Читать книгу The Forger's Wife - Lang John - Страница 6

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THERE were no electric telegraph despatches in the days when Captain Harcourt carried off Emily Orford—no special trains that could travel at the rate of fifty miles an hour. The fastest conveyance was a post-chaise, and when Mrs. Orford, at four o'clock, was startled by the intelligence that Emily had eloped, she was unable to find out what road even the fugitives had taken. Nevertheless she displayed some show of a pursuit, and made the best of her way to London, where she informed her husband of what had taken place.

Mr. Orford was naturally furious. In vain did Mrs. Orford declare that Captain Harcourt was a most gentlemanlike person; that he was very rich, highly connected, and much courted in society.

Emily was advertised and described in the papers, and a reward of £500 was offered to any person or persons who would prevent the solemnisation of matrimony between herself and the person with whom she had eloped. But these precautions were of no avail. The old blacksmith at Gretna-green had tied the knot before the advertisement appeared at any great distance from London, and Captain Harcourt, in the ecstacy of his joy, presented the blacksmith with a bank note for £50.

Captain Harcourt, that child of impulse had (to use a vulgar phrase) "heaps of money" and he squandered it with an open-handedness which surprised even Emily, who had been accustomed to witness a somewhat prodigal liberality on the part of her father; and she playfully rebuked "Reginald," several times, for his profuseness, but he only kissed her in reply, and remarked, "What does it signify, Emily, dearest? In what consists the value of wealth but the enjoyment it affords?"

What struck Emily as very strange was this. When Reginald was courting her he was so cross, so irritable, and so overbearing; but now that she was his wife, and completely in his power, he was all submission, and the most good-tempered and obliging creature imaginable. "So unlike most men," she reflected, "who are all honey when they are lovers, but vinegar itself soon after they are married. Dear Reginald!" Emily patted the head of the Captain, who pretended to be sleeping, ran her tapering fingers through his luxuriant whiskers, and kissed his forehead.

Reginald shuddered beneath her touch. Emily fancied he was disturbed in his dreams by some horrid vision, and she awakened him. Reginald started up, glared at his wife, and said, "Remember, dearest Emily, nothing shall ever part us. I love you from the very bottom of my heart. Your father is a member of Parliament, and has enormous influence at the Home Office. Forgive me, darling, if ever I spoke unkindly to you."

They were now on their way to Matlock from Gretna-green.

At Matlock, Emily, at Captain Harcourt's dictation, wrote several letters to her parents. From her father she never had a reply; but from her mother she received a note in these words—"Emily,—We have brought ourselves to think of you like the rest of our offspring."

"I say," said Captain Harcourt, on reading this laconic epistle, "it won't pay for them to shake us off in that fashion. Our exchequer won't bear that, my girl. We must try a penitent touch. We will give 'em a quasi pro confesso go of the pathetic, with a dash of the appeal to a sense of pride, beating on the merits. Was it for this that I told the old lady, on what I considered the best authority, that George the Fourth turned out the Ministry, because the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs would not consent to having her husband made a baronet, so much was his Majesty struck with her personal beauty, when she appeared at the drawing-room? Oh, hang it, Emmy, this will never do!"

Emily could not understand either the tone or the substance of Reginald's observations; but then, Reginald was often so incoherently funny, that she did not attempt to unravel his sentences. She therefore contented herself with smiling, and saying, "Never mind, dearest Reginald; when you come in for your title, on your uncle's death, my mother, who is very proud and vain—bless her dear heart!—will be only too glad to acknowledge and receive us; and, if it be possible, we shall be happier then than we are now, my own dear Reginald."

"What sort of a man is your father, really?" inquired Captain Harcourt. "Is he a man of warm feelings, generously disposed?"

Emily described her father truly, as "the kindest and most liberal-minded man in the world, and very intellectual withal, but rather obstinate and determined."

"That's all right," said Captain Harcourt; "then I know how to deal with him." And the Captain, who was rather overcome by constant refreshment taken during that day, sat down, and, in a handwriting resembling copper-plate, wrote the following.

"EDMUND ORFORD, ESQ., M.P., &c. &c. &c.

"SIR,

Pardon me; but I desire to make an explanation: I am sure you will forgive me.

The faults of love by love are justified, With unresisted might the monarch reigns, He levels mountains and he raises plains, And, not regarding difference of degree, Abased your daughter and exalted me. "Yours obediently, "REGINALD HARCOURT."

It is needless, perhaps, to say that Mr. Orford never took the slightest notice of this communication. It confirmed his previously conceived opinion, that "Captain Harcourt" was some low blackguard—an impostor and a swindler.