'And that man,' asked Mrs. Vere.

'Was your slave, Mrs. Dallington,' said the young Duke, bowing profoundly, with his hand on his heart.

'I remember she said the same thing to me,' said the Duke of Burlington, 'about ten years before.'

'That was her grandmother, Burley,' said the Duke of St. James.

'Her grandmother!' said Mrs. Dallington, exciting the contest.

'Decidedly,' said the young Duke. 'I remember my friend always spoke of the Duke of Burlington as grandpapa.'

'You will profit, I have no doubt, then, by the company of so venerable a friend,' said Miss Dacre.

'Why,' said the young Duke, 'I am not a believer in the perfectibility of the species; and you know, that when we come to a certain point----'

'We must despair of improvement,' said the Duke of Burlington.

'Your Grace came forward, like a true knight, to my rescue,' said Miss Dacre, bowing to the Duke of Burlington.

'Beauty can inspire miracles,' said the Duke of St. James.

'This young gentleman has been spoiled by travel, Miss Dacre,' said the Duke of Burlington. 'You have much to answer for, for he tells every one that you were his guardian.'

The eyes of Miss Dacre and the Duke of St. James met. He bowed with that graceful impudence which is, after all, the best explanation for every possible misunderstanding.

'I always heard that the Duke of St. James was born of age,' said Miss Dacre.

'The report was rife on the Continent when I travelled,' said Mrs.

Dallington Vere.

'That was only a poetical allegory, which veiled the precocious results of my fair tutor's exertions.'

'How discreet he is!' said the Duke of Burlington. 'You may tell immediately that he is two-and-forty.'

'We are neither of us, though, off the _pave_ yet, Burlington; so what say you to inducing these inspiring muses to join the waltz which is just now commencing?'

The young Duke offered his hand to Miss Dacre, and, followed by their companions, they were in a few minutes lost in the waves of the waltzers.

CHAPTER VI.

_A Complaisant Spouse_

THE gaieties of the race-week closed with a ball at Dallington House.

As the pretty mistress of this proud mansion was acquainted with all the members of the ducal party, our hero and his n.o.ble band were among those who honoured it with their presence.

We really have had so many b.a.l.l.s both in this and other as immortal works that, in a literary point of view, we think we must give up dancing; nor would we have introduced you to Dallington House if there had been no more serious business on hand than a flirtation with a lady or a lobster salad. Ah! why is not a little brief communion with the last as innocent as with the first?

Small feet are flitting in the mazy dance and music winds with inspiring harmony through halls whose lofty mirrors multiply beauty and add fresh l.u.s.tre to the blazing lights. May Dacre there is wandering like a peri in Paradise, and Lady Aphrodite is glancing with her dazzling brow, yet an Asmodeus might detect an occasional gloom over her radiant face.

It is but for an instant, yet it thrills. She looks like some favoured sultana, who muses for a moment amid her splendour on her early love.

And she, the sparkling mistress of this scene; say, where is she? Not among the dancers, though a more graceful form you could scarcely look upon; not even among her guests, though a more accomplished hostess it would be hard to find. Gaiety pours forth its flood, and all are thinking of themselves, or of some one sweeter even than self-consciousness, or else perhaps one absent might be missed.

Leaning on the arm of Sir Lucius Grafton, and shrouded in her cashmere, Mrs. Dallington Vere paces the terrace in earnest conversation.

'If I fail in this,' said Sir Lucius, 'I shall be desperate. Fortune seems to have sent him for the very purpose. Think only of the state of affairs for a moment. After a thousand plots on my part; after having for the last two years never ceased my exertions to make her commit herself; when neither a love of pleasure, nor a love of revenge, nor the thoughtlessness to which women in her situation generally have recourse, produced the slightest effect; this stripling starts upon the stage, and in a moment the iceberg melts. Oh! I never shall forget the rapture of the moment when the faithful Lachen announced the miracle!'

'But why not let the adventure take the usual course? You have your evidence, or you can get it. Finish the business. The _exposes_, to be sure, are disagreeable enough; but to be the talk of the town for a week is no great suffering. Go to Baden, drink the waters, and it will be forgotten. Surely this is an inconvenience not to be weighed for a moment against the great result.'

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'Believe me, my dearest friend, Lucy Grafton cares very little about the babble of the million, provided it do not obstruct him in his objects.

Would to Heaven I could proceed in the summary and effectual mode you point out; but that I much doubt. There is about Afy, in spite of all her softness and humility, a strange spirit, a cursed courage or obstinacy, which sometimes has blazed out, when I have over-galled her, in a way half-awful. I confess I dread her standing at bay. I am in her power, and a divorce she could successfully oppose if I appeared to be the person who hastened the catastrophe and she were piqued to show that she would not fall an easy victim. No, no! I have a surer, though a more difficult, game. She is intoxicated with this boy. I will drive her into his arms.'

'A probable result, forsooth! I do not think your genius has particularly brightened since we last met. I thought your letters were getting dull. You seem to forget that there is a third person to be consulted in this adventure. And why in the name of Doctors' Commons, the Duke is to close his career by marrying a woman of whom, with your leave, he is already, if experience be not a dream, half-wearied, is really past my comprehension, although as Yorkshire, Lucy, I should not, you know, be the least apprehensive of mortals.'

'I depend upon my unbounded influence over St. James.'

'What! do you mean to recommend the step, then?'

'Hear me! At present I am his confidential counsellor on all subjects----'

'But one.'

'Patience, fair dame; and I have hitherto imperceptibly, but efficiently, exerted my influence to prevent his getting entangled with any other nets.'

'Faithful friend!'

'_Point de moquerie!_ Listen. I depend further upon his perfect inexperience of women; for, in spite of his numerous gallantries, he has never yet had a grand pa.s.sion, and is quite ignorant, even at this moment, how involved his feelings are with his mistress. He has not yet learnt the bitter lesson that, unless we despise a woman when we cease to love her, we are still a slave, without the consolement of intoxication. I depend further upon his strong feelings; for strong I perceive they are, with all his affectation; and on his weakness of character, which will allow him to be the dupe of his first great emotion. It is to prevent that explosion from taking place under any other roof than my own that I now require your advice and a.s.sistance; that advice and a.s.sistance which already have done so much for me. I like not this sudden and uncontemplated visit to Castle Dacre. I fear these Dacres; I fear the revulsion of his feelings. Above all, I fear that girl.'

'But her cousin; is he not a talisman? She loves him.'

'Pooh! a cousin! Is not the name an answer? She loves him as she loves her pony; because he was her companion when she was a child, and kissed her when they gathered strawberries together. The pallid, moonlight pa.s.sion of a cousin, and an absent one, too, has but a sorry chance against the blazing beams that shoot from the eyes of a new lover. Would to Heaven that I had not to go down to my b.o.o.bies at Cleve! I should like nothing better than to amuse myself an autumn at Dallington with the little Dacre, and put an end to such an unnatural and irreligious connection. She is a splendid creature! Bring her to town next season.'

'But to the point. You wish me, I imagine, to act the same part with the lady as you have done with the gentleman. I am to step in, I suppose, as the confidential counsellor on all subjects of sweet May. I am to preserve her from a youth whose pa.s.sions are so impetuous and whose principles are so unformed.'

'Admirable Bertha! You read my thoughts.'

'But suppose I endanger, instead of advance, your plans. Suppose, for instance, I captivate his Grace. As extraordinary things have happened, as you know. High place must be respected, and the coronet of a d.u.c.h.ess must not be despised.'

'All considerations must yield to you, as do all men,' said Sir Lucius, with ready gallantry, but not free from anxiety.

'No, no; there is no danger of that. I am not going to play traitress to my system, even for the Duke of St. James; therefore, anything that occurs between us shall be merely an incident _pour pa.s.ser le temps seulement_, and to preserve our young friend from the little Dacre. I have no doubt he will behave very well, and that I shall send him safe to Cleve Park in a fortnight with a good character. I would recommend you, however, not to encourage any unreasonable delay.'

'Certainly not; but I must, of course, be guided by circ.u.mstances.' Sir Lucius observed truly. There were other considerations besides getting rid of his spouse which cemented his friendship with the young Duke. It will be curious if lending a few thousands to the husband save our hero from the wife. There is no such thing as unmixed evil. A man who loses his money gains, at least, experience, and sometimes something better.

But what the Duke of St. James gained is not yet to be told.