Authors: George W. M. Reynolds,James Malcolm Rymer
"Will you excuse me?" said Greenwood to the count;
then, opening the letter, he appeared to read it with attention.
At the expiration of a few moments, he said, "This
letter is from my capitalist. He gives me both good and bad news. He will
advance the loan; but he cannot command the necessary amount for three
mouths."
"Then there will be three months' more delay?"
exclaimed the count in a tone of vexation.
"Three months! and what is that? A mere nothing "
cried Mr. Greenwood. "You can satisfy yourself of my friend's sincerity.'
With these words he handed to the count the letter which he
had written to himself in a feigned hand, and to which he had affixed a
fictitious name and address.
The count read the letter and was satisfied.
He then rose to depart.
"To-morrow evening, at seven o'clock punctually, I
shall do myself the pleasure of waiting upon you. In a few days, you remember,
I and my family are coming up to town to pass some time with Lord
Tremordyn."
"And I shall then be bold and
presumptuous enough,". said Greenwood, "to endeavour to render myself
acceptable to the Signora Isabella."
" By the bye," exclaimed the count, " I forgot
to inform you of the villainy of that Richard Markham, whom I received into the
bosom of my family, and treated as a son, or a brother."
"His villainy!" ejaculated Greenwood in a tone of
unfeigned surprise.
"Villainy the most atrocious!" cried the count.
"He is a man branded with the infamy of a felon's gaol!"
"Impossible! " said Greenwood, this time affecting
the astonishment expressed by his countenance.
"It is, alas! too true. The night before last, he
invited thieves to break into my dwelling: and to those miscreants had he
boasted of his intentions to win the favour of my daughter!"
"Oh! no - no," said Greenwood emphatically;
"you must have been misinformed!"
"On the contrary, I have received evidence only too
corroborative of what I tell you. But when I come to-morrow evening, I will
give you the details."
The count then took his departure.
"Thank God!" said Mr. Greenwood to himself, the
moment the door had dosed behind the Italian nobleman: "I have succeeded
in pulling off that bothering count for three good months. Much may be done in
the meantime; and if I can secure his daughter - all will be well! I can then
pension him off upon a hundred and fifty pounds a year - and retain possession
of his capital. But this deed - he demands the deed of guarantee: he presses
for that! I must give him the security to show my good-will; and then neutralize
that concession on my part, in the manner already resolved upon. How strange
was the account he gave me of Richard Markham! That unhappy young man appears
to be the victim of the most wonderful combination of suspicious circumstances
ever known; for guilty he could not be - oh! no - impossible!"
Mr. Greenwood's meditations were interrupted by the entrance
of Lord Tremordyn.
This nobleman was a short, stout, good-tempered man. Being a
large landholder, he exercised considerable influence in his county, of which
he was lord-lieutenant; and he boasted that he could return six members to
parliament in spite of the Reform-bill. His wife was moreover allied to one of
the richest and most important families in the hierarchy of the aristocracy;
and thus Lord Tremordyn - with no talent, no knowledge, no acquirements to
recommend him, but with certain political tenets which he inherited along with
the family estate, and which he professed for no other reason than because they
were those of his ancestors, - Lord Tremordyn, we say, was a very great man in
the House of Lords. He seldom spoke, it is true; but then he
voted
- and dictated to others
how to vote
; and in this existed his power.
When he
did
speak, he uttered an awful amount
of nonsense; but the reporters were very kind - and so his speeches read well.
Indeed, he did not know them again when he perused them in print the morning
after their delivery. Moreover, his wife was a blue-stocking, and dabbled a
little in politics; and she occasionally furnished her noble husband with a few
hints which might have been valuable had he clothed them in language a little
intelligible. For the rest, Lord Tremordyn was a most hospitable man, was fond
of his bottle, and fancied himself a sporting character because he kept hounds
and horses, and generally employed an agent to "make up a book" for
him at races, whereby he was most amazingly plundered.
"My dear lord," exclaimed Mr. Greenwood, conducting
his noble visitor to a seat; " I am delighted to see your lordship look so
well. So you have parted with
Electricity
? I heard of it yesterday at
Tattersalls'."
"Yes - and a good price I had for him. But, by the way,
my dear Greenwood, I must not forget to thank you for the Hock you sent me. It
is superb !"
"I am delighted that your lordship is pleased with it.
Have you seen Sir Rupert Harborough lately ?"
"My scapegrace son-in-law? I wish I had never
seen him at all!" ejaculated his lordship. "He is ever head and ears
in debt again: and I swear most solemnly that I will do nothing more for him -
not to the amount of a penny-piece! Cecilia, too, has quarrelled with her
mother ; and, even if she had not, Lady Tremordyn is the last women on earth to
advance them a shilling."
"It is a pity - a great pity!" said Mr. Greenwood.
apparently musing; then, after a brief pause, he added, "You never can
guess, my dear lord, why I wished to see your lordship so particularly this
morning?"
"About the match between
Electricity
and
Galvanism
? The odds are three to
four."
"That was not exactly my business," said
Greenwood, with a bland smile: "the fact is, the representation of
Rottenborough will be vacant in a few weeks. I know positively, that the
present member intends to accept the Chiltern Hundreds."
"I have received a similar intimation," observed
his lordship.
"At present the matter is a profound secret."
"Yes - a profound secret: known only to the member's
friends, and me and my friends, and you and your friends," added the
nobleman, seriously meaning what he said without any attempt at irony or
satire.
"Of course there will be an election in February,
shortly after the Houses meet," continued Greenwood. " I was going to
observe to your lordship that I should be most happy to offer myself as a
candidate —"
"You, Greenwood! What - are you a politician?"
"Not so profound nor so well versed as your lordship ; but I
flatter myself that, aided by your lordship's advice —"
"Lady Tremordyn would never consent to it!"
"And by Lady Tremordyn's suggestions —"
"It would never do! She will have a man of rank and
family; and - excuse me, Greenwood - although you are no doubt rich enough for
a lord, and well educated, and clever, and so on - the deuce of it is that we
don't know who the devil you are! "
"An excellent family - an excellent family, my dear
lord," exclaimed Mr. Greenwood; "and although nothing equal to your
own, which I know to be the most- ancient in England —"
"Or Scotland, or Ireland, either."
"Or Scotland, or Ireland, or even Europe -
still —"
"No - it cannot be done, Greenwood ;- it cannot be
done," interrupted the nobleman. " I would do any thing to oblige
you;- but —"
At that moment the door opened, and Lafleur entered the
study.
"If you please, sir," said the French valet,
"the Duke of Portsmouth has sent round to know whether he can positively
rely upon your company to dinner this evening?'
"My best compliments to his grace, Lafleur," said
Mr. Greenwood, affecting to meditate upon this message for a moment, "and
I will do myself the honour of waiting on his grace at the usual hour."
"Very good, sir."
And Lafleur retired.
"Well, after all," resumed Lord Tremordyn, who had
not lost a word of this message and the answer, "I think I might undertake
to arrange the Rottenborough business for you. You have high acquaintances -
and they often do more good than high connexions. So we will consider that
matter as settled."
"I am deeply obliged to your lordship," said
Greenwood, with the calmness of a man who had never entertained a fear of being
ultimately enabled to carry his point: "you will see that I shalt imitate
in the Lower House your lordship's admirable conduct in the Upper, to the very
best of my ability."
"Of course you will always support the measures I
support, and oppose those which I may oppose?"
"Oh! that is a matter of course! What would become of
society - where should we be, if the Commons did not obey the great landholders
who allow them to be returned?"
"Ah I what indeed?" said the nobleman, shaking his
head ominously. "But really, Greenwood, I wasn't at all aware that
you were half so clever a politician as I see you are."
"Your lordship does me honour. I know how to
value your lordship's good
opinion, said Greenwood, in a meek and submissive manner: then, after a
moment's silence, he added, "By the bye, I understand that our mutual
friend Alteroni, and his amiable wife, and beautiful daughter, are going to
pass the first few weeks of the new year with your lordship and Lady
Tremordyn?"
"Yes: we shall be very gay. The signora must pick up a
husband amongst the young nobles or scions of great families whom she will meet
this winter in London."
"Do you not know, my lord," said Greenwood, sinking
his voice to a mysterious whisper, "that Count Alteroni detests gaiety?
are you not aware that he and the ladies have accepted your kind invitation
under the impression that they will enjoy the pleasing society of your lordship
and Lady Tremordyn, and a few select friends only?"
"I am glad you have told me that!" exclaimed the
nobleman "We will have no gaiety at all."
"The count has honoured me with his utmost confidence,
and his sincere friendship," said Greenwood.
"Oh! of course you will be welcome on all occasions: do
not wait for invitations - I give you a general one."
"I am more than ever indebted to your
lordship."
After a little more conversation in the same strain, the nobleman
took his leave, more pleased with Mr. Greenwood than ever.
This gentleman, the moment he was alone, threw himself into
his chair, and smiled complacently.
"Gained all my points!" he said, musing. "I
shall be a member of parliament - the fair Isabella will stand no chance of
captivating some wealthy and titled individual who might woo and win her - and
I have obtained a general invitation to Lord Tremordyn's dwelling! I alone
shall therefore save an opportunity of paying court to this Italian
beauty."
The French valet entered the room.
"Lady Cecilia Harborough is in the drawing room,
sir."
Mr. Greenwood thrust the morocco case containing the diamonds
into the pocket of his dressing-gown; and then proceeded to the apartment where
the lady was waiting.
Lady Cecilia Harborough was about two-and-twenty, and very
beautiful. Her hair was auburn, her eyes blue, and her features regular. Her
figure was good; but she was very slightly made -a perfect sylph in symmetry
and model. Nursed amidst fashionable pleasure and aristocratic dissipation, she
was without those principles which are the very basis of virtue. If she were
true and faithful to her husband, it was only because she had not been strongly
tempted to prove otherwise: if she had never indulged in an intrigue, it was
simply because one to her taste had never come in her way. Her passions were
strong - her disposition decidedly sensual. Thus was it that she had become an
easy prey to Sir Rupert Harborough; and when she had discovered that she was in
a way to become a mother in consequence of that amour, she only repented of her
conduct through dread of shame, and not for the mere fact of having deviated
from the path of virtue. Her disgrace was concealed by a patched-up marriage
with her seducer, a trip to the Continent, and the death of the child at its
birth ; and thus there was no scandal in society attached to the name of Lady
Cecilia Harborough.