Pelham Complete - Бульвер-Литтон Эдвард Джордж 4 стр.

I understand, said I, to an old, dried, brown female, who looked like a resuscitated red-herring, that a gentleman is lodging here.

No, Sir, was the answer: he left us this morning.

The reply came upon me like a shower bath; I was both chilled and stunned by so unexpected a shock. The old woman, on my renewing my inquiries, took me up stairs, to a small, wretched room, to which the damps literally clung. In one corner was a flock-bed, still unmade, and opposite to it, a three-legged stool, a chair, and an antique carved oak table, a donation perhaps from some squire in the neighbourhood; on this last were scattered fragments of writing paper, a cracked cup half full of ink, a pen, and a broken ramrod. As I mechanically took up the latter, the woman said, in a charming patois, which I shall translate, since I cannot do justice to the original: The gentleman, Sir, said he came here for a few weeks to shoot; he brought a gun, a large dog, and a small portmanteau. He used to spend all the mornings in the fens, though he must have been but a poor shot, for he seldom brought home anything; and we fear, Sir, that he was rather out of his mind, for he used to go out alone at night, and stay sometimes till morning. However, he was quite quiet, and behaved to us like a gentleman; so it was no business of ours, only my husband does think

Pray, interrupted I, why did he leave you so suddenly?

Lord, Sir, I dont know! but he told us for several days past that he should not stay over the week, and so we were not surprised when he left us this morning at seven oclock. Poor gentleman, my heart bled for him when I saw him look so pale and ill.

And here I did see the good womans eyes fill with tears: but she wiped them away, and took advantage of the additional persuasion they gave to her natural whine to say, If, Sir, you know of any young gentleman who likes fen-shooting, and wants a nice, pretty, quiet apartment

I will certainly recommend this, said I.

You see it at present, rejoined the landlady, quite in a litter like: but it is really a sweet place in summer.

Charming, said I, with a cold shiver, hurrying down the stairs, with a pain in my ear, and the rheumatism in my shoulder.

And this, thought I, was Glanvilles residence for nearly a month! I wonder he did not exhale into a vapour, or moisten into a green damp.

I went home by the churchyard. I paused on the spot where I had last seen him. A small gravestone rose over the mound of earth on which he had thrown himself; it was perfectly simple. The date of the year and month (which showed that many weeks had not elapsed since the death of the deceased) and the initials G. D. were all that was engraved upon the stone. Beside this tomb was one of a more pompous description, to the memory of a Mrs. Douglas, which had with the simple tumulus nothing in common, unless the initial letter of the surname corresponding with the latter initial on the neighbouring gravestone, might authorize any connection between them, not supported by that similitude of style usually found in the cenotaphs of the same family: the one, indeed, might have covered the grave of a humble villagerthe other, the resting-place of the lady of the manor.

I found, therefore, no clue for the labyrinth of surmise: and I went home, more vexed and disappointed with my days expedition than I liked to acknowledge to myself.

Lord Vincent met me in the hall. Delighted to see you, said he, I have just been to, (the nearest town) in order to discover what sort of savages abide there. Great preparations for a ballall the tallow candles in the town are bespokenand I heard a most uncivilized fiddle,

Twang short and sharp, like the shrill swallows cry.

The one milliners shop was full of fat squiresses, buying muslin ammunition, to make the ball go off; and the attics, even at four oclock, were thronged with rubicund damsels, who were already, as Shakspeare says of waves in a storm,

Curling their monstrous heads.

CHAPTER VIII

I was now pretty well tried of Garrett Park. Lady Roseville was going to Htd, where I also had an invitation. Lord Vincent meditated an excursion to Paris. Mr. Davison had already departed. Miss Trafford had been gone, God knows how long, and I was not at all disposed to be left, like the last rose of summer, in single blessedness at Garrett Park. Vincent, Wormwood, and myself, all agreed to leave on the same day.

The morning of our departure arrived. We sat down to breakfast as usual. Lord Vincents carriage was at the door; his groom was walking about his favourite saddle horse.

A beautiful mare that is of yours, said I, carelessly looking at it, and reaching across the table to help myself to the pate de foie gras.

Mare! exclaimed the incorrigible punster, delighted with my mistake: I thought that you would have been better acquainted with your propria quoe maribus.

Humph! said Wormwood, when I look at you I am always at least reminded of the as in praoesenti!

Lord Vincent drew up and looked unutterable anger. Wormwood went on with his dry toast, and Lady Roseville, who that morning had, for a wonder, come down to breakfast, good naturedly took off the bear. Whether or not his ascetic nature was somewhat mollified by the soft smiles and softer voice of the beautiful countess, I cannot pretend to say; but he certainly entered into a conversation with her, not much rougher than that of a less gifted individual might have been. They talked of literature, Lord Byron, converzaziones, and Lydia White. [Note: Written before the death of that lady.]

Miss White, said Lady Roseville, has not only the best command of language herself, but she gives language to other people. Dinner parties, usually so stupid, are, at her house, quite delightful. I have actually seen English people look happy, and one or two even almost natural.

Ah! said Wormwood, that is indeed rare. With us every thing is assumption. We are still exactly like the English suitor to Portia, in the Merchant of Venice. We take our doublet from one country, our hose from another, and our behaviour every where. Fashion with us is like the man in one of Le Sages novels, who was constantly changing his servants, and yet had but one suit of livery, which every new comer, whether he was tall or short, fat or thin, was obliged to wear. We adopt manners, however incongruous and ill suited to our nature, and thus we always seem awkward and constrained. But Lydia Whites soirees are indeed agreeable. I remember the last time I dined there we were six in number, and though we were not blessed with the company of Lord Vincent, the conversation was without let or flaw. Every one, even S, said good things.

Indeed! cried Lord Vincent; and pray, Mr. Wormwood, what did you say!

Why, answered the poet, glancing with a significant sneer over Vincents somewhat inelegant person, I thought of your lordships figure, and saidgrace!

Hemhem!Gratia malorum tam infida est quam ipsi, as Pliny says, muttered Lord Vincent, getting up hastily, and buttoning his coat.

I took the opportunity of the ensuing pause to approach Lady Roseville, and whisper my adieus. She was kind and even warm to me in returning them; and pressed me, with something marvellously like sincerity, to be sure to come and see her directly she returned to London. I soon discharged the duties of my remaining farewells, and in less than half an hour, was more than a mile distant from Garrett Park and its inhabitants. I cant say that for one, who, like me, is fond of being made a great deal of, that there is any thing very delightful in those visits into the country. It may be all well enough for married people, who, from the mere fact of being married, are always entitled to certain consideration, putpar exempleinto a bed-room, a little larger than a dog kennel, and accommodated with a looking-glass, that does not distort ones features like a paralytic stroke. But we single men suffer a plurality of evils and hard-ships, in entrusting ourselves to the casualties of rural hospitality. We are thrust up into any attic repositoryexposed to the mercy of rats, and the incursions of swallows. Our lavations are performed in a cracked basin, and we are so far removed from human assistance, that our very bells sink into silence before they reach half way down the stairs. But two days before I left Garrett Park, I myself saw an enormous mouse run away with my almond paste, without any possible means of resisting the aggression. Oh! the hardships of a single man are beyond conception; and what is worse, the very misfortune of being single deprives one of all sympathy. A single man can do this, and a single man ought to do that, and a single man may be put here, and a single man may be sent there, are maxims that I have been in the habit of hearing constantly inculcated and never disputed during my whole life; and so, from our fare and treatment being coarse in all matters, they have at last grown to be all matters in course.

Why, answered the poet, glancing with a significant sneer over Vincents somewhat inelegant person, I thought of your lordships figure, and saidgrace!

Hemhem!Gratia malorum tam infida est quam ipsi, as Pliny says, muttered Lord Vincent, getting up hastily, and buttoning his coat.

I took the opportunity of the ensuing pause to approach Lady Roseville, and whisper my adieus. She was kind and even warm to me in returning them; and pressed me, with something marvellously like sincerity, to be sure to come and see her directly she returned to London. I soon discharged the duties of my remaining farewells, and in less than half an hour, was more than a mile distant from Garrett Park and its inhabitants. I cant say that for one, who, like me, is fond of being made a great deal of, that there is any thing very delightful in those visits into the country. It may be all well enough for married people, who, from the mere fact of being married, are always entitled to certain consideration, putpar exempleinto a bed-room, a little larger than a dog kennel, and accommodated with a looking-glass, that does not distort ones features like a paralytic stroke. But we single men suffer a plurality of evils and hard-ships, in entrusting ourselves to the casualties of rural hospitality. We are thrust up into any attic repositoryexposed to the mercy of rats, and the incursions of swallows. Our lavations are performed in a cracked basin, and we are so far removed from human assistance, that our very bells sink into silence before they reach half way down the stairs. But two days before I left Garrett Park, I myself saw an enormous mouse run away with my almond paste, without any possible means of resisting the aggression. Oh! the hardships of a single man are beyond conception; and what is worse, the very misfortune of being single deprives one of all sympathy. A single man can do this, and a single man ought to do that, and a single man may be put here, and a single man may be sent there, are maxims that I have been in the habit of hearing constantly inculcated and never disputed during my whole life; and so, from our fare and treatment being coarse in all matters, they have at last grown to be all matters in course.

CHAPTER IX

I was rejoiced to find myself again in London. I went to my fathers house in Grosvenor-square. All the family, viz. he and my mother, were down at Htd; and, malgre my aversion to the country, I thought I might venture as far as Lady Ss for a couple of days. Accordingly, to Htd I went. That is really a noble housesuch a hallsuch a gallery. I found my mother in the drawing-room, admiring the picture of his late Majesty. She was leaning on the arm of a tall, fair young man. Henry, said she, (introducing me to him) do you remember your old schoolfellow, Lord George Clinton?

Perfectly, said I, (though I remembered nothing about him) and we shook hands in the most cordial manner imaginable. By the way, there is no greater bore than being called upon to recollect men, with whom one had been at school some ten years back. In the first place, if they were not in ones own set, one most likely scarcely knew them to speak to; and, in the second place, if they were in ones own set, they are sure to be entirely opposite to the nature we have since acquired: for I scarcely ever knew an instance of the companions of ones boyhood being agreeable to the tastes of ones manhood: a strong proof of the folly of common people, who send their sons to Eton and Harrow to form connections.

Clinton was on the eve of setting out upon his travels. His intention was to stay a year at Paris, and he was full of the blissful expectations the idea of that city had conjured up. We remained together all the evening, and took a prodigious fancy to one another. Long before I went to bed, he had perfectly inoculated me with his own ardour for continental adventures; and, indeed, I had half promised to accompany him. My mother, when I first told her of my travelling intentions, was in despair, but by degrees she grew reconciled to the idea.

Your health will improve by a purer air, said she, and your pronunciation of French is, at present, any thing but correct. Take care of yourself, therefore, my dear son, and pray lose no time in engaging Coulon as your maitre de danse.

My father gave me his blessing, and a check on his banker. Within three days I had arranged every thing with Clinton, and on the fourth, I returned with him to London. From thence we set off to Doverembarkeddined, for the first time in our lives, on French groundwere astonished to find so little difference between the two countries, and still more so at hearing even the little children talk French so well [Note: See Addisons Travels for this idea.]proceeded to Abbevillethere poor Clinton fell ill: for several days we were delayed in that abominable town, and then Clinton, by the advice of the doctors, returned to England. I went back with him as far as Dover, and then, impatient at my loss of time, took no rest, night or day, till I found myself at Paris.

Young, well-born, tolerably good-looking, and never utterly destitute of money, nor grudging whatever enjoyment it could produce, I entered Paris with the ability and the resolution to make the best of those beaux jours which so rapidly glide from our possession.

CHAPTER X

I lost no time in presenting my letters of introduction, and they were as quickly acknowledged by invitations to balls and dinners. Paris was full to excess, and of a better description of English than those who usually overflow that reservoir of the world. My first engagement was to dine with Lord and Lady Bennington, who were among the very few English intimate in the best French houses.

On entering Paris I had resolved to set up a character; for I was always of an ambitious nature, and desirous of being distinguished from the ordinary herd. After various cogitations as to the particular one I should assume, I thought nothing appeared more likely to be remarkable among men, and therefore pleasing to women, than an egregious coxcomb: accordingly I arranged my hair into ringlets, dressed myself with singular plainness and simplicity (a low person, by the by, would have done just the contrary), and putting on an air of exceeding languor, made my maiden appearance at Lord Benningtons. The party was small, and equally divided between French and English: the former had been all emigrants, and the conversation was chiefly in our own tongue.

I was placed, at dinner, next to Miss Paulding, an elderly young lady, of some notoriety at Paris, very clever, very talkative, and very conceited. A young, pale, ill-natured looking man, sat on her left hand; this was Mr. Aberton, one of the attaches.

Dear me! said Miss Paulding, what a pretty chain that is of yours, Mr. Aberton.