The Small House at Allington, Anthony Trollope [best ebook reader for chromebook .txt] 📗

ears never takes the sound of a true denial, and others to whom the word once pronounced, be it whispered ever so softly, comes as though it were an unchangeable verdict from the supreme judgment-seat. XLIII Fie, Fie!

Will any reader remember the loves⁠—no, not the loves; that word is so decidedly ill-applied as to be incapable of awakening the remembrance of any reader; but the flirtations⁠—of Lady Dumbello and Mr. Plantagenet Palliser? Those flirtations, as they had been carried on at Courcy Castle, were laid bare in all their enormities to the eye of the public, and it must be confessed that if the eye of the public was shocked, that eye must be shocked very easily.

But the eye of the public was shocked, and people who were particular as to their morals said very strange things. Lady De Courcy herself said very strange things indeed, shaking her head, and dropping mysterious words; whereas Lady Clandidlem spoke much more openly, declaring her opinion that Lady Dumbello would be off before May. They both agreed that it would not be altogether bad for Lord Dumbello that he should lose his wife, but shook their heads very sadly when they spoke of poor Plantagenet Palliser. As to the lady’s fate, that lady whom they had both almost worshipped during the days at Courcy Castle⁠—they did not seem to trouble themselves about that.

And it must be admitted that Mr. Palliser had been a little imprudent⁠—imprudent, that is, if he knew anything about the rumours afloat⁠—seeing that soon after his visit at Courcy Castle he had gone down to Lady Hartletop’s place in Shropshire, at which the Dumbellos intended to spend the winter, and on leaving it had expressed his intention of returning in February. The Hartletop people had pressed him very much⁠—the pressure having come with peculiar force from Lord Dumbello. Therefore it is reasonable to suppose that the Hartletop people had at any rate not heard of the rumour.

Mr. Plantagenet Palliser spent his Christmas with his uncle, the Duke of Omnium, at Gatherum Castle. That is to say, he reached the castle in time for dinner on Christmas eve, and left it on the morning after Christmas day. This was in accordance with the usual practice of his life, and the tenants, dependants, and followers of the Omnium interest were always delighted to see this manifestation of a healthy English domestic family feeling between the duke and his nephew. But the amount of intercourse on such occasions between them was generally trifling. The duke would smile as he put out his right hand to his nephew, and say⁠—

“Well, Plantagenet⁠—very busy, I suppose?”

The duke was the only living being who called him Plantagenet to his face, though there were some scores of men who talked of Planty Pal behind his back. The duke had been the only living being so to call him. Let us hope that it still was so, and that there had arisen no feminine exception, dangerous in its nature and improper in its circumstances.

“Well, Plantagenet,” said the duke, on the present occasion, “very busy, I suppose?”

“Yes, indeed, duke,” said Mr. Palliser. “When a man gets the harness on him he does not easily get quit of it.”

The duke remembered that his nephew had made almost the same remark at his last Christmas visit.

“By the by,” said the duke, “I want to say a word or two to you before you go.”

Such a proposition on the duke’s part was a great departure from his usual practice, but the nephew of course undertook to obey his uncle’s behests.

“I’ll see you before dinner tomorrow,” said Plantagenet.

“Ah, do,” said the duke. “I’ll not keep you five minutes.” And at six o’clock on the following afternoon the two were closeted together in the duke’s private room.

“I don’t suppose there is much in it,” began the duke, “but people are talking about you and Lady Dumbello.”

“Upon my word, people are very kind.” And Mr. Palliser bethought himself of the fact⁠—for it certainly was a fact⁠—that people for a great many years had talked about his uncle and Lady Dumbello’s mother-in-law.

“Yes; kind enough; are they not? You’ve just come from Hartlebury, I believe.” Hartlebury was the Marquis of Hartletop’s seat in Shropshire.

“Yes, I have. And I’m going there again in February.”

“Ah, I’m sorry for that. Not that I mean, of course, to interfere with your arrangements. You will acknowledge that I have not often done so, in any matter whatever.”

“No; you have not,” said the nephew, comforting himself with an inward assurance that no such interference on his uncle’s part could have been possible.

“But in this instance it would suit me, and I really think it would suit you too, that you should be as little at Hartlebury as possible. You have said you would go there, and of course you will go. But if I were you, I would not stay above a day or two.”

Mr. Plantagenet Palliser received everything he had in the world from his uncle. He sat in Parliament through his uncle’s interest, and received an allowance of ever so many thousand a year which his uncle could stop tomorrow by his mere word. He was his uncle’s heir, and the dukedom, with certain entailed properties, must ultimately fall to him, unless his uncle should marry and have a son. But by far the greater portion of the duke’s property was unentailed; the duke might probably live for the next twenty years or more; and it was quite possible that, if offended, he might marry and become a father. It may be said that no man could well be more dependent on another than Plantagenet Palliser was upon his uncle; and it may be said also that no father or uncle ever troubled his heir with less interference. Nevertheless, the nephew immediately felt himself aggrieved by this allusion to his private life, and resolved at once that he would not submit to such surveillance.

“I don’t know how long I shall stay,” said he;