Lord Kilgobbin Part 98

'Kostalergi. Her father is Kostalergi, Prince of Delos.'

'All right; it will read well in the _Post_.'

'My dear friend, there is that amount of sarcasm in your conversation this evening, that to a plain man like myself, never ready to reply, and easily subdued by ridicule, is positively overwhelming. Has any disaster befallen you that you are become so satirical and severe?'

'Never mind _me_--tell me about yourself,' was the blunt reply.

'I have not the slightest objection. When we had walked a little way together, and I felt that we were beyond the risk of interruption, I led her to the subject of my sudden reappearance here, and implied that she, at least, could not have felt much surprise. "You remember," said I, "I promised to return?"

'"There is something so conventional," said she, "in these pledges, that one comes to read them like the 'yours sincerely' at the foot of a letter."

'"I ask for nothing better," said I, taking her up on her own words, "than to be 'yours sincerely.' It is to ratify that pledge by making you 'mine sincerely' that I am here."

'"Indeed!" said she slowly, and looking down.

'"I swear it!" said I, kissing her hand, which, however, had a glove on.'

'Why not her cheek?'

'That is not done, major mine, at such times.'

'Well, go on.'

'I can't recall the exact words, for I spoke rapidly; but I told her I was named Minister at a foreign Court, that my future career was a.s.sured, and that I was able to offer her a station, not, indeed, equal to her deserts, but that, occupied by her, would be only less than royal.'

'At Guatemala!' exclaimed the other derisively.

'Have the kindness to keep your geography to yourself,' said Walpole. 'I merely said in South America, and she had too much delicacy to ask more.'

'But she said Yes? She consented?'

'Yes, sir, she said she would venture to commit her future to my charge.'

'Didn't she ask you what means you had? what was your income?'

'Not exactly in the categorical way you put it, but she alluded to the possible style we should live in.'

'I'll swear she did. That girl asked you, in plain words, how many hundreds or thousands you had a year?'

'And I told her. I said, "It sounds humbly, dearest, to tell you we shall not have fully two thousand a year; but the place we are going to is the cheapest in the universe, and we shall have a small establishment of not more than forty black and about a dozen white servants, and at first only keep twenty horses, taking our carriages on job."'

'What about pin-money?'

'There is not much extravagance in toilet, and so I said she must manage with a thousand a year.'

'And she didn't laugh in your face?'

'No, sir! nor was there any strain upon her good-breeding to induce her to laugh in my face.'

'At all events, you discussed the matter in a fine practical spirit. Did you go into groceries? I hope you did not forget groceries?'

'My dear Lockwood, let me warn you against being droll. You ask me for a correct narrative, and when I give it, you will not restrain that subtle sarcasm the mastery of which makes you una.s.sailable.'

'When is it to be? When is it to come off? Has she to write to His Serene Highness the Prince of What's-his-name?'

'No, the Prince of What's-his-name need not be consulted; Lord Kilgobbin will stand in the position of father to her.'

Lockwood muttered something, in which 'Give her away!' were the only words audible. 'I must say,' added he aloud, 'the wooing did not take long.'

'You forget that there was an actual engagement between us when I left this for London. My circ.u.mstances at that time did not permit me to ask her at once to be my wife; but our affections were pledged, and--even if more tender sentiments did not determine--my feeling, as a man of honour, required I should come back here to make her this offer.'

'All right; I suppose it will do--I hope it will do; and after all, I take it, you are likely to understand each other better than others would.'

'Such is our impression and belief.'

'How will your own people--how will Danesbury like it?'

'For their sakes I trust they will like it very much; for mine, it is less than a matter of indifference to me.'

'She, however--she will expect to be properly received amongst them?'

'Yes,' cried Walpole, speaking for the first time in a perfectly natural tone, divested of all pomposity. 'Yes, she stickles for that, Lockwood. It was the one point she seemed to stand out for. Of course I told her she would be received with open arms by my relatives--that my family would be overjoyed to receive her as one of them. I only hinted that my lord's gout might prevent him from being at the wedding. I'm not sure Uncle Danesbury would not come over. "And the charming Lady Maude," asked she, "would she honour me so far as to be a bridesmaid?"'

'She didn't say that?'

'She did. She actually pushed me to promise I should ask her.'

'Which you never would.'

'Of that I will not affirm I am quite positive; but I certainly intend to press my uncle for some sort of recognition of the marriage--a civil note; better still, if it could be managed, an invitation to his house in town.'

'You are a bold fellow to think of it.'

'Not so bold as you imagine. Have you not often remarked that when a man of good connections is about to exile himself by accepting a far-away post, whether it be out of pure compa.s.sion or a feeling that it need never be done again, and that they are about to see the last of him; but, somehow--whatever the reason--his friends are marvellously civil and polite to him, just as some benevolent but eccentric folk send a partridge to the condemned felon for his last dinner.'

'They do that in France.'

'Here it would be a rumpsteak; but the sentiment is the same. At all events, the thing is as I told you, and I do not despair of Danesbury.'

'For the letter, perhaps not; but he'll never ask you to Bruton Street, nor, if he did, could you accept.'

'You are thinking of Lady Maude.'

'I am.'

'There would be no difficulty in that quarter. When a Whig becomes Tory, or a Tory Whig, the gentlemen of the party he has deserted never take umbrage in the same way as the vulgar dogs below the gangway; so it is in the world. The people who must meet, must dine together, sit side by side at flower-shows and garden-parties, always manage to do their hatreds decorously, and only pay off their dislikes by instalments. If Lady Maude were to receive my wife at all, it would be with a most winning politeness.

All her malevolence would limit itself to making the supposed underbred woman commit a _gaucherie_, to do or say something that ought not to have been done or said; and, as I know Nina can stand the test, I have no fears for the experiment.'