CHAPTER V.
_A Domestic Scene._
YEARS glided away without any remarkable incidents in the life of young
Ferdinand. He seldom quitted home, except as companion to Glastonbury
in his pedestrian excursions, when he witnessed a different kind of life
from that displayed in the annual visit which he paid to Grandison. The
boy amused his grandfather, with whom, therefore, he became a favourite.
The old Lord, indeed, would have had no objection to his grandson
passing half the year with him; and he always returned home with a
benediction, a letter full of his praises, and a ten-pound note. Lady
Armine was quite delighted with these symptoms of affection on the part
of her father towards her child, and augured from them important future
results. But Sir Ratcliffe, who was not blessed with so sanguine a
temperament as his amiable lady, and who, unbiassed by blood, was
perhaps better qualified to form an opinion of the character of his
father-in-law, never shared her transports, and seldom omitted an
opportunity of restraining them.
‘It is all very well, my dear,’ he would observe, ‘for Ferdinand to
visit his relations. Lord Grandison is his grandfather. It is very
proper that he should visit his grandfather. I like him to be seen
at Grandison. That is all very right. Grandison is a first-rate
establishment, where he is certain of meeting persons of his own class,
with whom circumstances unhappily,’ and here Sir Ratcliffe sighed,
‘debar him from mixing; and your father, Constance, is a very good sort
of man. I like your father, Constance, you know, very much. No person
ever could be more courteous to me than he has ever been. I have no
complaints to make of him, Constance; or your brother, or indeed of
any member of your family. I like them all. Persons more kind, or more
thoroughly bred, I am sure I never knew. And I think they like us. They
appear to me to be always really glad to see us, and to be unaffectedly
sorry when we quit them. I am sure I should be very happy if it were in
my power to return their hospitality, and welcome them at Armine: but it
is useless to think of that. God only knows whether we shall be able to
remain here ourselves. All I want to make you feel, my love, is, that if
you are building any castle in that little brain of yours on the ground
of expectations from Grandison, trust me you will be disappointed, my
dear, you will, indeed.’ ‘But, my love--’
‘If your father die to-morrow, my dear, he will not leave us a shilling.
And who can complain? I cannot. He has always been very frank. I
remember when we were going to marry, and I was obliged to talk to
him about your portion; I remember it as if it were only yesterday; I
remember his saying, with the most flattering smile in the world,
“I wish the 5,000L., Sir Ratcliffe, were 50,000L., for your sake;
particularly as it will never be in my power to increase it.”’
‘But, my dear Ratcliffe, surely he may do something for his favourite,
Ferdinand?’
‘My dear Constance, there you are again! Why _favourite_? I hate the
very word. Your father is a good-natured man, a very good-natured man:
he is one of the best-natured men I ever was acquainted with. He has not
a single care in the world, and he thinks nobody else has; and what is
more, my dear, nobody ever could persuade him that anybody else has. He
has no idea of our situation; he never could form an idea of it. If
I chose to attempt to make him understand it he would listen with the
greatest politeness, shrug his shoulders at the end of the story, tell
me to keep up my spirits, and order another bottle of Madeira in order
that he might illustrate his precept by practice. He is a good-natured
selfish man. He likes us to visit him because you are gay and agreeable,
and because I never asked a favour of him in the whole course of our
acquaintance: he likes Ferdinand to visit him because he is a handsome
fine-spirited boy, and his friends congratulate him on having such a
grandson. And so Ferdinand is his _favourite;_ and next year I should
not be surprised were he to give him a pony: and perhaps, if he die, he
will leave him fifty guineas to buy a gold watch.’
‘Well, I dare say you are right, Ratcliffe; but still nothing that
you can say will ever persuade me that Ferdinand is not papa’s decided
favourite.’
‘Well! we shall soon see what this favour is worth,’ retorted Sir
Ratcliffe, rather bitterly. ‘Regularly every visit for the last three
years your father has asked me what I intended to do with Ferdinand. I
said to him last year more than I thought I ever could say to anyone. I
told him that Ferdinand was now fifteen, and that I wished to get him a
commission; but that I had no influence to get him a commission, and
no money to pay for it if it were offered me. I think that was pretty
plain; and I have been surprised ever since that I ever could have
placed myself in such a degrading position as to say so much.’
‘Degrading, my dear Ratcliffe!’ said his wife.
‘I felt it as such; and such I still feel it.’
At this moment Glastonbury, who was standing at the other end of the
room examining a large folio, and who had evidently been uneasy during
the whole conversation, attempted to quit the room.
‘My dear Glastonbury,’ said Sir Ratcliffe, with a forced smile, ‘you are
alarmed at our domestic broils. Pray, do not leave the room. You know we
have no secrets from you.’
‘No, pray do not go, Mr. Glastonbury,’ added Lady Armine: ‘and if indeed
there be a domestic broil,’ and here she rose and kissed her husband,
‘at any rate witness our reconciliation.’
Sir Ratcliffe smiled, and returned his wife’s embrace with much feeling.
‘My own Constance,’ he said, ‘you are the dearest wife in the world; and
if I ever feel unhappy, believe me it is only because I do not see you
in the position to which you are entitled.’
‘I know no fortune to be compared to your love, Ratcliffe; and as for
our child, nothing will ever persuade me that all will not go right, and
that he will not restore the fortunes of the family.’
‘Amen!’ said Glastonbury, closing the book with a reverberating sound.
‘Nor indeed can I believe that Providence will ever desert a great and
pious line!’