CHAPTERIX.
TheDerby was run that year in the last week of May. The young Countess of Ilfracombe had already been presented at Court under the auspices of her mother-in-law. She had attended more than one Royal function since; she had seen all that there was worth seeing in town, and she had entertained largely at her own house in Grosvenor Square. She had been fairly launched on Society in fact, and, unlike most heroines, it had not disappointed her. Everything was new and fresh to her; everything was delightful. This was what she had longed for and dreamed of in far-off Malta, and her letters home were full of the pleasure she was experiencing and thehonours that were paid to her. Nora felt happier, too, and more at her ease in the company of her mother-in-law and the Ladies Devenish, and away from the close, every-day companionship of Mr Portland, who had at last returned to his own chambers in the Albany. She fluttered about from milliner to milliner, theatre to theatre, like a huge butterfly; all fashion, delicate tints, smiles and excitement. Ilfracombe, unlike his usual taste, seemed delighted to be her cavalier on all occasions. The truth is, he was thankful to get out of the house. Fond as he undoubtedly was of his wife, the atmosphere of Grosvenor Square depressed him. He could not enter a single room without being painfully reminded of Nell Llewellyn and her devoted love for him. It had been a very real love between these two. On her side the most unselfish, adoring, humblepassion—onhis, a very appreciative acknowledgment of her single-eyed affection, mingled with a great admiration of her beauty.Hislove for her, however, had always been mixed with a certain amount of shame and uncertainty, because he knew it was impossible it could go on for ever, and he dreaded the moment when it would become imperative to tell her so. Nell had ended it all for herself, however, and but too abruptly, and now he could not sit in the rooms where they had for so long sat together, and which she had so confidently regarded as her own without finding his thoughts very much drawn her way, even though his lawful wife was by his side. He thought of the time when Nell first came to his house, a tall, slender girl, with a complexion like a wild rose, and beautiful startled hazel eyes, moist with the dews of youth. How frightened she was when he first whispered his love into herear—howpassionately remorseful when he had led herastray—howwonderfully grateful and reverential when he told her she should thenceforth reign the mistress of his heart. He looked back over theyears she had managed his household for him, and could not remember one instance of her losing her temper with him—that passionate, indomitable temper, which was so quickly roused by others. How often he had wished, almost decided to make her his wife, if only for the devoted love she bore him, but had been afraid on consideration of the sneers and disapproval of the world, and so had dismissed the idea from his mind. And now—well, of course, he would not change his Nora for any woman. She was a glory to him, whilst poor Nell would only have been a disgrace. Still he wished from the bottom of his heart that she had been more reasonable, and gone home quietly to her friends, and, by-and-by, married some man in her own station of life, who would have considered the settlement he wished to make on her a little fortune. Lord Ilfracombe wondered, by the way, whowereNell’s friends, and where she came from. She had never mentioned her old home to him.Did they know of her sad death, he wondered; or of the circumstances that led to it? He thought not. She was not the sort of woman to betray the man she loved even in death. She would have carried her secret with her to the grave. It was done, and it could not be undone, he would tell himself, but the thought made the house very distasteful to him. He became nervous, even timid. He did not care to enter his private rooms at dusk, and would fancy he heard a sigh, or caught sight of a shadowy form flitting by him in the gloaming. One day he called his wife ‘Nell.’ It was a fearful mistake, and his face grew crimson as he discovered it; but Nora was wonderfully calm under the littledésagrément.
‘Was that Miss Llewellyn’s name, Ilfracombe?’ she asked archly.
‘Oh, my love, forgive me!’ cried the earl. ‘What can I have been thinking of? It was the mere force of habit. You know she was here withme, and it is the first time I have been in the house since.’
‘Did you think I should be angry?’ asked Nora, looking back at him over her shoulder. ‘Surely it is the most natural thing in the world that you should think of the poor girl. You would be a brute if you didn’t; but don’t get melancholy over it, dear boy. Come into the Park with me, or let us go down the river together. I won’t leave you moping here by yourself.’
And it was such things that made Lord Ilfracombe say, and rightly, that he had gained a wife in a thousand. He was anxious that she should accompany him to the Derby, for two reasons—anxious that she should see the biggest race of the year, which, of course, she had never yet had an opportunity of doing; and anxious to let the racing world see what a charming countess he had secured. The Dowager Lady Ilfracombe was very much against the idea, and the Ladies Devenishsaid it was decidedly vulgar and not at allcomme il faut.
‘If Ilfracombe had taken you to Ascot, or Goodwood, it would have been different, but the Derby! Why, hardly any ladies go there. There is always such a vulgar crowd, and, coming back by the road, you are bound to be insulted.’
‘Do you think so?’ said Nora. ‘I should like to see the man who would dare to insult me in Ilfracombe’s presence.’
‘But you don’t know anything about it,’ replied Lady Blanche. ‘The roughs who frequent the Derby course make no difference between an earl and anybody else. They don’t know one when they see him, and the awful people you will see on the race-course,gipsies—andnigger minstrels, and low creatures of all sorts.’
‘Have you ever been there yourself?’ inquired Nora.
‘I should hope not, indeed. I wouldnot think of such a thing. It is no place for ladies. I can’t imagine what Ilfracombe can be thinking of to let you go.’
‘Well, I suppose he knows better than either of us, Blanche, and it was his own proposal. We are going down—a large party on our drag. Lady Moberly and the Duchess of Downshire are going with us, so I shall offend the proprieties in good company.’
‘Oh, if the duchess is going with you, it makes a difference of course. No one has ever said a word against the duchess, and she is at least fifty, so she will give a tone to the whole affair and be a sort of chaperon for you; for you see, Nora, though youarea countess, you are rather young.’
‘I know that,’ retorted Nora; ‘but I’m getting the better of it every day.’
‘Well, you needn’t be flippant, my dear,’ replied her sister-in-law with a sniff. ‘Rank has its obligations, though you do not appear to think so. There might havebeen some excuse for your not knowing it before your marriage, but there is none now.’
‘No, I suppose not. All the same I’m going to the Derby this year, if I never go again.’
And off ran Nora to join her husband. The Derby day was for her a complete success. She was dressed becomingly—was in good health and spirits, and in the humour to enjoy all she saw and heard. Lord Ilfracombe’s drag, with its team of perfectly-matched chesnuts, was one of the handsomest in the Four-in-hand Club, and had always attracted particular attention when he turned out for the annual Park display. Their party consisted of the Duchess of Downshire, Lord and Lady Moberly, Miss Chetwynd, one of that season’s beauties, and several bachelors, amongst whom was Mr Jack Portland—the only drawback to Nora’s enjoyment. But she was seated behind her husband and the duchess, who occupied the box seat, and he was at the back of thecoach, so that during the journey they did not exchange a word with one another. As soon as they arrived on the race-course, and the horses had been taken out of the shafts, the servants spread their luncheon, and they began to have a merry time of it. Presently Jack Portland’s voice was heard exclaiming, as he looked at someone through his field-glass,—
‘By George! if that isn’t Sir Archibald Bowmant, my Usk friend, and his wife. I told you, Ilfracombe, didn’t I, that I’m going to spend a few weeks with them next month. They’re the best fellows in the world. Awful fun! and don’t the old boy know a card when he sees it.’
‘Friends of yours, Jack?’ said Ilfracombe in his hospitable way. ‘Ask them to come here and lunch with us, old boy, if they’re not better engaged.’
‘Shall I? Have Iyourpermission, Lady Ilfracombe?’ asked Mr Portland, looking at Nora.
‘Need you ask the question, Mr Portland,’ she replied without glancing hisway. ‘If you have my husband’s leave, you have mine.’
‘Thanks,’ said Mr Portland as he descended from the coach. ‘They may be with another party; but I’ll just ask. I’m sure you’ll like them. Lady Bowmant is just your style.’
In a few minutes he returned with his friends, and introduced them to Lord and Lady Ilfracombe. Sir Archibald was a stout, florid, middle-aged man, with a jolly, good-tempered countenance, and weak, watery, blue eyes. His wife, to whom he had not been married a twelvemonth, was many years his junior, perhaps not more than five-and-twenty, and was as good a specimen of a fast young woman who just contrives not to step over the rubicon as could be found anywhere. She had been a nobody, and her head was completely turned by having become the wife of a baronet. She was decidedly pretty, with a countrified style of beauty, and she was fashionably but not well dressed. Her manner was effusive, and her voiceloud, but she was lively, sparkling and amusing. Lady Ilfracombe, though indisposed to accord her a hearty welcome just because she had been introduced by Jack Portland, could not help thawing under her lively manner, and before long they were all on the most excellent terms.
‘How good of you to ask us to luncheon, Lady Ilfracombe!’ exclaimed the new comer. ‘I am sure I shall never forget it. I do so admire anything like cordiality. You meet with so little of it in this country. We Englishwomen are horribly stiff as a rule, are we not? Sir Archibald and I were admiring your drag so much. We were on the course when you drove up, just making our way to the Grand Stand. It is quite a wonder we are here. We never meant to come, but I have never seen the Derby run, and Sir Archibald thought I should not go back to Wales without doing so. We drove down but put up at the hotel. Are we not ignoramuses? I was just despairing of pushingour way through this crowd when Jack spied us out, and landed us, through your goodness, in this haven of peace.’
‘You have known Mr Portland a long time then, I suppose?’ remarked Nora.
‘Why? Because I called him “Jack?” Oh, everyone calls him “Jack,” don’t they? He’s a regular lady’s man, is Mr Portland, and a great favourite with my husband. He is coming to stay with us in Usk next month.’
‘So he told us just now.’
‘Yes, I am quite looking forward to it. He is such a delightful companion in the country. Do you like the country, Lady Ilfracombe? Are you fond of horses?’
‘I am very fond of horses,’ replied Nora, smiling; ‘but if your question means, Do you ride well? I must tell you that I never mounted a horse till after my marriage, and so I am still a learner.’
‘Oh, you’ll be proficient in no time!’ exclaimed Lady Bowmant. ‘Isn’t it delightful? I adore riding and driving, andeverything connected with horses. Don’t I, Sir Archibald?’
‘You do, my dear,’ said the jolly baronet. ‘That is, if adoring means riding them to death, and driving over half my tenantry,’ and he roared as if his wife’s feats of skill were the funniest things in the world.
‘Now, don’t tell tales out of school, Sir Archibald,’ cried the lady. ‘You know when I hunted last season that there wasn’t a woman in the field who could keep anywhere near me. And didn’t I carry off three brushes? And didn’t the master of the fox-hounds say I was the pluckiest horsewoman he had ever seen?’
‘Oh, yes, Dolly; no one denies your pluck, my dear. Only I wish you didn’t drive your tandem over the children so often. The pounds I had to pay last year for mending babies and recouping the mothers passes belief.’
‘Don’t you believe him, Lady Ilfracombe,’ said his wife with a saucy nod. ‘The old man’s getting in his second dotage and doesn’t know half he says.’
At this fresh sally Sir Archibald roared again until he nearly choked himself over his lobster salad and champagne.
The races were now beginning in good earnest, but Nora did not take half so much interest in them as she did in the lively conversation of her new acquaintance, who out-talked the duchess and Lady Moberly and all the other ladies put together. She was very keen on the racing though, and explained a great deal to Nora which she could not have understood without her. The gentlemen of the party had left the drag as soon as the work of the day began, and found their way to the betting-ring.
‘Now, I hope my old man won’t pop too much on Caliban!’ exclaimed Lady Bowmant a little anxiously. ‘For it looks to me as if he had been a bit overtrained. I heard Jack recommending him to put a monkey on him; but though Jack knows a thing or two I don’t always take his advice in racing matters. I expect its six for himself and half-a-dozen for his friends like most of them, eh?’
‘I know so little of these things,’ replied Lady Ilfracombe. ‘Is the Derby a great race for betting on?’
The other turned and looked at her with surprise.
‘Is the Derby a race for betting on?’ she repeated. ‘My dear Lady Ilfracombe, men lose fortunes over it. They’re mad, I tell them, perfectly mad. No one likes spending money more than I do; but to throw it away by the thousand! Why, it spells ruin for the majority, that’s all.’
‘I hope Ilfracombe will not be reckless,’ said Nora anxiously. ‘I sometimes think he is a little disposed to be so over cards and those sorts of games.’
‘If he’s with Jack Portland, he’s bound to “go the pace,”’ returned Lady Bowmant, laughing. ‘Upon my word, I sometimes think that man’s mad. Have you ever seen him at baccarat, Lady Ilfracombe?’
‘Who? What?’ said Nora, who was vainly trying to follow her husband’s movements. ‘Mr Portland? No.’
‘It’s a caution,’ said her companion. ‘I’ve had to positively drag Sir Archibald away from him sometimes, for fear he should get up from the table without a halfpenny. But it’s a lovely game. So much excitement. We are at it at Usk Hall sometimes till four in the morning. We are terrible gamblers up there.’
‘See!’ cried the duchess, standing up in the drag; ‘they’re off!’
After which they spent a couple of very fatiguing hours watching the various races, and jotting down the first, second and third winners on their cards, during which time the men did not come near them, so occupied were they by the business of the betting-ring and the excitement provided for them there. When it was at last all over, and their party returned to the drag, Nora observed that Ilfracombe was looking very flushed, and talking very fast, a sufficiently unusual circumstance with him to attract her notice. Mr Portland, on the contrary, seemed to take things much morecoolly; whilst the baronet had lost some of his hilariousness, and Lord Moberly was congratulating himself that he had not been persuaded to back the favourite.
‘Well, and how have you all fared?’ cried the duchess gaily, as they came within hailing distance.
‘Sir Archibald, I feel certain you have been making a fool of yourself!’ exclaimed his wife. ‘I can see it in the set of your tie. Very well. Back you go to Usk to-morrow, and you’ll have to put up with mutton and potatoes till we’ve recouped ourselves. Now, what have you lost? Out with it!’
‘Nonsense, Dolly, nonsense,’ replied the baronet, as he tried to evade her scrutiny. ‘A mere trifle, I assure you; not worth thinking about. When did you ever know me make a fool of myself over races?’
‘Scores of times,’ replied her ladyship decidedly, as she whispered in his ear.
Nora did not ask any questions, nor make any remarks, but she gazed at herhusband in a wistful way as if she would read from his features whether he had been lucky or otherwise. Ilfracombe did not voluntarily look her way; but after a while he felt the magnetism of her glance, and raised his eyes to hers. The silent anxiety he read in them seemed to annoy him. He frowned slightly, and affecting unusual hilarity, climbed to his seat and seized the reins.
‘Now for a good scamper back to town!’ he exclaimed. ‘We must not let the riff-raff get ahead of us, or we shall be smothered in dust. Are you tired, darling?’ he continued over his shoulder to his wife; ‘or would you like to go to the Oaks on Friday? What do you think of our national race-course and our national game?’
‘I have been very much amused. I liked it very much,’ answered Nora in a conventional manner; but the tone of her voice did not convey much satisfaction. But as Ilfracombe and she were dressing for a big dinner-party, to which they wereengaged that evening, she crept to his side and asked him shyly,—
‘Did you lose much to-day, Ilfracombe? I am sure you lost, or you would have told me the amount of your winnings. But was itverymuch?’
‘I was pretty hard hit over “The Cardinal,”’ he answered; ‘but nothing to howl over.’
‘Why did you take Mr Portland’s advice?’ she said. ‘He always makes you lose.’
‘Not at all,’ replied her husband; ‘Jack is the best adviser I have. Everyone must lose at times. It’s absurd to suppose you can always win.’
‘Then why doesn’t he lose also?’ said Nora boldly. ‘Why doesn’t he give you the same advice he follows himself?’
‘My darling child, you know nothing of such matters, and I don’t want you to do so. They concern men only. And look here,Nora—Idon’t want to say anything unkind; but I would rather you did not interfere with my winnings or mylosings. They are essentially my own affair. Trust me to take care of myself. And now, if you are ready, we had better go.’
After which Nora was sharp enough to see that she would only make a bad matter worse by attempting to set Ilfracombe against Jack Portland, and that her only plan was to watch and wait, until the time came when she might be able to influence her husband openly.
He loved her, but he was too easily led by a stronger mind than his own, and he was too loyal to believe that his intimate friend, who shared all his good things at his pleasure, could plot to aggrandise himself at his expense.
She had brought it on herself, Nora said inwardly, and she must bear the penalty as best she might.
A few days after the Derby, Sir Archibald and Lady Bowmant called upon her, and she returned their visit. She thought Lady Bowmant very clever and amusing, but she little dreamt the acquaintanceshipwould lead to a close and sudden intimacy. She was astonished, therefore, one morning, by her husband telling her that he had met the baronet at his club the night before, and that he had extended a most cordial invitation for them to go down to Usk Hall during the time that Jack Portland was to be there.
‘To Usk Hall?’ said Nora, with surprise. ‘But, Ilfracombe, we do not know the Bowmants sufficiently well to go and stay with them. I have only seen her three times in all.’
‘What does that signify?’ replied her husband. ‘They’re awfully jolly people; you said so yourself, and Jack says they keep it up royally at Usk Hall. The Prince of Huhm-Hessetal is to be there, and no end of nice people. You’ll receive a proper invitation from Lady Bowmant to-morrow or next day, and I see no reason why we should not accept it.’
‘I thought you had agreed to join your mother’s party at Wiesbaden,’ said the countess dubiously.
‘Oh, hang my mother’s party!’ exclaimed Ilfracombe irritably. ‘A lot of old fogies together. What fun should we get out of that? I only said something about seeing her there, just to quiet her. I never meant to go. Besides, we can go abroad afterwards if you wish it. But neither of us have ever seenWales—amost beautiful country, and the Bowmants’ is just the sort of house to suit us. Lots of horses for you to ride and drive, and salmon fishing for me;and—well, all I can say is, that I wish to go.’
‘Of course, then, we shall go,’ replied his wife quietly.
But, when the invitation actually arrived, she made one more appeal to the earl to keep her out of the way of Jack Portland.
‘Ilfracombe,’ she said, going to seek him, with the letter from Lady Bowmant in her hand, ‘have you quite made up your mind? Am I really to tell these people that we will go to Usk Hall and stay with them?’
‘Of course. Why not? Haven’t we decided to accept the invitation?’ he demanded.
‘Youhave, I know, but I feel sure it will prove a disappointment to both of us. You will call me silly, but I have such a presentiment that this visit will end in some terrible trouble for us. Is it only fancy, do you think,’ added Nora, with unusual softness in her voice and manner, ‘or may it not be a warning for us not to go?’
‘A warning! Rubbish!’ exclaimed the earl, as he kissed her troubled eyes. ‘Now, my darling, youshallgo if only to prove what a little goose you are.A warning!I know what you’re thinking of. You’re afraid I shall succumb to the charms of the fascinating Lady Bowmant. Well, she is a flirt, there is no doubt of that, and she is setting her cap at me rather hard; but don’t be afraid, little woman. Your husband is not such a fool as he looks, and he means you to go with him to Usk Hall.’