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Файл:The History of Henry Esmond II
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THE HISTORY OF HENRY ESMOND
you’ll never be happy except with a woman who will. Why,
after I belonged to you, and after one of my tantrums, you
would have put the pillow over my head some night, and
smothered me, as the black man does the woman in the play
that you’re so fond of. What’s the creature’s name? – Desdemona. You would, you little black-dyed Othello!”
“I think I should, Beatrix,” says the Colonel.
“And I want no such ending. I intend to live to be a hundred, and to go to ten thousand routs and balls, and to play
cards every night of my life till the year eighteen hundred.
And I like to be the fi rst of my company, sir; and I like fl attery and compliments, and you give me none; and I like to
be made to laugh, sir, and who’s to laugh at YOUR dismal
face, I should like to know? and I like a coach-and six or
a coach-and-eight; and I like diamonds, and a new gown every week; and people to say – ‘That’s the Duchess – How
well her Grace looks – Make way for Madame l’Ambassadrice
d’Angleterre – Call her Excellency’s people’ – that’s what
I like. And as for you, you want a woman to bring your slippers
and cap, and to sit at your feet, and cry, ‘O caro! O bravo!’ whilst
you read your Shakespeares and Miltons and stuff. Mamma
would have been the wife for you, had you been a little older,
though you look ten years older than she does – you do, you
glum-faced, blue-bearded little old man! You might have sat,
like Darby and Joan, and fl attered each other; and billed and
cooed like a pair of old pigeons on a perch. I want my wings
and to use them, sir.” And she spread out her beautiful arms,
as if indeed she could fl y off like the pretty “Gawrie,” whom
the man in the story was enamored of.
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WILLIAM THACKERAY
“And what will your Peter Wilkins say to your fl ight?”
says Esmond, who never admired this fair creature more than
when she rebelled and laughed at him.
“A duchess knows her place,” says she, with a laugh. “Why,
I have a son already made for me, and thirty years old (my Lord
Arran), and four daughters. How they will scold, and what
a rage they will be in, when I come to take the head of the table! But I give them only a month to be angry; at the end of that
time they shall love me every one, and so shall Lord Arran, and
so shall all his Grace’s Scots vassals and followers in the Highlands. I’m bent on it; and when I take a thing in my head, ’tis
done. His Grace is the greatest gentleman in Europe, and I’ll
try and make him happy; and, when the King comes back, you
may count on my protection, Cousin Esmond – for come back
the King will and shall; and I’ll bring him back from Versailles,
if he comes under my hoop.”
“I hope the world will make you happy, Beatrix,” says
Esmond, with a sigh. “You’ll be Beatrix till you are my Lady
Duchess – will you not? I shall then make your Grace my very
lowest bow.”
“None of these sighs and this satire, cousin,” she says. “I take
his Grace’s great bounty thankfully – yes, thankfully; and will
wear his honors becomingly. I do not say he hath touched my
heart; but he has my gratitude, obedience, admiration – I have
told him that, and no more; and with that his noble heart is
content. I have told him all – even the story of that poor creature that I was engaged to – and that I could not love; and
I gladly gave his word back to him, and jumped for joy to get
back my own. I am twenty-fi ve years old.”
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THE HISTORY OF HENRY ESMOND
“Twenty-six, my dear,” says Esmond.
“Twenty-fi ve, sir – I choose to be twenty-fi ve; and in eight
years no man hath ever touched my heart. Yes – you did once,
for a little, Harry, when you came back after Lille, and engaging
with that murderer Mohun, and saving Frank’s life. I thought
I could like you; and mamma begged me hard, on her knees,
and I did – for a day. But the old chill came over me, Henry,
and the old fear of you and your melancholy; and I was glad
when you went away, and engaged with my Lord Ashburnham, that I might hear no more of you, that’s the truth. You
are too good for me, somehow. I could not make you happy,
and should break my heart in trying, and not being able to
love you. But if you had asked me when we gave you the sword,
you might have had me, sir, and we both should have been
miserable by this time. I talked with that silly lord all night
just to vex you and mamma, and I succeeded, didn’t I? How
frankly we can talk of these things! It seems a thousand years
ago: and, though we are here sitting in the same room, there
is a great wall between us. My dear, kind, faithful, gloomy old
cousin! I can like now, and admire you too, sir, and say that you
are brave, and very kind, and very true, and a fi ne gentleman
for all – for all your little mishap at your birth,” says she, wagging her arch head.
“And now, sir,” says she, with a curtsy, “we must have no
more talk except when mamma is by, as his Grace is with us;
for he does not half like you, cousin, and is jealous as the black
man in your favorite play.”
Though the very kindness of the words stabbed Mr. Esmond with the keenest pang, he did not show his sense of
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WILLIAM THACKERAY
the wound by any look of his (as Beatrix, indeed, afterwards
owned to him), but said, with a perfect command of himself
and an easy smile, “The interview must not end yet, my dear,
until I have had my last word. Stay, here comes your mother”
(indeed she came in here with her sweet anxious face, and Esmond going up kissed her hand respectfully). “My dear lady
may hear, too, the last words, which are no secrets, and are
only a parting benediction accompanying a present for your
marriage from an old gentleman your guardian; for I feel as
if I was the guardian of all the family, and an old old fellow
that is fi t to be the grandfather of you all; and in this character
let me make my Lady Duchess her wedding present. They are
the diamonds my father’s widow left me. I had thought Beatrix
might have had them a year ago; but they are good enough
for a duchess, though not bright enough for the handsomest
woman in the world.” And he took the case out of his pocket in
which the jewels were, and presented them to his cousin.
She gave a cry of delight, for the stones were indeed very
handsome, and of great value; and the next minute the necklace was where Belinda’s cross is in Mr. Pope’s admirable
poem, and glittering on the whitest and most perfectly-shaped
neck in all England.
The girl’s delight at receiving these trinkets was so great,
that after rushing to the looking-glass and examining the effect they produced upon that fair neck which they surrounded, Beatrix was running back with her arms extended, and was
perhaps for paying her cousin with a price, that he would have
liked no doubt to receive from those beautiful rosy lips of hers,
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THE HISTORY OF HENRY ESMOND
but at this moment the door opened, and his Grace the bridegroom elect was announced.
He looked very black upon Mr. Esmond, to whom he made
a very low bow indeed, and kissed the hand of each lady in
his most ceremonious manner. He had come in his chair from
the palace hard by, and wore his two stars of the Garter and
the Thistle.
“Look, my Lord Duke,” says Mistress Beatrix, advancing to
him, and showing the diamonds on her breast.
“Diamonds,” says his Grace. “Hm! they seem pretty.”
“They are a present on my marriage,” says Beatrix.
“From her Majesty?” asks the Duke. “The Queen is
very good.”
“From my cousin Henry – from our cousin Henry” –
cry both the ladies in a breath.
“I have not the honor of knowing the gentleman. I thought
that my Lord Castlewood had no brother: and that on your
ladyship’s side there were no nephews.”
“From our cousin, Colonel Henry Esmond, my lord,” says
Beatrix, taking the Colonel’s hand very bravely – “who was
left guardian to us by our father, and who has a hundred times
shown his love and friendship for our family.”
“The Duchess of Hamilton receives no diamonds but from
her husband, madam,” says the Duke – “may I pray you to restore these to Mr. Esmond?”
“Beatrix Esmond may receive a present from our kinsman and benefactor, my Lord Duke,” says Lady Castlewood,
with an air of great dignity. “She is my daughter yet: and if
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WILLIAM THACKERAY
her mother sanctions the gift – no one else hath the right to
question it.”
“Kinsman and benefactor!” says the Duke. “I know of no
kinsman: and I do not choose that my wife should have for
benefactor a –”
“My lord!” says Colonel Esmond.
“I am not here to bandy words,” says his Grace: “frankly
I tell you that your visits to this house are too frequent, and
that I choose no presents for the Duchess of Hamilton from
gentlemen that bear a name they have no right to.”
“My lord!” breaks out Lady Castlewood, “Mr. Esmond hath
the best right to that name of any man in the world: and ’tis as
old and as honorable as your Grace’s.”
My Lord Duke smiled, and looked as if Lady Castlewood
was mad, that was so talking to him.
“If I called him benefactor,” said my mistress, “it is because
he has been so to us – yes, the noblest, the truest, the bravest,
the dearest of benefactors. He would have saved my husband’s
life from Mohun’s sword. He did save my boy’s, and defended
him from that villain. Are those no benefi ts?”
“I ask Colonel Esmond’s pardon,” says his Grace, if possible
more haughty than before. “I would say not a word that should
give him offence, and thank him for his kindness to your ladyship’s family. My Lord Mohun and I are connected, you know,
by marriage – though neither by blood nor friendship; but
I must repeat what I said, that my wife can receive no presents
from Colonel Esmond.”
“My daughter may receive presents from the Head of our
House: my daughter may thankfully take kindness from her
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THE HISTORY OF HENRY ESMOND
father’s, her mother’s, her brother’s dearest friend; and be
grateful for one more benefi t besides the thousand we owe
him,” cries Lady Esmond. “What is a string of diamond stones
compared to that affection he hath given us – our dearest preserver and benefactor? We owe him not only Frank’s life, but
our all – yes, our all,” says my mistress, with a heightened color and a trembling voice. “The title we bear is his, if he would
claim it. ’Tis we who have no right to our name: not he that’s
too great for it. He sacrifi ced his name at my dying lord’s bedside – sacrifi ced it to my orphan children; gave up rank and
honor because he loved us so nobly. His father was Viscount of
Castlewood and Marquis of Esmond before him; and he is his
father’s lawful son and true heir, and we are the recipients of
his bounty, and he the chief of a house that’s as old as your
own. And if he is content to forego his name that my child
may bear it, we love him and honor him and bless him under
whatever name he bears” – and here the fond and affectionate
creature would have knelt to Esmond again, but that he prevented her; and Beatrix, running up to her with a pale face and
a cry of alarm, embraced her and said, “Mother, what is this?”
“’Tis a family secret, my Lord Duke,” says Colonel Esmond:
“poor Beatrix knew nothing of it; nor did my lady till a year
ago. And I have as good a right to resign my title as your Grace’s
mother to abdicate hers to you.”
“I should have told everything to the Duke of Hamilton,”
said my mistress, “had his Grace applied to me for my daughter’s hand, and not to Beatrix. I should have spoken with you
this very day in private, my lord, had not your words brought
about this sudden explanation – and now ’tis fi t Beatrix should
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WILLIAM THACKERAY
hear it; and know, as I would have all the world know, what we
owe to our kinsman and patron.”
And then in her touching way, and having hold of her
daughter’s hand, and speaking to her rather than my Lord
Duke, Lady Castlewood told the story which you know already – lauding up to the skies her kinsman’s behavior. On his
side Mr. Esmond explained the reasons that seemed quite suffi ciently cogent with him, why the succession in the family,
as at present it stood, should not be disturbed; and he should
remain as he was, Colonel Esmond.
“And Marquis of Esmond, my lord,” says his Grace, with
a low bow. “Permit me to ask your lordship’s pardon for words
that were uttered in ignorance; and to beg for the favor of your
friendship. To be allied to you, sir, must be an honor under
whatever name you are known” (so his Grace was pleased to
say); “and in return for the splendid present you make my
wife, your kinswoman, I hope you will please to command any
service that James Douglas can perform. I shall never be easy
until I repay you a part of my obligations at least; and ere very
long, and with the mission her Majesty hath given me,” says
the Duke, “that may perhaps be in my power. I shall esteem it
as a favor, my lord, if Colonel Esmond will give away the bride.”
“And if he will take the usual payment in advance, he is
welcome,” says Beatrix, stepping up to him; and, as Esmond
kissed her, she whispered, “Oh, why didn’t I know you before?”
My Lord Duke was as hot as a fl ame at this salute, but said
never a word: Beatrix made him a proud curtsy, and the two
ladies quitted the room together.
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THE HISTORY OF HENRY ESMOND
“When does your Excellency go for Paris?” asks Colonel
Esmond.
“As soon after the ceremony as may be,” his Grace answered. “’Tis fi xed for the fi rst of December: it cannot be sooner. The equipage will not be ready till then. The Queen intends
the embassy should be very grand – and I have law business to
settle. That ill-omened Mohun has come, or is coming, to London again: we are in a lawsuit about my late Lord Gerard’s
property; and he hath sent to me to meet him.”
CHAPTER V
MOHUN APPEARS FOR
THE LAST TIME IN THIS
HISTORY
Besides my Lord Duke of Hamilton and Brandon, who for
family reasons had kindly promised his protection and patronage to Colonel Esmond, he had other great friends in power
now, both able and willing to assist him, and he might, with
such allies, look forward to as fortunate advancement in civil
life at home as he had got rapid promotion abroad. His Grace
was magnanimous enough to offer to take Mr. Esmond as
secretary on his Paris embassy, but no doubt he intended
that proposal should be rejected; at any rate, Esmond could
not bear the thoughts of attending his mistress farther than
the church-door after her marriage, and so declined that offer
which his generous rival made him.
Other gentlemen in power were liberal at least of compliments and promises to Colonel Esmond. Mr. Harley, now become my Lord Oxford and Mortimer, and installed Knight of
the Garter on the same day as his Grace of Hamilton had received the same honor, sent to the Colonel to say that a seat in
Parliament should be at his disposal presently, and Mr. St. John
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