Daniel Deronda
乔治.艾略特 George Eliot
CHAPTER XV.
"_Festina lente_--celerity should be contempered withcunctation."--SIR THOMAS BROWNE.
Gwendolen, we have seen, passed her time abroad in the new excitement ofgambling, and in imagining herself an empress of luck, having brought fromher late experience a vague impression that in this confused world itsignified nothing what any one did, so that they amused themselves. Wehave seen, too, that certain persons, mysteriously symbolized as Grapnell& Co., having also thought of reigning in the realm of luck, and beingalso bent on amusing themselves, no matter how, had brought about apainful change in her family circumstances; whence she had returned home--carrying with her, against her inclination, a necklace which she hadpawned and some one else had redeemed.
While she was going back to England, Grandcourt was coming to find her;coming, that is, after his own manner--not in haste by express straightfrom Diplow to Leubronn, where she was understood to be; but so entirelywithout hurry that he was induced by the presence of some Russianacquaintances to linger at Baden-Baden and make various appointments withthem, which, however, his desire to be at Leubronn ultimately caused himto break. Grandcourt's passions were of the intermittent, flickering kind:never flaming out strongly. But a great deal of life goes on withoutstrong passion: myriads of cravats are carefully tied, dinners attended,even speeches made proposing the health of august personages without thezest arising from a strong desire. And a man may make a good appearance inhigh social positions--may be supposed to know the classics, to have hisreserves on science, a strong though repressed opinion on politics, andall the sentiments of the English gentleman, at a small expense of vitalenergy. Also, he may be obstinate or persistent at the same low rate, andmay even show sudden impulses which have a false air of daemonic strengthbecause they seem inexplicable, though perhaps their secret lies merely inthe want of regulated channels for the soul to move in--good andsufficient ducts of habit without which our nature easily turns to mereooze and mud, and at any pressure yields nothing but a spurt or a puddle.
Grandcourt had not been altogether displeased by Gwendolen's running awayfrom the splendid chance he was holding out to her. The act had somepiquancy for him. He liked to think that it was due to resentment of hiscareless behavior in Cardell Chase, which, when he came to consider it,did appear rather cool. To have brought her so near a tender admission,and then to have walked headlong away from further opportunities ofwinning the consent which he had made her understand him to be asking for,was enough to provoke a girl of spirit; and to be worth his mastering itwas proper that she should have some spirit. Doubtless she meant him tofollow her, and it was what he meant too. But for a whole week he took nomeasures toward starting, and did not even inquire where Miss Harleth wasgone. Mr. Lush felt a triumph that was mingled with much distrust; forGrandcourt had said no word to him about her, and looked as neutral as analligator; there was no telling what might turn up in the slowly-churningchances of his mind. Still, to have put off a decision was to have maderoom for the waste of Grandcourt's energy.
The guests at Diplow felt more curiosity than their host. How was it thatnothing more was heard of Miss Harleth? Was it credible that she hadrefused Mr. Grandcourt? Lady Flora Hollis, a lively middle-aged woman,well endowed with curiosity, felt a sudden interest in making a round ofcalls with Mrs. Torrington, including the rectory, Offendene, andQuetcham, and thus not only got twice over, but also discussed with theArrowpoints, the information that Miss Harleth was gone to Leubronn, withsome old friends, the Baron and Baroness von Langen; for the immediateagitation and disappointment of Mrs. Davilow and the Gascoignes hadresolved itself into a wish that Gwendolen's disappearance should not beinterpreted as anything eccentric or needful to be kept secret. Therector's mind, indeed, entertained the possibility that the marriage wasonly a little deferred, for Mrs. Davilow had not dared to tell him of thebitter determination with which Gwendolen had spoken. And in spite of hispractical ability, some of his experience had petrified into maxims andquotations. Amaryllis fleeing desired that her hiding-place should beknown; and that love will find out the way "over the mountain and over thewave" may be said without hyperbole in this age of steam. Gwendolen, heconceived, was an Amaryllis of excellent sense but coquettish daring; thequestion was whether she had dared too much.
Lady Flora, coming back charged with news about Miss Harleth, saw no goodreason why she should not try whether she could electrify Mr. Grandcourtby mentioning it to him at the table; and in doing so shot a few hints ofa notion having got abroad that he was a disappointed adorer. Grandcourtheard with quietude, but with attention; and the next day he ordered Lushto bring about a decent reason for breaking up the party at Diplow by theend of another week, as he meant to go yachting to the Baltic orsomewhere--it being impossible to stay at Diplow as if he were a prisoneron parole, with a set of people whom he had never wanted. Lush needed noclearer announcement that Grandcourt was going to Leubronn; but he mightgo after the manner of a creeping billiard-ball and stick on the way. WhatMr. Lush intended was to make himself indispensable so that he might gotoo, and he succeeded; Gwendolen's repulsion for him being a fact thatonly am used his patron, and made him none the less willing to have Lushalways at hand.
This was how it happened that Grandcourt arrived at the _Czarina_ on thefifth day after Gwendolen had left Leubronn, and found there his uncle,Sir Hugo Mallinger, with his family, including Deronda. It is notnecessarily a pleasure either to the reigning power or the heirpresumptive when their separate affairs--a--touch of gout, say, in theone, and a touch of willfulness in the other--happen to bring them to thesame spot. Sir Hugo was an easy-tempered man, tolerant both of differencesand defects; but a point of view different from his own concerning thesettlement of the family estates fretted him rather more than if it hadconcerned Church discipline or the ballot, and faults were the less venialfor belonging to a person whose existence was inconvenient to him. In nocase could Grandcourt have been a nephew after his own heart; but as thepresumptive heir to the Mallinger estates he was the sign and embodimentof a chief grievance in the baronet's life--the want of a son to inheritthe lands, in no portion of which had he himself more than a life-interest. For in the ill-advised settlement which his father, Sir Francis,had chosen to make by will, even Diplow with its modicum of land had beenleft under the same conditions as the ancient and wide inheritance of thetwo Toppings--Diplow, where Sir Hugo had lived and hunted through many aseason in his younger years, and where his wife and daughters ought tohave been able to retire after his death.
This grievance had naturally gathered emphasis as the years advanced, andLady Mallinger, after having had three daughters in quick succession, hadremained for eight years till now that she was over forty withoutproducing so much as another girl; while Sir Hugo, almost twenty yearsolder, was at a time of life when, notwithstanding the fashionableretardation of most things from dinners to marriages, a man's hopefulnessis apt to show signs of wear, until restored by second childhood.
In fact, he had begun to despair of a son, and this confirmation ofGrandcourt's interest in the estates certainly tended to make his imageand presence the more unwelcome; but, on the other hand, it carriedcircumstances which disposed Sir Hugo to take care that the relationbetween them should be kept as friendly as possible. It led him to dwellon a plan which had grown up side by side with his disappointment of anheir; namely, to try and secure Diplow as a future residence for LadyMallinger and her daughters, and keep this pretty bit of the familyinheritance for his own offspring in spite of that disappointment. Suchknowledge as he had of his nephew's disposition and affairs encouraged thebelief that Grandcourt might consent to a transaction by which he wouldget a good sum of ready money, as an equivalent for his prospectiveinterest in the domain of Diplow and the moderate amount of land attachedto it. If, after all, the unhoped-for son should be born, the money wouldhave been thrown away, and Grandcourt would have been paid for giving upinterests that had turned out good for nothing; but Sir Hugo set down thisrisk as _nil_, and of late years he had husbanded his fortune so well bythe working of mines and the sale of leases that he was prepared for anoutlay.
Here was an object that made him careful to avoid any quarrel withGrandcourt. Some years before, when he was making improvements at theAbbey, and needed Grandcourt's concurrence in his felling an obstructivemass of timber on the demesne, he had congratulated himself on findingthat there was no active spite against him in his nephew's peculiar mind;and nothing had since occurred to make them hate each other more than wascompatible with perfect politeness, or with any accommodation that couldbe strictly mutual.
Grandcourt, on his side, thought his uncle a superfluity and a bore, andfelt that the list of things in general would be improved whenever SirHugo came to be expunged. But he had been made aware through Lush, alwaysa useful medium, of the baronet's inclinations concerning Diplow, and hewas gratified to have the alternative of the money in his mind: even if hehad not thought it in the least likely that he would choose to accept it,his sense of power would have been flattered by his being able to refusewhat Sir Hugo desired. The hinted transaction had told for something amongthe motives which had made him ask for a year's tenancy of Diplow, whichit had rather annoyed Sir Hugo to grant, because the excellent hunting inthe neighborhood might decide Grandcourt not to part with his chance offuture possession;--a man who has two places, in one of which the huntingis less good, naturally desiring a third where it is better. Also, Lushhad thrown out to Sir Hugo the probability that Grandcourt would woo andwin Miss Arrowpoint, and in that case ready money might be less of atemptation to him. Hence, on this unexpected meeting at Leubronn, thebaronet felt much curiosity to know how things had been going on atDiplow, was bent on being as civil as possible to his nephew, and lookedforward to some private chat with Lush.
Between Deronda and Grandcourt there was a more faintly-marked butpeculiar relation, depending on circumstances which have yet to be madeknown. But on no side was there any sign of suppressed chagrin on thefirst meeting at the _table d'hôte_, an hour after Grandcourt's arrival;and when the quartette of gentlemen afterward met on the terrace, withoutLady Mallinger, they moved off together to saunter through the rooms, SirHugo saying as they entered the large _saal_--
"Did you play much at Baden, Grandcourt?"
"No; I looked on and betted a little with some Russians there."
"Had you luck?"
"What did I win, Lush?"
"You brought away about two hundred," said Lush.
"You are not here for the sake of the play, then?" said Sir Hugo.
"No; I don't care about play now. It's a confounded strain," saidGrandcourt, whose diamond ring and demeanor, as he moved along playingslightly with his whisker, were being a good deal stared at by rougedforeigners interested in a new milord.
"The fact is, somebody should invent a mill to do amusements for you, mydear fellow," said Sir Hugo, "as the Tartars get their praying done. But Iagree with you; I never cared for play. It's monotonous--knits the brainup into meshes. And it knocks me up to watch it now. I suppose one getspoisoned with the bad air. I never stay here more than ten minutes. Butwhere's your gambling beauty, Deronda? Have you seen her lately?"
"She's gone," said Deronda, curtly.
"An uncommonly fine girl, a perfect Diana," said Sir Hugo, turning toGrandcourt again. "Really worth a little straining to look at her. I sawher winning, and she took it as coolly as if she had known it allbeforehand. The same day Deronda happened to see her losing like wildfire,and she bore it with immense pluck. I suppose she was cleaned out, or waswise enough to stop in time. How do you know she's gone?"
"Oh, by the Visitor-list," said Deronda, with a scarcely perceptibleshrug. "Vandernoodt told me her name was Harleth, and she was with theBaron and Baroness von Langen. I saw by the list that Miss Harleth was nolonger there."
This held no further information for Lush than that Gwendolen had beengambling. He had already looked at the list, and ascertained thatGwendolen had gone, but he had no intention of thrusting this knowledge onGrandcourt before he asked for it; and he had not asked, finding it enoughto believe that the object of search would turn up somewhere or other.
But now Grandcourt had heard what was rather piquant, and not a word aboutMiss Harleth had been missed by ham. After a moment's pause he said toDeronda--
"Do you know those people--the Langens?"
"I have talked with them a little since Miss Harleth went away. I knewnothing of them before."
"Where is she gone--do you know?"
"She is gone home," said Deronda, coldly, as if he wished to say no more.But then, from a fresh impulse, he turned to look markedly at Grandcourt,and added, "But it is possible you know her. Her home is not far fromDiplow: Offendene, near Winchester."
Deronda, turning to look straight at Grandcourt, who was on his left hand,might have been a subject for those old painters who liked contrasts oftemperament. There was a calm intensity of life and richness of tint inhis face that on a sudden gaze from him was rather startling, and oftenmade him seem to have spoken, so that servants and officials asked himautomatically, "What did you say, sir?" when he had been quite silent.Grandcourt himself felt an irritation, which he did not show except by aslight movement of the eyelids, at Deronda's turning round on him when hewas not asked to do more than speak. But he answered, with his usualdrawl, "Yes, I know her," and paused with his shoulder toward Deronda, tolook at the gambling.
"A little too much of her," said Lush, in a low, significant tone; notsorry to let Sir Hugo know the state of affairs.
"Why? how?" said the baronet. They all moved out of the _salon_ into anairy promenade.
"He has been on the brink of marrying her," Lush went on. "But I hope it'soff now. She's a niece of the clergyman--Gascoigne--at Pennicote. Hermother is a widow with a brood of daughters. This girl will have nothing,and is as dangerous as gunpowder. It would be a foolish marriage. But shehas taken a freak against him, for she ran off here without notice, whenhe had agreed to call the next day. The fact is, he's here after her; buthe was in no great hurry, and between his caprice and hers they are likelyenough not to get together again. But of course he has lost his chancewith the heiress."
Grandcourt joining them said, "What a beastly den this is!--a worse holethan Baden. I shall go back to the hotel."
When Sir Hugo and Deronda were alone, the baronet began--
"Rather a pretty story. That girl has something in her. She must be worthrunning after--has _de l'imprévu_. I think her appearance on the scene hasbettered my chance of getting Diplow, whether the marriage comes off ornot."
"I should hope a marriage like that would not come off," said Deronda, ina tone of disgust.
"What! are you a little touched with the sublime lash?" said Sir Hugo,putting up his glasses to help his short sight in looking at hiscompanion. "Are you inclined to run after her?"
"On the contrary," said Deronda, "I should rather be inclined to run awayfrom her."
"Why, you would easily cut out Grandcourt. A girl with her spirit wouldthink you the finer match of the two," said Sir Hugo, who often triedDeronda's patience by finding a joke in impossible advice. (A differenceof taste in jokes is a great strain on the affections.)
"I suppose pedigree and land belong to a fine match," said Deronda,coldly.
"The best horse will win in spite of pedigree, my boy. You rememberNapoleon's _mot--Je suis un ancêtre_" said Sir Hugo, who habituallyundervalued birth, as men after dining well often agree that the good oflife is distributed with wonderful equality.
"I am not sure that I want to be an ancestor," said Deronda. "It doesn'tseem to me the rarest sort of origination."
"You won't run after the pretty gambler, then?" said Sir Hugo, puttingdown his glasses.
"Decidedly not."
This answer was perfectly truthful; nevertheless it had passed throughDeronda's mind that under other circumstances he should have given way tothe interest this girl had raised in him, and tried to know more of her.But his history had given him a stronger bias in another direction. Hefelt himself in no sense free.