The Forlorn Hope: A Novel (Vol. 1 of 2)Yates, Edmund
General
The Forlorn Hope: A Novel (Vol. 1 of 2)
Yates, Edmund
Fiction
London season. Old Lord Fairfax is dead now, and Charley Jefferson has
come into his uncle's fortune; and there is no cause or impediment why
these twain should not become one flesh, save that Emily is still
coquettish, and Charley is horribly jealous; and so matters are still
in the balance.
The little old gentleman in the palpable flaxen wig and gold
spectacles, who is poring over that case of Flaxman's cameos in
genuine admiration, is Count Bulow, the Danish Ambassador; and the
little old lady whose face is so wrinkled as to suggest an idea of
gratitude that she is a lady, and consequently is not compelled to
shave, is his wife. They are charming old people, childless
themselves, but the cause of constant matchmaking in others. More
flirtations come to a successful issue in the embassy at Eaton-place
than in any other house in town; and the old couple, who have for
years worthily represented their sovereign, are sponsors to half the
children in Belgravia. They are both art-lovers, and their house is
crammed with good things--pictures from Munich and Düsseldorf, choice
bits of Thorwaldsen, big elk-horns, and quaint old Scandinavian
drinking-cups. Old Lady Potiphar, who has the worst reputation and the
bitterest tongue in London, says you meet "odd people" at the Bulows';
said "odd people" being artists and authors, English and foreign. Mr.
Fletcher, R. A., who is just now talking to the Countess, is one of
the most favoured guests at the embassy, but he is not an "odd
person," even to Lady Potiphar, for he goes into what she calls
"sassiety," and has been "actially asked to Mar'bro' House"--where
Lady Potiphar is not invited. A quiet, unpretending, gentlemanly,
middle-aged man, Mr. Fletcher; wearing his artistic honours with easy
dignity, and by no means oblivious of the early days when he gave
drawing-lessons at per hour to many of the nobility who now call him
their friend. There are three or four young ladies present, who need
no particular description, and who are dividing the homage of Captain
Shaddock; while Lord Roderick Douglas, a young nobleman to whom Nature
has been more bountiful in nose than in forehead, and Mr. Pitcairn, a
fresh-coloured, freckled, blue-eyed gentleman, lithe and active as a
greyhound, are muttering in a corner, making arrangements for the next
day's shooting.
The entrance of Sir Duncan Forbes caused a slight commotion in the
party; and every one had a look or a word of welcome for the new
comer, for he was a general favourite. He moved easily from group to
group, shaking hands and chatting pleasantly. Kilsyth, who was
specially fond of him, grasped his hand warmly; the Duke laid aside
the _Morning Post_ in the midst of a most interesting leader, in which
Mr. Bright was depicted as a pleasant compound of Catiline and Judas
Iscariot; Count Bulow gave up his cameos; and even grim Charley
Jefferson relaxed in his feverish supervision of Lord Towcester.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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