<p><SPAN name="c39" id="c39"></SPAN> </p>
<p> </p>
<h3>CHAPTER XXXIX.</h3>
<h4>A NEW FLIRTATION.<br/> </h4>
<p><ANTIMG class="left" src="images/ch39.jpg" width-obs="310" alt="Illustration" />
ohn Eames sat at his office on the day after his return to London,
and answered the various letters which he had found waiting for him
at his lodgings on the previous evening. To Miss Demolines he had
already written from his club,—a single line, which he considered to
be appropriate to the mysterious necessities of the occasion. "I will
be with you at a quarter to six to-morrow.—J. E. Just returned."
There was not another word; and as he scrawled it at one of the club
tables while two or three men were talking to him, he felt rather
proud of his correspondence. "It was capital fun," he said; "and
after all,"—the "all" on this occasion being Lily Dale, and the
sadness of his disappointment at Allington,—"after all, let a fellow
be ever so down in the mouth, a little amusement should do him good."
And he reflected further that the more a fellow be "down in the
mouth," the more good the amusement would do him. He sent off his
note, therefore, with some little inward rejoicing,—and a word or
two also of spoken rejoicing. "What fun women are sometimes," he said
to one of his friends,—a friend with whom he was very intimate,
calling him always Fred, and slapping his back, but whom he never by
any chance saw out of his club.</p>
<p>"What's up now, Johnny? Some good fortune?"</p>
<p>"Good fortune; no. I never have good fortunes of that kind. But I've
got hold of a young woman,—or rather a young woman has got hold of
me, who insists on having a mystery with me. In the mystery itself
there is not the slightest interest. But the mysteriousness of it is
charming. I have just written to her three words to settle an
appointment for to-morrow. We don't sign our names lest the
Postmaster-General should find out all about it."</p>
<p>"Is she pretty?"</p>
<p>"Well;—she isn't ugly. She has just enough of good looks to make the
sort of thing pass off pleasantly. A mystery with a downright ugly
young woman would be unpleasant."</p>
<p>After this fashion the note from Miss Demolines had been received,
and answered at once, but the other letters remained in his pocket
till he reached his office on the following morning. Sir Raffle had
begged him to be there at half-past nine. This he had sworn he would
not do; but he did seat himself in his room at ten minutes before
ten, finding of course the whole building untenanted at that early
hour,—that unearthly hour, as Johnny called it himself. "I shouldn't
wonder if he really is here this morning," Johnny said, as he entered
the building, "just that he may have an opportunity of jumping on
me." But Sir Raffle was not there, and then Johnny began to abuse Sir
Raffle. "If ever I come here early to meet him again, because he says
he means to be here himself, I hope I may be
<span class="nowrap">——</span> blessed." On that
especial morning it was twelve before Sir Raffle made his appearance,
and Johnny avenged himself,—I regret to have to tell it,—by a fib.
That Sir Raffle fibbed first, was no valid excuse whatever for Eames.</p>
<p>"I've been at it ever since six o'clock," said Sir Raffle.</p>
<p>"At what?" said Johnny.</p>
<p>"Work, to be sure;—and very hard work too. I believe the Chancellor
of the Exchequer thinks that he can call upon me to any extent that
he pleases;—just any extent that he pleases. He doesn't give me
credit for a desire to have a single hour to myself."</p>
<p>"What would he do, Sir Raffle, if you were to get ill, or wear
yourself out?"</p>
<p>"He knows I'm not one of the wearing-out sort. You got my note last
night?"</p>
<p>"Yes; I got your note."</p>
<p>"I'm sorry that I troubled you; but I couldn't help it. I didn't
expect to get a box full of papers at eleven o'clock last night."</p>
<p>"You didn't put me out, Sir Raffle; I happened to have business of my
own which prevented the possibility of my being here early."</p>
<p>This was the way in which John Eames avenged himself. Sir Raffle
turned his face upon his private secretary, and his face was very
black. Johnny bore the gaze without dropping an eyelid. "I'm not
going to stand it, and he may as well know that at once," Johnny said
to one of his friends in the office afterwards. "If he ever wants
any thing really done, I'll do it;—though it should take me twelve
hours at a stretch. But I'm not going to pretend to believe all the
lies he tells me about the Chancellor of the Exchequer. If that is to
be part of the private secretary's business, he had better get
somebody else." But now Sir Raffle was very angry, and his
countenance was full of wrath as he looked down upon his subordinate
minister. "If I had come here, Mr. Eames, and had found you absent, I
should have been very much annoyed, very much annoyed indeed, after
having written as I did."</p>
<p>"You would have found me absent at the hour you named. As I wasn't
here then, I think it's only fair to say so."</p>
<p>"I'm afraid you begrudge your time to the service, Mr. Eames."</p>
<p>"I do begrudge it when the service doesn't want it."</p>
<p>"At your age, Mr. Eames, that's not for you to judge. If I had acted
in that way when I was young I should never have filled the position
I now hold. I always remembered in those days that as I was the hand
and not the head, I was bound to hold myself in readiness whether
work might be required from me or not."</p>
<p>"If I'm wanted as hand now, Sir Raffle, I'm ready."</p>
<p>"That's all very well;—but why were you not here at the hour I
named?"</p>
<p>"Well, Sir Raffle, I cannot say that the Chancellor of the Exchequer
detained me;—but there was business. As I've been here for the last
two hours, I am happy to think that in this instance the public
service will not have suffered from my disobedience."</p>
<p>Sir Raffle was still standing with his hat on, and with his back to
the fire, and his countenance was full of wrath. It was on his tongue
to tell Johnny that he had better return to his former work in the
outer office. He greatly wanted the comfort of a private secretary
who would believe in him—or at least pretend to believe in him.
There are men who, though they have not sense enough to be true, have
nevertheless sense enough to know that they cannot expect to be
really believed in by those who are near enough to them to know them.
Sir Raffle Buffle was such a one. He would have greatly delighted in
the services of some one who would trust him implicitly,—of some
young man who would really believe all that he said of himself and of
the Chancellor of the Exchequer; but he was wise enough to perceive
that no such young man was to be had; or that any such young
man,—could such a one be found,—would be absolutely useless for any
purposes of work. He knew himself to be a liar whom nobody trusted.
And he knew himself also to be a bully,—though he could not think so
low of himself as to believe that he was a bully whom nobody feared.
A private secretary was at the least bound to pretend to believe in
him. There is a decency in such things, and that decency John Eames
did not observe. He thought that he must get rid of John Eames, in
spite of certain attractions which belonged to Johnny's appearance
and general manners, and social standing, and reputed wealth. But it
would not be wise to punish a man on the spot for breaking an
appointment which he himself had not kept, and therefore he would
wait for another opportunity. "You had better go to your own room
now," he said. "I am engaged on a matter connected with the Treasury,
in which I will not ask for your assistance." He knew that Eames
would not believe a word as to what he said about the Treasury,—not
even some very trifling base of truth which did exist; but the boast
gave him an opportunity of putting an end to the interview after his
own fashion. Then John Eames went to his own room and answered the
letters which he had in his pocket.</p>
<p>To the club dinner he would not go. "What's the use of paying two
guineas for a dinner with fellows you see every day of your life?" he
said. To Lady Glencora's he would go, and he wrote a line to his
friend Dalrymple proposing that they should go together. And he would
dine with his cousin Toogood in Tavistock Square. "One meets the
queerest people in the world there," he said; "but Tommy Toogood is
such a good fellow himself!" After that he had his lunch. Then he
read the paper, and before he went away he wrote a dozen or two of
private notes, presenting Sir Raffle's compliments right and left,
and giving in no one note a single word of information that could be
of any use to any person. Having thus earned his salary by half-past
four o'clock he got into a hansom cab and had himself driven to
Porchester Terrace. Miss Demolines was at home, of course, and he
soon found himself closeted with that interesting young woman.</p>
<p>"I thought you never would have come." These were the first words she
spoke.</p>
<p>"My dear Miss Demolines, you must not forget that I have my bread to
earn."</p>
<p>"Fiddlestick—bread! As if I didn't know that you can get away from
your office when you choose."</p>
<p>"But, indeed, I cannot."</p>
<p>"What is there to prevent you, Mr. Eames?"</p>
<p>"I'm not tied up like a dog, certainly; but who do you suppose will
do my work if I do not do it myself? It is a fact, though the world
does not believe it, that men in public offices have got something to
do."</p>
<p>"Now you are laughing at me, I know; but you are welcome, if you like
it. It's the way of the world just at present that ladies should
submit to that sort of thing from gentlemen."</p>
<p>"What sort of thing, Miss Demolines?"</p>
<p>"Chaff,—as you call it. Courtesy is out of fashion, and gallantry has
come to signify quite a different kind of thing from what it used to
do."</p>
<p>"The Sir Charles Grandison business is done and gone. That's what you
mean, I suppose? Don't you think we should find it very heavy if we
tried to get it back again?"</p>
<p>"I'm not going to ask you to be a Sir Charles Grandison, Mr. Eames.
But never mind all that now. Do you know that that girl has
absolutely had her first sitting for the picture?"</p>
<p>"Has she, indeed?"</p>
<p>"She has. You may take my word for it. I know it as a fact. What a
fool that young man is!"</p>
<p>"Which young man?"</p>
<p>"Which young man! Conway Dalrymple to be sure. Artists are always
weak. Of all men in the world they are the most subject to flattery
from women; and we all know that Conway Dalrymple is very vain."</p>
<p>"Upon my word I didn't know it," said Johnny.</p>
<p>"Yes, you do. You must know it. When a man goes about in a purple
velvet coat of course he is vain."</p>
<p>"I certainly cannot defend a purple velvet coat."</p>
<p>"That is what he wore when this girl sat to him this morning."</p>
<p>"This morning was it?"</p>
<p>"Yes; this morning. They little think that they can do nothing
without my knowing it. He was there for nearly four hours, and she
was dressed up in a white robe as Jael, with a turban on her head.
Jael, indeed! I call it very improper, and I am quite astonished that
Maria Clutterbuck should have lent herself to such a piece of work.
That Maria was never very wise, of course we all know; but I thought
that she had principle enough to have kept her from this kind of
thing."</p>
<p>"It's her fevered existence," said Johnny.</p>
<p>"That is just it. She must have excitement. It is like dram-drinking.
And then, you know, they are always living in the crater of a
volcano."</p>
<p>"Who are living in the crater of a volcano?"</p>
<p>"The Dobbs Broughtons are. Of course they are. There is no saying
what day a smash may come. These City people get so used to it that
they enjoy it. The risk is every thing to them."</p>
<p>"They like to have a little certainty behind the risk, I fancy."</p>
<p>"I'm afraid there is very little that's certain with Dobbs Broughton.
But about this picture, Mr. Eames. I look to you to assist me there.
It must be put a stop to. As to that I am determined. It must be—put
a—stop to." And as Miss Demolines repeated these last words with
tremendous emphasis she leant with both her elbows on a little table
that stood between her and her visitor, and looked with all her eyes
into his face. "I do hope that you agree with me in that," said she.</p>
<p>"Upon my word I do not see the harm of the picture," said he.</p>
<p>"You do not?"</p>
<p>"Indeed, no. Why should not Dalrymple paint Miss Van Siever as well
as any other lady? It is his special business to paint ladies."</p>
<p>"Look here, Mr. Eames.—" And now Miss Demolines, as she spoke, drew
her own seat closer to that of her companion and pushed away the
little table. "Do you suppose that Conway Dalrymple, in the usual way
of his business, paints pictures of young ladies, of which their
mothers know nothing? Do you suppose that he paints them in ladies'
rooms without their husbands' knowledge? And in the common way of his
business does he not expect to be paid for his pictures?"</p>
<p>"But what is all that to you and me, Miss Demolines?"</p>
<p>"Is the welfare of your friend nothing to you? Would you like to see
him become the victim of the artifice of such a girl as Clara Van
Siever?"</p>
<p>"Upon my word I think he is very well able to take care of himself."</p>
<p>"And would you wish to see that poor creature's domestic hearth
ruined and broken up?"</p>
<p>"Which poor creature?"</p>
<p>"Dobbs Broughton, to be sure."</p>
<p>"I can't pretend that I care very much for Dobbs Broughton," said
John Eames; "and you see I know so little about his domestic hearth."</p>
<p>"Oh, Mr. Eames!"</p>
<p>"Besides, her principles will pull her through. You told me yourself
that Mrs. Broughton has high principles."</p>
<p>"God forbid that I should say a word against Maria Clutterbuck," said
Miss Demolines, fervently. "Maria Clutterbuck was my early friend,
and though words have been spoken which never should have been
spoken, and though things have been done which never should have been
even dreamed of, still I will not desert Maria Clutterbuck in her hour of
need. No, never!"</p>
<p>"I'm sure you're what one may call a trump to your friends, Miss
Demolines."</p>
<p>"I have always endeavoured to be so, and always shall. You will find
me so;—that is if you and I ever become intimate enough to feel that
sort of friendship."</p>
<p>"There's nothing on earth I should like better," said Johnny. As soon
as the words were out of his mouth he felt ashamed of himself. He
knew that he did not in truth desire the friendship of Miss
Demolines, and that any friendship with such a one would mean
something different from friendship,—something that would be an
injury to Lily Dale. A week had hardly passed since he had sworn a
life's constancy to Lily Dale,—had sworn it, not to her only, but to
himself; and now he was giving way to a flirtation with this woman,
not because he liked it himself, but because he was too weak to keep
out of it.</p>
<p>"If that is true—," said Miss Demolines.</p>
<p>"Oh, yes; it's quite true," said Johnny.</p>
<p>"Then you must earn my friendship by doing what I ask of you. That
picture must not be painted. You must tell Conway Dalrymple as his
friend that he must cease to carry on such an intrigue in another
man's house."</p>
<p>"You would hardly call painting a picture an intrigue; would you?"</p>
<p>"Certainly I would when it's kept a secret from the husband by the
wife,—and from the mother by the daughter. If it cannot be stopped
in any other way, I must tell Mrs. Van Siever;—I must, indeed. I have
such an abhorrence of the old woman, that I could not bring myself to
speak to her,—but I should write to her. That's what I should do."</p>
<p>"But what's the reason? You might as well tell me the real reason."
Had Miss Demolines been christened Mary, or Fanny, or Jane, I think
that John Eames would now have called her by either of those names;
but Madalina was such a mouthful that he could not bring himself to
use it at once. He had heard that among her intimates she was called
Maddy. He had an idea that he had heard Dalrymple in old times talk
of her as Maddy Mullins, and just at this moment the idea was not
pleasant to him; at any rate he could not call her Maddy as yet. "How
am I to help you," he said, "unless I know all about it?"</p>
<p>"I hate that girl like poison!" said Miss Demolines, confidentially,
drawing herself very near to Johnny as she spoke.</p>
<p>"But what has she done?"</p>
<p>"What has she done? I can't tell you what she has done. I could not
demean myself by repeating it. Of course we all know what she wants.
She wants to catch Conway Dalrymple. That's as plain as anything can
be. Not that I care about that."</p>
<p>"Of course not," said Johnny.</p>
<p>"Not in the least. It's nothing to me. I have known Mr. Dalrymple, no
doubt, for a year or two, and I should be sorry to see a young man
who has his good points sacrificed in that sort of way. But it is
mere acquaintance between Mr. Dalrymple and me, and of course I cannot
interfere."</p>
<p>"She'll have a lot of money, you know."</p>
<p>"He thinks so; does he? I suppose that is what Maria has told him.
Oh, Mr. Eames, you don't know the meanness of women; you don't,
indeed. Men are so much more noble."</p>
<p>"Are they, do you think?"</p>
<p>"Than some women. I see women doing things that really disgust me; I
do, indeed;—things that I wouldn't do myself, were it ever
so;—striving to catch men in every possible way, and for such
purposes! I wouldn't have believed it of Maria Clutterbuck. I
wouldn't indeed. However, I will never say a word against her,
because she has been my friend. Nothing shall ever induce me."</p>
<p>John Eames before he left Porchester Terrace, had at last succeeded
in calling his fair friend Madalina, and had promised that he would
endeavour to open the artist's eyes to the folly of painting his
picture in Broughton's house without Broughton's knowledge.</p>
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