Chapter IV. Beatrix's New Suitor
The gentleman whom Beatrix had selected was, to be sure, twenty yearsolder than the colonel, with whom she quarrelled for being too old; butthis one was but a nameless adventurer, and the other the greatest duke inScotland, with pretensions even to a still higher title. My Lord Duke ofHamilton had, indeed, every merit belonging to a gentleman, and he had hadthe time to mature his accomplishments fully, being upwards of fifty yearsold when Madam Beatrix selected him for a bridegroom. Duke Hamilton, thenEarl of Arran, had been educated at the famous Scottish University ofGlasgow, and, coming to London, became a great favourite of Charles theSecond, who made him a lord of his bedchamber, and afterwards appointedhim ambassador to the French king, under whom the earl served twocampaigns as his Majesty's aide de camp; and he was absent on this servicewhen King Charles died.
King James continued my lord's promotion--made him master of the wardrobe,and colonel of the Royal Regiment of Horse; and his lordship adheredfirmly to King James, being of the small company that never quitted thatunfortunate monarch till his departure out of England; and then it was, in1688, namely, that he made the friendship with Colonel Francis Esmond,that had always been, more or less, maintained in the two families.
The earl professed a great admiration for King William always, but nevercould give him his allegiance; and was engaged in more than one of theplots in the late great king's reign, which always ended in the plotters'discomfiture, and generally in their pardon, by the magnanimity of theking. Lord Arran was twice prisoner in the Tower during this reign,undauntedly saying, when offered his release, upon parole not to engageagainst King William, that he would not give his word, because "he wassure he could not keep it"; but, nevertheless, he was both timesdischarged without any trial; and the king bore this noble enemy so littlemalice, that when his mother, the Duchess of Hamilton, of her own right,resigned her claim on her husband's death, the earl was, by patent signedat Loo, 1690, created Duke of Hamilton, Marquis of Clydesdale, and Earl ofArran, with precedency from the original creation. His grace took theoaths and his seat in the Scottish Parliament in 1700: was famous therefor his patriotism and eloquence, especially in the debates about theUnion Bill, which Duke Hamilton opposed with all his strength, though hewould not go the length of the Scottish gentry, who were for resisting itby force of arms. 'Twas said he withdrew his opposition all of a sudden,and in consequence of letters from the king at St. Germains, who entreatedhim on his allegiance not to thwart the queen, his sister, in thismeasure; and the duke, being always bent upon effecting the king's returnto his kingdom through a reconciliation between his Majesty and QueenAnne, and quite averse to his landing with arms and French troops, heldaloof, and kept out of Scotland during the time when the Chevalier de St.George's descent from Dunkirk was projected, passing his time in Englandin his great estate of Staffordshire.
When the Whigs went out of office in 1710, the queen began to show hisgrace the very greatest marks of her favour. He was created Duke ofBrandon and Baron of Dutton in England; having the Thistle alreadyoriginally bestowed on him by King James the Second, his grace was nowpromoted to the honour of the Garter--a distinction so great andillustrious, that no subject hath ever borne them hitherto together. Whenthis objection was made to her Majesty, she was pleased to say, "Such asubject as the Duke of Hamilton has a pre-eminent claim to every mark ofdistinction which a crowned head can confer. I will henceforth wear bothorders myself."
At the Chapter held at Windsor in October, 1712, the duke and otherknights, including Lord-Treasurer, the new-created Earl of Oxford andMortimer, were installed; and a few days afterwards his grace wasappointed Ambassador-Extraordinary to France, and his equipages, plate,and liveries commanded, of the most sumptuous kind, not only for hisexcellency the ambassador, but for her excellency the ambassadress, whowas to accompany him. Her arms were already quartered on the coach panels,and her brother was to hasten over on the appointed day to give her away.
His lordship was a widower, having married, in 1698, Elizabeth, daughterof Digby, Lord Gerard, by which marriage great estates came into theHamilton family; and out of these estates came, in part, that tragicquarrel which ended the duke's career.
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From the loss of a tooth to that of a mistress there's no pang that is notbearable. The apprehension is much more cruel than the certainty; and wemake up our mind to the misfortune when 'tis irremediable, part with thetormentor, and mumble our crust on t'other side of the jaws. I thinkColonel Esmond was relieved when a ducal coach-and-six came and whiskedhis charmer away out of his reach, and placed her in a higher sphere. Asyou have seen the nymph in the opera-machine go up to the clouds at theend of the piece where Mars, Bacchus, Apollo, and all the divine companyof Olympians are seated, and quaver out her last song as a goddess: sowhen this portentous elevation was accomplished in the Esmond family, I amnot sure that every one of us did not treat the divine Beatrix withspecial honours; at least, the saucy little beauty carried her head with atoss of supreme authority, and assumed a touch-me-not air, which all herfriends very good-humouredly bowed to.
An old army acquaintance of Colonel Esmond's, honest Tom Trett, who hadsold his company, married a wife, and turned merchant in the city, wasdreadfully gloomy for a long time, though living in a fine house on theriver, and carrying on a great trade to all appearance. At length Esmondsaw his friend's name in the _Gazette_ as a bankrupt; and a week afterthis circumstance my bankrupt walks into Mr. Esmond's lodging with a faceperfectly radiant with good humour, and as jolly and careless as when theyhad sailed from Southampton ten years before for Vigo. "This bankruptcy,"says Tom, "has been hanging over my head these three years; the thoughthath prevented my sleeping, and I have looked at poor Polly's head ont'other pillow, and then towards my razor on the table, and thought to putan end to myself, and so give my woes the slip. But now we are bankrupts:Tom Trett pays as many shillings in the pound as he can; his wife has alittle cottage at Fulham, and her fortune secured to herself. I am afraidneither of bailiff nor of creditor; and for the last six nights have slepteasy." So it was that when Fortune shook her wings and left him, honestTom cuddled himself up in his ragged virtue, and fell asleep.
Esmond did not tell his friend how much his story applied to Esmond too;but he laughed at it, and used it; and having fairly struck his docket inthis love transaction, determined to put a cheerful face on hisbankruptcy. Perhaps Beatrix was a little offended at his gaiety. "Is thisthe way, sir, that you receive the announcement of your misfortune," saysshe, "and do you come smiling before me as if you were glad to be rid ofme?"
Esmond would not be put off from his good humour, but told her the storyof Tom Trett and his bankruptcy. "I have been hankering after the grapeson the wall," says he, "and lost my temper because they were beyond myreach; was there any wonder? They're gone now, and another has them--ataller man than your humble servant has won them." And the colonel madehis cousin a low bow.
"A taller man, cousin Esmond!" says she. "A man of spirit would havescaled the wall, sir, and seized them! A man of courage would have foughtfor 'em, not gaped for 'em."
"A duke has but to gape and they drop into his mouth," says Esmond, withanother low bow.
"Yes, sir," says she, "a duke _is_ a taller man than you. And why should Inot be grateful to one such as his grace, who gives me his heart and hisgreat name? It is a great gift he honours me with; I know 'tis a bargainbetween us; and I accept it, and will do my utmost to perform my part ofit. 'Tis no question of sighing and philandering between a nobleman of hisgrace's age and a girl who hath little of that softness in her nature. Whyshould I not own that I am ambitious, Harry Esmond; and if it be no sin ina man to covet honour, why should a woman too not desire it? Shall I befrank with you, Harry, and say that if you had not been down on yourknees, and so humble, you might have fared better with me? A woman of myspirit, cousin, is to be won by gallantry, and not by sighs and ruefulfaces. All the time
you are worshipping and singing hymns to me, I knowvery well I am no goddess, and grow weary of the incense. So would youhave been weary of the goddess too--when she was called Mrs. Esmond, andgot out of humour because she had not pin-money enough, and was forced togo about in an old gown. Eh! cousin, a goddess in a mob-cap, that has tomake her husband's gruel, ceases to be divine--I am sure of it. I shouldhave been sulky and scolded; and of all the proud wretches in the worldMr. Esmond is the proudest, let me tell him that. You never fall into apassion; but you never forgive, I think. Had you been a great man, youmight have been good humoured; but being nobody, sir, you are too great aman for me; and I'm afraid of you, cousin--there; and I won't worship you,and you'll never be happy except with a woman who will. Why, after Ibelonged to you, and after one of my tantrums, you would have put thepillow over my head some night, and smothered me, as the black man doesthe woman in the play that you're so fond of. What's the creature'sname?--Desdemona. You would, you little black-eyed Othello!"
"I think I should, Beatrix," says the colonel.
"And I want no such ending. I intend to live to be a hundred, and to go toten thousand routs and balls, and to play cards every night of my lifetill the year eighteen hundred. And I like to be the first of my company,sir; and I like flattery and compliments, and you give me none; and I liketo be made to laugh, sir, and who's to laugh at _your_ dismal face, Ishould like to know; and I like a coach-and-six or a coach-and-eight; andI like diamonds, and a new gown every week; and people to say--'That's theduchess--How well her grace looks--Make way for Madame l'Ambassadriced'Angleterre--Call her excellency's people'--that's what I like. And as foryou, you want a woman to bring your slippers and cap, and to sit at yourfeet, and cry, 'O caro! O bravo!' whilst you read your Shakespeares, andMiltons, and stuff. Mamma would have been the wife for you, had you been alittle older, though you look ten years older than she does--you do, youglum-faced, blue-bearded, little old man! You might have sat, like Darbyand Joan, and flattered each other; and billed and cooed like a pair ofold pigeons on a perch. I want my wings and to use them, sir." And shespread out her beautiful arms, as if indeed she could fly off like thepretty "Gawrie", whom the man in the story was enamoured of.
"And what will your Peter Wilkins say to your flight?" says Esmond, whonever admired this fair creature more than when she rebelled and laughedat him.
"A duchess knows her place," says she, with a laugh. "Why, I have a sonalready made for me, and thirty years old (my Lord Arran), and fourdaughters. How they will scold, and what a rage they will be in, when Icome to take the head of the table! But I give them only a month to beangry; at the end of that time they shall love me every one, and so shallLord Arran, and so shall all his grace's Scots vassals and followers inthe Highlands. I'm bent on it; and, when I take a thing in my head, 'tisdone. His grace is the greatest gentleman in Europe, and I'll try and makehim happy; and, when the king comes back, you may count on my protection,Cousin Esmond--for come back the king will and shall: and I'll bring himback from Versailles, if he comes under my hoop."
"I hope the world will make you happy, Beatrix," says Esmond, with a sigh."You'll be Beatrix till you are my lady duchess--will you not? I shall thenmake your grace my very lowest bow."
"None of these sighs and this satire, cousin," she says. "I take hisgrace's great bounty thankfully--yes, thankfully; and will wear his honoursbecomingly. I do not say he hath touched my heart; but he has mygratitude, obedience, admiration--I have told him that, and no more; andwith that his noble heart is content. I have told him all--even the storyof that poor creature that I was engaged to--and that I could not love; andI gladly gave his word back to him, and jumped for joy to get back my own.I am twenty-five years old."
"Twenty-six, my dear," says Esmond.
"Twenty-five, sir--I choose to be twenty-five; and, in eight years, no manhath ever touched my heart. Yes--you did once, for a little, Harry, whenyou came back after Lille, and engaging with that murderer, Mohun, andsaving Frank's life. I thought I could like you; and mamma begged me hard,on her knees, and I did--for a day. But the old chill came over me, Henry,and the old fear of you and your melancholy; and I was glad when you wentaway, and engaged with my Lord Ashburnham, that I might hear no more ofyou, that's the truth. You are too good for me somehow. I could not makeyou happy, and should break my heart in trying, and not being able to loveyou. But if you had asked me when we gave you the sword, you might havehad me, sir, and we both should have been miserable by this time. I talkedwith that silly lord all night just to vex you and mamma, and I succeeded,didn't I? How frankly we can talk of these things! It seems a thousandyears ago: and, though we are here sitting in the same room, there's agreat wall between us. My dear, kind, faithful, gloomy old cousin! I canlike you now, and admire you too, sir, and say that you are brave, andvery kind, and very true, and a fine gentleman for all--for all your littlemishap at your birth," says she, wagging her arch head.
"And now, sir," says she, with a curtsy, "we must have no more talk exceptwhen mamma is by, as his grace is with us; for he does not half like you,cousin, and is as jealous as the black man in your favourite play."
Though the very kindness of the words stabbed Mr. Esmond with the keenestpang, he did not show his sense of the wound by any look of his (asBeatrix, indeed, afterwards owned to him), but said, with a perfectcommand of himself and an easy smile, "The interview must not end yet, mydear, until I have had my last word. Stay, here comes your mother" (indeedshe came in here with her sweet anxious face, and Esmond, going up, kissedher hand respectfully). "My dear lady may hear, too, the last words, whichare no secrets, and are only a parting benediction accompanying a presentfor your marriage from an old gentleman your guardian; for I feel as if Iwas the guardian of all the family, and an old, old fellow that is fit tobe the grandfather of you all; and in this character let me make my ladyduchess her wedding present. They are the diamonds my father's widow leftme. I had thought Beatrix might have had them a year ago; but they aregood enough for a duchess, though not bright enough for the handsomestwoman in the world." And he took the case out of his pocket in which thejewels were, and presented them to his cousin.
She gave a cry of delight, for the stones were indeed very handsome, andof great value; and the next minute the necklace was where Belinda's crossis in Mr. Pope's admirable poem, and glittering on the whitest and mostperfectly-shaped neck in all England.
The girl's delight at receiving these trinkets was so great, that afterrushing to the looking-glass and examining the effect they produced uponthat fair neck which they surrounded, Beatrix was running back with herarms extended, and was perhaps for paying her cousin with a price, that hewould have liked no doubt to receive from those beautiful rosy lips ofhers, but at this moment the door opened, and his grace the bridegroomelect was announced.
He looked very black upon Mr. Esmond, to whom he made a very low bowindeed, and kissed the hand of each lady in his most ceremonious manner.He had come in his chair from the palace hard by, and wore his two starsof the Garter and the Thistle.
"Look, my lord duke," says Mrs. Beatrix, advancing to him, and showing thediamonds on her breast.
"Diamonds," says his grace. "Hm! they seem pretty."
"They are a present on my marriage," says Beatrix.
"From her Majesty?" asks the duke. "The queen is very good."
"From my cousin Henry--from our cousin Henry"--cry both the ladies in abreath.
"I have not the honour of knowing the gentleman. I thought that my LordCastlewood had no brother: and that on your ladyship's side there were nonephews."
"From our cousin, Colonel Henry Esmond, my lord," says Beatrix, taking thecolonel's hand very bravely--"who was left guardian to us by our father,and who has a hundred times shown his love and friendship for our family."
"The Duchess of Hamilton receives no diamonds but from her husband,madam," says the duke--"may I pray you to restore these to Mr. Esmond?"
"Beatrix Esmond may receive a present from our ki
nsman and benefactor, mylord duke," says Lady Castlewood, with an air of great dignity. "She is mydaughter yet: and if her mother sanctions the gift--no one else hath theright to question it."
"Kinsman and benefactor!" says the duke. "I know of no kinsman: and I donot choose that my wife should have for benefactor a----"
"My lord," says Colonel Esmond.
"I am not here to bandy words," says his grace: "frankly I tell you thatyour visits to this house are too frequent, and that I choose no presentsfor the Duchess of Hamilton from gentlemen that bear a name they have noright to."
"My lord!" breaks out Lady Castlewood, "Mr. Esmond hath the best right tothat name of any man in the world: and 'tis as old and as honourable asyour grace's."
My lord duke smiled, and looked as if Lady Castlewood was mad, that was sotalking to him.
"If I called him benefactor," said my mistress, "it is because he has beenso to us--yes, the noblest, the truest, the bravest, the dearest ofbenefactors. He would have saved my husband's life from Mohun's sword. Hedid save my boy's, and defended him from that villain. Are those nobenefits?"
"I ask Colonel Esmond's pardon," says his grace, if possible more haughtythan before; "I would say not a word that should give him offence, andthank him for his kindness to your ladyship's family. My Lord Mohun and Iare connected, you know, by marriage--though neither by blood norfriendship; but I must repeat what I said, that my wife can receive nopresents from Colonel Esmond."
"My daughter may receive presents from the Head of our House: my daughtermay thankfully take kindness from her father's, her mother's, herbrother's dearest friend; and be grateful for one more benefit besides thethousand we owe him," cries Lady Esmond. "What is a string of diamondstones compared to that affection he hath given us--our dearest preserverand benefactor? We owe him not only Frank's life, but our all--yes, ourall," says my mistress, with a heightened colour and a trembling voice."The title we bear is his, if he would claim it. 'Tis we who have no rightto our name: not he that's too great for it. He sacrificed his name at mydying lord's bedside--sacrificed it to my orphan children; gave up rank andhonour because he loved us so nobly. His father was Viscount of Castlewoodand Marquis of Esmond before him; and he is his father's lawful son andtrue heir, and we are the recipients of his bounty, and he the chief of ahouse that's as old as your own. And if he is content to forgo his namethat my child may bear it, we love him and honour him and bless him underwhatever name he bears"--and here the fond and affectionate creature wouldhave knelt to Esmond again, but that he prevented her; and Beatrix,running up to her with a pale face and a cry of alarm, embraced her andsaid, "Mother, what is this?"
"'Tis a family secret, my lord duke," says Colonel Esmond: "poor Beatrixknew nothing of it: nor did my lady till a year ago. And I have as good aright to resign my title as your grace's mother to abdicate hers to you."
"I should have told everything to the Duke of Hamilton," said my mistress,"had his grace applied to me for my daughter's hand, and not to Beatrix. Ishould have spoken with you this very day in private, my lord, had notyour words brought about this sudden explanation--and now 'tis fit Beatrixshould hear it; and know, as I would have all the world know, what we oweto our kinsman and patron."
And then in her touching way, and having hold of her daughter's hand, andspeaking to her rather than my lord duke, Lady Castlewood told the storywhich you know already--lauding up to the skies her kinsman's behaviour. Onhis side Mr. Esmond explained the reasons that seemed quite sufficientlycogent with him, why the succession in the family, as at present it stood,should not be disturbed; and he should remain, as he was, Colonel Esmond.
"And Marquis of Esmond, my lord," says his grace, with a low bow. "Permitme to ask your lordship's pardon for words that were uttered in ignorance;and to beg for the favour of your friendship. To be allied to you, sir,must be an honour under whatever name you are known" (so his grace waspleased to say): "and in return for the splendid present you make my wife,your kinswoman, I hope you will please to command any service that JamesDouglas can perform. I shall never be easy until I repay you a part of myobligations at least; and ere very long, and with the mission her Majestyhath given me," says the duke, "that may perhaps be in my power. I shallesteem it as a favour, my lord, if Colonel Esmond will give away thebride."
"And if he will take the usual payment in advance, he is welcome," saysBeatrix, stepping up to him; and as Esmond kissed her, she whispered, "Oh,why didn't I know you before?"
My lord duke was as hot as a flame at this salute, but said never a word:Beatrix made him a proud curtsy, and the two ladies quitted the roomtogether.
"When does your excellency go for Paris?" asks Colonel Esmond.
"As soon after the ceremony as may be," his grace answered. "'Tis fixedfor the first of December: it cannot be sooner. The equipage will not beready till then. The queen intends the embassy should be very grand--and Ihave law business to settle. That ill-omened Mohun has come, or is coming,to London again: we are in a lawsuit about my late Lord Gerard's property;and he hath sent to me to meet him."