Ernest Maltravers, Book 6
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Edward Bulwer Lytton >> Ernest Maltravers, Book 6
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BOOK VI.
Perchance you say that gold's the arch-exceller,
And to be rich is sweet?--EURIP. /Ion./, line 641.
* * * 'Tis not to be endured,
To yield our trodden path and turn aside,
Giving our place to knaves.--/Ibid./, line 648
CHAPTER I.
"L'adresse et l'artifice out passe dans mon coeur;
Qu'ou a sous cet habit et d'esprit et de ruse."*--REGNARD.
* Subtility and craft have taken possession of my heart; but under this
habit one exhibits both shrewdness and wit.
IT was a fine morning in July, when a gentleman who had arrived in town
the night before--after an absence from England of several years--walked
slowly and musingly up the superb thoroughfare which connects the
Regent's park with St. James's.
He was a man, who, with great powers of mind, had wasted his youth in a
wandering vagabond kind of life, but who had worn away the love of
pleasure, and began to awaken to a sense of ambition.
"It is astonishing how this city is improved," said he to himself.
"Everything gets on in this world with a little energy and bustle--and
everybody as well as everything. My old cronies, fellows not half so
clever as I am, are all doing well. There's Tom Stevens, my very fag at
Eton--snivelling little dog he was too!--just made under-secretary of
state. Pearson, whose longs and shorts I always wrote, is now
head-master to the human longs and shorts of a public school--editing
Greek plays, and booked for a bishopric. Collier, I see by the papers,
is leading his circuit--and Ernest Maltravers (but /he/ had some talent)
has made a name in the world. Here am I, worth them all put together,
who have done nothing but spend half my little fortune in spite of all
my economy. Egad, this must have an end. I must look to the main
chance; and yet, just when I want his help the most, my worthy uncle
thinks fit to marry again. Humph--I'm too good for this world."
While thus musing, the soliloquist came in direct personal contact with
a tall gentleman, who carried his head very high in the air, and did not
appear to see that he had nearly thrown our abstracted philosopher off
his legs.
"Zounds, sir, what do you mean?" cried the latter.
"I beg your par--" began the other, meekly, when his arm was seized, and
the injured man exclaimed, "Bless me, sir, is it indeed /you/ whom I
see?"
"Ha!--Lumley?"
"The same; and how fares it, any dear uncle? I did not know you were in
London. I only arrived last night. How well you are looking!"
"Why, yes, Heaven be praised, I am pretty well."
"And happy in your new ties? You must present me to Mrs. Templeton."
"Ehem," said Mr. Templeton, clearing his throat, and with a slight but
embarrassed smile, "I never thought I should marry again."
"/L'homme propose et Dieu dispose/," observed Lumley Ferrers; for it was
he.
"Gently, my dear nephew," replied Mr. Templeton, gravely; "those phrases
are somewhat sacrilegious; I am an old-fashioned person, you know."
"Ten thousand apologies."
"/One/ apology will suffice; these hyperboles of phrase are almost
sinful."
"Confounded old prig!" thought Ferrers; but he bowed sanctimoniously.
"My dear uncle, I have been a wild fellow in my day; but with years
comes reflection; and under your guidance, if I may hope for it, I trust
to grow a wiser and a better man."
"It is well, Lumley," returned the uncle, "and I am very glad to see you
returned to your own country. Will you dine with me to-morrow? I am
living near Fulham. You had better bring your carpet-bag, and stay with
me some days; you will be heartily welcome, especially if you can shift
without a foreign servant. I have a great compassion for papists,
but--"
"Oh, my dear uncle, do not fear; I am not rich enough to have a foreign
servant, and have not travelled over three-quarters of the globe without
learning that it is possible to dispense with a valet."
"As to being rich enough," observed Mr. Templeton, with a calculating
air, "seven hundred and ninety-five pounds ten shillings a year will
allow a man to keep two servants, if he pleases; but I am glad to find
you economical at all events. We meet to-morrow, then, at six o'clock."
"/Au revoir/--I mean, God bless you.
"Tiresome old gentleman that," muttered Ferrers, "and not so cordial as
formerly; perhaps his wife is /enceinte/, and he is going to do me the
injustice of having another heir. I must look to this; for without
riches, I had better go back and live /au cinquieme/ at Paris."
With this conclusion, Lumley quickened his pace, and soon arrived at
Seamore Place. In a few moments more he was in the library well stored
with books, and decorated with marble busts and images from the studios
of Canova and Thorwaldsen.
"My master, sir, will be down immediately," said the servant who
admitted him; and Ferrers threw himself on a sofa, and contemplated the
apartment with an air half envious and half cynical.
Presently the door opened, and "My dear Ferrers!" "Well, /mon cher/,
how are you?" were the salutations hastily exchanged.
After the first sentences of inquiry, gratulation, and welcome, had
cleared the way for more general conversation,--"Well, Maltravers," said
Ferrers, "so here we are together again, and after a lapse of so many
years! both older, certainly; and you, I suppose, wiser. At all events,
people think you so; and that's all that's important in the question.
Why, man, you are looking as young as ever, only a little paler and
thinner; but look at me--I am not very /much/ past thirty, and I am
almost an old man; bald at the temples, crows' feet, too, eh! Idleness
ages one damnably."
"Pooh, Lumley, I never saw you look better. And are you really come to
settle in England?"
"Yes, if I can afford it. But at my age, and after having seen so much,
the life of an idle, obscure /garcon/ does not content me. I feel that
the world's opinion, which I used to despise, is growing necessary to
me. I want to be something. What can I be? Don't look alarmed, I
won't rival you. I dare say literary reputation is a fine thing, but I
desire some distinction more substantial and worldly. You know your own
country; give me a map of the roads to Power."
"To Power! Oh, nothing but law, politics, and riches."
"For law I am too old; politics, perhaps, might suit me; but riches, my
dear Ernest--ah, how I long for a good account with my banker!"
"Well, patience and hope. Are you are not a rich uncle's heir?"
"I don't know," said Ferrers, very dolorously; "the old gentleman has
married again, and may have a family."
"Married!--to whom?"
"A widow, I hear; I know nothing more, except that she has a child
already. So you see she has got into a cursed way of having children.
And perhaps, by the time I'm forty, I shall see a whole covey of cherubs
flying away with the great Templeton property!"
"Ha, ha; your despair sharpens your wit, Lumley; but why not take a leaf
out of your uncle's book, and marry yourself?"
"So I will when I can find an heiress. If that is what you meant to
say--it is a more sensible suggestion than any I could have supposed to
come from a man who writes books, especially poetry: and your advice is
not to be despised. For rich I will be; and as the fathers (I don't
mean of the Church, but in Horace) told the rising generation, the first
thing is to resolve to be rich, it is only the second thing to consider
how."
"Meanwhile, Ferrers, you will be my guest."
"I'll dine with you to-day; but to-morrow I am off to Fulham, to be
introduced to my aunt. Can't you fancy her?--grey /gros-de-Naples/
gown: gold chain with an eyeglass; rather fat; two pugs, and a parrot!
'Start not, this is fancy's sketch!' I have not yet seen the
respectable relative with my physical optics. What shall we have for
dinner? Let me choose, you were always a bad caterer." As Ferrers thus
rattled on, Maltravers felt himself growing younger: old times and old
adventures crowded fast upon him; and the two friends spent a most
agreeable day together. It was only the next morning that Maltravers,
in thinking over the various conversations that had passed between them,
was forced reluctantly to acknowledge that the inert selfishness of
Lumley Ferrers seemed now to have hardened into a resolute and
systematic want of principle, which might, perhaps, make him a dangerous
and designing man, if urged by circumstances into action.
CHAPTER II.
"/Dauph./ Sir, I must speak to you. I have been long your
despised kinsman.
"/Morose./ Oh, what thou wilt, nephew."--EPICENE.
"Her silence is dowry eno'--exceedingly soft spoken; thrifty
of her speech, that spends but six words a day."--/Ibid./
THE coach dropped Mr. Ferrers at the gate of a villa about three miles
from town. The lodge-keeper charged himself with the carpet-bag, and
Ferrers strolled, with his hands behind him (it was his favourite mode
of disposing of them), through the beautiful and elaborate
pleasure-grounds.
"A very nice, snug little box (jointure-house, I suppose)! I would not
grudge that, I'm sure, if I had but the rest. But here, I suspect,
comes madam's first specimen of the art of having a family." This last
thought was extracted from Mr. Ferrers's contemplative brain by a lovely
little girl, who came running up to him, fearless and spoilt as she was;
and, after indulging a tolerable stare, exclaimed, "Are you come to see
papa, sir?"
"Papa!--the deuce!"--thought Lumley; "and who is papa, my dear?"
"Why, mamma's husband. He is not my papa by rights."
"Certainly not, my love; not by rights--I comprehend."
"Eh!"
"Yes, I am going to see your papa by wrongs--Mr. Templeton."
"Oh, this way, then."
"You are very fond of Mr. Templeton, my little angel."
"To be sure I am. You have not seen the rocking-horse he is going to
give me."
"Not yet, sweet child! And how is mamma?"
"Oh, poor, dear mamma," said the child, with a sudden change of voice,
and tears in her eyes. "Ah, she is not well!"
"In the family way, to a dead certainty!" muttered Ferrers with a groan:
"but here is my uncle. Horrid name! Uncles were always wicked fellows.
Richard the Third and the man who did something or other to the babes in
the wood were a joke to my hard-hearted old relation, who has robbed me
with a widow! The lustful, liquorish old--My /dear/ sir, I'm so glad to
see you!"
Mr. Templeton, who was a man very cold in his manners, and always either
looked over people's heads or down upon the ground, just touched his
nephew's outstretched hand, and telling him he was welcome, observed
that it was a very fine afternoon.
"Very, indeed; sweet place this; you see, by the way, that I have
already made acquaintance with my fair cousin-in-law. She is very
pretty."
"I really think she is," said Mr. Templeton, with some warmth, and
gazing fondly at the child, who was now throwing buttercups up in the
air, and trying to catch them. Mr. Ferrers wished in his heart that
they had been brickbats!
"Is she like her mother?" asked the nephew.
"Like whom, sir?"
"Her mother--Mrs. Templeton."
"No, not very; there is an air, perhaps, but the likeness is not
remarkably strong. Would you not like to go to your room before
dinner?"
"Thank you. Can I not first be presented to Mrs. Tem--"
"She is at her devotions, Mr. Lumley," interrupted Mr. Templeton,
grimly.
"The she-hypocrite!" thought Ferrers. "Oh, I am delighted that your
pious heart has found so congenial a helpmate!"
"It is a great blessing, and I am grateful for it. This is the way to
the house."
Lumley, now formally installed in a grave bedroom, with dimity curtains
and dark-brown paper with light-brown stars on it, threw himself into a
large chair, and yawned and stretched with as much fervour as if he
could have yawned and stretched himself into his uncle's property. He
then slowly exchanged his morning dress for a quiet suit of black, and
thanked his stars that, amidst all his sins, he had never been a dandy,
and had never rejoiced in a fine waistcoat--a criminal possession that
he well knew would have entirely hardened his uncle's conscience against
him. He tarried in his room till the second bell summoned him to
descend; and then, entering the drawing-room, which had a cold look even
in July, found his uncle standing by the mantelpiece, and a young,
slight, handsome woman, half-buried in a huge but not comfortable
/fauteuil/.
"Your aunt, Mrs. Templeton; madam, my nephew, Mr. Lumley Ferrers," said
Templeton, with a wave of the hand.
"John,--dinner!"
"I hope I am not late!"
"No," said Templeton, gently, for he had always liked his nephew, and
began now to thaw towards him a little on seeing that Lumley put a good
face upon the new state of affairs.
"No, my dear boy--no; but I think order and punctuality cardinal virtues
in a well-regulated family."
"Dinner, sir," said the butler, opening the folding-doors at the end of
the room.
"Permit me," said Lumley, offering his arm to his aunt. "What a lovely
place this is!"
Mrs. Templeton said something in reply, but what it was Ferrers could
not discover, so low and choked was the voice.
"Shy," thought he: "odd for a widow! but that's the way those
husband-buriers take us in!"
Plain as was the general furniture of the apartment, the natural
ostentation of Mr. Templeton broke out in the massive value of the
plate, and the number of the attendants. He was a rich man, and he was
proud of his riches: he knew it was respectable to be rich, and he
thought it was moral to be respectable. As for the dinner, Lumley knew
enough of his uncle's tastes to be prepared for viands and wines that
even he (fastidious gourmand as he was) did not despise.
Between the intervals of eating, Mr. Ferrers endeavoured to draw his
aunt into conversation, but he found all his ingenuity fail him. There
was, in the features of Mrs. Templeton, an expression of deep but calm
melancholy, that would have saddened most persons to look upon,
especially in one so young and lovely. It was evidently something
beyond shyness or reserve that made her so silent and subdued, and even
in her silence there was so much natural sweetness, that Ferrers could
not ascribe her manner to haughtiness or the desire to repel. He was
rather puzzled; "for though," thought he, sensibly enough, "my uncle is
not a youth, he is a very rich fellow; and how any widow, who is married
again to a rich old fellow, can be melancholy, passes my understanding!"
Templeton, as if to draw attention from his wife's taciturnity, talked
more than usual. He entered largely into politics, and regretted that
in times so critical he was not in parliament.
"Did I possess your youth and your health, Lumley, I would not neglect
my country--Popery is abroad."
"I myself should like very much to be in parliament," said Lumley,
boldly.
"I dare say you would," returned the uncle, drily. "Parliament is very
expensive--only fit for those who have a large stake in the country.
Champagne to Mr. Ferrers."
Lumley bit his lip, and spoke little during the rest of the dinner. Mr.
Templeton, however, waxed gracious by the time the dessert was on the
table; and began cutting up a pineapple, with many assurances to Lumley
that gardens were nothing without pineries. "Whenever you settle in the
country, nephew, be sure you have a pinery."
"Oh, yes," said Lumley, almost bitterly, "and a pack of hounds, and a
French cook; they will all suit my fortune very well."
"You are more thoughtful on pecuniary matters than you used to be," said
the uncle.
"Sir," replied Ferrers, solemnly, "in a very short time I shall be what
is called a middle-aged man."
"Humph!" said the host.
There was another silence. Lumley was a man, as we have said, or
implied before, of great knowledge of human nature, at least the
ordinary sort of it, and he now revolved in his mind the various courses
it might be wise to pursue towards his rich relation. He saw that, in
delicate fencing, his uncle had over him the same advantage that a tall
man has over a short one with the physical sword-play;--by holding his
weapon in a proper position, he kept the other at arm's length. There
was a grand reserve and dignity about the man who had something to give
away, of which Ferrers, however actively he might shift his ground and
flourish his rapier, could not break the defence. He determined,
therefore, upon a new game, for which his frankness of manner admirably
adapted him. Just as he formed this resolution, Mrs. Templeton rose,
and with a gentle bow, and soft though languid smile, glided from the
room. The two gentlemen resettled themselves, and Templeton pushed the
bottle to Ferrers.
"Help yourself, Lumley! your travels seem to have deprived you of your
high spirits--you are pensive."
"Sir," said Ferrers, abruptly, "I wish to consult you."
"Oh, young man! you have been guilty of some excess--you have
gambled--you have--"
"I have done nothing, sir, that should make me less worthy your esteem.
I repeat, I wish to consult you; I have outlived the hot days of my
youth--I am now alive to the claims of the world. I have talents, I
believe; and I have application, I know. I wish to fill a position in
the world that may redeem my past indolence, and do credit to my family.
Sir, I set your example before me, and I now ask your counsel, with the
determination to follow it."
Templeton was startled; he half shaded his face with his hand, and gazed
searchingly upon the high forehead and bold eyes of his nephew. "I
believe you are sincere," said he, after a pause.
"You may well believe so, sir."
"Well, I will think of this. I like an honourable ambition--not too
extravagant a one,--/that/ is sinful; but a /respectable/ station in the
world is a proper object of desire, and wealth is a blessing; because,"
added the rich man, taking another slice of the pineapple,--"it enables
us to be of use to our fellow-creatures!"
"Sir, then," said Ferrers, with daring animation--"then I avow that my
ambition is precisely of the kind you speak of. I am obscure, I desire
to be reputably known; my fortune is mediocre, I desire it to be great.
I ask you for nothing--I know your generous heart; but I wish
independently to work out my own career."
"Lumley," said Templeton, "I never esteemed you so much as I do now.
Listen to me--I will confide in you; I think the government are under
obligations to me."
"I know it," exclaimed Ferrers, whose eyes sparkled at the thought of a
sinecure--for sinecures then existed!
"And," pursued the uncle, "I intend to ask them a favour in return."
"Oh, sir!"
"Yes; I think--mark me--with management and address, I may--"
"Well, my dear sir!"
"Obtain a barony for myself and heirs; I trust I shall soon have a
family!"
Had somebody given Lumley Ferrers a hearty cuff on the ear, he would
have thought less of it than of this wind-up of his uncle's ambitious
projects. His jaws fell, his eyes grew an inch larger, and he remained
perfectly speechless.
"Ay," pursued Mr. Templeton, "I have long dreamed this; my character is
spotless, my fortune great. I have ever exerted my parliamentary
influence in favour of ministers; and, in this commercial country, no
man has higher claims than Richard Templeton to the honours of a
virtuous, loyal, and religious state. Yes, my boy,--I like your
ambition--you see I have some of it myself; and since you are sincere in
your wish to tread in my footsteps, I think I can obtain you a junior
partnership in a highly respectable establishment. Let me see; your
capital now is--
"Pardon me, sir," interrupted Lumley, colouring with indignation despite
himself; "I honour commerce much, but my paternal relations are not such
as would allow me to enter into trade. And permit me to add," continued
he, seizing with instant adroitness the new weakness presented to
him--"permit me to add, that those relations, who have been ever kind to
me, would, properly managed, be highly efficient in promoting your own
views of advancement; for your sake I would not break with them. Lord
Saxingham is still a minister--nay, he is in the cabinet."
"Hem--Lumley--hem!" said Templeton, thoughtfully; "we will consider--we
will consider. Any more wine?"
"No, I thank you, sir."
"Then I'll just take my evening stroll, and think over matters. You can
rejoin Mrs. Templeton. And I say, Lumley,--I read prayers at nine
o'clock. Never forget your Maker, and He will not forget you. The
barony will be an excellent thing--eh?--an English peerage--yes--an
English peerage! very different from your beggarly countships abroad!"
So saying, Mr. Templeton rang for his hat and cane, and stepped into the
lawn from the window of the dining-room.
"'The world's mine oyster, which I with sword will open,'" muttered
Ferrers; "I would mould this selfish old man to my purpose; for, since I
have neither genius to write nor eloquence to declaim, I will at least
see whether I have not cunning to plot and courage to act.
Conduct--conduct--conduct--there lies my talent; and what is conduct but
a steady walk from a design to its execution?"
With these thoughts Ferrers sought Mrs. Templeton. He opened the
folding-doors very gently, for all his habitual movements were quick and
noiseless, and perceived that Mrs. Templeton sat by the window, and that
she seemed engrossed with a book which lay open on a little work-table
before her.
"Fordyce's /Advice to Young Married Women/, I suppose. Sly jade!
However, I must not have her against me."
He approached; still Mrs. Templeton did not note him; nor was it till he
stood facing her that he himself observed that her tears were falling
fast over the page.
He was a little embarrassed, and, turning towards the window, affected
to cough, and then said, without looking at Mrs. Templeton, "I fear I
have disturbed you."
"No," answered the same low, stifled voice that had before replied to
Lumley's vain attempts to provoke conversation; "it was a melancholy
employment, and perhaps it is not right to indulge in it."
"May I inquire what author so affected you."
"It is but a volume of poems, and I am no judge of poetry; but it
contains thoughts which--which--" Mrs. Templeton paused abruptly, and
Lumley quietly took up the book.
"Ah!" said he, turning to the title-page--"my friend ought to be much
flattered."
"Your friend?"
"Yes: this, I see, is by Ernest Maltravers, a very intimate ally of
mine."
"I should like to see him," cried Mrs. Templeton, almost with animation.
"I read but little; it was by chance that I met with one of his books,
and they are as if I heard a dear friend speaking to me. Ah! I should
like to see him!"
"I'm sure, madam," said the voice of a third person, in an austere and
rebuking accent, "I do not see what good it would do your immortal soul
to see a man who writes idle verses, which appear to me, indeed, highly
immoral. I just looked into that volume this morning and found nothing
but trash--love-sonnets, and such stuff."
Mrs. Templeton made no reply, and Lumley, in order to change the
conversation, which seemed a little too matrimonial for his taste, said,
rather awkwardly, "You are returned very soon, sir."
"Yes, I don't like walking in the rain!"
"Bless me, it rains, so, it does--I had not observed--"
"Are you wet, sir? had you not better--" began the wife timidly.
"No, ma'am, I'm not wet, I thank you. By the by, nephew, this new
author is a friend of yours. I wonder a man of his family should
condescend to turn author. He can come to no good. I hope you will
drop his acquaintance--authors are very unprofitable associates, I'm
sure. I trust I shall see no more of Mr. Maltravers's books in my
house."
"Nevertheless, he is well thought of, sir, and makes no mean figure in
the world," said Lumley, stoutly; for he was by no means disposed to
give up a friend who might be as useful to him as Mr. Templeton himself.
"Figure or no figure--I have not had many dealings with authors in my
day; and when I had I always repented it. Not sound, sir, not
sound--all cracked somewhere. Mrs. Templeton, have the kindness to get
the Prayer-book--my hassock must be fresh stuffed, it gives me quite a
pain in my knee. Lumley, will you ring the bell? Your aunt is very
melancholy. True religion is not gloomy; we will read a sermon on
Cheerfulness."
"So, so," said Mr. Ferrers to himself, as he undressed that night--"I
see that my uncle is a little displeased with my aunt's pensive face--a
little jealous of her thinking of anything but himself: /tant mieux/. I
must work upon this discovery; it will not do for them to live too
happily with each other. And what with that lever, and what with his
ambitious projects, I think I see a way to push the good things of this
world a few inches nearer to Lumley Ferrers."
CHAPTER III.
"The pride too of her step, as light
Along the unconscious earth she went,
Seemed that of one born with a right
To walk some heavenlier element."
/Loves of the Angels./