He Knew He Was Right by Anthony Trollope (ebook reader with internet browser txt) 📖
- Author: Anthony Trollope
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of the committee to master. But then two governors were to come,
and it might be as well to have one of the best sort, and one of
the second best. No one supposed that excellent old Sir Marmaduke
was a paragon of a governor, but then he had an infinity of experience!
For over twenty years he had been from island to island, and had
at least steered clear of great scrapes.
‘We’ll try it, at any rate,’ said the Colonel.
‘Do, Colonel Osborne. Mamma would come with him, of course?’
‘We should leave him to manage all that. It’s not very likely that
he would leave Lady Rowley behind.’
‘He never has. I know he thinks more of mamma than he ever does
of himself. Fancy having them here in the autumn! I suppose if he
came for the end of the session, they wouldn’t send him back quite
at once?’
‘I rather fancy that our foreign and colonial servants know how to
stretch a point when they find themselves in England.’
‘Of course they do, Colonel Osborne; and why shouldn’t they? Think
of all that they have to endure out in those horrible places. How
would you like to live in the Mandarins?’
‘I should prefer London, certainly.’
‘Of course you would; and you mustn’t begrudge papa a month or two
when he comes. I never cared about your being in parliament before,
but I shall think so much of you now if you can manage to get papa
home.’
There could be nothing more innocent than this—nothing more innocent
at any rate as regarded any offence against Mr Trevelyan. But just
then there came a word which a little startled Mrs Trevelyan, and
made her feel afraid that she was doing wrong.
‘I must make one stipulation with you, Emily,’ said the Colonel.
‘What is that?’
‘You must not tell your husband.’
‘Oh, dear! and why not?’
‘I am sure you are sharp enough to see why you should not. A word
of this repeated at any club would put an end at once to your
project, and would be very damaging to me. And, beyond that, I
wouldn’t wish him to know that I had meddled with it at all. I am
very chary of having my name connected with anything of the kind;
and, upon my word, I wouldn’t do it for any living human being but
yourself. You’ll promise me, Emily?’
She gave the promise, but there were two things in the matter, as
it stood at present, which she did not at all like. She was very
averse to having any secret from her husband with Colonel Osborne;
and she was not at all pleased at being told that he was doing
for her a favour that he would not have done for any other living
human being. Had he said so to her yesterday, before those offensive
words had been spoken by her husband, she would not have thought
much about it. She would have connected the man’s friendship for
herself with his very old friendship for her father, and she would
have regarded the assurance as made to the Rowleys in general, and
not to herself in particular. But now, after what had occurred,
it pained her to be told by Colonel Osborne that he would make,
specially on her behalf, a sacrifice of his political pride which he
would make for no other person living. And then, as he had called
her by her Christian name, as he had exacted the promise, there
had been a tone of affection in his voice that she had almost felt
to be too warm. But she gave the promise; and when he pressed her
hand at parting, she pressed his again, in token of gratitude for
the kindness to be done to her father and mother.
Immediately afterwards Colonel Osborne went away, and Mrs Trevelyan
was left alone in her drawing-room. She knew that her husband was
still downstairs, and listened for a moment to hear whether he would
now come up to her. And he, too, had heard the Colonel’s step as
he went, and for a few moments had doubted whether or no he would
at once go to his wife. Though he believed himself to be a man
very firm of purpose, his mind had oscillated backwards and forwards
within the last quarter of an hour between those two purposes of
being round with his wife, and of begging her pardon for the words
which he had already spoken. He believed that he would best do his
duty by that plan of being round with her; but then it would be
so much pleasanter at any rate, so much easier, to beg her pardon.
But of one thing he was quite certain, he must by some means exclude
Colonel Osborne from his house. He could not live and continue to
endure the feelings which he had suffered while sitting downstairs
at his desk, with the knowledge that Colonel Osborne was closeted
with his wife upstairs. It might be that there was nothing in it.
That his wife was innocent he was quite sure. But nevertheless, he
was himself so much affected by some feeling which pervaded him in
reference to this man, that all his energy was destroyed., and his
powers of mind and body were paralysed. He could not, and would not,
stand it. Rather than that, he would follow Mr Poole, and take his
wife to Naples. So resolving, he put his hat on his head and walked
out of the house. He would have the advantage of the afternoon’s
consideration before he took either the one step or the other.
As soon as he was gone Emily Trevelyan went upstairs to her baby.
She would not stir as long as there had been a chance of his coming
to her. She very much wished that he would come, and had made up her
mind, in spite of the fierceness of her assertion to her sister,
to accept any slightest hint at an apology which her husband
might offer to her. To this state of mind she was brought by the
consciousness of having a secret from him, and by a sense not of
impropriety on her own part, but of conduct which some people might
have called improper in her mode of parting from the man against
whom her husband had warned her. The warmth of that hand-pressing,
and the affectionate tone in which her name had been pronounced,
and the promise made to her, softened her heart towards her husband.
Had he gone to her now and said a word to her in gentleness all
might have been made right. But he did not go to her.
‘If he chooses to be cross and sulky, he may be cross and sulky,’
said Mrs Trevelyan to herself as she went up to her baby.
‘Has Louis been with you?’ Nora asked, as soon as Mrs Fairfax had
brought her home.
‘I have not seen him since you left me,’ said Mrs Trevelyan.
‘I suppose he went out before Colonel Osborne?’
‘No, indeed. He waited till Colonel Osborne had gone, and then he
went himself; but he did not come near me. It is for him to judge
of his own conduct, but I must say that I think he is very foolish.’
This the young wife said in a tone which clearly indicated that
she had judged her husband’s conduct, and had found it to be very
foolish indeed.
‘Do you think that papa and mamma will really come?’ said Nora,
changing the subject of conversation.
‘How can I tell? How am I to know? After all that has passed I am
afraid to say a word lest I should be accused of doing wrong. But
remember this, Nora, you are not to speak of it to any one.’
‘You will tell Louis?’
‘No; I will tell no one.’
‘Dear, dear Emily; pray do not keep anything secret from him.’
‘What do you mean by secret? There isn’t any secret. Only in such
matters as that about politics no gentleman likes to have his name
talked about!’
A look of great distress came upon Nora’s face as she heard this.
To her it seemed to be very bad that there should be a secret between
her sister and Colonel Osborne to be kept from her brother-in-law.
‘I suppose you will suspect me next?’ said Mrs Trevelyan, angrily.
‘Emily, how can you say anything so cruel?’
‘You look as if you did.’
‘I only mean that I think it would be wiser to tell all this to
Louis.’
‘How can I tell him Colonel Osborne’s private business, when Colonel
Osborne has desired me not to do so. For whose sake is Colonel
Osborne doing this? For papa’s and mamma’s! I suppose Louis won’t
be jealous, because I want to have papa and mamma home. It would
not be a bit less unreasonable than the other.’
LADY MILBOROUGH’S DINNER PARTY
Louis Trevelyan went down to his club in Pall Mall, the Acrobats,
and there heard a rumour that added to his anger against Colonel
Osborne. The Acrobats was a very distinguished club, into which
it was now difficult for a young man to find his way, and almost
impossible for a man who was no longer young, and therefore known
to many. It had been founded some twenty years since with the idea
of promoting muscular exercise and gymnastic amusements; but the
promoters had become fat and lethargic, and the Acrobats spent
their time mostly in playing whist, and in ordering and eating
their dinners. There were supposed to be, in some out-of-the-way
part of the building, certain poles and sticks and parallel bars
with which feats of activity might be practised, but no one ever
asked for them now-a-days, and a man, when he became an Acrobat,
did so with a view either to the whist or the cook, or possibly to
the social excellences of the club. Louis Trevelyan was an Acrobat
as was also Colonel Osborne.
‘So old Rowley is coming home,’ said one distinguished Acrobat to
another in Trevelyan’s hearing.
‘How the deuce is he managing that? He was here a year ago?’
‘Osborne is getting it done. He is to come as a witness for this
committee. It must be no end of a lounge for him. It doesn’t count
as leave, and he has every shilling paid for him, down to his
cab-fares when he goes out to dinner. There’s nothing like having
a friend at Court.’
Such was the secrecy of Colonel Osborne’s secret! He had been so
chary of having his name mentioned in connection with a political
job, that he had found it necessary to impose on his young friend
the burden of a secret from her husband, and yet the husband heard
the whole story told openly at his club on the same day! There
was nothing in the story to anger Trevelyan had he not immediately
felt that there must be some plan in the matter between his wife
and Colonel Osborne, of which he had been kept ignorant. Hitherto,
indeed, his wife, as the reader knows, could not have told him. He
had not seen her since the matter had been discussed between her
and her friend. But he was angry because he first learned at his
club that which he thought he ought to have learned at home. As
soon as he reached his house he went at once to his wife’s room,
but her maid was with her, and nothing could be said at that
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