The Bramleighs of Bishop's Folly Part 7

"Which means, I suppose, that he'll make the best of a bad case, and bear our tiresomeness with bland urbanity?" said Jack. "Let us only hope, for all our sakes, that his trial may not be a long one."

"Just to think of such a country!" exclaimed Marion; "there is absolutely no one we could have to meet him."

"What's the name of that half-pay captain who called here t'other morning?--the fellow who sat from luncheon till nigh dusk?" asked Jack.

"Captain Craufurd," replied Marion. "I hope n.o.body thinks of inviting _him_; he is insufferably vulgar, and presuming besides."

"Was n't that the man, Marion, who told you that as my father and Lady Augusta didn't live together the county gentry could n't be expected to call on us?" asked Augustus, laughing.

"He did more: he entered into an explanation of the peculiar tenets of the neighborhood, and told me if we had had the good luck to have settled in the south or west of Ireland, they'd not have minded it, 'but here,' he added, 'we are great sticklers for morality.'"

"And what reply did you make him, Marion?" asked Jack.

"I was so choked with pa.s.sion that I could n't speak, or if I did say anything I have forgotten it. At all events, he set me off laughing immediately after, as he said,--'As for myself, I don't care a rush. I'm a bachelor, and a bachelor can go anywhere.'"

She gave these words with such a close mimicry of his voice and manner, that a general burst of laughter followed them.

"There's the very fellow we want," cried Jack. "That's the man to meet our distinguished guest; he 'll not let him escape without a wholesome hint or two."

"I 'd as soon see a gentleman exposed to the a.s.sault of a mastiff as to the insulting coa.r.s.eness of such a fellow as that," said Temple, pa.s.sionately.

"The mischief's done already; I heard the governor say, as he took leave,--'Captain Craufurd, are you too strait-laced to dine out on a Sunday? if not, will you honor us with your company at eight o'clock?'

And though he repeated the words 'eight o'clock' with a groan like a protest, he muttered something about being happy, a phrase that evidently cost him dearly, for he went shuffling down the avenue afterwards with his hat over his eyes, and gesticulating with his hands as if some new immorality had suddenly broke in upon his mind."

"You mean to say that he is coming to dinner here next Sunday?" asked Temple, horrified.

"A little tact and good management are always sufficient to keep these sort of men down," said Augustus.

"I hope we don't ask a man to dinner with the intention to 'keep him down,'" said Jack, st.u.r.dily.

"At all events," cried Temple, "he need not be presented to Lord Culduff."

"I suspect you will see very little of him after dinner," observed Harding, in his meek fas.h.i.+on, "That wonderful '32 port will prove a detainer impossible to get away from."

"I 'll keep him company, then. I rather like to meet one of those cross-grained dogs occasionally."

"Not impossibly you'll learn something more of that same 'public opinion' of our neighbors regarding us," said Marion, haughtily.

"With all my heart," cried the sailor, gayly; "they 'll not ruffle my temper, even if they won't flatter my vanity."

"Have you asked the L'Estranges, Marion?" said Augustus.

"We always ask them after church; they are sure to be disengaged," said she. "I wish, Nelly, that you, who are such a dear friend of Julia's, would try and persuade her to wear something else than that eternal black silk. She is so intently bent on being an Andalusian. Some one unluckily said she looked so Spanish, that she has got up the dress, and the little fan coquetry, and the rest of it, in the most absurd fas.h.i.+on."

"Her grandmother was a Spaniard," broke in Nelly, warmly.

"So they say," said the other, with a shrug of the shoulders.

"There's a good deal of style about her," said Temple, with the tone of one who was criticising what he understood. "She sings prettily."

"Prettily?" groaned Jack. "Why, where, except amongst professionals, did you ever hear her equal?"

"She sings divinely," said Ellen; "and it is, after all, one of her least attractions."

"No heroics, for Heaven's sake; leave that to your brothers, Nelly, who are fully equal to it. I really meant my remark about her gown for good nature."

"She's a nice girl," said Augustus, "though she is certainly a bit of a coquette."

"True; but it's very good coquetry," drawled out Temple. "It's not that jerking, uncertain, unpurpose-like style of affectation your English coquette displays. It is not the eternal demand for attention or admiration. It is simply a desire to please thrown into a thousand little graceful ways, each too slight, and too faint, to be singled out for notice, but making up a whole of wonderful captivation."

"Well done, diplomacy! egad! I did n't know there was that much blood in the Foreign Office," cried Jack, laughing, "and now I 'm off to look after my night-lines. I quite forgot all about them till this minute."

"Take me with you, Jack," said Nelly, and hastened after him, hat in hand.

CHAPTER VIII. THE ARRIVAL OF A GREAT MAN

It was within a quarter of eight o'clock--forty-five minutes after the usual dinner-hour--when Lord Culduff's carriage drove up to the door.

"The roads are atrocious down here," said Temple, apologizing in advance for an offence which his father rarely, if ever, forgave. "Don't you think you ought to go out to meet him, sir?" asked he, half timidly.

"It would only create more delay; he 'll appear, I take it, when he is dressed," was the curt rejoinder, but it was scarcely uttered when the door was thrown wide open, and Lord Culduff and Mr. Cutbill were announced.

Seen in the subdued light of a drawing-room before dinner, Lord Culduff did not appear more than half his real age, and the jaunty stride and the bland smile he wore--as he made his round of acquaintance--might have pa.s.sed muster for five-and-thirty; nor was the round vulgar figure of the engineer, awkward and familiar alternately, a bad foil for the very graceful attractions of his Lords.h.i.+p's manner.

"We should have been here two hours ago," said he, "but my friend here insisted on our coming coastwise to see a wonderful bay,--a natural harbor one might call it. What's the name, Cutbill?"

"Portness, my Lord."

"Ah, to be sure, Portness. On your property, I believe?"

"I am proud to say it is. I have seen nothing finer in the kingdom,"

said Bramleigh; "and if Ireland were anything but Ireland, that harbor would be crowded with s.h.i.+pping, and this coast one of the most prosperous and busy sh.o.r.es of the island."

"Who knows if we may not live to see it such? Cutbill's projects are very grand, and I declare that though I deemed them Arabian Night stories a few weeks back, I am a convert now. Another advantage we gained," said he, turning to Marion; "we came up through a new shrubbery, which we were told had been all planned by you."

"My sister designed it," said she, as she smiled and made a gesture towards Ellen.

"May I offer you my most respectful compliments on your success? I am an enthusiast about landscape-gardening, and though our English climate gives us many a sore rebuff in our attempts, the soil and the varied nature of the surface lend themselves happily to the pursuit. I think you were at the Hague with me, Bramleigh?" asked he of Temple.

"Does he know how late it is?" whispered Augustus to his father. "Does he know we are waiting dinner?"

"I'll tell him," and Colonel Bramleigh walked forward from his place before the fire. "I'm afraid, my Lord, the cold air of our hills has not given you an appet.i.te?"

"Quite the contrary, I a.s.sure you. I am very hungry."