thus it came about that, five days later, arrived at bellegarde mr. john bulmer, kinsman and accredited emissary of the great duke of ormskirk. he brought with him and in due course delivered a casket of jewels and a letter from the duke to his betrothed. the diamonds were magnificent, and the letter was a paragon of polite ardors.
mr. bulmer found the château in charge of a distant cousin to de puysange, the marquis de soyecourt; with whom were the duchess, a gentle and beautiful lady, her two children, and the demoiselle claire. the duke himself was still at marly, with most of his people, but at bellegarde momentarily they looked for his return. meanwhile de soyecourt, an exquisite and sociable and immoral young gentleman of forty-one, was lonely, and protested that any civilized company was, in the oafish provinces, a charity of celestial pre-arrangement. he would not hear of mr. bulmer's leaving bellegarde; and after a little protestation the latter proved persuadable.
"mr. bulmer," the duke's letter of introduction informed the marquis, "is my kinsman and may be regarded as discreet. the evanishment of his tiny patrimony, spirited away some years ago by divers over-friendly ladies, hath taught the man humility, and procured for me the privilege of paying for his support: but i find him more valuable than his cost. he is tolerably honest, not too often tipsy, makes an excellent salad, and will convey a letter or hold a door with fidelity and despatch. employ his services, monsieur, if you have need of them; i place him at your command."
in fine, they at bellegarde judged mr. bulmer to rank somewhere between lackeyship and gentility, and treated him in accordance. it was an age of parasitism, and john bulmer, if a parasite, was the phormio of a very great man: when his patron expressed a desire mr. bulmer fulfilled it without boggling over inconvenient scruples, perhaps; and there was the worst that could with equity be said of him. an impoverished gentleman must live somehow, and, deuce take it! there must be rather pretty pickings among the broken meats of an ormskirk. to this effect de soyecourt moralized one evening as the two sat over their wine.
john bulmer candidly assented. "i live as best i may," he said. "in a word 'i am his highness' dog at kew—' but mark you, i do not complete the quotation, monsieur."
"which ends, as i remember it, 'i pray you, sir, whose dog are you?' well, mr. bulmer, each of us wards his own kennel somewhere, whether it be in a king's court or in a woman's heart, and it is necessary that he pay the rent of it in such coin as the owner may demand. beggars cannot be choosers, mr. bulmer." the marquis went away moodily, and john bulmer poured out another glass.
"were i gaston, you would not kennel here, my friend. the duchess has too many claims to be admired,—for undoubtedly people do go about unchained who can admire a blonde,—and always your eyes follow her. i noticed it a week ago."
and during this week mr. bulmer had seen a deal of claire de puysange, with results that you will presently ascertain. it was natural she should desire to learn something of the man she was so soon to marry, and of whose personality she was so ignorant; she had not even seen a picture of him, by example. was he handsome?
john bulmer believed him rather remarkably handsome, when you considered how frequently his love-affairs had left disastrous souvenirs: yes, for a man in middle life so often patched up by quack doctors, ormskirk looked wholesome enough, said mr. bulmer. he may have had his occult purposes, this poor cousin, but of ormskirk he undoubtedly spoke with engaging candor. here was no parasite cringingly praising his patron to the skies. the duke's career was touched on, with its grimy passages no whit extenuated: before dettingen cousin ormskirk had, it must be confessed, taken a bribe from de noailles, and in return had seen to it that the english did not follow up their empty victory; and 'twas well known ormskirk got his dukedom through the countess of yarmouth, to whom the king could deny nothing. what were the duke's relations with this liberal lady?—a shrug rendered mr. bulmer's avowal of ignorance tolerably explicit. then, too, mr. bulmer readily conceded, the duke's atrocities after culloden were somewhat over-notorious for denial: all the prisoners were shot out-of-hand; seventy-two of them were driven into an inn-yard and massacred en masse. yes, there were women among them, but not over a half-dozen children, at most. mademoiselle was not to class his noble patron with herod, understand,—only a few brats of no importance.
in fine, he told her all the highly colored tales that envy and malice and ignorance had been able to concoct concerning the great duke. many of them john bulmer knew to be false; nevertheless, he had a large mythology to choose from, he picked his instances with care, he narrated them with gusto and discretion,—and in the end he got his reward.
for the girl rose, flame-faced, and burlesqued a courtesy in his direction. "monsieur bulmer, i make you my compliments. you have very fully explained what manner of man is this to whom my brother has sold me."
"and wherefore do you accord me this sudden adulation?" said john bulmer.
"because in france we have learned that lackeys are always powerful. le bel is here omnipotent, monsieur bulmer; but he is lackey to a satyr only; and therefore, i felicitate you, monsieur, who are lackey to a fiend."
john bulmer looked rather grave. "civility is an inexpensive wear, mademoiselle, but it becomes everybody."
"lackey!" she flung over her shoulder, as she left him.
john bulmer began to whistle an air then popular across the channel. later his melody was stilled.
"'beautiful as an angel, and headstrong as a devil!'" said john bulmer.
"you have an eye, gaston!"
