man would propose to a girl in such a house, and you and papa must not be surprised if I take some horrid creature from the Stock Exchange. Papa has altered his ideas; and so, I suppose, I had better alter mine.”
Georgiana did not speak to her father that night, but Lady Pomona informed Mr Longestaffe that Mr Melmotte’s invitation was to be accepted. She herself would write a line to Madame Melmotte, and Georgiana would go up on the Friday following. “I hope she’ll like it,” said Mr Longestaffe. The poor man had no intention of irony. It was not in his nature to be severe after that fashion. But to poor Lady Pomona the words sounded very cruel. How could any one like to live in a house with Mr and Madame Melmotte!
On the Friday morning there was a little conversation between the two sisters, just before Georgiana’s departure to the railway station, which was almost touching. She had endeavoured to hold up her head as usual, but had failed. The thing that she was going to do cowed her even in the presence of her sister. “Sophy, I do so envy you staying here.”
“But it was you who were so determined to be in London.”
“Yes; I was determined, and am determined. I’ve got to get myself settled somehow, and that can’t be done down here. But you are not going to disgrace yourself.”
“There’s no disgrace in it, Georgey.”
“Yes, there is. I believe the man to be a swindler and a thief; and I believe her to be anything low that you can think of. As to their pretensions to be gentlefolk, it is monstrous. The footmen and housemaids would be much better.”
“Then don’t go, Georgey.”
“I must go. It’s the only chance that is left. If I were to remain down here everybody would say that I was on the shelf. You are going to marry Whitstable, and you’ll do very well. It isn’t a big place, but there’s no debt on it, and Whitstable himself isn’t a bad sort of fellow.”
“Is he, now?”
“Of course he hasn’t much to say for himself; for he’s always at home. But he is a gentleman.”
“That he certainly is.”
“As for me I shall give over caring about gentlemen now. The first man that comes to me with four or five thousand a year, I’ll take him, though he’d come out of Newgate or Bedlam. And I shall always say it has been papa’s doing.”
And so Georgiana Longestaffe went up to London and stayed with the Melmottes.
Chapter XXII
Lord Nidderdale’s Morality
It was very generally said in the city about this time that the Great South Central Pacific and Mexican Railway was the very best thing out. It was known that Mr Melmotte had gone into it with heart and hand. There were many who declared, — with gross injustice to the Great Fisker, — that the railway was Melmotte’s own child, that he had invented it, advertised it, agitated it, and floated it; but it was not the less popular on that account. A railway from Salt Lake City to Mexico no doubt had much of the flavour of a castle in Spain. Our far-western American brethren are supposed to be imaginative. Mexico has not a reputation among us for commercial security, or that stability which produces its four, five, or six per cent. with the regularity of clockwork. But there was the Panama railway, a small affair which had paid twenty-five per cent.; and there was the great line across the continent to San Francisco, in which enormous fortunes had been made. It came to be believed that men with their eyes open might do as well with the Great South Central as had ever been done before with other speculations, and this belief was no doubt founded on Mr Melmotte’s partiality for the enterprise. Mr Fisker had “struck ‘ile” when he induced his partner, Montague, to give him a note to the great man.
Paul Montague himself, who cannot be said to have been a man having his eyes open, in the city sense of the word, could not learn how the thing was progressing. At the regular meetings of the Board, which never sat for above half an hour, two or three papers were read by Miles Grendall. Melmotte himself would speak a few slow words, intended to be cheery, and always indicative of triumph, and then everybody would agree to everything, somebody would sign something, and the “Board” for that day would be over. To Paul Montague this was very unsatisfactory. More than once or twice he endeavoured to stay the proceedings, not as disapproving, but simply as desirous of being made to understand; but the silent scorn of his chairman put him out of countenance, and the opposition of his colleagues was a barrier which he was not strong enough to overcome. Lord Alfred Grendall would declare that he “did not think all that was at all necessary.” Lord Nidderdale, with whom Montague had now become intimate at the Beargarden, would nudge him in the ribs and bid him hold his tongue. Mr Cohenlupe would make a little speech in fluent but broken English, assuring the Committee that everything was being done after the approved city fashion. Sir Felix, after the first two meetings, was never there. And thus Paul Montague, with a sorely burdened conscience, was carried along as one of the Directors of the Great South Central Pacific and Mexican Railway Company.
I do not know whether the burden was made lighter to him or heavier, by the fact that the immediate pecuniary result was certainly very comfortable. The Company had not yet been in existence quite six weeks, — or at any rate Melmotte had not been connected with it above that time, — and it had already been suggested to him twice that he should sell fifty shares at £112 10s. He did not even yet know how many shares he possessed, but on both occasions he consented to the proposal, and on the following day received a cheque for £625, — that sum representing the profit over and above the original nominal price of £100 a share. The suggestion was made to him by Miles Grendall, and when he asked some questions as to the manner in which the shares had been allocated, he was told that all that would be arranged in accordance with the capital invested and must depend on the final disposition of the Californian property. “But from what we see, old fellow,” said Miles, “I don’t think you have anything to fear. You seem to be about the best in of them all. Melmotte wouldn’t advise you to sell out gradually, if he didn’t look upon the thing as a certain income as far as you are concerned.”
Paul Montague understood nothing of all this, and felt that he was standing on ground which might be blown from under his feet at any moment. The uncertainty, and what he feared might be the dishonesty, of the whole thing, made him often very miserable. In those wretched moments his conscience was asserting itself. But again there were times in which he also was almost triumphant, and in which he felt the delight of his wealth. Though he was snubbed at the Board when he wanted explanations, he received very great attention outside the board-room from those connected with the enterprise. Melmotte had asked him to dine two or three times. Mr Cohenlupe had begged him to go down to his little place at Rickmansworth, — an entreaty with which Montague had not as yet complied. Lord Alfred was always gracious to him, and Nidderdale and Carbury were evidently anxious to make him one of their set at the club. Many other houses became open to him from the same source. Though Melmotte was supposed to be the inventor of the railway, it was known that Fisker, Montague, and Montague were largely concerned in it, and it was known also that Paul Montague was one of the Montagues named in that firm. People, both in the City and the West End, seemed to think that he knew all about it, and treated him as though some of the manna falling from that heaven were at his disposition. There were results from this which were not unpleasing to the young man. He only partially resisted the temptation; and though determined at times to probe the affair to the bottom, was so determined only at times. The money was very pleasant to him. The period would now soon arrive before which he understood himself to be pledged not to make a distinct offer to Henrietta Carbury; and when that period
