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Файл:Ayala’s Angel III
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AYALA’S ANGEL
This was intended to be very severe, but Mr. Traffick bore
it. It was one of those rough things which Sir Thomas was in
the habit of saying, but which really meant nothing. “No. My
father is still at his house as yet, though they are thinking of going every day. It is about another matter, and I did not want to
trouble you with it at home.”
“Let us hear what it is.”
“Captain Batsby has been with me.”
“Oh, he has, has he?”
“I’ve known him ever so long. He’s a foolish fellow.”
“So he seems.”
“But a gentleman.”
“Perhaps I am not so good a judge of that. His folly I did
perceive.”
“Oh yes; he’s a gentleman. You may take my word for that.
And he has means.”
“That’s an advantage.”
“While that fellow Houston is hardly more than a beggar.
And Batsby is quite in earnest about Gertrude.”
“If the two of them wish it he can have her to-morrow.
She has made herself a conspicuous ass by running away with
him, and perhaps it’s the best thing she can do.”
“That’s just it. Augusta sees it quite in the same light.”
“Augusta was never tempted. You wouldn’t have run away.”
“It wasn’t necessary, Sir Thomas, was it? There he
is, — ready to marry her to-morrow. But, of course, he is a little
anxious about the money.”
“I dare say he is.”
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ANTHONY TROLLOPE
“I’ve been talking to him, — and the upshot is, that I have
promised to speak to you. He isn’t at all a bad fellow.”
“He’d keep a house over his wife’s head, you think?” Sir
Thomas had been particularly irate that morning, and before
the arrival of his son-in-law had sworn to himself that Traffick
should go. Augusta might remain, if she pleased, for the occurrence; but the Honourable Septimus should no longer eat and
drink as an inhabitant of his house.
“He’d do his duty by her as a man should do,” said Traffick,
determined to ignore the disagreeable subject.
“Very well. There she is.”
“But of course he would like to hear something about
money.”
“Would he?”
“That’s only natural.”
“You found it so, — did you not? What’s the good of giving a girl money when her husband won’t spend it. Perhaps
this Captain Batsby would expect to live at Queen’s Gate or
Merle Park.”
It was impossible to go on enduring this without notice.
Mr. Traffick, however, only frowned and shook his head.
It was clear at last that Sir Thomas intended to be more than
rough, and it was almost imperative upon Mr. Traffick to
be rough in return. “I am endeavouring to do my duty by
the family,” he said.
“Oh indeed.”
“Gertrude has eloped with this man, and the thing is talked about everywhere. Augusta feels it very much.”
“She does, does she?”
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AYALA’S ANGEL
“And I have thought it right to ask his intentions.”
“He didn’t knock you down, or anything of that sort?”
“Knock me down?”
“For interfering. But he hasn’t pluck for that. Houston
would have done it immediately. And I should have said
he was right. But if you have got anything to say, you had
better say it. When you have done, then I shall have something to say.”
“I’ve told him that he couldn’t expect as much as you would
have given her but for this running away.”
“You told him that?”
“Yes; I told him that. Then some sum had to be mentioned.
He suggested a hundred thousand pounds.”
“How very modest. Why should he have put up with less
than you, seeing that he has got something of his own?”
“He hasn’t my position, Sir. You know that well enough.
Now to make a long and short of it, I suggested sixty.”
“Out of your own pocket?”
“Not exactly.”
“But out of mine?”
“You’re her father, and I suppose you intend to provide
for her.”
“And you have come here to dictate to me the provision
which I am to make for my own child! That is an amount of
impudence which I did not expect even from you. But suppose
that I agree to the terms. Will he, do you think, consent to have
a clause put into the settlement?”
“What clause?”
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ANTHONY TROLLOPE
“Something that shall bind him to keep a house for his
own wife’s use, so that he should not take my money and then
come and live upon me afterwards.”
“Sir Thomas,” said the Member of Parliament, “that is
a mode of expression so uncourteous that I cannot bear it even
from you.”
“Is there any mode of expression that you cannot bear?”
“If you want me to leave your house, say it at once.”
“Why I have been saying it for the last six months! I have
been saying it almost daily since you were married.”
“If so you should have spoken more clearly, for I have not
understood you.”
“Heavens and earth,” ejaculated Sir Thomas.
“Am I to understand that you wish your child to leave your
roof during this inclement weather in her present delicate
condition?”
“Are you in a delicate condition?” asked Sir Thomas.
To this Mr. Traffick could condescend to make no reply. “Because, if not, you, at any rate, had better go, — unless you find
the weather too inclement.”
“Of course I shall go,” said Mr. Traffick. “No consideration on earth shall induce me to eat another meal under your
roof until you shall have thought good to have expressed regret for what you have said.”
“Then it is very long before I shall have to give you another
meal.”
“And now what shall I say to Captain Batsby?”
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AYALA’S ANGEL
“Tell him from me,” said Sir Thomas, “that he cannot possibly set about his work more injudiciously than by making you
his ambassador.” Then Mr. Traffick took his departure.
It may be as well to state here that Mr. Traffick kept his
threat religiously, — at any rate, to the end of the Session.
He did not eat another meal during that period under his father-in-law’s roof. But he slept there for the next two or three
days until he had suited himself with lodgings in the neighbourhood of the House. In doing this, however, he contrived to
get in and out without encountering Sir Thomas. His wife in
her delicate condition, — and because of the inclemency of
the weather, — awaited the occurrence at Queen’s Gate.
CHAPTER LIX
TREGOTHNAN
The writer, in giving a correct chronicle of the doings of
the Tringle family at this time, has to acknowledge that Gertrude, during the prolonged absence of Captain Batsby at Brussels, — an absence that was cruelly prolonged for more than
a week, — did make another little effort in another direction.
Her father, in his rough way, had expressed an opinion that
she had changed very much for the worse in transferring her
affections from Mr. Houston to Captain Batsby, and had almost
gone so far as to declare that had she been persistent with her
Houston the money difficulty might have been overcome. This
was imprudent, — unless, indeed, he was desirous of bringing
back Mr. Houston into the bosom of the Tringles. It instigated
Gertrude to another attempt, — which, however, she did not
make till Captain Batsby had been away from her for at least
four days without writing a letter. Then it occurred to her that
if she had a preference it certainly was for Frank Houston. No
doubt the general desirability of marriage was her chief actuating motive. Will the world of British young ladies be much
scandalised if I say that such is often an actuating motive?
They would be justly scandalised if I pretended that many of
its members were capable of the speedy transitions which Miss
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AYALA’S ANGEL
Tringle was strong enough to endure; but transitions do take
place, and I claim, on behalf of my young lady, that she should
be regarded as more strong-minded and more determined
than the general crowd of young ladies. She had thought herself to be off with the old love before she was on with the new.
Then the “new” had gone away to Brussels, — or heaven only
knows where, — and there seemed to be an opportunity of
renewing matters with the “old.” Having perceived the desirability of matrimony, she simply carried out her purpose with
a determined will. It was with a determined will, but perhaps
with deficient judgment, that she had written as follows:
“Papa has altered his mind altogether. He speaks of you in
the highest terms, and says that had you persevered he would
have yielded about the money. Do try him again. When hearts
have been united it is terrible that they should be dragged
asunder.” Mr. Traffick had been quite right in telling his fatherin-law that “the thing had been talked about everywhere.”
The thing talked about had been Gertrude’s elopement. The
daughter of a baronet and a millionaire cannot go off with
the half-brother of another baronet and escape that penalty.
The journey to Ostend was in everybody’s mouth, and had
surprised Frank Houston the more because of the recent termination of his own little affair with the lady. That he should
already have re-accommodated himself with Imogene was intelligible to him, and seemed to admit of valid excuse before
any jury of matrons. It was an old affair, and the love, — real,
true love, — was already existing. He, at any rate, was going
back to the better course, — as the jury of matrons would
have admitted. But Gertrude’s new affair had had to be ar-
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ANTHONY TROLLOPE
ranged from the beginning, and shocked him by its celerity.
“Already!” he had said to himself, — “gone off with another
man already?” He felt himself to have been wounded in a tender part, and was conscious of a feeling that he should like to
injure the successful lover, — blackball him at a club, or do
him some other mortal mischief. When, therefore, he received
from the young lady the little billet above given, he was much
surprised. Could it be a hoax? It was certainly the young lady’s
handwriting. Was he to be enticed once again into Lombard
Street, in order that the clerks might set upon him in a body
and maltreat him? Was he to be decoyed into Queen’s Gate,
and made a sacrifice of by the united force of the housemaids?
Not understanding the celerity of the young lady, he could
hardly believe the billet.
When he received the note of which we have here spoken two months had elapsed since he had seen Imogene and
had declared to her his intention of facing the difficulties of
matrimony in conjunction with herself as soon as she would
be ready to undergo the ceremony with him. The reader will
remember that her brother, Mudbury Docimer, had written to
him with great severity, abusing both him and Imogene for
the folly of their intention. And Houston, as he thought of
their intention, thought to himself that perhaps they were
foolish. The poverty, and the cradles, and the cabbages, were in
themselves evils. But still he encouraged himself to think that
there might be an evil worse even than folly. After that scene
with Imogene, in which she had offered to sacrifice herself altogether, and to be bound to him, even though they should
never be married, on condition that he should take to himself
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AYALA’S ANGEL
no other wife, he had quite resolved that it behoved him not to
be exceeded by her in generosity. He had stoutly repudiated
her offer, which he had called a damnable compact. And then
there had been a delightful scene between them, in which it
had been agreed that they should face the cradles and the cabbages with bold faces. Since that he had never allowed himself to fluctuate in his purpose. Had Sir Thomas come to him
with Gertrude in one hand and the much-desired £120,000 in
the other, he would have repudiated the lot of them. He declared to himself with stern resolution that he had altogether
washed his hands from dirt of that kind. Cabbages and cradles
for ever was the unpronounced cry of triumph with which
he buoyed up his courage. He set himself to work earnestly, if
not altogether steadfastly, to alter the whole tenor of his life.
The champagne and the woodcocks, — or whatever might be
the special delicacies of the season, — he did avoid. For some
few days he absolutely dined upon a cut of mutton at an eating-house, and as he came forth from the unsavoury doors of
the establishment regarded himself as a hero. Cabbages and
cradles for ever! he would say to himself, as he went away to
drink a cup of tea with an old maiden aunt, who was no less
surprised than gratified by his new virtue. Therefore, when it
had at last absolutely come home to him that the last little
note had in truth been written by Gertrude with no object of
revenge, but with the intention of once more alluring him
into the wealth of Lombard Street, he simply put it into his
breastcoat-pocket, and left it there unanswered.
Mudbury Docimer did not satisfy himself with writing
the very uncourteous letter which the reader has seen, but
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ANTHONY TROLLOPE
proceeded to do his utmost to prevent the threatened marriage. “She is old enough to look after herself,” he had said, as
though all her future actions must be governed by her own
will. But within ten days of the writing of that letter he had
found it expedient to go down into the country, and to take
his sister with him. As the head of the Docimer family he possessed a small country-house almost in the extremity of Cornwall; and thither he went. It was a fraternal effort made altogether on his sister’s behalf, and was so far successful that
Imogene was obliged to accompany him. It was all very well for
her to feel that as she was of age she could do as she pleased.
But a young lady is constrained by the exigencies of society to
live with somebody. She cannot take a lodging by herself, as
her brother may do. Therefore, when Mudbury Docimer went
down to Cornwall, Imogene was obliged to accompany him.
“Is this intended for banishment?” she said to him, when
they had been about a week in the country.
“What do you call banishment? You used to like the country in the spring.” It was now the middle of April.
“So I do, and in summer also. But I like nothing under constraint.”
“I am sorry that circumstances should make it imperative
upon me to remain here just at present.”
“Why cannot you tell the truth, Mudbury?”
“Have I told you any falsehood?”
“Why do you not say outright that I have been brought
down here to be out of Frank Houston’s way?”
“Because Frank Houston is a name which I do not wish to
mention to you again, — at any rate for some time.”
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