Arbor æstivâ recreatur aurâ,” &c.
Yet Lady Hester had never read Horace.
CHAPTER X.
Visit of Mr. Vesey Forster and Mr. Knox—Lady S. N.’s pension and Mr. H.—Lady Hester undeservedly censured by English travellers—Mr. Anson and Mr. Strangways—Mr. B. and Mr. C.—Captain Pechell—Captain Yorke—Colonel Howard Vyse—Lord B.
Mr. Forster and Mr. Knox, two English gentlemen, came up to Jôon this morning to pay a visit to Lady Hester. To my great surprise, I found them seated at the porter’s lodge among the servants, who were standing around them; a situation to which they accommodated themselves with the good sense of men of the world. They had sent in a message that two Franks were at the gate, having a letter for the Syt Mylady, and were patiently awaiting the result.
I took the liberty of inquiring their names, and hastened to her ladyship; whilst orders were given to conduct them immediately to the strangers’ room. Lady Hester, who had got their letter in her hand, told me one was a relation of Sir Augustus Forster, our ambassador at Turin. “Go instantly to them,” said she, “for Sir Augustus is an old friend of mine, and be particularly attentive to Mr. Forster—indeed, to both of them. Tell them, I am very sorry I can’t see them; for, when I get into conversation, I become animated, and then I feel the effects of it afterwards; but assure them that they are welcome to make their home of their present lodging for a couple of days or a couple of hours, or as long as they like. Do they look gentlemanlike?” she asked. “Ah!” continued she, “what a charm good-breeding gives to mankind, and how odious vulgarity is after it! Only reflect! I, who have been all my life accustomed to the most refined society, what I must feel sometimes to have nothing to do but with beasts. But go, go! and make them as comfortable as you can.”
They were in the strangers’ room, which stood in a small garden, ornamented with a few rose-bushes, pomegranate and olive-trees, and some flowering plants. It was a little enclosure, which had by no means a disagreeable aspect, surrounded by a wall topped with prickly thorn-bushes. Once inside this place, the new comer could know nothing of what was passing without. Such were Lady Hester’s contrivances: everything about her must wear an air of mystery.
I lost no time in conveying Lady Hester’s message to them, and, for the short hour I enjoyed the pleasure of their conversation, had every reason to rejoice in the opportunity of making their acquaintance. As this visit of two travellers may serve as a specimen of what occurred, with slight variations, on every similar occasion, when Englishmen came to her house, who were little aware how much trouble their unexpected arrival sometimes caused her, I shall detail what passed as minutely as I can.
I had hardly paid my compliments to them, and inquired whether they would take an English breakfast or something more solid, when a message came from Lady Hester to say she wanted to see me for a moment. This was always her way. The ruling passion of ordering what was to be done and what was to be said on all occasions made her impatient about things passing out of her sight.
“Well, doctor,” cried Lady Hester, “what age do they appear to be, and where do they come from?” Having satisfied her on the first head, I told her they were last from the Emir’s palace at Btedýn: then, after some trifling observation, I added, the Emir complained to them that M. Lamartine, in his recent work on Syria, had greatly compromised him with Ibrahim Pasha, in having said that he, the Emir, had entertained the most friendly dispositions towards Buonaparte and the French during the siege of Acre. This the Emir denied, and averred that his great friend was Sir Sydney Smith: meaning, probably, as I observed from myself, to compliment his present guests at the expense of the absent French. “He was very civil to the two travellers,” I added, “and, understanding they were going to see your ladyship, he sent his compliments to you.”—“Ah!” replied she, “that looks as if he were fishing for friends, in case he should shortly have to fly; for they say that Sherýf Pasha has been defeated in the Horàn, and the Emir begins to tremble; for the Druzes will not spare him.”