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Chapter thirty seven of The Eustace Diamonds. This is a
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LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain.
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For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org.
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Recording by Catherine Millward. The Eustace Diamonds by Anthony Trollop,
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Chapter thirty seven, Lizzie's first Day. The coming of John
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Eustace was certainly a great thing for Lizzie, Though it
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was only for two days, it saved her from that
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feeling of desertion before her friends, desertion by those who
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might naturally belong to her, which would otherwise have afflicted her.
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His presence there for two days gave her a start.
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She could call him John, and bring down her boy
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to him, and remind him, with the sweetest smile, with
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almost a tear in her eye, that he was the
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boy's guardian, little fellow. So much depends on that little life,
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does it, not, John, she said, whispering the words into
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his ear. Lucky little dog, said John, patting the boy's head.
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Let me see, of course he'll go to Eton. Not yet,
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said Lizzie with a shudder. Well, no, hardly. When he's
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twelve and then the boy was done with and was
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carried away. She had played that card and it turned
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her trick. John Eustace was a thoroughly good natured man
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of the world, who could forgive many faults, not expecting
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people to be perfect. He did not like Missus Carbuncle,
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was indifferent to Lucinda's beauty, was afraid of that tartar
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Lord George, and thoroughly despised Sir Griffin. In his heart.
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He believed mister Emilius to be an impostor who might
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for aught. He knew pick his pocket, and miss MacNulty
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had no attraction for him. But he smiled and was gay,
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and called Lady Eustace by her Christian name, and was
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content to be of use to her in showing her
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friends that she had not been altogether dropped by the
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Eustace people. I got such a nice, affectionate letter from
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the dear Bishop, said Lizzie. But he couldn't come. He
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could not escape a previous engagement. It's a long way,
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said John, and he's not so young as he once was.
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And then there are the Bobsborough parson to look after.
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I don't suppose anything of that kind stops him, said Lizzie,
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who did not think it possible that a bishop's bliss
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should be alloyed by work. John was so very nice
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that she almost made up her mind to talk to
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him about the necklace. But she was cautious and thought
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of it, and found that it would be better that
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she should abstain. John Eustace was certainly very good natured,
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but perhaps he might say an ugly word to her
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if she were rash. She refrained therefore, and after breakfast
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on the second day, he took his departure without an
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allusion to things that were unpleasant. I call my brother
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in law a perfect gentleman, said Lizzie, with enthusiasm. When
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his back was turned. Certainly, said missus Carbuncle. He seems
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to me to be very quiet. He didn't quite like
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his party, said Lord George. I am sure he did,
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said Lizzie. I mean as to politics. To him, we
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are all turbulent demagogues and bohemians. Eustace is an old
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world tory, if there's one left anywhere. But you're right,
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Lady Eustace. He is a gentleman. He knows on which
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side his bread is buttered as well as any man,
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said Sir Griffin. Am I a demagogue, said Lizzie, appealing
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to the Corsair, or a bohemian. I didn't know it
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a little in that way. I think Lady Eustace not
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a demagogue, but a demagogue coal bohemian. But that way given,
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and is Miss Roanoke demagogical? Certainly, said Lord George. I
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hardly wrong you there, Miss Roanoke. Lucinda is a democrat,
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but hardly a demagogue, Lord George, said Missus Carbuncle. Those
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are distinctions which we hardly understand on this thick headed
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side of the water. But demagogues, democrats, demonstrators, and demosthenic
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oratory are all equally odious to John Eustace for a
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young man, He's about the best tory I know. He
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is true to his colors, said mister Emilius, who had
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been endeavoring to awake the attention of Miss Roanoke on
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the subject of Shakespeare's dramatic action. And I like men
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who are true to their colors. Mister Melias spoke with
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the slightest possible tone of foreign accent, a tone so
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slight that it simply served to attract attention to him.
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While Eustace was still in the house. There had come
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a letter from Frank Greystock saying that he would reach
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Portray by way of Glasgow on Wednesday, the fifth of November.
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He must sleep in Glasgow on that night, having business,
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or friends or pleasure demanding his attention in that prosperous
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mart of commerce. It had been impressed upon him that
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he should hunt, and he had consented. There was to
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be a meet out on the Kilmarnock side of the
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county on that Wednesday, and he would bring a horse
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with him from Glasgow. Even in Glasgow a hunter was
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to be hired and could be sent forty or fifty
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miles out of town in the morning and brought back
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in the evening. Lizzie had learned all about that and
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had told him if he would call at mac farlane
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Stables and Buchanan Street, or even write to mister mac Farlane,
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he would be sure to get a horse that would
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carry him. Mac Farlane was sending horses down into the
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Ayrshire county every day of his life. It was simply
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in air of money, three guineas for the horse and
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then just the expense of the railway. Frank, who knew
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quite as much about it, as did his cousin, and
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who never thought much of guineas or of railway tickets,
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promised to meet the party at the meet, ready equipped.
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His things would go on by train, and Lizzie must
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send for them to Troon. He presumed a beneficent providence
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would take the horse back to the bosom of mister
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mac farlane. Such was the tenor of his letter. If
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he don't mind, he'll find himself astray, said Sir Griffin.
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He'll have to go one way by rail, and his
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horse another. We can manage better for our cousin than that,
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said Lizzie, with a rebuking nod. But there was hunting
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from Portray before Frank Greystock came. It was specially a
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hunting party, and Lizzie was to be introduced to the
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glories of the field. In giving her her due, it
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must be acknowledged that she was fit for the work.
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She rode well, though she had not ridden to hounds,
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and her courage was cool. She looked well on horseback
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and had that presence of mind which should never desert
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a lady when she is hunting. A couple of horses
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had been purchased for her under Lord George's superintendence his
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conjointly with Missus Carbuncle's, and had been at the castle
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for the last ten days, eating their vera heeds off.
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As Andy Gowran had said in sorrow, there had been
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practicing even while John Eustace was there, and before her
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preceptors had slept three nights at the castle. She had
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ridden backward and forward half a dozen times over a
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stone wall. Oh yes, Lucinda had said, in answer to
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her remark from Sir Griffin. It's easy enough till you
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come across something difficult. Nothing difficult stops you, said Sir Griffin,
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to which compliment Lucinda vouchsafed no reply. On the Monday,
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Lizzie went out hunting for the first time in her life.
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It must be owned that as she put her habit
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on and afterwards breakfasted with all her guests in hunting
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gear around her, and then was driven with them in
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her own carriage to the meat, there was something of
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trepidation in her heart, and her feeling of cautious fear
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in regard to money had received a shock. Missus Carbuncle
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had told her that a couple of horses fit to
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carry her might perhaps cost her about a hundred and
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eighty pounds. Lord George had received the commission, and the
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check required from her hand had been for three hundred
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twenty pounds. Of course, she had written the check without
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a word, but it did begin to occur to her
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that hunting was an expensive amusement. Gallerand had informed her
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that he had bought a rick of hay from a
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neighbor for seventy five pounds fifteen shillings nine pence. God
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forgive me, said Andy, but I believe I've been o'er
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her on the pure meene of your ladyship's serves. Seventy
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five pounds fifteen shillings ninepence did seem a great deal
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of money to pay? And could it be necessary that
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she should buy a whole rick? There were to be
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eight horses in the stable. To what friend could she
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apply to learn how much of a rick of hay
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one horse ought to eat in a month of hunting,
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and such a matter. She might have trusted Andy Gowran implicitly,
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but how was she to know that? And then what
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if at some desperate fence she were to be thrown
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off and break her nose and knock out her front teeth?
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Was the game worth the candle. She was by no
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means sure that she liked missus Carbuncle very much, and
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though she liked Lord George very well. Could it be
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possible that he bought the horses for ninety pounds each
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and charged her a hundred and sixty pounds? Corsairs do
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do these sort of things. The horses themselves were two
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sweet deers, with stars on their foreheads and shining coats,
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and a d malicious aptitude for jumping over anything at
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a moment's notice. Lord George had not, in truth made
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a penny by them, and they were good hunters worth
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the money. But how was Lizzie to know that? But
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though she doubted and was full of fears, she could
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smile and look as though she liked it. If the
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worst should come, she could certainly get money for the diamonds.
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On that Monday, the meat was comparatively near to them,
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distant only twelve miles. On the following Wednesday it would
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be sixteen, and they would use the railway, having the
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carriage sent to meet them in the evening. The three
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ladies and Lord George filled the carriage, and Sir Griffin
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was perched upon the box. The ladies horses had gone
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on with two grooms, and those for Lord George and
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Sir Griffin were to come to the meet. Lizzie felt
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somewhat proud of her establishment and her echopage, but at
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the same time somewhat fearful. Hitherto she knew but very
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little of the country people, and was not sure how
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she might be received. And then how would it be
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with her if the fox should at once start away
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across country and she should lack either the pluck or
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the power to follow. There was Sir Griffin to look
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after Miss Roanoke, and Lord George to attend to Missus Carbuncle.
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At last, an idea so horrible struck her that she
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could not keep it down. What am I to do?
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She said? If I find myself all alone in a
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field and everybody else gone away, we won't treat you
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quite in that fashion, said Missus Carbuncle. The only possible
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way in which you can be alone in a field
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is that you will have cut everybody else down, said
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Lord George. I suppose it will all come right, said Lizzie,
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plucking up her courage and telling herself that a woman
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can die. But once everything was right as it usually
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is the horses. Were there quite a throng of horses,
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as the two general had two each, and there was
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moreover a mounted groom to look after the three ladies.
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Lizzie had desired to have a groom to herself, but
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had been told that the expenditure in horse flesh was
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more than the stable could stand. All I ever want
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of a man is to care for be my flask
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and waterproof and luncheon, said missus Carbuncle. I don't care
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if I never see a groom except for that. It's
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convenient to have a gate open sometimes, said Lucinda slowly.
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We'll no one but a groom do that for you,
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asked Sir Griffin. Gentlemen can't open gates, said Lucinda. Now,
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as Sir Griffin thought that he had opened many gates
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during the last season for Miss Roanoke, he felt this
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to be hard. But there were eight horses, and eight
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horses with three servants and a carriage made quite a
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throng among the crowd of Ayrshire hunting men, a lord
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or two, a dozen lairds, two dozen farmers, and as
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many men of business out of Ayre Kilmarnock and away
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from Glasgow. It was soon told that Lady Eustace and
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her party were among them. A good deal had been
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already heard of Lizzie, and it was at least known
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of her that she had for her life. The portray
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estayed in her hands. So there was an undercurrent of
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whispering and that sort of commotion which the appearance of
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newcomers does produce at a hunt. Meet Lord George knew
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one or two men who were surprised to find him
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in Ayrshire, and Missus Carbuncle was soon quite at home
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with a young nobleman whom she had met in the
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vale with the baron. Sir Griffin did not leave Lucida's side,
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and for a while poor Lizzie felt herself alone in
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a crowd who does not know that terrible feeling, and
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the all but necessity that exists for the sufferer to
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pretend that he is not suffering, which again is aggravated
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by the conviction that the pretense is utterly vain. This
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may be bad with a man, but with a woman
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who never looks to be alone in a crowd, it
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is terrible. For five minutes, during which everybody else was
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speaking to everybody. For five minutes, which seemed to her
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to be an hour. Lizzie spoke to no one, and
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no one spoke to her. Was it for such misery
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as this that she was spending hundreds upon hundreds and
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running herself into debt? For she was sure that there
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would be debt before she parted with Missus Carbuncle. There
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are people, very many people, to whom an act of
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hospitality is in itself a good thing. But there are
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others who are always making calculations and endeavoring to count
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up the thing purchased against the cost. Lizzie had been
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told that she was a rich woman. As women go
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very rich, Surely she was entitled to entertain a few friends.
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And if Missus Carbuncle and Miss Roanoke could hunt, it
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could not be that hunting was beyond her own means.
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And yet she was spending a great deal of money.
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She had seen a large wagon loaded with sacks of
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corn coming up the hill to the Portray stables, and
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she knew that there would be a long bill at
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the corn chandler's. There had been found a supply of
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wine in the cellars at Portray, which, at her request,
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had been inspected by her cousin Frank, but it had
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been necessary, so he had told her to have much
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more sent down from London, Champagne and liqueurs and other
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nice things that cost money. You won't not like to
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have them if these people are coming. Oh no, certainly not,
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said Lizzie with enthusiasm. What other rich people did she
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would do? But now, in her five minutes of misery,
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she counted it all up and was at a loss
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to find what was to be her return for her expenditure.
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And then if on this her first day, she should
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have a fall with no tender hand to help her,
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and then find that she had knocked out her front teeth.
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But the cavalcade began to move, and then Lord George
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was by her side. You mustn't be angry if I
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seemed to stick too close to you, he said. She
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gave him her sweetest smile as she told him that
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would be impossible, because you know, though, it's the easiest
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thing in the world to get along out hunting, and
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women never come to grief. A person is a little
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astray at first. I shall be so much astray, said Lizzie.
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I don't at all know how we are going to begin.
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Are we hunting? A fox. Now at this moment they
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were trotting across a field or two through a run
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of gates up to the first covert. Not quite yet.
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The hounds haven't been put in yet. You see that
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would there? I suppose they'll draw that? What is a drawing?
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Lord George, I want to know all about it, and
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I am so ignorant. Nobody else will tell me. Then
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Lord George gave his lesson and explained the theory and
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system of fox hunting. We're to wait here then till
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the fox runs away. But it's ever so large. And
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if he runs away and nobody sees him, I hope
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he will because it will be nice to go on easily.
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A great many people hope that, and a great many
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think it nice to go on easily, Only you must
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not confess to it. Then he went on with his
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lecture and explained the meaning of scent was great on
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the difficulty of getting away, describe the iniquity of heading
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the fox, spoke of upwind and downwind, got as far
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as the trouble of carrying, and told her that a
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good ear was everything in a big wood. When there
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came upon them the thrice repeated note of an old
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hound's voice, and the quick gampering and low, timid, anxious,
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trustful whinnying of a dozen comrade younger hounds who recognize
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the sagacity of their well known and highly appreciated elder.
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That's a fox, said Lord George. What shall I do now,
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said Lizzie, all in a twitter. Sit just where you
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are and light a cigar. If you're given to smoking, pray,
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don't joke with me. You know I want to do
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it properly, And therefore you must just sit where you
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are and not gallop about. There's a matter of a
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hundred and twenty acres here, I should say. And a
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fox doesn't always choose to be evicted at the first notice.
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It's a chance whether he goes at all from a
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wood like this. I like woods myself, because, as you see,
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we can take it easy. But if you want to ride,
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you should. By George, they've killed him, killed the fox, Yes,
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he's dead, didn't you? And is that a hunt? Well,
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as far as it goes, it is. Why did he
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run away? What a stupid beast? I don't see very
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much in that. Who killed him? That man who was
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blowing the horn? The hounds chopped him chopped him. Lord
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George was very patient and explained to Lizzie, who was
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now indignant and disappointed the misfortune of chopping. And are
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we to go home now? Is it all over? They
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say the country is full of foxes, said Lord George.
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Perhaps we shall chop half a dozen. Dear me, chop
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half a dozen foxes? Do they like to be chopped?
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I thought they always ran away? Lord George was constant
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and patient and rode at Lizzie's side from covert to covert.
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A second fox they did kill in the same fashion
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as the first. A third they couldn't hunt a yard.
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A fourth got to ground after five minutes and was
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dug out ingloriously, during which process a drizzling rain commenced.
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Where is the man with my waterproof? Demanded Missus Carbuncle.
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Lord George had sent the man to see whether there
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was shelter to be had in a neighboring yard, and
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Missus Carbuncle was angry. It's my own fault, she said,
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for not having my own man. Lucinda, you'll be wet.
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I don't mind the wet, said Lucinda. Lucinda never did
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mind anything. If you'll come with me, we'll get into
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a barn, said Sir Griffin. I like the wet, said Lucinda.
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All the while, seven men were at work with picks
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and shovels, and the master and four or five of
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the more ardent sportsmen were deeply engaged in what scene
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to be a mining operation on a small scale. The
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huntsman stood over giving his orders. One enthusiastic man, who
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had been lying on his belly groveling in the mud
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for five minutes with a long stick in his hand,
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was now applying the point of it scientifically to his nose.
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An ordinary observer with a magnifying glass might have seen
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a hare at the end of a stick. He's there,
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said the enthusiastic man, covered with mud. After a long, drawn,
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eager sniff of the stick, the huntsman deigned to give
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one glance. That's rabbit, said the huntsman. A conclave was
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immediately formed over the one visible hair that stuck to
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the stick, and three experienced farmers decided that it was rabbit.
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The muddy enthusiastic man, silenced but not convinced, retired from
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the crowd, leaving his stick behind him, and comforted himself
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with his brandy flask. He's here, my lord, said the
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huntsman to his noble master. Only we ain't got nigh
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of him. Yet. He spoke on blest in a whisper,
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so that the ignorant crowd should not hear the words
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of wisdom, which they wouldn't understand, or perhaps believe. It's
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that full of rabbits that the holes is all hairs.
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They ain't got no terrier here, I suppose they never
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has aught that is wanted in these parts. Walk round
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to the right. There, that's his line. The men did
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work round to the right, and in something under an
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hour the fox was dragged out by his brush and
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hind legs, while the experienced whip who dragged him held
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the poor brute tight by the back of his neck.
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An old dog, my lord, there's such a many of
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em here an they'll be a deal better for a
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little killing. Then the hounds ate their third fox for
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that day. Lady Eustace, in the meantime, and Missus Carbuncle
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with Lord George, had found their way to the ship
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shelter of a cattle shed. Lucinda had slowly followed, and
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Sir Griffin had followed her. The gentlemen smoked cigars, and
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the ladies, when they had eaten their luncheons and drunk
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their sherry, were cold and cross. If this is hunting,
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said Lizzie, I really don't think so much about it.
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It's Scotch hunting, said Missus Carbuncle. I have seen foxes
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dug out south of the tweed, suggested Lord George. I
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suppose everything is slow after the baron, said Missus Carbuncle,
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who had distinguished herself with the Baron's staghounds last March.
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Are we to go home now? Asked Lizzie, who would
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have been well pleased to have received an answer in
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the affirmative. I presume they'll draw again, exclaimed Missus Carbuncle,
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with an angry frown on her brown. It's hardly two o'clock.
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They always draw till seven in Scotland, said Lord George.
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That's nonsense, said Missus Carbuncle. It's dark at four. They
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have torches in Scotland, said Lord George. They have a
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great many things in Scotland that are very far from agreeable,
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said Missus Carbuncle. Lucinda, did you ever see three foxes
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killed without five minutes running before? I never did. I've
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been out all day without finding it all, said Lucinda,
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who loved the truth, and so have I said, Sir Griffin, often,
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don't you remember that day when we went down from
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London to bring her wood and they pretended to find
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at half past four, that's what I call a cell.
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They're going on, Lady Eustace, said, Lord George, if you're
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not tired, we might as well see it out. Lizzie
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was tired, but said that she was not, and she
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did see it out. They found a fifth fox, but
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again there was no scent. Who the is to hunt
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a fox with people scurrying around like that? Said the huntsmen,
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very angrily, dashing forward at a couple of riders. The
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hounds is behind you, only you ain't a lookin'. Some
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people never do look. The two peccant riders, unfortunately, were
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Sir Griffin and Lucinda. The day was one of those
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from which all the men and women return home cross,
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and which induced some half hearted folk to declare to
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themselves that they never will hunt again. When the master
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decided a little after three that he would draw no
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more because there wasn't a yard of scent, our party
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had nine or ten miles to ride back to their carriages.
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Lizzie was very tired, and when Lord George took her
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from her horse, could almost have cried from fatigue. Missus
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Carbuncle was never fatigued, but she had become damp soaking
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went through. As she herself said during the Four Men
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that the man was absent with her waterproof jacket and
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could not bring herself to forget the ill usage she
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had suffered. Lucinda had become absolutely dumb, and any observer
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would have fancied that the two gentlemen had quarreled with
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each other. You ought to go on the box by now,
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said Sir Griffin, grumbling. When you're my age and i'm yours,
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I will, said Lord George, taking his seat in the carriage.
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Then he appealed to Lizzie. You'll let me smoke, won't you.
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She simply bowed her head, and so they went home,
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Lord George smoking and the ladies dumb. Lizzie, as she
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dressed for dinner, almost cried with vexation and disappointment. There
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was a little conversation upstairs between Missus Carbuncle and Lucinda,
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when they were free from the attendants of their joint
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made it seems to me, said missus carbuncle, that you
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won't make up your mind about anything. There is nothing
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to make up my mind about. I think there is
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a great deal. Do you mean to take this man
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who is dangling after you? He isn't worth taking. Carruthers
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says that the property must come right. Sooner or later.
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You might do better, perhaps, but you won't trouble yourself.
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We can't go on like this forever. You know, if
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you hated it as much as I do, you wouldn't
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want to go on. Why don't you talk to him?
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I don't think he's at all a bad fellow. I've
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nothing to say. He'll offer tomorrow if you'll accept him.
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Don't let him do that, Aunt, Jane, I couldn't say yes.
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As for loving him, oh, laws, it won't do to
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go on like this. You know, I'm only eighteen and
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it's my money, Aunt, And how long will it last?
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If you can't accept him, refuse him and let somebody
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else come. It seems to me, said Lucinda, that one
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is as bad as another. I'd a deal sooner. Marry
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a shoemaker and help him to make him shoes. That's
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downright wickedness, said missus carbuncle, and then they went down
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to dinner. End of chapter thirty seven
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Chapter thirty seven of The Eustace Diamonds. This is a
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LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain.
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For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org.
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Recording by Catherine Millward. The Eustace Diamonds by Anthony Trollop,
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Chapter thirty seven, Lizzie's first Day. The coming of John
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Eustace was certainly a great thing for Lizzie, Though it
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was only for two days, it saved her from that
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feeling of desertion before her friends, desertion by those who
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might naturally belong to her, which would otherwise have afflicted her.
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His presence there for two days gave her a start.
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She could call him John, and bring down her boy
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to him, and remind him, with the sweetest smile, with
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almost a tear in her eye, that he was the
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boy's guardian, little fellow. So much depends on that little life,
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does it, not, John, she said, whispering the words into
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his ear. Lucky little dog, said John, patting the boy's head.
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Let me see, of course he'll go to Eton. Not yet,
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said Lizzie with a shudder. Well, no, hardly. When he's
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twelve and then the boy was done with and was
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carried away. She had played that card and it turned
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her trick. John Eustace was a thoroughly good natured man
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of the world, who could forgive many faults, not expecting
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people to be perfect. He did not like Missus Carbuncle,
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was indifferent to Lucinda's beauty, was afraid of that tartar
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Lord George, and thoroughly despised Sir Griffin. In his heart.
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He believed mister Emilius to be an impostor who might
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for aught. He knew pick his pocket, and miss MacNulty
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had no attraction for him. But he smiled and was gay,
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and called Lady Eustace by her Christian name, and was
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content to be of use to her in showing her
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friends that she had not been altogether dropped by the
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Eustace people. I got such a nice, affectionate letter from
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the dear Bishop, said Lizzie. But he couldn't come. He
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could not escape a previous engagement. It's a long way,
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said John, and he's not so young as he once was.
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And then there are the Bobsborough parson to look after.
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I don't suppose anything of that kind stops him, said Lizzie,
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who did not think it possible that a bishop's bliss
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should be alloyed by work. John was so very nice
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that she almost made up her mind to talk to
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him about the necklace. But she was cautious and thought
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of it, and found that it would be better that
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she should abstain. John Eustace was certainly very good natured,
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but perhaps he might say an ugly word to her
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if she were rash. She refrained therefore, and after breakfast
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on the second day, he took his departure without an
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allusion to things that were unpleasant. I call my brother
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in law a perfect gentleman, said Lizzie, with enthusiasm. When
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his back was turned. Certainly, said missus Carbuncle. He seems
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to me to be very quiet. He didn't quite like
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his party, said Lord George. I am sure he did,
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said Lizzie. I mean as to politics. To him, we
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are all turbulent demagogues and bohemians. Eustace is an old
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world tory, if there's one left anywhere. But you're right,
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Lady Eustace. He is a gentleman. He knows on which
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side his bread is buttered as well as any man,
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said Sir Griffin. Am I a demagogue, said Lizzie, appealing
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to the Corsair, or a bohemian. I didn't know it
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a little in that way. I think Lady Eustace not
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a demagogue, but a demagogue coal bohemian. But that way given,
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and is Miss Roanoke demagogical? Certainly, said Lord George. I
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hardly wrong you there, Miss Roanoke. Lucinda is a democrat,
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but hardly a demagogue, Lord George, said Missus Carbuncle. Those
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are distinctions which we hardly understand on this thick headed
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side of the water. But demagogues, democrats, demonstrators, and demosthenic
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oratory are all equally odious to John Eustace for a
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young man, He's about the best tory I know. He
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is true to his colors, said mister Emilius, who had
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been endeavoring to awake the attention of Miss Roanoke on
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the subject of Shakespeare's dramatic action. And I like men
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who are true to their colors. Mister Melias spoke with
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the slightest possible tone of foreign accent, a tone so
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slight that it simply served to attract attention to him.
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While Eustace was still in the house. There had come
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a letter from Frank Greystock saying that he would reach
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Portray by way of Glasgow on Wednesday, the fifth of November.
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He must sleep in Glasgow on that night, having business,
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or friends or pleasure demanding his attention in that prosperous
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mart of commerce. It had been impressed upon him that
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he should hunt, and he had consented. There was to
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be a meet out on the Kilmarnock side of the
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county on that Wednesday, and he would bring a horse
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with him from Glasgow. Even in Glasgow a hunter was
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to be hired and could be sent forty or fifty
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miles out of town in the morning and brought back
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in the evening. Lizzie had learned all about that and
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00:05:42.839 --> 00:05:45.839
had told him if he would call at mac farlane
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Stables and Buchanan Street, or even write to mister mac Farlane,
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he would be sure to get a horse that would
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carry him. Mac Farlane was sending horses down into the
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Ayrshire county every day of his life. It was simply
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in air of money, three guineas for the horse and
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then just the expense of the railway. Frank, who knew
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quite as much about it, as did his cousin, and
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who never thought much of guineas or of railway tickets,
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promised to meet the party at the meet, ready equipped.
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His things would go on by train, and Lizzie must
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send for them to Troon. He presumed a beneficent providence
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would take the horse back to the bosom of mister
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mac farlane. Such was the tenor of his letter. If
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he don't mind, he'll find himself astray, said Sir Griffin.
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He'll have to go one way by rail, and his
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horse another. We can manage better for our cousin than that,
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said Lizzie, with a rebuking nod. But there was hunting
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from Portray before Frank Greystock came. It was specially a
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hunting party, and Lizzie was to be introduced to the
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glories of the field. In giving her her due, it
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must be acknowledged that she was fit for the work.
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She rode well, though she had not ridden to hounds,
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and her courage was cool. She looked well on horseback
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and had that presence of mind which should never desert
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a lady when she is hunting. A couple of horses
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had been purchased for her under Lord George's superintendence his
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conjointly with Missus Carbuncle's, and had been at the castle
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for the last ten days, eating their vera heeds off.
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As Andy Gowran had said in sorrow, there had been
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practicing even while John Eustace was there, and before her
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preceptors had slept three nights at the castle. She had
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ridden backward and forward half a dozen times over a
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stone wall. Oh yes, Lucinda had said, in answer to
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her remark from Sir Griffin. It's easy enough till you
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come across something difficult. Nothing difficult stops you, said Sir Griffin,
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to which compliment Lucinda vouchsafed no reply. On the Monday,
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Lizzie went out hunting for the first time in her life.
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It must be owned that as she put her habit
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on and afterwards breakfasted with all her guests in hunting
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gear around her, and then was driven with them in
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her own carriage to the meat, there was something of
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trepidation in her heart, and her feeling of cautious fear
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in regard to money had received a shock. Missus Carbuncle
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had told her that a couple of horses fit to
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carry her might perhaps cost her about a hundred and
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eighty pounds. Lord George had received the commission, and the
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check required from her hand had been for three hundred
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twenty pounds. Of course, she had written the check without
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a word, but it did begin to occur to her
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that hunting was an expensive amusement. Gallerand had informed her
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that he had bought a rick of hay from a
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neighbor for seventy five pounds fifteen shillings nine pence. God
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forgive me, said Andy, but I believe I've been o'er
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her on the pure meene of your ladyship's serves. Seventy
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five pounds fifteen shillings ninepence did seem a great deal
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of money to pay? And could it be necessary that
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she should buy a whole rick? There were to be
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eight horses in the stable. To what friend could she
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apply to learn how much of a rick of hay
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one horse ought to eat in a month of hunting,
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and such a matter. She might have trusted Andy Gowran implicitly,
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but how was she to know that? And then what
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if at some desperate fence she were to be thrown
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off and break her nose and knock out her front teeth?
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Was the game worth the candle. She was by no
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means sure that she liked missus Carbuncle very much, and
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though she liked Lord George very well. Could it be
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possible that he bought the horses for ninety pounds each
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and charged her a hundred and sixty pounds? Corsairs do
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do these sort of things. The horses themselves were two
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sweet deers, with stars on their foreheads and shining coats,
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and a d malicious aptitude for jumping over anything at
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a moment's notice. Lord George had not, in truth made
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a penny by them, and they were good hunters worth
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the money. But how was Lizzie to know that? But
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though she doubted and was full of fears, she could
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smile and look as though she liked it. If the
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worst should come, she could certainly get money for the diamonds.
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On that Monday, the meat was comparatively near to them,
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distant only twelve miles. On the following Wednesday it would
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be sixteen, and they would use the railway, having the
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carriage sent to meet them in the evening. The three
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ladies and Lord George filled the carriage, and Sir Griffin
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was perched upon the box. The ladies horses had gone
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on with two grooms, and those for Lord George and
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Sir Griffin were to come to the meet. Lizzie felt
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somewhat proud of her establishment and her echopage, but at
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the same time somewhat fearful. Hitherto she knew but very
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little of the country people, and was not sure how
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she might be received. And then how would it be
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with her if the fox should at once start away
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across country and she should lack either the pluck or
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the power to follow. There was Sir Griffin to look
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after Miss Roanoke, and Lord George to attend to Missus Carbuncle.
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At last, an idea so horrible struck her that she
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could not keep it down. What am I to do?
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She said? If I find myself all alone in a
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field and everybody else gone away, we won't treat you
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quite in that fashion, said Missus Carbuncle. The only possible
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way in which you can be alone in a field
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is that you will have cut everybody else down, said
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Lord George. I suppose it will all come right, said Lizzie,
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plucking up her courage and telling herself that a woman
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can die. But once everything was right as it usually
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is the horses. Were there quite a throng of horses,
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as the two general had two each, and there was
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moreover a mounted groom to look after the three ladies.
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Lizzie had desired to have a groom to herself, but
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had been told that the expenditure in horse flesh was
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more than the stable could stand. All I ever want
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of a man is to care for be my flask
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and waterproof and luncheon, said missus Carbuncle. I don't care
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if I never see a groom except for that. It's
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convenient to have a gate open sometimes, said Lucinda slowly.
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We'll no one but a groom do that for you,
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asked Sir Griffin. Gentlemen can't open gates, said Lucinda. Now,
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as Sir Griffin thought that he had opened many gates
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during the last season for Miss Roanoke, he felt this
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to be hard. But there were eight horses, and eight
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horses with three servants and a carriage made quite a
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throng among the crowd of Ayrshire hunting men, a lord
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or two, a dozen lairds, two dozen farmers, and as
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many men of business out of Ayre Kilmarnock and away
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from Glasgow. It was soon told that Lady Eustace and
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her party were among them. A good deal had been
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00:13:17.120 --> 00:13:19.919
already heard of Lizzie, and it was at least known
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of her that she had for her life. The portray
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estayed in her hands. So there was an undercurrent of
216
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whispering and that sort of commotion which the appearance of
217
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newcomers does produce at a hunt. Meet Lord George knew
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one or two men who were surprised to find him
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in Ayrshire, and Missus Carbuncle was soon quite at home
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with a young nobleman whom she had met in the
221
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vale with the baron. Sir Griffin did not leave Lucida's side,
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and for a while poor Lizzie felt herself alone in
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a crowd who does not know that terrible feeling, and
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the all but necessity that exists for the sufferer to
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00:13:56.440 --> 00:13:59.679
pretend that he is not suffering, which again is aggravated
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00:13:59.679 --> 00:14:03.919
by the conviction that the pretense is utterly vain. This
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may be bad with a man, but with a woman
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00:14:06.799 --> 00:14:09.399
who never looks to be alone in a crowd, it
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00:14:09.519 --> 00:14:13.840
is terrible. For five minutes, during which everybody else was
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speaking to everybody. For five minutes, which seemed to her
231
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to be an hour. Lizzie spoke to no one, and
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no one spoke to her. Was it for such misery
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00:14:26.519 --> 00:14:29.639
as this that she was spending hundreds upon hundreds and
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00:14:29.720 --> 00:14:33.200
running herself into debt? For she was sure that there
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00:14:33.200 --> 00:14:36.919
would be debt before she parted with Missus Carbuncle. There
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00:14:36.960 --> 00:14:40.639
are people, very many people, to whom an act of
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00:14:40.679 --> 00:14:44.519
hospitality is in itself a good thing. But there are
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00:14:44.600 --> 00:14:48.720
others who are always making calculations and endeavoring to count
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up the thing purchased against the cost. Lizzie had been
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00:14:52.480 --> 00:14:55.440
told that she was a rich woman. As women go
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very rich, Surely she was entitled to entertain a few friends.
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And if Missus Carbuncle and Miss Roanoke could hunt, it
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could not be that hunting was beyond her own means.
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And yet she was spending a great deal of money.
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She had seen a large wagon loaded with sacks of
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corn coming up the hill to the Portray stables, and
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she knew that there would be a long bill at
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the corn chandler's. There had been found a supply of
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wine in the cellars at Portray, which, at her request,
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00:15:25.399 --> 00:15:28.679
had been inspected by her cousin Frank, but it had
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00:15:28.720 --> 00:15:32.279
been necessary, so he had told her to have much
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more sent down from London, Champagne and liqueurs and other
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nice things that cost money. You won't not like to
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have them if these people are coming. Oh no, certainly not,
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said Lizzie with enthusiasm. What other rich people did she
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would do? But now, in her five minutes of misery,
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she counted it all up and was at a loss
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to find what was to be her return for her expenditure.
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And then if on this her first day, she should
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have a fall with no tender hand to help her,
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and then find that she had knocked out her front teeth.
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But the cavalcade began to move, and then Lord George
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was by her side. You mustn't be angry if I
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seemed to stick too close to you, he said. She
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gave him her sweetest smile as she told him that
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would be impossible, because you know, though, it's the easiest
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thing in the world to get along out hunting, and
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women never come to grief. A person is a little
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astray at first. I shall be so much astray, said Lizzie.
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I don't at all know how we are going to begin.
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Are we hunting? A fox. Now at this moment they
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were trotting across a field or two through a run
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of gates up to the first covert. Not quite yet.
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The hounds haven't been put in yet. You see that
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would there? I suppose they'll draw that? What is a drawing?
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Lord George, I want to know all about it, and
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I am so ignorant. Nobody else will tell me. Then
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Lord George gave his lesson and explained the theory and
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system of fox hunting. We're to wait here then till
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the fox runs away. But it's ever so large. And
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if he runs away and nobody sees him, I hope
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he will because it will be nice to go on easily.
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A great many people hope that, and a great many
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think it nice to go on easily, Only you must
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not confess to it. Then he went on with his
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lecture and explained the meaning of scent was great on
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the difficulty of getting away, describe the iniquity of heading
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the fox, spoke of upwind and downwind, got as far
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as the trouble of carrying, and told her that a
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good ear was everything in a big wood. When there
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came upon them the thrice repeated note of an old
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hound's voice, and the quick gampering and low, timid, anxious,
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trustful whinnying of a dozen comrade younger hounds who recognize
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the sagacity of their well known and highly appreciated elder.
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That's a fox, said Lord George. What shall I do now,
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said Lizzie, all in a twitter. Sit just where you
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are and light a cigar. If you're given to smoking, pray,
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don't joke with me. You know I want to do
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it properly, And therefore you must just sit where you
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are and not gallop about. There's a matter of a
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hundred and twenty acres here, I should say. And a
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fox doesn't always choose to be evicted at the first notice.
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It's a chance whether he goes at all from a
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wood like this. I like woods myself, because, as you see,
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we can take it easy. But if you want to ride,
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you should. By George, they've killed him, killed the fox, Yes,
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he's dead, didn't you? And is that a hunt? Well,
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as far as it goes, it is. Why did he
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run away? What a stupid beast? I don't see very
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much in that. Who killed him? That man who was
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blowing the horn? The hounds chopped him chopped him. Lord
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George was very patient and explained to Lizzie, who was
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now indignant and disappointed the misfortune of chopping. And are
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we to go home now? Is it all over? They
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say the country is full of foxes, said Lord George.
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Perhaps we shall chop half a dozen. Dear me, chop
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half a dozen foxes? Do they like to be chopped?
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I thought they always ran away? Lord George was constant
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and patient and rode at Lizzie's side from covert to covert.
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A second fox they did kill in the same fashion
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as the first. A third they couldn't hunt a yard.
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A fourth got to ground after five minutes and was
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dug out ingloriously, during which process a drizzling rain commenced.
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Where is the man with my waterproof? Demanded Missus Carbuncle.
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Lord George had sent the man to see whether there
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was shelter to be had in a neighboring yard, and
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Missus Carbuncle was angry. It's my own fault, she said,
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for not having my own man. Lucinda, you'll be wet.
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I don't mind the wet, said Lucinda. Lucinda never did
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mind anything. If you'll come with me, we'll get into
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a barn, said Sir Griffin. I like the wet, said Lucinda.
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All the while, seven men were at work with picks
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and shovels, and the master and four or five of
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the more ardent sportsmen were deeply engaged in what scene
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to be a mining operation on a small scale. The
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huntsman stood over giving his orders. One enthusiastic man, who
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had been lying on his belly groveling in the mud
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for five minutes with a long stick in his hand,
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was now applying the point of it scientifically to his nose.
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An ordinary observer with a magnifying glass might have seen
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a hare at the end of a stick. He's there,
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said the enthusiastic man, covered with mud. After a long, drawn,
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eager sniff of the stick, the huntsman deigned to give
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one glance. That's rabbit, said the huntsman. A conclave was
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immediately formed over the one visible hair that stuck to
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the stick, and three experienced farmers decided that it was rabbit.
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The muddy enthusiastic man, silenced but not convinced, retired from
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the crowd, leaving his stick behind him, and comforted himself
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with his brandy flask. He's here, my lord, said the
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huntsman to his noble master. Only we ain't got nigh
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of him. Yet. He spoke on blest in a whisper,
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so that the ignorant crowd should not hear the words
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of wisdom, which they wouldn't understand, or perhaps believe. It's
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that full of rabbits that the holes is all hairs.
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They ain't got no terrier here, I suppose they never
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has aught that is wanted in these parts. Walk round
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to the right. There, that's his line. The men did
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work round to the right, and in something under an
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hour the fox was dragged out by his brush and
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hind legs, while the experienced whip who dragged him held
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the poor brute tight by the back of his neck.
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An old dog, my lord, there's such a many of
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em here an they'll be a deal better for a
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little killing. Then the hounds ate their third fox for
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that day. Lady Eustace, in the meantime, and Missus Carbuncle
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with Lord George, had found their way to the ship
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shelter of a cattle shed. Lucinda had slowly followed, and
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Sir Griffin had followed her. The gentlemen smoked cigars, and
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the ladies, when they had eaten their luncheons and drunk
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their sherry, were cold and cross. If this is hunting,
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said Lizzie, I really don't think so much about it.
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It's Scotch hunting, said Missus Carbuncle. I have seen foxes
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dug out south of the tweed, suggested Lord George. I
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suppose everything is slow after the baron, said Missus Carbuncle,
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who had distinguished herself with the Baron's staghounds last March.
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Are we to go home now? Asked Lizzie, who would
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have been well pleased to have received an answer in
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the affirmative. I presume they'll draw again, exclaimed Missus Carbuncle,
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with an angry frown on her brown. It's hardly two o'clock.
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They always draw till seven in Scotland, said Lord George.
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That's nonsense, said Missus Carbuncle. It's dark at four. They
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have torches in Scotland, said Lord George. They have a
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great many things in Scotland that are very far from agreeable,
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said Missus Carbuncle. Lucinda, did you ever see three foxes
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killed without five minutes running before? I never did. I've
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been out all day without finding it all, said Lucinda,
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who loved the truth, and so have I said, Sir Griffin, often,
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don't you remember that day when we went down from
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London to bring her wood and they pretended to find
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at half past four, that's what I call a cell.
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They're going on, Lady Eustace, said, Lord George, if you're
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not tired, we might as well see it out. Lizzie
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was tired, but said that she was not, and she
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did see it out. They found a fifth fox, but
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again there was no scent. Who the is to hunt
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a fox with people scurrying around like that? Said the huntsmen,
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very angrily, dashing forward at a couple of riders. The
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hounds is behind you, only you ain't a lookin'. Some
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people never do look. The two peccant riders, unfortunately, were
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Sir Griffin and Lucinda. The day was one of those
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from which all the men and women return home cross,
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and which induced some half hearted folk to declare to
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themselves that they never will hunt again. When the master
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decided a little after three that he would draw no
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more because there wasn't a yard of scent, our party
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had nine or ten miles to ride back to their carriages.
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Lizzie was very tired, and when Lord George took her
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from her horse, could almost have cried from fatigue. Missus
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Carbuncle was never fatigued, but she had become damp soaking
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went through. As she herself said during the Four Men
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that the man was absent with her waterproof jacket and
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could not bring herself to forget the ill usage she
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had suffered. Lucinda had become absolutely dumb, and any observer
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would have fancied that the two gentlemen had quarreled with
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each other. You ought to go on the box by now,
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said Sir Griffin, grumbling. When you're my age and i'm yours,
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I will, said Lord George, taking his seat in the carriage.
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Then he appealed to Lizzie. You'll let me smoke, won't you.
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She simply bowed her head, and so they went home,
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Lord George smoking and the ladies dumb. Lizzie, as she
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dressed for dinner, almost cried with vexation and disappointment. There
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was a little conversation upstairs between Missus Carbuncle and Lucinda,
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when they were free from the attendants of their joint
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made it seems to me, said missus carbuncle, that you
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won't make up your mind about anything. There is nothing
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to make up my mind about. I think there is
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a great deal. Do you mean to take this man
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who is dangling after you? He isn't worth taking. Carruthers
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says that the property must come right. Sooner or later.
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You might do better, perhaps, but you won't trouble yourself.
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We can't go on like this forever. You know, if
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you hated it as much as I do, you wouldn't
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want to go on. Why don't you talk to him?
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I don't think he's at all a bad fellow. I've
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nothing to say. He'll offer tomorrow if you'll accept him.
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Don't let him do that, Aunt, Jane, I couldn't say yes.
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As for loving him, oh, laws, it won't do to
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go on like this. You know, I'm only eighteen and
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it's my money, Aunt, And how long will it last?
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If you can't accept him, refuse him and let somebody
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else come. It seems to me, said Lucinda, that one
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is as bad as another. I'd a deal sooner. Marry
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a shoemaker and help him to make him shoes. That's
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downright wickedness, said missus carbuncle, and then they went down
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to dinner. End of chapter thirty seven
