Phineas Redux Read online

  CHAPTER VII.

  COMING HOME FROM HUNTING.

  Lady Chiltern was probably right when she declared that her husbandmust have been made to be a Master of Hounds,--presuming it to begranted that somebody must be Master of Hounds. Such necessitycertainly does exist in this, the present condition of England.Hunting prevails; hunting men increase in numbers; foxes arepreserved; farmers do not rebel; owners of coverts, even when theyare not hunting men themselves, acknowledge the fact, and do not dareto maintain their pheasants at the expense of the much better-lovedfour-footed animal. Hounds are bred, and horses are trained speciallyto the work. A master of fox hounds is a necessity of the period.Allowing so much, we cannot but allow also that Lord Chiltern musthave been made to fill the situation. He understood hunting, and,perhaps, there was nothing else requiring acute intelligence that hedid understand. And he understood hunting, not only as a huntsmanunderstands it,--in that branch of the science which refers simply tothe judicious pursuit of the fox, being probably inferior to his ownhuntsman in that respect,--but he knew exactly what men should do,and what they should not. In regard to all those various interestswith which he was brought in contact, he knew when to hold fast tohis own claims, and when to make no claims at all. He was afraid ofno one, but he was possessed of a sense of justice which induced himto acknowledge the rights of those around him. When he found that theearths were not stopped in Trumpeton Wood,--from which he judged thatthe keeper would complain that the hounds would not or could not killany of the cubs found there,--he wrote in very round terms to theDuke who owned it. If His Grace did not want to have the wood drawn,let him say so. If he did, let him have the earths stopped. But whenthat great question came up as to the Gartlow coverts--when thatuncommonly disagreeable gentleman, Mr. Smith, of Gartlow, gave noticethat the hounds should not be admitted into his place at all,--LordChiltern soon put the whole matter straight by taking part with thedisagreeable gentleman. The disagreeable gentleman had been illused. Men had ridden among his young laurels. If gentlemen who didhunt,--so said Lord Chiltern to his own supporters,--did not knowhow to conduct themselves in a matter of hunting, how was it to beexpected that a gentleman who did not hunt should do so? On thisoccasion Lord Chiltern rated his own hunt so roundly that Mr. Smithand he were quite in a bond together, and the Gartlow coverts werere-opened. Now all the world knows that the Gartlow coverts, thoughsmall, are material as being in the very centre of the Brake country.

  It is essential that a Master of Hounds should be somewhat feared bythe men who ride with him. There should be much awe mixed with thelove felt for him. He should be a man with whom other men will notcare to argue; an irrational, cut and thrust, unscrupulous, but yetdistinctly honest man; one who can be tyrannical, but will tyranniseonly over the evil spirits; a man capable of intense cruelty to thosealongside of him, but who will know whether his victim does in truthdeserve scalping before he draws his knife. He should be savage andyet good-humoured; severe and yet forbearing; truculent and pleasantin the same moment. He should exercise unflinching authority, butshould do so with the consciousness that he can support it only byhis own popularity. His speech should be short, incisive, alwaysto the point, but never founded on argument. His rules are basedon no reason, and will never bear discussion. He must be the mostcandid of men, also the most close;--and yet never a hypocrite. Hemust condescend to no explanation, and yet must impress men with anassurance that his decisions will certainly be right. He must ruleall as though no man's special welfare were of any account, and yetmust administer all so as to offend none. Friends he must have, butnot favourites. He must be self-sacrificing, diligent, eager, andwatchful. He must be strong in health, strong in heart, strong inpurpose, and strong in purse. He must be economical and yet lavish;generous as the wind and yet obdurate as the frost. He should beassured that of all human pursuits hunting is the best, and that ofall living things a fox is the most valuable. He must so train hisheart as to feel for the fox a mingled tenderness and cruelty whichis inexplicable to ordinary men and women. His desire to preserve thebrute and then to kill him should be equally intense and passionate.And he should do it all in accordance with a code of unwritten laws,which cannot be learnt without profound study. It may not perhaps betruly asserted that Lord Chiltern answered this description in everydetail; but he combined so many of the qualities required that hiswife showed her discernment when she declared that he seemed to havebeen made to be a Master of Hounds.

  Early in that November he was riding home with Miss Palliser by hisside, while the huntsmen and whips were trotting on with the houndsbefore him. "You call that a good run, don't you?"

  Adelaide Palliser.]

  "No; I don't."

  "What was the matter with it? I declare it seems to me that somethingis always wrong. Men like hunting better than anything else, and yetI never find any man contented."

  "In the first place we didn't kill."

  "You know you're short of foxes at Gartlow," said Miss Palliser, who,as is the manner with all hunting ladies, liked to show that sheunderstood the affairs of the hunt.

  "If I knew there were but one fox in a county, and I got upon thatone fox, I would like to kill that one fox,--barring a vixen inMarch."

  "I thought it very nice. It was fast enough for anybody."

  "You might go as fast with a drag, if that's all. I'll tell yousomething else. We should have killed him if Maule hadn't once riddenover the hounds when we came out of the little wood. I spoke verysharply to him."

  "I heard you, Lord Chiltern."

  "And I suppose you thought I was a brute."

  "Who? I? No, I didn't;--not particularly, you know. Men do say suchthings to each other!"

  "He doesn't mind it, I fancy."

  "I suppose a man does not like to be told that directly he showshimself in a run the sport is all over and the hounds ought to betaken home."

  "Did I say that? I don't remember now what I said, but I know he mademe angry. Come, let us trot on. They can take the hounds home withoutus."

  "Good night, Cox," said Miss Palliser, as they passed by the pack."Poor Mr. Maule! I did pity him, and I do think he does care forit, though he is so impassive. He would be with us now, only he ischewing the cud of his unhappiness in solitude half a mile behindus."

  "That is hard upon you."

  "Hard upon me, Lord Chiltern! It is hard upon him, and, perhaps, uponyou. Why should it be hard upon me?"

  "Hard upon him, I should have said. Though why it shouldn't be theother way I don't know. He's a friend of yours."

  "Certainly."

  "And an especial friend, I suppose. As a matter of course Violettalks to me about you both."

  "No doubt she does. When once a woman is married she should beregarded as having thrown off her allegiance to her own sex. She issure to be treacherous at any rate in one direction. Not that LadyChiltern can tell anything of me that might not be told to all theworld as far as I am concerned."

  "There is nothing in it, then?"

  "Nothing at all."

  "Honour bright?"

  "Oh,--honour as bright as it ever is in such matters as these."

  "I am sorry for that,--very sorry."

  "Why so, Lord Chiltern?"

  "Because if you were engaged to him I thought that perhaps you mighthave induced him to ride a little less forward."

  "Lord Chiltern," said Miss Palliser, seriously; "I will never againspeak to you a word on any subject except hunting."

  At this moment Gerard Maule came up behind them, with a cigar in hismouth, apparently quite unconscious of any of that displeasure asto which Miss Palliser had supposed that he was chewing the cud insolitude. "That was a goodish thing, Chiltern," he said.

  "Very good."

  "And the hounds hunted him well to the end."

  "Very well."

  "It's odd how the scent will die away at a moment. You see theycouldn't carry on a field after we got out of the copse."

  "Not a field."

  "
Considering all things I am glad we didn't kill him."

  "Uncommon glad," said Lord Chiltern. Then they trotted on in silencea little way, and Maule again dropped behind. "I'm blessed if heknows that I spoke to him, roughly," said Chiltern. "He's deaf, Ithink, when he chooses to be."

  "You're not sorry, Lord Chiltern."

  "Not in the least. Nothing will ever do any good. As for offendinghim, you might as well swear at a tree, and think to offend it.There's comfort in that, anyway. I wonder whether he'd talk to you ifI went away?"

  "I hope that you won't try the experiment."

  "I don't believe he would, or I'd go at once. I wonder whether youreally do care for him?"

  "Not in the least."

  "Or he for you."

  "Quite indifferent, I should say; but I can't answer for him, LordChiltern, quite as positively as I can for myself. You know, asthings go, people have to play at caring for each other."

  "That's what we call flirting."

  "Just the reverse. Flirting I take to be the excitement of love,without its reality, and without its ordinary result in marriage.This playing at caring has none of the excitement, but it oftenleads to the result, and sometimes ends in downright affection."

  "If Maule perseveres then you'll take him, and by-and-bye you'll cometo like him."

  "In twenty years it might come to that, if we were always to live inthe same house; but as he leaves Harrington to-morrow, and we mayprobably not meet each other for the next four years, I think thechance is small."

  Then Maule trotted up again, and after riding in silence with theother two for half an hour, he pulled out his case and lit a freshcigar from the end of the old one, which he threw away. "Have abaccy, Chiltern?" he said.

  "No, thank you, I never smoke going home; my mind is too full. I'veall that family behind to think of, and I'm generally out of sortswith the miseries of the day. I must say another word to Cox, or Ishould have to go to the kennels on my way home." And so he droppedbehind.

  Gerard Maule smoked half his cigar before he spoke a word, and MissPalliser was quite resolved that she would not open her mouth till hehad spoken. "I suppose he likes it?" he said at last.

  "Who likes what, Mr. Maule?"

  "Chiltern likes blowing fellows up."

  "It's a part of his business."

  "That's the way I look at it. But I should think it must bedisagreeable. He takes such a deal of trouble about it. I heard himgoing on to-day to some one as though his whole soul depended on it."

  "He is very energetic."

  "Just so. I'm quite sure it's a mistake. What does a man ever get byit? Folks around you soon discount it till it goes for nothing."

  "I don't think energy goes for nothing, Mr. Maule."

  "A bull in a china shop is not a useful animal, nor is he ornamental,but there can be no doubt of his energy. The hare was full of energy,but he didn't win the race. The man who stands still is the man whokeeps his ground."

  "You don't stand still when you're out hunting."

  "No;--I ride about, and Chiltern swears at me. Every man is a foolsometimes."

  "And your wisdom, perfect at all other times, breaks down in thehunting-field?"

  "I don't in the least mind your chaffing. I know what you think of mejust as well as though you told me."

  "What do I think of you?"

  "That I'm a poor creature, generally half asleep, shallow-pated,slow-blooded, ignorant, useless, and unambitious."

  "Certainly unambitious, Mr. Maule."

  "And that word carries all the others. What's the good of ambition?There's the man they were talking about last night,--that Irishman."

  "Mr. Finn?"

  "Yes; Phineas Finn. He is an ambitious fellow. He'll have to starve,according to what Chiltern was saying. I've sense enough to know Ican't do any good."

  "You are sensible, I admit."

  "Very well, Miss Palliser. You can say just what you like, of course.You have that privilege."

  "I did not mean to say anything severe. I do admit that you aremaster of a certain philosophy, for which much may be said. But youare not to expect that I shall express an approval which I do notfeel."

  "But I want you to approve it."

  "Ah!--there, I fear, I cannot oblige you."

  "I want you to approve it, though no one else may."

  "Though all else should do so, I cannot."

  "Then take the task of curing the sick one, and of strengtheningthe weak one, into your own hands. If you will teach, perhaps I maylearn."

  "I have no mission for teaching, Mr. Maule."

  "You once said that,--that--"

  "Do not be so ungenerous as to throw in my teeth what I oncesaid,--if I ever said a word that I would not now repeat."

  "I do not think that I am ungenerous, Miss Palliser."

  "I am sure you are not."

  "Nor am I self-confident. I am obliged to seek comfort from suchscraps of encouragement as may have fallen in my way here and there.I once did think that you intended to love me."

  "Does love go by intentions?"

  "I think so,--frequently with men, and much more so with girls."

  "It will never go so with me. I shall never intend to love any one.If I ever love any man it will be because I am made to do so, despitemy intentions."

  "As a fortress is taken?"

  "Well,--if you like to put it so. Only I claim this advantage,--thatI can always get rid of my enemy when he bores me."

  "Am I boring you now?"

  "I didn't say so. Here is Lord Chiltern again, and I know by therattle of his horse's feet that something is the matter."

  Lord Chiltern came up full of wrath. One of the men's horses wasthoroughly broken down, and, as the Master said, wasn't worth thesaddle he carried. He didn't care a ---- for the horse, but the manhadn't told him. "At this rate there won't be anything to carryanybody by Christmas."

  "You'll have to buy some more," said Gerard Maule.

  "Buy some more!" said Lord Chiltern, turning round, and looking atthe man. "He talks of buying horses as he would sugar plums!" Thenthey trotted in at the gate, and in two minutes were at the halldoor.