CHAPTER LXI. LADY CULDUFF'S LETTER. A LONG letter, of several pages, from Marion reached the villa; and though it is not my intention to ask the reader to listen to it textually or throughout, I crave permission to give certain parts of its contents. know that we have to out-manœuvre the Russians, baffle the French, and bully the Greeks; and that there is not for the task Culduff's equal in England. I think I see your astonishment that I should talk of such themes: they were not certainly the sort of subjects which once occupied our thoughts; but, my dear Nelly, in linking As Lady Culduff prospered in the world, your fate to that of a man of high ambition, she became what she thought "devout," and you accept the companionship of his intelperpetually reminded all around her that lect, instead of a share in his heart. And, she was well aware she was living in a very as you well know I always repudiated the sinful world, and keeping daily company curate and cottage theory, I accept the alwith transgressors; and she actually brought ternative without repining. Can I teach herself to believe that by repeated reference you any of this philosophy, Nelly, and will it to the wickedness of this life, she was enter-lighten the load of your own sorrow to learn ing a formal protest against sin, and qualify- how I have come to bear mine? It is ing herself, at this very cheap price, for in the worldliness of people generally lies something much better hereafter. their chief unhappiness. They will not, as She was and it was a pet phrase with Culduff says, 'accept the situation.' Now her-"resigned" to everything: resigned we have accepted it, we must submit to it, to Lord Culduff's being made a grand cross and, in consequence, suffer fewer heartburnand an ambassador, with the reasonable ings and repinings than our neighbours. prospect of an earldom; resigned to her Dear Augustus never had any costly tastes; own great part- and was it not a great and as for yourself, simplicity was your part?-in this advancement; resigned to badge in everything. Temple is indeed to be an ambassadress! That she was resigned be pitied, for Temple, with money to back to the ruin and downfall of her family, es- him, might have made a respectable figure pecially if they should have the delicacy in the world and married well; but Temple and good taste to hide themselves some- a poor man, must fall down to a secondwhere, and not obtrude that ruin and down-class legation, and look over the Minister's fall on the world, was plainly manifest; and larder. Culduff tried, but failed to make when she averred that, come what might, we ought to be ever assured that all things were for the best, she meant in reality to say it was a wise dispensation that sent herself to live in a palace at Pera, and left her brothers and sisters to shiver out existence in barbarism. There was not a shadow of hypocrisy in all this. She believed every word she said upon it. She accepted the downfall of her family as her share of those ills which are the common lot of humanity; and she was very proud of the fortitude that sustained her under this heavy trial, and of that proud resignation that enabled her not to grieve over these things in an unseemly fashion, or in any way that might tell on her complexion. "After that splendid success of Culduff's at Naples," wrote she, "of which the newspapers are full, I need not remind you that we ought to have had Paris, and, indeed, must have had it, but the Ministry made it a direct and personal favour of Culduff that he would go and set that troublesome Eastern question to rights. As you know nothing of politics, dear Nelly, and, indeed, are far happier in that ignorance, I shall not enter upon what, even with the fullest explanation, would only bewilder you. Enough if you something of him. As C. told him one day, you have only to see Charles Mathews act, to be convinced that to be a coxcomb, a man must be consummately clever; and yet it is exactly the rôle every empty fellow fancies would suit him. T. resented this, well meant as it was, and resigned his secretaryship. He has gone over to England, but I do not imagine with much prospect of re-employment. "Do not think, my dear Nelly, of quitting your present refuge. You are safe now, and in harbour, and be slow to adventure on that wide ocean of life where shipwrecks are occurring on every hand. So long as one is obscure, poverty has no terrors. As Culduff says, you may always wear a ragged coat in the dark. It is we, who unfortunately must walk in the noonday, cannot be seen unless in fine raiment. Do not mistake me, however. I say this without complaint; I repine at nothing. "I had written so much of my letter, dear Nelly, intending to finish it at Rome; but Culduff is obliged to hurry on to Ischl, where some great diplomatic gathering is now assembled, and I must omit a number of things I desire to say to you. "Culduff thinks we must call on Lady Augusta as we go through. I own I have 66 done my best to avoid this, and if I must | Had he been led by the commis-voyageur go, it will not be in the best of tempers. side of his character, we would have had a The oddest thing of all is, C. dislikes her most disgraceful scene, ending by a hostile fully as much as I do; but there is some meeting between a British peer and a bagwonderful freemasonry among these people man. that obliges them, like the members of a secret society, to certain égards' towards each other; and I am satisfied he would rather do a positive wrong to some one in middleclass life than be wanting in some punctilio or attention to a person of her condition. I have often been much provoked by displays of this sentiment, needlessly paraded to offend my own sense of propriety. I shall add a line after my visit. "ROME. "I have news for you. M. Pracontal if this be his name- not only takes your estates, but your stepmother. The odious woman had the effrontery to tell us so to our faces. How I bore it, what I said, or felt or suffered, I know not. Some sort of fit, I believe, seized me, for Culduff sent for a physician when I got back to the hotel, and our departure was deferred. My nerves have been so shaken by this incident, and my recollection is still so charged with this odious woman's look, voice, and manner, that I cannot trust myself to say more. Be assured, dear Nelly, that in all the miserable details of this great calamity to our family, no one event has occurred equal in poignant suffering to the insult I have thus been subjected to. "Culduff will not agree to it, but I declare to you she was positively vulgar in the smirking complacence in which she presented the man as her future husband. She was already passée when she married my father, and the exuberant joy at this proposal revealed the old maid's nature. C., of course, calls her charming, a woman of very attractive qualities, and such like; but men of a certain age have ideas of their own on these subjects, and, like their notions on cookery, make no converts among people under forty. I believe I told him so, and, in consequence, the whole theme has been strictly avoided by each of us ever since." The remainder of the letter was devoted to details as to her future life at Constantinople, and the onerous duties that would devolve on her as ambassadress. She hinted also at a time when she would ask dear Nelly to come and visit her; but, of course, until matters were fully settled and concluded, she could not expect her to leave dear Gusty. "The outrage of this conduct has so shaken my nerves that I can scarcely write, nor is my sense of indignation lessened by the levity with which it pleases Culduff to treat the whole matter. 'It is a bold coup -a less courageous woman would have recoiled from it she is very daring.' This is what he says of her. She has the courage that says to the world, I am ready to meet all your censures and your reproaches;' but I never heard this called heroism before. Must I own to you, Nelly, that what overwhelms me most in this disgraceful event The postcript ran thus: -" Culduff meant is the confidence it evinces in this man's to have given some small Church promotion cause. You may swear,' said Culduff, to young L'Estrange, and, indeed, believed that she is backing the winner. Women he had done so; but some difficulty has are timid gamblers, and never risk their arisen. It is either not his turn, or the money without almost every chance in their Bishop is troublesome, or the Ecclesiastical favour.' I know that my lord plumes himself on knowing a great deal about us, prompting him at times to utter much that is less than complimentary; but I give you this opinion of his here for what it is worth, frankly owning that my dislike to the woman is such I can be no fair judge of any case into which she enters. Commissioners-if there be such people — are making objections. If he-I mean L'Estrange -be still disengaged, would it be wise to offer him the chaplaincy to the embassy? I mean wise as regards ourselves; for I take it the sister may still be unmarried, and, if she be like what I remember her, a person not easily suppressed, "Pracontal - I only saw him for an in- nor at all indisposed to assume airs of perstant struck me as a third-class French- fect equality, even with those separated man, something between a 'sous-officer' of from her by a whole hemisphere of station. cavalry and a commis-voyageur; not ill-Give me your candid advice on this point, looking, and set up with that air of the sol- not thinking of them, but of me, for, though dier that in France does duty for dignity. I feel Julia-is not that her name? He had a few hasty words with Culduff, but would be insupportable, the parson himself did not persist nor show any desire to make would be very useful, and I think a comfort a row in presence of ladies. So far, his in- to me. stincts as a corporal guided him safely. ¡ "Of course you will not consult any one upon this matter. It is your own personal | opinion I want, and you will give it to me, knowing me and my prejudices—I suppose I had better call them- and not thinking of your own leanings and likings for the girl. She may, for aught I know, have changed. Culduff has some wise saw about acid wines growing dry by age; I don't know whether young ladies mellow in this fashion, but Julia was certainly tart enough once to have tested the theory, and might be the 'Amontillado' of old maids by this time." It may be imagined that after a sally of this kind it was not easy for the writer to recover that semi-moralizing vein in which the letter opened. Nor did she. The conclusion was abrupt, and merely directed Nelly to address her next to the Summer Palace at Therapia; “for those horrid people, our predecessors, have left the embassy-house in such a condition it will take weeks and several thousand pounds to make it habitable. There must be a vote taken in supply' on this. I am writing Greek to you, poor child; but I mean they must give us money, and, of course, the discussion will expose us to many impertinences. One writer declared that he never knew of a debate on the estimates without an allusion to Lord Culduff's wig. We shall endure this—if not with patience, without resentment. Love to dear Gusty, and believe me your affectionate sister, "MARION CULDUFF." Such were the most striking passages of a long letter which, fortunately for Nelly, Mr. Cutbill's presence at the breakfast-table rescued her from the indiscretion of reading aloud. One or two extracts she did give, but soon saw that the document was one which could not be laid on the table, nor given without prejudice to the public service. Her confusion, as she crumpled up the paper, and thrust it back into its envelope, was quickly remarked, and Mr. Cutbill, with his accustomed tact, observed, “I'd lay a ‘fiver' we've all of us been led out for a canter in that epistle. It's enough to see Miss Ellen's face to know that she wouldn't read it out for fifty pounds. Eh, what!" cried he, stooping and rubbing his leg; "I told you to say, Stop her,' Master Jack, when you wanted to take way off, but I never said, 'Kick my shins.'” This absurd exclamation, and the laugh it provoked, was a lucky diversion, and they arose from the table without another thought on Marion's epistle. "Has Nelly shown you Marion's note ? " asked Jack, as he strolled with Julia through the garden. "No, and it is perhaps the only letter I ever knew her to get without handing me to read." "I suspect, with Cutbill, that we all of us catch it in that pleasant document." "You perhaps are the only one who has escaped." "As for me, I am not even remembered. Well, I'll bear even that, if I can be sure of a little sympathy in another quarter." "Master Jack, you ask for too many professions. I have told you already to-day, and I don't mean to repeat it for a week, that you are not odious to me." "But will you not remember, Julia, the long months of banishment I have suffered? Will you not bear in mind that I have lived longingly for this moment; it is cruel now to dash it with a doubt.” 66 - But it is exactly what I am not doing! I have given you fully as much encouragement as is good for you. I have owned and it is a rash confession for a girl to make at any time—that I care for you more than any part of our prospects for the future could warrant, and if I go one step further there will be nothing for it but for you to buy a bragotza and turn fisherman, and for me to get a basket and sell pilchards in the piazza." You needn't taunt me with my poverty; I feel it bitterly enough already. Nor have you any right to think me unable to win a living." 66 There, again, you wrong me. I only said, Do not, in your impatience to reach your goal, make it not worth the winning. Don't forget what I told you about long engagements. A man's share of them is the worst." 66 But you love me, Julia?" said he, drawing her close to him. "How tiresome you are!" said she, trying to free herself from his arm. "Let me once-only once - hear you say this, and I swear to you, Julia, I'll never tease you more." 66 Well, then, if I must And the brother and sister walked along | must hide you somewhere for these three hand in hand without speaking, a closer pres- days."" sure of the fingers at intervals alone revealing how they followed the same thoughts and lived in the same joys. 66 66 "What if I were to show him this letter," said Augustus, to let him see that Sedley means to be here to-morrow, to remain at farthest three days; is it not likely Cutbill would himself desire to avoid meeting him?" "Not a bit of it," cried Jack. It's the thing of all others he'd glory in; he'd be full of all the lively impertinences that he could play off on the lawyer; and he'd write a comic song on him,—ay, and sing it in his own presence.” "Nothing more likely," said Julia, gravely. "Then what is to be done? Is there no escape out of the difficulty?" asked Augustus. "Yes," said Nelly, "I think there is. The way I should advise would be this: I'd show Mr. Cutbill Sedley's letter, and taking him into counsel, as it were, on the embarrassment of his own position, I'd say, 'We LIVING AGE. VOL. XI. 427 But he wouldn't see it, Nelly. He'd laugh at your delicate scruples. He'd say, 'That's the one man in all Europe I'm dying to meet.' 66 66 Nelly is quite right, notwithstanding," said Julia. There is more than one side to Mr. Cutbill's nature. He'd like to be thought a very punctilious gentleman fully as much as a very jocose companion. Make him believe that in keeping out of sight here at this moment he will be exercising a most refined delicacy, doing what nothing short of a high-bred sensibility would ever have dreamed of, and you'll see he'll be as delighted with his part as ever he was with his coarse drollery. And here he comes to test my theory about him." As she spoke Cutbill came lounging up the garden walk, too busily engaged in making a paper cigarette to see those in front of him. "I'm sure, Mr. Cutbill, that cigarette must be intended for me," cried Julia, seeing all the pains you are bestowing on its manufacture." 66 66 Ah, Miss Julia, if I could only believe that you'd let me corrupt your morals to the extent of a pinch of Latakia "Give me Sedley's letter, Gusty," said Nelly, "and leave the whole arrangement to me. Mr. Cutbill, will you kindly let me have three minutes of your company? I want a bit of advice from you." And she took his arm as she spoke and led him down the garden. She wasted no time in preliminaries, but at once came to the point, saying "We're in what you would call a fix' this morning, Mr. Cutbill: my brother's lawyer, Mr. Sedley, is coming here most unexpectedly. We know that some unpleasant passages have occurred between you and that gentleman, making a meeting between you quite impossible; and in the great difficulty of the moment I have charged myself with the solution of the embarrassment, and now begin to see that without your aid I am powerless. Will you help me; that is, will you advise with or for me?" "Of course I will; but, first of all, where's the difficulty you speak of? I'd no more mind meeting this man, - sitting next him at dinner, if you like,-than I would an old creditor - and I have a good many of them—that I never mean to pay.' "We never doubted your tact, Mr. Cutbill," said she, with a strong emphasis on the pronoun. "If so, then the matter is easy enough. Tact always serves for two. If I be the man you take me for, that crabbed old fellow will love me like a brother before the first day is over." "That's not the question, Mr. Cutbill. Your personal powers of captivation no one disputes, if only they get a fair field for their exercise; but what we fear is that Mr. Sedley, being the hot-tempered, hasty man he is, will not give you this chance. My brother has twice already been on the verge of a rupture with him for having acted on his own independent judgment. I believe nothing but his regard for poor dear papa would have made him forgive Augustus; and when I tell you that in the present critical state of our cause his desertion of us would be fatal, I am sure you will do anything to avert such a calamity." 6 "Let us meet, Miss Ellen; let us dine together once— -I only ask once- - and if I don't borrow money from him before he takes his bedroom candle, you may scratch Tom Cutbill, and put him off the course' for ever. What does that impatient shrug of the shoulders mean? Is it as much as to say, 'What a conceited snob it is!' eh?" Oh, Mr. Cutbill, you couldn't possi 66 bly "Couldn't I though? And don't I know well that I am just as vain of my little talents, -as your friend, Miss Julia, called them, as you and others are ready to ridicule them; but the real difference between us after all is this: You think the world at large is a monstrous clever creature, with great acuteness, great discrimination and great delicacy; and I know it to be a great overgrown bully, mistaking half it hears, and blundering all it says, so that any one, I don't care who he is, that will stand out from the crowd in life, think his own thoughts and guide his own actions, may just do what he pleases with that unwieldy old monster, making it believe it's the master, all the while it is a mere slave and a drudge. There's another shrug of the shoulders. Why not say it out' you're a puppy, Tom Cutbill?" First of all it wouldn't be polite, and secondly "Never mind the secondly. It's quite enough for me to see that I have not convinced you, nor am I half as clever a fellow as I think myself; and do you know, you're the first I ever knew dispute the position." "But I do not. I subscribe to it implicitly; my presence here, at this moment, attests how I believe it. It is exactly because I regard Mr. Cutbill as the cleverest person I know the very ablest one to ex And now,' " said Nelly, hurriedly, for her patience had well nigh given in, "what's to be done? I have a project of my own, but I don't know whether you would agree to it." 66 Not agree to a project of yours? What do you take me for, Miss Ellen ?' "My dear Mr. Cutbill, I have exhausted all my compliments. I can only say I endorse all the preceding with compound interest." Slightly piqued by the half sarcasm of her manner, he simply said—“ And your project; what is it? "That you should be a close prisoner for the short time Mr. Sedley stays here; sufficiently near to be able to communicate and advise with you-for we count much on your counsel- and yet totally safe from even the chance of meeting him. There is a small chapel about a mile off, where the family confessor used to live, in two neat little rooms adjoining the building. These shall be made comfortable for you. We will take care -I will-that you are not starved; and some of us will be sure to go and see you every day, and report all that goes on. I foresee a number of details, but I have no time now to discuss them; the great point is, do you agree? 66 This is Miss Julia's scheme, is it not?" "No, I assure you; on my word it is mine." 66 But you have concerted it with her?" "Not even that; she knows nothing of it." |