Petticoat Rule
Page 22
CHAPTER XXII
PATERNAL ANXIETY
M. le Duc d'Aumont, Prime Minister of His Majesty King Louis XV ofFrance, was exceedingly perturbed. He had just had two separateinterviews, each of half an hour's duration, and he was now busytrying to dissociate what his daughter had told him in the firstinterview, from that which M. de Stainville had imparted to him in thesecond. And he was not succeeding.
The two sets of statements seemed inextricably linked together.
Lydie, certainly had been very strange and agitated in her manner,totally unlike herself: but this mood of course, though so veryunusual in her, did not astonish M. le Duc so much, once he realizedits cause.
It was the cause which was so singularly upsetting.
Milor Eglinton, his son-in-law, had sent in his resignation asComptroller-General of Finance, and this without giving any reason forso sudden and decisive a step. At any rate Lydie herself professed tobe ignorant of milor's motives for this extraordinary line of actionas she was of his future purpose. All she knew--or all that she caredto tell her father--was that her husband had avowedly the intention ofdeserting her: he meant to quit Versailles immediately, thus vacatinghis post without a moment's notice, and leaving his wife, whom he hadallowed to conduct all State affairs for him for over a year, toextricate herself, out of a tangle of work and an anomalous position,as best she might.
The only suggestion which milor had cared to put forward, with regardto her future, was that he was about to make her a free gift of hischateau and lands of Vincennes, the yearly revenues of which wereclose upon a million livres. This gift she desired not to accept.
In spite of strenuous and diplomatic efforts on his part, M. le Ducd'Aumont had been unable to obtain any further explanation of theseextraordinary events from his daughter. Lydie had no intentionwhatever of deceiving her father and she had given him what shebelieved to be a perfectly faithful _expose_ of the situation. Allthat she had kept back from him was the immediate cause of the gravemisunderstanding between herself and her husband, and we must do herthe justice to state that she did not think that this was relevant tothe ultimate issue.
Moreover, she was more than loath to mention the Stuart prince and hisaffairs again before M. le Duc. She knew that he was not in sympathywith her over this matter and she dreaded to know with absolutecertainty that there was projected treachery afoot, and that heperhaps would have a hand in it. What Gaston de Stainville hadconjectured, had seen and overheard, what she herself had guessed, wasnot to her mind quite conclusive as far as her father's share in thescheme was concerned.
She was deeply attached to her father, and her heart found readilyenough a sufficiency of arguments which exonerated him from actualparticipation in such wanton perfidy. At any rate in this instance shechose ignorance rather than heartrending certainty, and as by herquick action and Gaston's timely and unexpected help, the actualtreachery would be averted, she preferred to dismiss her father'sproblematical participation in it entirely from her mind.
Thus she told him nothing of milor's attitude with regard to the Dukeof Cumberland's letter; in fact, she never once referred to the letteror to the Young Pretender; she merely gave M. le Duc to understandthat her husband seemed desirous of living his future life altogetherapart from hers.
M. le Duc d'Aumont was sorely disquieted: two eventualities presentedthemselves before him, and both were equally distasteful. One was thescandal which would of necessity spread around his daughter's name themoment her matrimonial differences with her husband became generallyknown. M. le Duc d'Aumont was too well acquainted with this Court ofVersailles not to realize that Lydie's position, as a neglected wife,would subject her to a series of systematic attentions, which shecould but regard in the light of insults.
On the other hand M. le Duc could not even begin to think of having toforego his daughter's help in the various matters relating to his ownadministration. He had been accustomed for some years now to consulther in all moments of grave crises, to rely on her judgment, on herable guidance, worth ten thousand times more to him than an army ofmasculine advisers.
In spite of the repeated sneers hurled at this era of "petticoatgovernment," Lydie had been of immense service to him, and if she weresuddenly to be withdrawn from his official life, he would feel verylike Louis XIII had done on that memorable Journee des Dupes, whenRichelieu left him for twenty-four hours to conduct the affairs ofState alone. He would not have known where to begin.
But Lydie told him that her decision was irrevocable, or what was moreto the point, milor had left her no alternative: his resignation wasby now in His Majesty's hands, and he had not even suggested thatLydie should accompany him, when he quitted Versailles, in order totake up life as a private gentleman.
It was all very puzzling and very difficult. M. le Duc d'Aumontstrongly deprecated the idea of his daughter vacating her officialpost, because of this sudden caprice of milor. He had need of her, andso had France, and the threads of national business could not besnapped in a moment. The post of Comptroller-General of Finance couldremain in abeyance for awhile. After that one would see.
Then with regard to the proposed gifts of the chateau and revenues ofVincennes, M. le Duc d'Aumont would not hear of a refusal. Madame laMarquise d'Eglinton must have a private establishment worthy of herrank, and an occasional visit from milor would help to keep up anoutward appearance of decorum, and to throw dust in the eyes of thescandal-mongers.
The interview with his daughter had upset M. le Duc d'Aumont veryconsiderably. The whole thing had been so unexpected: it was difficultto imagine his usually so impassive and yielding son-in-law displayingany initiative of his own. M. le Duc was still puzzling over thesituation when M. le Comte de Stainville, specially recommended by HisMajesty himself, asked for a private audience.
And the next half-hour plunged M. le Duc into a perfect labyrinth ofsurmises, conjectures, doubts and fears. That Gaston de Stainville waspossessed not only of full knowledge with regard to the Stuartprince's hiding-place, but also of a letter in Lydie's handwriting,addressed to the prince and sealed with her private seal, wassufficiently astonishing in itself, but the young man's thinly veiledinnuendoes, his fatuous smiles, his obvious triumph, literallystaggered M. le Duc, even though his palm itched with longing forcontact with the insolent braggart's cheek. Every one of his beliefswas being forcibly uprooted; his daughter whom he had thought sounapproachable, so pure and so loyal! who had this very morning shamedhim by her indignation at the very thought of this treachery, whichshe now so completely condoned! that she should have renounced heropinions, her enthusiasm for the sake of a man who had alreadybetrayed her once, was more than M. le Duc could and would believe atfirst.
Yet the proofs were before him at this very moment. They had beenplaced in his hand by Gaston de Stainville: the map with the marginalnotes, which Lydie had so often refused to show even to her ownfather, and the letter in her handwriting with the bold signatureright across the contents, bidding the unfortunate young prince trustthe traitor who would deliver him into the hands of his foes.
But M. le Duc would have had to be more than human not to be satisfiedin a measure at the result of Gaston de Stainville's diplomacy; hestood in for a goodly share of the millions promised by England. Butit was the diplomacy itself which horrified him. He had vainly triedto dissuade Lydie from chivalrous and misguided efforts on behalf ofthe young prince, or at any rate from active interference, if HisMajesty had plans other than her own; but whilst she had rejected hismerest suggestions on that subject with unutterable contempt, she hadnot only listened to Gaston de Stainville, but actually yielded herwill and her enthusiasms to his pleadings.
M. le Duc sighed when he thought it all out. Though Lydie had doneexactly what he himself wanted her to do, he hated the idea that sheshould have done it because Gaston de Stainville had persuaded her.
Later on in the afternoon when an excellently cooked dinner hadsoftened his mood, he tried to put together the various pieces of theme
ntal puzzle which confronted him.
Gaston de Stainville had obtained a certain ascendancy over Lydie, andLydie had irretrievably quarrelled with her husband. Milor wasdetermined to quit Versailles immediately; Lydie was equally bent onnot relinquishing her position yet. Gaston de Stainville was obviouslytriumphant and somewhat openly bragged of his success, whilst milorkept to his own private apartments, and steadily forbade his door toevery one.
It was indeed a very difficult problem for an indulgent father tosolve. Fortunately for his own peace of mind, M. le Duc d'Aumont wasnot only indulgent to his own daughter whom he adored, but also toevery one of her sex. He was above all a _preux chevalier_, who heldthat women were beings of exceptional temperament, not to be judged bythe same standards as the coarser fibred male creatures; their beauty,their charm, the pleasure they afforded to the rest of mankind, placedthem above criticism or even comment.
And of course Lydie was very beautiful . . . and milor a fool . . .and . . . Gaston. . . . Well! who could blame Gaston?
And it was most amazingly lucky that Lydie had given up her absurdideas about that Stuart prince, and had thus helped those Englishmillions to find their way comfortably across the Channel, into thepockets of His Majesty the King of France, and of one or two others,including her own doting father.
And after that M. le Duc d'Aumont gave up worrying any more about thematter.