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A Prince of Sinners, a novel by E. Phillips Oppenheim |
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Part 3 - Chapter 7. Father And Son |
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_ PART III CHAPTER VII. FATHER AND SON "Do you know," Lady Caroom said, motioning Brooks to a seat by her side, "that I feel very middle-class and elderly and interfering. For I am going to talk to you about Sybil." Brooks was a little paler than usual. This was one of those rare occasions when he found his emotions very hard to subdue. And it had come so suddenly. "After we left Enton," Lady Caroom said, thoughtfully, "I noticed a distinct change in her. The first evidences of it were in her treatment of Sydney Molyneux. I am quite sure that she purposely precipitated matters, and when he proposed refused him definitely." "I do not think," Brooks found voice to say, "that she would ever have married Sydney Molyneux." "Perhaps not," Lady Caroom admitted, "but at any rate before our visit to Enton she was quite content to have him around--she was by no means eager to make up her mind definitely. After we left she seemed to deliberately plan to dispose of him finally. Since then--I am talking in confidence, Kingston-she has refused t e Duke of Atherstone." Brooks was silent. His self-control was being severely tested. His heart was beating like a sledgehammer--he was very anxious to avoid Lady Caroom's eyes. "Atherstone," she said, slowly, "is quite the most eligible bachelor in England, and he is, as you know, a very nice, unaffected boy. There is only one possible inference for me, as Sybil's mother, to draw, and that is that she cares, or is beginning to think that she cares, for some one else." "Some one else? Do you know whom?" Brooks asked. "If you do not know," Lady Caroom answered, "I do not." Brooks threw aside all attempt at disguise. He looked across at Lady Caroom, and his eyes were very bright. "I have never believed," he said, "that Sybil would be likely to care for me. I can scarcely believe it now." Lady Caroom hesitated. "In any case," she said, "could you ask her to marry you? You must see that as things are it would be impossible!" "Impossible!" he muttered. "Impossible!" "Of course," she answered, briskly. "You must be a man of the world enough to know that. You could not ask a girl in Sybil's position to share a borrowed name, nor would the other conditions permit of your marrying her. That is why I want to talk to you." "Well?" "Is there any immediate chance of your reconciliation with the Marquis of Arranmore?" "None," Brooks answered. "Well, then," Lady Caroom said, "there is no immediate chance of your being in a position to marry Sybil. Don't look at me as though I were saying unkind things. I am not. I am only talking common-sense. What is your income?" "About two thousand pounds, but some of that half, perhaps more--goes to the Society." "Exactly. It would be impossible for you to marry Sybil on the whole of it, or twice the whole of it." "You want me then," Brooks said, "to be reconciled to my father. Yet you--you yourself will not trust him." "I have not expressed any wish of the sort," Lady Caroom said, kindly. "I only wished to point out that as things are you were not in a position to ask Sybil to marry you, and therefore I want you to keep away from her. I mean this kindly for both of you. Of course if Sybil is absolutely in earnest, if the matter has gone too far, we must talk it all over again and see what is to be done. But I want you to give her a chance. Keep away for a time. Your father may live for twenty-five years. If your relations with him all that time continue as they are now, marriage with a girl brought up like Sybil would be an impossibility." Brooks was silent for several moments. Then he looked up suddenly. "Has Lady Sybil said anything to you--which led you to speak to me?" Lady Caroom shook her head. "No. She is very young, you know. Frankly, I do not believe that she knows her own mind. You have not spoken to her, of course?" "No!" "And you will not?" "I suppose," Brooks said, "that I must not think of it." "You must give up thinking about her, of course," Lady Caroom said, "until--" Until what? "Until you can ask her--if ever you do ask her--to marry you in your proper name." Brooks set his teeth and walked up and down the little room. "That," he said, "may be never." "Exactly," Lady Caroom agreed. "That is why I am suggesting that you do not see her so often." He stopped opposite her. "Does he--does Lord Arranmore know anything of this?" She shook her head. "Not from me. He may have heard whispers. To tell you the truth, I myself have been asked questions during the last few days. You have been seen about a good deal with Sybil, and you are rather a mystery to people. That is why I felt compelled to speak." He nodded. "I see!" "You must not blame me," she went on, softly. "You know, Kingston, that I like you, that I would give you Sybil willingly under ordinary circumstances. I don't want to speak to her if I can help it. And, Kingston, there is one thing more I must say to you. It is on my mind. It keeps me awake at night. I think that it will make an old woman of me very soon. If--if we should be wrong?" "There is no possibility of that," he answered, sadly. "Lord Arranmore is candour itself, even in his selfishness." "His face haunts me," she murmured. "There is something so terribly impersonal, so terribly sad about it. He looks on at everything, he joins in nothing. They say that he gambles, but he never knows whether he is winning or losing. He gives entertainments that are historical, and remains as cold as ice to guests whom a prince would be glad to welcome. His horse won that great race the other day, and he gave up his place on the stand, just before the start, to a little girl, and never even troubled to watch the race, though his winnings were enormous. He bought the Frivolity Theatre, produced this new farce, and has never been seen inside the place. What does it mean, Kingston? There must be suffering behind all this--terrible suffering." "It is a law of retribution," Brooks said, coldly. "He has made other people suffer all his life. Now perhaps his turn has come. He spends fortunes trying to amuse himself and cannot. Are we to pity him for that?" "I have heard of people," she said, looking at him intently, "who are too proud to show the better part of themselves, who rather than court pity or even sympathy will wear a mask always, will hide the good that is in them and parade the bad." "You love him still?" he said, wonderingly. "Kingston, I do. If I were a brave woman I would risk everything. Sometimes when I see him, like a Banquo at a feast, with his eyes full of weariness and the mummy's smile upon his lips, I feel that I can keep away no longer. Kingston, let us go to him, you and I. Let us see if we can't tear off the mask." He shook his head. "He would laugh at us!" "Will you try?" He hesitated. "No! But, Lady Caroom, you have no such debt of bitterness against him as I have. I cannot advise you--I would not dare. But if there is a spark of soul left in the man, such love as yours must fan it into warmth. If you have the courage--risk it." Brooks left without seeing Sybil again, and turned northward. In Pall Mall he heard his name called from the steps of one of the great clubs. He looked up and found Lord Arranmore leisurely descending. "A word with you, Brooks," he said, coolly, "on a matter of business. Will you step inside?" Brooks hesitated. It was beginning to rain, and neither of them had umbrellas. "As you will," he answered. "I have an appointment in half-an-hour." "I shall not detain you ten minutes," Lord Arranmore answered. "There is a comfortable strangers' room here where we can chat. Will you have anything?" "Nothing to drink, thanks," Brooks answered. "A cigarette, if you are going to smoke." Lord Arranmore pushed his cigarette-case across the small round table which stood between their easy-chairs. The room was empty. "You will find these tolerable. I promised to be brief, did I not? I wished to speak for a moment upon a subject which it seems to me might require a readjustment of our financial relations." Brooks looked up puzzled but made no remark. "I refer to the possibility of your desiring to marry. Be so good as not to interrupt me. I have seen you once or twice with Sybil Caroom, and there has been a whisper--but after all that is of no consequence. The name of the young lady would be no concern of mine. But in case you should be contemplating anything of the sort, I thought it as well that you should know what the usual family arrangements are." "I am sorry," Brooks said, "but I really don't understand what you mean by family arrangements." "No!" Lord Arranmore remarked, softly. "Perhaps if you would allow me to explain--it is your own time which is limited, you know. The eldest son of our family comes in, as you have been told, on his twenty-first birthday, to two thousand pounds a year, which income you are now in possession of. On his marriage that is increased to ten thousand a year, with the possession of either Enton or Mangohfred. in the present case you could take your choice, as I am perfectly indifferent which I retain. That is all I wished to say. I thought it best for you to understand the situation. Mr. Ascough will, at any time, put it into legal shape for you." "You speak of this--arrangement," Brooks said, slowly, "as though it were a corroboration of the settlement upon the eldest son. This scarcely seems possible. There can be no such provision legally." "I scarcely see," Lord Arranmore said, wearily, "what that has to do with it, The ten thousand pounds a year is, of course, not a legal charge upon the estates. But from time immemorial it has been the amount which has been the admitted portion of the eldest son upon marriage. It is no gift from me. It is the income due to Lord Kingston of Ross. If you wish for any future explanation I must really refer you to Mr. Ascough. The discussion of business details is by no means a favourite occupation of mine." Brooks rose to his feet. His eyes were fixed steadily, almost longingly upon Lord Arranmore's. His manner was not wholly free from nervousness. "I am very much obliged to you, Lord Arranmore," he said. "I quite understand that you are making me the offer of a princely settlement out of the Arranmore estates to which I have no manner of claim. It is not possible for me to accept it." There was a moment's silence. A great clock in the corner ticked noisily. A faint unusual colour stole into Lord Arranmore's cheeks. "Accept it! I accord you no favour, I offer you no gift. The allowance is, I repeat, one which every Lord Kingston has drawn upon his marriage. Perhaps I have spoken before it was necessary. You may have had no thoughts of anything of the sort?" Brooks did not answer. "I have noticed," Lord Arranmore continued in measured tones, "an intimacy between you and Lady Sybil Caroom, which suggested the idea to me. I look upon Lady Sybil as one of the most charming young gentlewomen of our time, and admirably suited in all respects to the position of the future Marchioness of Arranmore. I presume that as head of the family I am within my rights in so far expressing my opinion?" "Marriage," Brooks said, huskily, "is not possible for me at present." "Why not?" "I cannot accept this money from you. The terms on which we are do not allow of it." There was an ominous glitter in Lord Arranmore's eyes. He, too, rose to his feet, and remained facing Brooks, his hand upon the back of his chair. "Are you serious? Do you mean that?" "I do!" Brooks answered. Lord Arranmore pointed to the door. "Then be off," he said, a note of passion at last quivering in his tone. "Leave this room at once, and let me see as little of you in the future as possible. If Sybil cares for you, God help her! You are a damned obstinate young prig, sir. Be off!" Brooks walked out of the club and into the street, his ears tingling and his cheeks aflame. The world seemed topsy-turvy. It was long indeed before he forgot those words, which seemed to come to him winged with a wonderful and curious force. _ |
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