Henrietta Temple, Benjamin Disraeli [free ereaders .TXT] 📗

yours,' said Ferdinand.

'Yes; it is a very magnificent establishment. I have spared no expense to produce the most perfect thing of the kind in Europe; and it is the most perfect thing of the kind. I am confident that no noble in any country has an establishment better appointed. I despatched an agent to the Continent to procure this furniture: his commission had no limit, and he was absent two years. My cook was with Charles X.; the cellar is the most choice and considerable that was ever collected. I take a pride in the thing, but I lose money by it.'

'Indeed!'

'I have made a fortune; there is no doubt of that; but I did not make it here.'

'It is a great thing to make a fortune,' said Ferdinand.

'Very great,' said Mr. Bond Sharpe. 'There is only one thing greater, and that is, to keep it when made.'

Ferdinand smiled.

'Many men make fortunes; few can keep them,' said Mr. Bond Sharpe. 'Money is power, and rare are the heads that can withstand the possession of great power.'

'At any rate, it is to be hoped that you have discovered this more important secret,' said Ferdinand; 'though I confess to judge from my own experience, I should fear that you are too generous.'

'I had forgotten that to which you allude,' said his companion, quietly. 'But with regard to myself, whatever may be my end, I have not yet reached my acme.'

'You have at least my good wishes,' said Ferdinand.

'I may some day claim them,' said Mr. Bond Sharpe. 'My position,' he continued, 'is difficult. I have risen by pursuits which the world does not consider reputable, yet if I had not had recourse to them, I should be less than nothing. My mind, I think, is equal to my fortune; I am still young, and I would now avail myself of my power and establish myself in the land, a recognised member of society. But this cannot be. Society shrinks from an obscure foundling, a prizefighter, a leg, a hell-keeper, and an usurer. Debarred therefore from a fair theatre for my energy and capital, I am forced to occupy, perhaps exhaust, myself in multiplied speculations. Hitherto they have flourished, and perhaps my theatre, or my newspaper, may be as profitable as my stud. But I would gladly emancipate myself. These efforts seem to me, as it were, unnecessary and unnatural. The great object has been gained. It is a tempting of fate. I have sometimes thought myself the Napoleon of the sporting world; I may yet find my St. Helena.' 'Forewarned, forearmed, Mr. Sharpe.' 'I move in a magic circle: it is difficult to extricate myself from it. Now, for instance, there is not a man in the room who is not my slave. You see how they treat me. They place me upon an equality with them. They know my weakness; they fool me to the top of my bent. And yet there is not a man in that room who, if I were to break to-morrow, would walk down St. James'-street to serve me. Yes! there is one; there is the Count. He has a great and generous soul. I believe Count Mirabel sympathises with my situation. I believe he does not think, because a man has risen from an origin the most ignoble and obscure to a powerful position, by great courage and dexterity, and let me add also, by some profound thought, by struggling too, be it remembered, with a class of society as little scrupulous, though not so skilful as himself, that he is necessarily an infamous character. What if, at eighteen years of age, without a friend in the world, trusting to the powerful frame and intrepid spirit with which Nature had endowed me, I flung myself into the ring? Who should be a gladiator if I were not? Is that a crime? What if, at a later period, with a brain for calculation which none can rival, I invariably succeeded in that in which the greatest men in the country fail! Am I to be branded because I have made half a million by a good book? What if I have kept a gambling-house? From the back parlour of an oyster-shop my hazard table has been removed to this palace. Had the play been foul, this metamorphosis would never have occurred. It is true I am an usurer. My dear sir, if all the usurers in this great metropolis could only pass in procession before you at this moment, how you would start! You might find some Right Honourables among them; many a great functionary, many a grave magistrate; fathers of families, the very models of respectable characters, patrons and presidents of charitable institutions, and subscribers for the suppression of those very gaming-houses whose victims, in nine cases out of ten, are their principal customers. I speak not in bitterness. On the whole, I must not complain of the world, but I have seen a great deal of mankind, and more than most, of what is considered its worst portion. The world, Captain Armine, believe me, is neither so bad nor so good as some are apt to suppose. And after all,' said Mr. Bond Sharpe, shrugging up his shoulders, 'perhaps we ought to say with our friend the Count, _Vive la bagatelle!_ Will you take some supper?'


CHAPTER XIV.


_Miss Grandison Piques the Curiosity of Lord Montfort, and
Count Mirabel Drives Ferdinand Down to Richmond, Which
Drive Ends in an Agreeable Adventure and an Unexpected
Confidence_.


THE discovery that Henrietta Temple was the secret object of Ferdinand's unhappy passion, was a secret which Miss Grandison prized like a true woman. Not only had she made this discovery, but from her previous knowledge and her observation during her late interview with Miss Temple, Katherine was persuaded that Henrietta must still love her cousin as before. Miss Grandison was attached to Henrietta; she was interested in her cousin's welfare, and devoted to the Armine family. All her thoughts and all her energies were engaged in counteracting, if possible, the consequences of those unhappy misconceptions which had placed them all in this painful position.

It was on the next day that she had promised to accompany the duchess and Henrietta on a water excursion. Lord Montfort was to be their cavalier. In the morning she found herself alone with his lordship in St. James'-square.

'What a charming day!' said Miss Grandison. 'I anticipate so much pleasure! Who is our party?'

'Ourselves alone,' said Lord Montfort. 'Lady Armine cannot come, and Captain Armine is engaged. I fear you will find it very dull, Miss Grandison.'

'Oh! not at all. By-the-bye, do you know I was surprised yesterday at finding that Ferdinand and Henrietta were such old acquaintances.'

'Were you?' said Lord Montfort, in a peculiar tone.

'It is odd that Ferdinand never will go with us anywhere. I think it is very bad taste.'

'I think so too,' said Lord Montfort.

'I should have thought that Henrietta was the very person he would have admired; that he would have been quite glad to be with us. I can easily understand his being wearied to death with a cousin,' said Miss Grandison; 'but Henrietta,--it is so strange that he should not avail himself of the delight of being with her.'

'Do you really think that such a cousin as Miss Grandison can drive him away?'

'Why, to tell you the truth, dear Lord Montfort, Ferdinand is placed in a very awkward position with me. You are our friend, and so I speak to you in confidence. Sir Ratcliffe and Lady Armine both expect that Ferdinand and myself are going to be married. Now, neither of us has the slightest intention of anything of the sort.'

'Very strange, indeed,' said Lord Montfort. 'The world will be much astonished, more so than myself, for I confess to a latent suspicion on the subject.'

'Yes, I was aware of that,' said Miss Grandison, 'or I should not have spoken with so much frankness. For my own part, I think we are very wise to insist upon having our own way, for an ill-assorted marriage must be a most melancholy business.' Miss Grandison spoke with an air almost of levity, which was rather unusual with her.

'An ill-assorted marriage,' said Lord Montfort. 'And what do you call an ill-assorted marriage, Miss Grandison?'

'Why, many circumstances might constitute such an union,' said Katherine; 'but I think if one of the parties were in love with another person, that would be quite sufficient to ensure a tolerable portion of wretchedness.'

'I think so too,' said Lord Montfort; 'an union, under such circumstances, would be ill-assorted. But Miss Grandison is not in that situation?' he added with a faint smile.

'That is scarcely a fair question,' said Katherine, with gaiety, 'but there is no doubt Ferdinand Armine is.'

'Indeed!'

'Yes; he is in love, desperately in love; that I have long discovered. I wonder with whom it can be!'

'I wonder!' said Lord Montfort.

'Do you?' said Miss Grandison. 'Well, I have sometimes thought that you might have a latent suspicion of that subject, too. I thought you were his confidant.'

'I!' said Lord Montfort; 'I, of all men in the world?'

'And why not you of all men in the world?' said Miss Grandison.

'Our intimacy is so slight,' said Lord Montfort.

'Hum!' said Miss Grandison. 'And now I think of it, it does appear to me very strange how we have all become suddenly such intimate friends. The Armines and your family not previously acquainted: Miss Temple, too, unknown to my aunt and uncle. And yet we never live now out of each other's sight. I am sure I am grateful for it; I am sure it is very agreeable, but still it does appear to me to be very odd. I wonder what the reason can be?'

'It is that you are so charming, Miss Grandison,' said Lord Montfort.

'A compliment from you!'

'Indeed, no compliment, dearest Miss Grandison,' said Lord Montfort, drawing near her. 'Favoured as Miss Temple is in so many respects, in none, in my opinion, is she more fortunate than in the possession of so admirable a friend.'

'Not even in the possession of so admirable a lover, my lord?'

'All must love Miss Temple who are acquainted with her,' said Lord Montfort, seriously.

'Indeed, I think so,' said Katherine, in a more subdued voice. 'I love her; her career fills me with a strange and singular interest. May she be happy, for happiness she indeed deserves!'

'I have no fonder wish than to secure that happiness, Miss Grandison,' said Lord Montfort; 'by any means,' he added.

'She is so interesting!' said Katherine. 'When you first knew her she was very ill?'

'Very.'

'She seems quite recovered.'

'I hope so.'

'Mr. Temple says her spirits are not what they used to be. I wonder what was the matter with her?'

Lord Montfort was silent.

'I cannot bear to see a fine spirit broken,' continued Miss Grandison. 'There was Ferdinand. Oh! if you had but known my cousin before he was unhappy. Oh! that was a spirit! He was the most brilliant being that ever lived. And then I was with him during all his illness. It was so terrible. I almost wish we could have loved each other. It is very strange, he must have been ill at Armine, at the very time Henrietta was ill in Italy. And I