The Palliser Novels (110 page)

It must be acknowledged that Mrs Greenow was a woman of great resources, and that she would be very prudent for others, though I fear the verdict of those who know her must go against her in regard to prudence in herself. Her marriage with Captain Bellfield was a rash act, — certainly a rash act, although she did take so much care in securing the payment of her own income into her own hands; but the manner in which she made him live discreetly for some months previous to his marriage, the tact with which she renewed the friendship which had existed between him and Mr Cheesacre, and the skill she used in at last providing Mr Cheesacre with a wife, oblige us all to admit that, as a general, she had great powers.

When Alice reached Vavasor Hall she found Charlie Fairstairs established there on a long visit. Charlie and Kate were to be the two bridesmaids, and, as Kate told her cousin in their first confidential intercourse on the evening of Alice’s arrival, there were already great hopes in the household that the master of Oileymead might be brought to surrender. It was true that Charlie had not a shilling, and that Mr Cheesacre had set his heart on marrying an heiress. It was true that Miss Fairstairs had always stood low in the gentleman’s estimation, as being connected with people who were as much without rank and fashion as they were without money, and that the gentleman loved rank and fashion dearly. It was true that Charlie was no beauty, and that Cheesacre had an eye for feminine charms. It was true that he had despised Charlie, and had spoken his contempt openly; — that he had seen the girl on the sands at Yarmouth every summer for the last ten years, and about the streets of Norwich every winter, and had learned to regard her as a thing poor and despicable, because she was common in his eyes. It is thus that the Cheesacres judge of people. But in spite of all these difficulties Mrs Greenow had taken up poor Charlie’s case, and Kate Vavasor expressed a strong opinion that her aunt would win.

“What has she done to the man?” Alice asked.

“Coaxed him; simply that. She has made herself so much his master that he doesn’t know how to say no to her. Sometimes I have thought that he might possibly run away, but I have abandoned that fear now. She has little confidences with him from day to day, which are so alluring to him that he cannot tear himself off. In the middle of one of them he will find himself engaged.”

“But, the unfortunate girl! Won’t it be a wretched marriage for her?”

“Not at all. She’ll make him a very good wife. He’s one of those men to whom any woman, after a little time, will come to be the same. He’ll be rough with her once a month or so, and perhaps tell her that she brought no money with her; but that won’t break any bones, and Charlie will know how to fight her own battles. She’ll save his money if she brings none, and in a few years’ time they will quite understand each other.”

Mr Cheesacre and Captain Bellfield were at this time living in lodgings together, at Penrith, but came over and spent every other day at Vavasor, returning always to their lodgings in the evening. It wanted but eight days to the marriage when Alice arrived, and preparations for that event were in progress. “It’s to be very quiet, Alice,” said her aunt; “as quiet as such a thing can be made. I owe that to the memory of the departed one. I know that he is looking down upon me, and that he approves all that I do. Indeed, he told me once that he did not want me to live desolate for his sake. If I didn’t feel that he was looking down and approving it, I should be wretched indeed.” She took Alice up to see her trousseau, and gave the other expectant bride some little hints which, under present circumstances, might be useful. “Yes, indeed; only three-and-sixpence a piece, and they’re quite real. Feel them. You wouldn’t get them in the shops under six.” Alice did feel them, and wondered whether her aunt could have saved the half-crown honestly. “I had my eyes about me when I was up in town, my dear. And look here, these are quite new, — have never been on yet, and I had them when I was married before. There is nothing like being careful, my dear. I hate meanness, as everybody knows who knows me; but there is nothing like being careful. You have a lot of rich people about you just now, and will have ever so many things given you which you won’t want. Do you put them all by, and be careful. They may turn out useful, you know.” Saying this, Mrs Greenow folded up, among her present bridal belongings, sundries of the wealth which had accrued to her in an earlier stage of her career.

And then Mrs Greenow opened her mind to Alice about the Captain. “He’s as good as gold, my dear; he is, indeed, — in his own way. Of course, I know that he has faults, and I should like to know who hasn’t. Although poor dear Greenow certainly was more without them than anybody else I ever knew.” As this remembrance came upon Mrs Greenow she put her handkerchief to her eyes, and Alice observed that that which she held still bore the deepest hem of widowhood. They would be used, no doubt, till the last day, and then put by in lavender for future possible occasions. “Bellfield may have been a little extravagant. I dare say he has. But how can a man help being extravagant when he hasn’t got any regular income? He has been ill-treated in his profession; very. It makes my blood curdle when I think of it. After fighting his country’s battles through blood, and dust, and wounds; — but I’ll tell you about that another time.”

“I suppose a man seldom does make a fortune, aunt, by being a soldier?”

“Never, my dear; much better be a tailor. Don’t you ever marry a soldier. But as I was saying, he is the best-tempered creature alive, and the staunchest friend I ever met. You should hear what Mr Cheesacre says of him! But you don’t know Mr Cheesacre?”

“No, aunt, not yet. If you remember, he went away before I saw him when he came here before.”

“Yes, I know, poor fellow! Between you and me, Kate might have had him if she liked; but perhaps Kate was right.”

“I don’t think he would have suited Kate at all.”

“Because of the farmyard, you mean? Kate shouldn’t give herself airs. Money’s never dirty, you know. But perhaps it’s all for the best. There’s a sweet girl here to whom he is violently attached, and who I hope will become Mrs Cheesacre. But as I was saying, the friendship between these two men is quite wonderful, and I have always observed that when a man can create that kind of affection in the bosom of another man, he invariably is, — the sort of man, — the man, in fact, who makes a good husband.”

Alice knew the story of Charlie Fairstairs and her hopes; knew of the quarrels between Bellfield and Cheesacre; knew almost as much of Bellfield’s past life as Mrs Greenow did herself; and Mrs Greenow was no doubt aware that such was the case. Nevertheless, she had a pleasure in telling her own story, and told it as though she believed every word that she spoke.

On the following day the two gentlemen came over, according to custom, and Alice observed that Miss Fairstairs hardly spoke to Mr Cheesacre. Indeed her manner of avoiding that gentleman was so very marked, that it was impossible not to observe it. They drank tea out of doors, and when Mr Cheesacre on one occasion sauntered across towards the end of the bench on which Charlie was sitting, Charlie got up and walked away. And in strolling about the place afterwards, and in going up through the wood, she was at great pains to attach herself to some other person, so that there should be no such attaching between her and the owner of Oileymead. At one time Mr Cheesacre did get close up to her and spoke some word, some very indifferent word. He knew that he was being cut and he wanted to avoid the appearance of a scene. “I don’t know, sir,” said Charlie, again moving away with excellent dignity, and she at once attached herself to Alice who was close by. “I know you have just come home from Switzerland,” said Charlie. “Beautiful Switzerland! My heart pants for Switzerland. Do tell me something about Switzerland!” Mr Cheesacre had heard that Alice was the dear friend of a lady who would probably some day become a duchess. He therefore naturally held her in awe, and slunk away. On this occasion Mrs Greenow clung lovingly to her future husband, and the effect was that Mr Cheesacre found himself to be very much alone and unhappy. He had generally enjoyed these days at Vavasor Hall, having found himself, or fancied himself, to be the dominant spirit there. That Mrs Greenow was always in truth the dominant spirit I need hardly say; but she knew how to make a companion happy, and well also how to make him wretched. On the whole of this day poor Cheesacre was very wretched.

“I don’t think I shall go there any more,” he said to Bellfield, as he drove the gig back to Penrith that evening.

“Not go there any more, Cheesy,” said Bellfield; “why, we are to have the dinner out in the field on Friday. It’s your own bespeak.”

“Well, yes; I’ll go on Friday, but not after that.”

“You’ll stop and see me turned off, old fellow?”

“What’s the use? You’ll get your wife, and that’s enough for you. The truth is, that since that girl came down from London with her d––––d airs;” — the girl from London with the airs was poor Alice, — “the place is quite changed. I’m blessed if the whole thing isn’t as dark as ditch-water. I’m a plain man, I am; and I do hate your swells.” Against this view of the case Captain Bellfield argued stoutly; but Cheesacre had been offended, and throughout the next day he was cross and touchy. He wouldn’t play billiards, and on one occasion hinted that he hoped he should get that money soon.

“You did it admirably, my dear,” said Mrs Greenow that night to Charlie Fairstairs. The widow was now on terms almost more confidential with Miss Fairstairs than with her own niece, Kate Vavasor. She loved a little bit of intrigue; and though Kate could intrigue, as we have seen in this story, Kate would not join her aunt’s intrigues. “You did it admirably. I really did not think you had so much in you.”

“Oh, I don’t know,” said Charlie, blushing at the praise.

“And it’s the only way, my dear; — the only way, I mean, for you with such a one as him. And if he does come round, you’ll find him an excellent husband.”

“I don’t think he cares for me a bit,” said Charlie whimpering.

“Pooh, nonsense! Girls never know whether men care for them or not. If he asks you to marry him, won’t that be a sign that he cares for you? and if he don’t, why, there’ll be no harm done.”

“If he thinks it’s his money — ” began Charlie.

“Now, don’t talk nonsense, Charlie,” said Mrs Greenow, “or you’ll make me sick. Of course it’s his money, more or less. You don’t mean to tell me you’d go and fall in love with him if he was like Bellfield, and hadn’t got a rap? I can afford that sort of thing; you can’t. I don’t mean to say you ain’t to love him. Of course, you’re to love him; and I’ve no doubt you will, and make him a very good wife. I always think that worldliness and sentimentality are like brandy-and-water. I don’t like either of them separately, but taken together they make a very nice drink. I like them warm, with –––– as the gentlemen say.” To this little lecture Miss Fairstairs listened with dutiful patience, and when it was over she said nothing more of her outraged affections or of her disregard for money. “And now, my dear, mind you look your best on Friday. I’ll get him away immediately after dinner, and when he’s done with me you can contrive to be in his way, you know.”

The next day was what Kate called the blank day at the Hall. The ladies were all alone, and devoted themselves, as was always the case on the blank days, to millinery and household cares. Mrs Greenow, as has before been stated, had taken a lease of the place, and her troubles extended beyond her mere bridal wardrobe. Large trunks of household linen had arrived, and all this linen was marked with the name of Greenow; Greenow, 5.58; Greenow, 7.52; and a good deal had to be done before this ancient wealth of housewifery could probably be converted to Bellfield purposes. “We must cut out the pieces, Jeannette, and work ‘em in again ever so carefully,” said the widow, after some painful consideration. “It will always show,” said Jeannette, shaking her head. “But the other would show worse,” said the widow; “and if you finedraw it, not one person in ten will notice it. We’d always put them on with the name to the feet, you know.”

It was not quite true that Cheesacre had bespoke the dinner out in the field, although no doubt he thought he had done so. The little treat, if treat it was, had all been arranged by Mrs Greenow, who was ever ready to create festivities. There was not much scope for a picnic here. Besides their own party, which, of course, included the Captain and Mr Cheesacre, no guest could be caught except the clergyman; — that low-church clergyman, who was so anxious about his income, and with whom the old Squire had quarrelled. Mrs Greenow had quickly obtained the advantage of his alliance, and he, who was soon to perform on her behalf the marriage ceremony, had promised to grace this little festival. The affair simply amounted to this, that they were to eat their dinner uncomfortably in the field instead of comfortably in the dining-room. But Mrs Greenow knew that Charlie’s charms would be much strengthened by a dinner out-of-doors. “Nothing,” she said to Kate, “nothing makes a man come forward so well as putting him altogether out of his usual tack. A man who wouldn’t think of such a thing in the drawing-room would be sure to make an offer if he spent an evening with a young lady down-stairs in the kitchen.”

At two o’clock the gig from Penrith arrived at the Hall, and for the next hour both Cheesacre and the Captain were engaged in preparing the tables and carrying out the viands. The Captain and Charlie Fairstairs were going to lay the cloth. “Let me do it,” said Cheesacre taking it out of the Captain’s hands. “Oh, certainly,” said the Captain, giving up his prize. “Captain Bellfield would do it much better,” said Charlie, with a little toss of her head; “he’s as good as a married man, and they always do these things best.”

The day was fine, and although the shade was not perfect, and the midges were troublesome, the dinner went off very nicely. It was beautiful to see how well Mrs Greenow remembered herself about the grace, seeing that the clergyman was there. She was just in time, and would have been very angry with herself, and have thought herself awkward, had she forgotten it. Mr Cheesacre sat on her right hand, and the clergyman on her left, and she hardly spoke a word to Bellfield. Her sweetest smiles were all given to Cheesacre. She was specially anxious to keep her neighbour, the parson, in good-humour, and therefore illuminated him once in every five minutes with a passing ray, but the full splendour of her light was poured out upon Cheesacre, as it never had before been poured. How she did flatter him, and with what a capacious gullet did he swallow her flatteries! Oileymead was the only paradise she had ever seen. “Ah, me; when I think of it sometimes, — but never mind.” A moment came to him when he thought that even yet he might win the race, and send Bellfield away howling into outer darkness. A moment came to him, and the widow saw the moment well. “I know I have done for the best,” said she, “and therefore I shall never regret it; at any rate, it’s done now.”