Lady Monogram, when she left Madame Melmotte’s house after that entertainment of Imperial Majesty which had been to her of so very little avail, was not in a good humour. Sir Damask, who had himself affected to laugh at the whole thing, but who had been in truth as anxious as his wife to see the Emperor in private society, put her ladyship and Miss Longestaffe into the carriage without a word, and rushed off to his club in disgust. The affair from beginning to end, including the final failure, had been his wife’s doing. He had been made to work like a slave, and had been taken against his will to Melmotte’s house, and had seen no Emperor and shaken hands with no Prince! ‘They may fight it out between them now like the Kilkenny cats.’ That was his idea as he closed the carriage-door on the two ladies — thinking that if a larger remnant were left of one cat than of the other that larger remnant would belong to his wife.
‘What a horrid affair!’ said Lady Monogram. ‘Did anybody ever see anything so vulgar?’ This was at any rate unreasonable, for whatever vulgarity there may have been, Lady Monogram had seen none of it.
‘I don’t know why you were so late,’ said Georgiana.
‘Late! Why it’s not yet twelve. I don’t suppose it was eleven when we got into the Square. Anywhere else it would have been early.’
‘You knew they did not mean to stay long. It was particularly said so. I really think it was your own fault.’
‘My own fault. Yes; — I don’t doubt that. I know it was my own fault, my dear, to have had anything to do with it. And now I have got to pay for it.’
‘What do you mean by paying for it, Julia?’
‘You know what I mean very well. Is your friend going to do us the honour of coming to us to-morrow night?’ She could not have declared in plainer language how very high she thought the price to be which she had consented to give for those ineffective tickets.
‘If you mean Mr Brehgert, he is coming. You desired me to ask him, and I did so.’
‘Desired you! The truth is, Georgiana, when people get into different sets, they’d better stay where they are. It’s no good trying to mix things.’ Lady Monogram was so angry that she could not control her tongue.
Miss Longestaffe was ready to tear herself with indignation. That she should have been brought to hear insolence such as this from Julia Triplex — she, the daughter of Adolphus Longestaffe of Caversham and Lady Pomona; she, who was considered to have lived in quite the first London circle! But she could hardly get hold of fit words for a reply. She was almost in tears, and was yet anxious to fight rather than weep. But she was in her friend’s carriage, and was being taken to her friend’s house, was to be entertained by her friend all the next day, and was to see her lover among her friend’s guests. ‘I wonder what has made you so ill-natured,’ she said at last. ‘You didn’t use to be like that.’
‘It’s no good abusing me,’ said Lady Monogram. ‘Here we are, and I suppose we had better get out — unless you want the carriage to take you anywhere else.’ Then Lady Monogram got out and marched into the house, and taking a candle went direct to her own room. Miss Longestaffe followed slowly to her own chamber, and having half undressed herself, dismissed her maid and prepared to write to her mother.
The letter to her mother must be written. Mr Brehgert had twice proposed that he should, in the usual way, go to Mr Longestaffe, who had been backwards and forwards in London, and was there at the present moment. Of course it was proper that Mr Brehgert should see her father — but, as she had told him, she preferred that he should postpone his visit for a day or two. She was now agonized by many doubts. Those few words about ‘various sets’ and the ‘mixing of things’ had stabbed her to the very heart — as had been intended. Mr Brehgert was rich. That was a certainty. But she already repented of what she had done. If it were necessary that she should really go down into another and a much lower world, a world composed altogether of Brehgerts, Melmottes, and Cohenlupes, would it avail her much to be the mistress of a gorgeous house? She had known, and understood, and had revelled in the exclusiveness of county position. Caversham had been dull, and there had always been there a dearth of young men of the proper sort; but it had been a place to talk of, and to feel satisfied with as a home to be acknowledged before the world. Her mother was dull, and her father pompous and often cross; but they were in the right set — miles removed from the Brehgerts and Melmottes — until her father himself had suggested to her that she should go to the house in Grosvenor Square. She would write one letter to-night; but there was a question in her mind whether the letter should be written to her mother telling her the horrid truth — or to Mr Brehgert begging that the match should be broken off. I think she would have decided on the latter had it not been that so many people had already heard of the match. The Monograms knew it, and had of course talked far and wide. The Melmottes knew it, and she was aware that Lord Nidderdale had heard it. It was already so far known that it was sure to be public before the end of the season. Each morning lately she had feared that a letter from home would call upon her to explain the meaning of some frightful rumours reaching Caversham, or that her father would come to her and with horror on his face demand to know whether it was indeed true that she had given her sanction to so abominable a report.
And there were other troubles. She had just spoken to Madame Melmotte this evening, having met her late hostess as she entered the drawing-room, and had felt from the manner of her reception that she was not wanted back again. She had told her father that she was going to transfer herself to the Monograms for a time, not mentioning the proposed duration of her visit, and Mr Longestaffe, in his ambiguous way, had expressed himself glad that she was leaving the Melmottes. She did not think that she could go back to Grosvenor Square, although Mr Brehgert desired it. Since the expression of Mr Brehgert’s wishes she had perceived that ill-will had grown up between her father and Mr Melmotte. She must return to Caversham. They could not refuse to take her in, though she had betrothed herself to a Jew!
If she decided that the story should be told to her mother it would be easier to tell it by letter than by spoken words, face to face. But then if she wrote the letter there would be no retreat; — and how should she face her family after such a declaration? She had always given herself credit for courage, and now she wondered at her own cowardice. Even Lady Monogram, her old friend Julia Triplex, had trampled upon her. Was it not the business of her life, in these days, to do the best she could for herself, and would she allow paltry considerations as to the feelings of others to stand in her way and become bugbears to affright her? Who sent her to Melmotte’s house? Was it not her own father? Then she sat herself square at the table, and wrote to her mother — as follows — dating her letter for the following morning:—
Hill Street, 9th July, 187-.
MY DEAR MAMMA,
I am afraid you will be very much astonished by this letter, and perhaps disappointed. I have engaged myself to Mr Brehgert, a member of a very wealthy firm in the City, called Todd, Brehgert, and Goldsheiner. I may as well tell you the worst at once. Mr Brehgert is a Jew. [This last word she wrote very rapidly, but largely, determined that there should be no lack of courage apparent in the letter.] He is a very wealthy man, and his business is about banking and what he calls finance. I understand they are among the most leading people in the City. He lives at present at a very handsome house at Fulham. I don’t know that I ever saw a place more beautifully fitted up. I have said nothing to papa, nor has he; but he says he will be willing to satisfy papa perfectly as to settlements. He has offered to have a house in London if I like — and also to keep the villa at Fulham or else to have a place somewhere in the country. Or I may have the villa at Fulham and a house in the country. No man can be more generous than he is. He has been married before, and has a family, and now I think I have told you all.
I suppose you and papa will be very much dissatisfied. I hope papa won’t refuse his consent. It can do no good. I am not going to remain ............