The Daltons Volume II Part 38

This cry of pain was not quite causeless, for Martha was trembling from head to foot, and actually only saved herself from falling by a mechanical clutch at something like a horse's tail. With many excuses, and in a voice broken by regrets, she resumed her task with a vigorous effort for success, while Mrs. Ricketts and Purvis exchanged glances of supreme contempt.

"I speak to you, Martha," resumed she, "for your own sake. You cannot see what all the world sees,--the sinful selfishness of your nature,----a vice, I must say, the less pardonable that you live beneath the shadow of my counsels!--Scroope, don't creak that chair,--sit upon that stool there.--Now that we shall probably spend two months here--"

"Here! Do--do you m-mean here?" cried Purvis.

"Of course I mean here, sir. There's nothing in the shape of a lodging to be had under three or four hundred francs a month. This is a very sweet place; and when the old gentleman can be induced to take a room in the town for himself, and that his daughter learns, as she will,--though certainly not from Martha,--what is due to _me,_ it will be comfortable and convenient. We'll ask the Princess, too, to spend a week with us; for who knows, in the present state of politics, to what corner of Germany we may yet be reduced to fly!"

"How will you m-m-manage with Haggerstone and the rest, when they arrive, sister?"

"Easily enough. I 'll show them that it's for their advantage that we are here. It is true that we agreed to take a house together; but every plan is modified by the events of the campaign. Petrolaffsky will be content if Mr. Dalton plays piquet; the Colonel will like his claret and Burgundy; and Fogla.s.s will be pleased with the retirement that permits him to prosecute his attentions to Martha."

Poor Martha blushed crimson at the tone rather, even than the words of the speech; for, when nothing else offered, it was the practice of Mrs.

Ricketts to insinuate coquetry as among her sister's defects.

"You needn't look so much confused, my dear," resumed the torturer; "I 'm certain it's not the first affair of the kind you've known."

"Oh, sister!" cried Martha, in a voice of almost entreaty.

"Not that I think there would be anything unsuitable in the match; he is probably fifty-eight or nine,--sixty at most,----and, excepting deafness and the prosy tendency natural to his time of life, pretty much like everybody else."

"You know, sister, that _he_ never thought of _me_, nor _I _of _him_."

"I know that I am not in the confidence of either party," said Mrs.

Ricketts, bridling; "and I also know I am sincerely happy that my head is not crammed with such fiddle-faddle. Before the great event comes off, however, you will have time to attend to something else, and therefore I beg you will keep in mind what I am about to say to you.

We are here, Martha," resumed she, with all the solemnity of a judicial charge,--"we are here by no claims of relations.h.i.+p or previous friends.h.i.+p. No secret ties of congenial tastes bind us up together. No common attachment to some other dear creature forms a link between us.

We are here as much by chance as one can venture to call anything in this unhappy world. Let us, then, show Fortune that we are not unworthy of her goodness, by neglecting nothing which may strengthen our position and secure our permanence. In a word, Martha, throw over all your selfishness'----forget the miserable egotism that besets you, and study that young girl's character and wishes. She has never been courted in life--flatter her; she has never been even thought of----show her every consideration; she is evidently of a thoughtful turn, and n.o.body can mope better than yourself. Insinuate yourself day by day into little household affairs, mingling counsels here and warnings there,--always on the side of economy,--so that while affecting only to play with the reins, you'll end by driving the coach."

"I 'm afraid I 've no head for all this, sister."

"Of course you have n't, nor for anything else without _me_ to guide you. I 'm perfectly aware of that. But you can learn. You can at least obey!"

"My sister means that you can st-st-struggle against the natural w-w-wilfulness of your d-disposition," cackled in Purvis.

"I'll do my best," murmured Martha, in a voice of humility.

"Women are so fond of sa-saving," cried Scroope, "You'll always be safe when you c-c-cut down the estimates."

"Attend to that, Martha," remarked Mrs. Ricketts.

"Find out the price of ch-chickens, and always buy them a kreutzer cheaper than she has done."

"There is nothing gives such an ascendency in a house as showing that you can maintain the establishment for fourpence less per quarter," said Zoe, gravely. "I have known connubial happiness, that has stood the test of temper and illness for years, wrecked on the small rock of a cook's bill. Like all wasteful men, you may be sure that this Dalton has many miserly habits. Learn these, and indulge them. There was that poor Marquis of Binchley, that never dined without a hundred wax candles in the room, left all his fortune to a nephew he once found collecting the sealing-wax from old letters and making it up for fresh use. Reflect upon this, Martha; and always bear in mind that the vices of mankind are comparatively uninstructive. It is their foibles, their small weaknesses, that teach everything."

"When Ha-Ha-Haggerstone comes, and finds no room for him, you 'll ha-ha-have the devil to pay."

"He shall take it out in dinners, Scroope; and what between drinking Dalton's wine with him, and abusing him behind his back, you 'll see he 'll be perfectly happy."

"How long do you purpose to st-stay here, sister?" asked Scroope.

"Ask the b.u.t.terfly how long the rose and the hyacinth will bloom," said Mrs. Ricketts, pensively; for, by dint of smiling at herself in the looking-gla.s.s, she had come round to that mock poetical vein which ran through her strange incongruous nature. "And now good-night, dears,"

sighed she. "These are sweet moments, but they are paid for at a price.

Exhausted energies will have repose." She held out her hand to Martha, who kissed it respectfully, and then waived a graceful adieu to Purvis, as he retired.

"Sister Zoe has a head for everything," muttered Purvis to Martha.

"There's nothing she's not up to."

"She's very clever indeed!" sighed Martha.

"And this is n't the worst h-hit she has ever made. It was d-deucedly well done to get in here."

Either Martha did n't concur in the sentiment, or Scroope's satisfaction did not need any backing, for she made no reply.

"They 've given me a capital room; I fa-fancy Dalton's own, for I found a heap of old bills and letters in a table-drawer, and something like a--like a----like a writ"--here he laughed till the tears came at the drollery of the thought,--"in the pocket of his dressing-gown."

"Good-night," said Martha, softly, as she glided into the little chamber allotted to her. Poor Martha! Save Nelly's, hers was the saddest heart beneath that roof. For the first time in all her long years of trial, a ray of doubt, a flash of infidelity had broken upon her mind, and the thought of her sister-in-law's infallibility became for a moment suspected. It was not that abused and outraged submission was goaded into rebellion; it was dormant reason that was suddenly startled into a pa.s.sing wakefulness. It was like one of those fitful gleams of intelligence which now and then dart across the vacuity of dulled intellects, and, like such, it was only a meteor-flash, and left no trace of light behind it. Even in all its briefness the anguish it gave was intense; it was the delusion of a whole life rent asunder at once, and the same shock which should convulse the moral world of her thoughts would rob her of all the pleasantest fancies of her existence. If Zoe were not all goodness and all genius, what was to become of all the household G.o.ds of the Villino? t.i.tians would moulder away into stained and smoked panels; "Sevres" and "Saxe" would fall down to pasteboard and starch; carved oak and ebony would resolve themselves into leather; and even the friends.h.i.+p of princes and the devotion of philosophers be only a mockery, a sham, and a snare!

Poor Martha! Deprived of these illusions, life was but one unceasing round of toil; while, aided by imagination, she could labor on unwearied. Without a thought of deception, she gloried in the harmless frauds to which she contributed, but could n't resist the contagion of credulity around her. How easily could such a spirit have been moulded to every good gift, and qualities like these have been made to minister to comfort and happiness, and the faith that was given to gilt paper, and glue, and varnish, elevated to all that is highest in the moral and material world!

And now they were all in slumber beneath that roof,--all save one. Poor Nelly sat at her window, tearful and sad. In the momentary excitement of receiving her guests she had forgotten her cares; but now they came back upon her, coupled with all the fears their wasteful habits could suggest At times she blamed herself for the tame cowardice which beset her, and restrained her from every effort to avert the coming evil; and at times she resigned herself to the gloomy future, with the stern patience of the Indian who saw his canoe swept along into the rapids above the cataract. There was not one to turn to for advice or counsel, and the strength that would have sustained her in any other trial was here sapped by the dread of giving pain to her father. "It would ill become _me_ to give him cause for sorrow,--I, that of all his children have ministered nothing to his pride nor his happiness!" Such was the estimate she held of herself, and such the reasoning that flowed from it.

CHAPTER XIX. THE CURSAAL.

The attempt to accommodate a company to which the house was unsuited would have been a source of painful annoyance to most men. To Peter Dalton it was unqualified pleasure. The subversion of all previous arrangements, the total change in the whole order of domesticity, were his delight The changing of rooms, the being sent to sleep in strange and inconvenient corners, the hurry-scurry endeavors to find a subst.i.tute for this or a representative for that, the ingenious devices to conceal a want or to supply a deficiency, afforded him the most lively amus.e.m.e.nt; and he went about rubbing his hands, and muttering that it did his heart good. It was "so like Mount Dalton when he was a boy."

All Mrs. Ricketts's softest blandishments were so many charms clean thrown away. His thoughts were centred on himself and his own amiable qualities, and he revelled in the notion that the world did not contain another as truly generous and hospitable as Peter Dalton. In accordance with the singular contradictions of which his character was made up, he was willing to incur every sacrifice of personal inconvenience, if it only served to astonish some one, or excite a sensation of surprise at his good-nature; and while all Nelly's efforts were to conceal the inconveniences these hospitalities inflicted, Peter was never satisfied except when the display could reflect honor on himself, and exact a tribute of flattery from his guests. Nor was he all this time in ignorance of Mrs. Ricketts's character. With native shrewdness be had at once detected her as an "old soldier." He saw the practised readiness of her compliance with everything; he saw the spirit of accommodation in which she met every plan or project. He knew the precise value of her softest look or her sweetest smile; and yet he was quite content with possessing the knowledge, without any desire to profit by it. Like one who sits down to play with sharpers, and resolves that either the stake shall be a trifle or the roguery be very limited, he surrendered himself to the fair Zoe's seductions with this sort of a reservation to guide him.

If Mrs. Ricketts did not cheat him by her goodness, she took her revenge by the claims of her grandeur. Her intimacy with great people--the very greatest--exalted her to the highest place in Dalton's esteem. Honest Peter knew nothing of the years of toil and pain, the subtle arts, the deep devices, the slights, the affronts, the stern rebuffs here, the insolent denials there, by which these acquisitions, precarious as they were, had been won. He did not know how much of the royalty was left-handed, nor how much of the n.o.bility was fact.i.tious. All he could see was the gracious salutes wafted to her from coroneted carriages, the soft smiles wafted from high places, the recognitions bestowed on her in the promenade, and the gracious nods that met her in the Cursaal.

Mrs. Ricketts was perfect in all the skill of this peculiar game, and knew how, by the most ostentatious display of respect in public, not only to exalt the ill.u.s.trious person--age who deigned to acknowledge her, but also to attach notice to herself as the individual so highly favored. What reverential courtesies would she drop before the presence of some small German "Hochheit," with a gambling-house for a palace, and a roulette-table for an exchequer! What devotional observances would she perform in front of the chair of some snuffy old Dowager "Herzogin,"

of an unknown or forgotten princ.i.p.ality! How pertinaciously would she remain standing till some "Durchlaut" was "out of the horizon;" or how studiously would she retire before the advancing step of some puny potentate,--a monarch of three huesars and thirty chamberlains! Poor Peter was but a sorry pupil in this "School of Design." He found it difficult to a.s.sociate rank with unwashed faces and unbrushed clothes; and although he _did_ bow, and flourish his hat, and perform all the other semblances of respect, he always gave one the idea of an irreverential Acolyte at the back of a profoundly impressed and dignified high-priest.

Dalton was far more at his ease when he paraded the rooms with Mrs.

Ricketts on one arm, and Martha on the other, enjoying heartily all the notice they elicited, and accepting, as honest admiration, the staring wonderment and surprise their appearance was sure to excite. Mrs.

Ricketts, who had always something geographical about her taste in dress, had this year leaned towards the Oriental, and accordingly presented herself before the admiring world of Baden in a richly spangled muslin turban, and the very shortest of petticoats, beneath which appeared a pair of ample trousers, whose deep lace frills covered the feet, and even swept the floor. A paper-knife of silver gilt, made to resemble a yataghan, and a smelling-bottle, in the counterfeit of a pistol, glittered at her girdle, which, with the aid of a very well arched pair of painted eyebrows, made up as presentable a Sultana as one usually sees in a second-rate theatre. If Dalton's blue coat and tight nankeen pantaloons----his favorite full-dress costume--did somewhat destroy the "Bosph.o.r.ean illusion," as Zoe herself called it, still more did Martha's plain black silk and straw bonnet,--both types of the strictly useful, without the slightest taint of extraneous ornament.

Purvis and the General, as they brought up the rear, came also in for their meed of surprise,--the one lost under a ma.s.s of cloaks, shawls, scarfs, and carpets, and the other moving listlessly along through the crowded rooms, heedless of the mob and the music, and seeming to follow his leader with a kind of fatuous instinct utterly dest.i.tute of volition or even of thought A group so singularly costumed, seen every day dining at the most costly table, ordering whatever was most expensive; the patrons of the band, and the numerous flower-girls, whose bouquets were actually strewed beneath their feet, were sure to attract the notice of the company,--a tribute, it must be owned, which invariably contains a strong alloy of all that is ill-natured, sarcastic, and depreciating.

Zoe was a European celebrity, known and recognized by every one. The only difficulty was to learn who the new "victim" was, whence he came, and what means he possessed. There are few places where inventive genius more predominates than at Baden, and Dalton was alternately a successful speculator in railroads, a South American adventurer, a slaver, and a Carlist agent,----characters for which honest Peter had about as many requisites as he possessed for Hamlet or Cardinal Wolsey. He seemed to have abundance of money, however, and played high,--two qualities of no small request in this favored region. Dalton's gambling tastes were all originally a.s.sociated with the turf and its followers. A race in his eyes was the legitimate subject of a bet; and if anything else could rival it in interest, it was some piece of personal prowess or skill, some manly game of strength or activity. To men of this stamp the wager is merely a pledge to record the sentiments they entertain upon a particular event. It is not, as gamesters understand it, the whole sum and substance of the interest. Personal pride, the vainglory of'

success, is the triumph in one case; in the other there is no question of anything save gain. To this difference may be traced the wide disparity of feeling exhibited by both in moments of failing fortune.

To one loss comes with all the hara.s.sing sensations of defeat; wounded self-esteem and baffled hope giving poignancy to the failure. To the other it is a pure question of a moneyed forfeiture, unaccompanied with a single thought that can hurt the pride of the player. Hence the wild transports of pa.s.sion in the one case, and the calm, cold self-possession in the other.

We need scarcely say to which cla.s.s Dalton belonged; indeed, so far as the public play at Baden was concerned, it was the notoriety that pleased him most. The invariable falling back to make way for him as he came up; the murmur of his name as he pa.s.sed on; the comments on what he would probably do; and, not least of all, the buzz of admiring astonishment that was sure to arise as he plumped down before him the great canvas bag full of gold, which the banker's porter had just handed him!

All the little courtesies of the croupiers, those little official flatteries which mean so much and so little, were especially reserved for _him_; and the unlucky player who watched his solitary Napoleon "raked in" by a yawning, listless croupier, became suddenly aware, by the increased alacrity of look around him, that a higher interest was awakened as Peter drew nigh.

The "Count's" chair was ostentatiously placed next the banker's; a store of cards to mark the chances laid before him. The grave croupier----he looked like an archdeacon--pa.s.sed his gold snuff-box across the table; the smartly wigged and waistcoated one at his side presented the cards to cut, with some whispered remark that was sure to make Dalton laugh heartily. The sensation of this _entree_ was certain to last some minutes; and even the impatience of the players to resume the game was a tribute that Dalton accepted as complimentary to the bustle of his approach.