On the twentieth of the month all the guests came rattling in at Matching one after the another. The Boncassens were the first, but Lady Mabel with Miss Cassewary followed them quickly. Then came the Finns, and with them Barrington Erle. Lord Silverbridge was the last. He arrived by a train which reached the station at 7pm, and only entered the house as his father was asking Miss Boncassen into the dining-room. He dressed himself in ten minutes, and joined the party as the had finished their fish. I am awfully sorry,' he said, rushing up to his father, 'but I thought that I should just hit it.'
'There is no occasion for awe,' said the Duke,' as sufficiency of dinner is left. But how you should have hit it, as you say,--seeing that the train is not due at Bridstock till 7.5 I do not know.'
'I've often done it, sir,' said Silverbridge, taking the seat left vacant for him next to Lady Mabel. 'We've had a political caucus of the party,--all the members who could be got together in London,--at Sir Timothy's, and I was bound to attend.'
'We've all heard of that,' said Phineas Finn.
'And we pretty well know all the points of Sir Timothy's eloquence,' said Barrington Erle.
'I am not going to tell any of the secrets. I have no doubt that there were reporters present, and you will see the whole of it in the papers tomorrow.' Then Silverbridge turned to his neighbour.
'Well, Lady Mab, and how are you this long time?'
'But how are you? Think what you have gone through since we were at Killancodlem!'
'Don't talk of it.'
'I suppose it is not to be talked of.'
'Though upon the whole it has happened very luckily, I have got rid of the accursed horses, and my governor has shown what a brick he can be. I don't think there is another man in England who would have done as he did.'
'There are not many who could.'
'There are fewer who would. When they came into my bedroom that morning and told me that the horse could not run, I thought I should have broken my heart. Seventy thousand pounds gone!'
'Seventy thousand pounds!'
'And the honour and glory of winning the race! And then the feeling that one had been so awfully swindled! Of course I had to look as though I did not care a straw about it, and to go and see the race, with a jaunty air and a cigar in my mouth. That is what I call hard work.'
'But you did it!'
'I tried. I wish I could explain to you my state of mind that day.
In the first place the money had got to be got. Though it was to go into the hands of swindlers, still it had to be paid. I don't know how your father and Percival get on together,--but I felt like the prodigal son.'
'It is very different with papa.'
'I suppose so. I felt very like hanging myself when I was alone that evening. And now everything is right again.'
'I am glad that everything is right,' she said, with a strong emphasis on everything.
'I have done with racing at any rate. The feeling of being in the power of a lot of low blackguards is so terrible! I did love the poor brute so dearly. And now what have you been doing?'
'Just nothing;--and have seen nobody. I went back to Grex after leaving Killancodlem, and shut myself up in misery.'
'Why misery?'
'Why misery! What a question for you to ask! Though I love Grex, I am not altogether fond of living alone, and though Grex has its charms, they are of a melancholy kind. And when I think of the state of our family affairs, that is not reassuring. You father has just paid seventy thousand pounds for you. My father has been good enough to take something of less than a quarter of that sum from me;--but still it was all that I was ever to have.'
'Girls don't want money.'
'Don't they? When I look forward it seems to me that a time will come when I shall want it very much.'
'You will marry,' he said. She turned round for a moment and looked at him, full in the face, after a fashion that he did not dare to promise her future comfort in that direction. 'Things always do come right, somehow.'
'Let us hope so. Only nothing has ever come right for me yet.
What is Frank doing?'
'I haven't seen him since he left Crummie-Toddle.'
'And your sister?' she whispered.
'I know nothing about it at all.'
'And you? I have told you everything about myself.'
'As for me, I think of nothing but politics now. I have told you about my racing experiences. Just at present shooting is up.
Before Christmas I shall go into Chiltern's country for a little hunting.'
'You can hunt here?'
'I shan't stay long enough to make it worth while to have my horses down. If Tregear will go with me to the Brake, I can mount him for a day or two. But I daresay you know more of his plans that I do. He went to see you at Grex.'
'And you did not.'
'I was not asked.'
'Nor was he.'
'Then all I can say is,' replied Silverbridge, speaking in a low voice, but with considerable energy, 'that he can use a freedom with Lady Mabel Grex which I cannot venture.'
'I believe you begrudge me his friendship. If you had no one else belonging to you with whom you could have sympathy, would not you find comfort in a relation who could be almost as near to you as a brother?'
'I do not grudge him to you.'
'Yes; you do. And what business have to you interfere?'
'None at all;--certainly. I will never do it again.'
'Don't say that, Lord Silverbridge. You ought to have more mercy on me. You ought to put up with anything from me,--knowing how much I suffer.'
'I will put up with anything,' said he.
'Do, do. And now I will try to talk to Mr Erle.'
