SIR ORLANDO'S POLICY.
When the guests began to arrive our friend the Duchess had apparently got through her little difficulties, for she received them with that open, genial hospitality which is so delightful as coming evidently from the heart.There had not been another word between her and her husband as to the manner in which the thing was to be done, and she had determined that the offensive word should pass altogether out of her memory.The first comer was Mrs Finn,--who came indeed rather as an assistant hostess than as a mere guest, and to her the Duchess uttered a few playful hints as to her troubles.'Considering the time, haven't we done marvels? Because it does look nice,--doesn't it?' There are no dirt heaps about, and it's all as green as though it had been there since the conquest.He doesn't like it because it looks new.And we've got forty-five bedrooms made up.The servants are all turned out over the stables somewhere,--quite comfortable, I assure you.Indeed they like it.And by knocking down the ends of two passages we've brought everything together.
And the rooms are all numbered, just like an inn.It was the only way.And I keep one book myself, and Locock has another.Ihave everybody's room, and where it is, and how long the tenant is to be allowed to occupy it.And here's the way everybody is to take everybody down to dinner for the next fortnight.Of course that must be altered, but it is easier when we have a sort of settled basis.And I have some private notes as to who should flirt with whom.'
'You'd better not let that lie about.'
'Nobody could understand a word of it if they had it.A.B.
always means X.Y.Z.And this is the code of the Gatherum Archery Ground.I never drew a bow in my life,--not a real bow in the flesh, that is, my dear,--and yet I've made 'em all out, and had them printed.The way to make a thing go down is to give it some special importance.And I've gone through the bill of fare for the first week with Millepois, who is a perfect gentleman,--perfect.' Then she gave a little sigh as she remembered that word from her husband, which had wounded her.'I used to think that Plantagenet worked hard when he was doing his decimal coinage; but I don't think he ever stuck to it as I have done.'
'What does the Duke say to it all?'
'Ah; well, upon the whole he behaves like an angel.He behaves so well that half my time I think I'll shut it all up and have done with it,--for his sake.And then, the other half, I'm determined to go on with it,--again for his sake.'
'He has not been displeased?'
'Ask no questions, my dear, and you'll hear no stories.You haven't been married twice without knowing that women can't have everything smooth.He only said one word.It was rather hard to bear, but it has passed away.'
That afternoon there was quite a crowd.Among the first comers were Mr and Mrs Roby, and Mr and Mrs Rattler.And there were Sir Orlando and Lady Drought, Lord Ramsden and Sir Timothy Beeswax.
These gentlemen with their wives represented, for the time, the ministry of which the Duke was the head, and had been asked in order that their fealty and submission might be thus rivetted.
There were also there Mr and Mrs Boffin, with Lord Thrift and his daughter Angelica, who had belonged to former ministries,--one on the Liberal and one on the Conservative side,--and who were now among the Duke's guests, in order that they and others might see how wide the Duke wished to open his hands.And there was our friend Ferdinand Lopez, who had certainly made the best use of his opportunities in securing for himself so great a social advantage as an invitation to Gatherum Castle.How could any father, who was simply a barrister, refuse to receive as his son-in-law a man who had been a guest of the Duke of Omnium's country house? And then there were certain people from the neighbourhood;--Frank Gresham of Greshambury, with his wife and daughter, the master of the hounds in those parts, a rich squire of old blood, and head of the family to which one of the aspirant Prime Ministers of the day belonged.And Lord Chiltern, another master of fox hounds, two counties off;--and also an old friend of ours,--had been asked to meet him, and had brought his wife.
And there Lady Rosina de Courcy, an old maid, the sister of the present Earl de Courcy, who lived not far off, and had been accustomed to come to Gatherum Castle on state occasions for the last thirty years,--the only relic in those parts of a family which had lived there for many years in great pride of place, for the elder brother, the Earl, was a ruined man, and her younger brothers were living with their wives abroad, and her sisters had married, rather lowly in the world, and her mother now was dead, and Lady Rosina lived alone in a little cottage outside the old park palings, and still held fast within her bosom all the old pride of the De Courcys.And then there were Captain Gunner and Major Pountney, two middle-aged young men, presumably belonging to the army, whom the Duchess had lately enlisted among her followers as being useful in their way.They could eat their dinners without being shy, dance on occasions, though very unwillingly, talk a little, and run on messages;--and they knew the peerage by heart, and could tell the details of every unfortunate marriage for the last twenty years.Each thought himself, especially since this last promotion, to be indispensably necessary to the formation of London society, and was comfortable in a conviction that he had thoroughly succeeded in life by acquiring the privilege of sitting down to dinner three times a week with peers and peeresses.
The list of guests has by no means been made as complete here as it was to be found in the county newspapers, and in the "Morning Post" of the time, but enough of names has been given to show of what nature was the party.'The Duchess has got rather a rough lot to begin with,' said the Major to the Captain.