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'Your landlady will doubtless not be so particular, he returned; 'nor do I at all despair of persuading even your unconquerable self. I desire you to examine me with critical indulgence. My name is Henry Luxmore, Lord Southwark's second son. I possess nine thousand a year, the house in which we are now sitting, and seven others in the best neighbourhoods in town.
I had no sooner, indeed, begun to look into these matters for myself, than I discovered so many injustices and met with so much studied incivility, that I was plunged into a long series of lawsuits, some of which are pending to this day. You must have heard my name already; I am the Mrs. Luxmore of the Law Reports: a strange destiny, indeed, for one born with an almost cowardly desire for peace!
They did not seem to feel and, if rumour spoke true, I doubt if any honest, virtuous, middle-class fathers and mothers would have felt that their house was greatly honoured or sanctified by the presence of the Earl of Luxmore. But the nobleman was, as I have said, wonderfully fine-mannered. He broke the ice at once. "Mr. Halifax, I have long wished to know you. Mrs.
Luxmore in person rapidly mounted the steps and began to pound upon the knocker. Somerset hastened to attend the summons. 'My dear fellow, she said, with the utmost gaiety, 'here I come dropping from the moon. I am delighted to find you faithful; and I have no doubt you will be equally pleased to be restored to liberty.
Then he rode to the sheriff's; but Sir Ralph was absent, sent for to Luxmore Hall on very painful business. "My friends," said the master, stopping abruptly in his narrative, "for a few hours you must make up your minds to sit still and bear it. Every man has to learn that lesson at times. Your landlord has I would rather be the poorest among you than Lord Luxmore this night.
'Madam, said the young man, 'I wish I could; and indeed, as far as I am concerned, it might be done. But then, my lodger! 'Your lodger? echoed Mrs. Luxmore. 'My lodger: why should I deny it? returned Somerset. 'He is only by the week. The old lady sat down upon a chair. 'You have a lodger? you? she cried. 'And pray, how did you get him? 'By advertisement, replied the young man.
At this time Ursula's relative, Lord Luxmore, who was anxious to see the Catholic Emancipation Bill passed, thought he could use John Halifax for his purpose by offering to get him returned to parliament for the "rotten borough" of Kingswell, the member for which was then elected by only fifteen voters. Twelve of these were tenants of Lord Luxmore, and the other three of Phineas.
The candidate was Gerard Vermilye, Esquire; at the mention of whose name one Norton Bury man broke into a horse-laugh, which was quenched by his immediate ejection from the meeting. Then, Mr. Thomas Brown, steward of the Earl of Luxmore, seconded the nomination.
And, with all his natural humility, Lord Ravenel might be forgiven if, brought up in the world, he was aware of his position therein nor quite unconscious that it was not merely William Ravenel, but the only son and heir of the Earl of Luxmore, who came a-wooing.
But he, with his downcast eyes, did not detect the meaning smile that just flashed in hers was changed into a tone of soft sympathy. "You are right; rank is nothing a cold, glittering marble, with no soul under. Give me the rich flesh-and-blood life of the people. Liberte fraternite egalite. I would rather be a gamin in Paris streets than my brother William at Luxmore Hall."
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