THE PRIME MINISTER (89 page)

‘Do not say that, papa. Of course anyone may
die.’

‘I certainly shall not go without you. You may take that as certain. Is it likely that I should leave you alone in August and September in this great gloomy house? If you stay, I shall stay.’ Now this meant a great deal more than it had meant in former years. Since Lopez had died Mr Wharton had not once dined at the Eldon. He came home regularly at six o’clock, sat with his daughter an
hour before dinner, and then remained with her all the evening. It seemed as though he were determined to force her out of her solitude by her natural consideration for him. She would implore him to go to his club and have his rubber, but he would never give way. No; – he didn’t care for the Eldon, and disliked whist. So he said. Till at last he spoke more plainly. ‘You are dull enough here all day,
and I will not leave you in the evenings.’ There was a pertinacious tenderness in this which she had not expected from the antecedents of his life. When, therefore, he told her that he would not go into the country without her, she felt herself almost constrained to yield.

And she would have yielded at once but for one fear. How could she insure to herself that Arthur Fletcher should not be there?
Of course he would be at Longbarns, and how could she prevent his coming over from Longbarns to Wharton? She could hardly bring herself to ask the question of her father. But she felt an insuperable objection to finding herself in Arthur’s presence. Of course she loved him. Of course in all the world he was of all the dearest to her. Of course if she could wipe out the past as with a wet towel,
if she could put the crape off her mind as well as from her limbs, she would become his wife with the greatest joy. But the very feeling
that she loved him was disgraceful to her in her own thoughts. She had allowed his caress while Lopez was still her husband, – the husband who had ill-used her and betrayed her, who had sought to drag her down to his own depth of baseness. But now she could not
endure to think that the other man should even touch her. It was forbidden to her, she believed, by all the canons of womanhood even to think of love again. There ought to be nothing left for her but crape and weepers. She had done it all by her own obstinacy, and she could make no compensation either to her family, or to the world, or to her own feelings, but by drinking the cup of her misery
down to the very dregs. Even to think of joy would in her be a treason. On that occasion she did not yield to her father, conquering him as she had conquered him before by the pleading of her looks rather than of her words.

But a day or two afterwards he came to her with arguments of a very different kind. He at any rate must go to Wharton immediately, in reference to a letter of vital importance
which he had received from Sir Alured. The reader may perhaps remember that Sir Alured’s heir – the heir to the title and property – was a nephew for whom he entertained no affection whatever. This Wharton had been discarded by all the Whartons as a profligate drunkard. Some years ago Sir Alured had endeavoured to reclaim the man, and had spent perhaps more money than he had been justified in
doing in the endeavour, seeing that, as present occupier of the property, he was bound to provide for his own daughters, and that at his death every acre must go to this ne’er-do-well. The money had been allowed to flow like water for a twelvemonth, and had done no good whatever. There had then been no hope. The man was strong and likely to live, – and after a while married a wife, some woman that
he took from the very streets. This had been his last known achievement, and from that moment not even had his name been mentioned at Wharton. Now there came the tidings of his death. It was said that he had perished in some attempt to cross some glaciers in Switzerland; – but by degrees it appeared that the glacier itself had been less dangerous than the brandy which he had swallowed whilst on
his journey. At any rate he was dead. As to that Sir Alured’s letter was certain. And he was equally certain that he had left no son.

These tidings were quite as important to Mr Wharton as to Sir
Alured, – more important to Everett Wharton than to either of them, as he would inherit all after the death of those two old men. At this moment he was away yachting with a friend, and even his address
was unknown. Letters for him were to be sent to Oban, and might, or might not, reach him in the course of a month. But in a man of Sir Alured’s feelings, this catastrophe produced a great change. The heir to his title and property was one whom he was bound to regard with affection and almost with reverence, – if it were only possible for him to do so. With his late heir it had been impossible.
But Everett Wharton he had always liked. Everett had not been quite all that his father and uncle had wished. But his faults had been exactly those which would be cured, – or would almost be made virtues, – by the possession of a title and property. Distaste for a profession and aptitude for Parliament would become a young man who was heir not only to the Wharton estates, but to half his father’s
money.

Sir Alured in his letter expressed a hope that Everett might be informed instantly. He would have written himself had he known Everett’s address. But he did know that his elder cousin was in town, and he besought his elder cousin to come at once, – quite at once, – to Wharton. Emily, he said, would of course accompany her father on such an occasion. Then there were long letters from Mary
Wharton, and even from Lady Wharton, to Emily. The Whartons must have been very much moved when Lady Wharton could be induced to write a long letter. The Whartons were very much moved. They were in a state of enthusiasm at these news, amounting almost to fury. It seemed as though they thought that every tenant and labourer on the estate, and every tenant and labourer’s wife, would be in an abnormal
condition and unfit for the duties of life, till they should have seen Everett as heir of the property. Lady Wharton went so far as to tell Emily which bedroom was being prepared for Everett, – a bedroom very different in honour from any by the occupation of which he had as yet been graced. And there were twenty points as to new wills and new deeds as to which the present baronet wanted the immediate
advice of his cousin. There were a score of things which could now be done which were before impossible. Trees could be cut down, and buildings put up; and a little bit of land sold, and a little bit of land bought; – the doing of all which would give new life to Sir Alured. A life interest in an estate
is a much pleasanter thing when the heir is a friend who can be walked about the property,
than when he is an enemy who must be kept at arm’s length. All these delights could now be Sir Alured’s, – if the old heir would give him his counsel and the young one his assistance.

This change in affairs occasioned some flutter also in Manchester Square. It could not make much difference personally to old Mr Wharton. He was, in fact, as old as the baronet, and did not pay much regard to his
own chance of succession. But the position was one which would suit his son admirably, and he was now on good terms with his son. He had convinced himself that Lopez had done all that he could to separate them, and therefore found himself to be more bound to his son than ever. ‘We must go at once,’ he said to his daughter, speaking almost as though he had forgotten her misery for the moment.

‘I suppose you and Everett ought to be there.’

‘Heaven knows where Everett is. I ought to be there, and I suppose that on such an occasion as this you will condescend to go with me.’

‘Condescend, papa; – what does that mean?’

‘You know I cannot go alone. It is out of the question that I should leave you here.’

‘Why, papa?’

‘And at such a time the family ought to come together. Of course they
will take it very much amiss if you refuse. What will Lady Wharton think if you refuse after her writing such a letter as that? It is my duty to tell you that you ought to go. You cannot think that it is right to throw over every friend that you have in the world.’

There was a great deal more said in which it almost seemed that the father’s tenderness had been worn out. His words were much rougher
and more imperious than any that he had yet spoken since his daughter had become a widow, but they were also more efficacious, and therefore probably more salutary. After twenty-four hours of this she found that she was obliged to yield, and a telegram was sent to Wharton, – by no means the first telegram that had been sent since the news had arrived, – saying that Emily would accompany her
father. They were to occupy themselves for two days further in preparations for their journey.

These preparations to Emily were so sad as almost to break her heart. She had never as yet packed up her widow’s weeds. She had never as yet even contemplated the necessity of coming down to dinner in them before other eyes than those of her father and brother. She had as yet made none of those struggles
with which widows seek to lessen the deformity of their costume. It was incumbent on her now to get a ribbon or two less ghastly than those weepers which had, for the last five months, hung about her face and shoulders. And then how should she look if he were to be there? It was not to be expected that the Whartons should seclude themselves because of her grief. This very change in the circumstances
of the property would be sure, of itself, to bring the Fletchers to Wharton, – and then how should she look at him, how answer him if he spoke to her tenderly? It is very hard for a woman to tell a lie to a man when she loves him. She may speak the words. She may be able to assure him that he is indifferent to her. But when a woman really loves a man, as she loved this man, there is a desire
to touch him which quivers at her fingers’ ends, a longing to look at him which she cannot keep out of her eyes, an inclination to be near him which affects every motion of her body. She cannot refrain herself from excessive attention to his words. She has a god to worship, and she cannot control her admiration. Of all this Emily herself felt much, – but felt at the same time that she would never
pardon herself if she betrayed her love by a gleam of her eye, by the tone of a word, or the movement of a finger. What, – should she be known to love again after such a mistake as hers, after such a catastrophe?

The evening before they started who should bustle into the house but Everett himself. It was then about six o’clock, and he was going to leave London by the night mail. That he should
be a little given to bustle on such an occasion may perhaps be forgiven him. He had heard the news down on the Scotch coast, and had flown up to London, telegraphing as he did so backwards and forwards to Wharton. Of course he felt that the destruction of his cousin among the glaciers, – whether by brandy or ice he did not much care, – had made him for the nonce one of the important people of the
world. The young man who would not so feel might be the better philosopher, but one might doubt whether he would be the better young man. He quite agreed with his father that it was his sister’s duty to
go to Wharton, and he was now in a position to speak with authority as to the duties of members of his family. He could not wait, even for one night, in order that he might travel with them. Sir
Alured was impatient. Sir Alured wanted him in Herefordshire. Sir Alured had said that on such an occasion he, the heir, ought to be on the property with the shortest possible delay. His father smiled; – but with an approving smile. Everett therefore started by the night mail, leaving his father and sister to follow him on the morrow.

The Duke, before he went to Matching, twice reminded Phineas Finn that he was expected there in a day or two. ‘The Duchess says that your wife is coming to-morrow,’ the Duke said on the day of his departure. But Phineas could not go then. His services to his country were required among the dockyards and ships, and he postponed his visit till the
end of September. Then he started for Matching, having the double pleasure before him of meeting his wife and his noble host and hostess. He found a small party there, but not so small as the Duchess had once suggested to him. ‘Your wife will be there, of course, Mr Finn. She is too good to desert me in my troubles. And there will probably be Lady Rosina De Courcy. Lady Rosina is to the Duke what
your wife is to me. I don’t suppose there will be anybody else, – except, perhaps, Mr Warburton.’ But Lady Rosina was not there. In place of Lady Rosina there were the Duke and Duchess of St Bungay, with their daughters, two or three Palliser offshoots, with their wives, and Barrington Erle. There were, too, the Bishop of the diocese with his wife, and three of four others, coming and going, so that
the party never seemed to be too small. ‘We asked Mr Rattler,’ said the Duchess in a whisper to Phineas, ‘but he declined, with a string of florid compliments. When Mr Rattler won’t come to the Prime Minister’s house, you may depend that something is going to happen. It is like pigs carrying straws in their
mouths.
¹⁹
Mr Rattler is my pig.’ Phineas only laughed and said that he did not believe
Rattler to be a better pig than anyone else.

It was soon apparent to Phineas that the Duke’s manner to him was entirely altered, so much so that he was compelled to acknowledge to himself that he had not hitherto read the Duke’s character aright. Hitherto he had never found the Duke pleasant in conversation. Looking back he could hardly remember that he had in truth ever conversed with the Duke.
The man had seemed to shut himself up as soon as he had uttered certain words which the circumstances of the moment had demanded. Whether it was arrogance or shyness Phineas had not known. His wife had said that the Duke was shy. Had he been arrogant the effect would have been the same. He was unbending, hard, and lucid only when he spoke on some detail of business, or on some point of policy.
But now he smiled, and, though hesitating a little at first, very soon fell into the ways of a pleasant country host ‘You shoot,’ said the Duke. Phineas did shoot, but cared very little about it ‘But you hunt’ Phineas was very fond of riding to hounds. ‘I am beginning to think,’ said the Duke, ‘that I have made a mistake in not caring for such things. When I was very young I gave them up, because
it appeared that other men devoted too much time to them. One might as well not eat because some men are gluttons.’