Mr. Grahame had demurred, alleging that circumstances would render it inconvenient to him; but as he had not revealed to his lady the true reason for not wishing the entertainment to be given, the lady treated his suggestions with contempt, and issued her invitations and her instructions for the feast.
The fact was, that the Duke of St. Allborne had been caught in the web of Margaret Grahame. She had met him at soirées, at balls, at entertainments, and frequently at the opera. She had paused at nothing to create in him a belief that he had obtained the most entire control over her affections. She flattered his vanity by making him imagine that she deemed him an Admirable Crichton, and his weaker and viler propensities by leading him to fancy that beneath her cold exterior there dwelt an ardent passion which would urge her to withhold scarcely any favour to him whom she so well affected.
The party given this night was solely on his account; a conference between mother and daughter having led to the belief on both sides that an éclaircissement could be brought about—that, in short, the Duke could be made successfully to acknowledge that he had been fairly hooked—that he was prepared to bestow the ring and coronet, and confess to captivity for life; his chains being those forged by Margaret Claverhouse Grahame.
Charley Clinton had at first some difficulty to obtain an interview with Mr. Grahame. The guests had not yet arrived, and Mr. Grahame was said to be very busy in his library. The usual method of palming had, however, the desired effect. After some pro and con., and when Mr. Grahame understood that the gentleman who desired to see him was from the solicitors of Nathan Gomer, he had a shrewd suspicion of the object of his visit, and to save any chance of exposure by refusing to see him, he ordered him to be admitted.
When Charley entered, Mr. Grahame received him in his haughtiest and grandest manner, and motioned him to a seat. Charley, however, declined it, and opened the purport of his visit in a manner which was calculated to have its weight with Grahame.
He did not for a moment assume that pecuniary inability to comply with the demand upon Mr. Grahame by Nathan Gomer was the true occasion of the issuing of process, but that some disputed point had led to a determination to proceed to a trial to decide the question at issue. Mr. Grahame, therefore, received the writs with more apparent complacency than he would have done; tendering, as an explanation for not writing in answer to the renewal of the application for a settlement of Nathan Gomer’s claim, that he had been out of town, an assertion which Charley knew to be false.
Mr. Grahame gave a scarcely perceptible shiver when he received the writs, but he made an unequivocal start, when Charley said—
“There is said to be in existence a deed, Mr. Grahame, professing to be a waiver in your favour to Mr. Wilton’s claim to the Eglinton estates, and bearing his signature. Can you throw any light upon the subject?”
“Pray, may I ask your reason for putting that question?” said Mr. Grahame, loftily.
“Mr. Wilton denies the signature, and has instructed us to discover the deed, if possible.”