CHAPTER 52 Lord Chilton, though he had passed two entire days in the house with Violet, without renewing his suit, had come to Loch Linter for the express purpose of doing so, and had his plans perfectly fixed in his own mind. After breakfast on that last morning, he was upstairs with his sister in her own room, and immediately made his request to her. "'Laura,' he said, "'go down like a good girl and make Violet come up here?' She stood a moment, looking at him, and smiled. "'And mine,' he continued, "'you're not to come back yourself. If I must have Violet alone.' "'But suppose Violet will not come? Young ladies do not generally wait upon young men on such occasions.' "'No, but I rank her so high among young women that I think she will have common sense enough to teach her that, after what has passed between us, I have a right to ask for an interview, and that it may be more conveniently had here than in the wilderness of the house below. Whatever may have been the arguments used by her friend, Violet did come. She reached the door all alone, and opened it bravely. She had promised herself, as she came along the passages, that she would not pause with her hand on the lock for a moment. She had first gone to her own room, and as she left it, she had looked into the glass with a hurried glance, and had then rested for a moment, thinking that something should be done that her hair might be smooth or a ribbon set straight, or the chain arranged under her boat-broach. A girl wished to look well before her lover, even when she means to refuse him. But her pause was but for an instant, and then she went on, having touched nothing. She shook her head, and pressed her hands together, and went on quick, and opened the door almost with a little start. "'Vilet, this is very good of you,' said Lord Chilton, standing with his back to the fire, and not moving from the spot. Laura has told me that you thought I would do as much as this for you, and therefore I have done it." "'Thanks, dearest. It is the old story, Violet, and I am so bad at words.' "'I must have been a bad at words, too, as I have not been able to make you understand.' "'I think I have understood. You are always clear-spoken, and I—though I cannot talk, I am not muddle-pated. I have understood. But while you are single, there must yet be hope, unless indeed you will tell me that you have already given yourself to another man. I have not done that. Then how can I not hope? Violet, I would if I could tell you all my feelings plainly. Once twice thrice I have said to myself that I would think of you no more. I have tried to mispray myself that I am better single than married. But I am not the only woman. To me you are. Absolutely. As though there is another rather on the face of God's earth. I live much alone, but you are always with me. Should you marry any other man, it will be the same with me still.  I mean that I will go to some distant part of the world where I may be killed or live a life of adventure, but I shall do so simply in despair. It will not be that I do not know how much better and greater should be the life at home of a man in my position. Then do not talk of going. I cannot stay. He will acknowledge, Violet, that I have never lied to you. I am thinking of you day and night. The more indifferent you show yourself to me, the more I love you. Violet tried to love me. He came up to her and took her by both her hands, and tears were in his eyes. Say, you will try to love me?' "'It is not that,' said Violet, looking away, but still leaving her hands with him. "'It is not what, dear? What you call trying? It is that you do not wish to try? Oswald, you are so violent, so headstrong. I am afraid of you, as is everybody. Why have you not written to your father, as we have asked you?  He had dropped her hands when she called him violent, but now he took them again, and still she permitted it. I had perspotted only till I had spoken to you once again. No, Lord children, I will not dictate to you. But will you love me?' She paused and looked down, having now not withdrawn her hands from him. But I do not think he knew how much he had gained. "'You used to love me a little,' he said. "'Indeed. Indeed I did. And now, is it all changed now?' "'No,' she said, retreating from him. "'How is it, then? Violet, speak to me honestly. Will you be my wife?' She did not answer him, and he stood for a moment looking at her.  "'My God, she is my own!' he said. Then he went back to the rug before the fire, and stood there with his back turned to her. Violet, when she found herself thus deserted, retreated to her sofa, and sat herself down. She had no negative to produce now in answer to the violent assertion which she pronounced us to his own success. It was true. She had doubted, and doubted, and still doubted. But now she must doubt no longer. Of one thing she was quite sure. She could love him. As things had now gone she would make him quite happy with assurances on that subject, as to that other question, that fearful question whether or not she could trust him. On that matter she had better at present say nothing, and think as little perhaps as might be. She had taken the jump, and therefore why should she not be gracious to him? But how was she to be gracious to a lover who stood there with his back turned to her? After the interval of a minute or two he remembered himself, and turned round. Seeing her seated he approached her, and went down on both knees closer to her feet. Then he took her hands again for the third time, and looked up into her eyes. "'Aswald, are you on your knees?' "'I would not bend to a princess,' he said, to ask for half her throne, but I will kneel here all day, if you will let me, in thanks for the gift of your love. I never kneeled to beg for it.' "'This is the man who cannot make speeches.' "'I think I could talk now by the hour with you for a listener.' "'Oh, but I must talk too.' "'What would you say to me?' "'Nothing while you are kneeling. It is not natural that you should kneel. You are like Samson with his lockshawn, or Herculees with a distaff. It's that better,' he said, as he got up, and put his arm round her waist. "'You are an earnest,' she asked. "'In earnest. I hardly thought that that would be doubted. Do you not believe me?' "'I do believe you, and you will be good.' "'Ah, I do not know that.' "'Try, and I will love you so dearly.' "'Nay, I do love you dearly. I do. I do.' "'Say it again. I will say it fifty times till your ears are weary with it.' And she did say it to him, after her own fashion, fifty times. "'This is a great change,' he said, getting up after a while and walking about the room. "'But a change for the better, is it not, Oswald?' "'So much for the better that I hardly know myself for my new joy, but Violet will have no delay. No shilly-shallying. What's the use of waiting, now that it's settled?' "'None the least, Lord Children, let us say, this day twelve-month.' "'You are laughing at me, Violet. Remember, sir, that the first thing you have to do is to write to your father.' He instantly went to the writing-table and took up paper and pen. "'Come along,' he said. "'You are to dictate it.' "'But this she refused to do, telling him that he must write his letter to his father out of his own head, and out of his own heart.' "'I cannot write it,' he said, throwing down the pen. "'My blood is in such a tumult that I cannot steady my hand.' "'You must not be so tumultuous, Oswald, or I shall have to live in a whirlwind. "'Oh, I shall shake down. I shall become as steady as an old stager. I'll go as quiet in harness by-and-by as though I had been broken to it by a four-year-old. I wonder whether Laura could not write this letter.' "'I think you should write it yourself, Oswald.' "'If you bid me, I will.' "'Bit you, indeed, as if it was for me to bid you. "'Do you not know that in these new troubles you are undertaking, you will have to bid me in everything, and that I should be bound to do your bidding?' "'Does it not seem to be dreadful?' "'My wonder is that any girl can ever accept any man. "'But you have accepted me now.' "'Yes, indeed.' "'And you repent?' "'No, indeed, and I will try to do your biddings, but you must not be rough to me, and outrageous and fierce, will you, Oswald?' "'I will not at any rate be like Kennedy is with poor Laura.' "'No, that is not your nature.' "'I will do my best, dearest, and you may at any rate be sure of this that I will love you always. So much good of myself here to be good, I can say.' "'It is very good,' she answered, the best of all good words. "'And I must go. "'And as you are leaving Loch Linter, I will say good-bye. "'When am I to have the honour and felicity of beholding your Lordship again?' "'Say a nice word to me before I am off far at.' "'I love you better than all the world beside. "'And I mean to be your wife some day.' "'Are not those twenty nice words?' "'He would not prolong his stay at Loch Linter, though he was asked to do so both by Violet and his sister, and though as he confessed himself he had no special business elsewhere. "'It is no use mincing the matter. I don't like Kennedy, and I don't like being in his house,' he said to Violet. And then he promised that there should be a party got up at Salisbury before the winter was over. His plan was to stop that night at Carlyle and write to his father from thence. "'Your blood perhaps won't be so tumultuous at Carlyle,' said Violet. He shook his head and went on with his plans. He would then go on to London and down to Willingford, and there wait for his father's answer. "'There's no reason why I should lose more of a hunting than necessary.' "'Pray don't lose a day for me,' said Violet. As soon as he heard from his father he would do his father's bidding. "'You will go to Salisbury,' said Violet. "'You can hunt at Salisbury, you know.' "'I will go to Jericho if he asks me, and you will have to go with me.' "'I thought we would go to Belgium,' said Violet. "'And so that is settled at last,' said Violet to Laura that night. "'I hope you do not regret it. "'On the contrary, I am as happy as the moments along.' "'My fine girl. "'I am happy because I love him. I have always loved him. You've known that?' "'Indeed, no.' "'But I have, after my fashion, I am not too tumultuous, as he calls himself, since he began to make eyes at me when he was nineteen.' "'Fancy Oswald making eyes.' "'Oh, he did, and mouths, too. But from the beginning, when I was a child, I have known that he was dangerous, and I have thought that he would pass on and forget me after a while, and I could have lived without him. Nay, there would be moments when I thought I could learn to love someone else.' "'Poor Phineas, for instance.' "'And we will mention no names. Mr. Appledon, perhaps more likely. He's been my most constant lover, and then he would be so safe. Your brother Laura is dangerous.  He's had a pole stuck upon him ever since he was a boy. Yes, give a dog a bad name, and hang him. Remember that I do not love him a bit, the lace on that, oh, dash, blast it. Remember that I do not love him a bit, the less on that account, perhaps the better. A sense of danger does not make me unhappy, though the threatened evil may be fatal. I've entered myself for my forlorn hope, and I mean to stick to it. Now I must go and write to his worship. Only think I never wrote a love letter yet. Nothing more should be said about Miss Effingham's first love letter, which was no doubt creditable to her head and heart. But there were two other letters sent by the same post from Loch Linter, which shall be submitted to the reader, as they will assist the telling of the story. One was from Lady Laura Kennedy to her friend Phineus Finn, and the other from Violet to her aunt Lady Baldock. No letter was written to Lord Brentford, as it was thought desirable that he should receive the first intimation of what had been done from his son. Respecting the letter to Phineus, which shall be first given, Lady Laura thought it right to say a word to her husband. He had been, of course, told of the engagement, and had replied that he could have wished that the arranger could have made elsewhere than at his house, knowing as he did that Lady Baldock would not approve of it. To this Lady Laura had made no reply, and Mr. Kennedy had condescended to congratulate the bride-elect. When Lady Laura's letter to Phineus was completed, she took care to put it into the letter box in the presence of her husband. I have written to Mr. Finn, she said, to tell him of this marriage. Why was it necessary that he should be told? I think it was due to him from certain circumstances. I wonder whether there was any truth in what everybody was saying about their fighting a duel? asked Mr. Kennedy. His wife made no answer, and then he continued, you told me of your own knowledge that it was untrue. Not of my own knowledge, Robert. Yes, of your own knowledge. Then Mr. Kennedy walked away, and was certain that his wife had deceived him about the duel. There had been a duel, and she'd known it, and yet she had told him that the report was a ridiculous fabrication. He never forgot anything. He remembered at this moment the words of the falsehood of the look of her face as she told it. He had believed her implicitly, but he would never believe her again. He was one of those men who, in spite of their experience of the world, of their experience of their own lives, imagine that lips that have once lied can never tell the truth. Lady Laura's letter to Finneas was as follows. Loughletter, December 28, 1860. My dear friend, Violet Effingham is here, and his world has just left us. It is possible that you may see him as he passes through London. But at any rate, I think it best to let you know immediately that she has accepted him at last. If there be any pang in this to you, be sure that I will grieve for you. You will not wish me to say that I regret that which was the dearest wish of my heart before I knew you. Lately indeed, I have been torn in two ways. You will understand what I mean, and I believe I need to say nothing more except this, that it shall be among my prayers that you may obtain all things that may tend to make you happy, honorable, and of high esteem. Your most sincere friend, Laura Kennedy. Even though her husband should read the letter, there was nothing in that of which she need be ashamed. But he did not read the letter. He simply speculated as to his contents and inquired within himself whether he would love the world in general and for the wealther of himself in particular that husbands should demand to read their wives' letters. And this was wireless letter to her aunt. My dear aunt, the thing has come at last and all of your troubles will be soon over. For I do believe that all your troubles have come from your unfortunate niece. At last I am going to be married and thus take myself off your hands. Lord Chilton has just been here and I have accepted him. I am afraid you hardly think so well of Lord Chilton as I do, but then perhaps you have not known him so long. You do know, however, that there has been some differences between him and his father. I think I may take upon myself to say that now upon his engagement this will be settled. I have the inexpressible pleasure of feeling sure that Lord Brentford will welcome me as his daughter-in-law. Tell the news to Augusta with my best love. I will write to her in a day or two. I hope my cousin Gustavus will condescend to give me away. Of course, there is nothing fixed about time, but I should say perhaps in nine years. Your affectionate niece, Violet Effingham. Loch Linder, Friday. What does she mean about nine years? said Lady Bulldoch in her Roth. She is joking, said the mild Augusta. I believe she would joke if I were going to be bedded, said Lady Bulldoch. End of Chapter 52 Recording by Simon Evers Chapters 53 and 54 of Phineas Finn, the Irish member. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Recorded by Mill Nicholson Phineas Finn, the Irish member. By Anthony Chollop Chapters 53 and 54 Chapter 53 Showing how Phineas bore the blow When Phineas received Lady Laura Kennedy's letter he was sitting in his gorgeous apartment in the Colonial Office. It was gorgeous in comparison with the very dingy room with Mr. Lowe's to which he had been accustomed in his early days. It was the most beautiful room in the world. The room was large and square and looked out from three windows onto St. James's Park. There were in it two very comfortable armchairs and a comfortable sofa. And the office table at which he sat was of old mahogany, shining brightly, and seemed to be fitted up with every possible appliance that he had. The room was large and square and looked out from three windows and looked up with every possible appliance or official comfort. This stood near one of the windows so that he could sit and look down upon the park. And there was a large round table covered with books and newspapers and the walls of the room were bright with maps of all the colonies. And there was one very interesting map, but not very bright showing the American colonies as they used to be. And there was a little inner closet in which he could brush his hair and wash his hands. And in the room adjoining there sat or ought to have sat, for he was often absent, vexing the mind of Phineas, the Earl's nephew, his private secretary. And it was all very gorgeous. Often as he looked round upon it, thinking of his old bedroom at Killaloe, of his little garrets at Trinity, of the dingy chambers in Lincoln's Inn, he would tell himself very gorgeous. He would wonder that anything so grand had fallen to his lot. The letter from Scotland was brought to him in the afternoon, having reached London by some day-mail from Glasgow. He was sitting at his desk with a heap of papers before him referring to a contemplated railway from Halifax in Nova Scotia to the foot of the Rocky Mountains. It had become his business to get up the subject and then discuss with his principal, Lord Cantrip, the expediency of advising the government to lend a company five million of money in order that this railway might be made. It was a big subject, and the contemplation of it gratified him. It required that he should look forward to great events and exercise the wisdom of a statesman. What was the chance of these colonies being swallowed up by those other regions, once colonies, of which the map that hung in the corn was called so eloquent a tale? And if so, would the five million ever be repaid? And if not swallowed up, were the colonies worth so great an adventure of national money? Could they repay it? Would they do so? Should they be made to do so? Mr. Low, who is now a QC and in Parliament, would not have greater subjects than this before him, even if he should come to be solicitor general. Lord Cantrip had specially asked him to get up this matter, and he was getting it up sedulously. Once in nine years the harbour of Halifax was blocked up by ice. He had just jotted down the fact, which was material, when Lady Laura's letter was brought to him. He read it, and putting it down by his side very gently, went back to his maps, as though the thing would not so trouble his mind as to disturb his work. He absolutely wrote automatically certain words of a note about the harbour after he had received the information. A horse will gallop for some scores of yards after his back has been broken, before he knows of his great ruin, and so it was with finious fin. His back was broken, but nevertheless he galloped for a yard or two. Closed in 1860 to 61 for thirteen days. Then he began to be aware that his back was broken, and that the writing of any more notes about the ice in Halifax harbour was for the present doubt of the question. I think it best to let you know immediately that she has accepted him. These were the words which he read the oftenest. Then it was all over. The game was played out, and the victories were as nothing to him. He sat for an hour in his gorgeous room thinking of it, and various were the answers which he gave during the time to various messages, but he would see nobody. As for the colonies, he did not care if they revolted tomorrow. He would have parted with every colony belonging to Great Britain to have gotten the hand of Violet Effingham for himself. Now, now at this moment he told himself with oaths that he had never loved anyone but Violet Effingham. They had been so much to make such a marriage desirable. I should wrong my hero deeply were I to say that the weight of his sorrow was occasioned by the fact that he had lost an heiress. He would never have thought of looking for Violet Effingham had he not first learned to love her. But as the idea opened itself out to him, everything had seemed to be so suitable. Had Miss Effingham become his wife, the mouths of the Lowe's and of the Bunces would have been stopped altogether. Mr. Bunk would have come to his house as his familiar guest and he would have been connected with half a score of peers. A seat in Parliament would be simply his proper place and even undersecretary ships of state might soon come to be below him. He was playing a great game but hitherto he had played it with so much success with such wonderful luck that it had seemed to him that all things were within his reach. Nothing more had been wanting to him than Violet's hand for his own comfort and Violet's fortune to support his position and these two had almost seemed to be within his grasp. His goddess had indeed refused him but not with disdain. Even Lady Laura had talked of his marriage as not improbable. All the world, almost had heard of the duel and all the world had smiled and seemed to think that in the real fight Phineas Fin would be the victor that the lucky pistol was in his hands. It had never occurred to anyone to suppose, as far as you could see, that he was presuming at all or pushing himself out of his own sphere in asking Violet effing him to be his wife. No, he would trust his luck, would persevere and would succeed. Such had been his resolution on that very morning and now there had come this letter to dash him to the ground. There were moments in which he declared to himself that he would not believe the letter. Not that there was any moment in which there was, in his mind, the slightest spark of real hope but he would tell himself that he would still persevere. Violet might have been driven to accept that violent man by violent influence or it might be that she had not in truth accepted him, that children had simply so asserted. Or, even if it were so, did women never change their minds? The manly thing would be to persevere to the end. Had he not before been successful when success seemed to be as far from him? But he could bore himself up with no real hope. Even when these ideas were present to his mind, he knew, he knew well at those very moments that his back was broken. Someone had come in and lighted the candles and drawn down the blinds while he was sitting there and now as he looked at his watch he found that it was past five o'clock. He was engaged to dine with Madame Max Gersler at eight and in his agony he half resolved that he would send an excuse. Madame Max would be full of wrath as she was very particular about her little dinner parties but what did he care now about the wrath of Madame Max Gersler? And yet only this morning he had been congratulating himself among his other successes upon her favour and had laughed inwardly at his own falseness. His falseness to vile at effing him as he did so. He had said something to himself jacosely about lovers' perjuries, the remembrance of which was now very bitter to him. He took up a sheet of note paper and scrawled an excuse to Madame Gersler. News from the country, he said, made it impossible that he should go out tonight. But he did not send the note. At about half past five he opened the door of his private secretary's room and found a young man fast asleep with a cigar in his mouth. Hello, Charles! he said. All right! Charles Standish was a first cousin of Lady Laura's and having been in the office before Phineas had joined it and being a great favourite with his cousin had, of course, become the under-secretary's private secretary. I'm all here! said Charles Standish getting up and shaking himself. I'm going! Just tie up those papers exactly as they are. I shall be here early tomorrow but I shan't want you before twelve. Good night, Charles. Tata! said his private secretary who was very fond of his master but not very respectful unless upon express occasions. Then Phineas went out and walked across the park but as he went he became quite aware that his back was broken. It was not the less broken because he sang to himself little songs to prove to himself that it was whole and sound. It was broken and it seemed to him now that he never could become an atlas again to bear the weight of the world upon his shoulders. What did anything signify? All that he had done had been part of a game which he had been playing throughout and now he had been beaten in his game. He absolutely ignored his old passion for Lady Laura as though it had never been and regarded himself as a model of constancy as a man who had loved not wisely perhaps but much too well and who must now therefore suffer a living death. He hated Parliament he hated the Colonial Office he hated his friend Mr. Monk and he especially hated Madame Max Gersler. As to Lord Chiltern he believed that Lord Chiltern had obtained his object by violence. He would see to that yes, let the consequences be what they might he would see to that. He went up by the Duke of York's column and as he passed the Athenium he saw his chief, Lord Cantrip standing under the portico talking to a bishop. He would have gone on unnoticed had it been possible but Lord Cantrip came down to him at once. I put your name down here said his lordship. What's the use? said Phineas who was profoundly indifferent at this moment to all the clubs in London. It can't do any harm, you know you'll come up in time and if you should get into the ministry they'll let you in at once. Ministry ejaculated Phineas but Lord Cantrip took the tone of voice as simply suggestive of humility and suspected nothing of that profound indifference to all ministers and ministerial honours which Phineas had intended to express. By the by said Lord Cantrip putting his arm through that of the Under Secretary I want to speak to you about the guarantees we shall be in the devil's own mess, you know and so the Secretary of State went on about the Rocky Mountain Railroad and Phineas strove hard to bear his burden with his broken back he was obliged to say something about the guarantees and the railway and the frozen harbour and something especially about the difficulties which would be found not in the measures themselves but in the ministerial of the opposition in the fabrication of the garments for the national wear the great thing is to produce garments that shall as far as possible defy whole picking it may be and sometimes is the case that garments so fabricated will be good also for wear Lord Cantrip at the present moment was very anxious and very ingenious in the stopping of holes and he thought that perhaps the Under Secretary was too much prone to the indulgence of large philanthropical views without sufficient thought of the whole pickers but on this occasion by the time that he reached Brux's he had been enabled to convince his Under Secretary and though he had always thought well of his Under Secretary he thought better of him now than ever he had done Phineas during the whole time had been meditating what he could do what he too should meet could he take him by the throat and smite him I haven't to know that Broderick is working as hard at the matter as we are said Lord Cantrip stopping opposite to the club he moved for papers you know at the end of last session now Mr. Broderick was a gentleman in the house looking for promotion in a conservative government and of course would oppose any measure of Phine colonial administration then Lord Cantrip slipped into the club and Phineas went on alone a spark of his old ambition with reference to Brux's was the first thing to make him forget his misery for a moment he had asked Lord Brentford to put his name down and was not sure whether it had been done the threat of Mr. Broderick's opposition had been of no use towards the strengthening of his broken back but the sight of Lord Cantrip hurrying in at the coveted door did do something a man can't cut his throat or blow his brains out he said to himself after all he must go on and do his work for hearts will break yet brokenly live on thereupon he went home and after sitting for an hour over his own fire and looking wistfully at a little treasure a treasure obtained by some slight fraud at Salisbury and which he now chucked into the fire and then instantly again pulled out of it soiled but unscorched he dressed himself for dinner and went out to Madame Max Gersler's upon the whole he was glad that he had not sent the note of excuse a man must live even though his heart be broken and living he must dine Madame Max Gersler was fond of giving little dinners at this period of the year before London was crowded and when her guests might probably not be called away by subsequent social arrangements her number seldom exceeded six or eight and she always spoke of these entertainments as being of the humblest kind she sent out no big cards she preferred to catch her people as though by chance when that was possible Dear Mr. Jones Mr. Smith is coming to tell me about some sherry on Tuesday will you come and tell me too I dare say you know as much about it and then there was a studious absence of parade the dishes were not very numerous the Bill of Fair was simply written out once for the mistress and so circulated round the table not a word about the things to be eaten or the things to be drunk was ever spoken at the table or at least no such word was ever spoken by Madame Gersler but nevertheless they who knew anything about dinners were aware that Madame Gersler gave very good dinners indeed Phineas Finn was beginning to flatter himself that he knew something about dinners and had been heard to assert that the soups at the cottage and park lane were not to be beaten in London but he cared for no soup today as he slowly made his way up Madame Gersler's staircase there had been one difficulty in the way of Madame Gersler's dinner parties which had required some patience and great ingenuity in its management she must either have ladies or she must not have them there was a great allurement in the latter alternative but she knew well that if she gave way to it all prospect of general society would for her be closed and for ever this had been in the early days of her widowhood in Park Lane she cared but little for women's society but she knew well that the society of gentlemen without women would not be that which she desired she knew also that she might as effectually crush herself and all her aspirations by bringing to her house indifferent women women lacking something either in character or in position or in talent as by having none at all thus there had been a great difficulty and sometimes she had thought that the thing could not be done at all these English are so stiff so hard so heavy and yet she would not have cared to succeed elsewhere than among the English by degrees however the thing was done her prudence equaled her wit and even suspicious people had come to acknowledge that they could not put their fingers on anything wrong when Lady Glencora Palliser had once dined at the cottage in Park Lane Madame Max Gersler had told herself that henceforth she did not care what the suspicious people said since that the Duke of Omnium had almost promised that he would come if she could only entertain the Duke of Omnium she would have done everything but there was no Duke of Omnium there tonight at this time the Duke of Omnium was of course not in London but Lord Fawn was there and our old friend Lawrence Fitzgibbon who had resigned his place at the Colonial Office and they were Mr. and Mrs. Bonteen they with our hero made up the party no one doubted for a moment to what source Mr. Bonteen owed his dinner Mrs. Bonteen was good looking could talk was sufficiently proper and all that kind of thing and did as well as any other woman at this time of year to keep Madame Max Gersler in countenance there was never any sitting after dinner or I should rather say there was never any sitting after Madame Gersler went so that the two ladies could not weary each other by being alone together Mrs. Bonteen understood quite well that she was not required there to talk to her hostess and was as willing as any woman to make herself agreeable to the gentleman she might meet at Madame Gersler's table and thus Mr. and Mrs. Bonteen not unfrequently dying in Park Lane now we have only to wait for that horrible man Mr. Fitzgibbon said Madame Max Gersler as she welcomed Phineas he is always late what a blow for me said Phineas no you're always in good time but there is a limit beyond which good time ends and being shamefully late at once begins ah but here he is and then as Lawrence Fitzgibbon entered the room Madame Gersler rang the bell for dinner Phineas found himself placed between his hostess and Mr. Bonteen and Lord Fawn was on the other side of Madame Gersler they were hardly seated at the table before someone stated it as a fact that Lord Brentford and his son were reconciled now Phineas knew or thought that he knew that this could not as yet be the case and indeed such was not the case though the father had already received the son's letter but Phineas did not choose to say anything at present about Lord Chilton how odd it is said Madame Gersler how often your English father's quarrel with your sons how often we English sons quarrel with our fathers rather said Lord Fawn who was known for the respect he had always paid to the fifth commandment it all comes from entail and primogeniture and old-fashioned English prejudices of that kind said Madame Gersler Lord Chilton is a friend of yours Mr. Fawn I think they're both friends of mine said Phineas ah yes but you you and Lord Chilton once did something odd together there was a little mystery was there not it is a very little of a mystery now said Fitzgibbon it was about a lady was it not said Mrs. Bonteen affecting to whisper to her neighbour I am not at liberty to say anything on the subject said Fitzgibbon but I've no doubt Phineas will tell you I don't believe this about Lord Brentford said Mr. Bonteen I haven't had known that Chilton was down at Lufflin to three days ago and that he passed through London yesterday on his way to the place where he hunts the earl is at Salisby he would have gone to Salisby if it were true it all depends upon whether Miss Effingham will accept him said Mrs. Bonteen looking over at Phineas as she spoke as there were two of Violet Effingham's suitors at the table the subject was becoming disagreeably personal and the more so as every one of the party knew or surmised something of the facts of the case the cause of the duel at Blankenburg had become almost as public as the duel and Lord Fawn's courtship had not been altogether hidden from the public eye he on the present occasion might probably be able to carry himself better than Phineas even presuming him to be equally eager in his love for he knew nothing of the fatal truth but he was unable to hear Mrs. Bonteen's statement with indifference and showed his concern in the matter by his reply any lady will be much to be pitied, he said who does that? Chilton is the last man in the world to whom I would wish to trust the happiness of a woman for whom I cared Chilton is a very good fellow, said Lawrence Fitzgibbon just a little wild, said Mrs. Bonteen and never had a shelling in his pocket in his life, said her husband I regard him as simply a madman, said Lord Fawn I do so wish I knew him, said Madam Max Gersler I am fond of madmen and men who haven't shelling's and who are a little wild could you not bring him here, Mr. Phine? Phineas did not know what to say or how to open his mouth without showing his deep concern I shall be happy to ask him if you wish it he replied as though the question had been put to him in earnest but I did not see so much of Lord Chilton as I used to do you do not believe that Violet Effingham will accept him? asked Mrs. Bonteen he paused a moment before he spoke and then made his answer in a deep, solemn voice that was seriousness which he was unable to repress she has accepted him he said do you mean that you know it? said Madam Gersler yes, I mean that I know it had anybody told him beforehand that he would openly make this declaration at Madam Gersler's table he would have said that of all things it was the most impossible he would have declared that nothing would have induced him to speak of Violet Effingham in his existing frame of mind and that he would have had his tongue cut out before he spoke of her as the promised bride of his rival and now he had declared the whole truth of his own wretchedness and discomforture he was well aware that all of them there knew why he had fought the duel at Blankenburg all that is except perhaps Lord Fawn and he felt as he made the statement as to Lord Chilton that he blushed up to his forehead and that his voice was strange and that he was telling the tale of his own disgrace but when the direct question had been asked him he had been unable to refrain from answering it directly he had thought of turning it off with some jest or affectation of jewellery but had failed at the moment he had been unable not to speak the truth I don't believe a word of it said Lord Fawn who also forgot himself I do believe it if Mr. Finn says so said Mrs. Bonteen who rather liked the confusion she had caused but who could have told you Finn asked Mr. Bonteen his sister Lady Laura told me so said Phineas then it must be true said Madame Gersler it is quite impossible said Lord Fawn I think I may say that I knew it is impossible if it were so it would be a most shameful arrangement every shilling she has in the world would be swallowed up now Lord Fawn in making his proposals had been magnanimous in his offers as to settlements and pecuniary provisions generally for some minutes after that Phineas did not speak another word and the conversation generally was not so brisk and bright as it was expected to be at Madame Gersler's Madame Max Gersler herself thoroughly understood our hero's position and felt for him she would have encouraged no questionings about Violet Effingham had she thought that they would have led to such a result and now she exerted herself to turn the minds of her guests to other subjects at last she succeeded and after a while too Phineas himself was able to talk he drank two or three glasses of wine and dashed away into politics taking the earliest opportunity in his power of contradicting Lord Fawn very plainly on one or two matters Laurence Fitzgibbon was of course of opinion that the ministry could not stay in long since he had left the government the ministers had made wonderful mistakes and he spoke of them quite as an enemy might speak and yet Fitz, said Mr. Bonteen he used to be so staunch a supporter I've seen the error of my way I can assure you, said Laurence I always observe, said Madame Max Gersler that when any of you gentlemen resign which we usually do on some very trivial matter the resigning gentleman becomes of all foes the bitterest somebody goes on very well with his friends agreeing most cordially about everything till he finds that his public virtue cannot swallow some little detail and then he resigns or someone perhaps on the other side has attacked him and in the melee he's hurt and so he resigns but when he has resigned and made his parting speech full of love and gratitude I know well after that where to look for the bitterest hostility to his late friends yes, I'm beginning to understand the way in which politics were done in England all this was rather severe upon Laurence Fitzgibbon but he was a man of the world and bore it better than Phineas had borne his defeat the dinner taken all together was not a success and so Madame Gersler understood Lord Faughn after he had been contradicted by Phineas hardly opened his mouth Phineas himself talked rather too much and rather too loudly and Mrs. Bonteen who was well enough inclined to flatter Lord Faughn contradicted him I made a mistake said Madame Gersler after it in having four members of parliament who all of them were or had been in office so we'll have two men in office together again this she said to Mrs. Bonteen my dear Madame Max said Mrs. Bonteen your resolution ought to be that you will never again have two claimants for the same young lady in the drawing-room upstairs Madame Gersler managed to be alone for three minutes with Phineas Finn and it is as you say my friend she asked her voice was plaintive and soft and there was a look of real sympathy in her eyes Phineas almost felt that if they too had been quite alone he could have told her everything and have wept at her feet yes he said it is so I never doubted it when you had declared it my adventure to say that I wish it had been otherwise it's too late now Madame Gersler and of course there's a fool to show there's any feelings in such a matter the fact is I heard it just before I came here and had made up my mind to send you an excuse I wish I had now do not say that Mr. Finn I've made such an ass of myself in my estimation you have done yourself honour but if I may venture to give you counsel do not speak of this affair again as though you had been personally concerned in it in the world nowadays the only thing disgraceful is to admit a failure and I have failed but you need not admit it Mr. Finn I know I ought not to say as much to you I rather am deeply indebted to you I'll go now Madame Gersler as I do not wish to leave the house with Lord Fawn but you will come and see me soon then Phineas promised that he would come soon and felt as he made the promise that he would have an opportunity of talking over his love with his new friend at any rate without fresh shame as to his failure Lawrence Fitzgibbon went away with Phineas and Mr. Bonteen, having sent his wife away by herself walked off towards the clubs with Lord Fawn he was very anxious to have a few words with Lord Fawn Lord Fawn had evidently been annoyed by Phineas and Mr. Bonteen did not at all love the young Undersecretary that fellow has become the most conspicuous puppy I ever met said he as he linked himself onto the Lord Monk and one or two others among them have contrived to spoil him altogether I don't believe a word of what he said about Lord Chilton said Lord Fawn about his marriage with Miss Effingham it would be such an abominable shame to sacrifice the girl said Lord Fawn only think of it, everything is gone the man is a drunkard and I don't believe he is any more reconciled to his father than you are Lady Laura Kennedy must have had some object in saying so perhaps an invention of Phineas altogether said Mr. Bonteen those Irish fellows are just the men for that kind of thing a man you know so violent that nobody can hold him said Lord Fawn, thinking of Chilton and so absurdly conceited said Mr. Bonteen, thinking of Phineas a man who has never done anything with all his advantages in the world and never will he won't hold his place long said Mr. Bonteen whom do you mean Phineas Finn oh Mr. Finn, I was talking of Lord Chilton I believe Finn to be a very good sort of a fellow and he is undoubtedly clever they say cantrip likes him amazingly he'll do very well but I don't believe a word of this about Lord Chilton then Mr. Bonteen felt himself to be snubbed and soon afterwards left Lord Fawn alone End of Chapter 53 Chapter 54 Consolation On the day following Madame Gersler's dinner party Phineas, though he was early at his office was not able to do much work still feeling that as regarded the realities of the world his back was broken he might no doubt go on learning and after a time might be able to exert himself in a perhaps useful but altogether uninteresting kind of way doing his work simply because it was there to be done as the Carter or the Taylor does his and from the same cause knowing that a man must have bread to live but as for ambition and the idea of doing good and the love of work for work's sake as for the elastic springs of delicious and beneficent labour all that was over for him he would have worked from day till night and from night till day and from month till month throughout the year to have secured for Violet Effingham the assurance that her husband's position was worthy of her own but now he had no motive for such work as this as long as he took the public pay he would earn it and that was all on the next day things were a little better with him he received a note in the morning from Lord Cantrip saying that they too were to see the Prime Minister that evening in order that the whole question of the railway to the Rocky Mountains might be understood and Phineas was driven to his work before the time of the meeting came he had once more lost his own identity and great ideas of colonial welfare and had planned and peopled a mighty region on the Red River which should have no sympathy with American democracy when he waited upon Mr. Gresham in the afternoon he said nothing about the mighty region indeed he left it to Lord Cantrip to explain most of the proposed arrangements speaking only a word or two here and there as occasion required he was aware that he had so far recovered as to be able to save himself from losing ground during the interview he's about the first Irishman we've had that has been worth his salt said Mr. Gresham to his colleague afterwards that other Irishman was a terrible fellow said Lord Cantrip, shaking his head on the fourth day after his sorrow had befallen him Phineas went again to the cottage in Park Lane and in order that he might not be balked in his search for sympathy he wrote a line to Madame Gersler to ask if she would be at home I'll be at home from five to six and alone MMG that was the answer from Marie Max Gersler and Phineas was of course at the cottage a few minutes after five it is not, I think, surprising that a man when he wants sympathy in such a calamity as that which had now befallen Phineas Finn should seek it from a woman women sympathise most effectually with men as men do with women but it is perhaps a little odd that a man when he wants consolation because his heart has been broken always likes to receive it from a pretty woman one would be disposed to think that at such a moment he would be profoundly indifferent to such a matter that no delight could come to him from female beauty and that all he would want would be the softness of a simply sympathetic soul but he generally wants a soft hand as well and an eye that can be bright behind the mutual tear and lips that shall be young and fresh as they express their concern for his sorrow all these things were added to Phineas when he went to Madame Gersler in his grief I am so glad to see you said Madame Max very good nature to let me come no, but it is so good of you to trust me but I was sure you would come after what took place the other night I saw that you were pained and I was so sorry for it I made such a fool of myself not at all and I thought that you were right to tell them when the question had been asked if the thing was not that we kept a secret it was better to speak it out you will get it over it quicker in that way than in any other I have never seen the young Lord myself oh, there is nothing amiss about him as to what Lord Fawn said the half of it is simply exaggeration and the other half is misunderstood in this country it is so much to be a Lord said Madame Gersler Phineas thought a moment of that matter before he replied all the Standish family had been very good to him and Violet Effingham had been very good it was not the fault of any of them that he was now wretched and backbroken he had meditated much on this and had resolved that he would not even think evil of them I do not in my heart believe that that has had anything to do with it he said but it has my friend always I do not know your Violet Effingham she is not mine well, I do not know this Violet that is not yours I have met her and did not specially admire her but then the tastes of men and women about beauty are never the same but I know she is one that always lives with lords and countesses a girl who always lived with countesses feels it to be hard to settle down as a plain mistress she has had plenty of choice among all sorts of men it was not the title she would not have accepted children unless she had but what's the use of talking of it? they had known each other long? oh yes, as children and the Earl desired it of all things ah, then he arranged it not exactly nobody could arrange anything for children nor as far as that goes for Miss Effingham they arranged it themselves I fancy you had asked her? yes, twice and she had refused him more than twice I have nothing for which to blame her but yet I had thought I had thought she is a jilt then no, I will not let you say that of her she is no jilt but I think she has been strangely ignorant of her own mind what is the use of talking of it, Madame Gorsler? none only sometimes it is better to speak a word than to keep one's sorrow to oneself so it is and there is not one in the world to whom I can speak such a word except yourself it's not that odd I have sisters but they have never heard of Miss Effingham and would be quite indifferent perhaps they have some other favourites ah, well that does not matter and my best friend here in London is Lord Chilton's own sister she knew of your attachment? oh yes and she told you of Miss Effingham's engagement? was she glad of it? she has always desired the marriage and yet I think she would have been satisfied had it been otherwise but of course her heart must be with her brother I need not have troubled myself to go to Blankenburg after all it was for the best perhaps everybody says you behaved so well I could not but go as things were then what if you had shot him? there would have been an end of everything she would never have seen me after that I should have shot myself next feeling that there was nothing else left for me to do ah, you English are so peculiar but I suppose it is best not to shoot a man and Mr Finn there are other ladies in the world prettier than Miss Violet Effingham no, of course you will not admit that now just at this moment and for a month or two she is peerless and you will feel yourself to be of all men the most unfortunate but you have the ball at your feet I know no one so young who has got the ball at his feet so well I call it nothing to have the ball at your feet if you are born with it there it is so easy to be a lord if your father is one before you and so easy to marry a pretty girl if you can make her a countess or to make yourself a lord or to be as good as a lord nothing has been born to you that I call very much and there are women and pretty women too Mr Finn who have spirit enough to understand this and to think that the man after all is more important than the lord then she sang the old well-worn verse of the Scotch song with wonderful spirit and with a clearness of voice and knowledge of music she had hitherto never given her credit a prince can make a belted knight a monkey too can know that but an honest man's a boon his might could faith him on a far that I did not know that you sang Madame Gorsler only now and then when something special requires it and I'm very fond of Scotch songs I will sing to you now if you like it then she sang the whole song a man's a man for our that she said as she finished even though he cannot get the special bit of painted eaves flesh for which his heart has had a craving then she sang again there are maidens in Scotland more lovely by far who would gladly be bride to the young Lockenvar what young Lockenvar got his bride said Phineas take the spirit of the lines Mr Finn which is true and not the tale as it is told which is probably false I often think that Jock of Hazel Dean and young Lockenvar too probably live to repent their bargains we will hope that Lord Chilton may not do so I am sure he never will that is all right and as for you do you for a while think of your politics and your speeches and your colonies rather than of your love you are at home there and no Lord Chilton can rob you of your success and if you are down in the mouth I will sing you a scotch song and look you the next time I ask you to dinner I will promise you that Mrs Bondine shall not be here goodbye she gave him her hand which was very soft and left it for a moment in his and he was consoled Madame Gersler, when she was alone threw herself onto her chair and began to think of things in these days she would often ask herself what in truth was the object of her ambition and the aim of her life now at this moment she had in her hand a note from the Duke of Omnium the Duke had allowed himself to say something about a photograph which had justified her in writing to him or which she had taken for such justification and the Duke had replied he would not, he said lose the opportunity of waiting upon her in person which the presentation of the little gift might afford him it would be a great success to have the Duke of Omnium at her house but to what would the success reach what was her definite object or had she any in what way could she make herself happy she could not say that she was happy yet the hours with her were too long and the days too many the Duke of Omnium should come if he would and she was quite resolved as to this that if the Duke did come she would not be afraid of him heavens and earth what would be the feelings of such a woman as her were the world to greet her some fine morning as Duchess of Omnium and she made up her mind very resolutely on one subject should the Duke give her any opportunity she would take a very short time and letting him know what was the extent of her ambition end of chapter 54 chapter 55 of Phineas Finn the Irish member this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org recorded by Mil Nicholson Phineas Finn the Irish member by Anthony Chollip chapter 55 Lord Chilton at Salisby Lord Chilton did exactly as he said he would do he wrote to his father as he passed through Carl Isle and at once went on to his hunting at Willingford but his letter was very stiff and ungainly and it may be doubted whether Miss Effingham was not wrong and refusing the offer which he had made to her as to the dictation of it he began his letter my lord and did not much improve the style as he went on with it the reader may as well see the whole letter Railway Hotel Carl Isle December 27 186 blank my lord I am now on my way from Loughland to London and write this letter to you in compliance with the promise made by me to my sister and to Miss Effingham I have asked Violet to be my wife and she has accepted me and they think that you will be pleased to hear that this has been done I shall be of course obliged if you will instruct Mr Edwards to let me know what you would propose to do in regards to settlements Laura thinks that you will wish to see both Violet and myself at Salisby for myself I can only say that should you design me to come I will do so on receiving your assurance that I shall be treated neither with fatted calves nor with reproaches I am not aware that I have deserved either I am my lord, yours effect Chilton P.S. my address will be the bowl, Willingford that last word in which he half declared himself to be joined in affectionate relations to his father caused him a world of trouble but he could find no term for expressing without a circumlocution which was disagreeable to him exactly that position of feeling towards his father which really belonged to him he would have written yours with affection or yours with deadly enmity or yours with respect or yours with most profound indifference exactly in accordance with the state of his father's mind if he had only known what was that state he was afraid of going beyond his father in any offer of reconciliation and was firmly fixed in his resolution that he would never be either repentant or submissive in regard to the past if his father had wishes for the future he would comply with them if he could do so without unreasonable inconvenience but he would not give way a single point as to things done and gone if his father should choose to make any reference to them his father must prepare for battle the Earl was of course disgusted by the pertinacious obstinacy of his son's letter and for an hour or two swore to himself that he would not answer it but it is natural that the father should yearn for the son while the son's feeling for the father is of a very much weaker nature here at any rate was that engagement made which he had ever desired and his son had made a step though it was so very unsatisfactory a step towards reconciliation when the old man read the letter a second time he skipped that reference to fatted calves which had been so peculiarly distasteful to him and before the evening had passed he had answered his son as follows my dear children I have received your letter and am truly delighted to hear that dear Violet has accepted you as her husband her fortune will be very material to you but she herself is better than any fortune you have long known my opinion of her I shall be proud to welcome her as a daughter to my house I shall of course write to her immediately and will endeavour to settle some early day for her coming here when I have done so I will write to you again and can only say that I will endeavour to make souls be comfortable to you your affectionate father Brentford Richards the groom is still here you had perhaps better write to him direct about your horses by the middle of February arrangements had all been made and Violet met her lover at his father's house she in the meantime had been with her aunt and had undergone a good deal of mild unceasing persecution my dear Violet said her aunt to her on her arrival at Baddingham speaking with a solemnity that ought to have been terrible to the young lady I do not know what to say to you say how do you do aunt said Violet I mean about this engagement said Lady Baldock with an increase of awe-inspiring severity in her voice say nothing about it at all if you don't like it said Violet how can I say nothing about it how can I be silent or how am I to congratulate you the least said perhaps the soonest mended and Violet smiled as she spoke that is very well and if I had no duty to perform I would be silent but Violet you have been left in my charge if I see you shipwrecked in life I shall ever tell myself that the fault has been partly mine nay aunt that would be quite unnecessary I will always admit that you did everything in your power to to make me run straight as the sporting men say sporting men? oh Violet and you know aunt I still hope that I shall be found to have kept on the right side of the posts you will find that poor Lord Chilton is not so black as he is painted but why take anybody that is black at all? I like a little shade in the picture aunt look at Lord Faun I have looked at him a young nobleman beginning a career of useful official life that will end in there is no knowing what it may end in I dare say not but it never could have begun or ended in my being Lady Faun and Mr. Appledom poor Mr. Appledom I do like Mr. Appledom but you see aunt I like Lord Chilton so much better a young woman will go by her feelings and yet you refused him a dozen times I never counted the times aunt but not quite so many as that the same thing was repeated over and over again during the month that Miss Effingham remained at Baddingham but Lady Baldock had no power of interfering and Violet bore her persecution bravely her future husband was generally spoken of as that violent young man and hints were thrown out as to the personal injuries to which his wife might be possibly subjected but the threatened bride only laughed and spoke of these coming dangers as part of the general lot of married women I dare say if the truth were known my uncle Baldock did not always keep his temper she said once now the truth was as Violet well knew that my uncle Baldock had been done as a sheep before the shearers in the hands of his wife and had never been known to do anything improper by those who had been most intimate with him even in his earlier days your uncle Baldock Miss said the outraged aunt was a nobleman as different in his manner of life from Lord Chilton as chalk from cheese but then comes the question which is the cheese said Violet Lady Baldock would not argue the question any further but stalked out of the room Lady Laura Kennedy met them at Salisby having had something of a battle with her husband before she left her home to do so when she told him of her desire to assist at this reconciliation between her father and brother he replied by pointing out that her first duty was at Luffelinter and before the interview was ended had come to express an opinion that that duty was very much neglected she in the meantime had declared that she would go to Salisby or that she would explain to her father that she was forbidden by her husband to do so and I also forbid any such communication said Mr. Kennedy in answer to which Lady Laura told him that there were some marital commands which she should not consider it to be her duty to obey when matters had come to this pass it may be conceived that both Mr. Kennedy and his wife were very unhappy she had almost resolved that she would take steps to enable her to live apart from her husband and he had begun to consider what course he would pursue if such steps were taken the wife was subject to her husband by the laws both of God and man and Mr. Kennedy was one who thought much of such laws in the meantime Lady Laura carried her point and went to Salisby leaving her husband to go up to London and begin the session by himself Lady Laura and Violet were both at Salisby before Lord Chilton arrived and many were the consultations which were held between them as to the best mode in which things might be arranged Violet was of the opinion that they had better be no arrangement that Lord Chilton should be allowed to come in and take his father's hand and sit down to dinner and that so things should fall into their places Lady Laura was rather in favour of some scene but the interview had taken place before either of them were able to say a word Lord Chilton on his arrival had gone immediately to his father taking the earl very much by surprise and had come off best in the encounter my lord said he walking up to his father with his hand out I am very glad to come back to Salisby he had written to his sister to say that he would be at Salisby on that day and had named no hour he now appeared between ten and eleven in the morning and his father had as yet made no preparation for him had arranged no appropriate words he had walked in at the front door and had asked for the earl the earl was in his own morning room a gloomy room full of dark books and darker furniture and thither Lord Chilton had it once gone the two women still were sitting together over the fire in the breakfast room and knew nothing of his arrival all was wold said his father I hardly expected you so early I have come early I came across country and slept at Birmingham I suppose Violet is here yes, she is here and Laura he'll be very glad to see you so am I and the father took the son's hand for the second time thank you sir, said Lord Chilton looking his father full in the face I've been very much pleased by this engagement continued the earl what do you think I must be then said the son laughing I have been at it, you know, off and on ever so many years and have sometimes thought I was quite a fool not to get it out of my head but I couldn't get it out of my head and now she talks as though it were she who had been in love with me all the time perhaps she was said the father I don't believe it in the least she may be a little so now I hope you mean that she always shall be so I shan't be the worst husband in the world, I hope and I am quite sure I shan't be the best I will go and see her now I suppose I shall find her somewhere in the house I thought it best to see you first stop a half a moment, Oswald said the earl and then Lord Brentford did make something of a shambling speech in which he expressed a hope that they too might for the future live together on friendly terms for getting the past he ought to have been prepared for the occasion and the speech was poor and shambling but I think that it was more useful than it might have been had it been uttered roundly and with that paternal and almost majestic effect in which he would have achieved had he been thoroughly prepared but the roundness and the majesty would have gone against the grain with his son and they would have been a danger of some outbreak as it was Lord Chiltern smiled and muttered some words about things being all right and then made his way out of the room that's a great deal better than I had hoped he said to himself and it has all come from my going in without being announced but there was still a fear upon him that his father even yet might prepare a speech and speak it to the great peril of their mutual comfort his meeting with Violet was of course pleasant enough now that she had succumbed and had told herself and had told him that she loved him she did not scruple to be as generous as a maiden should be who has acknowledged herself to be conquered and has rendered herself to the conqueror she would walk with him and ride with him and take a lively interest in the performances of all his horses and listen to hunting stories as long as he chose to tell them in all this she was so good and so loving that Lady Laura was more than once tempted to throw in her teeth her old often repeated assertions that she was not prone to be in love that it was not her nature to feel any ardent affection for a man and that therefore she would probably remain unmarried you begrudge me my little bits of pleasure Violet said in answer to one such attack No but it is so odd to see you of all women become so lovelorn I am not lovelorn said Violet but I like the freedom of telling him everything and of hearing everything from him and of having him for my own best friend he might go away for twelve months and I should not be unhappy believing as I do that he would be true to me all of which said Lady Laura thinking whether her friend had not been wiser than she had been she had never known anything of that sort of friendship with her husband which already seemed to be quite established between these two in her misery one day Lady Laura told the whole story of her own unhappiness to her brother saying nothing of Phineas Finn saying nothing of him as she told her story but speaking more strongly perhaps than she should have done of the terrible dreariness of her life at Laughlinter and of her inability to induce her husband to alter it for her sake Do you mean that he ill treats you said the brother with a scowl on his face which seemed to indicate that he would like no task better than that of resenting such ill treatment he does not beat me if you mean that is he cruel to you does he use harsh language he never said a word in his life either to me or as I believe to any other human being that he would think himself bound to regret what is it then he simply chooses to have his own way and his way cannot be my way he is hard and dry and just dispassionate and he wishes me to be the same that is all I tell you fairly Laura as far as I am concerned I never could speak to him he is antipathetic to me but then I am not his wife I am and I suppose I must bear it have you spoken to my father no auto-violet yes does she say what can she say she has nothing to say nor have you nor if I am driven to leave him can I make the world understand why I do so to be simply miserable as I am is nothing to the world I can never understand why you married him do not be cruel to me Oswald cruel I will stick by you in any way that you wish if you think well of it I will go off to Leflander tomorrow and tell him that you will never return to him and if you are not safe from him here at Salisby you shall go abroad with us I am sure Violet would not object I will not be cruel to you but in truth neither of Lady Laura's counsellors was able to give her advice that could serve her she felt that she could not leave her husband without other cause than now existed although she felt also had to go back to him as to go back to utter wretchedness and when she saw Violet and her brother together that came to her dreams of what might have been her own happiness had she kept herself free from those terrible bonds in which she was now held a prisoner she could not get out of her heart the remembrance of that young man who would have been her lover if she would have let him love for herself she had been aware before she had handed herself over as a bale of goods to her unloved unloving husband she had married Mr. Kennedy because she was afraid that otherwise she might find herself forced to own but she loved that other man who was then a nobody almost nobody it was not Mr. Kennedy's money that had bought her this woman in regard to money had shown herself to be as generous as the son Mr. Kennedy she had maintained herself in her high position among the first of her own people among the first socially and among the first politically but had she married Phineas had she become Lady Laura Finn there would have been a great descent she could not have entertained the leading men of her party she would not have been on a level with the wives and daughters of cabinet ministers she might indeed have remained unmarried but she knew that had she done so had she so resolved that which she called her fancy would have been too strong for her she would not have remained unmarried at that time it was her fate to be either Lady Laura Kennedy or Lady Laura Finn and she had chosen to be Lady Laura Kennedy to neither vile at Effingham nor to her brother could she tell one half of the sorrow which afflicted her I shall go back to Laughlinter she said to her brother do not unless you wish it he answered I do not wish it but I shall do it Mr. Kennedy is in London now and has been there since Parliament met but he will be in Scotland again in March and I will go and meet him there I told him that I would do so when I left what you will go up to London I suppose so I must do as he tells me of course what I mean is I will try it for another year if it does not succeed come to us I cannot say what I will do I would die if I knew how never be a tyrant Oswald or at any rate not a cold tyrant and remember this there is no tyranny to a woman like telling her of her duty talk of beating a woman beating might often be a mercy Lord Children remained ten days at Salisbury and at last did not get away without a few unpleasant words with his father or without a few words that were almost unpleasant with his mistress on his first arrival he had told his sister that he should go on a certain day and some intimation to this effect had probably been conveyed to the Earl but when his son told him one evening that the post-chase had been ordered for seven o'clock the next morning he felt that his son was ungracious and abrupt there were many things still to be said and indeed there had been no speech of any account made at all as yet that is very sudden said the Earl I thought Laura had told you not told me a word lately she may have said something before you came here what is there to hurry you I thought ten days would be as long as you would care to have me here and as I said that I would be back by the first I would rather not change my plans you are going to hunt yes I shall hunt till the end of March you might have hunted here Oswald but the son made no sign of changing his plans and the father seeing that he would not change them became solemn and severe there were a few words which he must say to his son something of a speech that he must make so he led the way into the room with the dark books of the dark furniture and pointed to a great deep arm chair for his son's accommodation but as he did not sit down himself neither did Lord Chilton Lord Chilton understood very well how great is the advantage of a standing orator over a sitting recipient of his oratory and that advantage he would not give to his father I had hoped to have an opportunity of saying a few words to you about the future said the Earl I think we shall be married in July said Lord Chilton so I have heard but after that now I do not want to interfere Oswald and of course the less so because Violet's money will to a great degree restore the inroads which have been made upon the property it will more than restore them all together not if her estate be settled on a second son Oswald and I hear from Lady Baldock that that is the wish of her relations she shall have her own way as she ought what that way is I do not know I have not even asked about it she asked me and I told her to speak to you of course I should wish it to go with the family property of course that would be best she shall have her own way as far as I am concerned but it is not about that Oswald that I would speak what are your plans of life when you are married plans of life yes plans of life I suppose you have some plans I suppose you mean to apply yourself to some useful occupation I don't know really sir that I am of much use for any purpose Lord Chiltern laughed as he said this but did not laugh pleasantly you would not be a drone in the hive always as far as I can see sir we who call ourselves lords generally are drones I deny it said the Earl becoming quite energetic as he defended his order I deny it utterly I know no class of men who do work more useful or more honest am I a drone? have I been so from my youth upwards? I have always worked either in the one house or in the other and those of my fellows with whom I have been most intimate I have worked also the same career is open to you you mean politics of course I mean politics I don't care for politics I see no difference in parties but you should care for politics and you should see a difference in parties it is your duty to do so my wish is that you should go into parliament I can't do that sir and why not? in the first place sir you have not got a seat to offer me you have managed matters among you in such a way that poor little Lofton has been swallowed up if I were to canvass the electors of Smotherham I don't think that many would look very sweet on me there is the county Oswald and whom am I to turn out? I should spend four or five thousand pounds for nothing but vexation in return for it I had rather not begin that game and indeed I am too old for parliament I did not take it up early enough to believe in it all this made the Earl very angry and from these things they went on to worse things when questioned again out of the future Lord Chilton scowled at last declared that it was his idea to live abroad in the summer for his wife's recreation for the fires during the winter for his own he would admit of no purpose higher than recreation and when his father again talked to him of a nobleman's duty he said that he knew of no other special duty than that of not exceeding his income then his father made a longer speech than before and at the end of it Lord Chilton simply wished him good night it's getting late and I've promised to see Violet before I go to bed goodbye then he was off and Lord Brentford was left there standing with his back to the fire after that Lord Chilton had a discussion with Violet which lasted nearly half the night and during the discussion she told him more than once that he was wrong such as I am you must take me or leave me he said in anger nay there is no choice now I have taken you and I will stick by you whether you are right or wrong but when I think you wrong I shall say so he swore to her as he pressed her to his heart that she was the finest grandest sweetest woman that ever the world had produced but still there was present on his palate when he left her the bitter taste of her reprimand end of chapter 55 chapter 56 of Phineas Finn this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer contact LibriVox.org Phineas Finn by Anthony Trollop chapter 56 what the people in Marley Bunn thought Phineas Finn when the session began was still hard at work upon his Canada bill and in his work found some relief for his broken back he went into the matter with all his energy and before the debate came on knew much more about the seven thousand inhabitants of some hundreds of thousands of square miles at the back of Canada than he did of the people of London or of County Clair and he found some consolation also in the good nature of Madame Gersler whose drawing room was always open to him he could talk freely now to Madame Gersler about Violet and had even ventured to tell her that once in old days he had thought of loving Lady Laura Standish he spoke of those days as being very old and then he perhaps said some word to her about dear little Mary Flood Jones I think that there was not much in his career of which he did not say something to Madame Gersler and that he received from her a good deal of excellent advice and encouragement in the direction of his political ambition a man should work she said and you do work a woman can only look on and admire and long what is there that I can do I can learn to care for these Canadians just because you care for them if it was the beast if it was the beavers that you told me of I should have to care for the beavers then Phineas of course told her that such sympathy from her was all and all to him but the reader must not on this account suppose that he was untrue in his love to Violet Effingham his back was altogether broken by his fall and he was quite aware that such was the fact not as yet at least had come to him any remotest idea that a cure was possible early in March he heard that Lady Laura was up in town and of course he was bound to go to her the information was given to him by Mr. Kennedy himself who told him that he had been to Scotland to fetch her in these days there was an acknowledged friendship between these two but there was no intimacy indeed Mr. Kennedy was a man who was hardly intimate with any other man with Phineas he now and then exchanged a few words in the lobby of the house and when they chanced to meet each other they met as friends Mr. Kennedy had no strong wish to see again in his house the man respecting whom he had ventured to caution his wife but he was thoughtful and thinking over it all he found it better to ask him there no one must know that there was any reason why Phineas should not come to his house especially as all the world knew that Phineas had protected him from the garadiers Lady Laura is in town now he said you must go and see her before long Phineas of course promised that he would go in these days Phineas was beginning to be aware that he had enemies though he could not understand why anybody should be his enemy now that Violet Effingham had decided against him there was poor Lawrence Fitzgibbon indeed whom he had superseded at the colonial office but Lawrence Fitzgibbon to give merit where merit was due felt no animosity against him at all you're welcome, my boy you're welcome as far as yourself goes but as for the party, but dad it's rotten to the core and won't stand another session mind, it's all you tell you so and the poor idle Irishman in so speaking spoke the truth as well as he knew it but the Rattlers and the Bonteens were Phine's bitter foes and did not scruple to let him know that such was the case Barrington Earl had scruples on the subject and in a certain mildly apologetic way still spoke well of the young man whom he had himself first introduced into political life only four years since but there was no earnestness or cordiality in Barrington Earl's manner and Phineus knew that his first staunch friend could no longer be regarded as a pillar of support but there was a set of men quite as influential so Phineus thought as the busy politicians of the club who were very friendly to him these were men generally of high position of steady character hard workers who thought quite as much of what a man did in his office as what he said in the house Lord's cantrip, thrift and fawn were of this class and they were all very courteous to Phineus envious men began to say of him that he cared little now for any one of the party who had not a handle to his name and that he preferred to live with Lord's and Lordling's this was hard upon him as the great political ambition of his life was to call Mr. Monk his friend and he would sooner have acted with Mr. Monk than with any other man in the cabinet but though Mr. Monk had not deserted him there had come to be little of late in common between the two his life was becoming that of a parliamentary official rather than that of a politician whereas though Mr. Monk was in office his public life was purely political Mr. Monk had great ideas of his own which he intended to hold whether by holding them he might remain in office or be forced out of office and he was indifferent as to the direction which things in this respect might take with him but Phineas who had achieved his declared object in getting into place felt that he was almost constrained to adopt the views of others let them be what they might men spoke to him as though his parliamentary career were wholly at the disposal of the government as though he were like a proxy in Mr. Gresham's pocket with this difference that when directed to get up and speak on a subject to do so this annoyed him and he complained to Mr. Monk but Mr. Monk only shrugged his shoulders and told him that he must make his choice he soon discovered Mr. Monk's meaning if you choose to make Parliament a profession as you have chosen you can have no right even to think of independence if the country finds you out when you are in Parliament and invites you to office of course the thing is different but the latter is a slow career and probably would not have suited you that was the meaning of what Mr. Monk said to him after all these official and Parliamentary honours were greater when seen at a distance then he found them to be now that he possessed them Mr. Low worked ten hours a day and could rarely call a day his own but after all with all this work Mr. Low was less of a slave and more independent than was he Phineas Finn Undersecretary of State the Friend of Cabinet Ministers and Member of Parliament since his twenty-fifth year he began to dislike the house and to think it abhor to sit on the Treasury Bench he who a few years since had regarded Parliament as the British Heaven on Earth and who since he had been in Parliament had looked at that Bench with longing envious eyes Lawrence Fitzgibbon who seemed to have as much to eat and drink as ever and a bed also to lie on could come and go in the house as he pleased since his resignation and there was a new trouble coming the Reform Bill for England had passed there was to be another Reform Bill for Ireland let them pass what bill they might this would not render necessary a new Irish election till the entire house should be dissolved but he feared that he would be called upon to vote for the abolition of his own borough and for other points almost equally distasteful to him he knew that he would not be consulted but would be called upon to vote and perhaps to speak and was certain that if he did so there would be war between him and his constituents Lord Tullough had already communicated to him his ideas that for certain excellent reasons Lachlan ought to be spared but this evil was he hoped a distant one it was generally thought that as the English Reform Bill had been passed last year and as the Irish Bill if carried immediately operative the doing of the thing might probably be postponed to the next session when he first saw Lady Laura he was struck by the great change in her look and manner she seemed to him to be old and worn and he judged her to be wretched as she was she had written to him to say that she would be at her father's house on such and such a morning and he had gone to her there it is of no use you're coming to Grovener Place she said I see nobody there and the house is like a prison later in the interview she told him not to come and dine there even though Mr. Kennedy should ask him and why not he demanded because everything would be stiff and cold and uncomfortable I suppose you do not wish to make your way into a lady's house if she asks you not there was a sort of smile on her face as she said this but he could perceive that it was a very bitter smile you can easily excuse yourself yes I can excuse myself then do so if you are particularly anxious to dine with Mr. Kennedy you can easily do so at your club in the tone of her voice and the words she used she hardly attempted to conceal her dislike of her husband and now tell me about Miss Effingham he said there is nothing for me to tell yes there is much to tell you need not spare me I do not pretend to deny to you that I have been hit hard so hard that I have been nearly knocked down it will not hurt me now to hear of it all did she always love him I cannot say I think she did after her own fashion I sometimes think women would be less cruel he said if they knew how great is the anguish they can cause has she been cruel to you I have nothing to complain of but if she loved children why did she not tell him so at once and why this is complaining Mr. Finn I will not complain I would not even think of it if I could help it are they to be married soon in July so they now say and where will they live ah no one can tell I do not think that they agree as yet as to that but if she has a strong wish she will be filled to it he was always generous I would not even have had a wish except to have her with me there was a pause for a moment and then Lady Laura answered him with a touch of scorn in her voice and with some scorn too in her eye that is all very well Mr. Finn but the season will not be over before there is someone else there you wrong me they tell me that you are already at Madame Gersler's feet Madame Gersler what matters who it is as long as she is young and pretty and has the interest attached to her of something more than ordinary position when men tell me of the cruelty of women I think that no woman can be really cruel because no man is capable of suffering a woman if she is thrown does suffer do you mean to tell me then that I am indifferent to Miss Effingham when he thus spoke I wonder whether he had forgotten that he had ever declared to this very woman to whom he was speaking a passion for herself Shah it suits you Lady Laura to be harsh to me but you are not speaking your thoughts then she lost all control of herself and poured out to him the real truth that was in her and whose thoughts did you speak when you and I were on the braze of low linter am I wrong in saying that change is easy to you or have I grown to be so old that you can talk to me as though those far away follies ought to be forgotten was it so long ago talk of love I tell you sir that your heart is one in which love can have no durable hold Violet Effingham there may be a dozen violets after her and you will be none the worse then she walked away from him to the window and he stood still dumb on the spot that he had occupied you had better go now she said and forget what has passed between us I know that you are a gentleman and that you will forget it the strong idea of his mind when he heard all this was the injustice of her attack of the attack as coming from her who had all but openly acknowledged that she had married a man whom she had not loved because it suited her to escape from a man whom she did love she was reproaching him now for his fickleness in having ventured to set his heart upon another woman when she herself had been so much worse than fickle so profoundly false and yet he could not defend himself by accusing her what would she have had of him what would she have proposed to him had he questioned her as to his future when they were together on the braze of low linter would she not have bid him to find someone else whom he could love would she then have suggested to him the propriety of nursing his love for herself for her who was about to become another man's wife for her after she should have become another man's wife and yet because he had not done so and because she had made herself wretched by marrying a man whom she did not love she reproached him he could not tell her of all this so he fell back for his defense on words which had passed between them since the day when they had met on the braze Lady Laura, he said it is only a month or two since you spoke to me as though you wished that Violet Effingham might be my wife I never wished it I never said that I wished it there are moments in which we try to give a child any brick on the chimney top for which it may whimper then there was another silence which she was the first to break you had better go she said I know that I have committed myself and of course I would rather be alone and what would you wish that I should do do she said what you do can be nothing to me must we be strangers you and I because there was a time in which we were almost more than friends I have spoken nothing about myself sir only as I have been drawn to do so by your pretense of being love sick you can do nothing for me nothing nothing what is it possible that you should do for me you are not my father or my brother it is not to be I wanted him to fall at her feet it is to be supposed that had he done so her reproaches would have been hot and heavy on him but yet it almost seemed to him as though he had no other alternative no he was not her father or her brother nor could he be her husband and at this very moment as she knew his heart was sore with love for another woman and yet he hardly knew how not to throw himself at her feet and swear that he would return now and forever to his old passion hopeless sinful degraded as it would be I wish it were possible for me to do something he said drawing near to her there is nothing to be done she said clasping her hands together nothing I have before me no escape no hope no prospect of relief no place of consolation you have everything before you you complain of a wound you have at least shown that such wounds with you are capable of cure you cannot but feel that when I hear your wailings I must be impatient you had better leave me now and are we to be no longer friends? he asked as far as friendship can go without intercourse I shall always be your friend then he went and as he walked down to his office so intent was he on that which had just passed that he hardly saw the people as he met them or was aware of the streets through which his way led him there had been something other words which Lady Laura had spoken that had made him feel almost unconsciously that the injustice of her reproaches was not so great as he had at first felt it to be and that she had some cause for her scorn if her case was such as she had so plainly described it what was his plight as compared with hers he had lost his violet in pain there must be much of suffering before him but though violet were lost the world was not all blank before his eyes he had not told himself even in his dreariest moments that there was before him no escape no hope no prospect of relief no place of consolation and then he began to think must in truth be the case with Lady Laura what if Mr. Kennedy were to die what in such case as that would he do in ten or perhaps in five years time might it not be possible for him to go through the ceremony of falling upon his knees with stiffened joints indeed but still with something left of the ardor of his old love of his oldest love of all as he was thinking of this he was brought up short in his walk as he was entering the green park beneath the Duke's figure by Lawrence Fitzgibbon how dare you not be in your office at such an hour as this Finn may boy or at least not in the house or serving your masters after some fashion said the late Undersecretary so I am I've been on a message to Marley Bun to find what the people there about the Canada's and what do they think about the Canada's in Marley Bun not one man in a thousand cares whether the Canadians prosper or fail to prosper they care that Canada should not go to the States because though they don't love the Canadians they do hate the Americans that's about the feeling in Marley Bun and it's astonishing how like many of the Spanish-borners are to the rest of the world Dear me what a fellow you are for an Undersecretary you've heard the news about little Violet what news she has quarreled with children you know who says so never mind who says so but they tell me it's true take an old friend's advice and strike while the iron's hot Phineas did not believe what he had heard but though he did not believe it still the tidings set his heart beating he would have believed it less perhaps had he known that Lawrence had just received the news from Mrs. Bonteen End of Chapter 56 Recording by Laura Koskinen