She hesitated, and then said haltingly: “I had a letter from Papa as well.”
“Did you? I hope he’s well?”
She nodded, but she did not speak for a moment or two. She had been unhappily conscious for several days that Adam had withdrawn a little from her, behind his intangible barrier. She had ventured to ask him if she had displeased him, but he had put up his brows, saying: “Displeased me? Why, what have I said to make you think so?” She could not answer him, because he had said nothing to make her think so, and she could not tell him that her love made her acutely sensitive to every change of mood in him. But she knew now what had caused that subtle withdrawal. Rather flushed, bracing herself, she said: “Papa tells me that he offered to — to make it possible for you to start the experimental farm you wish for — only that you refused it.”
“Of course I did!” he replied easily. “And very glad he was that I did! I’m much obliged to him, but I can’t imagine why he should offer to do what must go quite against the pluck with him.”
“You thought I had asked him to,” she said, resolutely lifting her eyes to his. “That’s why — ” She checked herself, and then went on: “I didn’t — but I did mention it to him, not thinking that you wouldn’t wish it, which — which you’ll say I should have known.”
“My dear Jenny, I assure you — ”
“No, let me explain to you how it came about!” she begged. “I never meant — You see, Papa doesn’t understand! He thinks it’s crackbrained nonsense, and not the thing for gentlemen to engage in! I only wished to
“Did I? I wasn’t in earnest. But there’s no need for you to fly into high fidgets, goose! I might wish that you hadn’t talked to him of that remote ambition of mine, but I never desired you not to, so how should I be vexed with you because you did?”
“You
“Not so much vexed as blue-devilled!” he retorted. “Have I seemed to be out of reason cross? Well, I am — though I hoped I hadn’t let you perceive it! I dislike it excessively when there’s no Jenny to pander outrageously to all my fads and fancies, and that’s the truth!”
She did not quite believe him, but she was a little cheered, and was able to smile, and to say: “I’m glad!”
“Wretch! What I endure at my mother’s hands — ! Yes, I know I shouldn’t say that, but if you dare to tell me so I shall walk out of the room in a miff! By the bye, have you read the news? It was in the
“Wellington! Yes, indeed! I knew you would be cast into transports by
He laughed. “I shall at all events sleep sounder o’ nights! The thought of Slender Billy in command of the Army was enough to give anyone nightmares. We shall do now!”
“Oh, dear, I do hope we may! Papa doesn’t think so. He says — ”
“I know exactly what he says, my love, and all I have to say is that your Papa doesn’t know Douro!”
He spoke confidently, but it was not surprising that Mr Chawleigh, and many others, should be pessimistic. The outlook was not promising. Reports reached London that the Emperor was not the man he had been: he grew easily tired; he fell into sudden rages, or into moods of dejection, he had lost his confidence: but the unpalatable fact remained that France had accepted his reinstatement, if not with universal joy, certainly with complaisance. The Midi might be royalist in sentiment, but hopes that were kindled by the raising of a mixed force at Nîmes by the Duc d’Angoulême were soon quenched by the arrival from Paris of Marshal Grouchy, with orders to crush the insurrection. By the middle of April it was known in London that Angoulême had capitulated, and had set sail for Spain. His wife, the daughter of the martyred King Louis XVIth, and a lady of spirit, had been at Bordeaux when the Emperor had entered Paris, and had done her utmost to rally the diminishing loyalty of the troops there, but her efforts had met with no success, and she had been obliged to allow herself to be borne off to safety in an English sloop.
Meanwhile, a new constitution had been drawn up in Paris, which was to be sworn to in the Champ de Mars, at a grand ceremony to be held on the 1st May. The Emperor hoped to crown his Austrian wife and his infant son on this occasion, but his letters to Marie Louise went unanswered. He postponed the Champ de Mai for a month, still hoping to have his wife restored to him, and to detach his Imperial father-in-law from the coalition formed at Vienna. Failing, he switched his diplomatic attempts to England. These too were unsuccessful, but his machinations made those who believed that his power could and must be broken suffer considerable uneasiness, since among the Opposition were many vociferous members, loud in their condemnation of a renewal of hostilities.
“These damned Whigs!” Adam said savagely. “Do they imagine that Boney wouldn’t overrun Europe the instant he saw his way clear?”
“Lambert says,” observed Jenny dispassionately.
He looked up from the newspaper, his anger yielding to amusement. “Jenny, if you don’t take care, we shall find ourselves in the suds! It was almost bellows to mend with me yesterday, when Charlotte uttered those fatal words!”
Between them, Lambert and Charlotte had unwittingly shown Adam that his wife had a certain dry sense of humour. Lambert, whose understanding was no more than moderate, had always been inclined to dogmatize on any and every subject, and this tendency had not been lessened by his marriage. Charlotte had no opinions of her own: she had only an unshakable belief in Lambert’s superiority, and had quickly acquired the habit of prefixing her contribution to whatever subject was under discussion with the words
She retorted now: “Yes, and you’d think I’d be ashamed to poke fun at poor Lambert, who is always so civil and kind to me, wouldn’t you? Well, so I am, but if I didn’t do that I should very likely be downright rude to him,
He had retired into the newspaper again, and did not answer; but after a few moments he said: “I shall have to go up to London. How confoundedly inopportune! They’ll be draining the Great Dyke, and I wanted to see whether — However, there’s no remedy!”
“A debate?” Jenny asked.
He nodded. “War or Peace. From what Brough writes, it might be a close-run thing. His father thinks Grenville’s wavering, bamboozled by Grey, who is for peace at any cost!”
“You don’t think the Jacobins would be able to set up a republic?”
“Lambert says? No, I don’t. I think it’s moonshine to suppose that Boney would ever consent to it, and they wouldn’t dare to try to force it on him. The civil population might turn against him, but the Army won’t — and, make no mistake, the Johnny Crapauds understand their trade much too well to be pooh-poohed! I know: I’ve fought against ’em!”
“Well, then, of course you must cast your vote,” she said. “I wish I could come to town with you.”
“Why don’t you?”
“Now, Adam — ! When you know the baby’s not weaned — !”
“You could bring him with you.”
She considered this, but finally shook her head. “No, because I shouldn’t want to open up the house only for a few days, and I don’t fancy taking him to a hotel, for you may depend upon it people would complain!”
“He is noisy,” agreed Adam.
“Only when he’s hungry, or has the wind!” she said. “But I won’t come.”
“Jenny, have you been hoaxing me?” he demanded. “Did you persuade me to believe that you didn’t wish to go to town at all this season because you thought I preferred to remain here?”
She shook her head. “No, upon my honour! The only time I hoaxed you was when I pretended to enjoy all those dreadful squeezes we went to last year, and I only did so because I thought it was my duty. I was never