The Adventures of Harry Richmond - Volume 4

reetings which were rather of a kind to flatter me, leading me to presume that he was respected as well as marvelled at. The names of Mr. Serjeant Wedderburn, Mr. Jen

t described him, whom a jest would seize by the throat, shaking his sapling frame. Jorian strolled up to us goutily. No efforts of my father's would induce him to illustrate his fame for repartee, so it remained established. 'Very pretty waxwork,' he said to me of our English beauties swimming by. 'Now, those women, young Richmond, if they were inflammable to the fiftieth degree, that is, if they had the fiftieth part of a Frenchwoman in them, would have canvassed society on the great man's account long before this, and sent him to the top like a bubble. He wastes his time on them. That fat woman he's bowing to is Viscountess Sedley, a porcine empress, widow of three, with a soupcon of bigamy to flavour them. She mounted from a grocer's shop, I am told. Constitution has done everything for that woman. So it will everywhere-it beats the world! Now he's on all-fours to Lady Rachel Stokes, our pure aristocracy; she walks as if she were going through a doorway, and couldn't risk an eyelid. I 'd like to see her tempting St. Anth

ious on their behalf, and was myself inclined to be critical. Besides I was engaged in watching my father, whose bearing toward the ladies he accosted did not dissat

er well. I have met her in Vienna. Schone Seele, and bas bleu! It's just those that are won with a duel. I know Prince Otto

t fixed,' my f

lk of London

t the theme was more of German princes than princesses in England. 'Oh! but,' said she, 'you are having a-shall I call it-national revenge on them? "I will take one of your princesses," says you; and as soon as said done! I'm dying for a sight of her portrait. Captain DeWitt declares her heavenly-I mean, he says she is fair and

itz-George's son marries a princess of the German realm. Indeed! True as gospel. And how

imparting some ecstatic news about a great lady having determined to call on her to

ecome a part of his dressing apparatus; he shaves fronting her playbill. His first real affaire de coeur, and he is forty-five! So he is taken in the stomach. That is why love is such a dangerous malady for middle age. As I said, but for Jenny Chassediane, our Sampleman

not to slight this lady, adding, with more significance than the words conveyed, 'I am taking the tide, Richie.' The tide took me, and I bowed to a lady of impressive languor, pale and young, with pleasant manners, showing her character in outline, like a glo

I heard the allusion to Germany and its

father correc

e a brunette. They had not much dark mixture among them, particularly

he Princess Ottilia, P

kel

tte, y

urest

mplex

to dazzle th

lance in a mirror: 'The unri

nrhys in an upper tier of boxes, and I made my way to her, doubting how I should be welcomed. 'The happy wo

a smiled, and talked to me of my father, saying, that she was glad to see me at his right hand, for he had a hard battle to fight. She spoke of him with affectionate interest in his fortunes; no better proof of his generosity as well as hers could have been given me. I promised her heartily I would not be guilty of letting our intimacy drop, and handed the ladies down to the crush-room, where I saw my father leading Lady Edbury to her carriage,

in a little German principality, but there is,' he threw out his chest, 'a breadth in London; nowhere else do I breathe with absolute freedom-so largely: and this is my battlefield. By the way, Lady Edbury accounts you complete; which is no more to say than that she is a woman of taste. The instance: she positively would not notice that you wear a dress-coat of a foreign cut. Correct it to-morrow;

particular business,'

am alive to you

wildly: no doubt he's right. He wants some sort of explanation. He consent

, my dear boy. Very agreeable will be the s

purpose. I have to warn you, sir, that we stand in a very exceptional positio

, Richie. I refer him t

compute the val

he will not come t

t I have established by the expenditure, my

ts his face against legal pro

ed, court it. We would be talked about; you shall hear of us! And into the bargain an here

have none. But I must speak of one thing. I have heard to-night, I confess with as much astonishment as grief, the

He nodded, and struck o

r her family, be good enough to think o

ve written me word that the squire gives her a royal dowry-have you not? My combinations permit of no escape to any one of you. Nay, 'tis

against false pretences. You know well that you have

ve paced the identical way homeward at night under these lamps between the mansions and the park. The bare thought makes them resemble a double line of undertakers. The tomb is down there at the end of them-costly or not. At the age of four, on my birthday, I was informed that my mother lay dead in her bed. I remember to this day my astonishment at her not moving. "Her heart is broken," my old nurse said. To me she appeared intact. Her sister took possession of me, and of her papers, and the wedding-ring-now in the custody of Dettermain and Newson-together with the portraits of both my parents; and she, poor soul, to sustain me, as I verily believe-she had a great idea of my never asking unprofitably for anything in life-bartered the most corroborative of the testificatory documents, which would now make the establishment of my case a comparatively light task. Have I never spoken to you of my boyhood? My maternal uncle was a singing-master and master of elocuti

ew his boots off and threw a cloak over him. Lying there, he wished me gaily good-night. Mrs. Waddy told me that he had adopted this system of sleeping for the last month. 'Bless you, as many people call on him at night now as in the day,' she said; and I was induced to suppose he had some connection with the Press. She had implicit faith in his powers of

ng to a secretary at a desk, now and then tossing a word to Dettermain and Newson's chief clerk. The floor

will do, Mr. Jopson. Put in a note-" Mr. Harry Lepel Richmond of Riversley and Twn-y-glas, my son, takes no step to official distinctio

Why print my n

I beseech you, not a minute's delay in delivering that. Fetch me from the printer's my pamphlet this afternoon. Mr. Jacobs, my compl

ame appear in the papers? Because I was his son. But he assured me that he carefully separated me from public companionship with his fortunes

re for a distraction, if you esteem it necessary, certainly. Half-a-dozen . words to him. Why, do you maintain him to be insensible to a title for you? No, no. And ask my friends. I refer him to any dozen of my friends to convince him I have the prize almost in my possession. Why, dear boy, I have witnesses, living witnesses,

es,' he allowe

your love f

would spring forth. My cowardice shrank from provoking a recurrence to the theme. In fact, I submitted consciously to his masterful fluency and emotional power, and so I was carried on the tide with him, remaining in London several days to witness that I was not the only one. My father, admitting that money served him in his conquest of society, and defying any other man to do as much with it as he did, replied to a desperate insinuation o

t would be prudent

een square walls-to win him. The squire to back us, Richie, we have command of the entire world. His wealth,

asked what w

. Beltham at our meeting. I might trace it to one of t

nked as the first of English commoners who had gained the hand of an hereditary foreign princess, though it was undoubtedly in the light of a commoner that I was most open to the congratulations of my country

g the nuptials to take place

y a struggle with him. The

stopped?' I

tions, motions of the mouth, smiling frowns; various p

it!' my father exclaimed, seeing me swing my shoulder round, and he made me feel that it would have been a false oath if I had sworn it. But I could have sworn, that I had rather we two were at the bottom of the sea than that it should come under the princess's eyes. I read it again. It was in print. It looked like reality

n him and Jorian DeWitt, who brought me a twisted pink note from Mdlle. Chassediane, the which he delivered with the air of a dog made to disgorge a b

r. 'But be just to him, acknowledge that he is one of the fe

the fellow! He peppers his dishes lik

not to disgust him with life, for he quits any service

so: you s

the case is, that your stomach i

at my palate was never keener, and cons

ed the cold turbot w

stick to buttered e

porr

f I think he's equal

have confessed

ny of your barbarous messes to occur to a man at table. Let me tell you, Roy, you astonish me: up

e more readily pa

ipped to the carpet by such ignoble mi

ed by saying that Alphonse had not, to his knowledge, served as hospital cook anywhere, and wa

the loveliest. I refuse to act the part of warming-pan any longer; I refuse point blank. It's not a personal feeling on my part; my advice is that of a disinterested friend, and I tell you candidly, Roy, set aside the absurd exhibiti

Jorian; you

ed thousand, if a penny

a fortune

I, frien

e not thorough: you 'll

at he should visit th

en you had the market. Now you're trifling with the second. She's the head of the Light Brigade, but you might fix her down, if she's not too much in debt. You 're not at the end of your run, I dare say. Only, my good Roy, let me tell you,

gin to think, and I can't beat time to them. Jorian,

nd, hear what a f

Jorian, and you

time

a part o

l none of these; and, by the way, the apple must be tolerably withered by this time. And you know perfectly well (for you don't lack common sense at a shaking, Roy Richmond), that you're guilty of simple madness in refusing to make the best of your situation. You haven't to be taught what money means. With

matters that he and I have not-and they interest us deeply-yet thought fit to discuss. And you may take my word for it, Jorian, that I will give Alphon

e to read it aloud. She desired to kno

te the arrangements to you, Jorian. Respect the

riously-advising friend, in his state of spite, relapsed to the idle and shadow-like associate, when pleased. I had to thank h

the date of a royal decree: affidavits of persons now dead; a ring, the ring; fans, and lace, and handkerchiefs with notable initials; jewelry stamped 'To the Divine Anastasia' from an adoring Christ

English the history of the events which had killed her. It warmed pathetically when dwelling on the writer's necessity to part with letters and papers of greater moment, that she might be enabled to sustain and educate her sister's child. She named the certificate; she swore to the tampering with witnesse

father said, seeing the young student-at-law silent and observan

member of the firm to inspect an instrument prepared to bind me as surety for the costs of the appeal. I signed it.