第208章

Three days after this it was arranged that Isabel should be taken to Carlton Terrace to be accepted there into the full good graces of her future father-in-law, and to go through the pleasant ceremony of seeing the house which it was her destiny to be mistress. What can be more interesting to a girl than this first visit to her future home? And now Isabel Boncassen was to make her first visit to the house In Carlton Terrace, which the Duke had already declared his purpose of surrendering to the young couple. She was going among very grand things,--so grand that those whose affairs in life are less magnificent may think that her mind should have soared altogether above the chairs and tables, and reposed itself among diamonds, gold and silver ornaments, rich necklaces, the old masters, and alabaster statuary. But Dukes and Duchesses must sit upon chairs,--or at any rate on sofas,--as well as their poorer brethren, and probably have the same regard for their comfort. Isabel was not above her future furniture, or the rooms that were to be her rooms, or the stairs which she would have to tread, or the pillow on which her head must rest. She had never yet seen the outside of the house in which she was to live, and was now prepared to make her visit with as much enthusiasm as though her future abode was to be prepared for her in a small house in a small street beyond Islington.

But the Duke was no doubt more than the house, the father-in-law more than the tables. Isabel, in the ordinary way of society, he had known almost with intimacy. She, the while, had been well aware that if all things could possibly be made to run smoothly with her, this lordly host, who was so pleasantly courteous to her, would become her father-in-law. But she had known also that, in his courtesy, had been altogether unaware of any such intention on her part, and that she would now present herself to him in an aspect very different from that in which she had hitherto been regarded. She was well aware that the Duke had not wished to take her into the family,--would not himself have chosen her for his son's wife. She had seen enough to make her sure that he had even chosen another bride for his heir. She had been too clever not to perceive that Lady Mabel Grex had been not only selected,--but almost accepted as though the thing had been certain. She had learned nearly the whole truth from Silverbridge, who was not good at keeping a secret from one to whom his heart was open. That story had been read by her with exactness. 'I cannot lose you now,' she had said to him, leaning on his arm;--'I cannot afford to lose you now. But I fear that someone else is losing you.' To this he answered nothing, but simply pressed her closer to his side. 'Someone else,' she continued, 'who perhaps may have reason to think that you have injured her.' 'No,' he said boldly; 'no; there is no such person.' For he had never ceased to assure himself that in all that matter with Mabel Grex he had been guilty of no treachery. There had been a moment, indeed, in which she might have taken him; but she had chosen to let it pass from her.

All of which, or nearly all of which,--Isabel now saw, and had seen also that the Duke had been a consenting party to that other arrangement. She had reason therefore to doubt the manner of her acceptance.

But she had been accepted. She had made such acceptance by him a stipulation in her acceptance of her son. She was sure of the ground on which she trod and was determined to carry herself, if not with pride, yet with dignity. There might be difficulties before her, but it should not be her fault if she were not as good as a Countess, and,--when time would have it so,--as good a Duchess as another.

The visit was not quite in the fashion in which Silverbridge himself had wished. His idea had been to call for Isabel in his cab and take her down to Carlton Terrace. 'Mother must go with me,' she had said. Then he looked blank,--as he could look when he was disappointed, as he had looked when she would not talk to him at the lunch, when she told him that it was not her business to entertain him. 'Don't be selfish,' she added, laughing. 'Do you think that mother will not want to have seen the house that I am to live in?'

'She shall come afterwards as often as she likes.'

'What,--paying me morning visits from New York! She must come now, if you please. Love me, love my mother.'

'I am awfully fond of her,' said Silverbridge, who felt that he really had behaved well to the old lady.

'So am I,--and therefore she shall go to see the house now. You are as good as gold,--and do everything just as I tell you. But a good time is coming, when I shall have to do everything that you tell me.' Then it was arranged that Mrs and Miss Boncassen were to be taken down to the house in their own carriage, and were to be received at the door by Lord Silverbridge.