icon 0
icon TOP UP
rightIcon
icon Reading History
rightIcon
icon Log out
rightIcon
icon Get the APP
rightIcon

Can you forgive her?

Chapter 9 The Rivals

Word Count: 5545    |    Released on: 11/11/2017

interfere with the ladies’ dresses, and the affairs had become too serious to allow of any trivial interruptio

m he had known for he would not say how many years. He was quite sure they would all have the most sincere pleasure in joining the health of Mr Cheesacre with that of Mrs Greenow. Then there was a clattering of glasses and a — murmuring of healths, and Mr Cheesacre slowly got upon his legs.“I’m very much obliged to this company,” said he, “and to my friend Bellfield, who really is — but perhaps that doesn’t signify now. I’ve had the greatest pleasure in getting up this little thing, and I’d made up my mind to propose Mrs Greenow’s health; but, h’m, ha, no doubt it has been in better hands. Perhaps, considering all things, Bellfield might have waited.”“With such a subject on my hands, I couldn’t wait a moment.”“I didn’t interrupt you, Captain Bellfield, and perhaps you’ll let me go on without interrupting me. We’ve all drunk Mrs Greenow’s health, and I’m sure she’s very much obliged. So am I for the honour you’ve done me. I have taken some trouble in getting up this little thing, and I hope you like it. I think somebody said something about liberality. I beg to assure you that I don’t think of that for a moment. Somebody must pay for these sort of things, and I’m always very glad to take my turn. I dare say Bellfield will give us the next picnic, and if he’ll appoint a day before the end of the month, I shall be happy to be one of the party.” Then he sat down with some inward satisfaction, fully convinced that he had given his enemy a fatal blow.“Nothing on earth would give me so much pleasure,” said Bellfield. After that he turned again to Mrs Greenow and went on with his private conversation.There was no more speaking, nor was there much time for other after-dinner ceremonies. The three horns, the cymbals, the triangle, and the drum were soon heard tuning up behind the banqueting hall, and the ladies went to the further end of the old boat to make their preparations for the dance. Then it was that the thoughtful care of Mrs Greenow, in having sent Jeannette with brushes, combs, clean handkerchiefs, and other little knick-knackeries, became so apparent. It was said that the widow herself actually changed her cap — which was considered by some to be very unfair, as there had been an understanding that there should be no dressing. On such occasions ladies are generally willing to forego the advantage of dressing on the condition that other ladies shall forego the same advantage; but when this compact is broken by any special lady, the treason is thought to be very treacherous. It is as though a fencer should remove the button from the end of his foil. But Mrs Greenow was so good natured in tendering the services of Jeannette to all the young ladies, and was so willing to share with others those good things of the toilet which her care had provided, that her cap was forgiven her by the most of those present.When ladies have made up their minds to dance they will dance let the circumstances of the moment be ever so antagonistic to that exercise. A ploughed field in February would not be too wet, nor the side of a house too uneven. In honest truth the sands of the seashore are not adapted for the exercise. It was all very well for Venus to make the promise, but when making it she knew that Adonis would not keep her to her word. Let any lightest-limbed nymph try it, and she will find that she leaves most palpable footing. The sands in question were doubtless compact, firm, and sufficiently moist to make walking on them comfortable; but they ruffled themselves most uncomfortably under the unwonted pressure to which they were subjected. Nevertheless our friends did dance on the sands; finding, however, that quadrilles and Sir Roger de Coverley suited them better than polkas and waltzes.“No, my friend, no,” Mrs Greenow said to Mr Cheesacre when that gentleman endeavoured to persuade her to stand up; “Kate will be delighted I am sure to join you — but as, for me, you must excuse me.”But Mr Cheesacre was not inclined at that moment to ask Kate Vavasor to dance with him. He was possessed by an undefined idea that Kate had snubbed him, and as Kate’s fortune was, as he said, literally nothing, he was not at all disposed to court her favour at the expense of such suffering to himself.“I’m not quite sure that I’ll dance myself,” said he, seating himself in a corner of the tent by Mrs Greenow’s side. Captain Bellfield at that moment was seen leading Miss Vavasor away to a new place on the sands, whither he was followed by a score of dancers; and Mr Cheesacre saw that now at last he might reap the reward for which he had laboured. He was alone with the widow, and having been made bold by wine, had an opportunity of fighting his battle, than which none better could ever be found. He was himself by no means a poor man, and he despised poverty in others. It was well that there should be poor gentry, in order that they might act as satellites to those who, like himself, had money. As to Mrs Greenow’s money, there was no doubt. He knew it all to a fraction. She had spread for herself, or someone else had spread for her, a report that her wealth was almost unlimited; but the forty thousand pounds was a fact, and any such innocent fault as that little fiction might well be forgiven to a woman endorsed with such substantial virtues. And she was handsome too. Mr Cheesacre, as he regarded her matured charms, sometimes felt that he should have been smitten even without the forty thousand pounds. “By George! there’s flesh and blood,” he had once said to his friend Bellfield before he had begun to suspect the man’s treachery. His admiration must then have been sincere, for at that time the forty thousand pounds was not an ascertained fact. Looking at the matter in all its bearings Mr Cheesacre thought that he couldn’t do better. His wooing should be fair, honest, and above-board. He was a thriving man, and what might not they two do in Norfolk if they put their wealth together?“Oh, Mr Cheesacre, you should join them,” said Mrs Greenow; “they’ll not half enjoy themselves without you. Kate will think that you mean to neglect her.”“I shan’t dance, Mrs Greenow, unless you like to stand up for a set.”“No, my friend, no; I shall not do that. I fear you forget how recent has been my bereavement. Your asking me is the bitterest reproach to me for having ventured to join your festive board.”“Upon my honour I didn’t mean it, Mrs Greenow. I didn’t mean it, indeed.”“I do not suspect you. It would have been unmanly.”“And nobody can say that of me. There isn’t a man or woman in Norfolk that wouldn’t say I was manly.”“I’m quite sure of that.”“I have my faults, I’m aware.”“And what are your faults, Mr Cheesacre?”“Well; perhaps I’m extravagant. But it’s only in these kind of things you know, when I spend a little money for the sake of making my friends happy. When I’m about, on the lands at home, I ain’t extravagant, I can tell you.”“Extravagance is a great vice.”“Oh, I ain’t extravagant in that sense — not a bit in the world. But when a man’s enamoured, and perhaps looking out for a wife, he does like to be a little free, you know.”“And are you looking out for a wife, Mr Cheesacre?”“If I told you I suppose you’d only laugh at me.”“No; indeed I would not. I am not given to joking when any one that I regard speaks to me seriously.”“Ain’t you though? I’m so glad of that. When one has really got a serious thing to say, one doesn’t like to have fun poked at one.”“And, besides, how could I laugh at marriage, seeing how happy I have been in that condition? — so — very — happy,” and Mrs Greenow put up her handkerchief to her eyes.“So happy that you’ll try it again some day; won’t you?”“Never, Mr Cheesacre; never. Is that the way you talk of serious things without joking? Anything like love — love of that sort — is over for me. It lies buried under the sod with my poor dear departed saint.”“But, Mrs Greenow,” — and Cheesacre, as he prepared to argue the question with her, got nearer to her in the corner behind the table — “But, Mrs Greenow, care killed a cat, you know.”“And sometimes I think that care will kill me.”“No, by George; not if I can prevent it.”“You’re very kind, Mr Cheesacre; but there’s no preventing such care as mine.”“Isn’t there though? I’ll tell you what, Mrs Greenow; I’m in earnest, I am indeed. If you’ll inquire, you’ll find there isn’t a fellow in Norfolk pays his way better than I do, or is better able to do it. I don’t pay a sixpence of rent, and I sit upon seven hundred acres of as good land as there is in the county. There’s not an acre that won’t do me a bullock and a half. Just put that and that together, and see what it comes to. And, mind you, some of these fellows that farm their own land are worse off than if they’d rent to pay. They’ve borrowed so much to carry on with, that the interest is more than rent. I don’t owe a sixpence to ere a man or ere a company in the world. I can walk into every bank in Norwich without seeing my master. Ther

Claim Your Bonus at the APP

Open
1 Chapter 1 Mr Mavasor and His Daughter2 Chapter 2 Lady Macleod3 Chapter 3 John Grey, the Worthy Man4 Chapter 4 George Vavasor, the Wild Man5 Chapter 5 The Balcony at Basle6 Chapter 6 The Bridge over the Rhine7 Chapter 7 Aunt Greenow8 Chapter 8 Mr Cheesacre9 Chapter 9 The Rivals10 Chapter 10 Nethercoats11 Chapter 11 John Grey goes to London12 Chapter 12 Mr George Vavasor at Home13 Chapter 13 Mr Grimes gets his Odd Money14 Chapter 14 Alice Vavasor becomes Troubled15 Chapter 15 Paramount Crescent16 Chapter 16 The Roebury Club17 Chapter 17 Edgehill18 Chapter 18 Alice Vavasor's Great Relations19 Chapter 19 Tribute from Oileymead20 Chapter 20 Which shall it be21 Chapter 21 Alice is taught to grow Upwards, towards the Light22 Chapter 22 Dandy and Flirt23 Chapter 23 Dinner at Matching Priory24 Chapter 24 Three Politicians25 Chapter 25 In which much of the History of the Pallisers is t26 Chapter 26 Lady Midlothian27 Chapter 27 The Priory Ruins28 Chapter 28 Alice leaves the Priory29 Chapter 29 Burgo Fitzgerald30 Chapter 30 Containing a Love-letter31 Chapter 31 Among the Fells32 Chapter 32 Containing an Answer to the Love-letter33 Chapter 33 Monkshade34 Chapter 34 Mr Vavasor speaks to his Daughter35 Chapter 35 Passion versus Prudence36 Chapter 36 John Grey goes a Second Time to London37 Chapter 37 Mr Tombe's Advice38 Chapter 38 The Inn at Shap39 Chapter 39 Mr Cheesacre's Hospitality40 Chapter 40 Mrs Greenow's Little Dinner in the Close41 Chapter 41 A Noble Lord Dies42 Chapter 42 Parliament Meets43 Chapter 43 Mrs Marsham44 Chapter 44 The Election for the Chelsea Districts45 Chapter 45 George Vavasor takes his Seat46 Chapter 46 A Love Gift47 Chapter 47 Mr Cheesacre's Disappointment48 Chapter 48 Preparations for Lady Monk's Party49 Chapter 49 How Lady Glencora went to Lady Monk's Party50 Chapter 50 How Lady Glencora came back from Lady Monk's Par51 Chapter 51 Bold Speculations on Murder52 Chapter 52 What occurred in Suffolk Street, Pall Mall53 Chapter 53 The Last Will of the Old Squire54 Chapter 54 Showing how Alice was Punished55 Chapter 55 The Will56 Chapter 56 Another Walk on the Fells57 Chapter 57 Showing how the Wild Beast got himself back from t58 Chapter 58 The Pallisers at Breakfast59 Chapter 59 The Duke of St Bungay in Search of a Minister60 Chapter 60 Alice Vavasor's Name gets into the Money Market61 Chapter 61 The Bills are made all right62 Chapter 62 Going Abroad63 Chapter 63 Mr John Grey in Queen Anne Street64 Chapter 64 The Rocks and Valleys65 Chapter 65 The First Kiss66 Chapter 66 Lady Monk's Plan67 Chapter 67 The Last Kiss68 Chapter 68 From London to Baden69 Chapter 69 From Baden to Lucerne70 Chapter 70 At Lucerne71 Chapter 71 Showing how George Vavasor received a Visit72 Chapter 72 Showing how George Vavasor paid a Visit73 Chapter 73 In which come Tidings of Great Moment to all the P74 Chapter 74 Showing what happened in the Churchyard75 Chapter 75 Rouge et Noir76 Chapter 76 The Landlord's Bill77 Chapter 77 The Travellers return Home78 Chapter 78 Mr Cheesacre's Fate79 Chapter 79 Diamonds are Diamonds80 Chapter 80 The Story is finished within the Halls of the Duke