When at last its turn came, it seemed to arrive rather suddenly. It was when the Chayney tea and the cake and bread-and-butter, having ceased to have attractions, were removed by Mary, still acting as deputy to Jane the parlor-maid.
“Mr. Shelmerdine,” said the Lady Macbeth to John Peter Kendall, “I am given to understand that you have been kind enough to make my granddaughter a proposal of marriage?”
“I hope you don’t mind, ma’am,” murmured the Braided Morning Coat, whose diction, however, although that of Eton and Ch: Ch:, was for the time being, at any rate, nothing like so distinguished as that of Grandmamma.
“I may say at once, Mr. Shelmerdine,” said the Lady Macbeth to John Peter Kendall, “that I am sensible of the honor that has been paid to my granddaughter. Further, I may say that she also is sensible of the honor that has been paid her, as every right-minded girl should be, even when, as in this case, she is unfortunately unable to avail herself of it.”
That unhappy sense of inadequacy was coming upon Mr. Philip which afflicted him on the occasions he called at the Foreign Office to look up the friends of his youth.
“Mr. Shelmerdine, you are a personable and mannerly young man—I am old enough to speak with freedom, and even if I were not I have always been accustomed to use it. You have considerable private means, my granddaughter informs me, and I think it is probable that you will make an excellent husband for a young woman in your own sphere of life; but, to be quite frank with you, Mr. Shelmerdine, I do not feel that I can give my consent to the match.”
The Braided Morning Coat was cast down not a little.
Still, Grandmamma knew how to temper firmness of character with kindness and consideration; and that, of course, the world has a right to look for in majestic old ladies who have played Lady Macbeth to John Peter Kendall.
“My granddaughter, Mr. Shelmerdine, comes of a very old theatrical stock. One of her forebears—an ancestor of my own—played in Shakespeare’s own company. Without impropriety, I think I am entitled to say that her standing in her profession is likely to be one of eminence.”
Braided Morning Coat hardly needed that assurance.