This is an important event, said Lothair to Lady Corisande.
I think it is; nor do I believe Bertram is too young for public life. These are not times to be laggard.
There is no doubt they are very serious times, said Lothair.
I have every confidence in Bertramin his ability and his principles.
The ladies began to talk about the approaching drawing-room and Lady Corisandes presentation, and Lothair thought it right to make his obeisance and withdraw. He met in the hall Father Coleman, who was in fact looking after him, and would have induced him to repair to the fathers room and hold some interesting conversation, but Lothair was not so congenial as usual. He was even abrupt, and the father, who never pressed any thing, assuming that Lothair had some engagement, relinquished with a serene brow, but not without chagrin, what he had deemed might have proved a golden opportunity.
And yet Lothair had no engagement, and did not know where to go or what to do with himself. But he wanted to be alone, and of all persons in the world at that moment, he had a sort of instinct that the one he wished least to converse with was Father Coleman.
She has every confidence in his principles, said Lothair to himself as he mounted his horse, and his principles were mine six months ago, when I was at Brentham. Delicious Brentham! It seems like a dream; but every thing seems like a dream; I hardly know whether life is agony or bliss.
CHAPTER 20
The duke was one of the few gentlemen in, London who lived in a palace. One of the half-dozen of those stately structures that our capital boasts had fallen to his lot.
An heir-apparent to the throne, in the earlier days of the present dynasty, had resolved to be lodged as became a prince, and had raised, amid gardens which he had diverted from one of the royal parks, an edifice not unworthy of Vicenza in its best days, though on a far more extensive scale than any pile that favored city boasts. Before the palace was finished, the prince died, and irretrievably in debt. His executors were glad to sell to the trustees of the ancestors of the chief of the house of Brentham the incomplete palace, which ought never to have been commenced. The ancestor of the duke was by no means so strong a man as the duke himself, and prudent people rather murmured at the exploit. But it was what is called a lucky familythat is to say, a family with a charm that always attracted and absorbed heiresses; and perhaps the splendor of CRECY HOUSEfor it always retained its original titlemight have in some degree contributed to fascinate the taste or imagination of the beautiful women who, generation after generation, brought their bright castles and their broad manors to swell the state and rent-rolls of the family who were so kind to Lothair.
The centre of Crecy House consisted of a hall of vast proportion, and reaching to the roof. Its walls commemorated, in paintings by the most celebrated artists of the age, the exploits of the Black Prince; and its coved ceiling, in panels resplendent with Venetian gold, contained the forms and portraits of English heroes. A corridor round this hall contained the most celebrated private collection of pictures in England and opened into a series of sumptuous saloons.
It was a rather early hour when Lothair, the morning after his meeting the duchess at Lady St. Jeromes, called at Crecy House; but it was only to leave his card. He would not delay for a moment paying his respects there, and yet he shrank from thrusting himself immediately into the circle. The dukes brougham was in the court-yard. Lothair was holding his grooms horse, who had dismounted, when the hall-door opened, and his grace and Bertram came forth.
Halloa, old fellow! exclaimed Bertram, only think of your being here. It seems an age since we met. The duchess was telling us about you at breakfast.
Go in and see them, said the duke, there is a large party at luncheon; Augusta Montairy is there. Bertram and I are obliged to go to Lincolns Inn, something about his election.
But Lothair murmured thanks and declined.
What are you going to do with yourself to-day? said the duke. And Lothair hesitating, his grace continued: Well, then, come and dine with us.
Of course you will come, old fellow. I have not seen you since you left Oxford at the beginning of the year. And then we can settle about your term. And Lothair assenting, they drove away.
It was nine oclock before they dined. The days were getting very long, and soft, and sweet; the riding-parties lingered amid the pink May and the tender twilight breeze. The Montairys dined to-day at Crecy House, and a charming married daughter without her husband, and Lord and Lady Clanmorne, who were near kin to the duchess, and themselves so good-looking and agreeable that they were as good at a dinner-party as a couple of first-rate entr es. There was also Lord Carisbrooke, a young man of distinguished air and appearance; his own master, with a large estate, and three years or so older than Lothair.
They dined in the Chinese saloon, which was of moderate dimensions, but bright with fantastic forms and colors, brilliantly lit up. It was the privilege of Lothair to hand the duchess to her seat. He observed that Lord Carisbrooke was placed next to Lady Corisande, though he had not taken her out.
This dinner reminds me of my visit to Brentham, said Lothair.
Almost the same party, said the duchess.
The visit to Brentham was the happiest time of my life, said Lothair, moodily.
But you have seen a great deal since, said the duchess.
I am not a sure it is of any use seeing things, said Lothair.
When the ladies retired, there was some talk about horses. Lord Carisbrooke was breeding; Lothair thought it was a duty to breed, but not to go on the turf. Lord Carisbrooke thought there could be no good breeding without racing; Lothair was of opinion that races might be confined to ones own parks, with no legs admitted, and immense prizes, which must cause emulation. Then they joined the ladies, and then, in a short time, there was music. Lothair hovered about Lady Corisande, and at last seized a happy opportunity of addressing her.
I shall never forget your singing at Brentham, he said; at first I thought it might be as Lady Montairy said, because I was not used to fine singing; but I heard the Venusina the other day, and I prefer your voice and style.
Have you heard the Venusina? said Lady Corisande, with animation; I know nothing that I look forward to with more interest. But I was told she was not to open her mouth until she appeared at the opera. Where did you hear her?
Oh, I heard her, said Lothair, at the Roman Catholic cathedral.
I am sure I shall never hear her there, said Lady Corisande, looking very grave.
Do not you think music a powerful accessory to religion? said Lothair, but a little embarrassed.
Within certain limits, said Lady Corisandethe limits I am used to; but I should prefer to hear opera-singers at the opera.
Ah! if all amateurs could sing like you, said Lothair, that would be unnecessary. But a fine mass by Mozartit requires great skill as well as power to render it. I admire no one so much as Mozart, and especially his masses. I have been hearing a great many of them lately.
So we understood, said Lady Corisande, rather dryly, and looking about her as if she were not much interested, or at any rate not much gratified by the conversation.
Lothair felt he was not getting on, and he wished to get on, but he was socially inexperienced, and his resources not much in hand. There was a pauseit seemed to him an awkward pause; and then Lady Corisande walked away and addressed Lady Clanmorne.