CHAPTER XXV.

_Which, Though Final, It Is Hoped Will Prove Satisfactory_.

OUR kind reader will easily comprehend that from the happy day we have

just noticed, Ferdinand Armine was seldom absent from Grosvenor-square,

or from the society of Henrietta Temple. Both were so happy that they

soon overcame any little embarrassment which their novel situation

might first occasion them. In this effort, however, they were greatly

encouraged by the calm demeanour of Lord Montfort and the complacent

carriage of his intended bride. The world wondered and whispered,

marvelled and hinted, but nothing disturbed Lord Montfort, and Katherine

had the skill to silence raillery. Although it was settled that

the respective marriages should take place as soon as possible, the

settlements necessarily occasioned delay. By the application of his

funded property, and by a charge upon his Yorkshire estates, Mr. Temple

paid off the mortgages on Armine, which, with a certain life-charge

in his own favour, was settled in strict entail upon the issue of his

daughter. A certain portion of the income was to be set aside annually

to complete the castle, and until that edifice was ready to receive

them, Ferdinand and Henrietta were to live with Mr. Temple, principally

at Ducie, which Mr. Temple had now purchased.

In spite, however, of the lawyers, the eventful day at length arrived.

Both happy couples were married at the same time and in the same place,

and Glastonbury performed the ceremony. Lord and Lady Montfort departed

for a seat in Sussex, belonging to his father; Ferdinand and Henrietta

repaired to Armine; while Sir Ratcliffe and his lady paid a visit to Mr.

Temple in Yorkshire, and Glastonbury found himself once more in his old

quarters in Lancashire with the duke and duchess.

Once more at Armine; wandering once more together in the old pleasaunce;

it was so strange and sweet, that both Ferdinand and Henrietta almost

began to believe that it was well that the course of their true love had

for a moment not run so smoothly as at present, and they felt that their

adversity had rendered them even more sensible of their illimitable

bliss. And the woods of Ducie, they were not forgotten; nor, least of

all, the old farmhouse that had been his shelter. Certainly they were

the happiest people that ever lived, and though some years have now

passed since these events took place, custom has not sullied the

brightness of their love. They have no cares now, and yet both have

known enough of sorrow to make them rightly appreciate their unbroken

and unbounded blessings.

When the honeymoon was fairly over, for neither of them would bate a

jot of this good old-fashioned privilege, Sir Ratcliffe and Lady Armine

returned to the Place, and Glastonbury to his tower; while Mr. Temple

joined them at Ducie, accompanied by Lord and Lady Montfort. The

autumn also brought the Count Mirabel to slaughter the pheasants, gay,

brilliant, careless, kind-hearted as ever. He has ever remained one of

Ferdinand’s most cherished friends; indeed, I hardly think that there is

any individual to whom Ferdinand is more attached. And after all, as the

Count often observes, if it had not been for Ferdinand’s scrapes they

would not have known each other. Nor was Lord Catchimwhocan passed over.

Ferdinand Armine was not the man to neglect a friend or to forget a

good service; and he has conferred on that good-natured, though

somewhat improvident, young nobleman, more substantial kindness than the

hospitality which is always cheerfully extended to him. When Ferdinand

repaid Mr. Bond Sharpe his fifteen hundred pounds, he took care that the

interest should appear in the shape of a golden vase, which is now not

the least gorgeous ornament of that worthy’s splendid sideboard. The

deer have appeared again too in the park of Armine, and many a haunch

smokes on the epicurean table of Cleveland-row.

Lady Bellair is as lively as ever, and bids fair to amuse society as

long as the famous Countess of Desmond,

Who lived to the age of a hundred and ten,

And died by a fall from a cherry tree then;

What a frisky old girl!

In her annual progresses through the kingdom she never omits laying

under contribution every establishment of the three families, in whose

fortunes she was so unexpectedly mixed up. As her ladyship persists in

asserting, and perhaps now really believes, that both matches were the

result of her matrimonial craft, it would be the height of ingratitude

if she ever could complain of the want of a hearty welcome.

In the daily increasing happiness of his beloved daughter, Mr. Temple

has quite forgotten any little disappointment which he might once have

felt at not having a duke for a son-in-law, and such a duke as his

valued friend, Lord Montfort. But Ferdinand Armine is blessed with so

sweet a temper that it is impossible to live with him and not love him;

and the most cordial intimacy and confidence subsist between the father

of Henrietta Temple and his son-in-law. From the aspect of public

affairs also, Mr. Temple, though he keeps this thought to himself,

is inclined to believe that a coronet may yet grace the brow of his

daughter, and that the barony of Armine may be revived. Soon after

the passing of the memorable Act of 1828, Lord Montfort became the

representative of his native county, and an active and influential

member of the House of Commons. After the reform, Mr. Armine was also

returned for a borough situate near the duke’s principal seat, and

although Lord Montfort and Mr. Armine both adhere to the Whig politics

of their families, they have both also, in the most marked manner,

abstained from voting on the appropriation clause; and there is little

doubt that they will ultimately support that British and national

administration which Providence has doubtless in store for these

outraged and distracted realms. At least this is Mr. Temple’s more than

hope, who is also in the House, and acts entirely with Lord Stanley. The

Montforts and the younger Armines contrive, through mutual visits and

a town residence during the Session, to pass the greater part of their

lives together; they both honestly confess that they are a little in

love with each other’s wives, but this only makes their society more

agreeable. The family circle at Armine has been considerably increased

of late; there is a handsome young Armine who has been christened

Glastonbury, a circumstance which repays the tenant of the tower for

all his devotion, and this blending of his name and memory with the

illustrious race that has so long occupied his thoughts and hopes, is to

him a source of constant self-congratulation. The future Sir Glastonbury

has also two younger brothers quite worthy of the blood, Temple and

Digby; and the most charming sister in the world, with large violet eyes

and long dark lashes, who is still in arms, and who bears the hallowed

name of Henrietta. And thus ends our LOVE STORY.

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