the duke threw himself into his carriage in that mood which fits us for desperate deeds. what he intended to do, indeed, was doubtful, but something very vigorous, very decided, perhaps very terrible. an indefinite great effort danced, in misty magnificence, before the vision of his mind. his whole being was to be changed, his life was to be revolutionised. such an alteration was to take place that even she could not doubt the immense yet incredible result. then despair whispered its cold-blooded taunts, and her last hopeless words echoed in his ear. but he was too agitated to be calmly miserable, and, in the poignancy of his feelings, he even meditated death. one thing, however, he could obtain; one instant relief was yet in his power, solitude. he panted for the loneliness of his own chamber, broken only by his agitated musings.

the carriage stopped; the lights and noise called him to life. this, surely, could not be home? whirled open the door, down dashed the steps, with all that prompt precision which denotes the practised hand of an aristocratic retainer. (284)

‘what is all this, symmons? why did you not drive home?’

‘your grace forgets that mr. annesley and some gentlemen sup with your grace to-night at the alhambra.’

‘impossible! drive home.’

‘your grace perhaps forgets that your grace is expected?’ said the experienced servant, who knew when to urge a master, who, tomorrow, might blame him for permitting his caprice.

‘what am i to do? stay here. i will run upstairs, and put them off.’

he ran up into the crush-room. the opera was just over, and some parties who were not staying the ballet, had already assembled there. as he passed along he was stopped by lady fitz-pompey, who would not let such a capital opportunity escape of exhibiting caroline and the young duke together.

‘mr. bulkley,’ said her ladyship, ‘there must be something wrong about the carriage.’ an experienced, middle-aged gentleman, who jobbed on in society by being always ready and knowing his cue, resigned the arm of lady caroline st. maurice and disappeared.

‘george,’ said lady fitz-pompey, ‘give your arm to carry just for one moment.’

if it had been anybody but his cousin, the duke would easily have escaped; but caroline he invariably treated with marked regard; perhaps because his conscience occasionally reproached him that he had not treated her with a stronger feeling. at this moment, too, she was the only being in the world, save one, whom he could remember with satisfaction: he felt that he loved her most affectionately, but somehow she did not inspire him with those peculiar feelings which thrilled his heart at the recollection of may dacre.

in this mood he offered an arm, which was accepted; but he could not in a moment assume the tone of mind befitting his situation and the scene. he was silent; for him a remarkable circumstance.

‘do not stay here,’ said lady caroline is a soft voice, which her mother could not overhear. ‘i know you want to be away. steal off.’

‘where can i be better than with you, carry?’ said the young duke, determined not to leave her, and loving her still more for her modest kindness; and thereon he turned round, and, to show that he was sincere, began talking with his usual spirit. mr. bulkley of course never returned, and lady fitz-pompey felt as satisfied with her diplomatic talents as a plenipotentiary who has just arranged an advantageous treaty.

arundel dacre came up and spoke to lady fitz-pompey. never did two persons converse together who were more dissimilar in their manner and their feelings; and yet arundel dacre did contrive to talk; a result which he could not always accomplish, even with those who could sympathise with him. lady fitz-pompey listened to him with attention; for arundel dacre, in spite of his odd manner, or perhaps in some degree in consequence of it, had obtained a distinguished reputation both among men and women; and it was the great principle of lady fitz-pompey to attach to her the distinguished youth of both sexes. she was pleased with this public homage of arundel dacre; because he was one who, with the reputation of talents, family, and fashion, seldom spoke to anyone, and his attentions elevated their object. thus she maintained her empire.

st. maurice now came up to excuse himself to the young duke for not attending at the alhambra to-night. ‘sophy could not bear it,’ he whispered: ‘she had got her head full of the most ridiculous fancies, and it was in vain to speak: so he had promised to give up that, as well as crockford’s.’

this reminded our hero of his party, and the purpose of his entering the opera. he determined not to leave caroline till her carriage was called; and he began to think that he really must go to the alhambra, after all. he resolved to send them off at an early hour.

‘anything new to-night, henry?’ asked his grace, of lord st. maurice. ‘i have just come in.’

‘oh! then you have seen them?’

‘seen whom?’

‘the most knowing forestieri we ever had. we have been speaking of nothing else the whole evening. has not caroline told you? arundel dacre introduced me to them.’

‘who are they?’

‘i forget their names. dacre, how do you call the heroes of the night? dacre never answers. did you ever observe that? but, see! there they come.’

the duke turned, and observed lord darrell advancing with two gentlemen with whom his grace was well acquainted. these were prince charles de whiskerburg and count frill.

m. de whiskerburg was the eldest son of a prince, who, besides being the premier noble of the empire, possessed, in his own country, a very pretty park of two or three hundred miles in circumference, in the boundaries of which the imperial mandate was not current, but hid its diminished head before the supremacy of a subject worshipped under the title of john the twenty-fourth. m. de whiskerburg was a young man, tall, with a fine figure, and fine features. in short, a sort of hungarian apollo; only his beard, his mustachios, his whiskers, his favoris, his padishas, his sultanas, his mignonettas, his dulcibellas, did not certainly entitle him to the epithet of imberbis, and made him rather an apter representative of the hungarian hercules.

count frill was a different sort of personage. he was all rings and ringlets, ruffles, and a little rouge. much older than his companion, short in stature, plump in figure, but with a most defined waist, fair, blooming, with a multiplicity of long light curls, and a perpetual smile playing upon his round countenance, he looked like the cupid of an opera olympus.

the duke of st. james had been intimate with these distinguished gentlemen in their own country, and had received from them many and distinguished attentions. often had he expressed to them his sincere desire to greet them in his native land. their mutual anxiety of never again meeting was now removed. if his heart, instead of being bruised, had been absolutely broken, still honour, conscience, the glory of his house, his individual reputation, alike urged him not to be cold or backward at such a moment. he advanced, therefore, with a due mixture of grace and warmth, and congratulated them on their arrival. at this moment, lady fitz-pompey’s carriage was announced. promising to return to them in an instant, he hastened to his cousin; but mr. arundel dacre had already offered his arm, which, for arundel dacre, was really pretty well.

the duke was now glad that he had a small reunion this evening, as he could at once pay a courtesy to his foreign friends. he ran into the signora’s dressing-room, to assure her of his presence. he stumbled upon peacock piggott as he came out, and summoned him to fill the vacant place of st. maurice, and then sent him with a message to some friends who yet lingered in their box, and whose presence, he thought, might be an agreeable addition to the party.

you entered the alhambra by a saracenic cloister, from the ceiling of which an occasional lamp threw a gleam upon some eastern arms hung up against the wall. this passage led to the armoury, a room of moderate dimensions, but hung with rich contents. many an inlaid breastplate, many a mameluke scimitar and damascus blade, many a gemmed pistol and pearl-embroidered saddle, might there be seen, though viewed in a subdued and quiet light. all seemed hushed, and still, and shrouded in what had the reputation of being a palace of pleasure.

in this chamber assembled the expected guests. and having all arrived, they proceeded down a small gallery to the banqueting-room. the room was large and lofty. it was fitted up as an eastern tent. the walls were hung with scarlet cloth, tied up with ropes of gold. round the room crouched recumbent lions richly gilt, who grasped in their paws a lance, the top of which was a coloured lamp. the ceiling was emblazoned with the hauteville arms, and was radiant with burnished gold. a cresset lamp was suspended from the centre of the shield, and not only emitted an equable flow of soft though brilliant light, but also, as the aromatic oil wasted away, distilled an exquisite perfume.

the table blazed with golden plate, for the bird of paradise loved splendour. at the end of the room, under a canopy and upon a throne, the shield and vases lately executed for his grace now appeared. everything was gorgeous, costly, and imposing; but there was no pretence, save in the original outline, at maintaining the oriental character. the furniture was french; and opposite the throne canova’s hebe, bounded with a golden cup from a pedestal of ormolu.

the guests are seated; but after a few minutes the servants withdraw. small tables of ebony and silver, and dumb waiters of ivory and gold, conveniently stored, are at hand, and spiridion never leaves the room. the repast was refined, exquisite, various. it was one of those meetings where all eat. when a few persons, easy and unconstrained, unencumbered with cares, and of dispositions addicted to enjoyment, get together at past midnight, it is extraordinary what an appetite they evince. singers also are proverbially prone to gourmandise; and though the bird of paradise unfortunately possessed the smallest mouth in all singingland, it is astonishing how she pecked! but they talked as well as feasted, and were really gay.

‘prince,’ said the duke, ‘i hope madame de harestein approves of your trip to england?’

the prince only smiled, for he was of a silent disposition, and therefore wonderfully well suited his travelling companion.

‘poor madame de harestein!’ exclaimed count frill. ‘what despair she was in, when you left vienna, my dear duke. i did what i could to amuse her. i used to take my guitar, and sing to her morning and night, but without effect. she certainly would have died of a broken heart, if it had not been for the dancing-dogs.’

‘did they bite her?’ asked a lady who affected the wit of lord squib, ‘and so inoculate her with gaiety.’

‘everybody was mad about the dancing-dogs. they came from peru, and danced the mazurka in green jackets with a jabot. oh! what a jabot!’

‘i dislike animals excessively,’ remarked another lady, who was as refined as mr. annesley, her model.

‘dislike the dancing-dogs!’ said count frill. ‘ah! my good lady, you would have been enchanted. even the kaiser fed them with pistachio nuts. oh! so pretty! delicate leetle things, soft shining little legs, and pretty little faces! so sensible, and with such jabots!’

‘i assure you they were excessively amusing,’ said the prince, in a soft, confidential undertone to his neighbour, mrs. montfort, who was as dignified as she was beautiful, and who, admiring his silence, which she took for state, smiled and bowed with fascinating condescension.

‘and what else has happened very remarkable, count, since i left you?’ asked lord darrell.

‘nothing, nothing, my dear darrell. this bêtise of a war has made us all serious. if old clamstandt had not married that gipsy, little dugiria, i really think i should have taken a turn to belgrade.’

‘you should not eat so much, poppet!’ drawled charles annesley to a spanish danseuse, tall, dusky and lithe, glancing like a lynx and graceful as a jennet. she was very silent, but no doubt indicated the possession of cervantic humour by the sly calmness with which she exhausted her own waiter, and pillaged her neighbours.

‘why not?’ said a little french actress, highly finished like a miniature, who scarcely ate anything, but drank champagne and chatted with equal rapidity and composure, and who was always ready to fight anybody’s battle, provided she could get an opportunity to talk. ‘why not, mr. annesley? you never will let anybody eat. i never eat myself, because every night, having to talk so much, i am dry, dry, dry; so i drink, drink, drink. it is an extraordinary thing that there is no language which makes you so thirsty as french.’

‘what can be the reason?’ asked a sister of mrs. montfort, a tall fair girl, who looked sentimental, but was only silly.

‘because there is so much salt in it,’ said lord squib.

‘delia,’ drawled mr. annesley, ‘you look very pretty to-night!’

‘i am charmed to charm you, mr. annesley. shall i tell you what lord bon mot said of you?’

‘no, ma mignonne! i never wish to hear my own good things.’

‘spoiled, you should add,’ said the fair rival of lord squib, ‘if bon mot be in the case.’

‘lord bon mot is a most gentlemanlike man,’ said delia, indignant at an admirer being attacked. ‘he always wants to be amusing. whenever he dines out, he comes and sits with me for half an hour to catch the air of the parisian badinage.’

‘and you tell him a variety of little things?’ asked lord squib, insidiously drawing out the secret tactics of bon mot.

‘beaucoup, beaucoup,’ said delia, extending two little white hands sparkling with gems. ‘if he come in ever so, how do you call it? heavy, not that: in the domps. ah! it is that. if ever he come in the domps, he goes out always like a soufflée.’

‘as empty, i have no doubt,’ said the witty lady.

‘and as sweet, i have no doubt,’ said lord squib; ‘for delcroix complains sadly of your excesses, delia.’

‘mr. delcroix complain of me! that, indeed, is too bad. just because i recommend montmorency de versailles to him for an excellent customer, ever since he abuses me, merely because montmorency has forgot, in the hurry of going off, to pay his little account.’

‘but he says you have got all the things,’ said lord squib, whose great amusement was to put delia in a passion.

‘what of that?’ screamed the little lady. ‘montmorency gave them me.’

‘don’t make such a noise,’ said the bird of paradise. ‘i never can eat when there is a noise. duke,’ continued she in a fretful tone, ‘they make such a noise!’

‘annesley, keep squib quiet.’

‘delia, leave that young man alone. if isidora would talk a little more, and you eat a little more, i think you would be the most agreeable little ladies i know. poppet! put those bonbons in your pocket. you should never eat sugarplums in company.’

thus, talking agreeable nonsense, tasting agreeable dishes, and sipping agreeable wines, an hour ran on. sweetest music from an unseen source ever and anon sounded, and spiridion swung a censer full of perfumes round the chamber. at length the duke requested count frill to give them a song. the bird of paradise would never sing for pleasure, only for fame and a slight cheque. the count begged to decline, and at the same time asked for a guitar. the signora sent for hers; and his excellency, preluding with a beautiful simper, gave them some slight thing to this effect.

i.

charming bignetta! charming bignetta!

what a gay little girl is charming bignetta!

she dances, she prattles,

she rides and she rattles;

but she always is charming, that charming bignetta!

ii

charming bignetta! charming bignetta!

what a wild little witch is charming bignetta!

when she smiles, i’m all madness;

when she frowns, i’m all sadness;

but she always is smiling, that charming bignetta!

iii.

charming bignetta! charming bignetta!

what a wicked young rogue is charming bignetta!

she laughs at my shyness,

and flirts with his highness;

yet still she is charming, that charming bignetta!

iv.

charming bignetta! charming bignetta!

what a dear little girl is charming bignetta!

‘think me only a sister,’

said she trembling: i kissed her.

what a charming young sister is charming bignetta!

to choicer music chimed his gay guitar ‘in este’s halls,’ yet still his song served its purpose, for it raised a smile.

‘i wrote that for madame sapiepha, at the congress of verona,’ said count frill. ‘it has been thought amusing.’

‘madame sapiepha!’ exclaimed the bird of paradise. ‘what! that pretty little woman, who has such pretty caps?’

‘the same! ah! what caps! what taste!’

‘you like caps, then?’ asked the bird of paradise, with a sparkling eye.

‘oh! if there be anything more than another that i know most, it is the cap. here,’ said he, rather oddly unbuttoning his waistcoat, ‘you see what lace i have got.’

‘ah me! what lace!’ exclaimed the bird, in rapture. ‘duke, look at his lace. come here, sit next to me. let me look at that lace.’ she examined it with great attention, then turned up her beautiful eyes with a fascinating smile. ‘ah! c’est jolie, n’est-ce pas? but you like caps. i tell you what, you shall see my caps. spiridion, go, mon cher, and tell ma’amselle to bring my caps, all my caps, one of each set.’

in due time entered the swiss, with the caps, all the caps, one of each set. as she handed them in turn to her mistress, the bird chirped a panegyric upon each.

‘that is pretty, is it not, and this also? but this is my favourite. what do you think of this border? c’est belle cette garniture? et ce jabot, c’est très-séduisant, n’est-ce pas? mais voici, the cap of princess lichtenstein. c’est superb, c’est mon favori. but i also love very much this of the duchess de berri. she gave me the pattern herself. and, after, all, this cornette à petite santé of lady blaze is a dear little thing; then, again, this coiffe à dentelle of lady macaroni is quite a pet.’

‘pass them down,’ said lord squib; ‘we want to look at them.’ accordingly they were passed down. lord squib put one on.

‘do i look superb, sentimental, or only pretty?’ asked his lordship. the example was contagious, and most of the caps were appropriated. no one laughed more than their mistress, who, not having the slightest idea of the value of money, would have given them all away on the spot; not from any good-natured feeling, but from the remembrance that tomorrow she might amuse half an hour in buying others.

whilst some were stealing, and she remonstrating, the duke clapped his hands like a caliph. the curtain at the end of the apartment was immediately withdrawn, and the ball-room stood revealed.

it was the same size as the banqueting-hall. its walls exhibited a long perspective of golden pilasters, the frequent piers of which were of looking-glass, save where, occasionally, a picture had been, as it were, inlaid in its rich frame. here was the titian venus of the tribune, deliciously copied by a french artist: there, the roman fornarina, with her delicate grace, beamed like the personification of raf-faelle’s genius. here, zuleikha, living in the light and shade of that magician guercino, in vain summoned the passions of the blooming hebrew: and there, cleopatra, preparing for her last immortal hour, proved by what we saw that guido had been a lover.

the ceiling of this apartment was richly painted, and richly gilt: from it were suspended three lustres by golden cords, which threw a softened light upon the floor of polished and curiously inlaid woods. at the end of the apartment was an orchestra.

round the room waltzed the elegant revellers. softly and slowly, led by their host, they glided along like spirits of air; but each time that the duke passed the musicians, the music became livelier, and the motion more brisk, till at length you might have mistaken them for a college of spinning dervishes. one by one, an exhausted couple retreated from the lists. some threw themselves on a sofa, some monopolised an easy chair; but in twenty minutes the whirl had ceased. at length peacock piggott gave a groan, which denoted returning energy, and raised a stretching leg in air, bringing up, though most unwittingly, upon his foot, one of the bird’s sublime and beautiful caps.

‘halloa! piggott, armed cap-au-pied, i see,’ said lord squib. this joke was a signal for general resuscitation.

the alhambra formed a quadrangle: all the chambers were on the basement story. in the middle of the court of the quadrangle was a beautiful fountain; and the court was formed by a conservatory, which was built along each side of the interior square, and served, like a cloister or covered way, for a communication between the different parts of the building. to this conservatory they now repaired. it was broad, full of rare and delicious plants and flowers, and brilliantly illuminated. busts and statues were intermingled with the fairy grove; and a rich, warm hue, by a skilful arrangement of coloured lights, was thrown over many a nymph and fair divinity, many a blooming hero and beardless god. here they lounged in different parties, talking on such subjects as idlers ever fall upon; now and then plucking a flower, now and then listening to the fountain, now and then lingering over the distant music, and now and then strolling through a small apartment which opened to their walks, and which bore the title of the temple of gnidus. here, canova’s venus breathed an atmosphere of perfume and of light; that wonderful statue, whose full-charged eye is not very classical, to be sure; but then, how true!

while they were thus whiling away their time, lord squib proposed a visit to the theatre, which he had ordered to be lit up. to the theatre they repaired. they rambled over every part of the house, amused themselves with a visit to the gallery, and then collected behind the scenes. they were excessively amused with the properties; and lord squib proposed they should dress themselves. in a few minutes they were all in costume. a crowd of queens and chambermaids, jews and chimney-sweeps, lawyers and charleys, spanish dons, and irish officers, rushed upon the stage. the little spaniard was almaviva, and fell into magnificent attitudes, with her sword and plume. lord squib was the old woman of brentford, and very funny. sir lucius grafton, harlequin; and darrell, grimaldi. the prince, and the count without knowing it, figured as watchmen. squib whispered annesley, that sir lucius o’trigger might appear in character, but was prudent enough to suppress the joke.

the band was summoned, and they danced quadrilles with infinite spirit, and finished the night, at the suggestion of lord squib, by breakfasting on the stage. by the time this meal was despatched the purple light of morn had broken into the building, and the ladies proposed an immediate departure.