The Last Chronicle of Barset (84 page)

The conversation had strayed away from John Eames, and Lily was disappointed. It was a pleasure to her when people talked of him in her hearing, and as a question or two had been asked about him, making him the hero of the moment, it seemed to her that he was being robbed of his due when the little amenities between Mr and
Mrs Harold Smith and Sir Raffle banished his name from the circle. Nothing more, however, was said of him at dinner, and I fear that he would have been altogether forgotten throughout the evening, had not Lily herself referred – not to him, which she could not possibly have been induced to do – but to the subject of his journey. ‘I wonder whether poor Mr Crawley will be found guilty?' she said to Sir Raffle up in the drawing-room.

‘I am afraid he will; I am afraid he will,' said Sir Raffle; ‘and I fear, my dear Miss Dale, that I must go further than that. I fear I must express an opinion that he is guilty.'

‘Nothing will ever make me think so,' said Lily.

‘Ladies are always tender-hearted,' said Sir Raffle, ‘and especially young ladies – and especially pretty young ladies. I do not wonder that such should be your opinion. But you see, Miss Dale, a man of business has to look at these things in a business light. What I want to know is, where did he get the cheque? He is bound to be explicit in answering that before anybody can acquit him.'

‘That is just what Mr Eames has gone abroad to learn.'

‘It is very well for Eames to go abroad – though, upon my word, I don't know whether I should not have given him different advice if I had known how much I was to be tormented in his absence. The thing couldn't have happened at a more unfortunate time – the Ministry going out, and everything. But, as I was saying, it is all very well for him to do what he can. He is related to them, and is bound to save the honour of his relations if it be possible. I like him for going. I always liked him. As I said to my friend De Guest, “That young man will make his way.” And I rather fancy that the chance word which I spoke then to my valued old friend was not thrown away in Eames's favour. But, my dear Miss Dale, where did Mr Crawley get that cheque? That's what I want to know. If you can tell me that, then I can tell you whether or no he will be acquitted.'

Lily did not feel a strong prepossession in favour of Sir Raffle, in spite of his praise of John Eames. The harsh voice of the man annoyed her, and his egotism offended her. When, much later in the evening, his character came on for discussion between herself and Mrs Thorne and Emily Dunstable, she had not a word to say in his favour. But
still she had been pleased to meet him, because he was the man with whom Johnny's life was most specially concerned. I think that a portion of her dislike to him arose from the fact that in continuing the conversation he did not revert to his private secretary, but preferred to regale her with stories of his own doings in wonderful cases which had partaken of interest similar to that which now attached itself to Mr Crawley's case. He had known a man who had stolen a hundred pounds, and had never been found out; and another man who had been arrested for stealing two-and-sixpence which was found afterwards sticking to a bit of butter at the bottom of a plate. Mrs Thorne had heard all this, and had answered him, ‘Dear me, Sir Raffle,' she had said, ‘what a great many thieves you have had among your acquaintance!' This had rather disconcerted him, and then there had been no more talking about Mr Crawley.

It had been arranged on this morning that Mr Dale should return to Allington and leave Lily with Mrs Thorne. Some special need of his presence at home, real or assumed, had arisen, and he had declared that he must shorten his stay in London by about half the intended period. The need would not have been so pressing, probably, had he not felt that Lily would be more comfortable with Mrs Thorne than in his lodgings in Sackville Street. Lily had at first declared that she would return with him, but everybody had protested against this. Emily Dunstable had protested against it very stoutly; Mrs Dale herself had protested against it by letter; and Mrs Thorne's protest had been quite imperious in its nature. ‘Indeed, my dear, you'll do nothing of the kind. I'm sure your mother wouldn't wish it. I look upon it as quite essential that you and Emily should learn to know each other.' ‘But we do know each other; don't we, Emily?' said Lily. ‘Not quite well yet,' said Emily. Then Lily had laughed, and so the matter was settled. And now, on this present occasion, Mr Dale was at Mrs Thorne's house for the last time. His conscience had been perplexed about Lily's horse, and if anything was to be said it must be said now. The subject was very disagreeable to him, and he was angry with Bernard because Bernard had declined to manage it for him after his own fashion. But he had told himself so often that anything was better than a pecuniary obligation, that he was determined
to speak his mind to Mrs Thorne, and to beg her to allow him to have his way. So he waited till the Harold Smiths were gone, and Sir Raffle Buffle, and then, when Lily was apart with Emily – for Bernard Dale had left them – he found himself at last alone with Mrs Thorne.

‘I can't be too much obliged to you,' he said, ‘for your kindness to my girl.'

‘Oh, laws, that's nothing,' said Mrs Thorne. ‘We look on her as one of us now.'

‘I'm sure she is grateful – very grateful; and so am I. She and Bernard have been brought up so much together that it is very desirable that she should be not unknown to Bernard's wife.'

‘Exactly – that's just what I mean. Blood's thicker than water; isn't it? Emily's child, if she has one, will be Lily's cousin.'

‘Her first-cousin once removed,' said the squire, who was accurate in these matters. Then he drew himself up in his seat and compressed his lips together, and prepared himself for his task. It was very disagreeable. Nothing, he thought, could be more disagreeable. ‘I have a little thing to speak about,' he said at last, ‘which I hope will not offend you.'

‘About Lily?'

‘Yes; about Lily.'

‘I'm not very easily offended, and I don't know how I could possibly be offended about her.'

‘I'm an old-fashioned man, Mrs Thorne, and don't know much about the ways of the world. I have always been down in the country, and maybe I have prejudices. You won't refuse to humour one of them, I hope?'

‘You're beginning to frighten me, Mr Dale; what is it?'

‘About Lily's horse.'

‘Lily's horse! What about her horse. I hope he's not vicious?'

‘She is riding every day with your niece,' said the squire, thinking it best to stick to his own point.

‘It will do her all the good in the world,' said Mrs Thorne.

‘Very likely. I don't doubt it. I do not in the least disapprove her riding. But –'

‘But what, Mr Dale?'

‘I should be so much obliged if I might be allowed to pay the livery-stable keeper's bill.'

‘Oh, laws a' mercy.'

‘I daresay it may sound odd, but as I have a fancy about it, I'm sure you'll gratify me.'

‘Of course I will. I'll remember it. I'll make it all right with Bernard. Bernard and I have no end of accounts – or shall have before long – and we'll make an item of it. Then you can arrange with Bernard afterwards.'

Mr Dale as he got up to go away felt that he was beaten, but he did not know how to carry the battle any further on that occasion. He could not take out his purse and put down the cost of the horse on the table. ‘I will then speak to my nephew about it,' he said, very gravely, as he went away. And he did speak to his nephew about it, and even wrote to him more than once. But it was all to no purpose. Mr Potts could not be induced to give a separate bill, and – so said Bernard – swore at last that he would furnish no account to anybody for horses that went to Mrs Thorne's door except to Mrs Thorne herself.

That night Lily took leave of her uncle and remained at Mrs Thorne's house. As things were now arranged she would, no doubt, be in London when John Eames returned. If he should find her in town – and she told herself that if she was in town he certainly would find her – he would, doubtless, repeat to her the offer he had so often made before. She never ventured to tell herself that she doubted as to the answer to be made to him. The two letters were written in the book, and must remain there. But she felt that she would have had more courage for persistency down at Allington than she would be able to summon to her assistance up in London. She knew she would be weak, should she be found by him alone in Mrs Thorne's drawing-room. It would be better for her to make some excuse and go home. She was resolved that she would not become his wife. She could not extricate herself from the dominion of a feeling which she believed to be love for another man. She had given a solemn promise both to her mother and to John Eames that she would not marry that
other man; but in doing so she had made a solemn promise to herself that she would not marry John Eames. She had sworn it and would keep her oath. And yet she regretted it! In writing home to her mother the next day, she told Mrs Dale that all the world was speaking well of John Eames – that John had won for himself a reputation of his own, and was known far and wide to be a noble fellow. She could not keep herself from praising John Eames, though she knew that such praise might, and would, be used against her at some future time. ‘Though I cannot love him I will give him his due,' she said to herself.

‘I wish you would make up your mind to have an “it” for yourself,' Emily Dunstable said to her again that night; ‘a nice “it,” so that I could make a friend, perhaps a brother, of him.'

‘I shall never have an “it,” if I live to be a hundred,' said Lily Dale.

*

Lily had heard nothing as to the difficulty about her horse, and could therefore enjoy her exercise without the drawback of feeling that her uncle was subjected to an annoyance. She was in the habit of going out every day with Bernard and Emily Dunstable, and their party was generally joined by others who would meet them at Mrs Thorne's house. For Mrs Thorne was a very hospitable woman, and there were many who liked well enough to go to her house. Late in the afternoon there would be a great congregation of horses before the door – sometimes as many as a dozen; and then the cavalcade would go off into the Park, and there it would become scattered. As neither Bernard nor Miss Dunstable were unconscionable lovers, Lily in these scatterings did not often find herself neglected or lost. Her cousin would generally remain with her, and as in those days she had no ‘it' of her own she was well pleased that he should do so.

But it so happened that on a certain afternoon she found herself riding in Rotten Row alone with a certain stout gentleman whom she constantly met at Mrs Thorne's house. His name was Onesiphorus Dunn, and he was actually called Siph by his intimate friends. It had seemed to Lily that everybody was an intimate friend of Mr Dunn's, and she was in daily fear lest she should make a mistake and call him Siph herself. Had she done so it would not have mattered in the least. Mr Dunn, had he observed it at all, would neither have been flattered nor angry. A great many young ladies about London did call him Siph, and to him it was quite natural that they should do so. He was an Irishman, living on the best of everything in the world, with apparently no fortune of his own, and certainly never earning anything. Everybody liked him, and it was admitted on all sides that there was no safer friend in the world, either for young ladies or young men, than Mr Onesiphorus Dunn. He did not borrow money, and he did not encroach. He did like being asked out to dinner, and he did think that they to whom he gave the light of his countenance in town owed him the return of a week's run in the country. He neither shot, nor hunted, nor fished, nor read, and yet he was never in the way in any house. He did play billiards, and whist, and croquet – very badly. He was a good judge of wine, and would occasionally condescend to look after the bottling of it on behalf of some very intimate friend. He was a great friend of Mrs Thorne's, with whom he always spent ten days in the autumn at Chaldicotes.

Bernard and Emily were not insatiable lovers, but, nevertheless, Mrs Thorne had thought it proper to provide a fourth in the riding-parties, and had put Mr Dunn upon his duty. ‘Don't bother yourself about it, Siph,' she had said; ‘only if those lovers should go off philandering out of sight, our little country lassie might find herself to be nowhere in the Park.' Siph had promised to make himself useful, and had done so. There had generally been so large a number in their party that the work imposed on Mr Dunn had been very light. Lily had never found out that he had been especially consigned to her as her own cavalier, but had seen quite enough of him to be aware that he was a pleasant companion. To her, thinking, as she ever was thinking, about Johnny Eames, Siph was much more agreeable than
might have been a younger man who would have endeavoured to make her think about himself.

Thus when she found herself riding alone in Rotten Row with Siph Dunn, she was neither disconcerted nor displeased. He had been talking to her about Lord De Guest, whom he had known – for Siph knew everybody – and Lily had begun to wonder whether he knew John Eames. She would have liked to hear the opinion of such a man about John Eames. She was making up her mind that she would say something about the Crawley matter – not intending of course to mention John Eames's name – when suddenly her tongue was paralysed and she could not speak. At that moment they were standing near a corner, where a turning path made an angle in the iron rails, Mr Dunn having proposed that they should wait there for a few minutes before they returned home, as it was probable that Bernard and Miss Dunstable might come up. They had been there for some five or ten minutes, and Lily had asked her first question about the Crawleys – inquiring of Mr Dunn whether he had heard of a terrible accusation which had been made against a clergyman in Barsetshire – when on a sudden her tongue was paralysed. As they were standing, Lily's horse was turned towards the diverging path, whereas Mr Dunn was looking the other way, towards Achilles and Apsley house.
²
Mr Dunn was nearer to the railings, but though they were thus looking different ways they were so placed that each could see the face of the other. Then, on a sudden, coming slowly towards her along the diverging path and leaning on the arm of another man, she saw – Adolphus Crosbie.