Iva Kildare: a matrimonial problem

Front matter

BY THE SAME AUTHOR. A Stiff-Necked Generation. Cousins. Dick Netherby. Mr. Smith. Nan, and other Stories. Pauline. "Ploughed," and other Stories. The Baby's Grandmother. The History of a Week. The Matchmaker. The Mischief of Monica. The One Good Guest. Troublesome Daughters. Price 25. 6d. each. Twelve English Authoresses. With Portrait of Hannah More. Price 4_. 6d. LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO., LONDON, NEW YORK, AND BOMBAY. A MATRIMONIAL PROBLEM BV L. B. WALFORD AUTHOR OF "MR. SMITH," "THE BABY S GRANDMOTHER, ETC. LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO. 3g PATERNOSTER ROW, LONDON NEW YORK AND BOMBAY 1897 AU rights reserved ABERDEEN UNIVERSITY PRESS. CONTENTS. CHAPTER pA(-E I. He , II. Mother and Daughter 8 III. Three Others 18 IV. The Old House 28 V. "It is Little Better than a Rotten Fungus" 35 VI. Lady Tilbury Thinks She will have to Take Care 45 VII.

"They're Queer Things, the Boys!" . 50 VIII. "The Irishwoman" 57 IX. "What do You Wish Me to do, Iva?" . 71 X. The Awakening 78 XL A Light in the Tower .... 92 XII. "Bury the Past, and be Hanged to it!". 106 XIII. Sir Philip takes Heart o' Grace . . ng XIV. Reggie and Sir Philip 126 XV. "All's Over Now" 135 XVI. Mr. Jabez Druitt 147 XVII. "Every Man to his Taste'" . . . 160 XVIII. Sir Philip's Meditations .... 170 XIX. "Jabez must be a Cool Hand" . . . 179 XX. " Didn't Sir Thomas Tell Me to be Careful?" VI CONTENTS. CHAPTER PAGE XXI. "Of Course You Want to Hunt" . • *95 XXII. "Delightful — but not Perfect, Sophia". 203 XXIII. The Old Place and the New Master . 214 XXIV. The Sister's Debut .... 224 XXV. Miss Tilbury, of Tilbury Court . . 232 XXVI. "Iva is so very Disagreeable" . . . 239 XXVII.

"It Means — What it Means" . . . 251 XXVIII. Amos and his Appendages .... 261 XXIX. The Secret of the Letter . . . 272 XXX. Mr. Druitt's Dinner-Party .... 278 XXXI. "If this isn't High Society!" . . . 286 XXXII. He Headed Straight for Tilbury Court 298 XXXIII. "There He Was!— He Himselp!" . . 306 XXXIV. Conclusion A MATRIMONIAL PROBLEM.

Chapter I. He

He was one of those lanky, tawny, irresistible creatures who go straight to the hearts of women in a way that is perfectly inexplicable, not to say positively maddening, to the eyes of the other sex. He was not particularly handsome, he was not abnormally clever ; but he knew what to say, and how to look ; and when such know ledge is instinctive in the bosom of a gallant, pray what else is required of him from the fairest of the fair ? See that sprightly miss just out ofthe schoolroom. She has been chatting away contentedly enough, and not at all shyly, with the lion ofthe evening — flattered by his notice, and by no means loth to prolong the occasion for it. He thinks she " appreciates " him ; and such gentry I love to be "appreciated". At any rate, Miss Blue-eyes enjoys the distinction Professor Barnacles' conversation bestows on her, and raps out her little pert questions and answers with a confidence that is not misplaced.

All is going well, when in a moment — in the twinkling of an eyelid — the scene changes. The great man perceives that he has lost his auditor ; eyes and ears are gone from him ; vague responses and vacant smiles have taken the place of that pretty bon camaraderie which was so enchanting before ; and for the life of him he cannot imagine why. What has happened ? Nothing. It would be absurd to suppose that the metamorphosis took place because of — that it had anything whatever to do with the arrival of that tailor-made sprig who lounged lazily by a few minutes before, and who now supports his length against the doorway. The sprig exchanged a glance with miss as he passed ; and she has been upon the fidget ever since. Still, it would be an insult to her under standing — to the understanding of any intelligent being— to credit her with preferring the jabber of a noodle to his own witty, piquant badinage.

He has been putting forth his best, and feels that HE 3 his best is worthy of him. Good heavens ! that such pearls should have been cast before — oh, yes, he mentally finishes the proverb to its bitter end, as the conviction is at length forced upon his amazed and sickened soul that the race is no more to the strong now than it ever was. It would have been the same, honoured sir, indeed it would, if you had been talking to the girl's mother, or grandmother. You think they would have known better ? Not they ! True, they would not so artlessly have betrayed themselves — being older, more wary, and better versed in the convenances. They would have been more adroit in manipu lating the turn of the wheel ; have continued to work the muscles of the face and inflections of the voice long after the mainspring within had given way with a snap ; so that their surfeit of you and your conversation, and the dropping away of their interest, would have been concealed beneath a decent and decorous exterior ; but do not flatter yourself that in reality, in their heart of hearts, the stately dames prefer your rounded periods and well-chosen themes to the prattling of that simple boy.

Nature has bestowed on him one double-distilled drop out ofa bottle fast corked to you, and all your contempt and wrath, all your fuming and spluttering, will not rob him of his portion, nor procure it for yourself. No one was ever angry with Reggie Goffe, whatever he did — that is to say, seriously, pro tractedly angry. Seldom a day passed that he did not provoke indignation and protest, that he did not stir up some sleeping dog which any one else would have known to let lie, but whose peaceful pose was irresistible to him. Then who so innocently amazed and guiltless as Reggie ? He go about to affront his cousin Julia? He would not vex Julia for the world. He fly in the teeth of his aunt's known wishes and expressed commands ? The offender was any one rather than himself. Or else he was so penitent, so subdued and meek when absolutely brought to book, that the hardest hearts must needs melt before his anxious, pathetic eyes.

When and how Reggie had learnt to look pathetic no one could tell, but the knowledge to him was invaluable. He took it into almost daily use at one period of his life. At that time he was not very strong — indeed, his constitution was by no means robust, thouoh he treated it, if the truth were told, as though it were of cast-iron — but he would wear a gentle, pained expression when health was spoken of, and had a fashion of appearing to drink in with avidity the admonitions of the sympathetic which was never found to fail. HE 5 Such coddling and fussing as then went on ! Such open care as was taken that the dear boy (Reggie was a "dear boy" to every woman over thirty) should have the fire side of the dinner-table on cold nights, or the shelter ofthe snug brougham instead of the draughty omnibus on the long drives to and from the country balls !

Reggie took it all with placid gratitude ; he liked warm corners and feminine companion ship. He said nothing about the wild nights he was out with the fishermen, tossing about from dusk to dawn, when the takes were good, and he the merriest of the crew. When he came to grief, as he did times with out number, riding madly in the hunting-field, or tramping the moors along tracks unknown, he knew when the moment had come to turn his scars to account. They were never disclosed prematurely nor unnecessarily. They were re served as wares to be traded upon. As for luck, all the women would tell you that poor dear Reggie Goffe was the most illused person on the face of the earth by Dame Fortune. He was always having to turn his back on the sunny side of life. If all the world were in for a good thing, he was out of it.

If the stream were flowing in one direc tion, he and none other must needs breast it. When the London season was in full swing, this one hapless mortal was hard and fast in rural quarters ; when the string snapped, and set loose the gathered mass, he got his leave. It never seemed as if he had aught but buffets from Fate. And he pitied himself so tenderly, and asked for the pity of others so confidingly (looking his best and nicest, and making inferior men bite their lips and wonder how the deuce he did it), that no one ever thought of questioning why the grievances which were shared by many others should be so much more appalling to him than to them. When Reggie was not pathetic he was dan gerous. As long as his humour found vent in soft complaints, it was like the harmless sheet lightning dissipating itself all over the sky ; but, as when this ceases to play, there is worse in the wind, so, when our young gentleman was silent, was he plotting.

He was deadly in mischief. " But then," murmured old Mrs. Goodenough apologetically, "the poor boy knows no better. He has never had any training. He told me so himself. I remonstrated with him the other day when really he was too bad, inciting my grand children to all sorts of mischievous pranks, making even dear little Gwen quite beside herself — my dear, the schoolroom was a perfect HE 7 pandemonium ! poor Mademoiselle shrieking in vain ! — I did speak very seriously to Reggie, and then I was quite sorry after it. He was so grieved and ashamed ; said he had never had any little sisters and brothers, never any home to be called a home ; poor darling " — her wrinkled, benevolent countenance working suspiciously at the bare recollection — " it ended in my begging his forgiveness, and I am sure I shall never be so cruel to him again."

This was Reggie at his simplest. Properly worked up, it was extraordinary what master pieces he would achieve, the while his gentle, serious, sunburnt face diverted all suspicion. Girls who had never been known to have a will of their own, would on a sudden strike for mastery, and battle for their rights when the Reggie poison began to work in the veins. He had a knack of making the most barefaced requests with an air so natural that it would have baffled an inquisitor-general to find out what he really thought. Those who began by being most angry were the soonest disarmed ; the indignant matrons and elder sisters who cried out at his unparalleled impudence, only needed to be themselves its object to soften as though oil had been poured into their wounds.

Chapter II. Mother And Daughter

We now know why Iva Kildare was so bitterly angry with Reggie one day and so indulgent towards him the next. "What's the use of talking to that boy?" Iva addressed her mother, the flame having burnt itself out. " Everything you say rolls like water off a duck's back. He means no harm. And though he really would provoke a saint sometimes, I don't believe he can help it. It's in him. If Reggie were to behave like other mortals, we should not know it was Reggie." " Precisely. And that would be a terrible loss!" Lady Tilbury, who had all an Irish woman's quickness of repartee, snorted ironi cally as she spoke ; but Iva was not taken in by the snort. She and her mother were " pals ". That peculiarly expressive word which has come into vogue of recent years, applied distinctly to Lady Tilbury and the one daughter who bore the name of her first husband, and whose likeness to the lover of her youth would have been in itself sufficient excuse for the tender freedom which existed between them.

Towards her younger children, the three moonfaced schoolgirls who had appeared on the scene since her second union with the eligible and elderly Sir Thomas Tilbury (now also defunct), the widow was a wholesome restraining influence ; a kindly, orthodox, arbi trary parent ; at times a trifle exacting and unreasonable ; still on the whole as comfortable a mother to get along with as any in the neighbourhood — but towards Iva she was soft, very soft. Alike Irish by birth — for Captain Kildare and his wife had both been natives of the Sister Isle — the two were always sharpening their wits upon each other ; fencing with foils, and enjoying the exercise. It exhilarated them. Lady Tilbury looked as young as her daughter, with a roguish sparkle in her eye ; matron and maid had the same eyes — wet blue, overhung by a fringe of dark lashes (people said that her ladyship's Irish eyes could have landed a third husband for her on more than one occasion had she been so minded) — while the rich bloom which lit up Iva's rounded cheeks had its counterpart, only a single shade deepened, in her mother's. Both had the same low, broad, white brow ; and the tendrils which clustered round it in the one case clung as softly, if not quite as thickly, in the other.

" She has me nose, too, and me mouth, that was always thought me greatest beauty." In confidential moments, when her heart was warm and open, the great county lady could not remember to be careful about certain clinging accents of her youth; otherwise it was a common remark that Lady Tilbury was really almost — really she almost spoke like other people. Iva would merrily gibe at her mother for the care with which Sir Thomas's wife had learnt to talk as like Sir Thomas as possible during the dozen years of his reign, and Iva herself loved nothing better than to break out into the richest brogue her native land could afford, whenever she had the chance. Ordinary intercourse, however, was carried on in ordinary language. "I say, mother" — after a pause of some duration, during which the elder lady had been busily writing, while the younger mused, Iva again lifted her voice, and resumed the conver sation — " you know we want Reggie for the balls ?

" Pen in hand, her mother looked round, made an impatient movement, half-opened her lips to speak, then, as though thinking better of it, dipped into the inkstand, and wrote on. She did and she did not agree with the want. "We have just got to have him," proceeded Iva emphatically. "Humph!" " You know we have." " I suppose so. Yes." "Then we can't bother with quarrelling. Besides, as likely as not, from very devilry " Devilry ! That's not a word — " I can't help the word ; I don't know any other for what I mean." "What do you mean? " I mean — devilry." "Well, well; 'devilry,' if you will have it. But mind, Iva, only to me, your mother ; don't be so free in your language " " My dear thing ! Free in my language ! I wish you heard other girls " " I wish nothing of the kind," said Lady Tilbury, with her severest air.

" It's shocking; and Sir Thomas always told me to be particu lar with his daughters ; that he wouldn't have them grow up ' slangy and stabley ' — those were his very words. I wasn't to let them into the stables without either him or me " She was off on her hobby-horse, but Iva caught the rein. " I want to talk about Reggie ; not about girls and their slang. What I wanted to say was this — that if Reggie finds out that we have besrun to take him au sdrieux, and be offended with anything he says or does, pure devilry will make him seize the opportunity — perhaps the very day before a ball, or on the morning of it — to stir us up. He likes nothing so much as to have some one in the huff with him ; he always did, as a boy ; and though of course it did not matter then, it — we can't have that kind of thing now."

" Of course we can't." The writer wiped her pen, and knitted her brows in medita tion. She began to perceive that she had best defer her correspondence, and give the matter in question more of her attention than it had previously seemed to demand. " If only Reggie would behave himself!" she re marked tentatively. " That he never will ; but I think between us we may keep him in hand, if we are on our guard, and work together. Look here, dear ; there is one thing you must remember " — eagerly — "it is this — not to be 'drawn' by him when he proposes for us to do things that he knows you will not allow, and that we should never think of asking for. Just laugh, as if it were a joke." " But he is so outrageous ; you know, Iva, Sir Thomas " " Never understood Reggie in the least. We do ; and we know what he always was, and will be.

You are fond of him your self." Lady Tilbury was silent. " We all are ; and he is fond of us. I am certain that if anything were to happen to any of us, if we were in any real trouble, Reggie would come out so strong " " That he would ! Oh, yes, I believe you are right there." " And though he is so tiresome and pro voking, he is not really malicious." " Malicious ! Dear me, no ! Who could ever think of calling poor Reggie ' malicious ' ? " "And though he is five and twenty, he is ridiculously young for his age. Sometimes he seems an absolute boy, in spite of his age and height, and his long moustache." " That moustache is a regular take in ! " cried Lady Tilbury, suddenly turning round, and waking up. " When I saw it, and saw how it had grown since he was last here, I fancied — you may laugh, Iva, if you will, but I did fancy somehow that Reggie must have sobered down.

I thought : ' How sensible he looks ! ' And I was quite formal and serious with him for the whole of his first call, when I had him alone." " He told us so. He was tremendously pleased." " Laughing in his sleeve, I suppose." A slight accession of colour on her ladyship's cheek. " I think he was laughing a little — but not disagreeably ; really and truly not disagreeably. He would have known better than to come to us with any rudeness to you," said Iva quickly and affectionately. " But it was not in Reggie to let pass such a chance for making his way. He said he did not know when he had had such a delightful, intelligent conversation " " The rascal ! He was making fun of me." It was the quick-witted Irishwoman who spoke, not the mistress of Tilbury Court. " Don't you ever let out that I repeated it to you," exhorted Iva.

" Mind you don't. It would be such an opening for a grievance — and that is the very thing we want to avoid. And, mother, if you could keep up the polite and serious attitude ! The longer you can do that the better." " Of course, I can do it if I choose, Iva." Iva's mother bridled indignantly. " You always speak to me, your mother, as if I were one of the children ! " continued she, her sense of affront deepening. " I can be as reserved and dignified as anybody." " Not with Reggie ! " Iva smiled, then swept up the room and kissed her parent, rubbing the two cheeks together in a way that was all her own. " You are as bad as any of us about Reggie. He gets round you " "That he does not." " Oh, yes, he does ; and makes you do what he wants : then trades on your permission, and goes beyond it ; sneaks up to you for forgive ness, and gets it ; comes back to us with a grin to say it is all right ; makes fools of the whole of us " " He is a hypocritical, mischief-making, un principled " " Not at all.

And you don't think it. It is easy to call him names behind his back, yet if we were to see his grey knickerbockers under the trees yonder, and he were to come up to the window — he has no idea of not coming straight to this window, though he knows it is your private sitting-room, and that no one else (for of course I don't count) ever presumes to invade it — listen to me now, mother — listen, madam, and contradict me if you dare ! — if Reggie Goffe's long moustache were to poke in through that window at this very moment, you would jump up from your chair, and say ' Oh, Reggie ! ' as pleased as possible ; and if the luncheon gong were to sound an hour after, Reggie would stroll into the dining-room after you, and you would never even have asked him!" " Never have asked him ? " " You would simply have risen and talked on, looking over your shoulder for him to follow.

Of course, every one knows what that means." " What does it mean, Impudence ? " " Why, that he is a favourite, and may come and go as he pleases in Lady Tilbury's house." " And if I were to treat him in any other way, I know who would be the first to cry out. It would be : ' What a shame to begin to make a stranger of Reggie Goffe at this time of day ! ' ' How can you be so unkind ? ' ' What has poor Reggie done to displease you ? ' " While ' poor Reggie ' himself would look so limp and crestfallen that the whole house would be miserable on his behalf," cried Iva, letting go her mother's shoulder, and suddenly bursting into a ringing laugh. "'Tis no use, mother ; we simply couldn't do it. An hour after such a course of treatment had begun, we should all be ready to fall upon his neck weep ing, and he would be in the seventh heaven.

Afterwards things would be ten times as bad as they are now. No, you must not swing the pendulum too far. Be as kind as ever, as hospitable as ever, only if you can — now, don't flout me, my bonnie Irishwoman" — cheek rubbing again in vogue — " if your dear, warm, jolly heart will allow you, try to remember that you are Lady Tilbury, and that little Reggie Goffe is six foot one, and has a long moustache."

Chapter III. Three Others

In the room just over that in which the above was going on, three schoolgirls, let loose from lessons for the twelve o'clock recess, were also holding a confabulation. " Mamma and Iva are talking in the boudoir," observed Mabel sententiously. The Tilbury girls, Sir Thomas's daughters, called their mother " mamma ". Iva had made them do so. Iva liked a distinction to be drawn between her property and that which belonged to Tilbury Court generally. "They have been talking ever since I went down to fetch the slate rag," contributed her sister Marianne. " I heard them as I passed ; and they have gone on, hum-hum, ever since." "I know; at least, I have heard them ever since we came out on the balcony. What a silly you were to go and forget that slate rag again, miss ! You knew this was its wash ing day ; and I was so afraid Mademoiselle would stop our leaving off at twelve, if she got angry about it.

You know she threatened she would." "What are mamma and Iva talking about, I wonder?" Maud, the eldest of the three, found slate rags and Mademoiselle insipid ; she did not think them likely to form topics of con versation in the boudoir ; and the fifteen-year old young lady has secret covetings after the unknown talk of her elders with which she is seldom credited. " I can tell you one thing, or rather one person — only you must guess who ; the door was a little open, and I had to stand and fold the rag, so I couldn't help listening, and I heard his name over and over again." Betwixt her desire to impart her important piece of information and a sense of its having been acquired in a not altogether legitimate manner, the speaker, Marianne, grew a trifle incoherent ; but there was no Mademoiselle lying in wait to snap at trifles.

" You guess ? " concluded she, looking at each auditor in turn. " Guess ? That's easy enough," said Maud contemptuously. " Reggie, of course ! When ever they talk now, it's about Reggie — I mean ever since he came home this time." "Then why did you say you wondered?" retorted Marianne, whom the contempt naturally aggrieved. " You say you ' wonder,' and when I tell you " " I wonder what they are saying about him. I wonder why it is always when they are alone by themselves that they talk of Reggie. He is our friend as much as theirs." "And they used not to mind." It was now Mabel's turn. " They never minded in the least ; mamma used to say : ' Bother Reggie ! Take him away, some of you, I want to get my letters written,' when he came in the mornings. And Iva wouldn't come down if she had got her frock off and were lying on the sofa in her bedroom reading a novel.

If she were told Reggie was in the drawing-room, she would only read on, and say some one else could go to him." " Oh, I think she always went, unless she knew he was going to stay on," from Marianne. " No, she did not." Maud's memory was more tenacious and she had been on the alert sooner than the others. " She did not always go. Even if she did, she would groan out : ' Here, then, get out my things, and bring me some hot water '. She never would let Reggie see her except in her best things " "O Maud! that's not true! He has gone fishing with us, and nutting with us " "That was long ago. Since Iva has been grown up, though she says Reggie is a mere boy, and makes believe to snub him and scold him, she takes very good care he does not catch her with her hair untidy, or her old hat on. I know when she thinks he's about, by the way she wears her big black hat even in the garden, because he once said she suited a big hat."

" Do you think she is in love with him then?" Mabel's round yokel face took suddenly an expression of solemn interest. " Just fancy ! " " Sh — h! Take care!" The elder sister looked round with quick alarm. " Do take care what you say," proceeded she, frowning. " I never said a word about being ' in love '. It's only a way that grown-ups have, directly a man's a man. In a little while I daresay / shall begin " " He, he, he ! " tittered her sisters, their delight at the idea none the less keen because it was obviously contraband. " Then it will be our turn — Mab's and mine — to haul out your best things from the wardrobe if you are lying in your bedroom and mamma says : ' Go and let your sister know,' as she does now, if she wants Iva's help with visitors. How those two do stick by each other!

Mamma never will go to make calls without Iva, ever since she has been 'out'. Will it be the same with you when you are out, Maud ? " "Of course. Iva will be married by then, and I shall go about with mamma everywhere. I shall have my name printed on her visiting cards. It will be ' Lady Tilbury, Miss Tilbury,' instead of ' Lady Tilbury, Miss Kildare'. Much prettier, / think. Nobody but we ourselves have different names on the same card, and I daresay people think it very odd." " Do you think Iva will marry Reggie, Maud?" Ever since her brain had been il lumined by the idea, which opened vistas of possibilities the most delightful, Marianne had kept silence, pondering. "Oh, dear, no; he has nothing to marry upon." With superior wisdom, Maud loftily waved an arm, disposing of the suggestion.