The Race for Wealth. A novel

Front matter

THE EACE EOE WEALTH. THE RACE FOR WEALTH. a p»i. BY MRS. J. H. RIDDELL, author of " georoe geith," " city and suburb," " maxwell drewitt," " too much alone," " the world and the church, " phemie keller," etc. IN THKEE VOLUMES. VOL. III. LONDON : TINSLET BROTHERS, IS, CATHERINE ST., STRAND. 1S60. [Tlte Right of Translation and Reproduction is reserved.] lo: dos : LHADBVRV, EVANF, AND CO., PRINTERS, WHITEFRIARS. CONTENTS. CHAP. I.— THE TWO WIVES 1 n. — AT MALLINGFORD ...... 33 in. — in Percy's study ...... 62 IV. — OPINIONS MEDICAL AND OTHERWISE . . . 94 V. — LAWKENCE AND PERCY . . . . .119 VI. — LAWRENCE ENTREATS . . . . . 151 VII. PERCY IS PERSUADED 182 VTII. — ADA PERKINS 213 IX. — AT THE WEDDING ...... 241 X. — TWO LEASER RUN OUT 269 XI. — THE PACE INCREASES ..... 287 XII. — MIGHT HAVE BEEN EXPECTED . . . . 315 XIII. — BEATEN . . . . 337 XTV. AFTER THE RACE ...... 355 CONCLUSION . . . . . . .371 THE EACE FOE WEALTH.

Chapter I. The Two Wives

Mrs. Gainswoode remained in town for nearly a fortnight, and during that time managed to make her way due East, in order to call on Olivine, whom, greatly to her disgust, she found " not at home." " It is intolerably provoking," she said. " I must leave London to-morrow, and I wanted so much to see her," and Etta's thick silk dress rustled as she spoke, and the hall was filled with the perfume that seemed to pervade every plait and fold of her attire — every ribbon and scrap of lace she wore. " Perhaps she may soon return ; can I wait for her ? " she went on. " I take it for granted YOL. III. B she is really out, and not engaged ? " This was interrogative. " Yes, ma'am," answered the servant. " She and Mr. Sondes have gone over to Mr. Forbes'." " You dear, good, stupid old soul. Why could you not have said that at first ?

" exclaimed Etta. " I will drive on to Reach House if you think I am certain to find her there." " You are certain to find her, ma'am. Master likes to sit looking out on the river ; and Miss Olivine — Mrs. Barbour, I mean — takes her work and stays with him." " They go to Mr. Forbes then every day, I suppose ? " suggested Etta, pausing on the door step, and turning a little round to ask the question. " Pretty well, ma'am. Master fancies the air down by the river is fresher than this," and Mary closed the brougham door upon Mrs. Gains woode, who was by this time seated in her carriage. " Good Lord ! " ejaculated Etta to herself as she drove along the Commercial Road towards THE TWO WTVES. 3 the West India Docks ; " and these people are considered sane, and consider themselves so. How charming it must be to live even clue East with such perfectly unsophisticated individuals.

The garden of Eden was nothing to this ! " and Mrs. Gainswoode put her feet on the opposite cushion and leaned back, while she thought with a vague wonder of Mr. Sondes' madness and Lawrence's folly. " Why the man won't come to see me ; and yet he is such an idiot as to let his wife spend half her time mooning over crotchet and Longfellow's poems in Percy's paradise. And I am certain Percy was in love with her, over head and ears." From which speech it will be perceived that Lawrence had adhered to his good intentions, and kept away from that pleasant but dangerous shore, where in the moonlight the waves came rippling in on the sands and the mermaids sang their songs sweetly. For the rest, when Etta drove through the gates that are now so seldom opened ; when she alighted from her carriage and walked across B the grass towards the path overlooking the river which has been so often mentioned in this story; she found not only Mr. Sondes and Olivine, but Percy Forbes and Lawrence Barbour all grouped together.

" Percy, do not flatter yourself my visit is to you," said Mrs. Gainswoode, after she had shaken hands all round, addressing herself to Mr. Forbes, and making him a little mocking curtsey as she spoke. " It is to this sah lady, who seems as difficult to catch as a leprachaun or a will-o'-the-wisp. I heard at Stepney Cause way you were here — heard, that is, by dint of questioning and lamentation — and so I came on in faith. Seriously, though, I have wished so much to see you," she added, turning to Olivine. " It strikes me your husband is not taking proper care of you, child ; you look pale, and you look weary." Lawrence was standing close beside Olivine at the moment, and his wife put her hand con fidingly in his, while she answered, " No one can say that of you at any rate, Mrs. Gainswoode, for I never saw yon look better."

" Country air, my dear. You must come and try whether it would not blow some colour even into your cheeks. If you and your uncle were to spend a month with us at Mallingford, it would do you both a world of good. What do you say, Mr. Barbour ? Will you spare your wife to me for a few weeks ? Mr. Gainswoode would be so delighted. If I were at all of a jealous dispo sition, in fact " " I should recommend Mrs. Barbour not to try whether you are or not," remarked Percy Forbes, filling up Etta's blank. " Ah ! she has more sense than to follow your advice in any thing," retorted Mrs. Gainswoode. " What a delicious spot this is, Percy ; what a sin it is for you to be living here all alone. I declare if I were not married, I should really feel almost inclined to take pity on you myself." " Take pity on me now, and do not tantalise a poor wretch with the mention of a happiness he maj' never hope to taste."( " You are not in the least changed, I see," observed Etta.

She was seated by this time, and addressed her remarks to Percy, who stood near her, from under cover of a most dainty parasol, with which she shaded her eyes from the glare of the afternoon sun. " Nor improved, I fear," he said, in reply ; " but, such as I am, I remain as ever your devoted, obedient, and admiring servant." " Mr. Forbes, allow me to express my obliga tions for that pretty speech," and she rose and made him another curtsey. " And as for my poor house," went on Percy, " if you will kindly overlook that serious disad vantage of the future Mrs. Forbes' unavoidable absence, and graciously condescend to make allowances for the wretchedness of a bachelor's establishment, I should feel honoured by your permitting me to have the pleasure of taking you into dinner." " Good gracious !

What time do you dine in this part of the world ? " asked Etta, with a little affectation of horror. " As a rule, madam, I am primitive enough to partake of my frugal meal at twelve o'clock ; but to-day, in honour of my friends," and Percy made an inclination towards Mr. Sondes, Olivine, and her husband, " I deferred my usual mid-day repast for five hours." " Well, it is a strange life," said Etta, re flectively. " Do you mean my life, or lives in general ? " he inquired. " Both," she answered. " In particular, this seems to be a strange life for you to be leading. Had any person told me, in years gone by, Percy Forbes would ever turn ' worker,' I should have laughed the idea to scorn." " You see the age of miracles is not past," interposed Lawrence. " So it seems," she replied, a little signi ficantly, and her eyes swept the quartette before her in a glance which did not escape Percy Forbes' notice.

" Can your ladyship eat before eight o'clock? ' he asked. " My ladyship will try," answered Etta. " I have never been inside your house, Percy, since the night of your ball," she went on. " Ah ! what a charming ball that was. We were all single then, and now you alone are free. It is not quite fair, Mr. Sondes, is it ? He ought to be got into the cage somehow. Do you not know any pretty bird who would consent to enter into captivity with him ? " and Mrs. Gainswoode turned to Olivine for a reply. " There are no pretty birds in the Isle of Dogs, I am afraid," said Olivine, laughing; " at least, none pretty enough to satisfy Mr. Forbes. And it is such a pity ; for, pleasant as the Reach House is now, it would be twice as pleasant if it had a mistress." " Mr. Sondes, I appeal to you for deliverance from the wiles of matchmakers," cried Percj'.

" Mrs. Gainswoode, I am going to tell your coachman to put up his horse." " I will tell him if you like," said Lawrence, and before the host could prevent his intention, he was off, and appeared no more until they were all assembled in the drawing-room before dinner. " Now I do hope," Mrs. Gainswoode was en treating, as he entered, " I do hope, Mr. Sondes, j'ou will come down very soon to Mallingford ; only think, j-ou have never seen it yet ! You shall rise when you like, go to bed when you like, walk where you like, see whom you like. I am quite serious in thinking the thorough change and perfect quiet would contribute more towards re-establishing your health than all the doctors in London. Olivine knows what a charming place it is. Now, Olivine, like a sweet little thing as you are, persuade your uncle to come to us.

Don't look at your husband, look at me. Mr. Barbour can run down from Saturday till Mon day in every week, if he is too much engaged in making his fortune to give us more of his society." " I think " began Olivine, but at that moment dinner was announced, and with a mental thanksgiving, Percy Forbes rose, and offered his arm to Mrs. Gainswoode. " For shame," she said, with a pretty grimace, shaking a couple of fingers at him. " What are you thinking of ! How can you dream of leaving a man and his wife together. Take in Mrs. Barbour. I am going to devote myself to Mr. Sondes." Which she did to such good purpose that before dinner was half over, she had extorted a promise from that gentleman to visit Mallingford End. " Resistless as ever," murmured Percy Forbes, holding the door open for her to pass out, " and as merciless," he added, in a still lower key.

For an instant Etta hesitated, meditating ap parently some retort, but then she passed on, bowing her head the while, as though in acknow - ledgment of a compliment. " Now let us get into the open ah," she said to Olivine, and the pah walked forth together across the hall, and down the steps, and so under the chestnuts, and over the grass to the walk above the river. " It really is very sweet," Etta said, looking first towards London and then towards Green wich, up and down the silent highway ; " verj' sweet and very still," ancl they remained silent for a few minutes, both gazing on the waters, and each busy with her own thoughts. Any person who, wandering now due East in search of Reach House, should find it just at the entrance to the Isle of Dogs, would scarcely recognise the river view on which Olivine and her companion looked forth that evening.

Gone are the green banks sloping down to the Thames, gone the picturesque and irregular warehouses and factories, gone the trees and the old fashioned edifices, gone the open wharves at Deptford, and the dilapidated buildings in Rotherhithe, over which a painter might have rejoiced in the early morning, or when the rich sunset bathed the strange quaint houses in a glory of all wonderful colours. Gone ; ah, Heaven ! it is but a few years, and yet the place is changed past recognition. Where were trees and fields, are now bristling masts and huge iron-works : there used to be pretty houses and ivj'-covered cottages on the island where Charles II. kept his spaniels. But the other day, I was asking concerning one'of those same ivy-covered cottages, with lawn sloping down to the river's brink, and behold, the place where it once stood knows it no more.

There is change everywhere — the colour factory I picked my way through three years since, — the experimental chamber where I sat among carmines and greens, among pots and pans, among all manner of chemical apparatus, are swept away. The bar rels, the vats, the pans, the raw materials and the manufactured articles, have all been removed. A century formerly scarcely sufficed to effect the changes a few months does now. The men and the women who used to reside due East, and leavened it with a certain leaven of wealth, solidity, and respectability, have all chosen for themselves homes elsewhere. What tradesman now resides over his shop in the city ? What shipbuilder, or ironfounder, or wharfinger would dream of living on the Isle of Dogs ? It is all changed, the old inhabitants are gone, and the old places with them, and the scene over which the eye wanders to-day from the garden of Reach House is as unlike that on which Olivine Barbour and Henrietta Alwyn gazed, as the present half finished terminus of the South-Eastern Railway in Cannon Street is unlike the old churchyard and the quiet court, the sites whereof it occupies.

To the left laj', as I have said, the shore line of the Isle of Dogs, with here a house and there a factory, but with plenty of green running down towards the water and relieving the eye ; to the right were the strange old buildings previously mentioned, tumble-down warehouses, eccentric wharves, jutting out unexpectedly into the river, and growing elder bushes and willows, as well as barges ; beyond these were Shadwell and Wap ping, with St. George's-in-the-East rising and making a point of sight in the distance ; over the way Rotherhithe stood airing its dilapidated granaries, and its black wharves, in the rays of the evening sun ; a little lower the masts in the shipbuilders' yards at Deptford, and the glass in the windows of the chemical factories shone in the golden glory, while far far away could be seen Shooter's Hill, and those other rising grounds where the Crystal Palace now stands.

And between the north side and the south the river pursued its way peacefully, through the outskirts of the great city, past Execution Dock, over the spot where the bodies of phases once swung opposite Blackwall — (a ghastly sight to any one coming up the Thames for the first time to have for greeting) — past Greenwich and Wool wich, and so away to Erith and Greenhithe to Purfleet and Grays, and thence, slacking its speed a trifle perhaps, onwards towards the sea. "It is very sweet and still," Etta repeated; " but I cannot imagine how Percy Forbes endures such an existence." " Lawrence's life was equally monotonous," Ohvine answered. " Yes, child; but ' was ' and ' is ' makes all the difference," retorted Mrs. Gainswoode. " Mr. Forbes may marry, though," Ohvine ventured to suggest. Very sharply Mrs. Gainswoode turned round upon the speaker, with her lips half-parted, as if they had a sentence trembling for utterance upon them ; but immediately she closed her mouth resolutely, and looked out upon the river once again.

" You were going to say something," Olivine suggested. " Was I ? Well, I won't say it, then. I will merely remark instead, that — that — I am sure had we been sisters my life might have proved a different one. You are so good and so innocent. Oh, God ! how ir.nocent you are ! " At the bottom of the garden which was once Percy Forbes', there is a strong post and rail fence, over which any one standing on the walk can look down at the Thames, flowing perhaps twenty feet beneath. Against this rude parapet Mrs. Gainswoode was leaning as she spoke, and she stretched her clasped hands out beyond the wooden enclosure with such a gesture of despair that Olivine could not help but marvel at it. " I am very sorry," she began. " Sorry you are the pure, angelic creature you are," laughed Mrs. Gainswoode ; but the laugh was forced, her tone unnatural.

" If I were a man, Olivine, how I would love you — if I were your husband, how I would keep you. When you find a favourable opportunity, you can tell Lawrence Barbour, with my compliments, he is a fool, and that he will find out his folly some day. Kiss me, child, and let me go. Do you mind kissing me ? " and she held Olivine to her breast for a moment, while her tears fell thick and fast over her face. " What a simpleton I am ! " she exclaimed. " No, child, I cannot tell you all that is in my heart, and it could not do you any good to know a quarter of what is in it. You will come and stay with me, will you not ? And if I were you I should try to get my uncle out of town, away from residing in London altogether. You under stand. It would be better for him, and better for you, and better for Lawrence — Mr. Barbour.

And now come back to the house, that I may tell them to get the brougham round." " Must you go so soon ? " Olivine asked, regretfully. There was a great charm about this woman, with her singular hair, with her wonderful beauty, with her dress which as she walked swept over the grass after her like a train, with her knowledge of the world — such as that know ledge was — with her easy manners, her confident address; a sort of fascination for one who had been brought up, like Olivine, in a social con vent, where she had no opportunity given her of seeing other maidens and matrons, and forming a just estimate of how much of the wealth Mrs. Gainswoode flaunted was a snare and a delusion, consisting of gilding instead of gold, electro-plate instead of silver. It was natural, considering her education, that the sparkle and the glitter, the unembarrassed manner, the quick retort, should prove attractive to both eye and ear, and cause her to regard Mrs. Gainswoode with perhaps undue admira tion.

The ideal of perfection in the minds ot most women is usually the opposite of them selves. Female friends are rarely selected on the principle of like, liking like ; rather L'Allegro VOL. HI. C and L' Andante pace side by side along shady walks, over field-paths, across the sands when the tide is low ; or talk together about the new curate and their handsomest partners, about their next dresses, and their affianced husbands in the mornings, before visitors are admitted ; or in that still more sacred and delicious hour, when, their back hair being loosened, their hearts are one, when the fire in the dressing-room blazes brightly, and Agatha pours her tale of woe into the ear of Jeannette, and Jeannette administers comfort, warming her pretty feet, and screening her complexion from the glowing coals the while.

Never a woman before bad heartily ancl unjealously admired Mrs. Gainswoode, and per haps it was for this reason that Etta felt a kind of compunction towards Olivine — a species of half compassionate, half-contemptuous tenderness. Further, the young wife was good, and Etta's experiences had not thrown her into close contact with much in this life which was either very good or very innocent. Far away down in tbe natures of most I suppose there is some well of purity, that bubbles up to the surface rejoicingly, when touched by a hand, which is still perfectly un stained, and unconscious of evil. Let this be as it will, however, one thing is certain, when Etta was with Olivine she always wished for the time being she had been brought up like her. Though she thought virtue wearisome, and pro priety unendurable, though she could not have lived Olivine's life for a week, though she declared she knew she should never be happy in Heaven, still there came into her heart every now and then a terrible longing to be different, a sickening desire to undo the past and the years that were gone, ancl, beginning existence on a new plan, start with swiftness on a different road, which should not have Unrest marked on its every mile-stone, and Misery for its termination.

Pausing for a moment in her walk across the grass, with some such feelings passing through her mind, she answered, c " So soon ! I have been here nearly three hours, pretty one. It was not ' so soon ' the first time I ever saw you, Olivine. How well I remember that evening, and your sober little face, and your old-fashioned manner, and your fearfulty candid answers." " I was terribly rude, I recollect," Olivine replied ; " but now, confess, were you not a little rude to me, also ? Did not you show too plainly how completely beneath your notice you con sidered me. I was only a child, to e sure " " Good heavens ! but what a child ! " inter rupted Mrs. Gainswoode, laughing and plucking a leaf off the Hedgehog Holly, which she kept turning and twisting as she walked on, talking while she went.

" A child who saw everything and forgot nothing ; who was a great deal wiser in those days than she is now ; who was as courteous as one of the old dowagers in the Faubourg St. Germain, and as stately and inac cessible as one of the blood royal. If I was not civil to you that evening, my dear, believe me it was through excess of fear." " You left the flowers I gathered," Olivine persisted; and then, suddenly, there came a memory to both of them, and involuntarily they turned their eyes to the ground, while Etta's cheeks grew pale ancl Olivine's crimson. " I really must get home now," Mrs. Gains woode said, after a pause, and she repeated the same sentence to Mr. Sondes and Percy Forbes, who met them under the chestnut tree. " I am sorry to have to bid you good-by, Mrs. Gainswoode," observed Lawrence, joining the group a minute later ; " but it is necessary for me to call in Distaff Yard this evening."

"I will drop you there," Etta was about to suggest, but she refrained. For once in her life she had pity, and contented herself with asking after Mr. Perkins, and Mrs. Perkins, and all tbe little Perkinses. " Ada is going to be married," Olivine in formed her. " No ! " exclaimed Mrs. Gainswoode. " Is she really? I'd give anything to see her as a bride. Let me know when it is to take place and where. Do now, like a dear " " I am sorry to say I must go," Lawrence repeated, and he shook hands with Mrs. Gains woode and departed. " So must I," remarked Etta, looking after him, as he walked away, but still she did not go. She stayed to have a cup of coffee, and then she began talking about Mallingford and their neighbours. She was in high spirits, and out of her husband's hearing she quizzed the "respecta bilities " to her heart's content.

Their establishments, their ideas, their pleas ures, their virtues, religion, prejudices, their dinners, balls, attainments — Etta had a fling at all ; at the mothers, the husbands, the sons, the daughters. "And Mr. Gainswoode likes it," she finished. " Positively he would rather go to the tying-in state of a lord, than to the most amusing party people in a lower rank could give. He was made for that life ; but to poor me it is death, — absolutely, Mr. Sondes, it is death." Whereupon Mr. Sondes took up the side of the county families, and said that Mrs. Gainswoode must have been singularly unfortunate in her ex periences ; for his part he considered such society the best, the pleasantest, the most agreeable, a man could desire to enter. " But then I am a woman, Mr. Sondes," said Etta ; " and I can assure you, after London, a series of stiff dinner-parties, where one meets the same people over and over again, and hears about poachers, and rheumatic old women, and the new schools, and the old churches, and politics, and the changes of the ministry, cannot be called amusing.

It may be improving, but then I do not want to be improved ; and if I did I could read the Times, and some of those light pamph lets Mr. Gainswoode is so fond of getting from his bookseller. The fact is, the country wants to be reformed. I hear a great deal of talk about amusing the working-classes, but I think if, on the contrary, some one were to amuse the upper classes, it would be much more to the purpose. You may depend upon it, the deadaliveness of ordinary country society is the reason why no human being stays in the country who can help it. An evening from home there signifies some thing analogous to what an evening at the Mechanics' Institute involves to the working man ; but, however, you shall see, Olivine, when you come down, and you shall also see whether I cannot induce Mr. Gainswoode to reside more in London."

" I wonder you do not avail yourself of the opportunity of doing something new," Percy Forbes remarked. "Why do you not make the country agreeable ? I suppose the country is, after all, very much like the world ; there is no absolute wickedness in the world itself. The inhabitants of the earth make it wicked, and in like manner it is tbe dwellers in the country who are dull, not the country itself." " Well," said Etta, as he paused, " supposing you are right, what then ? " " Why, then, how charming it would be to such a woman as yourself, for instance, to es tablish a new order of things. It is so rare and so delicious to find a new field of labour in the present day, any mine of success unworked, that I should really advise you to consider my sugges tion. Set the fashion of making a country house pleasant and unlike a family vault.

Get up a mission, print tracts, hold house-to-house meet ings, preach the new doctrine of pleasure in season and out of season, and establish an order of things in stately mansions surrounded by deer parks and turnip-fields, for which genera tions yet unborn shall bless the holy ancl virtuous and sainted memory of Dame Henrietta Gains woode." " It is not polite to make fun of your guest, Mr. Forbes, even though she be almost self invited," remarked Etta, flushing with anger, more perhaps at Percy's tone than at his words. " A thousand pardons," he answered. " In my innocence I thought we were making fun of your hosts." " I shall go," she declared, rising in a fit of annoyance, either real or assumed ; but Mr. Sondes interposed, and declared he was certain Mr. Forbes had not meant to vex her, that she had mistaken his meaning, that they would all be grieved and hurt if she left them in dis pleasure.

" Set me some terrible penance," entreated Percy; "anything so that I may earn your for giveness for my ill-timed levity." " Order my brougham," she said, holding out her hand in token of peace. Percy bent gravely one knee, and kissed it, " I thank you, most gracious princess," he said, and went straightway to do her bidding. In utter silence Olivine contemplated this little performance; she could not have said what she disliked about the conversation and the scene, and yet she had that instinctive feeling of not being perfectly safe in Henrietta Gainswoode's society, which comes to many women long before they can put a single doubt into shape. Vaguely it crossed her mind that perhaps the county ladies had reason for their cold formality, that possibly Mr. Gainswoode did right in keeping his wife away from London, that manners might be too easy, that a little stiffness might be better than the utter absence of all restraint.

Mrs. Barbour had now her stake in the national pro prieties. She owned a husband whom she should not like to see on his knees before Etta Gains woode, or any other woman living. Poor child ! she grew hot, she grew cold, she shivered, and felt uneasy, and the next minute she hated her self for being so straitlaced, when the object of her secret disapproval insisted on taking her uncle to Stepney Causeway. " Run, and put on your bonnet, Olivine," she said, "it will be far pleasanter for Mr. Sondes than a jolting cab," and she was so good, and so kind, and so sweet all the way to their home, that Olivine kissed her twice when they parted, and agreed if " Lawrence gave her leave she would go down to Mallingford very soon." " What an obedient wife it is," Mrs. Gainswoode said laughingly to Mr. Sondes.