139 CHAPTER VII. SLOPESHIRE HEARS OF JAMES'S REJECTION. "That neither evil tongues, Rash judgments, nor the sneers of selfish men, Nor greetings where no kindness is, nor all Tintern. WE must retrace our narrative to some five days before the events of the last two chapters. The party at Crab Moss, Dunt's hospitable seat, was not a lively one at dinner on the evening of the day when James had so abruptly departed. The host himself had at once put down this disappearance to the reason that James had not prospered in his suit. Indeed, he knew his niece pretty well, and she had more than once dismissed some of the small fry of the squirearchy with very scant ceremony. He was really, from selfish motives, annoyed with her in this instance, though by no means surprised. He had done his very best for James, and given him every chance of ingratiating himself with Miss Jessie. Indeed, James had done his wooing very fairly, even in Dunt's eyes, after all. This ungainly young man had become almost presentable in trying to please the Slopeshire heiress. Well, that scheme must go, Dunt supposed, to the limbo of many other still-born projects of his own; with companies whose existence was, in more than one sense, limited to the proof-sheets of their prospectuses; with repudiated national credits, and concessions of Spanish castles. Anyhow, he must summon his serviceable satellite Richards, that Whinbury Briareus of schemes, and, when closeted with him, concoct some project for raising the lump of money required to set straight his trusteeship accounts; for he felt confident that Perceval had now only to come forward to relieve him of all further responsibility in that office; and he knew that all his " temporary loans and accommodations " must be replaced before that auspicious event. Mrs. Shanter had in due course confided to Dunstew and Chip, in separate baywindows, the full details of James's rejection. She did not allow the grass of delay to grow under the feet of her narrative; and she fully intended, since this was the last day of her visit, to carry the news far and wide to all the leading Slopeshire luncheon-tables within thirty-six hours of her return to home delights and the repression of the major's solitary cheroot. We are bound to say that this excellent lady especially enjoyed spreading a story which had all the zest of being not quite true, and was yet sufficiently near the truth both to salve her conscience and to render correction impossible. As for the victim James, no soul in the party wasted one thought of commiseration upon him except the worthy major, who told his wife he was "doocid sorry for chap sent to the right-about; always made a man drink and take to billiards. Cattle of ours himself, soberest fellar in the reg'ment except when he first joined, doocedly cut up about a dooced fine girl at the Hibernia Stores at the Curragh "—but here his wife interposed with some asperity, and told him to reserve his anecdotes for a more suitable occasion. As for Miss Amesham, she sang her siren lyrics again after dinner, for she was much too well-behaved a young lady to have omitted them for the world, lest the company should infer that James had made her vocal on the previous evenings. However, there was a certain carelessness about their execution to-night, and after a few songs and a few feeble compliments from the major, who took James's place as leafturner, she subsided, with an angelic smile, into church needlework at an ottoman. But Mr. Dunt, still sore at the overthrow of his scheme that morning by this bright innocent, stood growling in the centre of his hearth-rug, as every freeborn Briton may of right immemorial, during the digestive process, especially in a company of relatives or dependents. He was considerably afraid of Miss Jessie in his calmer |