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IT is somewhat more than a year and a half since Kenelm Chillingly left England, and the scene now is in London, during that earlier and more sociable season which precedes the Easter holidays, season in which the charm of intellectual companionship is not yet withered away in the heated atmosphere of crowded rooms, season in which parties are small, and conversation extends beyond the interchange of commonplace with one's next neighbour at a dinner-table, season in which you have a fair chance of finding your warmest friends not absorbed by the superior claims of their chilliest acquaintances.
Notions which, by the much more cultivated intellect and the immeasurably more soaring ambition of Chillingly Gordon, might be viewed and criticised thus: "Could I accept these doctrines? I don't see my way to being Prime Minister of a country in which religion and capital are still powers to be consulted.
Here the tact and /savoir vivre/ of Chillingly Gordon came to the rescue of the host. Possessing himself of the "Times" newspaper, he uttered an exclamation of surprise, genuine or simulated, and read aloud an extract from the leading article, announcing an impending change in the Cabinet.
On the very day on which Kenelm arrived at Exmundham, Chillingly Gordon had received this letter from Mr. Gerald Danvers. DEAR GORDON, In the ministerial changes announced as rumour in the public papers, and which you may accept as certain, that sweet little cherub is to be sent to sit up aloft and pray there for the life of poor Jack; namely, of the government he leaves below.
KENELM CHILLINGLY has now been several days a guest at Neesdale Park. He has recovered speech; the other guests have gone, including George Belvoir. Leopold Travers has taken a great fancy to Kenelm.
All was silent till, after his soup and his first glass of sherry, Sir Thomas began, "I think, Mr. Chillingly, we have met before, though I had not the honour then of making your acquaintance." Sir Thomas paused before he added, "Not long ago; the last State ball at Buckingham Palace." Kenelm bent his head acquiescingly. He had been at that ball.
What there was in Kenelm Chillingly that should make him thus favoured, especially by the fair sex, it would be difficult to say, unless it was the two-fold reputation of being unlike other people, and of being unaffectedly indifferent to the gain of any reputation at all.
It was only yesterday that I felt an indescribable longing to see you again, to know your address that I might write to you; for yesterday, when a certain young lady left my house after a week's visit, I said this girl would make a perfect wife, and, above all, the exact wife to suit Kenelm Chillingly." "Kenelm Chillingly is very glad to hear that this young lady has left your house."
"Miss Travers," said Kenelm, "I entreat you to add to the list of your acquaintances a cousin of mine, Mr. Chillingly Gordon." While Gordon addressed to Cecilia the well-bred conventionalisms with which acquaintance in London drawing-rooms usually commences, Kenelm, obedient to a sign from Lady Glenalvon, who had just re-entered the room, quitted his seat, and joined the marchioness.
Danvers retired into a corner of the adjoining lobby, where he favoured the French ambassador with his views on the state of Europe and the reconstruction of Cabinets in general. "But," said Lady Glenalvon to Chillingly Mivers, "are you quite sure that my old young friend Kenelm is here? Since you told me so, I have looked everywhere for him in vain. I should so much like to see him again."
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