第98章

'Of course we must,--and for others after that, I both hope and trust,' said the Duke of St Bungay, getting up.'If I don't go upstairs I shall be late, and then her Grace will look at me with unforgiving eyes.'

On the following day after lunch the Prime Minister took a walk with Lady Rosina De Courcy.He had fallen into a habit of walking with Lady Rosina almost every day of his life, till the people in the Castle began to believe that Lady Rosina was the mistress of some deep policy of her own.For there were many there who did in truth think that statecraft could never be absent from a minister's mind, day or night.But in truth Lady Rosina chiefly made herself agreeable to the Prime Minister by never making the most distant allusion to public affairs.It might be doubted whether she even knew that the man who paid her so much honour was the Head of the British Government as well as the Duke of Omnium.She was a tall, thin, shrivelled-up old woman,--not very old, fifty perhaps, but looking at least ten years more,--very melancholy, and sometimes very cross.She had been notably religious, but that was gradually wearing off as she advanced in years.The rigid strictness of Sabbatarian practice requires the full energy of middle life.She had been left entirely alone in the world, with a very small income, and not many friends who were in any way interested in her existence.

But she knew herself to be Lady Rosina De Courcy, and felt that the possession of that name ought to be more to her than money or friends, or even than brothers and sisters.'The weather is not frightening you,' said the Duke.Snow had fallen, and the paths, even where they had been swept, were wet and sloppy.

'Weather never frightens me, your Grace.I always have thick boots,--I am very particular about that;--and cork soles.'

'Cork soles are admirable.'

'I think I owe my life to cork soles,' said Lady Rosina enthusiastically.'There is a man named Sprout in Silverbridge who makes them.Did you Grace ever try him for boots?'

'I don't think I ever did,' said the Prime Minister.

'Then you had better.He's very good and very cheap too.Those London tradesmen never think they can charge you enough.I find I can wear Sprout's boots the whole winter through and then have them resoled.I don't suppose you ever think of such things?'

'I like to keep my feet dry.'

'I have got to calculate what they cost.' They then passed Major Pountney, who was coming and going between the stables and the house, and who took off his hat and who saluted the host and his companion with perhaps more flowing courtesy than was necessary.

'I never found out what that gentleman's name is yet,' said Lady Rosina.

'Pountney.I think, I believe they call him Major Pountney.'

'Oh, Pountney! There are Pountneys in Leicestershire.Perhaps he is one of them.'

'I don't know where he comes from,' said the Duke,--'nor, to tell the truth where he goes to.' Lady Rosina looked up at him with an interested air.'He seems to be one of those idle men who get into people's houses heaven knows why, and never do anything.'

'I suppose you asked him?' said Lady Rosina.

'The Duchess did, I dare say.'

'How odd it must be if she were to suppose that you had asked him.'

'The Duchess, no doubt, knows all about it.' Then there was a little pause.'She is obliged to have all sorts of people,' said the Duke apologetically.

'I suppose so;--when you have so many coming and going.I am sorry to say that my time is up to-morrow, so that I shall make way for somebody else.'

'I hope you won't think of going, Lady Rosina,--unless you are engaged elsewhere.We are delighted to have you.'

'The Duchess has been very kind, but--'

'The Duchess, I fear, is almost to much engaged to see as much of her guests individually as she ought to do.To me your being here is a great pleasure.'

'You are too good to me,--much too good.But I shall have stayed out my time, and I think, Duke, I will go to-morrow.I am very methodical, you know, and always act by rule.I have walked my two miles now, and I will go in.If you do want boots with cork soles mind you go to Sprout's.Dear me, there is that Major Pountney again.That is four times he has been up and down that path since we have been walking here.'

Lady Rosina went in, and the Duke turned back, thinking of his friend and perhaps thinking of the cork soles of which she had to be so careful and which was so important to her comfort.It could not be that he fancied Lady Rosina to be clever, nor can we imagine that her conversation satisfied any of those wants to which he and all of us are subject.But nevertheless he liked Lady Rosina, and was never bored by her.She was natural, and she wanted nothing from him.When she talked about cork soles she meant cork soles.And then she did not tread on any of his numerous corns.As he walked on he determined that he would induce his wife to persuade Lady Rosina to stay a little longer at the Castle.In meditating upon this he made another turn in the grounds, and again came upon Major Pountney as that gentleman was returning from the stables.'A very cold afternoon,' he said, feeling it to be ungracious to pass one of his own guests in his own grounds without a word of salutation.