That evening Will spent with the Lydgates; the next evening he wasgone.
BOOK VII.TWO TEMPTATIONS.
CHAPTER LXIII.
These little things are great to little man.—GOLDSMITH.
"Have you seen much of your scientific phoenix, Lydgate, lately?"said Mr. Toller at one of his Christmas dinner-parties, speaking to Mr.Farebrother on his right hand.
"Not much, I am sorry to say," answered the Vicar, accustomed toparry Mr. Toller's banter about his belief in the new medical light. "I amout of the way and he is too busy."
"Is he? I am glad to hear it," said Dr. Minchin, with mingled suavityand surprise.
"He gives a great deal of time to the New Hospital," said Mr.Farebrother, who had his reasons for continuing the subject: "I hear ofthat from my neighbor, Mrs. Casaubon, who goes there often. She saysLydgate is indefatigable, and is making a fine thing of Bulstrode'sinstitution. He is preparing a new ward in case of the cholera coming tous."
"And preparing theories of treatment to try on the patients, Isuppose," said Mr. Toller.
"Come, Toller, be candid," said Mr. Farebrother. "You are too clevernot to see the good of a bold fresh mind in medicine, as well as ineverything else; and as to cholera, I fancy, none of you are very surewhat you ought to do. If a man goes a little too far along a new road, itis usually himself that he harms more than any one else."
"I am sure you and Wrench ought to be obliged to him," said Dr.Minchin, looking towards Toller, "for he has sent you the cream ofPeacock's patients."
"Lydgate has been living at a great rate for a young beginner," saidMr. Harry Toller, the brewer. "I suppose his relations in the North backhim up."
"I hope so," said Mr. Chichely, "else he ought not to have marriedthat nice girl we were all so fond of. Hang it, one has a grudge against aman who carries off the prettiest girl in the town."
"Ay, by God! and the best too," said Mr. Standish.
"My friend Vincy didn't half like the marriage, I know that," said Mr.Chichely. "He wouldn't do much. How the relations on the other sidemay have come down I can't say." There was an emphatic kind ofreticence in Mr. Chichely's manner of speaking.
"Oh, I shouldn't think Lydgate ever looked to practice for a living,"said Mr. Toller, with a slight touch of sarcasm, and there the subject wasdropped.
This was not the first time that Mr. Farebrother had heard hints ofLydgate's expenses being obviously too great to be met by his practice,but he thought it not unlikely that there were resources or expectationswhich excused the large outlay at the time of Lydgate's marriage, andwhich might hinder any bad consequences from the disappointment inhis practice. One evening, when he took the pains to go to Middlemarchon purpose to have a chat with Lydgate as of old, he noticed in him anair of excited effort quite unlike his usual easy way of keeping silence orbreaking it with abrupt energy whenever he had anything to say. Lydgatetalked persistently when they were in his work-room, putting argumentsfor and against the probability of certain biological views; but he hadnone of those definite things to say or to show which give the waymarksof a patient uninterrupted pursuit, such as he used himself to insist on,saying that "there must be a systole and diastole in all inquiry," and that"a man's mind must be continually expanding and shrinking between thewhole human horizon and the horizon of an object-glass." That eveninghe seemed to be talking widely for the sake of resisting any personalbearing; and before long they went into the drawing room, whereLydgate, having asked Rosamond to give them music, sank back in hischair in silence, but with a strange light in his eyes. "He may have beentaking an opiate," was a thought that crossed Mr. Farebrother's mind—"tic-douloureux perhaps—or medical worries."
It did not occur to him that Lydgate's marriage was not delightful: hebelieved, as the rest did, that Rosamond was an amiable, docile creature,though he had always thought her rather uninteresting—a little too muchthe pattern-card of the finishing-school; and his mother could not forgiveRosamond because she never seemed to see that Henrietta Noble was inthe room. "However, Lydgate fell in love with her," said the Vicar tohimself, "and she must be to his taste."
Mr. Farebrother was aware that Lydgate was a proud man, buthaving very little corresponding fibre in himself, and perhaps too littlecare about personal dignity, except the dignity of not being mean orfoolish, he could hardly allow enough for the way in which Lydgateshrank, as from a burn, from the utterance of any word about his privateaffairs. And soon after that conversation at Mr. Toller's, the Vicarlearned something which made him watch the more eagerly for anopportunity of indirectly letting Lydgate know that if he wanted to openhimself about any difficulty there was a friendly ear ready.
The opportunity came at Mr. Vincy's, where, on New Year's Day,there was a party, to which Mr. Farebrother was irresistibly invited, onthe plea that he must not forsake his old friends on the first new year ofhis being a greater man, and Rector as well as Vicar. And this party wasthoroughly friendly: all the ladies of the Farebrother family were present;the Vincy children all dined at the table, and Fred had persuaded hismother that if she did not invite Mary Garth, the Farebrothers wouldregard it as a slight to themselves, Mary being their particular friend.Mary came, and Fred was in high spirits, though his enjoyment was of acheckered kind—triumph that his mother should see Mary's importancewith the chief personages in the party being much streaked with jealousywhen Mr. Farebrother sat down by her. Fred used to be much more easyabout his own accomplishments in the days when he had not begun todread being "bowled out by Farebrother," and this terror was still beforehim. Mrs. Vincy, in her fullest matronly bloom, looked at Mary's littlefigure, rough wavy hair, and visage quite without lilies and roses, andwondered; trying unsuccessfully to fancy herself caring about Mary'sappearance in wedding clothes, or feeling complacency in grandchildrenwho would "feature" the Garths. However, the party was a merry one,and Mary was particularly bright; being glad, for Fred's sake, that hisfriends were getting kinder to her, and being also quite willing that theyshould see how much she was valued by others whom they must admitto be judges.
Mr. Farebrother noticed that Lydgate seemed bored, and that Mr.Vincy spoke as little as possible to his son-in-law. Rosamond wasperfectly graceful and calm, and only a subtle observation such as theVicar had not been roused to bestow on her would have perceived thetotal absence of that interest in her husband's presence which a lovingwife is sure to betray, even if etiquette keeps her aloof from him. WhenLydgate was taking part in the conversation, she never looked towardshim any more than if she had been a sculptured Psyche modelled to lookanother way: and when, after being called out for an hour or two, he re-entered the room, she seemed unconscious of the fact, which eighteenmonths before would have had the effect of a numeral before ciphers. Inreality, however, she was intensely aware of Lydgate's voice andmovements; and her pretty good-tempered air of unconsciousness was astudied negation by which she satisfied her inward opposition to himwithout compromise of propriety. When the ladies were in the drawing-room after Lydgate had been called away from the dessert, Mrs.Farebrother, when Rosamond happened to be near her, said—"You haveto give up a great deal of your husband's society, Mrs. Lydgate."
"Yes, the life of a medical man is very arduous: especially when he isso devoted to his profession as Mr. Lydgate is," said Rosamond, who wasstanding, and moved easily away at the end of this correct little speech.
"It is dreadfully dull for her when there is no company," said Mrs.Vincy, who was seated at the old lady's side. "I am sure I thought sowhen Rosamond was ill, and I was staying with her. You know, Mrs.Farebrother, ours is a cheerful house. I am of a cheerful dispositionmyself, and Mr. Vincy always likes something to be going on. That iswhat Rosamond has been used to. Very different from a husband out atodd hours, and never knowing when he will come home, and of a close,proud disposition, I think"—indiscreet Mrs. Vincy did lower her toneslightly with this parenthesis. "But Rosamond always had an angel of atemper; her brothers used very often not to please her, but she was neverthe girl to show temper; from a baby she was always as good as good,and with a complexion beyond anything. But my children are all good-tempered, thank God."
This was easily credible to any one looking at Mrs. Vincy as shethrew back her broad cap-strings, and smiled towards her three littlegirls, aged from seven to eleven. But in that smiling glance she wasobliged to include Mary Garth, whom the three girls had got into acorner to make her tell them stories. Mary was just finishing thedelicious tale of Rumpelstiltskin, which she had well by heart, becauseLetty was never tired of communicating it to her ignorant elders from afavorite red volume. Louisa, Mrs. Vincy's darling, now ran to her withwide-eyed serious excitement, crying, "Oh mamma, mamma, the littleman stamped so hard on the floor he couldn't get his leg out again!"
"Bless you, my cherub!" said mamma; "you shall tell me all about itto-morrow. Go and listen!" and then, as her eyes followed Louisa backtowards the attractive corner, she thought that if Fred wished her toinvite Mary again she would make no objection, the children being sopleased with her.
But presently the corner became still more animated, for Mr.Farebrother came in, and seating himself behind Louisa, took her on hislap; whereupon the girls all insisted that he must hear Rumpelstiltskin,and Mary must tell it over again. He insisted too, and Mary, withoutfuss, began again in her neat fashion, with precisely the same words asbefore. Fred, who had also seated himself near, would have felt unmixedtriumph in Mary's effectiveness if Mr. Farebrother had not been lookingat her with evident admiration, while he dramatized an intense interestin the tale to please the children.
"You will never care any more about my one-eyed giant, Loo," saidFred at the end.
"Yes, I shall. Tell about him now," said Louisa.
"Oh, I dare say; I am quite cut out. Ask Mr. Farebrother."
"Yes," added Mary; "ask Mr. Farebrother to tell you about the antswhose beautiful house was knocked down by a giant named Tom, and hethought they didn't mind because he couldn't hear them cry, or see themuse their pocket-handkerchiefs."
"Please," said Louisa, looking up at the Vicar.
"No, no, I am a grave old parson. If I try to draw a story out of mybag a sermon comes instead. Shall I preach you a sermon?" said he,putting on his short-sighted glasses, and pursing up his lips.
"Yes," said Louisa, falteringly.
"Let me see, then. Against cakes: how cakes are bad things,especially if they are sweet and have plums in them."
Louisa took the affair rather seriously, and got down from the Vicar'sknee to go to Fred.
"Ah, I see it will not do to preach on New Year's Day," said Mr.Farebrother, rising and walking away. He had discovered of late thatFred had become jealous of him, and also that he himself was not losinghis preference for Mary above all other women.
"A delightful young person is Miss Garth," said Mrs. Farebrother,who had been watching her son's movements.
"Yes," said Mrs. Vincy, obliged to reply, as the old lady turned to herexpectantly. "It is a pity she is not better-looking."
"I cannot say that," said Mrs. Farebrother, decisively. "I like hercountenance. We must not always ask for beauty, when a good God hasseen fit to make an excellent young woman without it. I put goodmanners first, and Miss Garth will know how to conduct herself in anystation."
The old lady was a little sharp in her tone, having a prospectivereference to Mary's becoming her daughter-in-law; for there was thisinconvenience in Mary's position with regard to Fred, that it was notsuitable to be made public, and hence the three ladies at LowickParsonage were still hoping that Camden would choose Miss Garth.
New visitors entered, and the drawing-room was given up to musicand games, while whist-tables were prepared in the quiet room on theother side of the hall. Mr. Farebrother played a rubber to satisfy hismother, who regarded her occasional whist as a protest against scandaland novelty of opinion, in which light even a revoke had its dignity. Butat the end he got Mr. Chichely to take his place, and left the room. As hecrossed the hall, Lydgate had just come in and was taking off his great-coat.
"You are the man I was going to look for," said the Vicar; and insteadof entering the drawing-room, they walked along the hall and stoodagainst the fireplace, where the frosty air helped to make a glowingbank. "You see, I can leave the whist-table easily enough," he went on,smiling at Lydgate, "now I don't play for money. I owe that to you, Mrs.Casaubon says."
"How?" said Lydgate, coldly.
"Ah, you didn't mean me to know it; I call that ungenerous reticence.You should let a man have the pleasure of feeling that you have donehim a good turn. I don't enter into some people's dislike of being underan obligation: upon my word, I prefer being under an obligation toeverybody for behaving well to me."
"I can't tell what you mean," said Lydgate, "unless it is that I oncespoke of you to Mrs. Casaubon. But I did not think that she would breakher promise not to mention that I had done so," said Lydgate, leaning hisback against the corner of the mantel-piece, and showing no radiance inhis face.
"It was Brooke who let it out, only the other day. He paid me thecompliment of saying that he was very glad I had the living though youhad come across his tactics, and had praised me up as a lien and aTillotson, and that sort of thing, till Mrs. Casaubon would hear of no oneelse."
"Oh, Brooke is such a leaky-minded fool," said Lydgate,contemptuously.
