Marriage a la mode

Mrs. Ward Humphry

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pubOne.info present you this new edition. "A stifling hot day! " General Hobson lifted his hat and mopped his forehead indignantly. "What on earth this place can be like in June I can't conceive! The tenth of April, and I'll be bound the thermometer's somewhere near eighty in the shade. You never find the English climate playing you these tricks.

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• Publié par: Pub One Info
• Date de parution: 06 novembre 2010
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9782819940227
• Langue: English

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Marriage à la Mode
BY MRS. HUMPHRY WARD
PART I
CHAPTER I
“A stifling hot day! ” General Hobson lifted his hatand mopped his forehead indignantly. “What on earth this place canbe like in June I can't conceive! The tenth of April, and I'll bebound the thermometer's somewhere near eighty in the shade. Younever find the English climate playing you these tricks. ”
Roger Barnes looked at his uncle with amusement.
“Don't you like heat, Uncle Archie? Ah, but Iforgot, it's American heat. ”
“I like a climate you can depend on, ” said theGeneral, quite conscious that he was talking absurdly, yet none theless determined to talk, by way of relief to some obscureannoyance. “Here we are sweltering in this abominable heat, and inNew York last week they had a blizzard, and here, even, it was coldenough to give me rheumatism. The climate's always in extremes—like the people. ”
“I'm sorry to find you don't like the States, UncleArchie. ”
The young man sat down beside his uncle. They werein the deck saloon of a steamer which had left Washington about anhour before for Mount Vernon. Through the open doorway to theirleft they saw a wide expanse of river, flowing between banks ofspring green, and above it thunderous clouds, in a hot blue. Thesaloon, and the decks outside, held a great crowd of passengers, ofwhom the majority were women.
The tone in which Roger Barnes spoke wasgood-tempered, but quite perfunctory. Any shrewd observer wouldhave seen that whether his uncle liked the States or not did not intruth matter to him a whit.
“And I consider all the arrangements for this tripmost unsatisfactory, ” the General continued angrily. “Thesteamer's too small, the landing-place is too small, the crowdgetting on board was something disgraceful. They'll have a shockingaccident one of these days. And what on earth are all these womenhere for— in the middle of the day? It's not a holiday. ”
“I believe it's a teachers' excursion, ” said youngBarnes absently, his eyes resting on the rows of young women inwhite blouses and spring hats who sat in close-packed chairs uponthe deck— an eager, talkative host.
“H'm— Teachers! ” The General's tone was still morepugnacious. “Going to learn more lies about us, I suppose, thatthey may teach them to school-children? I was turning over some oftheir school-books in a shop yesterday. Perfectly abominable! It'smonstrous what they teach the children here about what they'repleased to call their War of Independence. All that we did was toask them to pay something for their own protection. What did itmatter to us whether they were mopped up by the Indians, or theFrench, or not? 'But if you want us to go to all the expense andtrouble of protecting you, and putting down those fellows, why,hang it, ' we said, 'you must pay some of the bill! ' That was allEnglish Ministers asked; and perfectly right too. And as for themen they make such a fuss about, Samuel Adams, and John Adams, andFranklin, and all the rest of the crew, I tell you, the stuff theyteach American school-children about them is a poisoning of thewells! Franklin was a man of profligate life, whom I would neverhave admitted inside my doors! And as for the Adamses— intriguers—canting fellows! — both of them. ”
“Well, at least you'll give them George Washington.” As he spoke, Barnes concealed a yawn, followed immediatelyafterwards by a look of greater alertness, caused by the discoverythat a girl sitting not far from the doorway in the crowd outsidewas certainly pretty.
The red-faced, white-haired General paused a momentbefore replying, then broke out: “What George Washington might havebeen if he had held a straight course I am not prepared to say. Asit is, I don't hesitate for a moment! George Washington was nothingmore nor less than a rebel— a damned rebel! And what Englishmenmean by joining in the worship of him I've never been able tounderstand. ”
“I say, uncle, take care, ” said the young man,looking round him, and observing with some relief that they seemedto have the saloon to themselves. “These Yankees will stand mostthings, but— — ”
“You needn't trouble yourself, Roger, ” was thetesty reply; “I am not in the habit of annoying my neighbours. Wellnow, look here, what I want to know is, what is the meaning of thisabsurd journey of yours? ”
The young man's frown increased. He began to pokethe floor with his stick. “I don't know why you call it absurd?”
“To me it seems both absurd and extravagant, ” saidthe other with emphasis. “The last thing I heard of you was thatBurdon and Co. had offered you a place in their office, and thatyou were prepared to take it. When a man has lost his money andbecomes dependent upon others, the sooner he gets to work thebetter. ”
Roger Barnes reddened under the onslaught, and thesulky expression of his handsome mouth became more pronounced. “Ithink my mother and I ought to be left to judge for ourselves, ” hesaid rather hotly. “We haven't asked anybody for money yet ,Uncle Archie. Burdon and Co. can have me in September just as wellas now; and my mother wished me to make some friends over here whomight be useful to me. ”
“Useful to you. How? ”
“I think that's my affair. In this country there arealways openings— things turning up— chances— you can't get at home.”
The General gave a disapproving laugh. “The onlychance that'll help you, Roger, at present— excuse me if I speakfrankly— is the chance of regular work. Your poor mother hasnothing but her small fixed income, and you haven't a farthing tochuck away on what you call chances. Why, your passage by the Lucania alone must have cost a pretty penny. I'll bet my hatyou came first class. ”
The young man was clearly on the brink of anexplosion, but controlled himself with an effort. “I paid thewinter rate; and mother who knows the Cunard people very well, gota reduction. I assure you, Uncle Archie, neither mother nor I is afool, and we know quite well what we are about. ”
As he spoke he raised himself with energy, andlooked his companion in the face.
The General, surveying him, was mollified, as usual,by nothing in the world but the youth's extraordinary good looks.Roger Barnes's good looks had been, indeed, from his childhoodupward the distinguishing and remarkable feature about him. He hadbeen a king among his schoolfellows largely because of them, and ofthe athletic prowess which went with them; and while at Oxford hehad been cast for the part of Apollo in “The Eumenides, ” Naturehaving clearly designed him for it in spite of the lamentabledeficiencies in his Greek scholarship, which gave his prompters andtrainers so much trouble. Nose, chin, brow, the poising of the headon the shoulders, the large blue eyes, lidded and set with a Greekperfection, the delicacy of the lean, slightly hollow cheeks,combined with the astonishing beauty and strength of the head,crowned with ambrosial curls— these possessions, together withothers, had so far made life an easy and triumphant business fortheir owner. The “others, ” let it be noted, however, had till nowalways been present; and, chief amongst them, great wealth and animportant and popular father. The father was recently dead, as theblack band on the young man's arm still testified, and the wealthhad suddenly vanished, wholly and completely, in one of thefinancial calamities of the day. General Hobson, contemplating hisnephew, and mollified, as we have said, by his splendid appearance,kept saying to himself: “He hasn't a farthing but what poor Lauraallows him; he has the tastes of forty thousand a year; a veryindifferent education; and what the deuce is he going to do? ”
Aloud he said:
“Well, all I know is, I had a deplorable letter lastmail from your poor mother. ”
The young man turned his head away, his cigarettestill poised at his lips. “Yes, I know— mother's awfully down.”
“Well, certainly your mother was never meant for apoor woman, ” said the General, with energy. “She takes ituncommonly hard. ”
Roger, with face still averted, showed noinclination to discuss his mother's character on these lines.
“However, she'll get along all right, if you do yourduty by her, ” added the General, not without a certainseverity.
“I mean to do it, sir. ” Barnes rose as he spoke. “Ishould think we're getting near Mount Vernon by this time. I'll goand look. ”
He made his way to the outer deck, the Generalfollowing. The old soldier, as he moved through the crowd of chairsin the wake of his nephew, was well aware of the attention excitedby the young man. The eyes of many damsels were upon him; and,while the girls looked and said nothing, their mothers laughed andwhispered to each other as the young Apollo passed.
Standing at the side of the steamer, the uncle andnephew perceived that the river had widened to a still more statelybreadth, and that, on the southern bank, a white building, highplaced, had come into view. The excursionists crowded to look,expressing their admiration for the natural scene and their senseof its patriotic meaning in a frank, enthusiastic chatter, whichpresently enveloped the General, standing in a silent endurancelike a rock among the waves.
“Isn't it fine to think of his coming back here todie, so simply, when he'd made a nation? ” said a young girl—perhaps from Omaha— to her companion. “Wasn't it just lovely? ”
Her voice, restrained, yet warm with feeling,annoyed General Hobson. He moved away, and as they hung over thetaffrail he said, with suppressed venom to his companion: “Muchgood it did them to be 'made a nation'! Look at their press— lookat their corruption— their divorce scandals! ”
Barnes laughed, and threw his cigarette-end into theswift brown water.
“Upon my word, Uncle Archie, I can't play up to you.As far as I've gone, I like America and the Americans. ”
“Which means, I suppose, that your mother gave yousome introductions to rich people in New York, and they entertainedyou? ” said the General drily.
“Well, is there any crime in t