A Heart-Song of To-day Part 16

"Yes, I go with Gladstone," cried Bertram; "that 'stand and deliver'

t.i.the business has given the church a bad odour in the nostrils of dissenters."

"Still, I fear, should we sever Church and State," said Vaura, "that other old inst.i.tutions will topple over. Events seem every day to be educating us up to preparing us for greater changes than disestablishment. 'Tis, indeed, 'a parting of the ways.' The Church Established seemed a strong wall or fortress supporting other (some would say) old fancies. I must confess in this, our very pleasant age of novelties, I like to know there is something old still in its niche of time."

"Yes, I see; I must now sing a requiem over the departing forms of Miss Vernon and Father Douglas, as they pa.s.s into the arms of Pope Pius at Rome," said Roland, jestingly.

"Not over me, my dear boy; I am too comfortable where I am. I expect you, Mr. Bertram, are this moment wondering that a woman of to-day can interest herself in anything so old as the Church; but methinks even the b.u.t.terfly (that we are named after) is in a quieter mood when the sun is behind a cloud, and he cannot see the beauteous flowers; we, too, have our dreamy quiet."

"Yes, yes; you, at all events, are not a soulless woman," said Bertram, earnestly.

"There are many of us, Mr. Bertram," said Lady Esmondet, "who actually never think of anything old unless it be our old relations."

"And then, only, if they are on the top rung," laughed Douglas.

"You people are for once forgetting our old china," said Vaura, gaily; "our love's all blue."

"The governor told me to ask you, Bertram," said Douglas, "how you get on with Royalton at Saint Dydimus?"

"We don't get on at all; he has no more inclination for the church, than I have; I pity these younger sons just ran into some fat living as a _dernier ressort_."

"He is just the fellow," said Douglas "to hail as a G.o.dsend disestablishment, when he will be compelled to graze in more palatable pastures."

"Oh, when Church and State are severed, primogeniture will follow; then he will get a slice of the estate of the pater," said Vaura.

"And for the younger sons a more comfortable dinner than of herbs,"

said Bertram.

"Then you think the 'stalled ox' brings one more content in our age of comforts," said Lady Esmondet.

"Undoubtedly."

"And I am at one with you," continued Lady Esmondet, "for it means a full hand, a full purse, without which one might as well be extinct; for one could not pay Society's tolls; yes, the yellow sovereign is all powerful; one may do as one pleases if one fills Grundy's mouth with sugar-plums; she will then shut her eyes and see with ours, for have we not paid our tribute-money? Yes, gold is the pa.s.sport to society; a chimney sweep, with pots of gold, would find a glad welcome where the beggared son of a belted earl would be driven forth. But, after all, 'tis an amusing age, and one must adapt oneself to one's time. I own there are some unpleasantnesses, as when one meets, as Mrs. Ross-Hatton did, a maid-servant from her mother's household; one would grow used to these mongrels in time, I suppose, as this is the age of progress."

"If no secret, where was the field of action for mistress and maid, G.o.dmother mine?"

"No secret whatever, dear; they met at the Lord Elton's, Prospect Hall; you know they are considered exclusive, and, as usual, there were some of the best set there. At one of their dinners a Sir Richard and Lady Jones were invited; my friend did not see their _entree_, being seated in a deep recess with Lord Elton, admiring some rare gems in _bric-a-brac_. She was so intently engaged that, merely glancing upwards as her host stepped forward in welcoming them, to her amazement a coa.r.s.e, underbred woman stepping towards her, offered her hand, saying: 'I am Lady Jones; I have met you somewhere before.' My friend, giving her a calm British stare, without noticing the hand, said haughtily: 'Yes, I have seen you as one of my mother's household; as under-cook, or something in that way.'"

"By Jove, what a send-off," laughed Douglas.

"I expect at the moment she devoutly wished she had never climbed to a higher rung; but for the _denouement_, G.o.dmother."

"Lady Jones beat a retreat immediately, Sir Richard following.

Lord Elton, after a word of apology to my friend, told her he was aware they were _nouveaux riches_ when invited; but that Jones, a newly-fledged M.P., had also much influence, and he wished to make use of him; so had persuaded Lady Elton to send them cards. 'It does not signify, my dear Lord Elton,' my friend replied; 'I have before now met the most _outre_ people with comparative indifference; if the woman had been silent she would, with her vulgar pretensions, be with you now; too bad for you that I have been in the way, dear old friend; I have hopes I shall outgrow this cla.s.s prejudice, though somewhat faint ones.'"

"'You will, dear Mrs. Ross-Hatton, should you keep pace with our age,'

Lord Elton replied.

"Your friend showed a good deal of courage," said Bertram, "to give so direct a cut. I forget who she was, I was abroad at the time of Ross-Hatton's marriage."

"She was a Sutherland; Fido Sutherland, a beauty and a belle, and proud as Lucifer," answered Lady Esmondet.

"And brave as a lion," said Vaura; "for 'tis the fas.h.i.+on to fall down, as the Israelites did in days of yore, and wors.h.i.+p the golden calf."

"I fear we are not going to have a pa.s.sage altogether free from storm," remarked Bertram; "see to the west, that black cloud rolling towards us."

"I think we shall have pa.s.sed its line of travel ere it catches up to us," said Lady Esmondet.

"By the way, Bertram, did you hear that Capt. Liddo, of the Grenadiers, made this trip in six hours in a small canoe. What do you think of that?" asked Douglas.

"Good enough; though I'd rather make the run in the usual time in our present company. When did Liddo do it?"

"On last Derby day."

"So, so. How long a stay do you make at Paris, Lady Esmondet?"

"I have not decided."

"Ah, that is too bad; I enjoy antic.i.p.ation, and should like to dwell on the thought of many pleasant hours with you and Miss Vernon."

"We shall be able to manage many hours together at all events, for we can patronize the same hotel," replied Lady Esmondet.

"It is that I know such pleasant arrangement to be impossible that I speak, some friends having taken a French flat for me."

"Ah, I do regret this is the case," said Lady Esmondet.

"At all events, Bertram, we can enter the gates together hand-in- hand, four-in-hand; so cheer up, old fellow," cried Douglas.

"Roland, _mon cher_," said Vaura, "you must bring Isabel from Madame Rochefort's to our hotel, even for a few days, ere your return to Surrey."

"Exactly my plan, fair demoiselle."

"That is" she continued, merrily, "if you promise to be submissive, and not become a monopolist; for when you, Isabel, and myself are together, I feel as if I had lost myself; I don't know to whom I belong; you want me, Isabel wants me, until I don't know where I am."

"Belong to me, Vaura dear," he said, earnestly, and only heard by her, "and all will be well;" aloud he said: "Submissive! yea, as a lamb; by the beard of the Prophet I swear it."

"It would not be such a long look to swear by your own; you have a very handsome one."

"_Merci_, dear Lady Esmondet; I shall take greater pride than ever in it, now it has developed a new use."

"Or, being a true believer, you might have used Aaron's," said Vaura; "only that then would the Prophet have no rest, even in the tomb."

"One requires rest there," said her G.o.dmother; "for the demon of unrest hath got us in this lower sphere."

"And it's quite right that it should be so, G.o.dmother mine; and in keeping with our ceaseless song of 'I'd be a b.u.t.terfly.'"

"You are a clever actress, Miss Vernon," said Bertram; "but I am inclined to think there is a latent depth of character, a womanliness in you that our gay b.u.t.terflies of fas.h.i.+on lack."

"You flatter me, Mr. Bertram."