Charles Lever - The Daltons; Or, Three Roads In Life. Volume II

“Oh, father, father!” cried Nelly, in a burst of grief, as she tore open Lady Hester’s letter; “it is as I feared. Kate is about to be married – if she be not already married.”

“Without my leave – without asking my consent!” cried Dalton, passionately. “Am I nobody at all? Am I the head of the family, or am I not? Is this the way to treat her father? May I never see light, if I won’t have him ‘out,’ if he was a Prince of the Blood! Oh, the ungrateful girl! Leave off crying there, and tell me all about it. Read me her own letter, I say – if God will give me patience to listen to it.”

With a bosom almost bursting, and a lip quivering with emotion, Ellen began, —

“La Rocca, Lake of Como.

Dearest Father and Sister, – Oh that I could throw myself at your feet, and poor out all that my heart is full of – tell you what I feel and hope and fear, and ask your counsel and your blessing. I know not if the last few days be real; my poor head is turning amid the scenes I ‘ve passed through and the emotions I have felt. I had no friend but Lady Hester – no adviser but she! She has been a mother to me – not as you would have been, Nelly – not to warn and restrain, when perhaps both were needed, but to encourage and feed my hopes. I yielded to her counsels – ”

“I don’t understand one word of this,” cried Dalton, impatiently. “What did she do?”

Nelly’s eyes ran rapidly over the lines without speaking; and then, in a low but distinct voice, she said, —

“It is as I said; she is betrothed to this great Russian Prince.”

“That fellow, they say, owns half Moscow. Fogles told us about him.”

“Prince Midchekoff.”

“That’s the name. Well, it’s a fine match, – there’s no denying it. How did it come about? and why didn’t he come here and ask my consent? What’s the meaning of doing it all in this hurry?”

“The marriage can only take place in St. Petersburg, and in presence of the Emperor; and she is merely betrothed, at present, to enable her to accompany the lady, Madame de Heidendorf, to Russia, where the Prince will follow in a few weeks.”

“That bangs Banagher! Why could n’t they get a priest where they are? Be gorra! they ‘ve scruples about everything but me! I ‘m the only one that’s not considered! What the devil is the Emperor to her, – sure he is n’t her father? Well, well, go on.”

“She would seem to have yielded to persuasion,” said Nelly, feelingly. “The Prince, with all his greatness, appears not to have won her heart. See how she dwells upon his immense wealth and the splendor of his position.”

“Let us hear about that,” cried Dalton, eagerly.

“My heart is nigh to bursting when I think of you and dearest Nelly living with me, in all the enjoyment that riches can bestow, nothing denied you that you can fancy, and free to indulge every taste and every wish. To know that I can at last repay, in some sort, all your affection – that poor worthless Kate can minister to your pleasure and your comfort – would make me dare a rasher destiny than this. And he is so generous, Nelly. The whole of yesterday is like a page from the ‘Arabian Nights,’ as I sat surrounded with gorgeous articles of gold and gems – diamonds such as a queen might wear, and rubies larger than the glass-drops I used to deck my hair with long ago! And yet they tell me I have seen nothing as yet, and that the treasures of Vladovitch Palace I hear of at every moment are greater than most royal houses. Lady Hester is kinder than ever, and the Heidendorf also; but she is cold and reserved – too stately for my taste – and I cannot overcome my awe of her. Is not this like a confession of my unfitness for the station I am to occupy? – are not these signs of inferiority? How little Hans would stare at the objects of taste and art by which I am surrounded and of which I never tire in admiring! “There have been great changes in this family since I wrote, and some mysterious circumstance is now hanging over them; but Lady Hester has not told me anything, nor do I care to repeat rumors which reach me through others. I only know that Sir Stafford is about to proceed to England as soon as Captain Onslow’s health will permit; he, poor fellow, met with an accident on the day we left Florence, and my maid, who sat in the rumble, saw the mishap without knowing or suspecting the victim! I have done everything to obtain leave to visit you before I set out, or even to see you on my way; but Madame de Heidendorf is absolute, and she has so much important business in hand – such deep political affairs to transact at Vienna and Dresden – that I find it is impossible. “The Prince has promised to write at once about Frank. He says it will be better to obtain his promotion in the Austrian service before he enters the Russian, and that this shall take place immediately. I could see that on this point he was acutely alive to the fact of our humble position; but he knows from Lady Hester all about our family, and that the Daltons acknowledge nothing superior to them in birth. This, however, is always a difficulty to a foreigner; they have no idea of untitled nobility; and I saw his chagrin the other day when I told him to address papa as plain Monsieur. Since yesterday morning I am called Princess; and I cannot conceal from you the throb of delight the sound still gives me! I often stop to ask myself if this be all a dream, and shall I wake beside the fire and see dearest Nelly bending over some little group, and Hans with wondering eyes staring over her shoulders. “The Prince only intends to spend one winter in Russia. Madame de Heidendorf says that he will be named Ambassador at Paris; but I hope and trust not: I feel too acutely my inferiority for such a position. This she laughs at, and merely says, ‘Nous verrons.’ Of course, wherever I am, you will both be with me; meanwhile, what would you wish to do? I told Monsieur Rubion, the Prince’s secretary, that I wanted money, and he gave me these bills, so he called them, on Baden and Carlsruhe, as easily negotiable in that neighborhood; pray, say if they be serviceable. The Prince intends to visit you at Baden; and I suppose you will like to see him. His manners are perfect, and except a degree of constraint in first acquaintance, he is generally thought very agreeable. Such preparations as they are making for my journey, you ‘d fancy I was a queen at the very least All my trousseau is to come from Paris direct; and up to this I have merely what Madame de H. calls the strictly ‘indispensable;’ which, shall I own? contrives to fill two large fourgons and a heavy travelling-carriage. Nina is in a perfect ecstasy at everything, and is eternally ‘draping’ me in Brussels lace and Chantilly; so that, even while I write, these flimsy tissues are floating around me; while caskets of jewels and precious gems dazzle my eyes wherever I turn them.

“The whole is like a gorgeous vision; would that it might remain ever thus, for I almost tremble to take a step further. Are these unworthy fears? I hope they are.”

Nelly paused, and laid down the letter on her knee. “Well, may I never see grace, if that letter isn’t enough to confuse a bench of bishops!” cried Dalton. “She’s marrying the first man in Europe, – be the other who he will, – and she has as many crotchets and misgivings about it as if it was little Hans, there, below! And he a Prince! a real Prince! – devil a doubt of it – that scatters the money about like chaff! Here’s an order at sight for nine hundred gulden; and here’s a bill at ten days – a nice date – for fourteen hundred and eighty-six Prussian dollars; and this is nearly as much more. Kate, my beauty, I knew you ‘d do it! I never looked at you in your old clogs and the worsted cloak that I did n’t think of the day I ‘d see you in satin and velvet! Faix, it’s the best bottle of claret in the Adler I ‘ll drink your health in this day! Nelly, who will we ask in to dinner?”