'The man is his own best tonic.'
'He is invaluable for the country.'
Miss Eleanor and Miss Isabel greeted them.
The amiability of the Patterne ladies combined with their total eclipse behind their illustrious nephew invited enterprising women of the world to take liberties, and they were not backward.
Lady Busshe said: 'Well? the news! we have the outlines. Don't be astonished: we know the points: we have heard the gun. I could have told you as much yesterday. I saw it. And I guessed it the day before. Oh, I do believe in fatalities now. Lady Culmer and I agree to take that view: it is the simplest. Well, and are you satisfied, my dears?'
The ladies grimaced interrogatively: 'With what?'
'With it? with all! with her! with him!'
'Our Willoughby?'
'Can it be possible that they require a dose of Corney?' Lady Busshe remarked to Lady Culmer.
'They play discretion to perfection,' said Lady Culmer. 'But, my dears, we are in the secret.'
'How did she behave?' whispered Lady Busshe. 'No high flights and flutters, I do hope. She was well- connected, they say; though I don't comprehend what they mean by a line of scholars — one thinks of a row of pinafores: and she was pretty.'
'That is well enough at the start. It never will stand against brains. He had the two in the house to contrast them, and… the result! A young woman with brains — in a house — beats all your beauties. Lady Culmer and I have determined on that view. He thought her a delightful partner for a dance, and found her rather tiresome at the end of the gallopade. I saw it yesterday, clear as daylight. She did not understand him, and he did understand her. That will be our report.'
'She is young: she will learn,' said the ladies uneasily, but in total ignorance of her meaning.
'And you are charitable, and always were. I remember you had a good word for that girl Durham.'
Lady Busshe crossed the room to Mr. Dale, who was turning over leaves of a grand book of the heraldic devices of our great Families.
'Study it,' she said, 'study it, my dear Mr. Dale; you are in it, by right of possessing a clever and accomplished daughter. At page 300 you will find the Patterne crest. And mark me, she will drag you into the peerage before she has done — relatively, you know. Sir Willoughby and wife will not be contented to sit down and manage the estates. Has not L?titia immense ambition? And very creditable, I say.'
Mr. Dale tried to protest something. He shut the book, examining the binding, flapped the cover with a finger, hoped her ladyship was in good health, alluded to his own and the strangeness of the bird out of the cage.
'You will probably take up your residence here, in a larger and handsomer cage. Mr. Dale.'
He shook his head. 'Do I apprehend…' he said.
'I know,' said she.
'Dear me, can it be?'
Mr. Dale gazed upward, with the feelings of one awakened late to see a world alive in broad daylight.
Lady Busshe dropped her voice. She took the liberty permitted to her with an inferior in station, while treating him to a tone of familiarity in acknowledgment of his expected rise; which is high breeding, or the exact measurement of social dues.
'L?titia will be happy, you may be sure. I love to see a long and faithful attachment rewarded — love it! Her tale is the triumph of patience. Far above Grizzel! No woman will be ashamed of pointing to Lady Patterne. You are uncertain? You are in doubt? Let me hear — as low as you like. But there is no doubt of the new shifting of the scene? — no doubt of the proposal? Dear Mr. Dale! a very little louder. You are here because —? of course you wish to see Sir Willoughby. She? I did not catch you quite. She?… it seems, you say…?'
Lady Culmer said to the Patterne ladies: —
'You must have had a distressing time. These affairs always mount up to a climax, unless people are very well bred. We saw it coming. Naturally we did not expect such a transformation of brides: who could? If I had laid myself down on my back to think, I should have had it. I am unerring when I set to speculating on my back. One is cooler: ideas come; they have not to be forced. That is why I am brighter on a dull winter afternoon, on the sofa, beside my tea-service, than at any other season. However, your trouble is over. When did the Middletons leave?'
'The Middletons leave?' said the ladies.
'Dr. Middleton and his daughter.'
'They have not left us.'
'The Middletons are here?'
'They are here, yes. Why should they have left Patterne?'
'Why?'
'Yes. They are likely to stay some days longer.'
'Goodness!'
'There is no ground for any report to the contrary, Lady Culmer.'
'No ground!'
Lady Culmer called out to Lady Busshe.
A cry came back from that startled dame.
'She has refused him!'
'Who?'
'She has.'
'She? — Sir Willoughby?'
'Refused! — declines the honour.'
'Oh, never! No, that carries the incredible beyond romance. But is he perfectly at…'
'Quite, it seems. And she was asked in due form and refused.'
'No, and no again!'
'My dear, I have it from Mr. Dale.'
'Mr. Dale, what can be the signification of her conduct?'
'Indeed, Lady Culmer,' said Mr. Dale, not unpleasantly agitated by the interest he excited, in spite of his astonishment at a public discussion of the matter in this house, 'I am in the dark. Her father should know, but I do not. Her door is locked to me; I have not seen her. I am absolutely in the dark. I am a recluse. I have forgotten the ways of the world. I should have supposed her father would first have been addressed.'
'Tut-tut. Modern gentlemen are not so formal; they are creatures of impulse and take a pride in it. He spoke. We settle that. But where did you get this tale of a refusal?'
'I have it from Dr. Middleton.'
'From Dr. Middleton?' shouted Lady Busshe.
'The Middletons are here,' said Lady Culmer.
'What whirl are we in?' Lady Busshe got up, ran two or three steps and seated herself in another chair. 'Oh! do let us proceed upon system. If not we shall presently be rageing; we shall be dangerous. The Middletons are here, and Dr. Middleton himself communicates to Mr. Dale that L?titia Dale has refused the hand of Sir Willoughby, who is ostensibly engaged to his own daughter! And pray, Mr. Dale, how did Dr. Middleton speak of it? Compose yourself; there is no violent hurry, though our sympathy with you and our interest in all the parties does perhaps agitate us a little. Quite at your leisure — speak!'
'Madam… Lady Busshe.' Mr. Dale gulped a ball in his throat. 'I see no reason why I should not speak. I do not see how I can have been deluded. The Miss Patternes heard him. Dr. Middleton began upon it, not I. I was unaware, when I came, that it was a refusal. I had been informed that there was a proposal. My authority for the tale was positive. The object of my visit was to assure myself of the integrity of my daughter's conduct. She had always the highest sense of honour. But passion is known to mislead, and there was this most strange report. I feared that our humblest apologies were due to Dr. Middleton and his daughter. I know the charm L?titia can exercise. Madam, in the plainest language, without a possibility of my misapprehending him, Dr. Middleton spoke of himself as the advocate of the suitor for my daughter's hand. I have a poor head. I supposed at once an amicable rupture between Sir Willoughby and Miss Middleton, or that the version which had reached me of their engagement was not strictly accurate. My head is weak. Dr. Middleton's language is trying to a head like mine; but I can speak
