第22章

ANOTHER OLD FRIEND.

At about nine the Duke returned, and was eating his very simple dinner in the breakfast-room,--a beefsteak and a potato, with a glass of sherry and Apollinaris water.No man more easily satisfied as to what he eat and drank lived in London in those days.As regarded the eating and drinking he dined alone, but his wife sat with him and waited on him, having sent the servant out of the room.'I have told her Majesty I would do the best Icould,' said the Duke.

'Then you are Prime Minister.'

'Not at all.Mr Daubney is Prime Minister.I have undertaken to form a ministry, if I find it practicable, with the assistance of such friends as I possess, I never felt before that I had to lean so entirely on others as I do now.'

'Lean on yourself only.Be enough for yourself.'

'Those are empty words, Cora;--words that are quite empty.In one sense a man should always be enough for himself.He should have enough of principle and enough of conscience to restrain him from doing what he knows to be wrong.But can a shipbuilder build his ship single-handed, or the watchmaker make his watch without assistance? On former occasions such as this, I could say, with little or no help from without, whether I would or would not undertake the work that was proposed to me, because Ihad only a bit of the ship to build, or a wheel of the watch to make.My own efficacy for my present task would depend entirely on the co-operation of others, and unfortunately upon that of some others with whom I have no sympathy, nor they with me.'

'Leave them out,' said the Duchess boldly.

'But they are men who will not be left out, and whose services the country has a right to expect.'

'Then bring them in, and think no more about it.It is no good crying for pain that cannot be cured.'

'Co-operation is difficult without community of feeling.I find myself to be too stubborn-hearted for the place.It was nothing to me to sit in the same Cabinet with a man I disliked when I had not put him there myself.But now--.As I have travelled up Ihave almost felt that I could not do it! I did not know before how much I might dislike a man.'

'Who is the one man?'

'Nay;--whoever he be, I will have to be a friend now, and therefore I will not name him, even to you.But it is not one only.If it were one, absolutely marked and recognised, I might avoid him.But my friends, real friends, are so few! Who is there besides the Duke on whom I can lean with both confidence and love?'

'Lord Cantrip.'

'Hardly so, Cora.But Lord Cantrip goes out with Mr Gresham.

They will always cling together.'

'You used to like Mr Mildmay.'

'Mr Mildmay,--yes! If there could be a Mr Mildmay in the Cabinet this trouble would not come upon my shoulders.'

'Then I'm very glad that there can't be Mr Mildmay.Why shouldn't there be as good fish in the sea as ever were caught out of it?'

'When you've got a good fish you like to make as much of it as you can.'

'I suppose Mr Monk will join you.'

'I think we shall ask him.But I am not prepared to discuss men's names as yet.'

'You must discuss them with the Duke immediately.'

'Probably;--but I had better discuss them with him before I fix my own mind by naming them even to you.'

'You'll bring in Mr Finn, Plantagenet?'

'Mr Finn!'

'Yes,--Phineas Finn,--the man who was tried.'

'My dear Cora, we haven't come down to that yet.We need not at any rate trouble ourselves about the small fishes till we are sure that we can get the big fishes to join us.'

'I don't know why he should be a small fish.No man has done better than he has; and if you want a man to stick to you--'

'I don't want a man to stick to me.I want a man to stick to his country.'

'You were talking about sympathy.'

'Well, yes;--I was.But do not name anyone else just at present.The Duke will be here soon, and I would be alone till he comes.'

'There is one thing more I want to say, Plantagenet.'

'What is it?'

'One favour I want to ask.'

'Pray do not ask anything for any man at present.'

'It is not anything for any man.'

'Nor for any woman.'

'It is for a woman,--but one whom I think you would wish to oblige.'

'Who is it?' Then she curtsied, smiling at him drolly, and put her hand upon her breast.'Something for you! What on earth can you want that I can do for you?'

'Will you do it,--if it be reasonable?'

'If I think it reasonable, I certainly will do it.'

Then her manner changed altogether, and she became serious and almost solemn.'If, as I suppose, all the great places about her Majesty be changed, I should like to be Mistress of the Robes.'

'You!' said he, almost startled out of his usual quiet demeanour.

'Why not? Is not my rank high enough?'

'You burden yourself with the intricacies and subserviences, with the tedium and pomposities of the Court life! Cora, you do not know what you are talking about, or what you are proposing for yourself.'

'If I am willing to try to undertake a duty, why should I be debarred from it any more than you?'

'Because I have put myself into a groove, and ground myself into a mould, and clipped and pared and pinched myself all round,--very ineffectually, as I fear,--to fit myself for this thing.

You have lived as free as air.You have disdained,--and though I may have grumbled I have still been proud to see you disdain,--to wrap yourself in the swaddling bandages of Court life.You have ridiculed all those who have been near her Majesty as Court ladies.'

'The individuals, Plantagenet, perhaps, but not the office.I am getting older now, and I do not see why I should not begin a new life.' She had been somewhat quelled by the unexpected energy, and was at the moment hardly able to answer him with her usual spirit.

'Do not think of it, my dear.You asked whether your rank was high enough.It must be so, as there is, as it happens, none higher.But your position, should it come to pass that your husband is the head of Government, will be too high.I may say that in no condition should I wish to my wife to be subject to other restraint than that which is common to all married women.