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He had heard of that scar before. When the venerable Archdeacon Varcoe was tutor to Ian and Robert Belward, Ian, in a fit of anger, had thrown a stick at his brother. It had struck the clergyman, leaving a scar. Gaston now raised his hat. As he passed, the rector looked after him, puzzled; the words he had heard addressed to the effigy returning.
"Yes, yes, of course," Cluny replied, with great eagerness, as if to justify the matter to himself. Gaston smiled, said that he might, he was only in town for a few days, and dropped Cluny in Pall Mall. Cluny came running back. "I say, Belward, things'll come around just as they were before, won't they? You're going to cut in, and not let 'em walk on you?" "Yes, I'm 'going to cut in, Cluny boy."
"'For a good boy! 'God bless our Home!" he said, ironically. Gaston saw the mark of his hand on his uncle's chin, and he forbore ironical reply. "The home is worth the blessing," he rejoined quietly, and passed on. Three hours later the guests had all gone, and Lady Belward, leaning on her grandson's arm, went to her boudoir, while Ian and his father sought the library.
Gaston choked back a laugh, and, purposely putting himself on the wrong scent, said: "And does Agatha agree?" "Agatha? Come, Belward, that youngster! Agatha's only in on a sisterly-brotherly basis. Now, see I've got a little load of L s. d., and I'm to get more, especially if Uncle Dick keeps on thinking I am artless. Well, why shouldn't I marry?"
"Yes, I hope so; though my grandfather does not much care to have me go." "I suppose it is dull for him." "I am not sure it is that." "No? What then?" She shook her head. "The affair is in your honour, Mr. Belward, isn't it? "Does that answer my question?" he asked genially. She blushed. "No, no, no! That is not what I meant." "I was unfair.
There was, however, nothing to be done. He must wait. Two days later Lady Dargan called to inquire after him. He was lying in his study with a book, and Lady Belward sent to ask him if he would care to see her and Lord Dargan's nephew, Cluny Vosse. Lady Belward did not come; Sir William brought them.
Besides, she had a visitor. Yes, Meyerbeer knew it Mr. Gaston Belward; but that did not matter. The manager thought it did matter. Then, with an idea of the future, Meyerbeer asked to be shown the menagerie thoroughly he would write it up for England and America. And so it happened that there were two sets of people inspecting the menagerie after the performance.
Gaston rang the bell, and went to open the door for his uncle to pass out. Ian Belward buttoned his close-fitting coat, cast a glance in the mirror, and then eyed Gaston's fine figure and well-cut clothes. In the presence of his nephew, there grew the envy of a man who knew that youth was passing while every hot instinct and passion remained. For his age he was impossibly young.
When Gaston looked at his father's clothes and turned them over, he had a twinge of honest emotion; but his mind was on the dinner and his heritage, and he only said, as he frowned at the tightness of the waistband: "Never mind, we'll make 'em pay, shot and wadding, for what you lost, Robert Belward; and wherever you are, I hope you'll see it."
Babbs as "a gentleman whose name was a household word in the county, who would carry into Parliament the civic responsibility shown in his private life, who would render his party a support likely to fulfil its purpose." When he sat down, Captain Maudsley said: "That's a trifle vague, Belward." "How can one treat him with importance?" "He's the sort that makes a noise one way or another." "Yes.
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