A Civil Contract (32 page)

‘Of course I did!’ he replied easily. ‘And very glad he was that I did! I’m much obliged to him – but I can’t imagine why he should offer to do what must go quite against the pluck with him.’

‘You thought I had asked him to,’ she said, resolutely lifting her eyes to his. ‘That’s why –’ She checked herself, and then went on: ‘I didn’t – but I did mention it to him, not thinking that you wouldn’t wish it, which – which you’ll say I should have known.’

‘My dear Jenny, I assure you –’

‘No, let me explain to you how it came about!’ she begged. ‘I never meant – You see, Papa doesn’t understand! He thinks it’s crackbrained nonsense, and not the thing for gentlemen to engage in! I only wished to
make
him understand, and I told him about Mr Coke’s farm, and how he had prospered, and how important agriculture is… It was his saying that he supposed
you
would be the next to start such a farm that made me disclose to him that you had that intention, when you could afford to do so. I didn’t ask him – but I don’t run sly any more than he does, and I’ll tell you frankly I did hope that perhaps he might come round to the notion! I didn’t know you’d dislike it – you told him once that if he wished to make you a present he might give you a herd of short-horns!’

‘Did I? I wasn’t in earnest. But there’s no need for you to fly into high fidgets, goose! I might wish that you hadn’t talked to him of that remote ambition of mine, but I never desired you not to, so how should I be vexed with you because you did?’

‘You
are
vexed,’ she muttered, her eyes downcast.

‘Not so much vexed as blue-devilled!’ he retorted. ‘Have I seemed to be out of reason cross? Well, I am – though I hoped I hadn’t let you perceive it! I dislike it excessively when there’s no Jenny to pander outrageously to all my fads and fancies, and that’s the truth!’

She did not quite believe him, but she was a little cheered, and was able to smile, and to say: ‘I’m glad!’

‘Wretch! What I endure at my mother’s hands – ! Yes, I know I shouldn’t say that, but if you dare to tell me so I shall walk out of the room in a miff! By the bye, have you read the news? It was in the
Morning Post
, which I told Dunster to send up to you: old Douro has arrived in Brussels!’

‘Wellington! Yes, indeed! I knew you would be cast into transports by
that
!’

He laughed. ‘I shall at all events sleep sounder o’ nights! The thought of Slender Billy in command of the Army was enough to give anyone nightmares. We shall do now!’

‘Oh, dear, I do hope we may! Papa doesn’t think so. He says –’

‘I know exactly what he says, my love, and all I have to say is that your Papa doesn’t know Douro!’

He spoke confidently, but it was not surprising that Mr Chawleigh, and many others, should be pessimistic. The out-look was not promising. Reports reached London that the Emperor was not the man he had been: he grew easily tired; he fell into sudden rages, or into moods of dejection; he had lost his confidence: but the unpalatable fact remained that France had accepted his reinstatement, if not with universal joy, certainly with complaisance. The Midi might be royalist in sentiment; but hopes that were kindled by the raising of a mixed force at Nîmes by the Duc d’Angoulême were soon quenched by the arrival from Paris of Marshal Grouchy, with orders to crush the insurrection. By the middle of April it was known in London that Angoulême had capitulated, and had set sail for Spain. His wife, the daughter of the martyred King Louis XVIth, and a lady of spirit, had been at Bordeaux when the Emperor had entered Paris, and had done her utmost to rally the diminishing loyalty of the troops there; but her efforts had met with no success, and she had been obliged to allow herself to be borne off to safety in an English sloop.

Meanwhile, a new constitution had been drawn up in Paris, which was to be sworn to in the Champ de Mars, at a grand ceremony to be held on the 1st May. The Emperor hoped to crown his Austrian wife and his infant son on this occasion, but his letters to Marie Louise went unanswered. He postponed the Champ de Mai for a month, still hoping to have his wife restored to him, and to detach his Imperial father-in-law from the coalition formed at Vienna. Failing, he switched his diplomatic attempts to England. These too were unsuccessful, but his machinations made those who believed that his power could and must be broken suffer considerable uneasiness, since among the Opposition were many vociferous members, loud in their condemnation of a renewal of hostilities.

‘These damned Whigs!’ Adam said savagely. ‘Do they imagine that Boney wouldn’t overrun Europe the instant he saw his way clear?’

‘Lambert says,’ observed Jenny dispassionately.

He looked up from the newspaper, his anger yielding to amusement. ‘Jenny, if you don’t take care, we shall find ourselves in the suds! It was almost bellows to mend with me yesterday, when Charlotte uttered those fatal words!’

Between them, Lambert and Charlotte had unwittingly shown Adam that his wife had a certain dry sense of humour. Lambert, whose understanding was no more than moderate, had always been inclined to dogmatize on any and every subject, and this tendency had not been lessened by his marriage. Charlotte had no opinions of her own: she had only an unshakable belief in Lambert’s superiority, and had quickly acquired the habit of prefixing her contribution to whatever subject was under discussion with the words
Lambert says
, uttered with a finality which made them doubly exasperating. Adam was never more surprised than when Jenny, after several hours spent in Charlotte’s company, interrupted him one evening, exclaiming: ‘Oh, but, Adam,
Lambert
says – !’

She retorted now: ‘Yes, and you’d think I’d be ashamed to poke fun at poor Lambert, who is always so civil and kind to me, wouldn’t you? Well, so I am, but if I didn’t do that I should very likely be downright rude to him,
and
to Charlotte! For when it comes to Lambert setting you right on military tactics – Well, there! it’s better to laugh than to get into a tweak!’

He had retired into the newspaper again, and did not answer; but after a few moments he said: ‘I shall have to go up to London. How confoundedly inopportune! They’ll be draining the Great Dyke, and I wanted to see whether – However, there’s no remedy!’

‘A debate?’ Jenny asked.

He nodded. ‘War or Peace. From what Brough writes, it might be a close-run thing. His father thinks Grenville’s wavering: bamboozled by Grey, who is for peace at any cost!’

‘You don’t think the Jacobins would be able to set up a republic?’

‘Lambert says? No, I don’t. I think it’s moonshine to suppose that Boney would ever consent to it, and they wouldn’t dare to try to force it on him. The civil population might turn against him, but the Army won’t – and, make no mistake, the Johnny Crapauds understand their trade much too well to be pooh-poohed! I know: I’ve fought against ’em!’

‘Well, then, of course you must cast your vote,’ she said. ‘I wish I could come to town with you.’

‘Why don’t you?’

‘Now, Adam – ! When you know the baby’s not weaned – !’

‘You could bring him with you.’

She considered this, but finally shook her head. ‘No, because I shouldn’t want to open up the house only for a few days, and I don’t fancy taking him to a hotel, for you may depend upon it people would complain!’

‘He
is
noisy,’ agreed Adam.

‘Only when he’s hungry, or has the wind!’ she said. ‘But I won’t come.’

‘Jenny, have you been hoaxing me?’ he demanded. ‘Did you persuade me to believe that you didn’t wish to go to town at all this season because you thought I preferred to remain here?’

She shook her head. ‘No, upon my honour! The only time I hoaxed you was when I pretended to enjoy all those dreadful squeezes we went to last year, and I only did so because I thought it was my duty. I was never more thankful than when I discovered you were just as bored as I was! Not but what it will be pleasant to go up now and then, I daresay. Not this time: it was merely that I thought suddenly that I’d like to see Lydia, and Papa – but Lydia’s coming to us at the end of the season for a nice, long visit, and I don’t doubt Papa will spend a day or two with us as well. No, I won’t come: only think what a fuss and botheration it would mean!’

‘I do think it would be very fatiguing for you,’ he admitted. ‘I don’t mean to be gone more than a few days, you know.’

‘You’ll stay as long as you feel inclined. I shan’t look for you under a sennight, for you’ll want to see Lydia, let alone all your friends.’

When she saw him off to board the mail-coach at Market Deeping it was with the private conviction that it would be at least ten days before he returned, but he took her by surprise only five days later, walking into the nursery, where she sat suckling her baby. Thinking that it was the nurse who had entered the room she did not immediately look up. She was fondly watching the child, and it struck Adam that he had never seen her appear to better advantage. Then she glanced up, and gave a gasp. ‘
Adam!
’

He went forward, saying mischievously: ‘Own that I’ve astonished you – and retrieved my reputation!’

Her eyes narrowed in one of her sudden smiles. ‘Well, it’s certainly the first time
I’ve
ever known you return when you’d said you would!’

‘
Before
I said I would!’ he reminded her reproachfully, bending over her to kiss her, and then tickling the infant’s cheek with one finger. ‘Well, sir? It would be civil in you just to
acknowledge
me, you know!’

The Honourable Giles, fearful of interruption, shot him an angry look, and applied himself with renewed vigour to the most important business in life.

‘You’re as greedy as your aunt Lydia,’ Adam informed him, sinking into a chair.

‘Well, what a thing to say!’ protested Jenny. ‘Lydia is
not
greedy!’

‘You wouldn’t say so if you’d seen her in Russell Square, when I took her to dine with your father!’

‘Oh, did you do that? How delighted Papa must have been! But tell me, how did you prosper?’

‘Capitally! We carried it in both houses. Granville made a speech in support of the Ministers – no great thing, but Grey’s amendment was pretty handsomely defeated. All sorts of on-dits are flying about the town; one doesn’t know how many of them to believe, but one thing is certain: the Austrians, the Prussians, and the Russians are putting themselves under arms. My own belief is that we shall be at grips with the Frogs pretty soon – and I don’t doubt the issue! Boney’s only hope must be to
romper
us, with his Army of the North, before the others in the Coalition can be brought into the game. If he could do it – but he won’t!’ He laughed, and added: ‘Your father croaks that Wellington has never yet been opposed by Boney himself! Very true – and so is the converse!’ He was interrupted by his son, who, full to repletion, gave a belch. He said: ‘We shall never be able to introduce him into polite circles, shall we? All well here, Jenny?’

She nodded, and said, as she helpfully patted the Honourable Giles: ‘Tell me about Lydia! Is she enjoying the season? Does she
take
?’

‘According to my aunt, she has made quite a hit. She certainly seems to have acquired a large number of admirers! Don’t ask me to describe the dress she wore at her Presentation! I didn’t see it, and can only assure you that it was
sumptuous
!’

She chuckled. ‘Oh, I can almost hear her saying that! Does she go to a great many parties?’

‘She informed me with pride that she had attended no fewer than three during the course of one evening. My aunt must have a constitution of iron! By the bye, what a very pretty bracelet you gave her, Jenny!’

Her colour rushed up; she glanced warily at him, stammering: ‘It was only a trifle!’

‘You needn’t have been afraid to tell me,’ he said, faintly smiling. ‘Yes, I know why you were afraid: you remembered that I wouldn’t permit her to wear your pearls. Well, I still would not – they are quite unsuitable, you know! – but there is a vast difference between lending your pearls to Lydia because she is my sister, and bestowing a charming bracelet upon her because she has become
your
sister. And let me add, my love, that in spite of my odd humours I haven’t the smallest desire to come the ugly because your father was so kind as to send her an ivory-brisé fan which I do
not
think he purchased dog-cheap! Was that at your instigation?’

‘Well, yes!’ she admitted guiltily. ‘You know what Papa is, Adam! He’s so fond of Lydia that he’d have sent her something you wouldn’t have liked at all if I hadn’t restrained him a little.’ Her eyes twinkled. ‘I warn you, however, that I shan’t be able to do so when it comes to a wedding-gift!’

‘Ah!’ Adam said. ‘That puts me in mind of a rare tit-bit of news!’

She exclaimed: ‘Adam! You don’t mean –’

‘I have received two offers for my sister’s hand,’ said Adam, with dignity.

‘
No!
’

‘I assure you! You can’t think how patriarchal I now feel! Or the degree of embarrassment I felt on being applied to by a man at least twelve years my senior!’

She gave a crow of mirth. ‘Adam,
not
the Conquest?’

‘None other! Would you believe it? – having won Mama’s approval, he followed Lydia to town, and has been making an absurd cake of himself with his attentions! She swears there was no hinting him away, try as she would, but I consider that no excuse for fobbing him off on to me, the abominable little wretch! With instructions to inform him that his suit was hopeless: you may imagine with what enthusiasm I faced this task!’

‘But you did tell him so?’

‘I did, but I was obliged to hint that Lydia’s affections were already engaged before I could convince him.’ He smiled, seeing the eagerly questioning look in her eyes. ‘Yes, the other offer came from Brough, exactly as you foretold. At least, he asked me if I had any objection to his marrying Lydia.’ He observed the expression of deep satisfaction on Jenny’s face, and continued smoothly: ‘I told him, of course, to put any such nonsense out of his head –’