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AYALA’S ANGEL
“That’s only because he wants to punish us for running
away. I suppose it was wrong. I shall never be sorry, because
it made me know how very, very much you loved me. Didn’t
it make you feel how very, very dearly I loved you, — to trust
myself all alone with you in that way?”
“Oh, yes; of course.”
“And papa can’t bite you, you know. You go to him, and tell
him that you hope to be received in the house as my, — my
future husband, you know.”
“Shall I say nothing else?”
“You mean about the day?”
“I was meaning about money.”
“I don’t think I would. He is very generous, but he does not
like to be asked. When Augusta was to be married he arranged
all that himself after they were engaged.”
“But Traffick demanded a certain sum?” This question
Captain Batsby asked with considerable surprise, remembering what Mr. Traffick had said to him in reference to Augusta’s
fortune.
“Not at all. Septimus knew nothing about it till after the engagement. He was only too glad to get papa’s consent. You
mustn’t believe all that Septimus says, you know. You may be
sure of this, — that you can trust papa’s generosity.” Then, before he landed her at the door in Queen’s Gate, he had promised that he would make another journey to Lombard Street,
with the express purpose of obtaining Sir Thomas’s sanction to
the marriage, — either with or without money.
“How are you again?” said Sir Thomas, when the Captain
was for the third time shown into the little back parlour. “Have
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ANTHONY TROLLOPE
you had another trip to the continent since I saw you?” Sir
Thomas was in a good humour. Tom had gone upon his travels;
Mr. Traffick had absolutely taken himself out of the house; and
the millions were accommodating themselves comfortably.
“No, Sir Thomas; I haven’t been abroad since then. I don’t
keep on going abroad constantly in that way.”
“And what can I do for you now?”
“Of course it’s about your daughter. I want to have your
permission to consider ourselves engaged.”
“I explained to you before that if you and Gertrude
choose to marry each other I shall not stand in your way.”
“Thank you, Sir.”
“I don’t know that it is much to thank me for. Only that
she made a fool of herself by running away with you I should
have preferred to wait till some more sensible candidate had
proposed himself for her hand. I don’t suppose you’ll ever set
the Thames on fire.”
“I did very well in the army.”
“It’s a pity you did not remain there, and then, perhaps,
you would not have gone to Ostend with my daughter. As it is,
there she is. I think she might have done better with herself;
but that is her fault. She has made her bed and she must lie
upon it.”
“If we are to be married I hope you won’t go on abusing me
always, Sir Thomas.”
“That’s as you behave. You didn’t suppose that I should allow such a piece of tomfoolery as that to be passed over without
saying anything about it! If you marry her and behave well to
her I will — “ Then he paused.
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AYALA’S ANGEL
“What will you do, Sir Thomas?”
“I’ll say as little as possible about the Ostend journey.”
“And as to money, Sir Thomas?”
“I think I have promised quite enough for you. You are
not in a position, Captain Batsby, to ask me as to money; — nor
is she. You shall marry her without a shilling, — or you shall
not marry her at all. Which is it to be? I must have an end
put to all this. I won’t have you hanging about my house unless
I know the reason why. Are you two engaged to each other?”
“I suppose we are,” said Batsby, lugubriously.
“Suppose is not enough.”
“We are,” said Batsby, courageously.
“Very well. Then, from this moment, Ostend shall be as
though there weren’t such a seaport anywhere in Europe.
I will never allude to the place again, — unless, perhaps, you
should come and stay with me too long when I am particularly
anxious to get rid of you. Now you had better go and settle
about the time and all that with Lady Tringle, and tell her that
you mean to come and dine to-morrow or next day, or whenever it suits. Come and dine as often as you please, only do not
bring your wife to live with me pertinaciously when you’re not
asked.” All this Captain Batsby did not understand, but, as he
left Lombard Street, he made up his mind that of all the men
he had ever met, Sir Thomas Tringle, his future father-in-law,
was the most singular. “He’s a better fellow than Traffick,” said
Sir Thomas to himself when he was alone, “and as he has trusted me so far I’ll not throw him over.”
The Captain now had no hesitation in taking himself to
Queen’s Gate. As he was to be married he might as well make
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ANTHONY TROLLOPE
the best of such delights as were to be found in the happy
state of mutual affection. “My dear, dearest Benjamin, I am so
happy,” said Lady Tringle, dissolved in tears as she embraced
her son-in-law that was to be. “You will always be so dear to
me!” In this she was quite true. Traffick was not dear to her.
She had at first thought much of Mr. Traffick’s position and
noble blood, but, of late, she too had become very tired of Mr.
Traffick. Augusta took almost too much upon herself, and Mr.
Traffick’s prolonged presence had been an eyesore. Captain
Batsby was softer, and would be much more pleasant as a sonin-law. Even the journey to Ostend had had a good effect in
producing a certain humility.
“My dear Benjamin,” said Augusta, “we shall always be so
happy to entertain you as a brother. Mr. Traffick has a great regard for you, and said from the first that if you behaved as you
ought to do after that little journey he would arrange that everything should go straight between you and papa. I was quite
sure that you would come forward at once as a man.”
But Gertrude’s delight was, of course, the strongest, and
Gertrude’s welcoming the warmest, — as was proper. “When
I think of it,” she said to him, “I don’t know how I should ever
have looked anybody in the face again, — after our going away
with our things mixed up in that way.”
“I am glad rather now that we didn’t find the clergyman.”
“Oh, certainly,” said Gertrude. “I don’t suppose anybody
would have given me anything. Now there’ll be a regular wedding, and, of course, there will be the presents.”
“And, though nothing is to be settled, I suppose he will do
something.”
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AYALA’S ANGEL
“And it would have been very dreadful, not having a regular trousseau,” said Gertrude. “Mamma will, of course, do
now just as she did about Augusta. He allowed her £300!
Only think; — if we had been married at Ostend you would
have had to buy things for me before the first month was out.
I hadn’t more than half-a-dozen pair of stockings with me.”
“He can’t but say now that we have done as he would have
us,” added the Captain. “I do suppose that he will not be so unnatural as not to give something when Augusta had £200,000.”
“Indeed, she had not. But you’ll see that sooner or later
papa will do for me quite as well as for Augusta.” In this way
they were happy together, consoling each other for any little
trouble which seemed for a while to cloud their joys, and basking in the full sunshine of their permitted engagement.
The day was soon fixed, but fixed not entirely in reference to the wants of Gertrude and her wedding. Lucy had
also to be married from the same house, and the day for her
marriage had already been arranged. Sir Thomas had ordered
that everything should be done for Lucy as though she were
a daughter of the house, and her wedding had been arranged
for the last week in May. When he heard that Ayala and Colonel Stubbs were also engaged he was anxious that the two
sisters should be “buckled,” as he called it, on the same occasion, — and he magnanimously offered to take upon himself the entire expense of the double arrangement, intimating that the people in Kingsbury Crescent had hardly room
enough for a wedding. But Ayala, acting probably under Stalham influences, would not consent to this. Lady Albury, who
was now in London, was determined that Ayala’s marriage
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ANTHONY TROLLOPE
should take place from her own house; and, as Aunt Margaret
and Uncle Reginald had consented, that matter was considered as settled. But Sir Thomas, having fixed his mind upon
a double wedding, resolved that Gertrude and Lucy should
be the joint brides. Gertrude, who still suffered perhaps a little in public estimation from the Ostend journey, was glad
enough to wipe out that stain as quickly as possible, and did
not therefore object to the arrangement. But to the Captain
there was something in it by which his more delicate feelings
were revolted. It was a matter of course that Ayala should be
present at her sister’s wedding, and would naturally appear
there in the guise of a bridesmaid. She would also, now, act as
a bridesmaid to Gertrude, — her future position as Mrs. Colonel Stubbs giving her, as was supposed, sufficient dignity for
that honourable employment. But Captain Batsby, not so very
long ago, had appeared among the suitors for Ayala’s hand;
and therefore, as he said to Gertrude, he felt a little shamefaced about it. “What does that signify?” said Gertrude. “If you
say nothing to her about it, I’ll be bound she’ll say nothing to
you.” And so it was on the day of the wedding. Ayala did not
say a word to Captain Batsby, nor did Captain Batsby say very
much to Ayala.
On the day before his marriage Captain Batsby paid
a fourth visit to Lombard Street in obedience to directions
from Sir Thomas. “There, my boy,” said he, “though you and
Gertrude did take a little journey on the sly to a place which
we will not mention, you shan’t take her altogether emptyhanded.” Then he explained certain arrangements which he
had made for endowing Gertrude with an allowance, which
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AYALA’S ANGEL
under the circumstance the bridegroom could not but feel to
be liberal. It must be added, that, considering the shortness of
time allowed for getting them together, the amount of wedding presents bestowed was considered by Gertrude to be satisfactory. As Lucy’s were exhibited at the same time the show
was not altogether mean. “No doubt I had twice as much as
the two put together,” said Mrs. Traffick to Ayala up in her
bedroom, “but then of course Lord Boardotrade’s rank would
make people give.”
CHAPTER LXIII
AYALA AGAIN IN LONDON
After that last walk in Gobblegoose Wood, after Lady
Tringle’s unnecessary journey to Stalham on the Friday, and
the last day’s hunting with Sir Harry’s hounds, — which took
place on the Saturday, — Ayala again became anxious to go
home. Her anxiety was in its nature very different from that
which had prompted her to leave Stalham on an appointed
day lest she should seem to be waiting for the coming of Colonel Stubbs. “No; I don’t want to run away from him any more,”
she said to Lady Albury. “I want to be with him always, and
I hope he won’t run away from me. But I’ve got to be somewhere where I can think about it all for a little time.”
“Can’t you think about it here?”
“No; — one can never think about a thing where it has
all taken place. I must be up in my own little room in Kingsbury Crescent, and must have Aunt Margaret’s work around
me, — so that I may realise what is going to come. Not but
what I mean to do a great deal of work always.”
“Mend his stockings?”
“Yes, — if he wears stockings. I know he doesn’t. He always
wears socks. He told me so. Whatever he has, I’ll mend, — or
make if he wants me.
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AYALA’S ANGEL
‘I can bake and I can brew,
And I can make an Irish stew; —
Wash a shirt, and iron it too.’”
Then, as she sang her little song, she clapped her hands
together.
“Where did you get all your poetry?”
“He taught me that. We are not going to be fine people, — except sometimes when we may be invited to Stalham.
But I must go on Thursday, Lady Albury. I came for a week, and
I have been here ever since the middle of February. It seems
years since the old woman told me I was perverse, and he said
that she was right.”
“Think how much you have done since that time.”
“Yes, indeed. I very nearly destroyed myself; — didn’t I?”
“Not very nearly.”
“I thought I had. It was only when you showed me his letter on that Sunday morning that I began to have any hopes.
I wonder what Mr. Greene preached about that morning.
I didn’t hear a word. I kept on repeating what he said in
the postscript.”
“Was there a postscript?”
“Of course there was. Don’t you remember?”
“No, indeed; not I.”
“The letter would have been nothing without the postscript. He said that Croppy was to come back for me. I knew
he wouldn’t say that unless he meant to be good to me. And
yet I wasn’t quite sure of it. I know it now; don’t I? But I must
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ANTHONY TROLLOPE
go, Lady Albury. I ought to let Aunt Margaret know all about
it.” Then it was settled that she should go on the Thursday, — and on the Thursday she went. As it was now considered
quite wrong that she should travel by the railway alone, — in
dread, probably, lest the old lady should tell her again how
perverse she had been, — Colonel Stubbs accompanied her.
It had then been decided that the wedding must take place at
Stalham, and many messages were sent to Mr. and Mrs. Dosett assuring them that they would be made very welcome on
the occasion. “My own darling Lucy will be away at that time
with her own young man,” said Ayala, in answer to further
invitations from Lady Albury.
“And so you’ve taken Colonel Stubbs at last,” said her Aunt
Margaret.
“He has taken me, aunt. I didn’t take him.”
“But you refused him ever so often.”
“Well; — yes. I don’t think I quite refused him.”
“I thought you did.”
“It was a dreadful muddle, Aunt Margaret; — but it has
come right at last, and we had better not talk about that
part of it.”
“I was so sure you didn’t like him.”
“Not like him? I always liked him better than anybody
else in the world that I ever saw.”
“Dear me!”
“Of course I shouldn’t say so if it hadn’t come right at last.
I may say whatever I please about it now, and I declare that
I always loved him. A girl can be such a fool! I was, I know.
I hope you are glad, aunt.”
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