“Perfectly clear, my lord,” said John, who among his many virtues had a proper tenderness for the peerage.
“See that this is done, and when questions are asked all you need know upon the subject is that a couple of men came and took it away. You understand?”
“Perfectly, my lord,” said John.
During luncheon Cheriton was seen to particular advantage. At any time it called for very little effort on his part for him to be one of the most agreeable men in London. To-day he excelled. He retailed some of the newest stories and a quantity of the freshest gossip; he was really genial to George Betterton, and encouraged him to enlarge at length upon the subject of the Militia; and to his hostess he gave a tip for the Oaks, for which species of information she had a decided weakness.
It was but seldom among his intimates that George was permitted to mount his hobby-horse. As for Cheriton, he was the last man in the world, as a rule, to consent to hold the head of that extraordinary quadruped while George established himself firmly in the saddle. But on this occasion he performed that operation in the most graceful manner.
“Excellent speech of yours in the House the other evening, my dear fellow,” said he. “I wasn’t there myself—Philosophical Society’s annual meeting—but you were very carefully reported in the Times. Quite your best vein, if I may say so. Very shrewd, very searching, sound common sense. You thought so, Caroline, did you not?”
It seems incredible, but Caroline Crewkerne walked straight into the trap. With all her ruthlessness, and all her knowledge of mundane affairs, she had one besetting weakness. She attached an absurd importance to any form of politics. It was her Whiggism, doubtless. She would encourage the most consummate bore, for upon the slightest pretext her vanity would lead her to believe that her fingers were really in the pie, and that she had a very considerable hand in the destinies of the country.
In the heyday of her glory it used to be asserted freely by idle persons that if the country was not actually ruled from Hill Street, ministers at least were made and marred there, and of that quarter Governments went in fear and trembling. And it is by no means improbable that Caroline Crewkerne came to believe it. It is surprising what vanity will do for us.
To-day the smoldering embers of a lifelong illusion, if the figure is permitted, allowed Caroline Crewkerne to establish George Betterton quite firmly astride his hobby-horse. Cheriton counted the minutes of his exquisite boredom. George was always heavy. He spoke so slowly and impressively that he could deliver a platitude in a longer space of time than any man living, and he could use fewer words in the operation. Indeed, upon the strength of that gift he had gained a reputation for incisive brevity.
To see Caroline Crewkerne nodding her vain old head, and wagging her vain old ears in an exaggerated attitude of statesmanlike attention, was a positive joy to Cheriton, particularly as time was so valuable. The minutes grew tedious in their passing, all the same. The clock chimed half-past two, and Miss Perry mentioned the circus.