第19章 BARBARA OF THE HOUSE OF GREBE(2)

To humour her he stayed till midnight,and then set out.He had made no progress in his suit;but he had assured himself that Barbara gave no other guest the preference,and nearly everybody in the neighbourhood was there.

''Tis only a matter of time,'said the calm young philosopher.

The next morning he lay till near ten o'clock,and he had only just come out upon the head of the staircase when he heard hoofs upon the gravel without;in a few moments the door had been opened,and Sir John Grebe met him in the hall,as he set foot on the lowest stair.

'My lord--where's Barbara--my daughter?'

Even the Earl of Uplandtowers could not repress amazement.'What's the matter,my dear Sir John,'says he.

The news was startling,indeed.From the Baronet's disjointed explanation Lord Uplandtowers gathered that after his own and the other guests'departure Sir John and Lady Grebe had gone to rest without seeing any more of Barbara;it being understood by them that she had retired to bed when she sent word to say that she could not join the dancers again.Before then she had told her maid that she would dispense with her services for this night;and there was evidence to show that the young lady had never lain down at all,the bed remaining unpressed.Circumstances seemed to prove that the deceitful girl had feigned indisposition to get an excuse for leaving the ball-room,and that she had left the house within ten minutes,presumably during the first dance after supper.

'I saw her go,'said Lord Uplandtowers.

'The devil you did!'says Sir John.

'Yes.'And he mentioned the retreating carriage-lights,and how he was assured by Lady Grebe that no guest had departed.

'Surely that was it!'said the father.'But she's not gone alone,d'ye know!'

'Ah--who is the young man?'

'I can on'y guess.My worst fear is my most likely guess.I'll say no more.I thought--yet I would not believe--it possible that you was the sinner.Would that you had been!But 'tis t'other,'tis t'other,by G-!I must e'en up,and after 'em!'

'Whom do you suspect?'

Sir John would not give a name,and,stultified rather than agitated,Lord Uplandtowers accompanied him back to Chene.He again asked upon whom were the Baronet's suspicions directed;and the impulsive Sir John was no match for the insistence of Uplandtowers.

He said at length,'I fear 'tis Edmond Willowes.'

'Who's he?'

'A young fellow of Shottsford-Forum--a widow-woman's son,'the other told him,and explained that Willowes's father,or grandfather,was the last of the old glass-painters in that place,where (as you may know)the art lingered on when it had died out in every other part of England.

'By G-that's bad--mighty bad!'said Lord Uplandtowers,throwing himself back in the chaise in frigid despair.

They despatched emissaries in all directions;one by the Melchester Road,another by Shottsford-Forum,another coastwards.

But the lovers had a ten-hours'start;and it was apparent that sound judgment had been exercised in choosing as their time of flight the particular night when the movements of a strange carriage would not be noticed,either in the park or on the neighbouring highway,owing to the general press of vehicles.The chaise which had been seen waiting at Lornton Inn was,no doubt,the one they had escaped in;and the pair of heads which had planned so cleverly thus far had probably contrived marriage ere now.

The fears of her parents were realized.A letter sent by special messenger from Barbara,on the evening of that day,briefly informed them that her lover and herself were on the way to London,and before this communication reached her home they would be united as husband and wife.She had taken this extreme step because she loved her dear Edmond as she could love no other man,and because she had seen closing round her the doom of marriage with Lord Uplandtowers,unless she put that threatened fate out of possibility by doing as she had done.She had well considered the step beforehand,and was prepared to live like any other country-townsman's wife if her father repudiated her for her action.

'D-her!'said Lord Uplandtowers,as he drove homeward that night.

'D-her for a fool!'--which shows the kind of love he bore her.

Well;Sir John had already started in pursuit of them as a matter of duty,driving like a wild man to Melchester,and thence by the direct highway to the capital.But he soon saw that he was acting to no purpose;and by and by,discovering that the marriage had actually taken place,he forebore all attempts to unearth them in the City,and returned and sat down with his lady to digest the event as best they could.

To proceed against this Willowes for the abduction of our heiress was,possibly,in their power;yet,when they considered the now unalterable facts,they refrained from violent retribution.Some six weeks passed,during which time Barbara's parents,though they keenly felt her loss,held no communication with the truant,either for reproach or condonation.They continued to think of the disgrace she had brought upon herself;for,though the young man was an honest fellow,and the son of an honest father,the latter had died so early,and his widow had had such struggles to maintain herself;that the son was very imperfectly educated.Moreover,his blood was,as far as they knew,of no distinction whatever,whilst hers,through her mother,was compounded of the best juices of ancient baronial distillation,containing tinctures of Maundeville,and Mohun,and Syward,and Peverell,and Culliford,and Talbot,and Plantagenet,and York,and Lancaster,and God knows what besides,which it was a thousand pities to throw away.

The father and mother sat by the fireplace that was spanned by the four-centred arch bearing the family shields on its haunches,and groaned aloud--the lady more than Sir John.

'To think this should have come upon us in our old age!'said he.