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 LI E) RARY 
 
 OF THE 
 
 UN IVLR5ITY 
 
 Of ILLINOIS 
 
 \S7G 
 vJ
 
 THE GIRL HE LEFT 
 BEHIND HIM.
 
 /^^S^^z5^ 
 
 THE GIRL HE LEFT 
 BEHIND HIM. 
 
 % lofatl. 
 
 R. MOUNTENEY JEPH80N, 
 
 AtJTHOB OF "TOM BULLKLEY OF LISSINGTON," ETC. 
 
 IN THREE VOLUMES. 
 VOL. I. 
 
 LONDON : 
 
 RICHARD BENTLEY & SON, 
 
 NEW BURLINGTON STREET. 
 
 1876.
 
 PKINTBI) BY TAVLOB AMD CO., 
 UTTLK <VTJBK> STBBET, LINCOLN'S IMi JblELDE.
 
 v./ 
 
 r 
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 CHAP. PA OH 
 
 I. ANTIPATHY 3 
 
 II. SYMPATHY 34 
 
 III. ACCOMMODATION 70 
 
 > IV. POSITION AND OPPOSITION 85 
 
 'V^ V. ALTERCATION 114 
 
 - ^ VI. "daddles" 133 
 
 ^ VII. THE ENGINEER AND HIS PETARD .... 146 
 VIII. " GIVING THE OLD BOY A DRESSING " . . . .175 
 
 * IX. A TRYING t£tE A TETE 189 
 
 X. A LOVE MATCH 202 
 
 ,^ XT. DETECTION 223 
 
 XII. CASTLES IN THE AIR . 244 
 
 ^ 
 
 I 

 
 CLIVE DOERIEN 
 
 PEOLOGUE. 
 
 My story, like most careers, begins with 
 the light-hearted exuberance and folly of 
 youth ; but, again like most careers, it will 
 not be " all ale and cakes," all frivolity and 
 fun. With most of us as life flows onward the 
 ^^ dusty chaff of em^^ty pleasures" is swept 
 away before the chilling blast of trial and 
 adversity. Sometimes it is blown away at 
 once and for ever by a tempest of tribulation ; 
 sometimes by the constant puffs of disap- 
 pointments and worries. But disappear it 
 will ; in some cases merely to leave the heavy 
 dross of morose cynicism, in others, %iany 
 
 VOL. I. B
 
 Clive Dorrien, 
 
 others, to disclose a rich weight of golden 
 grain which had been hitherto hidden under 
 the worthless bran and chaff. 
 
 " Till from the straw, the flail the corn doth beat, 
 
 Until the chaff be purged from the wheat ; 
 Tea, till the mill the grains in pieces tear, 
 
 The richness of the flour will scarce appear. 
 So, till men's persons great afflictions touch. 
 
 If worth be found, their worth is not so much. 
 Because, like wheat in straw, they have not yet 
 
 That value which in threshing they may get."
 
 CHAPTEE I. 
 
 ANTIPATHY. 
 
 "I SAY, let's draw old Dolly. There's a 
 light in his hut." 
 
 " No, it's no fun drawing him. He never 
 gets riled, and it's awfully slow work 
 drawing a fellow if he doesn't cut up rough. 
 Besides, Dorrien is with him." 
 
 "Is he ? Then we'll leave him alone. 
 "Would just as soon think of drawing the 
 chief as Dorrien, I tell you what though, 
 there's that new fellow who has just ex- 
 changed to us lives in the same hut. I 
 vote we throw his furniture about, just by 
 way of reminding him that he might make 
 himself a little more agreeable. He's sure 
 
 B 2
 
 Clive Dorrten. 
 
 not to be back from town until about two or 
 three o'clock." 
 
 This proposal was carried, nem. con, ; and 
 a noisy group of very young subalterns 
 tumbled over each other into the dark 
 narrow passage of an Aldershot hut. 
 
 "Let's get a light from Dolly's room," 
 suggested some one. 
 
 This was seconded with considerable 
 warmth by a young gentleman whose shins 
 had just come into smart contact with the 
 common coal-box of the double establish- 
 ment, which stood in the passage, and the 
 party bnrst unceremoniously into the quar- 
 ters of the brother-officer they chose to call, 
 " Dolly." 
 
 "Now, then, what are you youngsters 
 up to ? If a deluded country had not pre- 
 maturely enrolled you amongst her defenders, 
 you would all have been in your beds at 
 school or in your virtuous homes snoring 
 long ago," came a voice lazily from the depths
 
 Antipathy, 
 
 of an arm-chair. ^^ And shut the door after 
 you, can't you ? " added the voice in accents 
 less languid. 
 
 On this the door was promptly closed, and 
 the owners of sundry flushed young faces and 
 smooth chins crowded into the tiny room. 
 They were all in mess-dress, which with 
 the majority was not the only outward sign 
 of having dined. 
 
 ^']N'ow what mischief are you young 
 beggars brewing ? " again proceeded from 
 the arm-chair. 
 
 The authoritative questioner was not the 
 so-called Dolly, but his intimate friend and 
 brother-officer, Captain Studholme Dorrien. 
 Dolly himself was occupied in nursing a 
 tuft of hair on his chin termed, grandilo- 
 quently, an " imperial," familiarly a *^ char- 
 ley," and smiling with mild good-nature 
 on his hilarious visitors. 
 
 ^^ Such a lark, Dorrien ! "We're going to 
 pile all that fellow Garstang's furniture up
 
 Clive Dorrien, 
 
 in the middle of his room, and stick Podgy's 
 bull-pup on the top. Give us a light, Dolly." 
 
 " Upon my word," apostrophized Dorrien, 
 '^ when I contemplate these specimens of mili- 
 tary genius, I wonder where all the future 
 Marlboroughs and "Wellingtons are to come 
 from ! " 
 
 ^^ Oh ! we never expect anything compli- 
 mentary from you^ Dorrien," said a rash 
 youth. 
 
 '^"Well, you never get it," was the reply. 
 *^ So, at all events as far as I am concerned, 
 disappointment is not shading your young 
 days. Now, take my advice and leave Gar- 
 stang and that bull-dog alone. It's my 
 opinion they'll both show their teeth, and use 
 them too, if you try on any games with them." 
 
 ^^ Oh ! we don't mind; never fear," was the 
 valiant reply — pot-valiant, I am afraid ; and 
 the recently-emancipated school-boys, hav- 
 ing abstracted one of Dolly's lighted candles 
 after a good-natured struggle with the owner,
 
 A7itipathy, 
 
 withdrew to carry their humorous designs 
 into effect. 
 
 Their unpopular brother-officer's room 
 being locked, the door was unceremoniously 
 kicked in, and they forthwith proceeded to 
 pile up the furniture in a heap in the middle 
 of the apartment. 
 
 All their attempts, however, to crown the 
 pile with ^^ Podgy 's bull-pup" met with 
 such fierce opposition from that sagacious 
 animal, that they were reluctantly forced to 
 dispense with their crowning effect. 
 
 As this had been looked upon as the 
 cream of the joke, it was felt that something 
 else must be substituted. 
 
 '''- Here's a bottle of brandy. At all events 
 we'll have a liquor all round," remarked 
 some one. 
 
 Hereupon the youths behaved with marked 
 hospitality to each other with Captain Gar- 
 stang's brandy, and at length one of them 
 drew from his potations a happy inspiration.
 
 8 Clive Dorrien. 
 
 "I say, let's make him an apple-pie 
 bed ! '' 
 
 In a few moments that highly-flavoured, 
 fine old military joke was in full prepara- 
 tion, and they waxed uproariously mirthful 
 over such humorous feats as stuffing the 
 coal-scuttle into the pillow-case, the fire- 
 irons under the bolster, and ^^ Podgy 's bull- 
 pup " between the sheets. This animal, 
 with a sagacity beyond his years, at once 
 recognised in this joke a point he had utterly 
 failed to detect in the last, and now entered 
 into the plot with the liveliest satisfaction. 
 
 *' Finish c\onat opush^'^ said one of the 
 jovial crew, as he put the finishing touch to 
 the jeu W esprit by sitting on that particular 
 part of the counterpane under which " Podgy 's 
 bull-pup " lay curled. The result afforded 
 the remainder a satisfactory assurance of the 
 zeal to be expected from their four-legged 
 fellow-conspirator in the plot against Cap- 
 tain Garstang's comfoi-t and peace of mind ;
 
 Antipathy, 
 
 and, roaring with laughter, they returned to 
 Dolly's quarters to restore the borrowed 
 candle and recount their exploits. 
 
 Dorrien had passed that very verdant 
 stage of youth when a bull-dog in a bed 
 was a screaming farce, and Dolly was too 
 good-natured to see any point in a practical 
 joke where annoyance was the sole object ; 
 and so the young revellers' finding themselves 
 unappreciated took their departure, remark- 
 ing, as soon as they were out of ear- shot, 
 that '-'' Dorrien was getting slow and making 
 Dolly as bad as himself." 
 
 ^'What's made those young beggars so 
 festive to-night, Dolly ? " asked Dorrien. 
 
 Dolly laughed, and replied that young 
 Hardup's long-suffering parent had just deli- 
 vered him out of the hands of the Jews, and 
 he had been having a ^^ grog-fight " in his 
 room to celebrate the event, and he supposed 
 it was that. 
 
 Dorrien and Dolly were great friends, but
 
 lo Clive Dorrien, 
 
 it may be noticed that while the former ad- 
 dressed the latter as Dolly, Dolly called 
 Dorrien by his patronymic in full. The 
 fact was, Dorrien was one of those men no 
 one ever dreams of calling by any name but 
 their right one. On the other hand, Dolly 
 was a being who could no more have gone 
 through life without a nickname than a dog 
 can scamper down a racecourse without be- 
 ing howled at. There were many little 
 peculiarities and weaknesses about Dolly 
 certain to procure him endless god-fathers 
 in this style of nomenclature. He was very 
 fond of dress and much addicted to the 
 largest patterns and the most gorgeous hues. 
 He wore an eye-glass, though I do not 
 think he was short-sighted, and an ^^ impe- 
 rial," and, last though not least, he was 
 possessed of unbounded good-nature, to 
 take advantage of which is the invariable 
 custom of man. For a long time he answered 
 with imperturbable good temper to an infi-
 
 Antipathy, 1 1 
 
 nity of names, but at last he had settled 
 down quietly into "Dolly," and *^ Dolly" 
 he was to every one. So carried away have 
 I myself been by the idea that in Dolly's 
 case a surname was a superfluity, that I 
 have quite forgotten to mention that he had 
 one, and that it was " Jones." 
 
 "I tell you what it is, Dorrien, I've a 
 good mind to go and put Garstang's room 
 right again," said Dolly. And as he spoke 
 he leaned against the mantelpiece, if we 
 may call the small deal shelf which projected 
 about two inches over the tiny grate by that 
 name, and showed off to advantage his weak- 
 ness in dress. Even now he was wasting 
 his sweetness on the desert air of an 
 Aldershot hut, attired in a smoking suit of 
 blue, with pea-green binding and stripes 
 down the trousers, and a pair of sky-blue 
 slippers. 
 
 " I shouldn't bother my head, Dolly, about 
 it. I think all that sort of thing childish
 
 1 2 Clive Dorrien, 
 
 nonsense, but at the same time I would just 
 as soon that fellow Garstang had an uncom- 
 fortable night's rest as any man of my 
 acquaintance. There's a lot of swagger and 
 bounce in the fellow, but there's not a true 
 ring about the article. They say there was 
 something shady about his exchange, and 
 I'm sorry he came to us." 
 
 " Well, at all events, he has one recom- 
 mendation, he's a sportsman." 
 
 '• I don't believe he is. You think, Dolly, 
 because you ride like a tailor, though I will 
 admit you ride hard, and can't hit a hay- 
 stack, though I will also admit that you 
 blaze away at everything you see, that any 
 fellow who can shove along across country 
 without riding over a hound or tumbling off 
 at a fence, and get through a day's cover- 
 shooting without hitting a dog or a keeper, 
 is a thorough sportsman." 
 
 Dolly was not in the least offended by 
 these remarks ; on the contrary, they raised
 
 Antipathy. 1 3 
 
 up so amusing a vision of infuriated masters 
 of hounds and indignant gamekeepers, that 
 he laughed heartily. He was unique in his 
 enjoyment of jokes against himself. 
 
 " No, Dolly; that's where you are such an 
 old duffer. A fellow has only to know Euff's 
 Guide by heart and cram it with a lot of 
 turfy slang down your throat, and you're 
 at once taken in. Garstang can tell you, I 
 dare say, every winner of the Derby from 
 1780 to last year, with their pedigrees and 
 riders, and many other such interesting facts ; 
 but it's my opinion he looks upon a horse as. 
 he looks upon dice, or cards, or billiards, 
 merely as something to make money out of. 
 And as to his shooting — why, I dare say he 
 can hold his own at the gun club where he can 
 make it pay, and that's all. No, Dolly, you 
 never know the difference between a sports- 
 man and a sporting man. He's the latter, 
 I'll allow, but I won't credit him with any of 
 the qualities of the former."
 
 14 Clive Dorrien, 
 
 '' Perhaps you're prejudiced, Dorrien." 
 
 '^Perhaps I am, and I'll allow I've an 
 antipathy to the fellow. However, I'll try 
 and be charitable, Dolly old boy, and, by 
 way of being so, I don't mind if I go and 
 help you to put his room straight. At all 
 events, we'll kick that dog out. He's a 
 varmint little brute, and certain to pin any 
 one he doesn't know." 
 
 '^ Come along," said Dolly, promptly 
 seizing a candle and leading the way. 
 
 They had spcceeded in dislodging the 
 bull-dog, and were in the act of extricating 
 the coal-scuttle from the piilow-case when 
 the outer door of the hut was kicked open, 
 and in a moment Captain Garstang, flushed 
 with liquor, soured with ill luck at cards, 
 and furious at the apparent liberty, stood 
 before them. 
 
 Dorrien was about the coolest hand in the 
 regiment, but it must be admitted that for a 
 moment or two he looked rather foolish,
 
 Antipathy. 1 5 
 
 until catching sight of Dolly's sheepish 
 countenance he broke into a careless 
 laugh. 
 
 This, of course, was oil on the flames of 
 Garstang's wrath, and all his ire was directed 
 against Dorrien. As to Dolly, he looked 
 several degrees below notice, as he stood 
 holding the coal-scuttle in one hand, and 
 idiotically scratching the tuft on his chin 
 with the other. 
 
 ^^Upon my word, Captain Dorrien," 
 sneered Garstang, '^your facetiousness is 
 only to be equalled by your confounded 
 impertinence." 
 
 Dorrien's brow grew black. He was a 
 proud, headstrong man, and, if the truth 
 must be told, more accustomed to speak than 
 be spoken to in this strain. He felt, how- 
 ever, that appearances were against him. 
 
 " I don't wish to bandy words with you," 
 he said coolly enough. '^ The line you have 
 chosen to take precludes all attempt at
 
 1 6 Clive Dorrien. 
 
 explanation. But if you fancy that Jones 
 or I have had any hand in this childish 
 nonsense, you're mistaken. I wouldn't take 
 the trouble." 
 
 '^ Captain Dorrien will excuse my believing 
 my own senses in preference even to his 
 word," sneered Garstang, glancing signifi- 
 cantly at the tongs in Dorrien' s hand and 
 the poker which protruded from the bed. 
 
 Dorrien threw the tongs contemptuously 
 into the fire-place, and advanced a step. 
 
 " Do you mean to say you think I'm de- 
 scending to a wretched paltry lie ? " 
 
 ^^IN'o, certainly not. ThinJc is not exactly 
 the word which expresses my ideas on the 
 subject," said Garstang, wrapping up the 
 colloquial brickbat, '^ You're a liar," in 
 silver paper and hurling it point blank 
 at his adversary. It did not strike any the 
 softer for its flimsy covering, and Dorrien 
 strode forward. 
 
 Dolly threw himself between the two,
 
 Afitipathy. 1 7 
 
 and used the coal-scuttle as a sort of peace- 
 maker's "wand. 
 
 '' Don't have a row about such a stupid 
 nonsensical thing. EecoUect you're officers 
 and gentlemen. Have it out with fire-irons 
 — I mean fire-arms — if you like. But don't 
 go fighting like common navvies. Be calm, 
 be calm," added Dolly, as he poked his fist 
 into Dorrien's eye and rammed the bottom 
 of the coal-scuttle into Garstang's face. 
 ^' It can all be explained in two minutes, if 
 you'll only listen to reason ; only do be cool, 
 whatever you are." 
 
 ^' Put that infernal machine down, Dolly," 
 said Dorrien. ''- You're quite right. I shall 
 demand satisfaction like a gentleman, not 
 like a bargee." 
 
 ^ ' That's right. Be cool and collected both 
 of you, like me," said Dolly, putting the 
 coal-scuttle down on the centre of the table, 
 and rumpling up his hair until he looked 
 like an infuriated cockatoo. 
 
 VOL. I. c
 
 1 8 Clive Dorrien, 
 
 ^^ You heard everything that passed, Dolly, 
 and I leave it in your hands. Either an 
 ample apology, or satisfaction in the old- 
 fashioned way. Duelling is supposed to 
 have died out of the service, and so are men 
 who call each other liars. But if the latter 
 come in, I suppose the former must too. 
 I'll wait in your room, Dolly." 
 
 So saying, Dorrien walked across the 
 passage into Dolly's quarters, and by the 
 ime he had comfortably settled himself 
 down in his old seat with a book and a 
 cigar, every trace of passion had dis- 
 appeared. 
 
 ^^ By Jove ! " he remarked with a careless 
 laugh, " I don't think I ever took the trouble 
 to get so angry before in my life. But, then, 
 I don't recollect ever having ,been called a 
 liar before. That fellow will apologise, I 
 know, and a good thing too. It's all very 
 well to talk about pistols for two when one's 
 angry, but there's a great deal of difficulty
 
 Afitipaihy. 19 
 
 about such matters nowadays. I wonder 
 what sort of a second old Dolly would make, 
 probably put the bullet in before the powder, 
 I should think." 
 
 Here Dolly himself entered accompanied 
 by Garstang. 
 
 '^ Captain Dorrien," said the latter, 
 '^ Dolly Jones" (even on serious occasions 
 people couldn't drop the Dolly) ^^ has ex- 
 plained the whole thing to me. He tells me 
 that so far from being the author of this 
 silly and impertinent trick, you were doing 
 all you could to remedy it. In the face of 
 this explanation, Icannotwithholdtheample 
 apology you demand for the expressions I 
 was betrayed into using in the heat of the 
 moment. Indeed, had I known the facts of 
 the case, I should have been the first to 
 thank instead of insult you. There's my 
 hand." 
 
 Dorrien took the hand, but in truth there 
 was not that cordiality in the action which 
 
 c 2
 
 20 Clive Dorrien. 
 
 there generally is between two Englishmen 
 making up their differences. Garstang's 
 words were fair and outspoken, but there 
 was a look in his eye and there was a sneer 
 about his mouth which did not endorse 
 them. Unruly member though the tongue 
 may be, it is much more under control than 
 eyes or mouth, and lends itself to a lie or 
 any nasty job more readily than either of 
 the other two. It was neither conviction 
 nor generosity which prompted Garstang, 
 but policy. He was a man of the world — 
 indeed he lived upon it, and saw clearly that 
 it would be unwise to live at feud with 
 Dorrien, who, though only one of the junior 
 captains of the regiment, possessed an enor- 
 mous amount of influence in it. The only 
 change in his feelings Dolly's explanation 
 had wrought was an increase of dislike. 
 He had hated the man when he had thought 
 him in the wrong. He hated him more 
 when he now found he had been in the right.
 
 Antipathy. 2 1 
 
 On the other hand, there was not a whit 
 more cordiality about Dorrien. He was an 
 independent fellow — people till they knew 
 him called him ^^ conceited and bumptions" 
 — and he never took the trouble to conceal 
 a dislike he felt. He had conceived an anti- 
 pathy to this Garstang which was not to be 
 dispelled by a few honied words. However, 
 they shook hands, and there was an end of 
 the matter outwardly. 
 
 ^'IN'ow that's right," said Dolly. ^' I do 
 like to see fellows shake hands after a bit of 
 a row. Sit down, Garstang, and have a 
 liquor. I dare say you're cold after your 
 journey down from town." 
 
 *' Well, it is rather chilly, and it's a long 
 journey down by that cold meat train," said 
 Garstang as he took the seat and helped 
 himself. ^' These Aldershot huts are like 
 sieves." 
 
 Dolly immediately drew the curtains of 
 the little window closer, tried the fastening
 
 22 Clive Dorrien, 
 
 of the door, and poked the fire ; and as he 
 did all these without getting up from his 
 chair, but merely by tilting it backwards, 
 forwards, or sideways, it could not have 
 been the size that was the matter with the 
 room. 
 
 In return for these little attentions, Captain 
 Garstang proceeded to enlighten his host on 
 the subjects of "public form " and " private 
 trial," and to give him a few "straight 
 tips " and " put him on to a good thing " 
 or two. His remarks were mostly addressed 
 to Dolly ; for Dorrien lounged in his chair, 
 smoking with an air of calm indifference to 
 all this knowing talk that was very irritating 
 to Garstang, and made him mentally retract 
 his apology half-a-dozen times over. 
 
 " Have you made the acquaintance of any 
 of the married officers' people yet, Gars- 
 tang ? " asked Holly, who was rather out of 
 his depth, that is to say, if he had any depth 
 at all, and was anxious to change the subject.
 
 Antipathy, 23 
 
 "Well, I called on the chief yesterday 
 before I went up to town. He softens down 
 in his own house wonderfully. But he may 
 well do that without injuring himself, for 
 he's a cast-iron sort of old fellow out of it." 
 
 " Oh ! he's nothing. Did you see his 
 sister. Miss Macnamara Belmont ? " asked 
 Dolly with a perceptible tremor in his 
 tones. 
 
 "No; that's a pleasure to come." 
 
 Dolly laughed nervously, as if implying 
 that there were different ideas of pleasure, 
 and that, according to his, the immediate 
 vicinity of the lady in question was not 
 exactly like Eosherville Gardens — " the 
 place to spend a happy day in." 
 
 " She's a wonderful woman," said Dolly. 
 
 " Unmitigated old dragon," growled Dor- 
 rien, joining in the conversation for the 
 first time. 
 
 Dolly tried to cap the opprobrious epithet, 
 but the words sunk unspoken into his sky-
 
 24 Clive Dorr. 
 
 I en. 
 
 blue slippers; for the colonel's grim sister 
 was Dolly's especial terror, just as Dolly- 
 was her especial aversion, and the bare 
 thoughts of her made him lose all presence 
 of mind, just as the bare sight of him made 
 her lose all patience. So Dolly got off the 
 unpleasant subject as soon as possible. 
 
 " E'o, the chief is, as you say, a hard fel- 
 low in the orderly room and on parade, but 
 he's had a lot of trouble, and I suppose that's 
 had a good deal to say to it." 
 
 '-'- Yes ; what's that story about the 
 Mutiny?" asked Garstang. '^ I've only 
 a misty idea of it." 
 
 " You tell it, Dorrien. I'm such a bad 
 hand at stories or explanation." 
 
 ^^ Oh ! fire away, Dolly. You tell it quite 
 well enough," lazily replied Dorrien. 
 
 " Yes, go on, Dolly. I should like to hear 
 it from ?/o^^," said Garstang, at the same time 
 turning his back to Dorrien. ^^ By the way, 
 excuse my calling you Dolly after knowing
 
 Antipathy. 25 
 
 you for so short a time, but really it comes 
 so naturally." 
 
 ^^ All right/' replied Dolly," every one 
 does it. Well, to make a long story as short 
 as I can, it was just this : — When the Indian 
 Mutiny broke out the regiment was quartered 
 at, at — Oh ! some place ending in ' bad ' or 
 ' pore,' and the colonel was there with his 
 wife and two children, little twin girls about 
 three years old each." 
 
 ^' Don't be so confoundedly tautological, 
 Dolly," growled Dorrien. 
 
 Dolly laughed and continued — "There 
 was a regular skedaddle of most of the native 
 servants when the news of the rising reached 
 the station, and one of the little girls disap- 
 peared, taken probably by her ayah — it 
 may have been out of love for the child, or out 
 of hatred and in a feeling of revenge towards 
 the parents. Anyway she was never heard 
 of again, but there can't be much doubt as 
 to what her end was. A white child in the
 
 26 Clive Dorrie7i. 
 
 midst of those blood-thirsty brutes would 
 have had about as much chance as a lamb 
 amongst a pack of wolves. The old chief 
 took it terribly to heart ; and as to Mrs. Bel- 
 mont, what with this and her anxiety for 
 her husband through the Mutiny and his 
 being wounded, it altogether drove her mad, 
 and she died before twelve months were 
 out. This nearly broke the colonel up al- 
 together, but he got over it in a way, though 
 he has never been the same since, and when 
 the regiment came home his sister. Miss 
 Belmont, came and lived with him. All this 
 has of course made him doubly fond of the 
 daughter that was left, and when she's with 
 him he's quite a different fellow. There, 
 that's all I know of the story, and it's only 
 what I've heard from the older hands who 
 were in the regiment when it all happened." 
 ^^ Yes, I saw the daughter when I 
 called," said Garstang. ^' By Jove ! sir, she 
 fetched me uncommon ! a devilish taking
 
 Aiitipathy, 
 
 little thing, eh ? Why do they call her 
 ^ Clive,' though ? Queer name for a she- 
 male. Should have thought 'Flossie' or 
 * Tootsie ' or something in that style would 
 have been more in her line." 
 
 Here the smoke from Dorrien's cigar 
 curled furiously, and Dolly fidgeted about 
 uncomfortably as he answered : 
 
 ''Well, of course, properly speaking, it 
 isn't a girl's name, but it seems to suit 
 her very well; perhaps because we're ac- 
 customed to it. The colonel, you see, 
 was a great admirer of Lord Olive's mili- 
 tary genius ; he has always been his 
 favourite hero from boyhood — I have often 
 heard him say so, — and as the birth hap- 
 pened at a place in India where Clive 
 had distinguished himself very much, 
 the colonel determined beforehand upon 
 calling the child ' Clive ' whatever it should 
 be." 
 
 "A brace of girls must have sold him
 
 28 Clive Dorrien, 
 
 rather. Did lie call them both Clive?" 
 asked Garstang. 
 
 '^ ]S 0, I don't know what he called the 
 other. That's the explanation I've always 
 been given, and I know / think it's as pretty 
 and soft a sounding name for a girl as 
 any other I have ever heard," said Dolly, 
 a little warmly for him. 
 
 Of course the name fell softly and prettily 
 on Dolly's ears, and so would ^^Ipecacuanha," 
 had the colonel's little daughter been so 
 called. 
 
 " Oh ! I wasn't saying anything against the 
 name. ^ The rose,' etc. etc. I only said I 
 thought something in the popsy-wopsy style 
 would have suited her better. She's a sort 
 of little creature, you know," went on 
 Garstang, unconscious of the dangerous 
 ground he was treading, ^Hhat it would be 
 deuced nice, you know, to fondle and caress, 
 and take on your knee, and all that sort 
 of thing."
 
 Antipathy, 29 
 
 Dorrien rose slowly from his chair, and, 
 seizing the poker, smashed a lump of coal 
 to atoms with a vicious blow. Then in very 
 deliberate tones he observed : — 
 
 " Your remarks concerning Miss Belmont 
 are really so flattering to that young lady 
 that I should recommend your keeping them 
 for her father, who, as her nearest and 
 dearest relative, would doubtless be grati- 
 fied by your condescension. At all events, 
 they are not appreciated by your present 
 audience." 
 
 The speaker was very cool, and as he 
 stood on the hearth-rug looking contemptu- 
 ously down on the other in his chair, an 
 unpleasant conviction, bringing increase of 
 hatred with it, forced itself upon Gars tang 
 that he, Garstang, was the inferior animal 
 of the two. He felt he was being looked 
 down upon in every sense of the expression. 
 However, he quite equalled his adversary in 
 self-possession and coolness as he replied,
 
 30 Clive Dorrien. 
 
 '' Captain Dorrien appears to have con- 
 stituted himself, I know not on what grounds, 
 so zealous a guardian of Miss Belmont that 
 I should have thought anything concerning 
 her which would have been gratifying to 
 her father, would have been equally so to 
 him." 
 
 When people wish to bite each other's 
 noses off, they are very fond of doing it in 
 the third person singular. 
 
 '' Captain Garstang is perfectly right. 
 Colonel Eelmont's gratification at Captain 
 Garstang' s remarks would doubtless lead 
 him into a very warm acknowledgment ; 
 so warm probably as to be unpleasant ; and 
 I candidly admit that they have the same 
 effect upon me." 
 
 '' Captain Dorrien is perfectly at liberty 
 to make the warmest acknowledgment in 
 his power, which, I can only assure him, 
 will be met with equal warmth on my 
 part."
 
 Antipathy, 3 1 
 
 *^ Come, I say, do let's drop the subject," 
 said Dolly who, for him, had been looking 
 quite bellicose a few moments before, but 
 had now relapsed into his normal condition 
 of good-nature. 
 
 ^^ Well, I certainly shall," said Dorrien, 
 ^^I've had enough of it. Good night, 
 Dolly." And Dorrien walked out of the room 
 without taking any notice of the other. 
 
 I should here like to tell the readers that a 
 " dangerous light," or a ^' light which boded 
 no good," or at all events a light of some 
 sort came into Garstang's eyes, but I have 
 consulted an eminent oculist who assures 
 me that this is all an ocular delusion, and 
 that the only way of bringing a light 
 into a person's eye is to hit him there 
 violently with your fist, or get him to cut 
 a star on the ice with the back of his 
 head. As both these courses are im- 
 practicable here, I can merely record that 
 Garstang looked angry and indulged in
 
 ^2 Clive Dorrien. 
 
 some strong language sotto voce. He then 
 took his departure. 
 
 I didn't half like the fellow's remarks 
 either," muttered Dolly as soon as he was 
 by himself. '^ But I dare say he didn't 
 mean what he said, and I rather felt for him 
 afterwards, though I was nearly going at 
 him myself at first. Dorrien has got such a 
 cool insulting way with him when he doesn't 
 like a person. I wish he wouldn't ; it 
 always makes me feel uncomfortable, par- 
 ticularly in one's own quarters." 
 
 Before turning in Dolly took up his album, 
 and, gazing sentimentally on a certain pho- 
 tograph, proceeded to pump up a series of 
 deep drawn sighs from the very soles of 
 his sky-blue slippers. 
 
 A tap on the thin partition between 
 the quarters disturbed his fond reverie. 
 
 *' Try a nip of something, Dolly old man," 
 said the occupant of the next room in sleepy 
 but sympathetic tones. ''It's that infernal
 
 Antipathy, 2iZ 
 
 mess sherry. I've got a touch of it myself 
 rather." 
 
 ^' There's no romance about Miller," said 
 Dolly as he closed the album with a sub- 
 dued sigh and proceeded to divest himself 
 of his gorgeous attire. 
 
 VOL. I.
 
 CHAPTEE II. 
 
 SYMPATHY. 
 
 The following day after luncheon Dolly 
 Jones arrayed himself with even more than 
 his usual splendour. His shirt where it 
 emerged into view at the neck and wrist- 
 bands was plentifully besprinkled with 
 mauve dots, and reflected equal credit on the 
 calico-printer, the maker, and the laundress. 
 His tie was a silk one of the regimental 
 cricketing colours, scarlet, yellow, and black, 
 and was slipped through a massive gold 
 snake with a turquoise head. His suit of 
 dittoes fitted faultlessly, and the pattern was
 
 Sympathy, , 35 
 
 so bold in design that Dolly's legs barely 
 afforded it full scope. Finally, the tuft of 
 hair on his chin was shiny with that beauti- 
 ful gloss which, according to the label, it was 
 in the power of one Kowland, and no other, 
 to impart to it. 
 
 N^o man ever thinks himself plain from 
 the top of his head down to the ground, no 
 matter how strongly his acquaintances may 
 hold that he is. They may be unable to 
 catch a single redeeming beauty, but he will 
 find out a strong point somewhere. The 
 fancied and cherished power of fascination 
 may lie in the straightness of the legs, in 
 the wave of the hair, in the eye, like Mr. 
 Sim Tappertit, or in the gait ; or it may lurk 
 in the nose, in the whiskers, in the back of 
 the head even, but it is sure to be found out 
 somewhere. Now Dolly was not by any 
 means handsome, though it was a pleasant 
 enough face to look at, but any powers of 
 fascination he believed himself to possess he 
 
 D 2
 
 36 Clive Dorriefi. 
 
 attributed to his " imperial." His whiskers 
 had been a lamentable failure, his moustaches 
 had but ill requited the money and pains 
 lavished upon them, but it had not disap- 
 pointed him. It was doubly dear to him, 
 too, for, like stolen kisses, he had no right to 
 it. It was not only ^^a grace snatched be- 
 yond the rules of art," but also beyond the 
 rules of the service ; for " imperials," or 
 ^^ Charleys," or whatever they may be termed, 
 are abominations in the sight of commanding 
 officers, and directly against all regulations. 
 Luckily for Dolly, his ^^ imperial" was of a 
 dubious shade, the colonel's eyes were dim, 
 and the cherished appendage had hitherto 
 escaped official notice. 
 
 Having given one last fond look at it in 
 the glass, Dolly emerged from his hut, re- 
 splendent in his attire, but somewhat 
 faltering in spirit. For was he not bidden 
 to Colonel Belmont's to play croquet, listen 
 to the band, and drink tea, and to do all this
 
 Sympathy, 37 
 
 was it not by turns to expand and grow 
 radiant in the sunshine of bright little Clive 
 Belmont's winning ways, and to shiver and 
 droop under the icy influence of her aunt's 
 austere manners? The one was like the 
 flower-scented breezes of summer, the other 
 like the chill icy blasts of December. INTot 
 entirely, though, to the anticipations of these 
 counteractions were to be attributed the 
 flutterings and sinkings of the heart he ex- 
 perienced as he started on this particular 
 day. There was something else in the wind 
 which was making him feel nervous, and 
 this was a recently -formed determination to 
 speak his mind out, should an opportunity 
 offer, to Clive Belmont on a certain subject 
 on which there is no occasion to enlighten 
 the intelligent reader. So unpleasant and 
 discomposing did these flutterings become 
 that at last Dolly stepped round by the 
 mess and had a large glass of brown sherry, 
 just by way of steadying himself a bit.
 
 38 Clive Dorrien, 
 
 Here his little peculiarities in dress brought 
 much good-humoured "chaff" on his head, 
 and there was a great deal of " How much 
 for the tie, Dolly ? " " I'll have your mauve 
 shirt ! " etc. Unheeding, Dolly gulped 
 down his sherry and hurried away. So 
 precious did he hold the anticipated moments 
 that he would not even wait for Dorrien or 
 any of his brother officers, but started off as 
 if his tight varnished boots had been seven- 
 leagued. He had not ordered his dog-cart. 
 He thought he could collect his thoughts 
 better as he walked. 
 
 The colonel's house was about a mile and 
 a half from the camp, and long before he 
 had accomplished that distance the effects of 
 the brown sherry had waned, and he ex- 
 perienced a severe relapse of the flutterings 
 and sinkings. Of course Dolly had never 
 been taken so badly before, but, as I have 
 already said, he was about to take a bold 
 plunge — it might be into bliss, it might be
 
 Sympathy, 39 
 
 into misery — and the contemplation of either 
 the one or the other was quite enough to 
 make his heart leap to his mouth with joy 
 or sink into his boots with despair. After 
 doing first one and then the other, it at last, 
 on Dolly's coming in view of the house, 
 varied the proceedings by turning a com- 
 plete back summersault, for there on the 
 croquet lawn, all by itself, was the small 
 object of Dolly's affections. 
 
 On descrying his approach, the small 
 figure tripped down to the gate and gave 
 him a laughing welcome. 
 
 *^How de do, Dolly, you're always the 
 first — Oh ! by the by, I'm not to call you 
 Dolly any more, one quite forgets one's age. 
 It's very improper." 
 
 ^' Why, if you were to call me anything 
 but Dolly it would sound so strange; I 
 should fancy you had quarrelled with me, 
 Clive." 
 
 "Oh! there again. We're not to have
 
 40 Clive Dorrien, 
 
 any more ^ Olives ' either. No more ^ Dol- 
 lies ' and ^ Olives ' and all that sort of thing, 
 Aunt Smack says. I'm to be ^ Miss Bel- 
 Belmont ' in future, if you please." 
 
 " I'm sure I shan't be able to do it all at 
 once, Olive. After knowing you ever since 
 you came up to my knee — " 
 
 ^' Never mind where I came up to. When 
 people get on the subject of my height, they 
 generally become impertinent." 
 
 ^'Well, I was going to say after having 
 known you as a child — " 
 
 ^'Yes, that's the worst of having been 
 brought up in the regiment. It's impossible 
 to keep up one's dignity amongst people 
 who have distinct recollections of you in a 
 pinbefore and a jammy mouth. By the way, 
 have some toffee. It's my own making. 
 Look where I burnt my finger trying to see 
 if it was cool when it wasn't." 
 
 Here Olive held up a tiny finger for 
 sympathy. How Dolly longed to kiss the
 
 Sympathy. 4 1 
 
 place to make it well ! And so he would 
 have done a year or two before ; but, alas ! 
 for Dolly's peace of mind, times had lately 
 changed, and he could no longer look upon 
 Clive as a child. Conquering the inclination 
 to seize the little pink finger and carry it to 
 his lips, Dolly took the proffered piece of 
 toffee instead, and, though it went very badly 
 with the brown sherry, ate it with consi- 
 derable zest as being her manufacture, and 
 even thought with a rapturous glow that he 
 detected a delicious flavour of burnt Clive 
 in it. 
 
 ^^ I^ever do anything in a hurry, Dolly, 
 not even — Oh ! 1 see the habit is too deeply 
 rooted to be overcome all at once. It must 
 be done by degrees. We'll be Dolly and 
 Clive for to-day, to-morrow we'll be Mr. 
 Dolly and Miss Clive, and the day after Miss 
 Belmont and Mr. Jones. I was going to 
 say never do anything in a hurry, not even 
 making toffee. I hope you'll never marry
 
 42 Clive Dorrien. 
 
 in a hurry, Dolly. That's the worst thing 
 of all to be in a hurry about." 
 
 Dolly immediately put his hand to the 
 tuft on his chin. "What a hat is to a shy 
 man paying a visit ; what that historical 
 waistcoat button T^as to Sir "Walter Scott's 
 schoolfellow, that was Dolly's tuft to Dolly. 
 He gathered inspiration from it, and Avhat 
 it said now was, ^^ Now's your time, Dolly. 
 That's an opening. People will begin to 
 arrive soon ; speak up." 
 
 " Clive," he began with such tenderness 
 in his tones that she became quite concerned, 
 and asked him if the toffee had disagreed 
 with him. 
 
 "E'o, I liked it because you made it. 
 But never mind the toffee, Clive. You 
 said you hoped I'd never marry in a hurry. 
 "Would you call it being in a hurry if I 
 wanted to marry some one I had known from 
 childhood — some one I had loved for years 
 and felt I could never be happy without ?
 
 Sympathy. 43 
 
 Would you call that marrying in a hurry, 
 Clive?" 
 
 ^' Dear me, Dolly, I never heard you talk 
 so beautifully before. I do believe you're 
 contemplating matrimony." 
 
 ^' You're quite right. I am." 
 
 A merry ringing laugh followed the an- 
 nouncement. 
 
 " Do forgive me, Dolly ; it's very rude to 
 laugh, I know, but it does seem so funny 
 to think of you as a married man ; you must 
 keep up your dignity, Dolly. But now I'll 
 be quite serious, I promise you, and listen 
 to all about it. Gro on, Dolly." 
 
 The laugh had been rather disconcerting, 
 and Dolly stammered and stuttered and 
 blushed so that Clive at last came to his 
 rescue. ^^ There now, I see you're shy and 
 embarrassed. I'll meet you halfway with 
 something 7've got to tell you, and then 
 perhaps after I've given you a lead, you'll 
 have a little more courage to go on with
 
 44 Clive Dorrien, 
 
 your part of the business. Women have 
 always more mvoir faire than men in matters 
 of delicacy, I think." 
 
 Dolly's soal was in a delicious tumult. 
 He tried to divide 1870 by 4 to see whether 
 it was Leap year; but he was not in a 
 condition for mental arithmetic. '' Meet 
 you halfway ! " What frank ingenuousness ! 
 what charming naivete ! what delicate con- 
 sideration ! what confiding simplicity ! In 
 Clive it was all these. In any other girl 
 it would have been rank boldness. 
 
 *' Dolly," said Clive softly, " you've 
 always been so kind and good to me. I've 
 played more tricks upon you than on any one 
 else, and you've never said a hasty or un- 
 kind word to me. I've rubbed your hats 
 the wrong way, stuck paper tails behind 
 your coat, put ripe mulberries on your chair 
 for you to sit on, and sometimes even pins 
 — horrid little wretch that I was — " 
 
 ''I didn't mind it," said Dolly, ''I liked it."
 
 Sympathy, 45 
 
 " Yes, I know you were always so kind 
 and good natured wlien I deserved instead a 
 good scolding or a whipping. I'd do any- 
 thing for you, Dolly, and now I'm going to 
 prove my friendship by making you my 
 confidant. I'm going to be married, Dolly. 
 At least, that's to say, I'm engaged. And 
 to whom do you think ? " 
 
 Poor Dolly ! the very colour seemed to 
 fade out of his red and yellow tie, and the 
 very tassel of his cane to droop dejectedly. 
 Despite though his gorgeous tie, his jewelled 
 fingers, and his tasseled cane, the spirit of 
 the Spartan boy drawing his cloak around 
 him was in his words and manner as he said 
 quietly, 
 
 "I see it makes you very happy, Clive, 
 and I am glad to hear it. Whom to ? " 
 
 '' Guess, Dolly ? " 
 
 ^' I can't. I never guessed anything in 
 my life, not even the easiest thing, and this 
 is the hardest I've ever had put to me."
 
 46 Clive Dorrien, 
 
 " To your friend, Captain Dorrien." 
 
 ^^ Dorrien ? " gasped Dolly. 
 
 ^' Yes, to your great friend. Captain 
 Dorrien. That's the best of it, Dolly. 
 "Why it will be next door to marrying 
 you." 
 
 ^' YeB, with the walls separating happiness 
 and misery," said Dolly. 
 
 The bitter words had escaped him almost 
 unconsciously, and he felt sorry for having 
 spoken them. 
 
 '' That's rather good for you, Dolly. It's 
 lucky that young lady you were going to 
 confide to me about couldn't overhear that 
 pretty speech. Why don't you laugh at 
 your own joke, Dolly ? Those are gene- 
 rally the first jokes people laugh at." 
 
 Dolly laughed a laugh, but an acrobat's 
 smile was a hearty roar compared to it. It 
 sounded like an unsuccessful ejffort of ven- 
 triloquism. 
 
 ^' Dear me, how deadly pale you look,
 
 Sympathy, 47 
 
 Dolly. What's the matter ? Don't you 
 feel well, dear old Dolly ? " 
 
 '^Oh! dear yes," murmured Dolly, ^^ I 
 never felt better in all my life. But I've 
 quite forgotten to congratulate you. May 
 every happiness be yours, Clive. I'm sure 
 you deserve it. I had not the remotest idea 
 that Dorrien was thinking of anything of 
 the sort, and you nearly took my breath 
 away with the news. You will have a 
 strong will and a strong arm to protect you 
 through life, Clive," said Dolly, looking 
 down very tenderly and trying hard in his 
 foolish but generous heart to find consola- 
 tion in the thought that her happiness 
 would be much safer in Dorrien's than in 
 his keeping. 
 
 " I would sooner it were to Dorrien," he 
 continued, ^' than to any one else I ever came 
 across. I know him better than any other 
 man in the regiment." 
 
 " Yes, I never could quite make out why
 
 48 Clive Dorrien, 
 
 you and lie are such great friends, Dolly, 
 for never were two natures more opposite. 
 He is such a determinedj clever fellow, 
 and—" 
 
 " And I'm such a weak vacillating fool," 
 groaned Dolly. " I suppose that's what 
 you were going to say, Clive." 
 
 "No, no, indeed I wasn't," said Clive 
 warmly. " I wasn't going to say anything of 
 the sort. You're only vacillating in trifles, 
 Dolly, when it doesn't matter a pin's head 
 which course you take. You might be ten 
 minutes deciding whether to wear a blue 
 or a yellow tie, but if, for instance, I tumbled 
 into the water fifty feet deep, you wouldn't 
 be two seconds in making up your mind to 
 jump in after me, would you ? " 
 
 " That I wouldn't, Clive." 
 
 " But, by the way, you can't swim, can 
 you, Dolly?" 
 
 " Not a stroke." 
 
 ^' Then it would be a very foolish proceed-
 
 Sy?npathy, 49 
 
 ing on your part, for two people would 
 then be drowned instead of one, and I've 
 been rather unfortunate in my illustration. 
 But what I meant to say is that you might 
 be vacillating where it doesn't matter a bit 
 if you are ; but in a serious case, if right 
 and wrong lay clearly defined before you, 
 you'd be like iron, Dolly, I know you would, 
 you're so good hearted." 
 
 Dolly didn't feel comfortable. He was 
 not accustomed to be congratulated on his 
 iron nature, and he changed the subject. 
 
 ^' When is it to be ? " he asked. 
 
 '^ Well, I can't exactly say. It's not to 
 be given out. You're the only one who has 
 been told. Papa and Aunt Smack say that 
 I'm not quite old enough to know my 
 own mind, which is all nonsense of course, 
 for if one can't know one's own mind at 
 seventeen and a half when will one, I should 
 like to know ? Besides, what woman could 
 ever be in two minds about Studholme Dor- 
 
 VOL. I. E
 
 50 Clive Dorrie7i. 
 
 rien, if he only gave her the chance ? I'm 
 sure I never dreamt of his proposing. Such 
 a thing never entered my head, and I felt I 
 could only worship him in secret and from 
 a respectful distance. And when he did 
 propose, I was overwhelmed with the honour. 
 Of course, Dolly, I look upon you as a 
 big brother, and tell you all this. You don't 
 know what a delightful thing it is to 
 love with one's whole heart and soul a 
 man one can look up to.'' 
 
 Vivisection was pleasant tickling compared 
 to Dolly's feelings. 
 
 ^* Eeally, Dolly, you must give up wearing 
 those killing ties. They make you look 
 positively green." 
 
 He smiled feebly. He smiled as Mr. 
 Winkle smiled when his skates were forc- 
 ibly taken off by Mr. Pickwick's orders. 
 
 '-^ What a selfish creature I am ! Here 
 I've been running on with my own affairs 
 while you've been bursting to launch out
 
 Sympathy. 5 1 
 
 into raptures about your own little tale of 
 love. I've given you the lead. It's your 
 turn now. Go on, Dolly. You can't think 
 what a tender sympathising little confidant 
 I shall be. Come, Dolly, tell us all about 
 her. What coloured hair and eyes has she 
 got? What's her real name; and what's 
 your pet name for her ? Is she big or little ? 
 I'm dying to hear it all, and I am ready to 
 love her as a sister. Come, Dolly, you'll 
 make me fancy I'm very bold if you're coy 
 after my lead." 
 
 She almost nestled her head against his 
 arm as she spoke, and looked up with an 
 arch coaxing expression. 
 
 He gazed in every direction but down 
 into the winning upturned little face. He 
 could not trust himself. 
 
 ^' It's not worth talking about, Clive." 
 
 " Not worth talking about ! That's a nice 
 way to speak of such a serious matter. 
 That's a pretty sentiment for an engaged 
 
 CIBRAWf 
 '^NiVERSnYQFIUlllOT
 
 52 Clive Dorrien. 
 
 man, indeed ! Upon my word, Dolly, I'm 
 afraid you don't fully realise the awful re- 
 sponsibility of matrimony. I declare if the 
 girl heard you, she'd be quite justified in 
 breaking it off on the spot. If you don't 
 tell me all about it, I shall consider you've 
 wormed my secret out of me under false 
 pretences. You distinctly told me you were 
 contemplating matrimony, and when you 
 said so you were serious enough, you know 
 you were." 
 
 ^^ I ought to have said 4 had been.' 
 There's nothing to tell, Clive. It's off." 
 
 *^Off!" 
 
 " Yes, broken off." 
 
 ^^ Broken off ! "Why or wherefore, I should 
 like to know? Why, Dolly, why? I 
 must and shall have a reason. And 
 recollect you're not Falstaff. "Why was it 
 broken off?" 
 
 ^' Incompatibility of temper," stammered 
 the wretched Dolly, fairly '^ cornered."
 
 Sympathy, 53 
 
 ^^ Well, that is a fanny discovery to make 
 beforehand ! People generally wait to do 
 that until afterwards, when it's too late. 
 Besides, incompatibility of temper, indeed ! 
 Why, Dolly, you'd get on with Aunt Smack, 
 or that old scold who led that old philosopher 
 in the tub such a life. Who was it, Dolly ? " 
 
 '-^ Xantippe, I think," said Dolly, not 
 sorry that the conversation was taking a 
 turn in a new direction, and hailing the old 
 termagant as a deliverer. 
 
 " Oh ! yes, so it was. Well, I'm sure Ms 
 Aunt Tippy was a joke to my Aunt Smack, 
 and yet you'd get on with her. Incom- 
 patibility of temper, indeed ! I hate strong 
 language, Dolly, but I must say 'Fiddle- 
 de-dee ! ' I know what it was, I see through 
 it all. It was a vile excuse for throwing 
 you over. I hate her, Dolly, she's a reptile." 
 
 " Please don't let us pursue the subject 
 any farther," said Dolly piteously. 
 
 "Yes, I will though," said Clive with
 
 54 Clive Dorrien. 
 
 flushed cheeks. " She's a reptile of the 
 deepest dye. I like you too much, Dolly, not 
 to feel indignant at your being treated so. 
 It's very generous and noble of you, and 
 only what I should expect from you, to 
 defend her, no matter how she behaved. 
 But she's a heartless, deceitful creature, 
 whoever she is, there ! l^ever mind, Dolly, 
 she's not worthy of you. I know now 
 what made you look so pained and distressed 
 several times while we've been talking on 
 these subjects. Poor dear old Dolly, my 
 heart bleeds for you, because I know what I 
 should feel if Stud Dorrien were to treat me 
 like that. Oh ! dear, the very thoughts of 
 it — Oh, what a nuisance ! Here's Aunt 
 Smack." ' 
 
 A tall gaunt figure, in a skirt as scant as 
 was consistent with decency and freedom of 
 limb, stalked down the lawn carrying a 
 croquet mallet like a battle-axe. It was 
 Miss Macnamara Belmont, alias (before her
 
 Sympathy, 55 
 
 face) '^ Aunt Mac," alias (beliind her back) 
 ^^Aunt Smack." This last sobriquet was 
 an invention of Olive's infancy, the applica- 
 tion being obvious. 
 
 She was a grim-looking female with no- 
 thing soft about her, and with her mallet 
 over her shoulder she looked much more 
 like felling an ox than playing croquet. 
 
 There was a tradition in the regiment that 
 the iron grey curls which clustered in two 
 tight little bunches at each side of her head 
 were steel shavings obtained from Woolwich 
 Arsenal. 
 
 For the first time in his life Dolly was 
 glad to see the strong-minded formidable 
 personage. The tete-a-tete with Clive was 
 painful. 
 
 Without a shadow of a smile on her hard 
 face. Aunt Smack strode up to Dolly, lifted 
 her arm from the elbow with the rigidity of 
 a railway semaphore, extended two fingers 
 and snapped out " doo." This was her
 
 56 Clive Dorrien, 
 
 pleasant way of greeting people. Dolly was 
 very polite, and thankfully receiving the 
 small contribution of fingers, replied, 
 
 "Very well, I thank you. Miss Belmont. 
 How do you do ? " 
 
 Aunt Smack deigned no reply, and, instead 
 of saying how she did, grimly proceeded to 
 survey Dolly from head to foot. As her 
 eyes rested in turn on the gorgeous tie, the 
 watch chain festooned over the waistcoat and 
 weighty with lockets and charms, the loud 
 pattern, and the jewelled fingers, she gave a 
 series of expressive taps on the ground with 
 her croquet mallet, and finally wound up 
 with an .impatient grunt. 
 
 Never had she been so marked in her dis- 
 approbation of Dolly, but then never had he 
 been so resplendent as on this occasion. 
 
 During the trying ordeal he stood, as was 
 his wont when in difficulties, endeavouring 
 to get an idea out of the tuft on his chin. 
 But he scratched in vain.
 
 Sympathy. 5 7 
 
 Now this tuft was Aunt Smack's especial 
 aversion, and the sight of Dolly caressing 
 it was the last straw which broke the back 
 of her even temper. 
 
 ^^ Pray, Mr. Jones, would you think it 
 rude if I asked you which it is your ambition 
 to resemble — a billy-goat, the pantaloon in 
 a pantomime, the Emperor Napoleon, or a 
 Bashibazouk ? " 
 
 *^Well, really. Miss Belmont,'' said 
 Dolly flushing and stammering, '-^ I — I — " 
 
 He stopped. He could not be rude to a 
 woman. It went against his grain, lik$ 
 raising his hand to one. 
 
 Clive came gallantly to his rescue. 
 
 " Yes, he does think it rude of you to 
 ask, only he's too much of a gentleman 
 to say so. So would any one think it rude. 
 / do — awfully rude." (Then in a stage 
 whisper to Dolly), " That's one to us, Dolly. 
 We scored that time." 
 
 Aunt Smack shot a savage glance which
 
 Clive Dorrien. 
 
 said plainly, ^^ I heard you, you little minx,'' 
 and which was met by another which said 
 quite as plainly, ^' I don't care if you did." 
 
 " How much better one can fight for other 
 people than for oneself," said Clive, as her 
 aunt walked contemptuously away from 
 adversaries she deemed unworthy of her 
 steel. ^^ It was all for you, Dolly, that I took 
 up the cudgels then. It made me so wild to 
 see how rude she was. Why didn't you 
 go at her ? " 
 
 ^^Why, what could I do, Clive? One 
 can't bandy words with a lady, no matter 
 how she behaves, and even if I were to, she'd 
 soon knock me into a cocked-hat at that 
 game." 
 
 *^ Well, but, Dolly, you might have kept 
 up your position by making a face or a snook. 
 You mi^ht have made a snook, Dolly. I 
 really think that much was due to yourself 
 as a lord of the creation. I know / should 
 if any one were to plant themselves in front
 
 Sympathy. 59 
 
 of me and stare and grunt in that rude way 
 right in my face. N'ow I wonder if I can 
 leave you two together without you making 
 frantic love to each other. Don't trifle with 
 her young untried affections, Dolly, in my 
 absence. I must go and see what papa is 
 about." 
 
 So saying, Clive disappeared through a 
 French window, and left Dolly to ponder 
 with an aching heart over what had been 
 told him. 
 
 ^^Mr. Jones, if you are not exclusively 
 for ornament, and it will not in any way 
 disarrange your dress, or damage your 
 jewelry, or" put your moustache in the 
 wrong place (don't know what you call it) 
 out of curl, I should be much obliged 
 if you would set up my hoops for me 
 over there," said Miss Macnamara Belmont 
 from a rustic garden seat. '^ I am going to 
 play a match with the Eeverend Mr. 
 Slink, and the laughter and conversation
 
 6o Clive Dorrien, 
 
 here may distract our attention. I should 
 be much obliged to you if you would." 
 
 Extraordinary though she might be, Miss 
 Macnamara Belmont was at times very 
 commonplace — she could be civil when she 
 wanted anything done. It may also appear 
 that in the matter of croquet she descended 
 somewhat from that high level line, far 
 above the frivolities of the world along 
 which she travelled. But not so. She did 
 not descend to croquet. She raised it to 
 herself. Her game was a very severe order 
 of croquet, in which everything light and 
 amusing was left out and everything dis- 
 agreeable and hard put in. 
 
 Had Miss Macnamara Belmont played 
 marbles, she would not have appeared frivo- 
 lous. That youthful game would have at 
 once assumed a grim and imposing aspect, and 
 in her mouth '"'- Knuckle down tight " would 
 have become a phrase of grave import. 
 
 Dolly good-naturedly expressed his readi-
 
 Sympathy. 6 1 
 
 ness, and, retiring to the spot indicated by 
 " over there," proceeded to fix the small 
 hoops, to get a ball through which was more 
 a feat of conjuring than of croquet. His 
 heart was not in fiis work, and by the 
 time he had completed his task the grounds 
 about Colonel Belmont's house had under- 
 gone a change for the livelier. The regimental 
 band had arrived and taken up its position. 
 Sundry carriages and dog-carts had also ar- 
 rived, and the muslins, silks, and soft voices 
 of the first were now amalgamating kindly 
 on the lawn with the tweeds, billy-cocks, and 
 grufi' notes of the other. Towering above 
 them all, like a stately old man-o'-war in the 
 midst of a fleet of pleasure craft, was Colonel 
 Belmont, grizzled and stern of countenance. 
 To continue the nautical simile, I should 
 add, "and with one of his spars shot away." 
 His right sleeve was empty and pinned 
 against his breast. A bullet from a muti- 
 nous sepoy's musket had done the mischief.
 
 62 Clive Dorrien, 
 
 "While Miss Belmont with her semaphoric 
 fore-arm, her smileless face, and her spas- 
 modic " doo," was going the round of the 
 visitors, Dolly joined the gay throng, and 
 proceeded to enact with but indifferent suc- 
 cess the trying part of hiding an aching 
 heart under a merry countenance. We are 
 all cast for it on life's stage at some time or 
 another, and know what an uphill part it is 
 to play. 
 
 Dorrien had evidently not arrived, and 
 Clive was being monopolized by Captain 
 Garstang, at whom numerous young subal- 
 terns looked with jealous eyes ; for it was 
 the first duty of a young gentleman on 
 joining the regiment to fall in love with and 
 adore his colonel's daughter in secret. They 
 never told their love, and Clive, though she 
 often reproved them sharply for staring, and 
 ordered them about like slaves, lived in 
 calm ignorance of the number of blighted 
 young hearts around her.
 
 Sympathy. 6^ 
 
 On seeing Dolly, she abruptly left Captain 
 Garstang in the middle of a soft speech. 
 
 " Do deliver me out of the clutches of 
 this new man, Dolly. I can't bear him. 
 He's so familiar, and there's no shaking him 
 oif. He has such a disagreeable way, too, of 
 looking at me as if I were an oyster and he 
 wanted to swallow me. I should beg to 
 disagree with him if he did ; that would be 
 some consolation. There goes Aunt Smack 
 with the little parson. I do so hope she'll 
 get beaten for being so rude to you, Dolly. 
 It's my opinion he could beat her easily, 
 but he's afraid to ; I believe that's the secret 
 of half her victories — people are afraid to 
 win." 
 
 ^^Now, upon my word. Miss Belmont," 
 said Captain Garstang, coming up with a 
 free-and-easy smile on his good-looking 
 but ^'slangy" face, ^^t's very unkind of 
 you, leaving a fellow in the lurch like that. 
 In the middle of such a pretty speech, too."
 
 64 Clive Dorrien, 
 
 '' Our ideas on what is pretty don't agree 
 then, Captain Gars tang." 
 
 ^' Don't they ? I think they do on one 
 point, that's to say, if yon have any of your 
 sex's vanity, and ever look in the glass. 
 Miss Belmont, and you know that great 
 authority on human nature, Shakspeare, 
 says that ' there never was woman but she 
 made mouths in the glass.' He might have 
 put it a little nicer, but he was coarse some- 
 times, was Billy — deuced coarse." 
 
 "You have studied him deeply then, I 
 suppose, Captain Garstang?" said Clive 
 with a quiet significance. 
 
 '^ Ha ! ha ! we must have our little joke, 
 eh ? No, I can't say I ever studied him ; 
 never studied any book in my life except 
 my betting-book. But I have a tolerable 
 acquaintance with William, all the same. 
 Fact was, once in India, couldn't get to sleep 
 at nights for the heat and the mosquitoes. 
 Tried everything to set oneself off. Brandy
 
 Sympathy, 65 
 
 couldn't do it, but Shakspeare did. There 
 was a fellow in my old regiment used to 
 spout him by the yard — when he was al- 
 lowed, which he never was. Bright thought 
 struck me — use him as a soporific. Get 
 him into my room at nights and let him turn 
 on the tap there. He jumped at it. Hadn't 
 had a listener for about two years. Came 
 in every night as soon as I was in bed, and 
 used to spout like mad. Never failed to get 
 me off within the hour, and I used to go to 
 sleep with indistinct visions of him apostro- 
 phizing my bath-sponge which was doing duty 
 as 'poor Yorick's ' skull, or pinking that 
 talkative old beggar Polonius under my camp- 
 bed with my regulation sword. I couldn't 
 help picking up something from him — " 
 
 ''How 'to turn the tap on,' I suppose, 
 Captain Garstang." 
 
 '' There you are, at it again. Ha ! Ha ! 
 very good, though. IS'o, I didn't mean that. 
 I meant picking up something that flowed 
 
 VOL. I. F
 
 66 Clive Dorrien, 
 
 from the taj), and I was quite surprised to 
 find that I had been talking Shakspeare 
 half my life without knowing it. Eor in- 
 stance, now, for years I had often expressed 
 my scepticism by the forcible rejoinder ^ very 
 like a whale,' without in the least knowing 
 that I was indebted to the genius of the 
 immortal William for the figure of speech. 
 But to hark back, Miss Belmont, we do 
 agree on that one point we started from, 
 don't we ? and you do look in the glass 
 sometimes, don't you ? " 
 
 There was an irritating familiarity in his 
 manner, and a bold admiration in his gaze 
 which sent the blood to Olive's cheeks, and 
 to Dolly's as well. 
 
 Her flushed face only made Garstang stare 
 more admiringly, and he looked and laughed 
 as though saying, 
 
 ^^ That's right. It becomes you amaz- 
 ingly. Pray fly into a towering passion and 
 you'll be perfectly bewitching."
 
 Sympathy, 67 
 
 The irrepressibility of the man was ex- 
 asperating, and Clive, as she afterwards told 
 Dolly, felt as if she ^^ must either scratch or 
 cry." 
 
 Luckily she did neither, but merely 
 looked appealingly at her old friend to come 
 to her rescue. 
 
 I have said before that Dolly gathered, or 
 at all events sought, inspiration from hi& 
 "imperial." Each individual hair of that 
 cherished appendage was now charged to its 
 very tip with virtuous indignation. He 
 opened his mouth, and was about to deliver 
 himself of probably the severest remark that 
 had ever dropped from it, when, like winter's 
 icy blast. Miss Macnamara Belmont swept 
 past, and nipped his flower of speech in the 
 bud. 
 
 " Popinjay ! senseless popinjay ! " snapped 
 out Aunt Smack, as she passed on her way 
 to her brother, to whom she subsequently 
 confided her firm belief that " that thing 
 
 f2
 
 6S Clive Dorrien. 
 
 Jones was under the influence of liquor, for 
 no man but a drunken one could have ar- 
 ranged her hoops as he had done." 
 
 ^^ There, Captain Garstang, if you want 
 to see any one look pretty in a rage, you had 
 better follow my aunt," said Clive ; and, so 
 saying, she turned on her heel and walked 
 away with the greatest amount of dignity at 
 the command of about five feet just out of 
 short petticoats. 
 
 Accompanied by Dolly, who wore quite a 
 severe expression of countenance, Clive 
 sailed away under the impression that she 
 had at last crushed Captain Garstang ; but 
 had she glanced behind she would have seen 
 him, to her intense mortification, looking 
 very much tickled and amused. 
 
 ^^ What a fetching little beggar it is with 
 its airs and graces ! " he said. ^^ Hulloa ! " 
 (and here the amused expression gave way 
 to a scowl) ^^ here's that bumptious brute 
 Dorrien with that intensified quiet swagger
 
 Sympathy, 69 
 
 of his, as if the whole place belonged to him 
 and we had all assembled in his honour. I 
 should have thought a conceited ass like him 
 would have gone in for being above cro- 
 quet parties. By Jove ! little Miss Cheeky 
 seems to be on good terms with him." 
 
 There was a fascination in watching the 
 two which Garstang could not withstand, and 
 his eyes were perpetually following Olive's 
 movements. She strolled about with Dor- 
 rien, and once when they passed Garstang 
 she gave him a glance which intimated, 
 "Come up with one of your familiar 
 speeches now, if you dare." 
 
 That discretion which is the better part of 
 valour whispered to Captain Garstang that 
 he had better not accept the challenge.
 
 CHAPTEE III. 
 
 ACCOMMODATION. 
 
 After parade the following morning, in- 
 stead of as usual repairing to the ante-room 
 in the companionship of his brother officers, 
 Dolly hastened away to the solitude of his 
 hut, where he could indulge in sweet melan- 
 choly undisturbed by the mess-room laugh- 
 ter and conversation. 
 
 "I don't always mean to go in for the 
 ^ blighted being ' sort of business, but just at 
 first one must give one's feelings a little 
 play, you know," thought Dolly, as he 
 shut the door and threw off his jacket.
 
 Accommodation, 7 1 
 
 A popular man in a regiment, however, has 
 little chance of giving his feelings play in 
 solitude, as Dolly put it, and he had just com- 
 menced the operation by donning the smok- 
 ing coat bound with sky blue, and lighting 
 up a cigar, when the door was opened and 
 Dorrien entered. 
 
 '^ Well, Dolly, so Clive told you all about 
 it, eh ? " 
 
 " Yes, and let me congratulate you with 
 all my heart, old fellow," said Dolly holding 
 out his hand. 
 
 Strictly speaking, ^^ felicitate " would 
 have been the proper word for him to 
 have used. He could wish Dorrien joy and 
 happiness from the bottom of his heart, but 
 he could not share his joy, could not re- 
 joice with him. 
 
 '^ Thank you, old boy, and now let me ex- 
 press my sympathy. I stayed and dined 
 at the colonel's after that croquet arrange- 
 ment, and Clive told me all about your long
 
 72 Clive Dorrien. 
 
 talk together. Why didn't you confide in 
 me, old fellow ? I might have given you 
 some advice, and saved you from being 
 thrown over by a wanton designing flirt. 
 I give you every credit, though, for being 
 able to keep a thing dark. How, when, or 
 where all this has been going on beats me, 
 for you've hardly ever been away. Why, 
 you wouldn't even take your last winter's 
 leave, I recollect, and made every one think 
 you were going mad. I never heard of the 
 British subaltern giving up his leave before. 
 You might as well expect a school-boy to 
 prefer school to holidays." 
 
 This was quite true. Dolly had thrown 
 up his leave in order to continue living in 
 that atmosphere of bliss he breathed when 
 within visiting distance of Clive Belmont. 
 
 '^ By Jove ! Dolly, you have been a 
 dark horse. I had no idea you were such a 
 deep one." 
 
 ^^ Well, to tell you the truth, I'm thinking
 
 Accommodation, 73 
 
 much the same of you, Dorrien. Such a 
 thing as your being engaged to Clive Bel- 
 mont never entered my head." 
 
 ^^Well, I don't know that it did mine 
 until very lately. I never thought my 
 heart a particularly soft one, but she seems 
 to have crept into it so easily that I hardly 
 knew anything about it until it was all 
 over. I think it must have been because she 
 was so small. Well, it's just this, Dolly. 
 I'm tired of trumpeting and braying about 
 the country for the benefit of admiring 
 servant-maids and school-girls, or being 
 bucketed about for the amusement of a few 
 old fossils in cocked-hats playing at battles, 
 or being turned upside down by civilian dab- 
 blers in army reform, and all these constitute 
 the whole duty of British soldiers nowadays. 
 It's like constantly rehearsing for a play 
 which you know will never come off. The 
 only fights we have any experience of are 
 barrack-room ' grog fights.' The only wound
 
 74 Clive Dorrien. 
 
 I've ever received, in the cause of my coun- 
 try during my glorious career, was from an 
 old woman's stocking with a stone in the 
 heel of it at an Irish election, and I can- 
 didly confess that my face was not turned 
 to the foe on that occasion. Jam satis. I 
 shall retire on my well-earned laurels, and 
 Clive shall share my peaceful home, where 
 I needn't tell you, I am sure, there will 
 always be a double welcome for you. She's 
 as fond of you almost as I am, and that's 
 saying a great deal. Of course you'll be 
 ' best man,' won't you, old fellow, whenever 
 the happy event takes place ? " 
 
 It was not very wicked of Dolly to reply, 
 as he did, that he should be very happy, but 
 all the same it was about as deep a plunge 
 into perjury as any man could take. 
 
 ^' That's right. That preliminary's set- 
 tled. But there's another one which may 
 be less easily arranged. I've got a couple 
 of day's leave from the colonel, and am off
 
 Accommodation . 7 5 
 
 up to town to see my uncle. The old boy 
 doesn't know it as yet, and I think it's time 
 to tell him. I haven't the slightest idea 
 whether it will be a case of ^ bless you, 
 my children,' or the reverse. But as far 
 as the course of events is concerned, it 
 doesn't much matter what line he takes. 
 I've chalked out my own and I shall follow 
 it. You had better come up with me. 
 It will be better for you than moping 
 down here." 
 
 " No, thanks, Dorrien. I'll have a quiet 
 ride by myself in the country." 
 
 '-'- Nonsense. A quiet ride means a quiet 
 mope. Cheer up. There are as good fish in 
 the sea as ever came out of it. You're well 
 rid of her, old fellow, I can assure you. 
 Clive told me all about that flimsy pretext 
 of incompatability of temper. The woman 
 might have chosen an excuse without a pal- 
 pable lie on the surface. Come, she's not 
 worth fretting about. We'll run up to town
 
 76 Clive Dorrien. 
 
 together and dine at my uncle's. The old boy 
 has got some first-rate liquor, and we'll 
 drink to the confusion of this damsel." 
 
 *^ ISTo, I'd sooner remain down here," 
 replied Dolly. 
 
 ^'^Well, please yourself, I must be off. 
 By the way, I nearly forgot all about it. 
 Here's a note from Clive ; she would insist 
 on writing it before I left last night." And 
 Dorrien threw a note on the table and 
 hurried off. 
 
 The envelope was not allowed to remain 
 very long unbroken, and Dolly read, pro- 
 longing the pleasure as much as possible by 
 spelling through every word. 
 
 "DEiE OLD Dolly. 
 
 ^^ In the midst of all my happiness your 
 face, so miserable and unhappy as I saw it 
 to-day, keeps rising up before me, and I feel 
 as if I must scribble off a few words to try 
 and say something kind and cheering^
 
 Accommodation, 77 
 
 Perhaps I didn't ajDpear half sympathising 
 enough to-day, but I was so surprised that 
 I hardly realised what you had told me, or 
 rather what I had found out myself. We 
 women, Dolly, have sharp eyes for that sort 
 of thing, and I read you this afternoon 
 like a spelling-book story in one syllable. 
 The more I think of that odious creature's 
 conduct the more detestable it appears to me. 
 You are the last person in this world to go 
 falling in love — I've not known you all these 
 years not to be able to see that with my 
 eyes closed, — and I know what an artful, 
 designing creature she must have been, and 
 how she must have encouraged and drawn 
 you on just to gratify her vanity and swell 
 her list of conquests. She is totally un- 
 worthy of you, Dolly, and when you look at 
 her conduct from this point you ought to 
 be able to cast her aside without a sigh. 
 This may be hard counsel to follow just at 
 first, for on these occasions I suppose people
 
 78 Clive Dorrien. 
 
 will keep thinking of their shattered idols, 
 not as the worthless clay they have found 
 them out to be, but as the refined pure gold 
 they once thought them. But keep her in 
 your mind from the former point of view, 
 Dolly, and you will soon cease to trouble 
 yourself about her. Try and love some one 
 worthy of you, and until you meet this some 
 one let me offer you all the solace that can 
 be found in the warm-hearted and affection- 
 ate friendship of your old tease and tor- 
 mentor, 
 
 ^' Clive Belmont." 
 
 As Dolly read he could not help smiling 
 with a ghastly sense of the ridiculous at 
 Olive's self-supposed sharpness, and all the 
 virtuous indignation wasted on this heartless 
 jilt of her own imagination. 
 
 ^' Bless her kindly little heart," said Dolly 
 fervently, and he was just raising the letter 
 to his lips when Garstang suddenly entered,
 
 Accommodation. 79 
 
 and he scratclied his nose with the corner of 
 the envelope instead. 
 
 *^ I say, Dolly old man, what are you 
 up to this afternoon? I was thinking 
 whether you couldn't suggest some way of 
 getting hold of the little Belmont filly, and 
 taking her out for a walk or a drive. You 
 seem pretty thick there — friend of her 
 childhood and all that sort of thing, — and 
 perhaps you might be able to manage it. 
 There's something about the little beggar 
 that fetches me uncommonly. Of course, all 
 that snubbing she gives me I take for what 
 it's meant. It's only the very natural 
 coquetry of a young girl brought up in a 
 regiment all her life ; and, you know, a 
 woman's ^ Oh, don't ! ' always means ^ Oh, 
 do ! '" 
 
 At this point Dolly's indignation at last 
 found words to express itself. 
 
 " Look here, Garstang, I'm an easy-going 
 sort of a fellow. I'm naturally so. I don't
 
 8o Clive Dorrien, 
 
 recollect ever having even a fight at school, 
 but I can't, and, what's more, shant allow 
 you to speak in this way of Miss Belmont 
 whom I've known, as you say, from child- 
 hood, and know to be one of the most simple- 
 minded and pure girls who ever breathed. 
 There is no coquetry whatever in her, and if 
 she showed a dislike to you, you may depend 
 upon it she felt it. And I don't wonder at 
 it, for I consider your manner towards her 
 yesterday was extremely ofi'ensive and im- 
 pertinent." 
 
 It was far from Garstang's object to 
 quarrel with Dolly. He felt that he was 
 not popular in the corps, and at once saw 
 how much worse his position would be if his 
 brother- ofiicers should be able to point to 
 him and say, ^^ That's the only man Dolly 
 Jones was ever known to quarrel with." 
 There was another consideration, too, prompt- 
 ing him to speak the soft word which would 
 turn away the other's wrath.
 
 Acco7nmodation, 8 1 
 
 ^' I assure you, my dear fellow, I meant 
 nothing disrespectful in my remarks about 
 Miss Belmont. Surely you can't have been 
 in the service all these years without know- 
 ing that a young lady may be spoken of 
 as a ' filly ' or a ^ fetching little beggar ' 
 without any intentional disrespect. It's a 
 slangy careless way of talking, if you like, 
 but still it's a habit very easily picked up 
 and not so easily dropped when speaking on 
 subjects which, perhaps, deserve rather more 
 guarded language." 
 
 Garstang spoke in his softest and most 
 conciliatory tones, and Dolly was not the 
 man to nurse his wrath. Before the apo- 
 logy was half concluded, it had vanished to 
 his great relief, for to him the sensation of 
 quarrelling was as unpleasant as it was novel. 
 
 Peace and harmony having been restored, 
 Garstang wisely avoided the dangerous 
 ground he had just been treading, and led the 
 subject on to horse-racing and betting. He 
 
 VOL. I. G
 
 82 Clive Dorrien. 
 
 had an object in view. On his first introduc- 
 tion to his new regiment he had noted with 
 inward satisfaction that, combined with the 
 reputation of being one of the most monied 
 men of the regiment, Dolly possessed a 
 simplicity and good nature which at once 
 marked him out as a useful friend in 
 emergency. The emergency had now arisen, 
 and rather sooner than Garstang had anti- 
 cipated. He had lately had a run of ill 
 luck on the turf. ^^ Straight tips " had gone 
 crooked, '^ good things " had failed to 
 ^^ come off," as likewise had sundry ^^ cer- 
 tainties " and ^^ morals," and altogether the 
 case was desperate. If fifteen hundred 
 pounds were not at his command in a few 
 days, he would be posted at Tattersalls. It 
 is not the pleasantest thing in the world 
 asking a man to put his name to a bill, but 
 it was not the first time by many that 
 Garstang had found it necessary to do so 
 during his betting career, and there was not
 
 Accommodation, 83 
 
 much time wasted in beating about the bush. 
 The moment was as propitious a one as could 
 have presented itself. Dolly, as is the case 
 with easy-going generous natures after an 
 unwonted outburst of wrath, was quite on 
 the alert to make amends for the words 
 spoken in anger. They had been spoken, 
 too, in his own room, and Dolly held the 
 most exalted opinion on the duties of a host, 
 even if he were only doing the honours of 
 an Aldershot hut ten feet square. Garstang 
 was not slow in perceiving and taking ad- 
 vantage of this. 
 
 ^^ Dolly, old man, you wouldn't mind, 
 I suppose, obliging a friend — ^not an old 
 one to be sure, but there may be friendship 
 as well as love at first sight, and I don't 
 mind telling you I took to you from the 
 fii'st moment I laid eyes on you." 
 
 This was quite true. Dolly had been 
 pointed out to him as one of ^' the rich 
 Joneses " the first time he had seen him. 
 
 G 2
 
 84 Clive Dorrien, 
 
 Of course, Dolly had no objection ; on the 
 contrary, he had every desire to oblige a 
 friend, and the outcome of the following 
 quarter of an hour's conversation was 
 Dolly's signature to a bill, ^^ just as a mere 
 matter of form," of course. It always is at 
 first. 
 
 " Thank you, old man, for the accom- 
 modation, ' which,' as Bardolph says, * is 
 an excellent thing.' That's the best bit of 
 Shakspeare I know, quite a little gem in 
 its way," said Garstang as he gaily pocketed 
 the document.
 
 CHAPTEE lY. 
 
 POSITION AND OPPOSITION. 
 
 On arriving at Waterloo Station, Dorrien 
 drove straight to No. — , Berkeley Square, 
 the town residence, as Debrett informed the 
 world, of Lord Todmorden. Lord Todmor- 
 den was Dorrren's uncle, and Dorrien was 
 Lord Todmorden's heir-presumptive. You 
 might have gathered as much from the ob- 
 sequious attention of the servants as they 
 laid reverential hands on his pormanteau 
 and dressing-bag. 
 
 " Where's his lordship ? " asked Dorrien. 
 
 " His lordship is in the studio," was the
 
 86 Clive Dorrieii. 
 
 reply. Dorrien laughed ; the '-'• studio " was 
 apparently full of amusing import to him, 
 and he directed his steps to the so-called 
 apartment. 
 
 As he entered he found himself just in 
 time to catch sight of the avuncular and 
 lordly boot high up in air kicking an 
 easel, canvas, and all, to the ground. There 
 was evidently nothing extraordinary or 
 astonishing in the circumstance, for he 
 merely remarked, '^Giving the usual finish- 
 ing touch, eh ? " 
 
 " No, sir, quite wrong," replied Lord 
 Todmorden, who at the moment was too 
 excited for the usual greeting ; "I hadn't 
 even sketched it out yet." 
 
 ^^ What's it meant for — a centipede?" 
 asked Dorrien, picking up the damaged 
 canvas. 
 
 " No ; confound your impudence or stu- 
 pidity, I don't know which! It's an old 
 favourite hunter, only his legs wouldn't
 
 Position and Opposition, 87 
 
 come right, although I made about six at- 
 tempts at each." 
 
 "Well, and how are you?" asked Dor- 
 rien as he shook his uncle's hand and threw 
 himself into a chair. 
 
 " In my normal condition. Stud, taking 
 things coolly. The man who never worries 
 himself about trifles— d — n that horse's legs 
 — escapes many of the ills that flesh is 
 heir to." 
 
 Lord Todmorden was the most excitable 
 man in the world, and the predominant hal- 
 lucination of his brain was that he was the 
 coolest. He had the greatest afl'ection and 
 admiration for his nephew, and was also a 
 little afraid of him. Had you hinted the 
 latter to him he would probably have 
 kicked you out of his house; but when 
 people alluded to the former sentiments he 
 would say, ^^ Yes, I am fond of my nephew 
 Stud, and I admire him. I admire his 
 coolness beyond anything, though I am
 
 88 Clive Dorrien. 
 
 quite aware that on this point I might be 
 taxed with reprehensible self- vanity, for to 
 admire this in him is to admire a quality 
 so essentially my own, that, hang me, if 
 it's not almost like admiring myself ! " 
 
 The room in which the reader now sees 
 them went, out of deference to his lord- 
 ship's injunctions, by the name of ^' studio," 
 but it was no more a studio than a library, 
 or a workshop, or a smoking-room. It was 
 each and every one. The easel now lying 
 on the floor — a very usual position for it, — 
 a few paint brushes scattered about, a 
 pallet of colours lying on a chair, — a fre- 
 quent act of carelessness which sometimes 
 led to his lordship's rising from his seat 
 strangely variegated, and a few lay models 
 constituted it a studio. A carpenter's bench 
 and tools, a turning lathe, and a few chips 
 and shavings made it a workshop. Loung- 
 ing chairs, ottomans, pipes, long and short, 
 clay, wood, and meerschaum, cigar-boxes,
 
 Position and Opposition. 89 
 
 and effluvium unmistakably pronounced it a 
 smoking-room. The entire apartment was 
 a fair index of Lord Todmorden's restless 
 character. Here he spent a greater portion 
 of his time, daubing, turning, carving, smok- 
 ing, and reading. 
 
 ^' Well, Stud my boy, since I saw you 
 last I may say I have achieved my chef- 
 d^oeuvre in carpentering. What do you think 
 of this?" 
 
 With a proud air Lord Todmorden sat 
 himself down on a throne, something be- 
 tween a pianoforte stool and a child's high 
 chair, which occupied a central position. 
 
 ^' It's a most wonderful piece of mechan- 
 ism, conceived, designed, and executed en- 
 tirely by myself. If I were a poor man. Stud, 
 and took out a patent for that chair, I could 
 make a fortune. I put this ledge down in 
 front of me, and it catches securely with a 
 spring, thus it forms a rest for a cup of 
 coffee, my pipe or cigar, my book, or anything.
 
 9© Clive Dorrien. 
 
 in short. You see the seat revolves bodily 
 on a screw ; suppose I'm sitting in the midst 
 of a circle of friends enjoying a smoke after 
 dinner, and A on my right makes a remark. 
 I naturally wish to turn to him. I merely 
 manipulate this handle, and with the great- 
 est ease I confront — no, confound it ! that's 
 the wrong one ! " 
 
 His lordship, after struggling with a 
 handle like that of a barrel organ until he 
 was purple in the face, had revolved slowly 
 to the left. 
 
 ^' Merely a lapsuB manus^ that's all. 
 There, that's it. I turn this handle and I 
 confront A." 
 
 ^' Wouldn't it have been rather easier 
 juRt to have turned your head round at 
 first ? " asked Dorrien. " You wouldn't 
 have been half as near bursting a blood- 
 vessel then." 
 
 " There now, suppos^ you make a re- 
 mark," went on his lordship, who always
 
 Position and Oppositio7i, 91 
 
 became suddenly hard of hearing whenever 
 any of his nephew's out-spoken remarks 
 were unanswerable. ^^ I turn to you in 
 the same way. I want to write a letter at 
 the table behind me. Hey presto ! I turn 
 
 my handle and " 
 
 ^^ Hey presto — you stick fast." 
 " Not a bit of it. I accomplish my 
 object safely, easily, and with dignity," said 
 his lordship in gasps as he tugged at his 
 handle and slowly brought his face, purpled 
 with the exertion, towards the table. " The 
 great beauty of the contrivance," he con- 
 tinued, as he deftly caught a button carried 
 away in his efforts to work himself back 
 again, ^^ is its simplicity. It would be a 
 capital chair now for a judge, or the speaker 
 of the House of Commons, or a leader of 
 an orchestra. Instead of twisting and 
 turning about like an eel, there is something 
 so much more dignified in revolving on 
 your own axis, so to speak. Turn your
 
 9^ Clive Dorrien. 
 
 handle slowly and you can be as impressive 
 as you like." 
 
 Here his lordship suited the action to the 
 word and transfixed in detail a hardened 
 criminal, a disrespectful counsel, an honour- 
 able member out of order, and a faulty 
 violinist. 
 
 "I flatter myself, Stud, that the howl 
 about a useless and effete aristocracy does 
 not apply to me. If you were to put me 
 on a desert island, I should be as ingenious 
 and full of expedients as Kobinson Crusoe 
 himself. How is your friend you call 
 Dolly?'' 
 
 It was one of Lord Todmorden's 
 characteristics to be as spasmodic in con- 
 versation as he was in action. 
 
 ^^ He's all right. I wanted him to come 
 up with me to-day." 
 
 ^^ I wish you had, Stud. I wish you had. 
 1 like him. He's a good fellow, in spite of 
 his rings and his chains. Bring him up the
 
 Position and Opposition. 93 
 
 next time you come. Apart from the 
 pleasure it will afford me to see him for 
 your sake and his own, I shall be fulfilling 
 a dictate of duty in being civil to him. 
 His father may be looked upon as one of 
 the leading representatives of the money - 
 ocracy, a power which has sprung up in 
 this country, and of which, unlike many of 
 my class, I am not jealous. On the con- 
 trary, I fully recognise its importance, and 
 would give it its fair share in the adminis- 
 tration of national affairs. The man who 
 has been the builder of his own fortunes is, 
 depend upon it, capable of good useful 
 work in the fortunes of his country. What 
 is the broad basis on which the proper 
 government of a country rests ? Why, the 
 wise distribution, the judicious expenditure 
 of the wealth of that country, and the 
 laborious and gradual acquisition of wealth 
 obviously teaches more practical lessons on 
 its management than its hereditary posses-
 
 94 Clive Dorrien, 
 
 sion and enjoyment can. In uttering 
 these sentiments I know I am at issue with 
 several noble lords opposite, but — Dear me, 
 I beg your pardon, Stud. I often re- 
 hearse my speeches here before I go down 
 to the House, and habit got away with me 
 for the moment. I assure you these walls 
 have listened to bursts of eloquence which 
 would not have disgraced a Demosthenes." 
 
 Unfortunately for Lord Todmorden these 
 bursts of eloquence were never listened to 
 by any thing else. ^^A rise out of old 
 Toddy," or ''old Hot .Toddy," as he was 
 sometimes called, was a standing dish in the 
 House of Lords, and when ever he rose 
 with a carefully prepared speech in his 
 mind, the ironical cheers which always 
 greeted the first few sentences speedily 
 drove him from eloquence to vituperation. 
 He was, notwithstanding, a general favouiite, 
 and, whatever his faults as a debater, no one 
 could accuse him of interested adherence to
 
 Position and Oppositio7i, 95 
 
 the party in power. In his politics he was 
 consistently inconsistent. He was always 
 whatever was out that he might abuse 
 whatever was in. Were the Conservatives 
 in office, he was a red republican. Did the 
 Liberals hold the reins of government, he 
 was a bigoted Tory. 
 
 '^ Now what are you going to do with 
 yourself, Studholme ? Will you come out 
 for a drive with me in the park ? '' 
 
 ^^Well, I don't much care about that 
 fashionable treadmill, and if you'll excuse 
 me I'll stroll down to my club instead." 
 
 ^^Very good, please yourself. We'll 
 meet at dinner at all events. No one else, 
 only you and I. I'll go and dress. I say, 
 by the way, don't go out until I start. I 
 want to put you up to a wrinkle almost as 
 good as the chair, by gad," chuckled the 
 old lord as he walked out of the room. 
 
 ^'I'U keep that little matter until the 
 evening," soliloquised Dorrien, on being
 
 96 Clive Dorrien. 
 
 left by himself. "He mayn't like it, and 
 I won't spoil his dinner. The old boy 
 appears in such feather, it would be a pity 
 to bring him down a peg." 
 
 Strange enough, much the same sort of 
 ideas were passing through the mind of 
 Lord Todmorden as he dressed for his 
 drive. 
 
 " That little matter will keep until after 
 dinner. He mayn't like it, and if he 
 doesn't I'd sooner be a dog and bay the 
 moon than try to persuade him. We'll 
 have it out after a bottle of Madeira and 
 over a smoke in the studio." 
 
 His lordship's toilet was a process of 
 some duration. Not because he was a 
 dandy and addicted to the over-adornment 
 of his person, but because where an ordi- 
 nary mortal would have had one button 
 Lord Todmorden had two; where the 
 former would have been content with 
 natural adhesion or gravity the latter
 
 Position, and Opposition, 97 
 
 had a complicated system of straps and 
 buckles. 
 
 The consequence was Dorrien's small 
 stock of patience was nearly exhausted, 
 when he received a message from his uncle 
 that he was about to start for his 
 drive. 
 
 A well-appointed turn out was at the 
 door, and standing on the pavement, look- 
 ing admiringly at a protuberance under the 
 body of the vehicle, was the eccentric old 
 nobleman. 
 
 "I^ow, Stud, what do you think that's 
 for?" he asked, tapping the protuberance 
 with the butt-end of his whip, and jauntily 
 cocking his head on one side to await the 
 anticipated confession of ignorance. 
 
 " Don't know, I'm sure," replied Dor- 
 rien, with a quiet smile, "unless it's to 
 utterly destroy the look of the trap, in 
 which case allow me to offer you my 
 congratulations on your success." 
 
 VOL. I. H '
 
 98 Clive Dorrte7i, 
 
 '^No, no," laughed his lordship, who felt 
 that his inventive genius soared far above 
 the feeble shafts of sarcasm. '* I knew you 
 couldn't guess. Now did it never strike 
 you as you saw wheels — cab -wheels, car- 
 riage-wheels, cart-wheels —turning round 
 that a vast amount of motive power was 
 being wasted ? Well, it did me, and I've 
 bottled up that power, sir, utilised it. That 
 horse as he steps along, not only draws me, 
 but he bruises his own oats at the same 
 time ; and the simple and beautiful part of 
 the arrangement is its self-regulation. The 
 further he goes, the more oats he gets when 
 he comes in, which is only fair. The 
 brougham is fitted with a similar contrivance 
 connected with the wheels, and when I'm 
 being driven out to dinner, I experience the 
 satisfaction of knowing that I'm grinding 
 coffee for the whole establishment's con- 
 sumption on the following day. "When I go 
 own into the country, I m ean to churn
 
 Positio7i and Opposition. 99 
 
 butter on the same principle. In these days 
 of adulteration and strikes, it behoves every 
 man to do as much for himself as possible. 
 Oats in, Henry?" 
 
 ^^ Yes, m' lord," replied the groom. 
 
 ^'Aurevoir^ Stud." And Lord Todmorden 
 drove off with a flourish, leaving Dorrien on 
 the pavement laughing heartily as the re- 
 ceding vehicle left a trail of oats behind it. 
 Something was evidently wrong with the 
 contrivance, and he called out. But the 
 driver was too full of some new dodge pro- 
 bably to hear, and he turned the corner gaily 
 sowing his wild oats. 
 
 '' What an amusing old boy it is," said 
 Dorrien, as he wended his way to his club. 
 " And what an endless source of fun he'll 
 be to Clive. I wonder what he'll think 
 of it." 
 
 The season was at its height, and as he 
 walked along Piccadilly and St. James' Street 
 the tide of fashion was setting in strongly 
 
 h2
 
 lOO Clive Dorrien, 
 
 towards the Park. The pavement was gay 
 with shiny hats, frock coats, and varnished 
 boots, but Dorrien coolly stemmed the 
 current in a shooting-suit, and a billy-cock 
 hat, looking, it must be admitted, not one 
 whit the less gentlemanly or good-looking 
 on that account. There are some men, 
 slaves of fashion, who would shudder at the 
 idea of walking along Piccadilly or down St. 
 James' Street in the height of the season and 
 at the fashionable hour of the afternoon in a 
 suit of dittoes. But what did Dorrien care ! 
 He was merely going to his club to lounge 
 about for a couple of hours or so, and why 
 to perform this very simple operation should 
 he array himself in a chimney-pot hat, and 
 a long coat ? He met numerous acquaint- 
 ances en route^ who, notwithstanding his 
 unorthodox get up, thankfully received the 
 careless nods he bestowed on them, and oc- 
 casionally the billy-cock hat went off as a 
 carriage with smiling faces in it swept past.
 
 Position and Opposition. loi 
 
 Having passed away a couple of hours or 
 so, Dorrien walked back again to Berkeley- 
 Square, repeating the plucky feat of meet- 
 ing the stream of fashion as it now flowed 
 back. 
 
 At eight o'clock he and his uncle sat down 
 to a lete-d-tete dinner. The old nobleman 
 was in blissful ignorance about the oats, and 
 Dorrien did not think it necessary to en- 
 lighten him. The meal was enlivened by 
 many ingenious devices on the part of the 
 host for economising labour and utilising 
 motive power, — themes ever on his tongue 
 and in his mind, never within his ac- 
 complishment. 
 
 " Harris," said his lordship to the butler, 
 ^' we'll have some of the Governor- General's 
 Madeira after dinner ! " 
 
 " "What's in the wind now ? " thought 
 Dorrien. 
 
 The Governor- General in question had 
 been Lord Todmorden's uncle, and the
 
 102 Clive Dorrien, 
 
 Madeira had twice doubled the Cape of 
 Good Hope. A bottle of the precious liquid 
 was never produced except on special occa- 
 sions, and as nothing particular had occurred 
 that day, Dorrien knew that something 
 loomed in the future. 
 
 The Madeira in due course appeared and 
 disappeared, and after the latter consumma- 
 tion they adjourned to the studio for coffee 
 and cigars. 
 
 '^Stud," said his lordship as soon as he 
 had enthroned himself on his revolving chair, 
 and both had settled down to their cigars, 
 " have you seen the Torkinghams lately ? 
 They're in town." 
 
 " IN'o, what about them ? " 
 
 " Clever girl that Grace Torkingham. 
 Splendid girl. By gad, sir, there's a 
 woman to adorn any station in life ! 
 There's grace for you 1 IN'o joke intended. 
 Grace by name and grace by nature. 
 There's self-possession ! There are accom-
 
 Position and Opposition, 103 
 
 plishments ! Languages ! By Jove ! sir, 
 she's a tower of Babel in herself. Then, 
 Sir Piers has no other children, and her 
 fortune will be immense. Beautiful, ac- 
 complished, clever, rich, well-born, what 
 more could mortal man desire ? I tell you 
 candidly, Stud, that if I were twenty 
 years younger, I should experience the 
 greatest difficulty in keeping myself off 
 my marrow-bones in her presence." 
 
 " Well, I've no doubt she wouldn't 
 object even now to being Lady Todmor- 
 den. Why don't you try ? " 
 
 ^^I agree with you. I don't think 
 she would object to being Lady Todmor- 
 den. But there's another road to that 
 honour besides marriage with me ; a 
 little longer, perhaps, but possibly plea- 
 santer." 
 
 His lordship cast a wistful sidelong 
 glance at his nephew, and continued in 
 earnest tones : —
 
 I04 Clive Dorrien. 
 
 " When your father died, Stud, he left 
 you a little orphan in my charge, and 
 I don't think I have betrayed the trust. 
 I have looked upon you as my own son, 
 placed all a father's affection, all a father's 
 hopes on you. I never married. Stud, for 
 your sake. I had got to look upon you so 
 much as my own child, that I could not run 
 the risk of supplanting you. I have marked 
 with satisfaction and pride your gradual 
 development into a man of sound abilities, 
 coupled with resolution and firmness of 
 purpose. A man calculated to make his 
 way in whatever direction he may choose 
 to apply his powers. Of that coolness 
 and self-possession which seem never to 
 desert you, I will say no more than that 
 they are highly serviceable attributes, 
 and that I have remarked them with 
 satisfaction. You have evidently imbibed 
 them from me with your growth, and 
 it would ill become me to say anything
 
 Position and Opposition. 105 
 
 more in praise of qualities which are so 
 essentially, so peculiarly my own. It would 
 savour too much of self- adulation." 
 
 His lordship was about as self-possessed 
 at that moment as an old lady crossing 
 Kegent Street in the height of the season. 
 
 ^^ I have great hopes of you, Stud. We 
 are an old family, but for many genera- 
 tions we have, as it were, rested on 
 our oars. Nothing for the last century 
 and a half has been done to shed an 
 additional lustre over the name. Each 
 successor to the title has held it untar- 
 nished, but nothing more. I myself have 
 capabilities, which, however useful they 
 may be to one's fellow-creatures and 
 one's-self, still are not of that nature to 
 dazzle the world and bring distinction. 
 Ah ! you smile." 
 
 Dorrien was thinking of the oats. 
 
 " It has ever been the fate of inventive 
 genius to be smiled at, rather than upon.
 
 io6 Clive Dorrien. 
 
 But you, Stud, liave more force of cha- 
 racter than falls to the lot of most men. 
 I pin my faith on you. You must not 
 rest contented with the honours you will 
 inherit from me. They must only be the 
 foundations of higher ones. Now Grace 
 Torkingham — " 
 
 ^^ In the name of all that's long-winded 
 and mysterious, what has that unmitigated 
 blue-stocking got to do with the family 
 honours ? " 
 
 ^^ A great deal perhaps. Stud. A woman 
 like her would thrust greatness on the 
 veriest dullard in existence. But marry 
 her to a man with the germs of greatness 
 in him, and he would travel along a royal 
 road to Fame. What a wife for a proud 
 man holding a high position ! I can fancy 
 her fulfilling all the duties of her station 
 with grace, wisdom, and understanding." 
 (Lord Todmorden felt so deeply with his- 
 subject that he talked as if he were saying
 
 Position and Opposition, 107 
 
 his prayers.) ^^I can picture her, sur- 
 rounded by guests, doing the honours of 
 her house, talking to foreign potentates or 
 their ambassadors in their own tongues, en- 
 thralling, by turns, the statesman, the tra- 
 veller, the painter, the musician, the man of 
 science, with the depth and pertinence of her 
 conversation. I can see her poring over blue 
 books and parliamentary reports, gathering 
 material for her husband's speeches, sug- 
 gesting a happy touch here, supplying an 
 apt illustration there. To a man with a 
 spark of ambition in his breast, there's a 
 helpmate ! Stud, I've set my heart on 
 her being your wife." 
 
 The old man turned towards Dorrien, 
 and looked earnestly in his face. He 
 was so in earnest as to forget all about his 
 handles, which was a great simplification of 
 matters. 
 
 Dorrien did not speak for a few 
 moments.
 
 io8 Clive Dorrien, 
 
 "Does silence give consent, Stud?" 
 asked the old man as if he were a young 
 one hanging on some loved one's lips for 
 the magic " yes " or " no." 
 
 " No/' said Dorrien. "I was think- 
 ing of the least painful way of dashing 
 your hopes, for I'm sorry to hear that 
 you've set your heart on an impossibility. 
 However, the best and kindest surgeon 
 is often the one who cuts deepest and 
 does so promptly. I shall never marry 
 Miss Torkingham, and for a very good 
 reason." 
 
 " You don't mean to say you're married 
 already ? " gasped his lordship. 
 
 " No, not exactly, but I'm going to be — 
 and it's not to Miss Torkingham." 
 
 " And may I ask to whom, if you'll not 
 consider the question an impertinent piece 
 of curiosity on my part ? " asked Lord 
 Todmorden, vainly endeavouring to take 
 things coolly.
 
 Positioji and Opposition, 109 
 
 ^' No, not at all, I came up expressly to 
 tell you all about it. Miss Belmont." 
 
 " What, that little hop-o'-my-thumb, 
 just out of the nursery ! " spluttered 
 Lord Todmorden. (He knew the Belmonts 
 slightly.) ^^ A pretty fool you've made 
 of yourself." And he got out of his chair 
 as soon as his trembling hands had un- 
 fastened the bar in front, and walked 
 about the room like a caged ourang- 
 outang. 
 
 " Come, uncle," said Dorrien quietly, 
 "what's the good of all this fluster? 
 Where's the quality, ^ so peculiarly, so 
 essentially your own ' ? Don't you think 
 you might exercise a little of it now with 
 advantage?" 
 
 " What the devil do you mean, sir ? 
 The only term which can adequately ex- 
 press my frame of mind at the present 
 moment is — is — cucumber ic. Yes, sir, 
 cucumberic, if I may be allowed to coin
 
 no Clive Dorrien. 
 
 a word to meet the exigencies of this oc- 
 casion. A deuced meagre language this 
 English ! By gad, I'll learn Sanskrit ! 
 I wonder if it's a good language to swear 
 in. If it is, my godfathers and god- 
 mothers have been guilty of gross neglect 
 in not having had it taught me in my 
 youth, which I shall never forgive. 
 Cucumberic, sir, cucumberic alone ex- 
 
 oh, go to the devil ! " 
 
 ^? & 
 
 presses- 
 
 So saying, his lordship bounced out of the 
 room, cutting over anything within his 
 reach on the way, and banged the door. 
 
 Dorrien merely shrugged his shoulders, 
 and with a quiet smile on his face went to 
 the table and commenced writing a letter to 
 Clive, in fulfilment of a promise that he 
 would at once let her know what his uncle 
 said about it all. 
 
 '•'- The old boy received the announcement 
 with his usual coolness," wrote Dorrien, 
 ^^and most extraordinary coincidence, he
 
 Position and Opposition, 1 1 1 
 
 himself broached the subject of matrimony. 
 It appears that he has been most anxious 
 for me to marry. He has just left the room, 
 and the last words as he closed the door 
 were in the form of his usual blessing when 
 labouring under great emotion." 
 
 *' There," said Dorrien, '' that won't make 
 her miserable, and I haven't told any lies 
 about it. I won't take the merry smile 
 out of her face until I can be on the 
 spot to bring it back again the next 
 moment.'" 
 
 " His lordship wishes to have the studio 
 to himself as soon as you've quite done with 
 it, sir. He desires me to say that he has 
 work of great importance he wishes to finish 
 to-night." 
 
 *^ Very well. Say I'm going to the club 
 at once, and the room will be at his lord- 
 ship's service." 
 
 The man bowed his powdered head with 
 the deepest respect, and retired to promul-
 
 112 Clive Dorrien. 
 
 gate his own impressions in a gradually 
 descending style of diction. 
 
 " There's been a slight congtertonc/ between 
 his lordship and the captain, I imagine, 
 Mr. 'Arris," he remarked as he happened to 
 meet the butler. ^^ There's been a bit of a 
 shake up with old Fireworks, I reckon," he 
 said as he and another footman put their 
 powdered heads together on the stairs ; and 
 ^^ old swizzle-' ead's in another of his blessed 
 tantrums," was his way of putting it in the 
 servants' hall. 
 
 The butler received the intelligence with 
 affability. There's nothing like a bottle of 
 very good Madeira for promoting this 
 quality, and Mr. Harris was too artistic and 
 finished a judge of wine ever to open a 
 bottle of the Governor-General's Madeira 
 for Lord Todmorden without doing the 
 same for himself. 
 
 Dorrien went to his club, and when he re- 
 turned in the small hours he heard his uncle
 
 Position and Opposition. ' 113 
 
 working away at the carpenter's bench in 
 the ^^ studio " as if his living depended on 
 his exertions. 
 
 The next morning his lordship failed to 
 put in an appearance at breakfast, and sent 
 a message that he was not well enough to 
 come down or to see his nephew previous to 
 his departure for Aldershot that day. 
 
 Dorrien took the hint, and returned to his 
 regiment and Clive Belmont in the course 
 of the morning. 
 
 VOL. I.
 
 CHAPTEE Y. 
 
 ALTERCATION. 
 
 There was not mucli lamentation and 
 weeping when Dorrien told Clive the 
 result of his interview with his uncle ; but, 
 infinitely more touching, there was a 
 sorrow- stricken, blanched little face, with 
 quivering lips and despairing eyes, turned 
 mutely up to his. 
 
 ^^But your letter. Stud, I thought—" 
 
 " Yes, that was a piece of deception. I 
 
 thought it much better to wait until I 
 
 could tell you all about it myself. Don't 
 
 look so miserable, Clive. You don't suppose
 
 Altercation. 115 
 
 that it will make any difference. My 
 uncle's head is full of crotchets, which can 
 be swept away with proper management 
 like cobwebs with a besom. When he 
 knows a little more of you, he'll be as much 
 in favour of our marriage as he now is 
 against it. Besides, if he never is, what 
 does it matter ? You don't imagine I'd 
 give you up for five hundred uncles, do 
 you ? " 
 
 In this way Dorrien soon brought back 
 the colour to Olive's face, and the bright 
 smile to the lips. 
 
 Not so easily reassured was Colonel 
 Belmont. Dorrien, as in honour bound he 
 felt it his duty to do, at once told him, 
 without reservation or colour, his uncle's 
 sentiments regarding the match, and the 
 old colonel, without being exactly one of the 
 peppery old idiots colonels are on the stage, 
 was easily fired where the Belmont dignity 
 
 I 2
 
 1 1 6 Clive Dorrien, 
 
 was slighted. To allow his daughter to 
 enter a family in direct opposition to its 
 head was a thought which brought the 
 blood to his furrowed cheeks. He knew 
 Lord Todmorden, however ; his peculiari- 
 ties and his whims ; and of the two, the 
 uncle and nephew, he felt how much more 
 responsible a personage was the latter. 
 For nearly ten years had he known Stud- 
 holme Dorrien — known him as a colonel 
 through his opportunities can know an officer 
 under him, — and his knowledge of his 
 character made him feel that his opinion 
 and arguments were entitled to every con- 
 sideration, even though he might be speaking 
 with the glamour of love over his senses. 
 He knew, too, what a hold a man like this 
 would have on a girPs affections, and that 
 to dash the cup from her lips would be to 
 blast her young life. These considerations 
 made him modify his first resolution of 
 putting as decided a veto on the marriage
 
 Altercation, 117 
 
 as Lord Todmorden himself could have, 
 had he had the power, and he consented 
 to a continuance of the engagement. To 
 do Colonel Belmont justice, his faith in 
 Dorrien's stability of character, his know- 
 ledge of the reverse in Lord Todmorden, 
 and his love for his" child had everything to 
 do with his decision ; the prospective title, 
 nothing. 
 
 So the cloud passed away from over 
 Clive's path as suddenly as it had risen, 
 and all was once more sunny and bright. 
 There were spots on the sun certainly. It 
 would have been brighter still had the light 
 of Lord Todmorden's countenance shone 
 upon them ; and then, again, there was Dolly 
 Jones. He was not the old Dolly by any 
 means. Clive could see that in spite of his 
 efforts at gaiety, and she was always send- 
 ing him little notes by Dorrien, containing 
 equal parts of consolation for himself and 
 abuse of that unprincipled flirt who had so
 
 ii8 Clive Dorrien, 
 
 Heartlessly thrown him over. The way, 
 too, in which she would tackle Aunt Smack 
 whenever that austere female said anything 
 disparaging of her old friend, which was as 
 often as she said anything at all about him, 
 surprised herself almost as much as it did 
 the object of her attacks. 
 
 ^^ George," said Miss Belmont to her 
 brother, after one of these passages of arms 
 in which Clive had done battle in defence 
 of her friend with even more than usual 
 spirit, ^^you have spoiled and are spoiling 
 that child ; she's becoming unbearable. 
 Mark my words, you will bitterly repent it. 
 I never yet knew a spoiled child who did 
 not grow to be a thorn in the foolish 
 parents' side." 
 
 ^^ Macnamara," returned the colonel in 
 his own grim way, '^you have made that 
 remark before, and I cannot conceive what 
 profit or pleasure, it can afford you to draw 
 so constantly from me the same piece of
 
 Altercation, 119 
 
 advice, that you had better mind your own 
 business." 
 
 ^^It is my business, George, as far as 
 warning you and even expostulating with 
 you goes. If I see you walking blindfold 
 towards a precipice, surely it's my business 
 to put out a hand to turn you aside. I say 
 you are spoiling her and laying up for your- 
 self a miserable old age like King Lear's. 
 Her manner to me is at times most disre- 
 spectful, and you never check her." 
 
 '^ She's never disrespectful to you, Mac- 
 namara, except when you abuse her friends, 
 and I shall never reprove or chide her for 
 standing up for an absent friend. I admire 
 it in her. I would as soon think of blaming 
 her for telling the truth. Besides, you 
 bring it on yourself." 
 
 '^ Surely one can speak their minds con- 
 cerning certain people without being 
 subjected to outbursts of petulance and 
 waywardness from a spoiled child."
 
 I20 C live Dorr ien. 
 
 ^' She's never petulant and wayward with 
 me." 
 
 ^^ Yon give in to her in everything. She 
 has no occasion to be." 
 
 '' Petulance and waywardness don't wait 
 for occasion, Macnamara. I contend I do 
 not spoil her. I cherish her. I have 
 nothing else. I do everything T can to 
 make her life bright and happy — why 
 shouldn't I ? Her troubles will come soon 
 enough. My only real happiness now 
 is what I catch from the reflection of 
 hers." 
 
 '^ You see it's a selfish love after all, 
 George; that constant corrective watchful- 
 ness, requisite for the proper and gradual 
 formation of a child's character, would have 
 been as irksome to you as to her, and you 
 let it alone. You shirked it, George, and 
 that's about the plain English of it." 
 
 ^^ Not at all. Were I to see that my 
 kindness and indulgences were making her
 
 Altercation, 121 
 
 vain, selfish, insincere, no consideration for 
 myself would deter me from altering my 
 conduct towards her. But when I can 
 make her all the happier and none the 
 worse by being fond and showing it, what's 
 to prevent my doing so ? There is every 
 reason why I should, and none whatever 
 why I shouldn't. I have the approval of 
 my own conscience in the matter and I want 
 nothing more." 
 
 '*You say she's not vain. I say she is. 
 What stronger proof is there of vanity than 
 the slavish obedience to all the senseless 
 and fanciful dictates of fashion? She 
 always dresses in the height of the fashion 
 — vile phrase ! it goes against my grain. 
 It should be in the lowest depths of fashion, 
 if anything at all. And what is fashionable 
 dressing but labelling your body ' vanity 
 within ' ? " 
 
 ^' There is another description of vanity 
 in dress, Macnamara, and that is to try and
 
 12 2 Clive Dorrien. 
 
 show that you despise it, and, egad," said 
 the old colonel, putting up his glasses and 
 scanning his sister's gaunt and eccentrically 
 clad figure, ^' I'm delighted my daughter's 
 vanity doesn't take the same direction as 
 yours. Hang me, if I dont think you take 
 considerably more pains to be out of the 
 fashion than she ever does to be in." 
 
 ^' There is more ingenuity than ingenuous- 
 ness in your defence of vanity, George, a 
 defence which could have emanated from 
 none but a wilfully distorted mind. Like 
 most men, you are only too glad to foster 
 and encourage weakness in women, in order 
 that you may hug yourselves in your fancied 
 superiority over them. You like a woman 
 to be yielding, soft — " 
 
 " I confess I prefer them that way to cast- 
 iron," said the old colonel. 
 
 ^^ Dressed up dolls, dependent idiots, in 
 fact." 
 
 " Yes, even in that form I admit I like
 
 Altercation, 123 
 
 them better than iiiisexed. Like Sir Hugh 
 Evans, ' I hate a woman with a beard ! ' " 
 
 '-^ The reasons for your preference are 
 essentially manly, and are also obvious. 
 There ought to be a law in this and every 
 other civilized land that no female child 
 should be under the sole control of a male 
 parent. If I had ever had a child — " 
 
 ^' I don't believe, Macnamara, that you 
 could ever have been guilty of anything 
 half so effeminate," said the old colonel with 
 a grim chuckle. 
 
 ^^ '- How ill grey hairs become a fool,' '' 
 retorted Miss Belmont. 
 
 She seldom made use of an opprobrious 
 epithet, but when she did she wrapped it 
 up in a quotation, with this advantage, that 
 while her own conscience acquitted her of 
 the charge of bad language, the object of 
 her wrath, not so well read probably as 
 herself, was unaware of its second-hand 
 nature, and took it in all its original force.
 
 124 Clive Dorrien, 
 
 In this way she was often able to pelt her 
 opponents in discussion with a little Bil- 
 lingsgate mud, without, in her own opinion, 
 soiling her hands in the least. 
 
 ^^ You're perfectly at liberty to call me 
 names, Macnamara, if it affords you the 
 slightest satisfaction ; but leave my child 
 alone. No one shall come between her and 
 me, except, when she's married, her hus- 
 band; and. thank God, the man who is 
 going to hold that right is one to whom, 
 of all others, I can give her in all trust 
 and confidence. As the wife of Studholme 
 Dorrien, I consider her happiness is built 
 on a rock, l^ever was future brighter than 
 my child's, so don't try to overshadow it 
 with clouds of your own raising. Now, 
 there is an end of the subject, and there is 
 no use pursuing it further." 
 
 "As you like, George. I consider I'm 
 only doing my duty in warning you, and that 
 is and will be a satisfaction to me. But when,
 
 Altercation, 125 
 
 some day in the future, which may loom 
 rather darker than you imagine, you reap 
 the bitter fruits of your over-indulgence — " 
 
 ^^What does the woman mean?" cried 
 the colonel with unwonted warmth. ^^Do 
 you think she's going to rob a church, turn 
 fashionable swindler, poison me, kill her 
 husband, throttle you, get stuck in Madame 
 Tussaud's Chamber of Horrors, eh ? 
 What's the meaning of this croaking, 
 you bird of ill omen ? Look here, Mac- 
 namara, if you consider it your mission in 
 life to try and embitter the one drop of 
 comfort in my cup by your Cassandra-like 
 mutterings, we had better part." 
 
 '' So be it, George." 
 
 ^^ What's your object ? Speak out plainly 
 and once for all. Why do you dislike 
 Clive? What is there in my child," said 
 the colonel, his voice trembling, ^^ to inspire 
 any one with aversion towards her ? Don't 
 let's have anything about ^ dark futures *
 
 126 Clive Dorrien, 
 
 and ^bitter fruits,' but speak out in plain 
 English." 
 
 ^^ Excuse me, George, I shall do nothing 
 of the kind. I shall not say a word more. 
 The language of reason and sense would be 
 thrown away upon you in your present 
 frame of mind. When you are cooler, per- 
 haps I may pursue the subject." 
 
 ^^ Then may I retain my heat as long as 
 Mount Etna, say I," fervently exclaimed 
 the colonel as his sister left the room. 
 
 This was not the first time by any means 
 that Clive had been a bone of contention 
 between the two. Many a sharp brush had 
 brother and sister on the subject. But 
 would not indifference to an object so far 
 beneath her as a ^^ petulant and wayward 
 child " have been more becoming in Miss 
 Eelmont than this petty and spiteful war- 
 fare? Was it not rather using the Nas- 
 myth hammer of her stupendous intellect to 
 crush this little empty nutshell ? But in
 
 Altercation, 127 
 
 the first place, whence all this ire ? What 
 had Clive done to incur this wrath ? 
 
 Simply she was not as afraid of her aunt 
 as her aunt thought she ought to have 
 been. So accustomed was Miss Belmont to 
 see people retire into their shells and cower 
 and droop in her presence that to be quite 
 natural^ quite at home, in short not to be in 
 the least overawed by her superior know- 
 ledge, her commanding tones, and her 
 freezing manner, amounted in any one, but 
 particularly in a young creature, to a 
 personal affront. 
 
 Of all these enormities was Clive guilty, 
 and of others still more flagrant. She would 
 even poke fun at her aunt sometimes, and 
 this was a deadly sin. She would actually 
 argue too with her, and in argument she 
 was like the British Infantry in battle, — she 
 never knew when she was beaten. She 
 would expose herself in the open, and be 
 pounded by the heavy artillery of her oppo-
 
 128 Clive Dorinen, 
 
 nent's logic with the liveliest unconscious- 
 ness of the deadliness of the fire, and 
 receive a shot right in the most vital 
 part with a merry ringing laugh, and in 
 utter ignorance of the fact that she was 
 then and there logically slain ; which all of 
 it gave the lookers on, over whose heads Miss 
 Macnamara Belmont's fire was probably a 
 long way, the idea that Clive was getting 
 the best of it altogether. It was a duel be- 
 tween Science with an eighty-one ton gun 
 and Innocence with a pea-shooter, in which 
 the latter was having all its own way. 
 
 Why, it may be asked, did Miss Belmont 
 condescend to break a lance with an antago- 
 nist so utterly unworthy of her steel ? -. Why, 
 you might as well ask, doesn't an Irish- 
 man keep out of a fight ? I suppose it's 
 because he can't help it, and this is the same 
 reason why Miss Belmont could not keep 
 out of an argument. She couldn't help 
 it. The long and short of it was Clive did
 
 Altercation, 129 
 
 not hold lier aunt in that awe which her 
 aunt inspired in most people, and which she 
 believed to be her due. This, then, was the 
 head and front of Olive's offending. To 
 Aunt Mac it was a constant irritant. 
 
 Miss Belmont as she had left the room 
 had found fault with her brother's frame 
 of mind, and so did he when left to his 
 own meditations. Her evil prognostications, 
 seemingly to him as baseless as they were 
 base, had aroused a most unusual storm of 
 feeling; and now there came calm, deep 
 reflection. That Clive could ever be cold, 
 ungrateful, or turn against him, which he 
 took to be the plain English of ^^ dark 
 futures 'i, and ^^ bitter fruits," was an utter 
 impossibility. But there were other ways in 
 which his loving heart could be wrung. 
 Was he guilty before God of the crime of 
 idolatry ? Had he set up this idol in his 
 heart and oflPered up to it that worship which 
 was due to the Lord his God who was a 
 
 VOL. I. K
 
 130 Clive Dorrien, 
 
 jealous God ? And would He in His justice 
 visit this sin upon his head and upon his 
 child's head ? But He was a God of mercy 
 as well as of justice, thought the old colonel 
 with a ray of light bursting in upon the 
 gloom ; and after all his trials — his child 
 murdered by the mutineers, his wife bereft 
 of reason and then taken from him, his 
 wounds — might he not hope that He in that 
 infinite mercy would have pity and leave 
 him his one little ewe lamb. 
 
 Only too readily the colonel laid the 
 flattering unction to his soul, and with 
 peace of mind came a gentler feeling to- 
 wards his grim sister. He had lost his 
 temper with her as he had not done for 
 years. Earely did the stern old soldier 
 lose command of himself for a moment, 
 and he was now sorry for it. He knew 
 that his sister's quiet ^^ So be it, George," 
 in reply to his suggestion that they should 
 part, had probably settled the matter be-
 
 Altercation, 131 
 
 yond all possibility of change ; for when 
 Miss Macnaniara Belmont said, '^ so be it," 
 so was it, and he would fain have recalled 
 his words. 
 
 '^I don't see how I can ask for my 
 trespasses to be forgiven me as I forgive 
 them that trespass against me, if I allow 
 myself to harbour any of those thoughts 
 which I certainly felt towards Macna- 
 mara a few moments ago. I could have 
 wrung her neck, confound her ! I haven't 
 made an abstruse science of religion," 
 continued the old soldier, ^' for in the 
 first place I am not scientific ; in the 
 second place, science is based on nothing 
 but proved fact, and religion rests solely 
 on faith, so there can be no connection 
 between the two. I don't care whether 
 a curate wears a cross down his back or 
 whether he doesn't, as long as he's sincere 
 in thinking he's doing right; but I've 
 an old-fashioned idea that one's conscience 
 
 K 2
 
 132 Clive Dorrien, 
 
 is not a bad guide in all matters of right 
 or wrong, and there's no mistaking its 
 promptings to me now to make it up with 
 Macnamara. I'll go to Clive. She shall 
 be my little messenger of peace.
 
 CHAPTEE YI. 
 
 " DADDLES." 
 
 Or all the rooms in the house, the bright- 
 est, the cosiest, and prettiest was, as 
 may be naturally supposed, Olive's sanc- 
 tum, to which the colonel now directed 
 his steps. It was here that the fond old 
 man laid his richest offerings at the shrine 
 of his idol, and it was here he would 
 go to have life's petty cares and bothers 
 chased away from his mind by the pre- 
 siding genius. There was some choice 
 and suitable record of every country he
 
 134 Clive Dorrien, 
 
 had been in around its walls or on its 
 tables ; and he never was away from home, 
 no matter for how short a period, without 
 bringing back some proof of his fondness 
 in absence, in the shape of something 
 to add to the beauty or comfort of the 
 bright little apartment. Aunt Smack 
 rarely darkened its doors. To her, in 
 her contemptuous austerity, it was a 
 chamber of horrors, and the lavish ex- 
 penditure in connection with it was one 
 of the many counts in the indictment 
 against her brother. Here she had some 
 locus standi. Colonel Belmont was, in 
 these days of mushroom wealth, a com- 
 paratively poor man, and Olive's boudoir 
 would have done for a duchess. It was 
 all his own doing. Clive often begged 
 him in perfect sincerity not to go wasting 
 any more money over her, but when the 
 mischief was done, she could not all the 
 same prevent her eyes from sparkling, or
 
 '' Daddlesr 135 
 
 withhold the affectionate hug and kiss ex- 
 pected in return. 
 
 Whatever the colonel was concerning 
 his daughter, he was no Sybarite as re- 
 gards himself, the following being as nearly 
 as possible a complete inventory of the 
 effects of his own room : — A small iron 
 camp-bed, two feet broad, in which, as 
 a young subaltern, he had dreamed of 
 love and war; a small strip of carpet by 
 its side ; a portable washing-stand with 
 metal fixings; a large tub in which the 
 colonel performed his ablutions when set- 
 tled, and in which the washing-stand hid 
 its diminished self when on the move ; 
 a small glass capable of reflecting only 
 a portion of the coloners countenance 
 at a time; a military chest of drawers 
 which were wardrobe, escritoire^ and toilet- 
 table all in one ; a boot-jack, whose du- 
 ties in the colonel's hot youth had been 
 equally divided between his own feet
 
 136 Clive Dorrien, 
 
 and his servants' heads, and a few simple 
 little relics of anld lang syne, intrinsi- 
 cally worthless, extrinsically precious be- 
 yond price. 
 
 Olive's bower, however, not the colonel's 
 den, is where our scene lies. 
 
 There was no occasion for him to knock 
 at the door ; Clive had caught the sound of 
 his well-known footstep and the jingle of 
 his spurs on the stairs, and stood awaiting 
 him on the landing. As he crossed the 
 threshold he seemed to leave his grim stern 
 nature behind him on the door-mat ; and if 
 the men of the regiment who trembled in 
 their regulation boots before him in the 
 orderly-room and on the parade ground, 
 could only have had a peep at him in this 
 enchanted little realm, his face wreathed, 
 positively wreathed with smiles, they would 
 have said, ^' !N'o, no ; this here ain't never 
 old Eough-an' -tough ; it's unpossible." 
 
 Olive's first act was to plump the old
 
 ''Daddlesr 137 
 
 colonel into an arm-chair, sacredly and ex- 
 clusively his, which he was always telling 
 her spoiled the look of her room, and which 
 she was always telling him was the dearest 
 and most beautiful thing in it. Her next 
 act was to squat her small form on his great 
 bony knees, and then in that position to 
 place a hand on each shoulder and look 
 playfully into the grizzled worn face. This 
 last was suggestive of the picture of Peace, 
 with the lamb peering into the muzzle of a 
 rusty old cannon. 
 
 ^^ Well, Daddies, you look all right now, 
 but what made you look so grumpy when 
 you were coming up the stairs and didn't 
 know I was watching you ? " 
 
 " Well, perhaps I had been ruffled up the 
 wrong way a little, but I'm all right now, 
 Clive ; you're my little sunbeam which al- 
 ways makes everything bright again." 
 
 Clive acknowledged this compliment by 
 calling him a *^dear old Daddlekins," and
 
 138 Clive Dorrtetu 
 
 then when Colonel Belmont laughed at this, 
 she got more demonstrative still, and, rubbing 
 her face against his as if her nose were a 
 gimlet, and she were going to bore a hole 
 straight through his head, said that he was 
 a ^^ dear darling pet of an old daddlekin- 
 doodlecumtootlets." This elaborate term of 
 endearment was the composition of the 
 moment, and was uttered in a savage manner 
 between set teeth, as if she were very much 
 in earnest about her work. This, when the 
 colonel was the object, was a favourite style 
 of blandishment with Clive. 
 
 Under this treatment the deep lines in the 
 furrowed face seemed actually to fade away, 
 as if they had been merely pencil marks and 
 Olive's soft cheeks the best description of 
 india-rubber. 
 
 Daddlekindoodlecumtootlets, indeed ! 
 
 What would the men of the regiment 
 have said of '^ old Eough-an'-tough " now if 
 they could have heard that ? It is no use
 
 D addles y 139 
 
 speculating on this point, for wonder would 
 either have deprived them of speech alto- 
 gether or found vent in language too strong 
 for these pages. 
 
 " Well, what was it, Daddies, that was 
 ruffling you up the wrong way? Some- 
 thing up at the barracks, I suppose; that 
 horrid War Office bothering your life out, 
 questioning this and disallowing that." 
 
 "Well, they're the devil, certainly; but 
 they didn't bother me this morning. Eed 
 tape wasn't the cause of my cross looks — 
 that's to say if I was looking cross and 
 worried, which I don't plead guilty to." 
 
 " It doesn't matter what you plead, 
 Daddies ; " and here the soft cheek was 
 rubbed against the iron-bound counte- 
 nance ; " seeing is believing. What was 
 it? Now come, no tarradiddles, or as it 
 says in that horrid book you're always 
 poring over, ' the evidence you shall give 
 before this court shall be the truth.
 
 140 Clive Dorrien, 
 
 the whole truth, and nothing but the 
 truth.' " 
 
 " Well, perhaps, I may have been think- 
 ing of a few words I had with your aunt. 
 I'm afraid she is going to leave us, Clive." 
 
 <-<- Hoo — oh ! but I don't know that I'm so 
 glad after all," said Clive, breaking off in 
 the middle of a shrill cheer. ^^ Poor old 
 Aunt Smack, one has got accustomed to her 
 like the eels to skinning, and really I should 
 quite miss her, though I don't exactly know 
 why, for I'm sure she doesn't like me. But 
 what were the words about. Daddies ? 
 Now, the whole truth and nothing but the 
 the truth, recollect." 
 
 Colonel Belmont hesitated. 
 
 ^^ I know ; it was all about me. I was 
 the apple of discord. I'm sure of it. She 
 said I was a foolish, frivolous little thing, 
 and you said I wasn't, and all the rest of it. 
 I know that's her opinion of me. I can 
 read it in her face every moment of the day.
 
 '-' Daddlesr 141 
 
 I'm determined now, more than ever, Dad- 
 dies, that she musri't go. She's your own 
 sister, the only one of your family left, and 
 I should never forgive myself for being the 
 cause of a lasting breach 'between you. No, 
 Aunt Macnamara must stay with us, and I 
 don't care how much humble pie I eat. 
 Daddies, if T can only keep her here for 
 your sake." 
 
 The colonel put his brawny arm round 
 her slender waist and drew her closer to 
 him. 
 
 "Well, Clive, suppose you be my little 
 messenger of peace." 
 
 " I'll go at once. Daddies. The sooner 
 it's settled the better. You leave it all to 
 me, and if you follow in a few moments 
 you'll see Aunt Smack and myself smoking 
 the calumet of peace, like a couple of 
 friendly Choctaws over a bottle of rum." 
 
 Miss Macnamara Belmont, austere and
 
 142 Clive Dorrien. 
 
 reading, sat in the breakfast-room as the 
 messenger of peace entered. Figuratively, 
 Clive bore her flag of truce in her face and 
 manner. There was an air of meek con- 
 ciliation about her which might have dis- 
 armed Bellona herself. But Miss Belmont 
 was equal to the occasion, and merely looked 
 up from her book with cold disapproval, as if 
 she would have preferred an entry with 
 beat of drum and savage war-cry. 
 
 Undeterred by cold looks, Clive sat herself 
 meekly down on a small stool at her aunt's 
 feet, and, resting her clasped hands on the 
 sombre covered knees, looked up with her 
 most winning expression of countenance. 
 
 Miss Macnamara Belmont slowly laid her 
 book on her lap and looked down. Clive 
 not only met the cold eyes unflinchingly, but 
 even managed to throw a little additional 
 witchery into the return gaze. It was up- 
 hill work, but it was for "Daddies' sake," 
 and she persevered. Not even when Aunt
 
 '' Daddlesr 143 
 
 Macnamara straightened out her knees, as 
 an intimation that they could dispense with 
 the honour of being leaned upon, was Clive 
 put oJ0P. It was a nasty little mouthful of 
 humble pie ; but she gulped it down with a 
 smiling face, and cleared her throat for the 
 delivery of the pretty little speech she had 
 rehearsed all the way from her room. 
 
 ^^ Aunt Smack " 
 
 Miss Macnamara Belmont started up as if 
 she had sat on a rattle-snake, while Clive 
 herself became suddenly conscious of having 
 put her foot into it, and pulled a horrified 
 face. Mcknames were abominations in 
 the sight of Miss Belmont. ^'Daddies," and 
 ^' Daddlekins," and the other long epithet 
 had sometimes driven her to the verge of 
 insanity. But a nickname applied to herself 
 was beyond all endurance. She had once 
 heard Clive as a child speak of her as Aunt 
 Smack ; and though she suspected the habit 
 was still continued behind her back, never
 
 144 Clive Dorrien. 
 
 had the offence been committed to her face. 
 The affront was deadly, and Clive aggra- 
 vated it still further. That she should thus, 
 after her glowing figure about the calumet 
 of peace over the bottle of rum and the 
 careful rehearsal of her speech, have brought 
 the whole scheme tumbling about her ears 
 at the very first word she uttered was too 
 much for her sense of the ridiculous, and 
 her vain efforts to control her laughter 
 ended in a fit of feeble giggling. 
 
 ''Leave the room, child. I don't know 
 what your object in coming to me was. But 
 if it was to afford me an additional proof of 
 the frivolity and littleness of your nature, 
 to which everything great, solemn, or serious 
 is and ever will be foreign, you have been 
 successful. Leave the room." 
 
 There was no need for this second dis- 
 missal, for before the words were clear of 
 Miss Belmont's set teeth, Clive was well on 
 her way to " Daddies," to throw herself on
 
 " Daddlesr 145 
 
 him and to tell him, betwixt laughing and 
 crying, what a foolish little ambassadress she 
 had been, and how she had put her foot into 
 it, and that he needn't trouble himself to 
 go and see the calumet of peace and bottle 
 of rum performance. 
 
 It is needless to add that Clive's mission 
 had not the meditated effect of inducing 
 Miss Macnamara Belmont to stay under her 
 brother^s roof. She left it the following day, 
 taking as she retreated a Scythian shot at the 
 colonel in the shape of a letter full of evil 
 prognostications concerning Olive's future. 
 
 VOL. I.
 
 CHAPTEE YII. 
 
 THE ENGINEER AND HIS PETARD. 
 
 The London season had commenced, and 
 Colonel Belmont determined upon taking 
 Clive up to town for a few weeks, so that 
 while she was still under his wing his might 
 be the unselfish pleasure of witnessing and 
 conducing to the enjoyment of her first 
 season. The Belmonts were, as the phrase 
 goes, ''highly connected," and their exalted 
 relatives were always ready to be civil to the 
 colonel, chiefly because the independent old 
 soldier had always shown them that he did 
 not care two straws whether they were or
 
 The Engineer and his Petard. 147 
 
 not. iNo demeanour invites civility more 
 than a genuine and utterly careless indif- 
 ference to it. Colonel Belmont, then, had 
 only to set himself up in a small but rather 
 fashionably-situated house for the few weeks 
 he intended being in town, and the charmed 
 circle of a ^'good set'' was opened to him. 
 Balls and kettledrums were not much in the 
 colonel's line, but at these usages of society 
 he chose to look, for the time being, from 
 Olive's point of view. In this self-devoted 
 spirit the colonel stood on stair- cases and in 
 doorways, or sat at operas or concerts with 
 his legs stiffening in the joints, calmly pleased 
 because he could read enjoyment in dive's 
 bright face. Of course, she was presented 
 — the high and mighty relatives did that — 
 and even out of that aristocratic cross between 
 the Black Hole of Calcutta and a football 
 ^^ scrimmage," known as a Drawing Room, 
 did the colonel, in his paternal sympathy, 
 derive a certain amount of gratification. 
 
 L 2
 
 148 Clive Dorrien, 
 
 The hilt of a deputy-lieutenant's court- 
 sword was running into his back, a short 
 naval officer's epaulet was grinding against 
 one of his ribs, a stout old gentleman was 
 on his toe, a dowager's feathers were tick- 
 ling his nose ; but Clive was on his 
 arm, animated and interested, and he was 
 happy. 
 
 Wherever Clive was — in the Eow in the 
 mornings riding with her father, at ball, 
 opera, or concert in the evening, there or 
 thereabouts was generally Studholme Dor- 
 rien. He had obtained a fortnight's leave 
 of absence, and was of course spending it in 
 close proximity to Clive. 
 
 Not, as of yore, had he taken up his 
 quarters at his uncle's. That eccentric old 
 nobleman continued to cherish his pet 
 matrimonial scheme in connection with 
 Miss Torkingham, and this subject was 
 between uncle and nephew as dangerous 
 to meddle with as a live shell. The same
 
 The Engineer and his Petard, 149 
 
 house, with this difference of opinion, could 
 not have contained them. This continued 
 opposition on Lord Todmorden's part was 
 unpleasant. Colonel Belmont chafed under 
 it. So did Clive at times. It was the 
 only skeleton in her cupboard, which other- 
 wise was full to oyerflowing with every- 
 thing that was sweet and delicious — a jam 
 cupboard with one nasty, unpleasant old 
 cockroach spoiling the flavour of every- 
 thing in it. Dorrien cared least about 
 this opposition. Indeed, it was only for 
 the sake of others that it ever caused him 
 a moment's disquiet. He felt it was merely 
 two minds pulling in different directions, 
 and that the victory must be with the 
 stronger. Of the ultimate result he never 
 had the slightest doubt, but* still for the 
 sake of Clive, and of old Lord Todmorden 
 himself, whom he really liked, he sincerely 
 wished that the struggle should not be a 
 protracted one.
 
 150 Clive Dorr I en. 
 
 It was a great relief then to all concerned 
 when one day Lord Todmorden, with the 
 suddenness of a weathercock in a squall, 
 chopped round and first left cards at the 
 Belmonts', with a polite note to the colonel 
 apologising for not having done so before, 
 and then looked his nephew up at his 
 rooms in the most friendly manner possible. 
 Then this advance was followed up by an- 
 other, an invitation at an early date to a 
 small musical party. 
 
 ^'Musical party!" thought Dorrien, 
 who was of course also bidden. " I never 
 knew him break out in that direction be- 
 fore. The old boy has, I suppose, seen 
 the error of his ways and is anxious to 
 make amends." 
 
 Colonel Bielmont and Clive looked at 
 the matter in the same light, and of course 
 willingly advanced their half of the way 
 by accepting. 
 
 All this time Lord Todmorden lived.
 
 The Engineer and his Petard, 151 
 
 metaphorically, with one eye shut and a 
 finger to his nose. As the evening of the 
 musical party drew near, he would often 
 chuckle to himself and mutter : — " I wonder 
 I didn't think of this before. On a fool 
 the lesson might be lost; but a sensible 
 fellow like Studholme cannot fail to take 
 it to heart and profit by it. When the 
 opportunity is given him of comparing the 
 two together, — the stateliness, the accom- 
 plishments, the talents of the one with the 
 insignificance, frivolity, and silliness of 
 the other, the scales will fall from his 
 eyes." 
 
 Such was the train which this crafty 
 old Guy Fawkes was laying wherewith 
 to blow poor little Olive's happiness sky- 
 high. ]^ow and then he felt some little 
 twinges of conscience, particularly on one 
 occasion when he met Olive and her father 
 riding in the Park in the early morning, and 
 stopped to speak with them.
 
 152, CUve Dorrien. 
 
 '' It's a nice little face, hang it. so it is," 
 ruminated his lordship, as he continued 
 his ride. ^' And a sort of little face, too, 
 confound it I that could look very broken- 
 hearted and reproachful, and haunt a 
 man very disagreeably after he had seen it 
 like that. Broken hearts ! Nonsense ! 
 Broken fiddlesticks ! I ought to be 
 ashamed of myself, at my time of life and 
 with my experience of society, talking about 
 broken hearts. She'll cry half an hour the 
 first day, quarter of an hour the next, five 
 minutes the third, and by the end of the 
 week she'll be as desperately in love with 
 some one else as she now fancies herself 
 to be with Stud. Broken hearts — bosh ! 
 In real life Ophelia would have died, if 
 she died at all, from a severe attack of 
 influenza caught from going about in that 
 scanty sort of attire. So would Juliet. If 
 Shakspeare had stuck to nature he would 
 have polished her off with an attack of bron-
 
 The Engineer and J lis Petard, 153 
 
 chitis caught in tlie balcony, and not made 
 her poison herself for love. And as to Paul 
 and Yirginia, and Heloise and Abelard, 
 if they could have just gone in for a little 
 fashionable London society together, Paul 
 would have been carrying on shamefully 
 with Heloise while Abelard was down at 
 the House, and Yirginia would have bolted 
 with Abelard before the season was over. 
 That's what it would have been in real life. 
 They only do the other thing — sigh and 
 cry and die, in poetry." 
 
 Such, with sundry variations and self- 
 congratulation on his knowledge of human 
 nature, was the general drift of Lord 
 Todmorden's cogitations at this period ; 
 and when the eventful evening arrived, he 
 looked upon the desired object as next to 
 an accomplished fact. 
 
 The musical party was not a large one. 
 The smaller the better. A fiercer light 
 would then beat on the two central figures
 
 154 Clive Dorrien. 
 
 of the conspirator's plot. It was the usual 
 thing. There were a few young people 
 looking over photographic albums, and 
 thinking how much ^'awfully jollier" it 
 would be if it were a dance instead ; a 
 sprinkling of dowagers leaning back and 
 fanning themselves ; a few elderly and 
 middle-aged gentlemen talking politics in 
 little knots ; while now and again a formal 
 murmur of, ^^ Oh ! thank you, very pretty in- 
 deed," would run through the room as the sud- 
 den cessation of some sound, which for several 
 minutes people's senses had abstractedly be- 
 come accustomed to, told them that somebody 
 had been doing something at the piano. 
 Forming one of a knot of politicians was 
 Colonel Belmont, and very contented and 
 happy in the society of Dorrien was Clive. 
 Amongst the guests was also Dolly Jones, to 
 whom Lord Todmorden had sent an especial 
 invitation ; and with him came the impres- 
 sible Captain Garstang. ^^ If any brother-
 
 The Engineer and his Petard, 155 
 
 officer of yours, who should happen to be in 
 town, would care to accompany you, by all 
 means bring him. I'm always happy to see 
 any of Stud's friends," had said Lord Tod- 
 morden in his note to Dolly, and to this 
 open invitation Garstang, who happened to 
 be in the way at the moment of its receipt, 
 had, with execrable taste, considering the 
 coolness between himself and Dorrien, re- 
 sponded in person. 
 
 "When in his uncle's house, to his uncle's 
 guests, Dorrien was rather more courteous 
 than usual to people he disliked, if there hap- 
 pened to be any such present; but when Gar- 
 stang entered the room he took no pains to 
 conceal his contemptuous surprise. The man 
 brought it on himself, for he must have known 
 he was laying himself open to a snub in going 
 to a house where Dorrien was if not the host 
 next door to it. Garstang had felt this 
 before he came, and as he relished a snub as 
 little as most people, least of all at the
 
 I j6 Clive Dorrie7i. 
 
 hands of a man lie now cordially detested, 
 there must have been some powerful coun- 
 ter attraction. The fact was, he was some- 
 what of a tuft-hunter, and not averse to 
 a morsel of dirt-pie now and then if he 
 could add another good name to his list of 
 acquaintances. In the second place, he had 
 now attached himself to Dolly Jones for 
 reasons best known to himself, and, in the 
 third place, he had heard the Belmonts were 
 going to be present, and of late he had 
 taken to turning up in Olive's path with 
 most unwelcome persistency. 
 
 ^' Dolly, what made you bring that man 
 with you ? " asked Clive, as Dolly took an 
 early opportunity of seating himself near 
 her. " I never came across any one I disliked 
 so. I can't be civil to him, and the ruder I 
 am, the more he has taken to persecuting 
 me. I really didn't think, Dolly, you would 
 have been an abettor in the persecution." 
 
 " Well, it was very provoking; he would
 
 The Engineer and his Petard, 157 
 
 come with me. I could not help it ; " 
 replied Dolly, whose equable temperament 
 was occasionally in this matter much 
 ruffled. ^^It's impossible to shut him 
 up!" 
 
 " Well, never mind him, Dolly. Let's 
 talk about you. I was so glad to see you 
 come in. The very best thing you can do 
 is to go about and mix in society, and 
 amuse yourself, and not go moping over 
 that little tale of unrequited affection ; she's 
 not worth it. But whatever you do, 
 don't be a silly moth, Dolly, and go flutter- 
 ing about the flame that has already burnt 
 you. She might just get you into her 
 meshes again for her own amusement." 
 
 Here Dolly was seized with a fit of 
 coughing, nervous not bronchial, and mur- 
 mured behind his hand that he would keep 
 out of danger. 
 
 *^ Incompatibility of temper, indeed! 
 Do you know I can't get over that. I
 
 158 Clive Dorrten. 
 
 think of it so often, and it would make me 
 laugh if it didn't make me so angry." 
 
 All this time Lord Todmorden was enter- 
 taining his guests in a somewhat fussy and 
 constrained manner, and there was an ex- 
 pectancy about him which operated against 
 a calm settling down to the duties of host. 
 At last " Sir Piers and Miss Torkingham " 
 were announced, and his lordship forthwith 
 became a different creature. 
 
 A tall, stately girl was Miss Torkingham, 
 handsome but repellent ; and as she strode 
 up the room, the observed of all observers, 
 she seemed to say, ^' I'm the most command- 
 ing, the cleverest, and best-informed person 
 in this company." Sir Piers, her father, 
 was a mere appendage, and walked meekly 
 behind. Every one in the room stared 
 at Miss Torkingham ; no one glanced at 
 Sir Piers, for which he was probably 
 very thankful. He was a gentlemanly-look- 
 ing old man with a profile in two lines —
 
 The Engineer and his Petard. 159 
 
 one from the top of his head to the tip of 
 his nose ; the other from the tip of his nose 
 to his cravat. The prevailing expression on 
 the face so formed was hopeless bewilder- 
 ment, as if the owner were perpetually 
 wondering how he could have had anything 
 to do with the authorship of so gifted a 
 personage as the young lady who conde- 
 scended to call him '-'• papa." This was as 
 great a puzzle to outsiders as to Sir Piers 
 himself. As he generally walked behind 
 her, her remarks to him were, as a rule, con- 
 fined to sharp cautions and sharper reproofs 
 on the subject of treading on her train. 
 
 '-'- My dear Miss Torkingham, how late you 
 are ! " said Lord Todmorden, seizing both 
 her hands, partly out of cordiality, partly in 
 consequence of having, in his hurry to 
 welcome her, tripped over a footstool on the 
 way. With consummate tact, he made it 
 appear entirely the former. ^' Dear me, 
 I thought you had forgotten all about my
 
 l6o Clive Dorrien, 
 
 little party, in the press of your numerous 
 engagements. I was really beginning to 
 think very badly of you, and to imagine 
 you were going to throw me over alto- 
 gether." 
 
 ^' Ah ! my dear Lord Todmorden, ' Les 
 absents ont ioKJours tort^ " said Miss Tor- 
 kingham, as she sunk majestically into a 
 seat. 
 
 The remark was not strikingly apposite, 
 but it was in a foreign language, which was 
 much more of an object. 
 
 ^' How do you do. Sir Piers ? " said Lord 
 Todmorden, as. Miss Torkingham's stately 
 figure having subsided, the bewildered 
 face in two lines came into view. 
 
 Sir Piers shook hands, said nothing, and 
 took a secluded seat, to resume in undis- 
 turbed meditation the puzzle of his life. 
 
 The buzz of conversation which had 
 been interrupted by the entrance of Miss 
 Torkingham, for she was a sort of girl
 
 The Engineer and his Petard, 1 6 1 
 
 whose appearance generally turned speakers 
 into starers, was soon resumed, and Lord 
 Todmorden moved about jubilant and 
 elated. 
 
 '^ Never saw her look so superb, so 
 magnificent, so majestic, so commanding as 
 she does this evening. There's a figure for 
 you ! There's a bust ! There's a Juno- 
 like style of beauty ! There's a classical 
 head ! There's a brow with the stamp of 
 genius sparkling on it like a diadem," he 
 chuckled. '^ If Stud's eyes aren't opened, 
 an oyster-knife wouldn't do it." 
 
 In the midst of his exultation, a sudden 
 glimpse of a small face with an expression 
 on it of a startled fawn scenting danger 
 caused him an unpleasant twinge. This, 
 however, was merely momentary. Lord 
 Todmorden' s nature beneath all its eccentri- 
 cities was a kindly one ; but he was 
 sceptical on the subject of broken hearts, 
 and to weigh a maiden's tears in the 
 
 VOL. I. M
 
 1 62 Clive Dorrien, 
 
 iDalance with, the success of a life would 
 Lave been to him folly only worthy of the 
 love-lorn maiden herself. 
 
 ^^ So that's the girl Stud jokes about, and 
 told me his uncle wanted him to marry. 
 She is magnificent," soliloquised Clive. 
 '-'- There's Stud talking to her too. There 
 was a something in her manner which 
 seemed to me to say, ' I'm the cleverest, 
 handsomest person here,' until he spoke to 
 her, and then there was a sudden change as 
 if adding, ^ except one.' I'm certain she's 
 ready to fall over head and ears in love 
 with him." 
 
 A sickening dread here came over Clive, 
 and her blood turned chill as she contem- 
 plated the chance of a contest with such 
 a powerful and magnificent rival as this 
 stately, despotic, accomplished heiress. 
 Certainly, it was in a great measure the 
 dread that was father to the thought ; but 
 still Clive was right in one conjecture ;
 
 The Engineer and his Petard. 1 63 
 
 Miss Torkingham had hosts of admirers, 
 ripe on the slightest encouragement to be- 
 come suitors — what heiress, a fortiori^ what 
 handsome heiress, has not ? — but Dorrien 
 was the only man she had ever felt she 
 could fall in love with, and he of all men 
 was the only one who had neither been 
 attracted by her looks, impressed by her 
 talents, nor allured by her wealth. 
 
 In the middle of his conversation with 
 Miss Torkingham, which was of a very 
 commonplace order for two such gifted 
 mortals, Dorrien caught sight of Olive's 
 troubled countenance, and^ he was by her 
 side in a moment, somewhat to Miss Tork- 
 ingham' s chagrin. 
 
 '^ What's the matter, Olive ? You don't 
 look happy, little woman ? " 
 
 " Stud, I've been feeling jealous, hor- 
 ribly jealous, for the first time in my life, 
 and I can't say it's pleasant." 
 
 '' Well, what does it feel like ? " 
 
 M 2
 
 164 Clive Dorrien, 
 
 ^^ Oh! horrid." 
 
 " Can't you describe the sensation ? I 
 don't know much about it myself, and I 
 should like to have your idea." 
 
 ^^ Wellj as people say when they're at a 
 loss for words, it beggars description. But 
 just to give you a feeble idea of the feel- 
 ing, I should compare it to being scooped 
 out like a pumpkin and filled up with 
 ice." 
 
 ^^ Does it, really?" laughed Dorrien. 
 '^Well, Othello himself couldn't have put 
 it more forcibly than that. But, not being 
 a pumpkin myself, I can't quite enter into 
 the feeling. And who or what has been 
 the cause of this fearful sensation ? " 
 
 "She's very handsome, Stud, that Miss 
 Torkingham, and so clever, and she likes 
 you, I'm sure. Altogether she seems so 
 much more suited to you than I am ; and 
 a horrid dread seized me that if you had 
 many opportunities of comparing the two
 
 The Eiigineer and his Petard, 165 
 
 of us you couldn't help thinking so 
 too." 
 
 ^^I'd as soon fall in love with Aunt 
 Smack or the Encyclopaedia Britannica," 
 said Dorrien emphatically. '^ I give you 
 my word I would. So don't go indulging 
 in the scooped-out pumpkin sensation again. 
 There's that eccentric old relative of mine 
 conducting the terrible rival to the piano. 
 She's going to sing, evidently ; so ^ look out 
 for squalls.' " 
 
 A different fate attended Miss Torking- 
 ham to that which had befallen the previous 
 performers, who had played or sung un- 
 heeded by any but their respective mammas. 
 As she took her seat there was a hushed 
 stillness, and a general crowding round the 
 piano. This homage, the enthusiasm of 
 silence, the talented young lady received 
 coolly, and prepared for the performance as 
 if " stripping," in a pugilistic sense, for an 
 encounter ; while old Lord Todmorden
 
 1 66 Clive Dorrien. 
 
 fussily constituted himself a sort of second, 
 and took her fan, her handkerchief, and her 
 massive bracelets, as she divested herself 
 of them one by one. 
 
 '^jN^ow, something worthy of you, my 
 dear Miss Torkingham. Something instru- 
 mental to begin with." 
 
 Miss Torkingham smiled a smile of con- 
 scious power, and rattled her fingers over 
 the keys as if just to let the piano know 
 how thoroughly she was its mistress. Then 
 she commenced in downright earnest. As 
 she settled to her work the performance, 
 like Victor Hugo's gunner and the carron- 
 ade, seemed gradually to assume the ap- 
 pearance of a struggle between two animate 
 beings. The piano appeared to be endowed 
 with life, and the whole thing looked like a 
 regular set-to between it and the performer. 
 The piano had no chance though. She 
 rattled his ivories, she hit him a fearful 
 arpeggio in the middle, she struck his ten-
 
 The Engineer and his Petard, 1 67 
 
 derest chords, she ran up to his topmost 
 note in a fierce chromatic till he shrieked, 
 down to his lowest till he groaned, and at 
 times she had him by the pedal till he 
 roared again. 
 
 Wonder, if not admiration, was on 
 nearly every countenance, and as to old 
 Sir Piers he seemed to have made up his 
 mind, or as much as he had got, to 
 give up the puzzle of his life there and 
 then. 
 
 " Beautiful ! magnificent ! sublime ! '' 
 uttered Lord Todmorden in ecstasies, and 
 at the conclusion of the piece he stole a sly 
 glance at his nephew. The old nobleman 
 was overdoing his part, and his little game 
 was gradually dawning upon Dorrien, who 
 sat leaning back carelessly in a chair sur- 
 veying the scene with an air half-amused, 
 half-contemptuous. 
 
 Then Miss Torkingham, by his lordship's 
 special desire, sang a song, then another,
 
 1 68 Clive Dorrien. 
 
 and another. She sang in French, Italian, 
 and German, but not once did she deign to 
 sing in her native tongue. 
 
 '' Perhaps Miss Torkingham would favour 
 you with a Japanese song, or some light 
 little trifle in Hebrew," said Dorrien, as his 
 uncle vented his admiration in loud tones 
 to a by-stander. 
 
 ^^ Well, I dare say she could if she chose." 
 
 " Or perhaps she might improvise an 
 oratorio on the spot on the confusion of 
 tongues, and give it to you in the different 
 dialects." 
 
 "Well, sir," said Lord Todmorden 
 warmly, •' I don't know that I would bet 
 very heavily against her there. There is 
 no limiting her talents. I shouldn't be 
 surprised at anything she could do. Now, 
 Miss Belmont, won't you favour us with 
 something ? " he asked, turning to Clive who 
 stood by. 
 
 She was nearly startled out of her senses
 
 The Engineer and his Petard. 1 69 
 
 at the bare idea. Performmg after Miss 
 Torkingham would have been disconcert- 
 ing to many a professional. How much 
 more so then to Clive, whose utmost skill 
 placed her far short of even mediocrity ? 
 She had never had a singing lesson in her 
 life; had never sung except to ^^ Daddies," 
 or a favoui-ed few ; did not know a song 
 except a few simple ballads. An excuse 
 was on her lips when Dorrien said in a low 
 tone, — ^' Try, Clive. I've a particular rea- 
 son for wishing you to, and give them the 
 simplest thing you know." 
 
 The ^' particular reason " shot through 
 her mind. He did not want her to appear 
 a foolish, simpering little idiot stammering 
 out vapid excuses about colds and no music. 
 After all it was not much to do for Stud's 
 sake, and she'd do it ; no matter if she 
 showed but little skill, at all events there 
 was something in coming forward boldly 
 and doing her best. It was like making up
 
 1 70 Clive Dorrien, 
 
 one's mind to an operation, but Clive 
 hardened her heart to it. She turned very- 
 pale, and pressed her hands together as she 
 replied, '^ I shall be happy to do my best, 
 Lord Todmorden." 
 
 Straightway, like a lamb to the slaughter, 
 she was borne off by Lord Todmorden 
 with, to do him justice, quite as much 
 politeness as he had shown Miss Tork- 
 ingham. 
 
 '^ Ey gad, here's a sort of petticoat edition 
 of David and Goliath ! What a plucky 
 little girl it is to enter the lists with the 
 last champion ! " said an old general to 
 Colonel Belmont, as the two stood together, 
 renewing an acquaintance of many years 
 before. 
 
 '^ Bless my soul, it's Clive ! " said the 
 colonel, fairly staggered by his little 
 daughter's temerity. And as he watched how 
 the colour had faded out of her soft cheeks, 
 and that her hands trembled as she drew off
 
 The Engineer and his Petard* 171 
 
 her gloves, the old soldier's heart beat 
 faster than it had ever done when the 
 enemy's guns were just opening fire — a 
 ticklish moment even to the bravest. Almost 
 as much taken aback was Dolly Jones, who 
 was as confused as if called upon himself 
 for a song or a speech, and stood twirling his 
 imperial furiously with one hand, and 
 nervously twiddling his waistcoat buttons 
 with the other. 
 
 A short symphony from Clive did not pro- 
 mise very well. It sounded feeble and tame 
 after what had gone before. It was like the 
 tinkle of a child's rattle after the full crash 
 of an orchestra. Miss Torkingham could 
 stretch an octave as easily as a race-horse can 
 cover twenty feet in its stride, while to 
 Olive's small hand an octave meant merely 
 a struggle between the thumb and little finger 
 in which one was bound to miss the right 
 note. Lord Todmorden looked round as 
 much as to say, ^'Be good enough to com-
 
 172 Clive Dorrien. 
 
 pare this slurring over of notes with the 
 precision of the previous performance." 
 Most of the listeners seemed quite sorry, and 
 Dolly Jones, in his sympathetic nervousness, 
 undid every button of his waistcoat from 
 the top to the bottom. The symphony being 
 got over, Clive commenced her song, and, 
 though her voice trembled a little, every 
 note was true and sweet. It was merely 
 some little English ballad she was accus- 
 tomed to sing to Daddies in the twilight, 
 and after Miss Torkingham's Italian and 
 German shakes and runs and trills the 
 simple air, sung in the sweet untrained 
 young voice, was like the change from the 
 overpowering aroma of incense to the per- 
 fume of wild-flowers on the summer-breeze. 
 The accompaniment, just a few common- 
 place chords, certainly lacked the brilliancy 
 of Miss Torkingham's;' but the piano, as 
 if appreciating the soft touch after the 
 hammering it had just had, gratefully gave
 
 The Engineer and his Petard. 173 
 
 out its sweetest tones in return, and the 
 silence was as hushed as if Miss Tork- 
 ingham herself had been performing. 
 
 As Clive concluded, and, with flushed 
 cheeks, took shelter from the storm of praise 
 under the lee of ^^ Daddies," Lord Tod- 
 morden felt that the affair had taken quite 
 a wrong direction altogether ; and if he 
 could have fathomed Dorrien's heart, as 
 Clive gave him a look as much as to 
 say, "I did my best for you, Stud," he 
 would have had little cause to congratulate 
 himself upon the success, so far, of his 
 plot. 
 
 There was no chance of retrieving the 
 evening either, for Miss Torkingham was due 
 at a ball, and, followed by Sir Piers, shortly 
 took her departure. Several others followed, 
 Colonel Belmont and his daughter amongst 
 the number, and then there was a general 
 exodus. 
 
 "Pd ask you to the smoking-room, Dolly,
 
 1 74 Clive Dorr\ 
 
 ten. 
 
 for a quiet weed together, but I want to 
 have a private talk with my uncle," said 
 Dorrien to Dolly, who was the last guest to 
 leave. "I'm going to give the old boy a 
 dressing."
 
 CHAPTEE YIII. 
 
 '' GIVING THE OLD BOY A DRESSING." 
 
 Smoking-room, studio, workshop, lumber- 
 room for the material productions of Lord 
 Todmorden's crotchety brain, — whatever it 
 was, the reader knows the apartment. In 
 the c/ief-d'ceuvre of his inventive genius — the 
 revolving chair, ledge in front for his liquid 
 and cigar-ash-holder, everything snug and 
 ship-shape — sits the noble owner. In an 
 ordinary easy-chair, half as complicated, twice 
 as comfortable, with one leg swinging over 
 the arm, sits his nephew quietly puffing his 
 cigar and biding his time.
 
 176 Clive Dorrien, 
 
 ^' Upon my word a wonderful girl that. 
 Her brilliancy is positively dazzling," said 
 Lord Todmorden, turning tlie handle of his 
 revolving chair and directing himself point 
 blank at his nephew. ^^ As a linguist I 
 have never heard her equal. 'No matter 
 what language she attempts, she speaks it as 
 though she were ' native and to the manner 
 born.' - Her German was wonderful. Did 
 vou notice her German, Stud ? " 
 
 ^^Ycs, capital." 
 
 " Yes, capital," repeated his lordship with 
 a chuckle ; *^ I am glad you thought so, for 
 you're such a hard fellow to please. Capital, 
 wasn't it ? " 
 
 ^' Yes; never heard anything so suggestive 
 of a spittoon in all my life ; was nearly kick- 
 ing a footstool towards her by the mere force 
 of the suggestion." 
 
 ^^I'm afraid, Studholme, your military 
 experiences have made you a little coarse.
 
 " Giving the Old Boy a Dressing^ 177 
 
 Your language at times smacks rather of 
 the Camp than of the Court.'' 
 
 "Yery likely. The soldier is generally 
 more outspoken than the courtier, and I'm 
 now going to give you a little of the former 
 character. You don't imagine, do you, that 
 I didn't see through your little game this 
 evening at a very early stage of its develop- 
 ment? And now let me tell you that it 
 was as mean and petty as it has proved un- 
 successful." 
 
 *^ How dare you address those words to 
 me ? It's lucky for you that in coolness 
 I'm an iceberg," roared Lord Todmorden, 
 who was much more like a volcano in active 
 eruption, ^^ or I should order you out of my 
 house. Ten thousand devils, what do you 
 mean ? " 
 
 ^'- Well, to give you a little more of that 
 bluntness you don't approve of, I shouldn't 
 go if you did until I had had my say. One 
 retrieving point in your conduct this even- 
 
 YOL. I. N
 
 178 Clive Dorrien. 
 
 ing, which I was glad to see, was the 
 clumsy way in which you bungled and over- 
 did your part. It showed me that meanness 
 and I may say treachery to a guest were 
 at all events foreign to your nature. You 
 asked Miss Belmont here that you might 
 swamp her with the superior attainments 
 and accomplishments of that Franco- Ger- 
 mano-Italian screech-owl ! " 
 
 ^' What do you mean, sir, by applying an 
 epithet — a vile, compound, international sort 
 of an epithet like that to a friend of mine ? 
 I shan't allow it." 
 
 ^' I say you asked Miss Belmont here that 
 you might make her ridiculous and contemp- 
 tible in my eyes ; might make me think I 
 was doing a foolish thing in marrying her. 
 And now let me tell you how far yoii have 
 been successful. You made some one ridi- 
 culous and contemptible in my opinion, but 
 it is not Miss Belmont ; I never saw her 
 to such advantage, never admired her so,
 
 " Giving the Old Boy a Dressing^ 1 79 
 
 never loved her as much — though I didn't 
 previously think I could have loved her 
 more, — as when, with little more skill at 
 her command than just enough to carry her 
 through a simple English ballad, she, a 
 young girl unused to society, faced an 
 audience of strangers belonging to the cold, 
 selfish, snarling world of fashion— an audience 
 in whose ears that accomplished phenome- 
 non's fifty-guinea-a-lesson sort of Italian 
 shriek was still ringing. It was more to 
 ask of a young girl like her than it would 
 be to ask you or me to march up to the 
 cannon's mouth in cold blood. But she did 
 it at one word from me; and she did it 
 bravely. The very means you employed to 
 loosen her hold on my heart have riveted 
 it more strongly than ever. You've done 
 just the very opposite to what you tried, 
 the usual result, my dear sir, of old heads 
 prescribing for young hearts. I begin to 
 believe that old people after living much in 
 
 n2
 
 1 80 Clive Dorrien. 
 
 the world — I don't mean the one eight 
 thousand odd miles in diameter, but the one 
 bounded by narrow prejudice and ruled by 
 self-interest — undergo a radical change as 
 regards their vital organs. Their hearts 
 slide down into their stomachs or their 
 pockets, and their brains take the place of 
 their hearts." 
 
 All this time Lord Todmorden, though 
 a silent, had not been a patient listener. 
 He had been ^'Pish"-ing and " Pshaw "-ing 
 and spluttering, and, I am sorry to add, 
 occasionally indulging, sotto voce^ in a little 
 strong language. 
 
 ^^Well, sir, I suppose this infernal tirade, 
 when shorn of its abuse and impertinence, 
 means simply that you will marry Miss 
 Belmont?" 
 
 Dorrien coolly nodded his head. 
 
 ^^ And what, sir, do you think marriage 
 with Miss Belmont means ? " 
 
 ^^ In my opinion, as near an approach to
 
 ^' Giving the Old Boy a Dressing!''' i8i 
 
 happiness as we can expect in this world. 
 And now, just as a matter of idle curiosity, 
 and not with the least idea of gaining any- 
 thing of practical value,— suppose you give 
 me your opinion ? " 
 
 " Well, sir, — and mark me you can't 
 outdo me in coolness," roared Lord Tod- 
 morden, — ^4t means poverty in the first 
 place, for I stop your allowance ; and all 
 you inherit from my spendthrift brother is a 
 paltry few hundreds a year, — poverty, and 
 that means to a proud, stuck-up, overbear- 
 ing, I may say, insolent man like you, 
 misery. It means loss of all your friends. 
 How the devil you ever made one, I don't 
 know. But anyhow, it means loss of 
 them." 
 
 ^^The reverse; it will mean the dis- 
 covery of the true ones. Those who drop 
 off at the first breath of adversity, like rotten 
 fruit from a tree, will have been no friends 
 of mine. Better to have one who stands by
 
 1 82 Clive Dorrien, 
 
 you in adversity than five thousand false 
 ones who fawn on you in prosperity." 
 
 " Pooh, sir ; I repeat, Pooh. Pooh-pooh- 
 pooh. You were talking a litle time ago, 
 very wittily as you thought, no doubt, 
 about old people's brains sliding down into 
 their pockets, or some such nonsense. 
 Yours have gone a stage further, sir. 
 There's been a hole in your pocket, I should 
 think, and you've dropped them altogether. 
 I didn't expect such claptrap nonsense from 
 you. You are the last man, I should have 
 thought, to have uttered these crude and 
 childish notions on the subject of Mend- 
 ship. I repeat, that your marriage means 
 misery ; misery while I'm alive and you're 
 poor ; misery still when I'm gone and you 
 inherit the family honours and estates. For 
 with that little bread-and-butter Miss you 
 will be embarrassed in your position; she 
 will be unequal to her station, and will be a 
 clog on you. I regret that the family honour.
 
 " Giving the Old Boy a Dressijig.'''* 1 83 
 
 which has been borne without spot or ble- 
 mish for centuries, will be in yonr custody 
 when you have so little idea of what you 
 owe to your future position." 
 
 During the whole of this stormy dis- 
 cussion, Dorrien had been, though his words 
 look strong on paper, quite cool. At times 
 he had even spoken with a careless and 
 perfectly natural laugh. His face had never 
 changed colour once, and the leg hanging 
 carelessly over the arm of the chair had 
 been swinging all through with the regu- 
 larity of a clock pendulum. But now at 
 these slighting allusions to Clive Belmont, 
 his face flushed for the first time, and the 
 leg swung impatiently. 
 
 ^^ What do you mean ? Miss Belmont in 
 point of family is my equal, if not my 
 superior. All this harping on the unble- 
 mished spotlessness of the family honour and 
 all that sort of nonsense is ridiculous, when 
 we know that this same family honour rests
 
 184 Clive Dorrien. 
 
 on dishonour, sprung from dishonour, was 
 bom of dishonour. What bosh it all is ! 
 You strained at that very small gnat, my 
 theory of friendship, while you're able to 
 swallow this camel, this unclean beast, the 
 family honour, with the greatest ease." 
 
 It must be here explained that the first 
 holder of the title had been one of the 
 numerous ennobled bastards of Charles II. 
 
 Lord Todmorden's wrath was terrible 
 to see. He forgot all about his elaborate 
 system of handles for regulating the re- 
 volutions of his wonderful chair, and 
 adopted the simpler method of kicking 
 his foot against the floor to bring himself 
 into position for pouring point blank into 
 his nephew a broadside of denunciation 
 in avengement of the outraged family 
 honour. But he was not in a frame of 
 mind to measure the required force, and 
 he spun round like a weathercock to the 
 topmost thread of his screw. Conse-
 
 ^" Giving the Old Boy a Dressing^ 185 
 
 quently the first shot of the broadside 
 went ofi" in exactly the opposite direction 
 to that intended ; and as the screw had 
 become jammed, his lordship's back was 
 perforce kept turned to the foe, when all the 
 time his soul was in arms and thirsting 
 for the fray. 
 
 ^^ Allow me," said Dorrien with a quiet 
 laugh, as he leaned forward to assist his 
 uncle who was struggling desperately with 
 the screw. 
 
 ^' Don't touch me, sir ! Hands off ! 
 Don't dare to touch my — my — my mechan- 
 ism ! " roared Lord Todmorden, as he laid 
 violent and trembling hands on the ledge in 
 front, which detained him a prisoner. 
 
 "IN'ow, sir," he spluttered, as he burst 
 through and confronted his nephew. ^ ^ After 
 that speech of yours, the same apartment 
 cannot contain us. Either you or I must 
 leave the room." 
 
 "Well, my dear uncle, as you sug-
 
 1 86 Clive Dorrien, 
 
 gested it and don't seem as comfortable 
 in it as I am, suppose you do ! " 
 
 Lord Todmorden looked for a moment 
 at the poker, and then rushed from the 
 room, as if tearing himself away from a 
 terrible temj)tation. 
 
 ^^ What the deuce are you doing, sir ? " 
 he asked, as he suddenly came upon a 
 footman stooping down in the hall. 
 
 '^ Tying m}^ shoe, my lord." 
 
 *^ Confound you, sir! you're always ty- 
 ing your shoe," said his lordship, giving 
 the man a kick which ran through his 
 frame like an electric shock and sent the 
 powder off his head in a miniature snowstorm. 
 
 ^^ Nothing under a ten pun' note will 
 make a plaster for that^^'' proudly solilo- 
 quised the haughty menial as he hastily 
 withdrew. 
 
 The act probably did cost his lordship 
 quite that, but it was dirt cheap at the 
 price. It was a safety-valve which saved
 
 " Giving the Old Boy a Dressing^ 187 
 
 him from a fit of apoplexy, probably; 
 and he experienced so much relief after it 
 that he felt himself equal to having another 
 shot at the enemy. 
 
 '^I have come back, sir, to tell you, 
 that to save you from the dishonour of 
 inheriting the family title I shall do my 
 utmost. I shall marry again, sir, — my 
 housekeeper, my cook, my scullery maid, 
 if I can't get any one else. There's no 
 step to which I will not stoop to save you 
 from the indignity." 
 
 '^ "Why not Miss Torkingham, my lord ? " 
 " By gad, sir, that's the first sensible 
 remark you've made this evening ! " said 
 Lord Todmorden, pulling up his shirt col- 
 lar and mincing out of the room with a 
 suddenly acquired air of jauntiness; the 
 sort of demeanour we may imagine in 
 Eroggy when he went a wooing, regard- 
 less of maternal wishes, and set off with 
 his opera hat.
 
 1 88 Clive Dorrien. 
 
 When a quarter of an liour afterwards 
 Dorrien passed through the hall on his 
 •way out, he encountered the butler, who 
 was evidently bursting with some strange 
 intelligence. 
 
 ^'A hair-dresser is with his lordship, 
 sir; was routed out of bed, and brought 
 here in a hansom from Bond Street, and 
 now the brougham has been ordered round 
 to take his lordship to Lady Agatha Pier- 
 point's, in Grosvenor Square." 
 
 " Lady Agatha Pierpoint's ! By Jove ! 
 that's where the ball is sJie was going to," 
 mentally remarked Stud with a shrug of 
 the shoulder and a careless laugh.
 
 CHAPTEE IX. 
 
 A TRYING TETE-A-TETE. 
 
 The next morning, between twelve and one 
 o'clock, Clive sat in the drawing-room of 
 their temporary home in Clarges Street. She 
 had been out for an early ride in the 
 Park with her father, and he had gone to the 
 Senior United Service Club to read the 
 papers before luncheon. Dorrien'had not 
 yet made his appearance, neither had he 
 joined them as usual in the ride, and, as on 
 this particular morning there was something 
 special to talk about, she awaited his coming 
 with even more than customary impatience.
 
 190 Clive Dorrien. 
 
 She took up tlie Times and read, or tried 
 to read, steadily for half an hour. It was 
 a labour of love in one sense. Since the 
 chest-measurement of the British Army had 
 been reduced by one inch, the colonel was 
 great on the subject of the Decline and Fall 
 of the British Empire, and when he talked 
 about the trade leaving the country, etc. etc., 
 Clive liked to be able to join in with 
 something about "coal" or "iron" or 
 " finance," just to please him. 
 
 A knock at the street door raised her hopes. 
 
 "There he is!" 
 
 A peep through the window dashed them 
 again. 
 
 " No it isn't. It's that horrid Captain 
 Garstang, I think. I can tell him by his 
 curly hat. Stud would never wear a hat 
 like that. Dolly might, certainly. But 
 then Dolly wouldn't whistle popular tunes 
 on the door-step when he was going to make 
 a call."
 
 A Trying Tete-a-tete. 191 
 
 Having settled this point, she ran to the 
 door with the intention of signalling ^^not 
 at home " over the stairs to the servant, but 
 the time taken up in settling the owner- 
 ship of the curly hat had been fatal, and 
 Garstang was already within the portals. 
 
 She had just time to resume her seat and 
 compose her features into an expression of 
 sublime innocence of all such acts as peep- 
 ing through windows and signalling over 
 heads of stairs when the visitor was an- 
 nounced. 
 
 ^' How de do. Miss Belmont ?" said Gar- 
 stang, entering in his free-and-easy style. 
 "• Evidently none the worse for your exer- 
 tions last night. 
 
 ' You're looking as fresh as the morn, dar — ' 
 
 Ah, we had better not continue the song." 
 
 ^' I am sorry papa is not in, Captain Gar- 
 stang," said Clive, purposely disclaiming 
 any idea of the visit being to her.
 
 192 Clive Dorrien. 
 
 '^ Can't say /am. In fact I knew he was 
 out. Came along past the Senior and saw 
 him just going into that hot-bed of fogyism 
 and inhospitality. Can't ask a fellow to dine 
 there or even give him a glass of sherry, and 
 the old fossils pretend the rule is most irk- 
 some to them. "Why the deuce do they make 
 it then ? Made a bet with a fellow once I'd 
 get a liquor out of them. Got long odds, 
 precious long odds, or I wouldn't have had 
 anything to do with it. Fell down in a fit 
 on the door-step with both hands over my 
 heart and feebly murmuring ' brandy.' 
 Three old generals and two admirals dragged 
 me across the road to a chemist's opposite, 
 and gave me, ugh ! tincture of cardamoms. 
 Tincture of cardamoms, by gad ! It rankles 
 in my bosom to this hour. Lost my bet ; 
 will have my revenge though. My profes- 
 sional ambition is to become a field-officer, 
 join the Senior, and walk up and down the 
 reading-room in creaking boots for two
 
 A Trying Tete-a-tete, 193 
 
 hours every day. Will do it too, by Jove ! 
 Brouglit you some tickets for Hurlinghani 
 next Saturday. Come and see me shoot, 
 and if I'm in form you just back me, and 
 you'll win enough gloves to carry you 
 through the season. I'll give you the 
 straight tip if it's one of my days." 
 
 ^^ Thank you, Captain Garstang, I'm en- 
 gaged." 
 
 " Well, they'll do for any other day." 
 '-'' Thank you very much, but you'd better 
 keep them. I'm sure I shall always have 
 some engagement which I shall prefer 
 to seeing you mangle the poor little 
 creatures." 
 
 " No, never mangle my birds — only duf- 
 fers do that. Always kill 'em dead, I assure 
 you. Ha-ha-ha ! Can't be very wrong, you 
 know. Your friend Dorrien shoots, or used 
 to shoot, at Hurlingham sometimes. Had 
 you there, eh?" 
 
 Clive coloured up crimson, and was hardly 
 VOL. I.
 
 194 Clive Dorrie7i. 
 
 logical in her way of getting out of the 
 difficulty. 
 
 " Not at all, Captain Garstang, I'm sure if 
 I were a pigeon I'd much sooner be shot by 
 Captain Dorrien than by you." 
 
 '' That's beautiful ! Oh ! little Belmont, 
 little Belmont, you are an amoosin little cuss, 
 as Artemus — " 
 
 ^^ Captain Garstang." 
 
 ^^ Miss Belmont." 
 
 ^^ You're forgetting yourself." 
 
 ^^ Yery likely. ^ 'Twas ever thus from 
 childhood's hour.' Self has always been my 
 last thought. I am always forgetting my- 
 self. I am the most unselfish creature in the 
 world. But, come, I shan't be a nasty tease 
 any longer. I must really congratulate you 
 on your success last night. 'Pon my word 
 you quite took the shine out of that 
 bright constellation. Miss Torkingham, and 
 were the star of the evening, beautiful 
 star.
 
 A Trying Tete-a-tete, 195 
 
 Beautiful star-ar 
 Shine on your Gar-ar- 
 Stang wlio does twang 
 His musical, tuneful guitar." 
 
 As Captain Garstang sang these words to 
 tlie well-known tune, lie struck tlie conven- 
 tional attitude of a gay troubadour, and 
 used his riding- cane as a guitar. Clive 
 would have preferred using it as a horse- 
 whip. 
 
 ^^ What do you think of that for an im- 
 promptu effort, eh ? " 
 
 " I did not think of its being impromptu^ 
 Captain Garstang, so much as something 
 else beginning with the same syllable," re- 
 plied Clive, who did not at all appreciate the 
 pleasantry. The fact was the previous 
 night had beeu a ^^ heavy "one at Captain 
 Garstang' s club, and, as he himself would 
 have termed it, " the liquor was not yet 
 quite dead in him." 
 
 " Ha, ha, ha! You and I are alwayshav- 
 
 o2
 
 1 9b Clive Dorrien, 
 
 ing a little bit of a sparring-matcli, aren't 
 ■we ? I tell you what it is, though, you've 
 established rather a raw amongst the old 
 girls with daughters. Some of them are 
 down on you, I can tell you, and you'd 
 stand as much chance in their clutches as a 
 poor little mousey-pousey amongst a lot of 
 tabbies." 
 
 " May I take the liberty of asking Cap- 
 tain Garstang how I have incurred the dis- 
 pleasure of these high and mighty dames ? " 
 asked Clive, mounting a pair of conversa- 
 tional stilts as a hint to Captain Garstang 
 
 that an elevation of hu style would be an 
 
 improvement. 
 
 He did not take the hint, however, though 
 
 he noticed it. On the contrary, he became 
 
 still more objectionable. He was evidently, 
 
 in his own language, '^taking a rise out of 
 
 the little Belmont filly." 
 
 '^Well, you know the fact is you're 
 
 monopolizing a great deal too much of that
 
 A Trying Tete-a-tete, 197 
 
 sarcastic bear who, from the fact of his 
 being okl Toddy's heir, is looked upon as 
 rather a prize in the matrimonial market, 
 and that's a thing, you know, women can't 
 forgive in one another.'' 
 
 ^* Your language is so very obscure to- 
 day, Captain Garstang, that my share in the 
 conversation seems to be confined to asking 
 for explanations. May I ask who the sar- 
 castic bear is ? " 
 
 ^^ Really now that's too good. Upon my 
 soul that's rich. As if you didn't know. 
 "Why, even if your conscience doesn't tell 
 you, my description ought to. Or, perhaps, 
 you think '- boor ' would suit Captain Dor- 
 rien better than ^ bear ' ? " 
 
 ^^ If Captain Dorrien, when addressing 
 you. Captain Garstang, has been boorish and 
 unmannerly, I most heartily admire his tact 
 in so thoroughly adapting himself to the 
 society he was in. My only surprise is that 
 he should have condescended as much, for
 
 198 Clive Dorrien, 
 
 in my opinion you are even beneath Ms 
 contempt." 
 
 ^* Upon my word, this is good. This is 
 capital ! I'm afraid the bear has been whis- 
 pering soft nothings into your ear. It's reaUy 
 quite amusing to imagine him the victim of 
 a tender passion. I should have thought it 
 had been doing violence to his nature. Be- 
 ware of a bear's hug, Miss Belmont. Ha, 
 ha! It's not exactly the tender est of 
 caresses. Besides, I tell you what it is, the 
 old boy won't stand it. Old Hot Toddy 
 will boil over, and you'll be the little golden 
 pippin of the row in that house." 
 
 For a long time Clive had been very 
 shaky on her conversational stilts, and 
 now the last shot brought her tumbling 
 down. 
 
 ^'You're a cowardly snob, Captain 
 Garstang." 
 
 ^'Ha, ha! You'll excuse me, Miss Bel- 
 mont, but really I must repeat what I've
 
 A Trying Tete-d-tete, 199 
 
 told you before, that a passion becomes you 
 amazingly. Eeally it does. I must think 
 of something else about the sarcastic bear, 
 for I see that's a safe draw." 
 
 With burning cheeks and flashing eyes, 
 Clive rose and rang the bell. 
 
 "Now, Captain Garstang, your visit — if 
 your intrusion here with apparently no 
 object in view but studied insult can be 
 called by that name — will not last much 
 longer, and before it comes to an end, let 
 me warn you that the servants will have 
 strict orders never to admit you if you should 
 call ; and if you happen to meet me out of 
 doors, you can save yourself the trouble of 
 taking off your hat." 
 
 " Well, it shan't be teased any more. 
 We'll make it up ; and tell the servant when 
 he comes in to pull up the blinds, or water 
 the plants, or do something or other. I 
 shan't be a nasty, great, big, unkind thing 
 any longer, and make its angry little passions
 
 200 Clive Dorrien. 
 
 rise, and it mustn't tap its little tootsey- 
 wootsey on the ruggy-buggy in a ragey- 
 pagey." 
 
 The servant here made his appearance. 
 '^ Open the door for Captain Garstang.'^ 
 '^ Eh, what ? Come, you know I 
 didn't—" 
 
 ^* Open the door for Captain Garstang," 
 Garstang began to think that '^ the little 
 Belmont filly " in a passion was not such a 
 screaming farce after all. However, he tried 
 to appear as if he still thought so; but 
 the attempt was a very lame one, and with 
 a forced laugh he wished her good morning 
 and swaggered out of the room. 
 
 He was a foul-mouthed man, was Gar- 
 stang, particularly where women were con- 
 cerned, and as he walked down the street, 
 the abuse he levelled at dive's innocent 
 head would have disgraced a bargee, or 
 rather, perhaps, I should say, would have 
 put him on his mettle.
 
 A Trying Tete-d-tete. 201 
 
 " Cursed, little prig ! " he concluded as 
 lie entered his club, ^^ she takes her cue 
 from that great bumptious brute, Dorrien. 
 He's at the bottom of it all — " 
 
 The remainder of his speech was not fit 
 for ears polite. 
 
 *' What's the matter, Gar, old cock?" 
 asked a '^pal" and bird of a feather who 
 stood smokiug on the steps of the club. 
 
 ^* Matter ! Why, that I owe a fellow one 
 and I'd like to pay him, only I don't know 
 how." 
 
 ^^Sell him a horse. Gar, sell him a 
 horse." 
 
 "Curse him, no! he's too wide awake 
 for that."
 
 CHAPTEE X. 
 
 A LOVE MATCH. 
 
 The flush had not faded from Olive's face 
 
 nor the fire from her eyes when Dorrien 
 
 entered. 
 
 ^'How late you are, Stud, this morning." 
 '' Why, what's the matter ? You look as 
 
 if you had been having a fight with some 
 
 one." 
 
 " I've been in an awful rage. Stud. That 
 
 abominable Captain Garstang has been 
 
 paying a visit here, and he does annoy me 
 
 so." 
 
 Why, you don't mean to say he has
 
 A Love Match, 203 
 
 l)een guilty of any impertinence ? " asked 
 Dorrien, his brow growing black. 
 
 ^^Ob! no, dear, no, not in the least," 
 hurriedly replied Clive, as visions of pistols 
 for one and coffee for two floated through 
 her imagination. '^ I'm like you. Stud; you 
 know, I can't be civil to people I dislike, 
 and the more uncivil I am to him the more 
 — well, not rude, Stud, no, not a bit, I can't 
 say he gets rude, but the true fact is he will 
 treat me as if I were a child, and that does 
 make me so wild." 
 
 ^^ Never mind him ; he is not worth getting 
 into a rage about. He'll be a good riddance 
 when he is out of the regiment, and it's my 
 firm opinion he won't last long. The 
 reason why I'm so late is that I've been 
 paying my lawyer a visit, Clive," continued 
 Dorrien with a careless dismissal of the 
 Garstang subject. 
 
 "What for. Stud? "asked Clive with a 
 startled look. There is something un-
 
 204 Clive Dorrien. 
 
 pleasant and alarming in tlie sound of 
 ^^ lawyer" to a loving young heart. The 
 family lawyer has been the sexton of many 
 a courtship, and tolled the death knell of 
 many a love which has come to an un- 
 timely end. 
 
 '^"Well, I'm afraid that interview with 
 papa in the study will have to be gone 
 through again. The course of true love 
 never did run smooth, you know, Clive, and 
 there's what they call a '- hitch.' " 
 
 ^^Stud!" Clive grew deadly pale and 
 trembled. 
 
 '-^ I wanted to know exactly what I my- 
 self am worth. It was something so small 
 compared to what my allowance and 
 expectations were that I hardly counted 
 it before. But now both allowance 
 and expectations have melted into thin 
 air." 
 
 ^^ Why, what do you mean, Stud ? What 
 has happened ? "
 
 A Love Match. ^05 
 
 '-'• Well, my uncle is going to be married 
 immediately." 
 
 ^^ Going to be married ! Since when ? " 
 
 " Since about two or three o'clock this 
 morning, I should say. And now, Clive, all 
 that I have of my own, all that I can count 
 upon for the present and the future is five 
 hundred a year, which was my mother's 
 settlement. My father was a younger son, 
 and what he had he ran through. And now, 
 little woman, what do you say to the change ? " 
 
 *'You must answer me a question first, 
 Stud," she said with downcast eyes. 
 
 A look of keen, of bitter disappointment 
 swept over his face. Had he not rather 
 expected an unquestioning and cheerful 
 acceptance of the news ? Had the worship 
 of Mammon then crept into even this young 
 heart ? Had one London season been 
 enough to blight this innocent little flower ? 
 Avaunt then for ever and ever all faith in 
 woman's pureness of heart.
 
 2o6 Clive Dorrien. 
 
 '^ Your question ? " 
 
 ^' What do you say to the change, Stud ? 
 What difference does it make in you ? How 
 much diO you care ? " 
 
 '^ For my own self ? " 
 
 ^' Yes, for your own own self, putting 
 every one else out of the question?" 
 
 ^' Not two straws," he said, snapping his 
 fingers. 
 
 ^^ !N'either do I, Stud," she exclaimed with 
 an imitation of the action and rushing into 
 his arms. ^^ What difference, what change 
 could it make in me, except perhaps to make 
 me happier? for I may have more oppor- 
 tunities of showing my love for you in 
 poverty than in wealth." 
 
 Doubt and disappointment no longer 
 clouded Dorrien's face. There was a re- 
 bound of feeling, all the stronger for the 
 passing doubt, and Olive's small form was 
 caught up in his arms. 
 
 " Oh ! Stud, how could you frighten me
 
 A Love Match, 207 
 
 SO ? " site said, nestling up to him and 
 speaking betwixt laughing and crying. '-'- 1 
 thought you were gradually working round 
 to ^ prudence,' and ^didn't exactly see your 
 way,' and ^ better for both,' and all that sort 
 of thing ; which is only a polite way people 
 have for saying they're tired of each other ; 
 and I was hardening my heart to be able 
 to tell you that I absolved you from your 
 promise, and that I hoped you would find 
 some one that would love you as truly as I 
 had, and all the rest of it. Altogether I was 
 going to be very noble and dignified, though 
 I dare say it would have ended in my kick- 
 ing my heels about in a fit of hysterics. 
 But, Stud, I must beg your pardon for ever 
 thinking that you could have done anything 
 so mean and cruel." 
 
 " We'll cry quits about that, little wo- 
 man," said Dorrien, ^^for I wronged you 
 too. I didn't understand what you were 
 driving at, and did you the injustice to
 
 2o8 Clive Dorrten, 
 
 think your feelings had changed with my 
 change of fortune." 
 
 ^^ Stud, Stud, how could you ? I only 
 wanted to know how much you cared before 
 I answered your question. That was all." 
 
 '' Of course it was, and I ought to be 
 kicked for thinking anything else. But 
 now there's the colonel to be told. I 
 wonder what he'll say about it." 
 
 "Do you think, Stud, it would afford 
 darling old Daddies any gratification to see 
 me die by inches ? " 
 
 "l^ot exactly." 
 
 " Quite sure ? " 
 
 " Yes." 
 
 ^' Well, you may make yourself quite sure 
 about his line of conduct. And now having 
 settled the important point that * as you 
 loves me as I loves you, nought shall part 
 our love in two,' (Tennyson), let me hear 
 the wonderful piece of news. You may 
 imagine what my feelings must have been,
 
 A Love Match, 209 
 
 Stud, to have stifled all curiosity. But 
 now it has come on with redoubled force. '^ 
 
 ^^ Well, my uncle is going to be married, 
 next week, probably." 
 
 ^^Lord Todmorden going to be married 
 next week ! Why, if you had told me Aunt 
 Smack had eloped with Dolly, I shouldn't 
 have been much more surprised. You didn't 
 know anything about it last night ? " 
 
 '^ Neither did he." 
 
 '^ What an extraordinary thing ! Did he 
 say anything about it to you after we 
 left ? " 
 
 ^^Well, he certainly did mention the 
 subject in a sort of a way," replied Dorrien, 
 with a smile. 
 
 " Now tell me everything. Stud. What 
 does that smile mean ? Thereby hangs a 
 tale, I'm sure. Out with it What led to 
 the subject ? " 
 
 ^^ Well, we had a slight disagreement on a 
 certain point, and — " 
 
 VOL. I. p
 
 mo Clive Dorrien, 
 
 ^^Stop, Stud. Don't slur over that so 
 quickly, /was the certain point. I know 
 I was. I was the bone of contention." 
 
 " Don't flatter yourself. It was nothing 
 more nor less than the family honour that 
 we split upon. He was trying to cram it 
 down my throat in great coarse lumps, and 
 I simply refused to swallow the trash. On 
 this, he lost his temper, and announced his 
 intention of marrying, and the last I saw of 
 him was in the act of pulling up his shirt 
 collar with quite a rakish air as he went out 
 of the room on his way to propose to Miss 
 Torkingham at Lady Agatha Pierpoint's 
 ball." 
 
 ^' Miss Torkingham ! And do you mean 
 to say that she is going to marry that old 
 frump ? Oh ! I beg your pardon, Stud." 
 
 ^' Don't mention it. I don't know for 
 certain who the lady may be ; but, from 
 what passed last night and my knowledge 
 of his impetuous character, I'm convinced
 
 A Love Match. 211 
 
 that he is engaged to be married at the 
 present moment, and that he will be too 
 honourable to back out of it." 
 
 " But what did pass last, Stud ? explain 
 that." 
 
 '' Why, you obstinate little atom of per- 
 tinacity, didn't I tell you something about 
 that vain shadow called family honour ? " 
 
 '-'' There's no use fencing about it, Stud. I 
 know I was the cause. They say a woman's 
 at the bottom of every mischief, and I'm 
 the woman at the bottom of this. I'm very 
 sorry for it. Dear me, it's a terrible thing 
 to think of what a firebrand I must be. 
 Here I've set papa and Aunt Smack, you 
 and Lord Todmorden, brother and sister, 
 uncle and nephew, all by the ears, and then 
 I've had a pitched battle with Captain Gar- 
 stang, and I dare say Miss Torkingham hates 
 me like poison. I'm sure I don't want to 
 fight or to be fought about, but they will do 
 it." 
 
 p2
 
 2L2 Clive Dorrien, 
 
 At this point Colonel Belmont entered. 
 
 ^' Daddies, prepare yourself for a piece 
 of news." 
 
 '^Nothing very sad, evidently," said the 
 colonel. 
 
 ^' "Well, I don't think it is, and Btud 
 doesn't think it is, and you won't think it is, 
 unless you're growing mercenary in your 
 old age. Lord Todmorden is going to be 
 married, and he's quarrelled with Stud and 
 cut him off with a shilling, and it's going to 
 be a case of love in a cottage." 
 
 Albeit the colonel was not in the least 
 <^ growing mercenary in his old age," he 
 failed to see a joke in the circumstance, 
 and turned to Dorrien with a serious air. 
 
 '^ That's about it, colonel. My uncle has 
 suddenly made up his mind to be married ; 
 and in consequence of some words we had 
 on family matters, there is now an estrange- 
 ment between us. It has happened very 
 suddenly, but you know enough of Lord
 
 A Love Match. 213 
 
 Todmorden not to be surprised at any 
 sudden wMm lie may take into his head and 
 carry out with blind impetuosity. I would 
 move heaven and earth to prevent the 
 match, for his sake, not for my own ; but 
 a wrong construction would be put on my 
 motives ; and so peculiar is his temperament 
 that opposition or advice would do more 
 harm than good. !N'ow, colonel, to put the 
 matter roughly before you at once, about 
 five hundred a year represents the whole 
 of my fortune. Certainly I may yet 
 succeed my uncle, but that must not be 
 counted on. You are too old a soldier 
 to reckon on an off chance. What do you 
 say ? " 
 
 '^Dorrien," said the colonel, ^^ when I 
 promised you my child I was not influenced 
 one jot by those prospects which you now tell 
 me are no longer yours. I looked to the 
 man, not to the surroundings of title and 
 wealth. I would sooner give her to you
 
 214 Clive Dorrien. 
 
 witli five hundred a year than to any man 
 I ever met with fifty times ^n^ hundred. 
 From the moment you first joined I have 
 had my eye on you. To me there was a 
 fascination in watching a strength of cha- 
 racter wonderful in one so yoTing, and 
 although at first I in a measure disliked 
 you, for there was an independence about 
 you which in one so junior was irritating 
 to a punctilious military mind, I respected 
 you; and now my confidence in you is 
 unbounded, and trne affection has taken the 
 place of dislike. You will have enough 
 to live happily on. It will be more than 
 I had when I married her mother, for my 
 father was then still alive ; and God grant 
 you such happiness as ours was when I was 
 a poor captain, and may He spare you the 
 misery which fell on us both when we were 
 comparatively rich. My income, counting 
 my pay, which perhaps is hardly worth 
 taking into consideration, is close on two
 
 A Love Match. 2 1 5 
 
 thousand. l^ow an old soldier like me 
 wants little more than his barrack quarters, 
 with a camp-bed and a tub in them, and 
 enough money to pay his mess bill, and have 
 a few pounds in his pocket. The rest shall 
 be yours and Olive's — Don't interrupt, let 
 me have my say, Dorrien. And when my 
 soldiering is over, all I ask you in return is 
 to give me standing room for my camp-bed 
 and allow me to hang up my old sword in 
 your home." 
 
 ^^My dear colonel," replied Dorrion, 
 " the last has always been an understood 
 thing with us. But as regards the financial 
 question, we must devise some other 
 plan." 
 
 '^ I put it to you as a man of sense, 
 Dorrien, a man with eyes that can see and 
 ears that can hear, — the money over and 
 above my own personal wants is no use to 
 me without Olive. I have no want for it. 
 I simply could not spend it. What good
 
 2 1 6 Clive Dorrten, 
 
 will it do there accumulating at my 
 bankers? I do not think, as it seems 
 to me many old people do, that I shall 
 be able in the spirit to look over the 
 shoulder of each of my friends as he reads 
 my will in the ^ Illustrated London News,' 
 and chuckle as I hear him say, ^ Halloa, 
 old Belmont was worth more than I 
 thought ! ' I do not expect this privilege 
 will be granted to me hereafter, and I 
 should not appreciate it if it were to be. 
 Don't cross me in this, Studholme. Don't, 
 I beg of you." 
 
 There was some further discussion, but 
 _)orrien was at last obliged to surrender. 
 ^' There, that's settled; we won't talk 
 about that any longer," said Colonel Bel- 
 mont. I have some important news, too, 
 for you both. I met the Quarter-Master- 
 General this morning, and he tells me that 
 there has been a change regarding the 
 Indian reliefs, and that the regiment is to
 
 A Love Match, 2 1 7 
 
 go out next autumn instead of the following 
 one." 
 
 '^ Oh, Daddies, don't go, don't go, darling; 
 sell out at once," said Cliye, throwing her 
 arms round him. 
 
 ^^ It won't be for long, my child. I've 
 a strange longing to see India once more. 
 Its associations are not all unhappy ones, 
 and there is a little spot of Indian ground 
 often in my dreams now that I should like 
 to see again — There, there, old people 
 can't help looking back, but ^ forward ' is 
 the motto for the young. You will stay, my 
 child. Thank God ! for giving you a 
 protector in whose care I can leave you 
 without one single fear or misgiving. In 
 two years or so I shall give up soldiering, 
 and then, please God, if all goes well, I 
 shall be with you again." 
 
 ^^Let us go back then. Daddies, at once 
 to the old regiment. I've had enough of 
 London gaiety. I couldn't enjoy it now.
 
 2 1 8 Clive Dorrieii. 
 
 Let us have as much of the old sort of life 
 as we can for the short time we shall be 
 together. Let us go back to-morrow, Dad- 
 dies, do." 
 
 The colonel did not hold out very long 
 on this point. Assuredly London gaiety had 
 no charm for him when it had ceased to 
 have any for Clive, and with soldier-like 
 promptitude he promised her that they 
 should return the very next day. 
 
 After luncheon there was a more 
 lengthened council which resulted in the 
 following : — Dorrien was to retire from the 
 service and his papers were to be sent in at 
 once. The engagement was to be '^ given 
 out," and the wedding was to take place 
 before the embarkation of the regiment for 
 India. 
 
 Later in the afternoon the colonel gave 
 way, under Olive's continued entreaties, and 
 he promised that he would exchange into a 
 regiment remaining at home. That night
 
 A Love Match. ii(^ 
 
 Dorrien returned to Aldershot. Before leav- 
 ing town lie received a letter from Lord 
 Todmorden, which ran as follows : — 
 
 ^^ You have had enough opportunities of 
 judging my character to know by this time 
 that every action of my life is the result of 
 calm deliberation. So quickly with me is 
 decision formed, and so promptly on deci- 
 sion does action follow, that to many I may 
 appear hasty. You, however, from your 
 closer knowledge of my character, will be 
 aware that the rapidity with which my 
 plans are invariably formed and carried out 
 is to be attributed rather to the fact that 
 where other men's brains would be clouded 
 by passion or excitement, I am always 
 cool and collected." 
 
 Dorrien thought with a smile of Bui'ns' 
 words, 
 
 " Oh I wad some power the giftie gie us, 
 To see ourselves as others see u?," 
 and continued : —
 
 220 Clive Dorrien. 
 
 '^You will not be surprised, therefore, 
 after what passed last night, to hear — and I 
 think it is only fair to take the earliest 
 opportunity of letting you know it — that I 
 am engaged to be married. I took your 
 advice regarding Miss Torkingham, as far as 
 in me lay; that is to say, I went straight 
 to Lady Agatha's ball, and offered her my 
 hand, which she did me the honour to refuse. 
 The next young lady I conferred the com- 
 pliment upon pleaded a previous engage- 
 ment ; in fact, is going to be married to- 
 morrow. At the third time of asking, I was 
 successful in securing an exceedingly fine 
 girl as the future Lady Todmorden. She is 
 a daughter of Lord Ballinasloe, an Irish 
 peer. There was a slight difficulty at first, 
 but the course of true love never does run 
 smooth. It appears she was already en- 
 gaged to a cousin, a young subaltern, who 
 has recently been stationed near their place, 
 in county Wicklow, and, not having caught
 
 A Love Match. 221 
 
 my name when I was introduced, she re- 
 pelled my advances with virtuous scorn. 
 But on hearing who I was from a passer-hy, 
 who happened to address me at the moment, 
 the noble girl threw over every considera- 
 tion and was mine. She stands at least five 
 foot nine, judging roughly from the fact that 
 when we met in the mazy figures of the 
 lancers or quadrille, I could feel her breath 
 playing on the top of my head, and is mag- 
 nificently proportioned. Altogether I con- 
 gratulate you and myself. 
 
 The greater part of the above was read by 
 the fitful light of a railway lamp, as Dorrien 
 travelled down to the Camp. 'Not many 
 minutes after he had thrust it into his 
 pocket and transferred his attention to an 
 evening paper, the following paragraph, an 
 extract from one of the journals which chro- 
 nicle such small beer, caught his eye, — 
 
 ^^ An alliance is about to be contracted
 
 222 Clive Dorrien. 
 
 between Lord Todmorden, one of the most 
 accomplished and versatile peers of the day, 
 and the Honourable Norah Cresslington, 
 sixth daughter of Lord Ballinasloe. We 
 learn from an eminently trustworthy source 
 that the match is one of sincere attachment 
 on both sides, and that the engagement is 
 of long standing."
 
 CHAPTEE XI. 
 
 DETECTION. 
 
 The train by whicli Dorrien journeyed to 
 Aldershot was that one known as the ^' Cold 
 Meat," which, with a morbid leaning to the 
 ghastly, is dismally supposed, chiefly by 
 young ladies who get their information from 
 military partners of tender age, to convey 
 corpses to "Woking Cemetery for interment. 
 !N'ot to any such ghastly freight, however, 
 does it owe its name. It carries nothing 
 more dreadful than a portion of the beef and 
 mutton for the morning's issue to the troops 
 in camp, and a few belated and grumbling
 
 224 Clive Dorrie7i, 
 
 officers for whose behoof the company cour- 
 teously couple on a first class carriage. 
 
 Travelling by the '-'• Cold Meat " is about 
 as depressing as anything in the way of loco- 
 motion can be. It starts in the dead of 
 night from Nine Elms Station, and to get to 
 it is in itself a work of difficulty and some 
 danger. There is no lighted platform to 
 step from ; the ^^ Cold Meat " stands ready 
 for its journey in the midst of a labyrinth 
 of rails, some acres in extent, over which 
 the traveller is guided by a sleepy porter 
 with a dim lantern. If you accomplish this 
 part of the undertaking without dislocating 
 your ankle over a rail, or barking your shin 
 against a ^^ point," or narrowly escaping a 
 little juggernautic business in connection 
 with a shunting coal-truck or two, you may 
 consider yourself tolerably lucky, and 
 gratitude should be your predominant feel- 
 ing as you take your seat in the compart- 
 ment. Here, however, things are not very
 
 Detection. 125 
 
 cheerful. The passengers are never in the 
 best of tempers. They are all officers on 
 their way to Aldershot, most of whom have 
 been holding the cup of pleasure to their 
 lips up to the last moment, and have 
 been torn away from the ^^ primrose path of 
 dalliance " to tread the '^ steep and thorny 
 road of duty " which, with them, generally 
 leads in the direction of the ^ Long Yalley'. 
 Or perchance some have missed the last train 
 from Waterloo, and are in the consequent 
 pleasant frame of mind. No one travels by 
 the " Cold Meat " if he can help it. When 
 it gets under weigh, which is a matter of 
 uncertainty, the rate of progression favours 
 the idea that the engine-driver believes in 
 that ghastly tradition concerning the corpses 
 for Woking Cemetery, and is adapting his 
 pace to the funereal nature of the occasion. 
 The consequence is that when the train 
 creeps into Aldershot Station the passengers 
 find themselves well into the small hours. 
 
 VOL. I. Q
 
 226 Clive Dorrien, 
 
 There is no flyman about — his importunities, 
 even his extortions would be regarded with 
 delight noWj — and the traveller, cramped, 
 sleepy, and chilled, has to walk to his des- 
 tination. 
 
 I am particular in recording that it was 
 by this train Dorrien travelled, for it was 
 the trifling circumstance from which mighty 
 consequences sprung. Had he journeyed by 
 any other — by the last one from "Waterloo 
 at night, or the first one in the morning — 
 he would have missed a moment which may 
 be described as the turning point in the 
 lives of several of our characters. 
 
 It was about three o'clock in the morning 
 as he reached the lines occupied by his regi- 
 ment. Nothing broke the stillness of the 
 camp, except an occasional faint chorus or a 
 shout of laughter from some distant mess- 
 house, betokening that some regiment was 
 " making a night of it," or the challenges of 
 the sentries — not as a rule in the conven-
 
 Detection. 227 
 
 tional ^^ hoarse" notes, but in treble squeaks 
 from narrow-chested lads, the proteges of a 
 recent war minister. 
 
 As Dorrien passed through the dark rows 
 of huts his attention was attracted by a 
 light in Dolly Jones' window. 
 
 ^' What's Dolly burning the midnight oil 
 for, I wonder? The careless old beggar 
 has probably gone to sleep with his candle 
 lighted. There must be some very vigilant 
 tutelary saint watching over this camp, or it 
 would be burned down about once a month." 
 
 Thus soliloquising, Dorrien walked up to 
 the window with the intention of peeping 
 through to see if his conjecture were right. 
 A glance through the carelessly di-awn 
 curtains told him he was not. Dolly was 
 wide awake in one sense, though very much 
 the reverse in another. He and Garstang 
 were playing ecarte ; the former with his 
 face, the latter with his back, to the window. 
 
 Dorrien's footsteps had been lost in the 
 
 Q 2
 
 2 28 Clive Dorrien, 
 
 tramp of a '^Relief," wliicli happened to 
 be passing at the time, and the two players 
 continued unconscious of observation. 
 
 ^^ Luck's dead against you now, Dolly, 
 old man," said Garstang, playing a card and 
 taking up a trick. ^^ That makes me — " 
 
 The door was opened unceremoniously, 
 and Dorrien entered. 
 
 ^^ Halloa, old fellow," said Dolly, his 
 open countenance brightening up in spite 
 of luck being so dead against him. "I 
 suppose you've come down by the ^^ Cold 
 Meat." By Jove ! did you see that para- 
 graph in the evening paper about your 
 uncle ? I'm just finishing this rubber, and 
 then I'm game for a talk about it." 
 
 ^^ You had better not play any more, 
 Dolly," said Dorrien quietly. 
 
 '' Why not ? '\ 
 
 '-'- Because the man you are playing with 
 cheats. " 
 
 Dolly dropped his cards and looked all
 
 Detection, 229 
 
 eyes and mouth. Garstang sprang to his 
 feet. 
 
 '^ Liar! You shall eat your words before 
 you leave this room. By Heaven, you shall ! " 
 
 ^* Bosh ! " said Dorrien contemptuously. 
 " The walls of these Aldershot huts are 
 thin, and I'd advise you to moderate 
 these paroxysms of virtuous indignation a 
 little. They'll do you more harm than 
 good, though it's not for your sake, but the 
 sake of the regiment, I warn you. I saw 
 him, Dolly, through the window ; I saw him 
 deliberately cheat you." 
 
 Garstang turned deadly pale, and his 
 bloodless lips quivered ; but he still showed 
 fight. 
 
 '^ I appeal to you, Jones. Are the words 
 of a man who on his own showing is a spy 
 and a sneak, a man who creeps up to a 
 window and plays the part of an eaves- 
 dropper, to be taken against mine ? " 
 
 " For goodness' sake, Dorrien, be careful
 
 230 Clive Dorrien. 
 
 how you bring sucb. an accusation," said 
 Dolly, looking infinitely more distressed 
 than even Garstang himself. ^' You might 
 have been mistaken, you know — '' 
 
 ^^ I denounce him as a cheat because I 
 mw him, Dolly, I tell you. Examine those 
 cards he's been playing with if you want 
 any additional evidence." 
 
 Garstang became a shade paler, and he 
 raised his hand as if to clasp his brow in 
 despair, but he recovered himself in time to 
 turn the action off into a careless movement 
 of running his fingers through his hair. 
 
 The motion was not lost on Dolly, and 
 while it carried conviction — if conviction he 
 needed — to his mind, it also carried pity to 
 his soft heart. 
 
 '* He is in your power, Dorrien. Be 
 merciful," he pleaded. 
 
 ^^ Upon my soul," said Garstang with a 
 forced laugh, '^ this is getting too rich. 
 You're not yet retained for the defence, old
 
 Detection. 231 
 
 fellow. I am quite able to defend myself 
 from a trumped-up charge, thank you.'' 
 
 ^^ Now, look here," said Dorrien, '^ you're 
 on a useless tack. You're a man of the 
 world, in the worst sense of the phrase — 
 card-sharpers generally are — and you will 
 at once see the best terms you can make 
 for yourself. I am on the point of leaving 
 the regiment, and sorry should I be, if al- 
 most my last act in it was the creation of 
 such a scandal as your exposure would 
 bring about. To spare the old corps such 
 a disgrace, I've a proposition to make. 
 "What has occurred in this room within the 
 last few moments will never go further — 
 You're with me there, Jones ? (Dolly 
 eagerly acquiesced) — if you accept my 
 terms. You will now in this room, before 
 Jones and myself, write out your applica- 
 tion to be allowed to retire from the 
 service, and also apply for leave of ab- 
 sence until your name shall appear in
 
 232 Clive Darrien, 
 
 the Gazette. Further, as I should not be 
 doing my duty to society at large, were I to 
 allow a continuance of the facilities for pro- 
 secuting your card-playing amongst gen- 
 tlemen, which membership of one or two 
 good London clubs affords, I must take 
 effectual measures to prevent you from in- 
 cluding this very lucrative field in your 
 future operations. You belong, I know, to 
 a couple of service clubs, and, I believe, 
 one or two others in town, and I shall 
 require you to write, also before Jones and 
 myself before we leave this room, a letter to 
 each secretary withdrawing your name from 
 the list of members. And recollect, if at 
 any future period I find you have withheld 
 from me the name of any club you belong 
 to now, I shall expose you." 
 
 " And suppose I tell you to go to the 
 devil with your conditions ? '' 
 
 '^ Well, if that's your high polite for a 
 refusal of them, suppose you do — I report
 
 Detection. 233 
 
 the whole thing to the commanding officer, 
 and nothing can save you from being tried 
 by general court-martial, and cashiered." 
 
 ^^ The members of a general court-martial 
 might not be quite so easily brought over to 
 your view as Jones has been," sneered 
 Garstang. '^ It is from beginning to end a 
 foul invention which would crumble away 
 before impartial investigation. Besides, at 
 the worst, it would only be your word 
 against mine, and your conduct as a listener 
 and a spy, as your own evidence would 
 prove you to be, would not raise you par- 
 ticularly high in the estimation of the 
 court/' 
 
 Of course, Dorrien could have explained 
 away such charges as eavesdropping and 
 spying; but it was beneath him to notice 
 these straws Garstang was grasping at. 
 
 *^ It would not be a case of only my word 
 against yours. If Jones will be good 
 enough to look under the table where you
 
 234 Clive Dorrien, 
 
 were sitting, he will pick up a little additional 
 evidence wliicli would be conclusive. A 
 court-martial with, all its clumsy procedure, 
 is a very just one, and no Old Bailey quibble 
 would get you off. There is a saying in 
 the army, which you of course know: — 
 ^ If I were guilty, I should like to be tried 
 by a civil court ; if I were innocent, by 
 a court-martial.' You, no doubt, would 
 prefer the former tribunal. Now I have 
 placed both courses plainly before you; 
 choose which you'll adopt. Bury to-night's 
 secret for ever, or be ignominiously dis- 
 missed from the service and branded as a 
 swindler." 
 
 Had a deadly weapon been in Garstang's 
 hand at the moment, he might have been 
 branded as a murderer as well. It was im- 
 possible to put the wild tumult of his 
 thoughts into words. 
 
 "Dolly, give me a piece of foolscap," 
 said Dorrien.
 
 Detection, 235 
 
 Dolly obeyed like one in a horrible night- 
 mare. 
 
 " Now," said Dorrien, as he folded the 
 paper into half margin ; " which is it to be ? 
 Am I to write on this a report to the com- 
 manding officer, or are you to apply for 
 permission to leave the service ? " 
 
 It was all Garstang could do to restrain 
 himself from flying at his accuser's throat 
 in a frenzy of hatred and rage ; but he 
 sufficiently recovered himself to feel that 
 this would only make matters worse. With 
 his facial muscles working from suppressed 
 fury, he managed to get his words out with 
 a tolerable show of self-possession. 
 
 ^^ Though feeling all the scorn and con- 
 tempt for your vile accusation which a man 
 conscious of his own innocence naturally 
 feels, I shall not stand a court-martial, for 
 I've not the slightest doubt that you would 
 move heaven and earth, or rather I should 
 say the other place, to bring a mass of false
 
 236 Clive Dorrien, 
 
 evidence before the court which would 
 crush me. I believe that half the regi- 
 ment would come forward at your bidding 
 and swear me guilty. The way Jones has 
 gone over to your side, opens my eyes to 
 that. Though innocent, I shall accept, as if I 
 were guilty, the alternative you offer, sooner 
 than have my name dragged down into the 
 dirt by a court-martial on such a charge. I 
 shall not be the first victim to a foul con- 
 spiracy laid by an unprincipled scoundrel 
 and supported by weak dupes. Here give 
 me the paper. Lend me your Queen's 
 Eegulations, Jones. Let's see what the 
 form is." 
 
 Dolly handed the small red book which 
 to some extraordinary military minds com- 
 prises all that's worth reading in this 
 world, and Garstang, after lighting a cigar 
 by way of keeping up appearances, pro- 
 ceeded to copy out the form of application 
 for retirement from the service.
 
 Detection, 237 
 
 Dorrien and Dolly looked on in silence ; 
 the former witli an unmoved, the latter with 
 a troubled countenance, and for some mo- 
 ments nothing was heard but the scraping 
 of Garstang's pen, as it travelled rapidly 
 over the paper, bringing his military career 
 to a close, word by word. 
 
 ^' There," he said, with feigned careless- 
 ness, as he signed his name and pushed the 
 paper on one side; ^^ precious glad I made 
 up my mind. It's only anticipating my in- 
 tention by a month or two— cursed hot place, 
 India — exile — buried alive, and I had made 
 up my mind to leave before the regiment 
 embarked ; so you need not flatter yourself 
 that you'YQ turned me out of the service." 
 
 "Now, you'll be good enough to write 
 to the different clubs you belong to, taking 
 your name off each and every one," said 
 Dorrien. 
 
 To Garstang this was, if possible, a more 
 bitter pill than the last, but he was obliged
 
 :38 Clive Dorrien. 
 
 to swallow it ; there was no wriggling from 
 under tlie screw with that iron hand upon 
 it ; and one by one he severed his con- 
 nection with three well-known clubs. To 
 a betting, pool-and-card-playing man about 
 town, like Garstang, a man vain of his 
 worldly wisdom, and proud of the petty little 
 social triumphs it occasionally brought, the 
 step was a sacrifice of all that made life pro- 
 fitable and enjoyable to him. It was closing 
 the gates of an earthly Paradise against him- 
 self ; it was cutting the very ground of his 
 social standing from under his feet. But there 
 was no help for it. Better to let Society 
 think he had given her up, than to let her 
 fling him away from her capricious bosom. 
 He might under cover of friendship cheat 
 a man of his wife, but he must not cheat 
 him at cards; Society could not stand 
 that ; it was stretching even her elastic 
 moral code a little too far. Anything, then, 
 but exposure.
 
 Detection. 
 
 239 
 
 On concluding the galling task he rose to 
 quit the room, and on reaching the door he 
 turned a white face and flashing eyes on 
 Dorrien. 
 
 "You and the regimental coalition that I 
 feel convinced there is at your back have 
 been too much for me. I never got on in this 
 accursed regiment, except with Jones there, 
 and he deserted me at the first breath of 
 calumny. I have to thank you for all this. 
 We hated each other from the first, and 
 shall to the last. The game has been in 
 your hands now, and a diabolical, villanous 
 game it has been, but I swear, as there is a 
 heaven above me, I shall be quits with you 
 some day." 
 
 Dorrien vouchsafed no reply. He looked 
 on the threat as he would have looked on a 
 stage villain who throws his cloak over his 
 shoulder, strikes an attitude, and says, 
 " Aha ! the time will come." There was a 
 quiet contemptuous smile on his face.
 
 240 Clive Dorrien. 
 
 Garstang quitted the room without an- 
 other word. Instead of going to his own 
 quarters across the narrow passage, he went 
 outside into the open air, as if the small hut 
 could not hold him in his rage. The dawn 
 was just getting the better of the black 
 night, and, in the sickly light, his livid face, 
 distorted with passion, startled the sentries 
 on their posts, as he strode past them, grind- 
 ing his teeth and muttering deep curses. 
 His fury, impotent for the present, found a 
 vent in the black revengeful future, and 
 with terrible blasphemy he invoked the aid 
 of heaven itself in his plans of vengeance. 
 
 The bugles and trumpets sounding the 
 reveille throughout the Camp recalled him to 
 the necessity of action, and he repaired to 
 his quarters and occupied himself with get- 
 ting his private papers and documents to- 
 gether until his servant should be dressed 
 and ready to pack up. It was his intention 
 to get leave from the officer commanding in
 
 Detection. 241 
 
 Colonel Belmont's absence, and to quit that 
 very morning and for ever the hated scene 
 of his downfall. 
 
 He had not been many minutes employed 
 when Dolly Jones walked across the passage 
 and knocked at the door. 
 
 ^' Come to remind me of that bill he 
 backed for me, I suppose," thought Gar- 
 stang, as he accorded an ungracious permis- 
 sion to enter. 
 
 It was in no selfish spirit, however, that 
 Dolly came to him. That bill transaction 
 had gone clean out of his head, and there 
 was a benevolence in his face and a softness 
 in his tones not usual in men on such an 
 errand as Garstang, in his own sordidness, 
 ascribed to his visitor. 
 
 ^^ Can I do anything for you, Garstang ? 
 You may wish to leave this as soon as pos- 
 sible, and any arrangements, such as selling 
 your horses or having your heavy baggage 
 sent after you, I shall be only too ready to 
 
 VOL. I. R
 
 242 Clive Dorrien. 
 
 ■undertake." Garstang smiled contemptu- 
 ously at the idea of Dolly Jones selling a 
 horse. *' And," continued Dolly, ^' I should 
 like, too, to assure you and make you feel 
 quite easy that what has passed to-night is 
 safe in our keeping. You need never have 
 any fear on that score." 
 
 '^ In what spirit do you come with these 
 offers ?"" asked Garstang, whose role was 
 still that of injured innocence. ^^ Is it 
 sympathy with an injured man, or a sort of 
 righteous, maudlin forbearance to one you 
 consider a detected swindler ? " 
 
 " Neither," replied Dolly. ^' I come 
 simply in my own bungling way to try 
 and lessen the agony of mind you must 
 feel, and to tell you that — " 
 
 ^' Well, as the ^ agony of mind' I feel 
 is simply self-congratulation at having got 
 tolerably clear of a base conspiracy, you're 
 at liberty to bestow your condolence on 
 some more fitting object. Good morning.
 
 Detection, 243 
 
 I am rather busy now and should like 
 to be left alone." 
 
 " I am sorry you don't take what I've 
 said in the spirit it was offered," said 
 Dolly. '' Good-bye," and Dolly held out 
 his hand. 
 
 Garstang turned his back, and Dolly 
 quietly went away. 
 
 Garstang got his leave and left the 
 regiment. It was generally supposed that 
 he had been hard hit on the turf, and 
 that he had been forced to sell his com- 
 mission to meet his debts of honour, an 
 opinion that neither Dolly nor Dorrien ever, 
 by word or look, gainsayed. 
 
 R 2
 
 CHAPTEE XII. 
 
 CASTLES IN THE AIR. 
 
 The last chapter came to a close early 
 on a May morning. It is now August, 
 and the time for the departure of the 
 autumn reliefs for India draws near. Con- 
 versation and demeanour at the mess of 
 Colonel Belmont's regiment are not quite 
 so unrestrained now as they used to be, 
 particularly amongst the younger portion. 
 Colonel Belmont himself is a "regular dining 
 member," and occupies the commanding 
 officer's quarters in barracks. The hired 
 house in the adjacent country, its gardens,
 
 Castles in the Air, 245 
 
 its croquet parties, above all, its bright 
 little boudoir, so pleasantly and so pain- 
 fully associated with its little mistress, 
 are all things of the past. 
 
 Clive is on the continent spending her 
 honeymoon, and the colonel has reverted 
 to dreary bachelor life with his regiment. 
 He is very lonely, but through the medium 
 of the post, Clive does as much to comfort 
 him as she can. Hardly a day passes 
 that the letter-sergeant is not the bearer 
 of an epistle, telling ^'darling old Dad- 
 dies ^' how happy she is, and how kind 
 and everything that's perfect Stud is, and 
 that the only drop of alloy in her hap- 
 piness is the thought of his loneliness. 
 
 These letters the colonel does not read as 
 he does his others, in the orderly-room, 
 on the parade ground, in the ante-room, 
 wherever they may be handed to him ; but 
 he bears them off to his scantily-furnished 
 quarters, and there in solitude takes them
 
 246 Clive Dorrien. 
 
 in delicious little doses of a paragraph at 
 a time. Woe to the wretched orderly 
 with a message, or the miserable sub. 
 soliciting leave from the morrow's parade, 
 who breaks in upon these moments ! He 
 comes away, according to the old saying, 
 with a flea in his ear. But so closely in 
 a regiment are a commanding officer's 
 movements watched and wishes consulted, 
 that it soon becomes known that after 
 mid-day post, the one the foreign letters 
 arrive by, it is better to leave him alone 
 for a while, and alone he is left by every 
 one, from majors to orderlies. 
 
 To see the colonel in the orderly room 
 "telling oif" prisoners, or on parade 
 ^ Agoing down the throat" of some wretched 
 delinquent who has blundered, and then to 
 see him in the solitude of his own room 
 eagerly perusing one of these letters — his 
 face gentle with soft tender love, his eyes 
 dim, his hands trembling with pleasure, — it
 
 Castles in the Air, 247 
 
 would be hard to believe him one and the 
 same man. Then when he has read to the 
 uttermost line, he puts the precious do- 
 cument away under lock and key in an 
 old travel-stained, service-worn dispatch- 
 box with some faded yellow letters, which 
 are even more tender and loving than the 
 one the colonel now lays alongside them 
 with such reverent hands. 
 
 Very often Clive sends her love or some 
 kind little message to Dolly Jones, which of 
 course the colonel righteously delivers. He 
 formerly shared^ in a modified degree, his 
 austere sister's antipathy to poor Dolly on 
 accoimt of his jewelry and dress, but it 
 becomes manifest to the colonel that in one 
 so much liked by Clive and Dorrien, of all 
 the world the two people whose opinions he 
 values most, there must be a great deal of 
 sterling worth somewhere, and he cultivates 
 Dolly, and gradually finds it out for himself, 
 more about the region of the heart than
 
 248 Clive Dorrien, 
 
 the head. Then too, Dolly was ^'best man" at 
 the wedding, and acquitted himself very fairly 
 on the trying occasion — for it was a trying 
 occasion to him, very ; and to have taken so 
 leading a part in an event so fraught with 
 happiness to his child is enough to secure 
 him a warm place in the colonel's thoughts. 
 
 Sometimes there is a letter from Dorrien 
 as well, which, though far short of Olive's in 
 point of interest, affords the colonel intense 
 gratification. Dorrien's style of letter- writing 
 is not of the ^ namby-pamby ' ^ correct-letter- 
 writer' order \^'' Le style ^ c'est Vhomme!^'^ Each 
 sentence is short, sharp, and decisive; each 
 word carries with it the conviction that it is 
 meant, and as all this perspicuity is devoted 
 in these letters to the discussion of plans for 
 dive's welfare and happiness, the doting old 
 colonel's confidence in his child's futui^e 
 grows stronger than ever, and robs his 
 present loneliness of half its sting. 
 
 After this fashion did Colonel Belmont
 
 Castles in the Air, 249 
 
 buoy himself up in his solitude. He was 
 also at this period a great deal up in town, 
 and as the time approached for the return of 
 the " happy couple," the veriest glutton after 
 town dissipation in the regiment was not 
 a more frequent passenger between Alder- 
 shot and "Waterloo. This gave rise to a re- 
 port that the chief was on the look out for 
 a wife, but nothing was further from the 
 colonel's thoughts. The attraction up in 
 town was a little labour of love he was en- 
 gaged in. He had bought a small house in 
 the best part of South Kensington, which had 
 been advertised as " a bijou residence," and 
 the beautifying, altering, improving, and 
 fitting up the same as a gift to Clive and her 
 husband was his especial delight. A bow 
 window was thrown out here, a conserva- 
 tory built there, a spiral staircase somewhere 
 else. The garden was laid out afresh, and 
 made bright with flowers. There were 
 flowers, too, in all the windows from the
 
 250 Clive Dorrien. 
 
 kitchen to the garret, and along the balcony 
 and over the portico, until the house was 
 balmy with their fragance ; for Clive loved 
 flowers, and the colonel had often seen her 
 in ecstasies over some simple little daisy. 
 So there were flowers in every possible place, 
 just in the same way as if Clive had loved 
 ourang-outangs, there would have been a 
 monkey-house in every room. 
 
 Of all these preparations, especial atten- 
 tion was paid to the apartment consecrated to 
 Clive's especial use, and everything was 
 done to make it as far as possible the exact 
 counterpart of the bright little boudoir where 
 the colonel had so often been coaxed and 
 wheedled into forgetfulness of life's petty 
 worries. The arrangement of it he remem- 
 bered as distinctly as if it had been photo- 
 graphed on his brain, and every familiar 
 article from an ottoman to a china pug re- 
 appeared in exactly its old relative position. 
 
 He had one day taken Dolly Jones to in-
 
 Castles in the Air, 251 
 
 spect the general arrangements of the house, 
 on the strength of his friendship with the 
 future occupants, and not with the least idea 
 of receiving any practical hints in the mat- 
 ter, hut to his astonishment Dolly, on being 
 shown over the premises, burst forth into 
 unsuspected brilliance, and on all points 
 appertaining to Olive's pleasure or comfort, 
 whether architectural, horticultural, gener- 
 ally useful, or ornamental, was brimful of 
 the happiest suggestions. So much so as to 
 elicit the remark from the colonel, — 
 
 ^' Why, Jones, my dear fellow, one would 
 think you had been in the habit of studying 
 my daughter's taste as deeply as I have." 
 
 As the colonel spoke, he smote Dolly on the 
 back, a piece of familiarity with any one which 
 he had not been guilty of since the days 
 when he had been a captain, * The thought- 
 ful and kind consideration for his child filled 
 his heart to overflowing until all barriers of 
 age and rank were swept away. From that
 
 252 Clive Dorrien, 
 
 day Dolly was a constant companion of the 
 colonel in these visits, and his fertility in 
 suggestions for Olive's benefit continued 
 with unabated luxuriance, and awakened 
 the colonel's astonishment and admiration 
 in about equal degrees. To such an extent 
 did the latter sentiment take possession of 
 him, that his idea of Dolly's mental capa- 
 city underwent a complete change, and he 
 even began to associate jewelry with genius. 
 There was, however, one form Dolly's 
 friendship took which had to be nipped in 
 the bud. In conjunction with numerous 
 tradesmen, he laid deep plots resulting in 
 the surreptitious appearance at odd times of 
 all descriptions of costly and tasteful articles, 
 and on this the colonel put his decisive 
 veto. It was lucky he did, for Dolly, if al- 
 lowed to indulge himself to the top of his 
 bent, would have been ruined in a fort- 
 night. 
 
 Dorrien was not forgotten in the general
 
 Castles in the Air, 253 
 
 arrangements, and it was in the fitting up of 
 a study and library that the colonel more 
 particularly addressed himself to his son-in- 
 law's wants. Here the food for the mind 
 provided by the colonel was of the driest 
 nature, and, to continue the metaphor, of that 
 kind which might be described as the stale 
 Abernethy biscuit of mental provender — 
 hard to swallow, but very nourishing when 
 digested. Numerous treatises on Political 
 Economy by Malthus, Adam Smith, Bab- 
 bage, Eae, Mill, Fawcett, and a host 
 of other writers on the ^'dismal science,'' 
 as it has been called; M. Passy on Sys- 
 tems of Cultivation and their Influences 
 on Social Economy, Malthus on Popula- 
 tion, Thornton on Over-Population, Tooke's 
 History of Prices, Hansard, Blue Books, 
 Eed Books, Yellow Books, Eeports of 
 Eoyal and Select Commissions on all con- 
 ceivable subjects, and such like, were drawn 
 up along the shelves in an array that would
 
 254 Clive Dorrien. 
 
 have been imposing had it not sunk into in- 
 significance before the mass of military 
 literature of the same solid nature which 
 crowded the book-cases. Military Law, 
 Precedent, Procedure, Organisation, Admin- 
 istration, Eegulations ; Military Statistics, 
 Eeturus, Forms, Rules, Acts of Parliament 
 (described by the framers as ^' for the better 
 government of Her Majesty's Forces," and 
 described by Her Majesty's Forces as the re- 
 verse), Military Systems, Circulars, and War- 
 rants, Military Biographies, — in shorty enough 
 military lore to have set up all the ofiicials 
 in the War Office and Horse Guards was con- 
 centrated in the study. The colonel had 
 ransacked his brain and half the booksellers' 
 shops in London to provide this mental 
 feast, and in his strange selection was the 
 key of an aerial castle he had lately built 
 regarding his son-in-law. 
 
 Such genius, such force of will, such 
 heaven-born gift of command were not to lie
 
 Castles in the Air, 255 
 
 waste, and where but in the Eepresentative 
 Assembly of the Nation was to be found 
 proper scope for the exercises of these 
 qualities ? The colonel had fixed his heart on 
 it — Dorrien was to be a member of parlia- 
 ment, and the dream of the old soldier's 
 ambition was to see him Secretary of 
 State for War. Hence the preponderance 
 of the military element in the coming 
 politician's library. Here was the won- 
 derful store of military information from 
 which the future member and ultimate 
 War Minister was to draw his material for 
 illustration, argument, precedent, or refuta- 
 tion, as circumstances might demand. 
 
 In this day-dream of the colonel's, there 
 entered other feelings besides mere selfish 
 gratification at the advancement of one in 
 whom he had so strong a personal interest. 
 Like many military men, he had a spaniel- 
 like love for the profession in which the " ha'- 
 pence" bear such an absurdly small pro-
 
 256 Clive Dorrien. 
 
 portion to the ^' kicks," and in his son-in-law 
 he beheld a future doughty champion of its 
 rights and interests. 
 
 That the army was totally unrepresented 
 in Parliament, and that this should be 
 remedied was a hobby the colonel was much 
 given to riding at the Senior, in his mess, 
 or wherever there was a military congrega- 
 tion assembled. There was no one in Parlia- 
 ment whose business it was to stand up in 
 its defence. 
 
 Parliamentarily, the army was nobody's 
 child. The War Minister who stood in 
 loco parentis was only a step-father, with 
 nearer and dearer children of his own to 
 look after, — '^ Party," the first-born ; ^^ Low- 
 Estimates," the second ; and '' Self- Advance- 
 ment," the youngest and, perhaps, best 
 loved of all. The House, contended the 
 colonel, consisted of those who were rabid 
 against the army — a disease strangely 
 peculiar to England, who owes so much
 
 Castles in the Air, 257 
 
 to her soldiers, — those who were utterly 
 indifferent to it, and a few who sym- 
 pathised with it. The efforts of this 
 last little band of well-wishers were de- 
 cidedly feeble. Mostly military men them- 
 selves, they were, like Othello, ^^rude 
 in speech and little blessed in the set 
 phrase" of debate. They were ready to 
 take up the cudgels in defence of the army, 
 and cudgels their weapons were, while their 
 adversaries were armed with rapiers. They 
 often, generally, in fact, fought with right 
 on their side, but they had little political 
 training, and it was harder for them to prove 
 that two and two made four, than it was for 
 their skilled opponents to show that they 
 amounted to five. Amongst the latter were 
 men who on every other subject could be 
 sound, just, and brilliant, but who had only to 
 touch on a military one to entangle it in the 
 meshes of the most perverted sophistry, and 
 to attack it with unaccountable acrimony. 
 VOL. I. s
 
 258 Clive Dorrien. 
 
 To them the mere mention of the British 
 officer or soldier was as a red rag to a bidl. 
 The simplest measure for his amelioration, 
 pecuniarily, socially, or professionally, was 
 opposed and denounced as if it had been a 
 proposal for the establishment of a military 
 despotism throughout the country. In the 
 ranks of this section were actually to be 
 found a few military men, who, like all 
 apostates, became the most bigoted in their 
 antagonism. Against these renegades the 
 colonel was more bitter than against any 
 other opponents, and on their heads he 
 would pour out the phials of his wrath by 
 the hour. 
 
 Of course there were a few members, the 
 colonel allowed, who in addition to a special 
 knowledge of military matters, gained by 
 actual experience, could bring some debating 
 power to bear on the subject ; but these 
 generally threw themselves into the cause 
 in a half-hearted way. They had an idea
 
 Castles in the Air, 259 
 
 that their first duty was to their consti- 
 tuents, and these sent them to Parliament to 
 protect their rights and forward iheir 
 interests, and regarded their actions with 
 jealous eyes. The colonel knew of more 
 than one member of Parliament who had 
 been soundly taken to task by his consti- 
 tuents for occupying himself with military 
 matters — as if a military question were not 
 a national one. 
 
 *^ It is laid down that a man by becoming 
 a soldier does not forfeit his rights as a 
 citizen," reasoned the colonel; ''then why 
 should he, unlike any citizen, have no one 
 whose first duty it would be to guard 
 his interests." '' By Jove ! " the colonel 
 would say with justifiable warmth, " the only 
 part soldiers take in the elections of mem- 
 bers to Parliament is to stand like dummies to 
 be cut and bruised with sticks and stones." 
 
 The first remedial step in the colonel's 
 opinion was that the army should send to
 
 26o Clive Dorrien. 
 
 Parliament a certain number of members of 
 its own election. ^^Then, sir," the colonel 
 would say, ^' we should not hear of prize- 
 money kept back for fifteen or twenty years, 
 until it was nearly all squandered away in 
 squabbling, while of those who had earned 
 it at the risk of their lives, — the one half 
 were sick to death with hope deferred, 
 and the other half were lying in their 
 graves." 
 
 That Studholme Dorrien, single-handed, 
 was going to make a clean reformation of all 
 this directly he got into Parliament, the 
 colonel, even in his overdrawn estimation of 
 his son-in-law's capabilities, did not expect. 
 But that he would be the thin end of the 
 lever which would eventually roll away the 
 dull weight of prejudice, indifference, and 
 ignorance, under which every measure for 
 the benefit of his dearly loved profession 
 always languished, — the colonel fondly 
 hoped. Yes, Studholme Dorrien was to be
 
 Castles in the Air. 261 
 
 Her Majesty's Secretary of State for War. 
 He was cut out for it. 
 
 Thus, over all the colonel's preparations, 
 confidence in the future shed bright rays of 
 light. He knew what his own child was, or 
 thought he knew, for perhaps love made him a 
 little blind ; and in Dorrien's future he be- 
 lieved as implicitly as Lord Todmorden him- 
 self could have believed, had Miss Torking- 
 ham occupied Olive's place. Mightily different 
 were the ideas of the two old men on what 
 should be a wife's influence over the career 
 of a man working his way in the world. 
 Naturally they were so, for their models of 
 feminine perfection were as different as fire 
 from water. Of his views Lord Todmorden 
 has been his own exponent some chapters 
 back, and the reader may recollect the line 
 he laid down as the proper one for a wife to 
 follow. Exactly the reverse was the colonel's 
 picture of what a wife should be to her 
 husband. The sweetener of his home after
 
 262 Clive Dorrien. 
 
 some bitter check in the outer world, the re- 
 laxation after the strain, the repose after the 
 strife — all these she should be. But to descend 
 into the arena with him, to be always at his 
 elbow urging — for if he required such urging 
 he was not of the right stuff, — to carry the 
 struggle out of season into the domestic pre- 
 cincts, to keep up the strain — these she 
 should not do. She might buckle on his 
 armour at home, and send him forth with 
 her prayers; but she must not accompany 
 him to the field. That she should take a 
 tender and intelligent interest in his career 
 beyond that home circle of which she should 
 be the centre was indispensable. But 
 nothing more in this direction was required, 
 for anything more would turn her from a 
 solace into a bore, from a soother into an 
 irritant. 
 
 Such, with his child's disposition and 
 characteristics tenderly before his mind's 
 eye, were the colonel's ideas on matrimonial
 
 Castles in the Air, 263 
 
 obligations, and with a fervent belief in 
 Dorrien's and Olive's capabilities to fulfil 
 these requirements — Us qualities for fighting 
 the battles of life, her brightness, affection, 
 and soft winning ways — ^he looked not 
 only hopefully, but confidently to the 
 future. 
 
 The house was completed, as far as com- 
 pletion could be attained where the loving 
 heart could never rest satisfied, the loving 
 hand never tire of giving finishing touches 
 which never finished, and the title-deeds 
 were made out in Dorrien's name. It is all 
 the same, thought the colonel. 
 
 " The light of love shines over all, 
 Of love that says not mine and thine, 
 But ours, for ours is thine and mine." 
 
 END OF VOL. I.
 
 PEOrTBD BY TATIOB AKD CO., 
 LITTLE QITEEIT STEEBT, LINCOLN'S INN FIELDS, 
 
 fi