*CHAPTER V.*
*A HIGH-BORN DAME.*
Westward from Whitehall, just after one had left behind the streets andlanes of the fashionable westerly portion of London town, and emergedinto a fair region of smiling meadows, blossoming fruit-trees, orchards,and woodlands, were in those days to be found many pleasant and statelyhouses, varying in size and splendour according to the condition of theowner, but fair mansions for the most part, and inhabited by persons ofquality, many of whom held posts at Court, and found this proximity toWhitehall a matter of no small convenience.
Some of the fairest and seemliest of these mansions were those which layalong the river banks, with gardens terraced to the water's edge, wherelight wherries could deposit gay gallants at the foot of the stepsleading to the wide gravelled walks, and where a gay panorama ofshipping could be seen by those who paced the shady walks, or sat in thelittle temples and bowers which made a feature of so many of thesegardens.
There was one house in particular that in these days had a notoriety ofits own. It had been an old manor house in the time when London had notextended so far to the west, and it lay embosomed in a quaint oldgarden, where fair and tall trees made a pleasant shade through the hotsummer days, where the turf was emerald green and soft to the foot, androses flourished in wild abundance. Now there was a formal Dutch gardenset in the midst of the old-time wilderness, where clipped box edgesdivided the parterres of brilliant-hued blossoms sent from Holland, andwhere nymphs disported themselves around marble fountains, and heathendivinities on pedestals kept watch and ward over the long terraces whichlined the margin of the river. But in spite of these innovations ofmodern taste, the silvan charm of the old garden had by no means beendestroyed, and there were many who declared that not even Hampton Courtitself could hold a candle to Lord Romaine's riverside garden for beautyand brightness and the nameless fascination which defies analysis. LordRomaine was accounted a rising man. The friend of Marlborough andGodolphin, a moderate Whig in politics, a courtier above all else, andloyal to the backbone, he had been regarded with favour by the lateKing, who had given him some appointment about the Court, which had beenconfirmed by the Queen on her accession. And although Queen Anne washerself of such strong Tory leanings, she was beginning to find that themoderate Whigs were the men most useful and most to be depended upon;and the shrewd Duchess Sarah--her dear "Mrs. Freeman"--herself a convertfrom high Tory principles to those of their moderate opponents, wasusing her influence steadily and strongly to bring the Queen round tothe same state of mind.
So Lord Romaine's star was likely to rise with the rising tide of Whigsupremacy; and as he was a man of very large private means, and keptopen house in a lavish fashion, it was likely enough that he would makehis mark in the world. It would be certainly no fault of his wife if hedid not.
Truth to tell, Lady Romaine's head had been somewhat turned when, threeyears before, her husband succeeded to his father's title and estates,and from being Viscount Latimer, with moderate means and only a measureof Court favour to depend upon, became an earl with a very largerent-roll, and a great fortune in ready money, which his father, wholived a secluded existence in the country, had amassed during the lateryears of his life. As Lord and Lady Latimer this couple had lived atthe riverside house they still occupied when in town; but it had notthen worn the aspect that it did to-day, albeit the garden had beensomething of a hobby to its owner for many years.
The lady cared little for the garden, save for the admiration it arousedin others; but she longed with a mighty longing to furbish up the oldhouse after her own design, and as soon as the funds for this were intheir hands, not a moment was lost in the carrying out of her cherishedplans and projects. With a rapidity that astonished the town, a greatnew front was added to the old building, converting it into aquadrangle, in the centre of which a great fountain threw its watershigh into the air. All the new rooms were large, stately, and imposing,and furnished according to the latest mode. Inlaid cabinets from thefar East, crammed with curios of which my lady knew not even the names;crooked-legged chairs and sofas of French make; furniture in the newmahogany wood, just beginning to attract attention and admiration; richcarpets and hangings from India, Persia, or China; embroideries from allquarters of the globe; Italian pottery, Spanish inlaid armour, silvertrinkets from Mexico, feather work from the isles of the west--all thesethings, jostled and jumbled together in rich confusion, made LadyRomaine's new house the talk of the town; and her tall powdered lackeysand turbaned negro pages were more numerous and more sumptuously attiredthan those of any other fashionable dame of her acquaintance.
My lady was at her toilet upon this brilliant June morning; and ascustom permitted the attendance of gentlemen at this function, in thecase of married ladies, the hall and staircase leading up to her suiteof private apartments were already thronged by a motley crew.
There were dandies, fresh from their own elaborate toilets, reeking ofthe perfume in which they had bathed themselves, displaying in their ownpersons all the hues of the rainbow, and all the extravagant fripperiesof the day, laughing and jesting together as they mounted thesoftly-carpeted stairs, their cocked hats under their arms, or descendedagain after having paid their _devoirs_ to my lady, often cackling withmirth over some _bon mot_ they had heard or uttered. There werechattering French milliners or French hair-dressers, with boxes orbundles of laces, silks, perfumes, or trinkets, wherewith to tempt thefancy of their patroness. There were gaily-dressed pages running to andfro with scented notes; turbaned negro boys carrying a lap-dog or monkeyor parrot to the doting mistress, who had suddenly sent for one of herpets. Tire-women pushed themselves through the throng, intent on thebusiness of the toilet, which was such an all-absorbing matter; and thewhole house seemed to ring with the loud or shrill laughter and theceaseless chatter of this motley throng, bent on killing time in themost approved fashion.
Some of the dandies about to depart, who were sipping chocolate fromcups of priceless Sevres china, and talking in their free, loose fashionwith each other, kept looking about them as though in hope orexpectation, and more than once the name of "Lady Geraldine" was bandiedabout between them. One young blood asked point blank why she was neverto be seen at her mother's toilet. A laugh broke from his companions.
"If it's Lady Geraldine you come to see, you can save yourself thetrouble of the visit. They say she was brought up by a Puritangrandmother, who died last year, and left her all her fortune. Howeverthat may be, the Lady Geraldine never appears when she can escape doingso. My lady gives way to her. They say she does not care to have agrown-up daughter at her heels, she who might pass for four-and-twentyherself any day, but for that damning evidence. But they say the fatheris beginning to declare that his daughter is no longer to be kept in thebackground. I suppose the next thing will be that they will marry herto some young nobleman. Gadzooks! with that face and that fortune--ifthe fortune be not a clever myth--they ought not to find it a difficulttask!"
"I heard it said at the club that Sandford was the favoured suitor forthe hand of Lady Geraldine," said one young exquisite, speaking with alisp and taking snuff.
There was a laugh from the group of men standing by.
"Oh, Sandford is my lady's favourite! They say he is a kinsman; and heamuses her vastly, and gives her all the homage her heart desires. ButLord Romaine may have something to say to that. Sandford is going thepace that kills, and is playing old Harry with his fortune and estate.And as for my Lady Geraldine--well, 'tis said the pretty little Puritanwill look at none of us. Split me! but it will be a pretty comedy towatch! The awakening of Aphrodite; isn't that the thing to call it?But Aphrodite is not generally credited with much coyness--ha, ha, ha!Perhaps it is but a pose on the part of the pretty maid. The sweetcreatures are so artful in these days, one can never be too cautious."And a roar of laughter answered this sally, caution being about the lastquality ever cultivated by the speaker.
Whilst all this was going on within doors, the object of these latterremarks was enjoying a silvan solitude in the most secluded portion ofthe beautiful old garden.
Far away from the house, far out of earshot of all the fashionableclamour resounding there, set in the midst of a dense shrubbery of ilexand yew, was an arbour--itself cut out of a giant yew-tree--commanding aview of a portion of the river, slipping by its alder-crowned banks, andoverlooking a small, square lawn, sunk between high turf walls, in thecentre of which stood an ancient moss-grown sundial, whosequaintly-lettered face was a source of unending interest to the fairgirl, who had made of this remote and sheltered place a harbour ofrefuge for herself.
She was seated now just within the arbour, an open book of poetry uponher knee; but she was not reading, for her chin rested in the palm ofher hand, as she leaned forward in an unstudied attitude of grace, herelbow on her knee, her wonderful dark eyes fixed full upon the shiningriver, a dreamy smile of haunting sweetness playing round her lips. Ather feet a great hound lay extended, his nose upon his paws, his eyesoften lifted to the face of his mistress, his ears pricked at thesmallest sound, even at the snapping of a twig. Nobody could surprisethe Lady Geraldine when she had this faithful henchman at her side.
The girl was dressed with extreme simplicity for the times she lived in,when hoops were coming in, stiff brocades, laces and lappets,high-heeled coloured shoes, and every extravagance in finery all therage. True, the texture of her white silk gown was of the richest, andit was laced with silver, and fastened with pearl clasps that must havecost a great sum; but it was fashioned with a simplicity that suggestedthe rustic maiden rather than the high-born dame. Yet the simpleelegance of the graceful, girlish figure was displayed to such advantagethat even the modish mother had been able to find no fault with thefashion in which her daughter instructed that her gowns should be cut;and surmises and bets were freely exchanged by the gallants crowdingLord Romaine's house as to whether it were a deep form of coquetry orreal simplicity of taste which made the Lady Geraldine differ so muchfrom the matrons and maids about her.
She wore no patches upon her face, though the dazzling purity of hercomplexion would thereby have been enhanced. And in days when the hairwas dressed into tower-like erections, and adorned with powder, laces,ribbons, and all manner of strange fripperies, this girl wore herbeautiful waving golden tresses floating round her face in the fashionof the ladies of Charles the Second's reign, or coiled them withcareless grace about her head in a natural coronet. With powder orpomatum, wires or artificial additions, she would have nothing to do.She had been brought up in the country by her grandmother, a lady ofvery simple tastes, who would in no wise conform to the extravagantfashions which had crept in, and were corrupting all the old-time graceand simplicity of female attire.
"Leave those fripperies to the gallants," had been the old lady'spungent remark; "what do we want with powder and periwigs, patches andpomatum?"
She remembered the simple elegance of the court-dresses of the ladies inthe Stuart times, and had no patience with the artificial trappings thatfollowed. Moreover, albeit not a Puritan in any strict sense of theword--being a loyal advocate of the Stuart cause--she was a woman ofgreat piety and devotion, and studied her Bible diligently; so that shetook small pleasure in the adornment of the person in gaudy clothing,and the broidering of the hair, and in fine array. She taught hergranddaughter to think more of the virtue of the meek and quiet spirit,and to seek rather to cultivate her mind, and store it with informationand with lofty aspirations, than to give her time and thoughts to theround of folly and dissipation which made up the life of the lady offashion.
Geraldine was so happy in the care of her grandmother, and felt solittle at home with her fashionable mother, that her visits had been fewand far between hitherto, until the sudden death of Mrs. Adair sixmonths previously had obliged her to return permanently to her father'sroof.
Here she found a state of things which amazed and troubled her not alittle, and greatly did she marvel how her mother could be the daughterof the guardian of her childhood. True, Lady Romaine had married veryyoung, and early escaped from the watchful care of her judicious mother;but it seemed marvellous that so close a tie could have existed betweenthem, and the girl would look on with amaze and pain at her mother'sfreaks and follies, wondering how any woman could find entertainment inthe idle, foolish, and often profane vapourings of the beaux whofluttered about her, and how any sane persons could endure such a lifeof trivial amusement and ceaseless meaningless dissipation.
Pleading with her father her grief at her grandmother's death, she hadobtained a six months' respite from attendance at the gay functionswhich made up life to Lady Romaine. Those six months had been spent,for the most part, in the privacy of her own apartments, which she hadfurnished with the dim and time-honoured treasures of her grandmother'shouse, all of which were now her own, and which made her quarters in theold part of the house like an oasis of taste, and harmony, and truebeauty in an ocean of confused and almost tawdry profusion. The oldgarden was another favourite haunt of hers, for there were portions ofit which were seldom invaded by the gay butterflies who often hoveredabout the newer terraces and the formal Dutch garden, and the houndalways gave her ample warning of any approaching footstep, so that shecould fly and hide herself before any one could molest her.
So here she prosecuted her studies, read her favourite authors, and whenthe house was quiet--her mother having flown off to some gay rout orcard-party or ball--she would practise her skill on the lute, virginal,spinet, or harp, and her fresh young voice would resound through thehouse, drawing the servants to the open windows to hear the sweetstrains.
Lady Romaine would have humoured the girl's fancy for seclusionindefinitely. She felt almost humiliated by the presence of a daughterso stately and so mature. Geraldine was nineteen, but might have passedfor more, with her grave, refined beauty, and her lack of all thekittenish freakishness which made many matrons seem almost like girls,even when their charms began to fade, and nature had to be replaced byart. Lady Romaine fondly believed that her admirers took her forfour-and-twenty; and now to have to pose as the mother of a grown-updaughter was a bitter mortification, and one which disposed her to makeas speedy a marriage for Geraldine as could well be achieved. LordRomaine had at last insisted that his daughter should appear in theworld of fashion, and she had been once or twice to Court in herparents' train, where her striking beauty and unwonted appearance hadmade some sensation. Geraldine had little fault to find with what shesaw and heard there. Good Queen Anne permitted nothing reprehensible inher neighbourhood, and her Court was grave to the verge of dullness.She was a loving and a model wife; and the Duchess was devoted to herhusband, though often making his life a burden by her imperious temper.Anything like conjugal infidelity was not tolerated therefore by eitherof these ladies, and decorum ruled wherever the Queen was to be found.
But at other places and in other company matters were far different, andalready Geraldine began to shrink with a great disgust and distaste fromthe compliments she received, from the coarse, foolish, affected talkshe heard, and from the knowledge of the senseless dissipation whichflowed like a stream at her feet, and which seemed to encircle the spanof her life in a way that made escape impossible.
But she had been taught obedience as one of the cardinal virtues, andthe days of emancipated daughters were not yet. When her father badeher lay aside her mourning and join in the life of the house, she knewshe must obey. But she had asked from him the favour of being permittedto design her own dresses, and to follow her own tastes in matterspertaining to her own toilet, and also that she might be excusedattendance at her mother's morning levee; for the spectacle of crowds ofmen flocking in and out of her mother's apartments, and witnessing thetriumphs of the coiffeurs and tire-women, was to her degrading anddisgusting; and though Lord Romaine laughed--being himself so inured tothe custom--and told her she was a little fool, and must get the betterof her prudery, he gave wa
y to her in this, and the more readily becauseshe represented to him how that these morning hours were now the onlyones she could command for study; and he was proud to find in hisdaughter an erudition and talent very rare amongst women in those days.
The old garden was another favourite haunt of hers (page96).]
But now an approaching footstep warned the girl that her pleasantmorning was over. The dog sprang up, but did not growl. It wasGeraldine's own serving-woman approaching with the girl's white-plumedhat and long silver-laced gloves.
"My lady's coach waits, and she desires your presence," was the messagethat reached her. Geraldine sat down to let the woman fasten the hatupon her head, and with a sigh she put away her books in their basket,and gave it to the charge of the faithful hound. She had found that hertreasures were far more carefully safeguarded by him than when left inthe care of a giddy maid, who was more bent on having the same kind ofamusement with the men-servants that her mistress had with the gallantsthan of seeking to discharge her duties faithfully and well.
"Hasten, child, hasten!" cried Lady Romaine's shrill voice from theentrance-hall, as Geraldine approached. She was a wonderful object asshe stood there in the full light of the June sunshine, her stiff amberbrocade sweeping round her in great billows, her waist laced in likethat of a wasp, and accentuated by the style of the long-pointed bodice;her high-heeled shoes, ornamented to extravagance, the heels beingbright red and the uppers sewed with precious stones; gems glittering inthe mass of laces at her throat, and in a number of clasps fastened tothe bodice; her hair towering upwards to such a height that she couldscarce sit comfortably in her lofty coach, and could wear nothing in theway of head-gear save the laces and ribbons which were worked in withmuch skill by the French hair-dresser. She was redolent of perfume;gloves, lace handkerchief, dainty muff, every little knickknack, ofwhich she possessed so many, all emitted the same cloying sweetness.Geraldine felt herself heave a sigh of oppression as she followed thisgrotesque object into the coach. She was growing used to the aspectpresented by the dames of fashion, but there were moments when her firstdisgust came over her in great waves.
"I marvel that you like to make yourself such a figure of fun, child,"remarked the mother, as she settled herself in her coach, smirkedtowards the piece of looking-glass let in opposite, and turned asidelong glance upon her daughter; "'tis enough to set the gallantslaughing to see how you habit yourself. Well, well; you are a luckygirl to have found a suitor so soon. Now take good heed to show him nosaucy airs, should he present himself at our box at the play to-day. Hehas been away these last days, but he can never long absent himself fromtown. Mind you have a smile for him when he appears, or I shall havesomewhat to say to you later, Miss Impertinence." And the lady's ivoryfan came down somewhat smartly upon Geraldine's arm.
"Of whom are you speaking, ma'am?" she asked, whilst the colour mountedsuddenly in her fair face.
"Oh, come now; so we are already posing as a belle of many beaux! Praywho has ever cast a glance upon you save my good kinsman Sandford? And,mind you, he is a man of taste and fashion, and it is a great complimentthat he has singled you out for notice. There be girls would give theirears for a kind glance from his eyes, and there are as good fish in thesea as ever came out of it; so mind your manners, miss, and treat him tono tricks. It is high time you were wed, and had a husband to lookafter you, and that is why I take you about. For, as for pleasure insuch company, one might as well play bear-leader to a snow queen!"
"I did not know that Lord Sandford had done me any favour," spokeGeraldine quietly. "I have seen him but seldom, and he has spoke notover much to me. But I will bear your wishes in mind, madam, should heappear to-day."
"Ha! there he is!" suddenly cried my lady, becoming excited, and rappingsmartly with her fan on the glass of the window. The next minute thecoach had pulled up, and Lord Sandford, attired in the very height ofthe fashion, was bowing over her hand with his courtliest air.