, Norwood hurried downstairs; but all that he could learn from the postilion was that the stranger had posted from Genoa, using the greatest speed all the way, and never halting, save a few minutes for refreshment. The traveller was not accompanied by a servant, and his luggage bore neither name nor crest to give any clew as to his ident.i.ty. That he was English, and that he had gone direct to Sir Stafford's apartments, was the whole sum of the Viscount's knowledge; but even this seemed so worthy of remark that he hastened back with the tidings to Lady Hester, instead of proceeding on his errand.

She treated the announcement with less interest. It might be Proctor, Sir Stafford's man. Was he tall and black-whiskered? No, he was short; and, so far as Norwood saw, he thought him fair-haired. "She knew of n.o.body to bear that description. It might be an English physician from Genoa, there was one there, or in Nice, she forgot exactly which, who was celebrated for treating gout, or sore eyes, she could not remember precisely, but it was certainly one or the other. On recollection, however, it was probably gout, because he had attended Lord Hugmore, who was blind."

"In that case," said Norwood, "Onslow would seem to be worse."

"Yes, poor man, much worse. George sat up with him the night before last, and said he suffered terribly. His mind used to wander at intervals, too, and he spoke as if he was very unhappy."

"Unhappy, a man with upwards of thirty thousand a year unhappy!" said Norwood, clasping his hands over his head as he spoke.

"You forget, my Lord, that there are other considerations than moneyed ones which weigh at least with some persons; and if Onslow's fortune be a princely one, he may still feel compunctious regrets for his detestable conduct to me!"

"Oh, I forgot that!" said Norwood, with a most laudable air of seriousness.

"It was very kind of you, my Lord, very considerate and very kind, indeed, to forget it. Yet I should have fancied it was the very sentiment uppermost in the mind of any one entering this chamber, witnessing the solitary seclusion of my daily life, beholding the resources by which the weary hours are beguiled, not to speak of the ravages which sorrow has left upon these features."

"On that score, at least, I can contradict you, Hester," said he, with a smile of flattering meaning. "It is now above eight years since first--"

"How can you be so tiresome?" said she, pettishly.

"Prince Midchekoff, my Lady, presents his compliments," said a servant, "and wishes to know if your Ladyship will receive him at dinner to-day, and at what hour?"

"How provoking! Yes, say, 'Yes, at eight o'clock,'" said she, walking up and down the room with impatience. "You 'll stay and meet him, Norwood.

I know you 're not great friends; but no matter, George is so uncertain.

He left us t' other day to entertain the Prince alone, Kate and myself, only fancy; and as he takes half-hour fits of silence, and Kate occasionally won't speak for a whole evening together, my part was a pleasant one."

"How Florence wrongs you both!" said Norwood. "They say that no one is more agreeable to your Ladyship than the Midchekoff," said he, slowly and pointedly.