A Bachelor's Blunder

Front matter

BY W. E. NORRIS,^ AUTHOR OF 'MATRIMONY,' 'THIRLBY HALL,' ETC. A NEW EDITION LONDON RICHARD BENTLEY & SON, NEW BURLINGTON STREET laubltsfjcrs in ©rotnarg to H?cr ilHajcstg tfje ©uttn CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE I. Miss Lefrov, the Heiress . . . i II. Bad News ....... 13 III. More Bad News . . . . . .21 IV. A Friend in Need . . . . -3° V. The Doctor Intervenes . . . -40 VI. Tristram, R.A. . . . . . 48 VII. The Opinions of Mrs. Mills . . . -56 VIII. Mr. Herbert on Marriage . . . -65 IX. Ax Alternative . . . . . -73 X. An Unknown Patron . . . . 85 XI. Hope is told the Truth . . -93 XII. Lady Jane is made Happy .... 103 XIII. Jacob Stiles . . . . . .111 XIV. Mrs. Pierpoint . . . . . .123 XV. Hope does her Duty . . . 131 XVI. A Welcome . . . . . .140 XVII. Jacob as a Hero . . . . . CONTENTS VI CHAPTER PAGE XVIII.

Hope receives Visitors . ■ • .162 XIX. Hope spoils SroRT . . ■ • .170 XX. Bertie is Lectured . . - .181 XXI. Jacob declines to Strut . . • ■ 189 XXII. Mrs. Pierpoint is Peremptory . • 197 XXIII. An Unrehearsed Effect . . • 206 XXIV. The Pleasures of Hope . . . .213 XXV. The Temple of Fame .... 224 XXVI. A few Words from Lady Chatterton . . 234 XXVII. A few Words from Mr. Lefroy . . . 244 XXVIII. Bertie makes a Great Mistake . . . 253 XXIX. Confession ...... 264 XXX. Jacob goes out for a Ride . . . 274 XXXI. Dick is quite Candid .... 284 XXXII. Farewell ! . . 295 XXXIII. A Generous Offer ..... 305 XXXIV. A Quiet Time . -. . .« . 3^ XXXV. A Treaty of Peace . . . .327 XXXVI. Tristram points a Moral . . . 337 XXXVII. Hope is taken to the Play' . . . 346 XXXVIII. Bertie accommodates Himself to Circumstances 358 XXXIX. 'Cain' . . . . . 36s XL.

Jacob's Confession ..... 372 XLI. In the Woods . . og, XLH. Jacob under a New Aspect . . . CONTENTS vii CHAPTER PAGE XLIII. In Virginia City ..... 402 XLIV. A Long Journey ..... 412 XLV. ' For her Sake ! ' . . . . 423 XLVI. Hope takes her own Way .... 432 XLVII. Explanations are dispensed with . . . 443 XLVIII. Conclusion . . . . . •

Chapter I Miss Lefroy, The Heiress

' Hope ? How pretty ! Is that your real name, or are you only called so by your people ? ' ' I w-as called so by my godfathers and godmothers in my Baptism. Have you any objection ? ' ' None. I think it is a charming name, like everything else about you ; only, as one baby is so very much like another, you know, it seems odd that anybody should have been clever enough to hit upon exactly the right name to call you by. I presume that when you were a baby you had a little round mouth, a little round nose, and little round eyes, like the rest of the species. No one could have foreseen that you would grow up to — to ' ' To the possession of my present perfect set of features ? Possibly not ; but why do you say that Hope is exactly the right name for me?' ' I don't know. Something about the curve of the lips perhaps, or about your eyes, which are always rather wide open and look as if they saw something pleasant, or — or — well, I am not a very good hand at explaining myself, but I daresay you understand what I mean.' It is not unlikely that she did.

At any rate she must have understood that he meant to express admiration, and with that degree of comprehension on her part he would probably have been satisfied. This was the first time in her life that she had been addressed with such soft flattery : it was also her first introduction to a London ballroom. The glitter of the great crystal chandeliers, the amazing profusion of flowers which loaded the air with faint odours, the sparkle of in numerable diamonds, the steady, ceaseless hum of a multitude of voices, the rhythmic strains of the Hungarian band, to which her little feet kept unconsciously beating time upon the polished floor — all these things excited her unaccustomed brain, and filled her with that intoxication of joy in existence which belongs to youth alone. If it added something to her happiness to be seated beside an exceedingly handsome young guardsman and to listen to the nonsense which it pleased him to talk, she assuredly did not differ very much in that particular from other persons of greater age and experience.

But Captain Cunningham did not suppose himself to be talking nonsense at all. ' The Goddess of Hope,' he went on presently, ' must have been the very image of you ; that is, if there ever was such a being. I've forgotten my gods and goddesses since I left school.' ' You must have a remarkably short memory.' ' Ah, you say that because you think I'm so young ; that is what everybody thinks. But you're wrong ; I'm quite old in reality — twenty-four the very next third of August as ever is, little as you might imagine it. I suppose,' he added, turning up his face towards her vvith a sort of innocent gravity, ' I do look awfully young ; don't I ? ' She scrutinised his small, refined features, his dark blue eyes with their long lashes, his close-cut black hair and the smiling mouth, above which there was but the faintest indica tion of a moustache, and answered : ' Well, yes ; you do.

But I don't think I should pind that much if I were you. We shall none of us either look young or be young for more than a few years.' ' Let us make the most of our time while it lasts, then. Shall we take another turn ? ' She nodded ; he gave her back her fan (upon which the monogram of H.L. had afforded him an excuse for asking her what H. stood for), and soon they were gliding swiftly round the room vvith the other dancers. After all, the best moments of life are more connected with trivialities than vve care to admit, and happiness, which we are told not to expect in this world, and which certainly is a very different thing from placid contentment, comes and goes in flashes, seldom leaving behind it any rational explanation of its visits. It is doubtful whether, even in communing with her own heart, Hope Lefroy ever made such an admission as this : ' I was happy once.

It was on a summer evening in a big London house ; I was waltzing with the handsomest man and the best dancer in the room ; the lights and the colours and the voices went swimming round us like things in a dream ; I almost forgot my identity, and the music seemed to be part of us — or else we were a part of the music. Some body said : "AA'hat a lovely girl !" and somebody else said: " That is Miss Lefroy — the great heiress, you know." ' Never theless she had to wait a long time before another quarter of an hour such as that came to her. The above fragments of conversation were the only words which reached her ears, and these, fortunately, were not acute enough to catch the remarks made by a good-natured person seated near the door to a lady with a hook nose and double eyeglasses and somewhat anxious expression of countenance. 'My dear Lady Jane,' the good-natured person was saying, ' do you know that this is the fourth time running that your niece has danced with Bertie Cunningham.

Isn't that just a little bit dangerous?' The lady vvith the hook nose said : ' I trust not' ' Really I think it is. Bertie has three hundred a year from his father, and debts, and the face of an angel. He is always in love vvith somebody, and what is worse is that some body is always in love with him. One can't check these things too soon.' ' One can't dash into the middle of a ballroom and drag one's niece out of danger by the hair of her head. I will speak to her when I get an opportunity. The truth is that she knows no more about — about everything than a child in arms. Charles has kept her down in the country half her life, and I doubt whether she would ever have had a season in London at all if I had not come to the rescue.' ' How good of you ! ' ' I suppose you mean how foolish. Very likely it was, only it did seem such a pity that she should remain buried in the depths of the midlands and perhaps end by marrying the curate.

Still, people ought to look after their own daughters ; I am sure I have enough to do to look after mine. Of course, if anything interesting happens I shall get no credit, and if there is a catastrophe I shall be blamed. I wonder why younger sons are always so good-looking, while their elder brothers are invariably ugly, or go in for eccentric fads, or have fits, or something horrid ! ' ' Because there is a good deal of rough justice in human affairs. The elder brothers don't need personal advantages ; the younger ones are given handsome faces in order that they may get on in the world and marry rich Miss Lefroys.' ' You never would say such things if you knew how un comfortable it makes me to hear them. Please take me to the supper-room, and let us think about something more pleasant.' A tall, loosely-built man, neither young nor old, vvith a long moustache and no other hair about his face, turned to a brisk elderly gentleman who vvas standing beside him and asked abruptly: 'Is that your niece, Lefroy?' The elderly gentleman replied : ' Yes, that is my niece.

A handsome girl, isn't she?' ' Very. To whom are you and Lady Jane going to marry her?' ' To nobody that I know of. AVe have brought her up to London to give her a little amusement; she hasn't had too much of that, poor girl ! ' 'You don't intend her to marry Cunningham, do you?' 'Cunningham? AVhat Cunningham? That boy in the Scots Guards, do you mean? Hardly! All the same I should be glad if she would marry somebody ' ' AVhy ? ' 'Because my brother Charles has heart-disease. You needn't mention this, you know, but the doctors tell him he may go off suddenly at any moment; and, of course, when poor Charles dies ' ' Oh, I see ; you would find her confoundedly in the way then. You're good-natured sort of people, but there is nothing you hate like being made uncomfortable. Don't mind my saying so, do you?' ' Nobody ever minds what you say, Herbert, and I confess I don't like being made uncomfortable.

For the matter of that, I don't know who does. I tell you what : I wish you'd marry the girl yourself.' ' No use, Lefroy ; the mothers gave me up long ago. Ask any dowager you like. I've had an asterisk before my name for the last ten years. No, I can't help you in that way, but I'll give you a bit of gratuitous advice : don't let her see too much of Cunningham. Not that there's any particular harm in him, only she ought to do better, I should think.' Meanwhile, the subject of so much free discussion was happily unaware of having made herself in any way conspicuous. AArhen the waltz was over she very properly requested her partner to take her back to her aunt, but as Lady Jane vvas not to be found — being indeed at that moment busily engaged w-ith aspic and champagne elsewhere — she readily assented to Captain Cunningham's suggestion that they should 'go and sit down somewhere.' It may be that Captain Cunningham's mental gifts were not quite upon a par with his physical ones ; at any rate, his stock of conversational topics seemed to lack variety. ' Hope,' he murmured, as he sank down upon a sofa beside his com panion, ' I think it's the prettiest name I ever heard.' Something in the manner of his intonation certainly made it sound pretty, and the girl answered simply : ' I never thought of it as being especially so before, but now that you mention it, perhaps it is rather pretty.

It doesn't mean anything though. I was called after my mother, who, I believe, was called after an old Mr. Hope who left her people some money. So, you see, if my parents wished to express any sentiment at all in giving me my name, it must have been gratitude.' It is doubtful, however, whether that sentiment had had any place in her parents' mind at the time of her birth. If they had called her Disappointment it would more nearly have expressed their feelings. To own a large entailed estate, to have remained a considerable number of years childless and then to be presented by Heaven with a daughter, is not among the experiences which evoke prompt thanksgiving ; nor was Mr. Lefroy the kind of man to take comfort from thinking that his daughter's advent might in due season be followed by that of a son or sons. ' I know what it will be,' he said resignedly, when he was told the news ; ' I shall have twelve little girls now.' But outrageous Fortune did not deal with him quite so hardly as that, for he never had another child of either sex, and when he lost his wife he was too advanced in years to think of marrying again.

Thus Hope became a great heiress, Mr. Lefroy being a rich man independently of his acres. For generations past, as various collateral branches of the family had withered away, money had poured in upon the successive heads of the house, sometimes in driblets, sometimes in considerable streams, as it has a way of doing upon those who do not require it ; and over this accumulation Hope's father had, of course, undisputed control. During his lifetime the hoard had increased greatly. At first neither he nor his wife had been able quite to forgive their little daughter for not being a boy. AVithout being in the least unkind to her they had not cared to see much of her, and had willingly committed her to the care of the best nurses and governesses that money could procure. They had spent a large portion of their time in London and in foreign wander ings, while the child was lest in the pure country air of her home, which, as they said, was so much better for her.

The sight of her reminded them of their disappointment, and to Mrs. Lefroy in particular conveyed something in the nature of a tacit reproach. To her dying day the good lady did not altogether get over this feeling, and, conscientiously though she strove to conceal it, never succeeded in so doing ; but when Hope was about ten years old, her father's point of view underwent a sudden and complete change. Either because the child was so pretty and so winning in her ways, or because his own nature was an affectionate and his wife's a somewhat cold one, he began to worship the little heiress to whom he could bequeath neither house nor lands. It occurred to him that, so far from his having a grievance against her, it vvas she who had the best right to complain of her sex being what it was. He at least would live and die in the old place ; but she must, some day or other, give up the home that she loved to the heir of entail ; and what might have seemed no hardship at all if she had had a brother, assumed a very different aspect when it was a case of retiring in favour of an uncle or cousin.

So Mr. Lefroy set himself to save money, and accomplished with little effort a task which to most people is both difficult and pain ful. Since Hope could never be Miss Lefroy of Helston Abbey, she should at any rate be Miss Lefroy the heiress — an heiress so great that she would be able, if it should so please her, to raise a second Helston elsewhere, as Helenus founded a new Troy on the shores of Epirus. This saving process did not bring about any curtailment of daily luxuries, but it made it necessary — or so Mr. Lefroy declared — that he should live quietly at home and give up his London house, and to that plan Mrs. Lefroy, who during the last years of her life was a confirmed invalid, offered no opposition. AVhen Hope vvas between fifteen and sixteen her mother died ; and after that she and her father became closer com panions than ever.

Their companionship, indeed, vvas some what too close ; for each found the other's society all-sufficient, and they mixed less vvith their friends and neighbours than was good for either of them. During the hunting season they were occasionally seen — a spare, melancholy-looking man, very well turned out, and a fair-haired girl whose sunny face developed into greater beauty year by year — but nobody got much beyond bare civilities with this couple, and the vast house in which they lived was rarely enlivened by visitors. From time to time relations were asked down to stay ; but the relations found it so intolerably dull that they were generally telegraphed for on the second or third day, and had to leave precipitately. Sometimes, too, a stray artist would be invited to partake of Mr. Lefroy's hospitality ; and the artist, as a rule, enjoyed himself.

He could not but be glad of the opportunity of studying the Helston Abbey picture-gallery, which was not open to the public, and he was sure of being treated with the utmost consideration and respect by his host, who was himself an amateur painter of no mean ability, and whose love for art of every kind was second only to his love for his daughter. AA'hen Mr. Lefroy took Hope up to London for a few days — as he did every now and then — it vvas almost always in order to attend a sale at Christie's. The old man was well known in the King Street rooms, where, in former years, he had been a frequent purchaser. He no longer bought much, having another use for his money now ; but it pleased him to examine the treasures exposed for sale, and nobody knew better than he did whether these fetched more or less than their value.

There is every reason to believe that he would have gone on taking his daughter to art sales, and imagining that by so doing he vvas giving her the greatest of possible treats, had he not chanced, on his way back from one of these entertainments, to encounter his sister-in-law Lady Jane. Lady Jane stared very hard, not at him, but at his com panion, and muttered under her breath : ' Really, it is too bad !' AVhat she saw was a tall, well-grown girl, with a slightly aquiline nose, a quantity of golden hair very unfashionably arranged, and a pair of large, wide open, gray eyes. Nobody ever beheld whiter or more even teeth than this girl displayed presently when something made her laugh, nor could there be anywhere, in London or out of it, a more exquisite com plexion. It really was too bad ; and there vvas nothing for an aunt of proper feeling to do but to promise her niece a London season and disappoint her not, though it should be to her own hindrance (for she herself had two unmarried daughters, whose beauty was of a less striking order).

The next day Lady Jane called on her brother-in-law, and pointed out to him that the time had come for Hope to be presented at Court and to assume her place in society. ' If you won't take her about, we must,' she said ; and Mr. Lefroy assented with a sigh — the more willingly, perhaps, because he had just returned vvith a rather graver face than usual from consulting his doctor. ' It must come some day, I suppose,' he remarked. ' It is a pity. Hope is perfect as she is, and you will do your best to spoil her among you. Still, I suppose it would have had to come some day. I wish I knew how it would end ! ' ' I daresay I can tell you,' his sister-in-law replied, laughing a little ; ' it will end in the natural way. ' AVhat Lady Jane considered natural was that the girl should ere long become engaged to some unexceptionable person, chosen for her by her thoughtful relatives ; but perhaps it was even more natural that at Hope's first ball she should be sitting in a retired corner with an attractive young guardsman, and communicating to him the greater part of the personal history set forth above.

Her auditor appeared to take a lively interest in all that she told him. He was a young man vvith many connections and more friends ; from the day on which he was gazetted to his battalion, society of every sort and kind had been open to him, and, as he himself would have said, he ' knew his way about pretty well.' If he had not studied feminine nature very exhaustively, he had at any rate had sufficient opportuni ties of doing so, and not long before this time he had gravely confided to a brother officer, as the result of his observation, that one woman was uncommonly like another. However, he had never met any one quite like Miss Lefroy before ; and it is perfectly possible that, even if she had not happened to be the prettiest girl in the room, he would have been captivated by her manner, which had the kind of self-possession that children have before they grow old enough to be shy, besides an amusing little touch of condescension every now and then, due, no doubt, to the circumstance that Miss Lefroy had hitherto been thrown more amongst social inferiors than amongst equals. 'Are you fond of shooting?' she asked. 'If you are, you might run down to Helston some time in the autumn and pay us a visit.' The young man passed his hand across his lips to smooth away a smile. ' You are very kind,' he ansvvered gravely ; 'but hadn't I, perhaps, better wait until Mr. Lefroy asks me?' ' You would have to wait a long time, I am afraid.

It very seldom occurs to my father to invite people to stay ; although when they come he is generally the better for it, I think. Probably, if there vvas anybody else in the house, he would hardly notice whether you were there or not. And I should like you to see Helston.' ' I should like to see it very much. It must be rather an odd sort of place in some ways.' ' Odd ? AA'hat do you mean ?' ' AA'ell, it seems to produce tilings that don't generally grow in the country. Young ladies, for instance, who dance as beautifully as if they had been doing nothing else all their lives, and who can snub a humble acquaintance without any difficulty.' 'Is that because I said my father wouldn't notice you? I should not have supposed that you would mind ; but perhaps you are not so humble as you make yourself out.

Unfortu nately, my father is rather absent-minded, and there is only one way of attracting his attention that I know of : have you ever painted a picture ? ' ' Can't say that I ever have ; but I daresay I might manage it if I tried.' ' Oh, you think so ? Decidedly humility is notone of your failings. Now I, who have been patiently learning to draw and paint ever since I could hold a brush or a pencil, never ventured to submit a composition of my own to my father until about a month ago. And how do you suppose he received it?' ' AVith tears of joy, I should think.' ' No ; if he had shed tears they would not have been tears of that kind, I am afraid. He screwed up his eyes and stroked his chin, and looked very much inclined to run away ; and then he said : " My dear, I can see that you have taken great pains over this."

Farther than that he couldn't go, much as he would have liked to go farther. It only shows ' ' That Mr. Lefroy ought to be deprived of his daughter until he learns to appreciate her,' broke in a voice from the background, at the sound of which the girl turned round with a little cry of pleasure. ' You at a ball ! ' she exclaimed. ' After this nothing will ever surprise me again.' The intruder advanced, holding out a long, lean, gloveless hand. His clothes hung loosely upon a massive frame ; his shirt-front was crumpled ; the white tie, knotted round his throat, looked more like a huge pocket-handkerchief than anything else ; and these trifles, quite as much as a certain rugged grandeur about his square head with its grizzled beard and its mane flung back from the brow, made him a conspicuous figure among that crowd of men who, old and young alike, were turned out after an identical neat pattern. ' Why may I not have a treat every now and then, like other people?' he asked, smiling. 'AA'hen we parted, Miss Hope, I should have said that nothing vvas more unlikely than that our next meeting should take place in a ballroom ; yet here we both are, you see.

The difference between us is that you take to it as a duckling takes to water, whereas I am altogether out of my element. The difference between age and youth, in short.' Hope laughed : 'Are you not enjoying yourself?' she asked. ' Do I look as if I were enjoying myself? Still, I have enjoyed watching you. It's a new character, and I can't deny that it's a becoming one, though I think I like the other best. Honestly now, which do you prefer, dancing or painting ? ' ' AVill you wither me with scorn if I say dancing ? ' ' Not I ! I only wish I were of an age to agree with you. Dance away, Miss Hope, there's a time for all things. Only thank Heaven and your father that you have a pursuit to fall back upon. Sooner or later the day comes when we all need that. AA'ork and tobacco have been my two best friends in life.

I shouldn't like to see you with a pipe in your mouth ; but I shall always be glad to see you standing before an easel.' ' You think I have the makings of an artist in me, then ? ' asked the girl, with some eagerness. ' That is not the question,' returned the other, and strode away unceremoniously. ' AA'ho is that very — abrupt old party?' inquired the guardsman. ' Don't you know?' exclaimed Hope. ' AA'hy, that is Mr. Tristram.' ' The thought of my ignorance makes me blush all over ; but I am obliged to confess that I am not much the wiser.' ' Oh, you must be ! Surely you must have heard of Tris tram, the great artist ? ' ' Oh, that Tristram ! Yes ; I've heard of him, of course ; seen his pictures too. They're a little beyond me, I think, though I've no doubt they are magnificent, as everybody says so.

I never met him before ; he doesn't look exactly the kind of person whom one would be likely to meet, does he ? ' 'That would depend upon what company you keep, I suppose. He is the kind of person who knows every one that is worth knowing.' ' So much for an unlucky beggar whom he doesn't know ! Lady Jane, I wish you would come and take my part ; I'm catching it like anything because I'm not on terms of intimacy with all the Royal Academicians.' But Lady Jane, who had just borne down upon the couple, did not seem at all disposed to take the part of this im pecunious and rather forward young man. She ignored his appeal, and said to her niece, with some little severity of tone : ' My dear Hope, I couldn't think what had become of you ! We are going home now.' Captain Cunningham, however, was not the man to let himself be so summarily disposed of.