These questions went on so rapidly that in addition to the asking of them the Duchess was able to go through all the rooms before she dressed for dinner, and in every room she saw something to speak of, noting either perfection or imperfection.In the meantime the Duke had gone out alone.It was still hot, but he had made up his mind that he would enjoy his first holiday out of town by walking about his own grounds, and he would not allow the heat to interrupt him.He went out through the vast hall, and the huge front door, which was so huge and so grand that it was very seldom used.But it was now open by chance, owing to some incident of this festival time, and he passed through it and stood upon the grand terrace, with the well-known and much-lauded portico overhead.Up to the terrace, though it was very high, there ran a road, constructed upon arches, so grand that guests could drive almost up to the house.The Duke, who was never grand himself, as he stood there looking at the far-stretching view before him, could not remember that he had ever but once before placed himself on that spot.Of what use had been the portico, the marbles, and the huge pile of stone,--of what use the enormous hall just behind him, cutting the house in two, declaring aloud by its own aspect and the proportions that it had been built altogether for show and in no degree for use or comfort? And now as he stood there he could already see that men were at work about the place, that ground had been moved here, and grass laid down there, and a new gravel road constructed in another place.Was it not possible that his friends should be entertained without all these changes to the gardens? Then he perceived the tents, and descending from the terrace and turning left towards the end of the house he came upon a new conservatory.The exotics with which it was to be filled were at this moment being brought in on great barrows.He stood for a moment and looked, but said not a word to the men.They gazed at him but evidently did not know him.How should they know him,--him, who was seldom there, and who when there never showed himself about the place? Then he went farther afield from the house and came across more and more men.A great ha-ha fence had been made, enclosing on three sides and open at one end to the gardens, containing, as he thought, about an acre.'What are you doing this for?' he said to one of the labourers.The man stared at him, and at first seemed hardly inclined to make him an answer.'It be for the quality to shoot their bows and harrows,'
he said at last, as he continued the easy task of patting with his spade the completed work.He evidently regarded this stranger as an intruder who was not entitled to ask questions, even if he was permitted to wander about the grounds.
From one place he went on to another, and found changes, and new erections, and some device for throwing away money everywhere.
It angered him to think that there was so little of simplicity left in the world that a man could not entertain his friends without such a fuss as this.His mind applied itself frequently to the consideration of the money, not that he grudged the loss of it, but the spending of it in such a cause.And then perhaps there occurred to him an idea that all this should not have been done without a word of consent from himself.Had she come to him with some scheme for changing everything about the place, making him think that the alterations were a matter of taste or of mere personal pleasure, he would probably given his consent at once, thinking nothing of the money.But all this was utter display.
Then he walked up and saw the flag waving over the Castle, indicating that he, the Lord Lieutenant of the County, was present there on his own soil.That was right.That was as it should be, because the flag was waving in compliance with an acknowledged ordinance.Of all that properly belonged to his rank and station he could be very proud, and would allow no diminution of that outward respect to which they were entitled.
Were they to be trenched on by his fault in his person, the rights of others to their enjoyment would be endangered, and the benefits accruing to his country from established marks of reverence would be imperilled.But here was an assumed and preposterous grandeur that was as much within the reach of some rich swindler or some prosperous haberdasher as of himself,--having, too, a look of raw newness about it which was very distasteful to him.And then, too, he knew that nothing of this would have been done unless he had become Prime Minister.Why, on earth, should a man's grounds be knocked about because he becomes Prime Minister? He walked on arguing this within his own bosom, till he had worked himself almost up to anger.It was clear that he must henceforth take things more into his own hands, or would be made to be absurd before the world.
Indifference he knew he could bear.Harsh criticism he thought he could endure.But to ridicule he was aware that he was pervious.Suppose the papers were to say of him that he built a new conservatory and made an archery ground for the sake of maintaining the Coalition!
When he got back to the house he found his wife alone in the small room in which they intended to dine.After all her labours she was now reclining for the few minutes her husband's absence might allow her, knowing that after dinner there were a score of letters for her to write.'I don't think,' said she, 'I was ever so tired in my life.'
'It isn't such a very long journey after all.'
'But it's a very big house, and I've been, I think, into every room since I have been here, and I've moved most of the furniture in the drawing-rooms with my own hand, and I've counted the pounds of butter, and inspected the sheets and the tablecloths.'
'Was it necessary, Glencora?'
'If I had gone to bed instead, the world, I suppose, would have gone on, and Sir Orlando Drought would still have led the House of Commons;--but things should be looked after, I suppose.'
