Mr. Montenello: a romance of the Civil Service

Front matter

ME MONTENELLO. MR MONTENELLO: A ROMANCE OF THE CIVIL SERVICE. BY W. A. BAILLIE HAMILTON. VOL. I. WILLIAM BLACKWOOD AND SONS, EDINBURGH AND LONDON. MDCCCLXXXV. CONTENTS. CHAP. PAGE I. THE LITTLEBROOK HARRIERS ... I II. THE COURTENAY FAMILY . . . . II III. THE GENERAL ENQUIRY OFFICE -7 IV. FROM NEWMARKET TO WHITEHALL . . 52 v. cousins 66 VI. THE VICE-PRESIDENT . . . . . 79 VII. THE PRIVATE SECRETARY .... 93 VIII. "LADY NARBOROUGH'S CARRIAGE!" . . 1IO IX. SYDMONTON PLACE . . . . .129 X. "MY LADY" 150 XI. HOLIDAY TIME . . . . . 1 63 XII. A COUNTRY-HOUSE BREAKFAST . . . 174 XIII. potter's CORNER . . . . .190 XIV. THE SHAWFIELD BALL . 2IO XV. THE OLD STORY . . . . .241 XVI. HATFIELD STREET . . . . .259 XVII. AN IDEA ....... A ROMANCE OF THE CIVIL SERVICE. CHAPTEE I. THE LITTLEBROOK HARRIERS. Of all the " hohday resorts " within the easy reach of jaded Londoners, who, while possessed with a keen appreciation of the delights of a somewhat wilder scenery than is to be found in the immediate neighbourhood of their native metropolis, are nevertheless prevented by various circumstances from wandering further a-field, it would be difficult to fix upon any district more nearly approaching to real wildness than the long range of downs that stretches away westwards from Beachy Head to within a few miles of Winchester.

There is certainly a great charm about the Southdowns — that peculiar charm which al- VOL. I. A ways seems to associate itself with a pastoral district, — especially in a hill country such as this, where a thinly scattered population, living in and about the old farmhouses, in many cases occupied by the same families for generations back, pass a placid, sleepy exist ence, wdiich in these feverish and go-ahead times would seem strangely out of place else where. They have a quiet, peaceful character of their own, these grey old hills ; and whether seen on a lovely spring morning, with the dehcate tints of sunrise stealing over the sea and gradually lighting up each undulating mound and copse-dotted valley ; — in the glis tening haze of a summer noon, when the golden corn shimmers on the lowlands, and the glare of the chalk cuttings is only partially relieved by the sober green of the downs ; — or on a darkening winter's afternoon, when the snow hes deep in the combes, and beats fiercely in the face of the belated wayfarer as he essays to make a line across the open, and can hardly tell one white-shrouded hill from an other ; — there is always something fresh and ever-changing about them, suggestive of the thought that man is here alone with nature.

Some such reflections may possibly have passed through the minds of two individuals who, towards the close of an early spring afternoon, were seated on an overhanging ledge of a steep hill-side, and watching the expiring efforts of a pack of harriers to puzzle out a rapidly deteriorating scent over a flinty fallow beneath. The youngest of the two — to whom, as about to become the principal character in our story, we will give precedence in the way of introduction — was a young man of about six-and twenty, tall, fair-haired, and rather good looking than otherwise. He was slightly made, and rather too much of the " hop-pole " build to have a really good figure ; but at the same time was evidently active and vigorous, and possessed of the full use of his limbs. The chief fault to be found, both in figure and face, w7as a want of solidity in the one and of decision in the other ; and this w7as a very fair index to his general character.

Chapter II. The Courtenay Family

The Earldom of Weatherby was created, according to that most veracious of chroniclers, Sir Bernard Burke, in the year 1705. We learn that the Honourable Loftus Courtenay, having adopted the legal profession, and attained considerable celebrity at the Bar, was appointed Sofictor-General on the 20th of March 1695. He represented the borough of Muddleton in the Convention Parliament, and was subsequently raised to the peerage by the title of Baron of Wigglesthorpe on the 20th of July 1701. But it is clear that there must have been a strong feeling that his claims had been by no means as yet fully recognised ; for we find that shortly after the accession of George I. he was created Earl of Weatherby, being moreover in the same year sworn of the Privy Council. It is to be regretted that the subsequent Earls do not appear to have distinguished themselves to the extent that might have been expected from the descendants of such a legal luminary, for we look in vain for any special record of their achievements.

They seem to have been contented with figuring as Lords Lieutenant of counties, High Sheriffs and Custodes Rotulorum, Chairmen of Quarter Sessions, &c, and to have kept aloof to a great extent from public life. Among the younger branches of the family we occasionally find mention of some Courtenay wdio succeeded in attaining a respectable position as a soldier, sailor, or diplomatist ; but we fail to discover any record of exceptionally distinguished services ; and the Courtenays seem, as a rule, to have .lived and died after the most uneventful and humdrum fashion, possibly considering that they were fulfilling their destiny just as well by taking things easily as by attempting to make a noise in the world. The representative of the family honours at the time of our story was Almurus de Capel John, eighth Earl, who having unexpectedly succeeded to the title by the drowrning of his elder brother while on a boating excursion, found himself at six and twenty the possessor of a highly respectable title and rent-roll, tolerably free from encumbrances, of about £30,000 a year, with a house in London and a fine old place in Warwickshire.

The fact of being heir-presumptive to his brother had not in any way lessened his opportunities of extending the circle of his acquaintance while still a subaltern in the Guards ; and a cheery, sociable disposition, added to a strong turn for flirtation and for making himself generally agreeable, had made him very popular in London drawing-rooms. His sudden accession to the title had the effect, therefore, of raising a flutter in more than one fair bosom, and the interest already taken in him by the mothers of Mayfair and Belgravia might be said to rather increase than diminish. Being, as has been observed, of a good-natured and easy-going disposition, the idea of matrimony did not present itself to him in a particularly objectionable form, and he wras quite prepared to look upon it as a matter of course.

It was barely a year, therefore, after his succession to the family honours that he discovered that his existence would no lone;er be endurable unless he could persuade the charming Lady Constance Dul lingham, second daughter of the Earl of Carnforth, to share it with him. No special objection to the proposed arrangement having been raised, either by the lady herself, who had already formed the highest opinion of him from a dancing point of view, or by her noble parents, with whom the cheery young guards man had always been a great favourite, the preliminary negotiations were settled as smoothly as they ought to be where love, rank, and fortune combine to make things pleasant ; and it wras not long before as handsome a couple as could have been found in a long summer's day were united at St. George's, Hanover Square, in the presence of an unusually select assemblage, including a contingent of stalwart non - commissioned officers from the bridegroom's regiment, whose devotion to their officer was testified by a valedictory discharge of rice that would have sufficed to keep a fairsized family in puddings for at least a fortnight.

Lord Weatherby remained in the Guards for two years after his marriage ; but findino-, about that time, that the duties wmich had lately devolved upon him of master of hounds were not altogether compatible with the satisfactory performance of his military avocations, he reluctantly resigned his commission, and proceeded to devote himself almost entirely to country pursuits, and to the society of his charming wife ; who, although as fond of dancing as ever, when circumstances did not intervene to render such strong exercise undesirable, was just as happy in the country as her husband, and took a great deal more interest in the performance of his hounds than in the gossip of London drawing-rooms. The house in Hill Street was therefore only tenanted for a short three months in the summer, or on those occasions when it was considered desirable that Lady Weatherby should be under the personal supervision of that eminent practitioner, Dr. Mackenzie of Curzon Street.

For little feet were already beginning to toddle about the spacious old corridors at Storrington ; and at the time of our story, when Lord and Lady Weatherby had now been married about ten years, they were seriously deliberating whether it might not be advisable to dispose of the London house, or at any rate to let it until it should be time for a second Lady Constance to bloom upon London society. Lord Weatherby's immediate family circle was not a large one, being reduced, after his brother's death, to himself and two elder sisters, both of whom had been some time married, and with whom, as in no way con nected with our story, it is unnecessary to further trouble our readers. The collateral branches of the Courtenay family were by this time scattered about the country, and, as usual in such cases, had established ties and associations of their own.

They had all, as a rule, succeeded in doing pretty well for them selves, either by comfortable marriages, or by a moderate amount of success in the various professions they had adopted ; and had in fact earned the reputation of being a highly respectable family, who, without being in the least likely to distinguish themselves, would in all probability do fair credit to any posi tion in which it might please Providence to place them. Among other brothers and sisters of the sixth Lord Weatherby, the grandfather of the present lord, was Admiral the Hon. Thomas Courtenay, who, having served his country with more or less zeal and fidelity for about twenty years, had eventually been appointed to a small office about the Court. This gallant seaman, who had married early in hfe, and had been left a widower while still a young man, had had five children, of whom, however, the eldest alone was now living.

The name of this individual was Charles John Courtenay, Esq., and as he is the father of our hero, we may perhaps be allowed to devote a few lines to his description. Mr Charles John Courtenay was one of those persons about whom it is somewhat difficult to pronounce any positive opinion. At the time we are speaking of, he wras about sixty-five years of age, tall, slender, and white haired, with an unmistakable air of good breeding, and that appearance of dignity which, in these degenerate days, is always associated with a man wiio adheres to the good old fashion of voluminous neckcloths and swal low-tail coats. He was of an extremely shy and reserved disposition, and having mixed VOL. I. B but little in society for the last twenty years, was apt to be a little narrow-minded in his views of things in general.

He had been originally intended for the diplomatic service, and had, in fact, been actually appointed to an unpaid attache'-ship at Stockholm. But two or three years in the legation did not develop in him any special aptitude for the duties of his profession ; and his chief, who was an old friend of his father's, found it necessary to intimate to him pretty plainly that his son was not likely to attain to. any great eminence in the diplomatic circles of Europe. On his return to England, therefore, it became a question of some anxiety to the gallant Admiral how to dispose of his first-born, who seemed in a fair way to be thrown upon his hands without any particular disposition or aptitude for taking care of himself. For tunately, however, an unexpected opening occurred at this moment through the appoint ment of Lord Weatherby, a painstaking and conscientious statesman of the third order to the office of Lord Privy Seal.

Anxious to help his brother, who had perhaps not thought it necessary to enter too closely into the precise reasons for his son's retirement from the diplomatic service, he consented to take him as his private secretary ; and the duties attaching to this office not being of a par ticularly arduous or responsible nature, Mr Charles Courtenay continued to discharge them, with much satisfaction to himself and without any great detriment to the public service, for a period of six years. During this time, he had of. course, as Lord Weatherby's nephew and private secretary, the entree to the best London society ; and although in no sense a parti, he was approved of and favour ably noticed by a fair proportion of mothers and daughters as a well-connected, good-looking, and well-behaved young man, wiio might possibly be pushed by the influence of his family into an appointment which wyould eventually make him worth considering from a matrimonial point of view.

With men he was not so popular, his reserved and formal manner causing him to be looked upon as somewhat of a prig. At the same time he considered it necessary to fall in love, like other people ; and having succeeded in render ing himself acceptable to the Countess of Warlingham and her seventh daughter, Lady Theodosia Dutton, a young lady of no special attractions, but of irreproachable character and tractable disposition, wliose matrimonial prospects were beginning to cause her mother some anxiety, they were married, despite the subdued grumblings of Lord Warlingham, wlio had not formed a particularly exalted opinion of his son-in-law, when the latter was about two-and-thirty, and shortly before the Ministry of which Lord Weatherby wTas a member went out of office. But whatever expectations might have been formed as to Mr Charles Courtenay 's success in an official career, they wrere not altogether justified by results.

For either no suitable opening presented itself at the supreme moment when the outgoing Government were setting their house in order and filling up every available vacancy by the appointment of their own supporters, or else the quondam private secretary's performances had not been such as to justify even an uncle in forcino him upon the public as an assistant-commis sioner or under-secretary ; for the utmost that Lord Weatherby was able or willing to do for his nephew was to procure for him a sub-inspectorship of collieries, with the modest salary of £300 a year. But even a sub inspectorship was, of course, better than nothing ; and with the help of a liberal allowance from his father, and by means of living on their relations to the utmost extent that could be tolerated, the Courtenays con trived to eke out a tolerably comfortable though somewhat desultory existence for the next four or five years, when, by the death of his father, Charles Courtenay came into a small independence of about £1200 a year and a small house in Park Street, Grosvenor Square.

This accession of wealth furnished him with an excuse for finally relinquishing the public service, and, after some consideration, he came to the conclusion that his dignity would be best supported and his means rendered most available by a residence in the country. In this view Lady Theodosia, who was blessed with an implicit belief in her husband, and who neither cared for nor was in any way adapted to London society, entirely concurred ; and after some looking about, they settled upon a large roomy house, with a few acres of land about it, in the north of Somersetshire, where, at the time of our story, they had lived for about twenty-five years. Their family by this time consisted of two sons and a daughter. The eldest, Charles, was in the Rifle Brigade, and at present with his battalion in India.

Gerard and his sister Katharine were twins, and about four years younger than their brother. A great attach ment had always existed between them ; and it was with anything but satisfaction that Gerard had a few years previously seen his sister borne away from the family circle by a rich young banker, Mr Tobias Thornton, of Leadenhall Street and Westwrood Hall, Hertfordshire, thus leavinghim the only one regularly at home. The question of Gerard's profession had always been one of some difficulty. He had not shown any predilection for one fine of life more than another, and had, in fact, no very fixed ideas on the subject. The army had never even been suggested to him, as it was a sort of understood thing that one soldier in the family was quite enough. He had never passed through the usual boyish phase of wishing to be a sailor ; and his destiny was evidently, therefore, in the civil walks of life.

Even here, however, he could not be got to express any decided opinion ; and when nearly nineteen, and in his last quarter at Harrow, was still as undecided as ever. There had, indeed, been some idea of his going to Oxford, with a view to the somewhat vague course of study known as reading for the Bar ; but it had lately been a serious question with his father whether it was worth while to incur the expense of an university education which might result in nothing after all. At this moment, however, another idea presented itself to the paternal mind, which was eagerly caught at as a possible solution to this ex tremely difficult question. Although Mr Charles Courtenay's official career could hardly have been described as a brilliant success, he was, nevertheless, far from being disposed to undervalue the services which he had rendered to his country, and was, in fact, convinced that, if only circumstances had been somewhat more favourable, he would have risen to great eminence in the official world.

In referring to his diplomatic experience, he always spoke with an air of studied caution and reserve, calculated to con vey the idea that if he chose he could divulge secrets which might even then seriously affect the peace of Europe; and as regards his private secretaryship, it would have been impossible for any unprejudiced listener to doubt that, although excluded by the traditions of red tape from the actual deliberations of the Cabinet, he had nevertheless been in some degree a party to their most important actions. He was, moreover, inclined to attach great importance to " office " of any kind, and had a general idea that a young man of good birth and connections was bound, apart from any vulgar considerations, to be selected for a fair share of whatever " plums " the public service might have to offer.

The idea, there fore, of his son's entering some Government office had always rather commended itself to him, though up to the present time it had assumed no very definite shape. But happen ing, during one of his somewhat rare visits to London, to fall in with his old acquaintance, Mr Gregory Sutton, formerly secretary to the General Enquiry Office, it was suggested to him by that eminent ex-public servant, that, if he really contemplated anything of the sort for his son, he might do worse than enter him for his own old office. The suggestion was eagerly accepted, and Mr Courtenay at once proceeded to give the question his serious attention. As for Gerard himself, the notion was far from unpleasing. His ideas on the subject of Government offices were certainly somewhat vague, and he was under a general impression that an attendance of a few hours a day, with unlimited leave and ample opportunities for playing cricket, would constitute the main features of an official career.

He was, therefore, by no means indisposed to fall in with the paternal views, and was quite prepared to take whatever preliminary steps might be considered necessary. Beyond a moderate proficiency in Latin verses and the slightest possible acquaintance with ancient history, his six years at Harrow had not produced any striking educational results ; and although the examination for the General Enquiry Office was by no means of a severe description, not having as yet been included in the open-competition scheme, it was found absolutely necessary that he should undergo a certain amount of tuition with a "crammer" before attempting to pass the ordeal. The patronage of the office was, for some occult reason, vested in the President of the Council, who in other respects had absolutely nothing to do with it.

It required but little exertion on Mr Courtenay' s part to get his son's name placed on this nobleman's list of candidates, with a half-promise that he would be considered at the next vacancy, which might be expected before long. Gerard for once set to work with a will ; his instructor reported most favourably of his progress ; and when the expected nomination arrived, and the date of the final examination was announced, it was found that two out of the four nominees had failed to pass the modest preliminary tests, and that the third had at the last moment abandoned the idea of the civil service, and was about to go up for the army. So our friend had a " walk over ; " and, within six months from the time when the idea was first started, the " Civil Service Gazette" announced that Gerard Courtenay, Esq., had been appointed to a junior clerkship in the General Enquiry Office.

Chapter III. The General Enquiry Office

No one who is acquainted with the situation of the General Enquiry Office could possibly deny that it is such as to suggest the idea of intense respectability. While not actually within the sacred precincts of Downing Street, it is nevertheless so nearly adjacent to it that the messengers attached to the great Inter national and other offices that constitute the fountain-head of official existence, will occasionally condescend to carry important missives over the intervening distance, instead of relegating them to the more commonplace means of conveyance afforded by the post office bag. And, standing back as it does from the noise and turmoil of Whitehall, with an entrance which it has been the cherished aim of successive Administrations to keep secret from the public, it is completely re moved from that undesirable contact with the outside world which must be so difficult to avoid in the case of a public department with its entrance in a public thoroughfare, and which must necessarily tend to detract from the dignity and repose of those offices wliich are not so fortunately situated.

The fact, moreover, of being constructed out of two or three old private houses gives a look of old-world snugness to the General Enquiry Office that is incompatible with the more modern structures over the way, where out ward splendour is not always accompanied by internal comfort. The old brick wralls are black and dingy ; the passages are tortuous and cramped ; and wliat were once well proportioned rooms are subdivided and par titioned in order to meet the requirements of a staff of secretaries and clerks. But the remains of a still beautiful marble staircase, and here and there a rare piece of carving or an exquisitely painted ceiling, recall memories of the past and afford a pleasant contrast to the commonplace surroundings of a modern public office. The general features of this great public institution are, in short, as we have already observed, calculated to convey the idea of intense respectability ; and the same remark may be applied with equal correctness to its inmates.

They are not, as a rule, equal in social standing to the highly ornamental staff of the International Office ; they do not succeed in getting appointed to such lucrative places as the gentlemen of the Treasury, and they are not eligible for the well-paid opportunities for committing gentlemanlike suicide that are open to those employes of the Aboriginal Office who may be prompted by domestic or other disappointments to take service on the West Coast of Africa. They are not seen much in fashionable society, and may be looked for in vain at Hurlingham in June, at Cowes in August, or in select country-houses in autumn. But they manage to enjoy life very much in their own way, and though their domestic surroundings may savour more of Bayswater and the suburbs than May fair and Belgravia, they are perhaps none the less happy on that account.

They take a pride in their work, and the General En quiry Office enjoys a just reputation for effi ciency. For the work in question, though of a somewhat peculiar nature, is of a character that demands a high standard of intelligence, and the General Enquirers may be called upon at any moment to participate indirectly in some of the most important questions of the day. And here it may not be out of place to say a word respecting the origin and history of the office. Many generations of statesmen will come and go before the name of that good and gifted public servant, Sir Hercules Pigeonhole, now gone to his rest, will cease to be a house hold wTord in the traditions of the Inter national Office, over whose destinies he held a despotic but kindly sway for a period alto gether unsurpassed in point of duration in the annals of official life.

Many an ambas sador and diplomatist still living will be able to recall the time wlien, as smooth-faced attache's, they wrere summoned for their first interview with the great permanent secretary, the absolute arbiter of their destinies, and how7, although by no means, as a rule, in clined to think much wrorse of themselves than of other people, they trembled and shrank into nothing as they found themselves for the first time in the great man's presence. And many an old International Office man will remember, not without a tinge of regret, those golden days of his youth, when the paternal jurisdiction of Sir Hercules enveloped him as with a mantle, and he knew that, if he only did his duty and acted strictly according to orders, he was certain to be looked after and brought to the front in his turn.

For never was there a more loyal chief than Sir Her cules ; and though some of his would-be detractors might complain that his devotion to the interests of his office was such as to render him sometimes a little blind to the general interests of the British taxpayer, it could never be said of him that he neglected those over whom he ruled, and for whose wel fare he considered himself in a great measure responsible. It was about the zenith, then, of Sir Her cules' reign, and at a period when international affairs were attracting a more than usual amount of public attention, that a question of great importance happened to arise, which, apart from the weighty interests in volved in its more immediate surroundings, necessitated a minute and tedious investiga tion of the records of the office for about twenty or thirty years back.

The entire resources of the establishment were, in fact, strained to the utmost, as every available functionary wTas detached for this special ser vice, and the ordinary work of the various de partments was for the time being completely thrown out of gear. This, of course, involved a certain amount of delay in other matters of less urgency ; and some question of minor importance having been left undisposed of for rather more than the usual period allowed by the unwritten law of the office, the then Secre tary of State, wliose attention had been called to the case by an outside friend, ventured to suggest to the permanent secretary that the matter might have been looked to a little earlier. This, however, was more than Sir Hercules could stand ; for although no one was more capable of administering a rebuke when called for, the prerogative of so doing was one that he specially reserved to himself ; and to have a mere transitory Secretary of State poking his nose into questions of official economy, of which it was impossible that he could be expected to know anything what ever, was a reflection upon Sir Hercules and his young men that could not be tolerated for a moment.

It was in a minute, therefore, of withering sarcasm that he condescended to ex plain to his temporary chief, that although the staff of his department was, thanks to his own admirable organisation, quite unequalled in the discharge of its duties, emergencies might occur with which even their energy and re sources might be unable to cope ; and he, in short, hinted pretty plainly to the Secretary of State that he would have done better to let the matter alone. It is hardly necessary to add that the amiable and easy-going noble man who at the time occupied this position was only too ready to acknowledge his error, and to make a handsome apology, in which he placed on record his deliberate opinion that the staff of the office was as near perfection as human nature could hope to arrive. The insult, however, continued to rankle in Sir Hercules' bosom, and to exercise his mind in a manner that might have surprised those who were unaware of the jealous solicitude with which he watched over every detail of his VOL. i. c beloved office.