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Lord Plowden, red-faced and frowning, hesitated for a fraction of time. Then in constrained silence he nodded, and Thorpe, leaning ponderously over the desk, wrote out the cheque. His Lordship took it, folded it up, and put it in his pocket without immediate comment. "Then this is the end of things, is it?" he asked, after an awkward silence, in a voice he strove in vain to keep from shaking.
After the fall of Ras Ali, Bell, who had, as I have already mentioned, followed the fortunes of Theodore, wrote to his friend in enthusiastic terms, depicted in the eloquent language of admiring friendship all the good qualities of the rising man, and advised Plowden to present himself before the powerful chieftain who undoubtedly before long would be the acknowledged ruler of the whole of Abyssinia.
In 1860 he advanced against his cousin Garad, the murderer of Consul Plowden, and gained the day; but he lost his best friend and adviser, Mr. Bell, who saved the Emperor's life by sacrificing his own.
"Reconstitute the Board and make Lord Plowden Chairman, I don't imagine the Marquis would have the nerve to go on with it, and I'll make a free gift of my shares to you two half and half. You'll find him all right to work with, if you can only get him up in the morning, and I've kind o' promised him something of the sort. Does that suit you?"
A brisk fire of wood was burning on the hearth, in compliment to the willful prejudice of Miss Plowden, who had maintained, in her most vivacious manner, that sea-coal was "only tolerable for blacksmiths and Englishmen." In addition to the cheerful blaze from the hearth, two waxen lights, in candlesticks of massive silver, were lending their aid to enliven the apartment.
Katherine Plowden, who hardly seemed to breathe, so close and intent was the interest with which she regarded the seamen, fancied she observed lurking smiles on their faces; but if her conjectures were true, their disposition to be merry went no further, and the one who had spoken hitherto replied, in the same calm manner as before: "You will excuse us if we decline shipping in the cutter, sir; we are used to distant voyages and large vessels, whereas the Alacrity is kept at coast duty, and is not of a size to lay herself alongside of a Don or a Frenchman with a double row of teeth."
Plowden finding his life altogether intolerable under the harrow of the bully's insolence, at length one day challenged him. Then arose the question of the locality where the duel was to take place. The laws of the duchy were very strict against duelling, and the Duke himself was personally strongly opposed to it.
The British consul, Mr Plowden, was killed by a rebel force in March 1860, while on his way to the port of Massowah upon the coast; and so grieved was Theodore that he commissioned a superior body of his soldiers, not only to subdue the offending tribes, but to seek out the murderers of Mr Plowden and to punish them.
It occurred to Thorpe not to see this hand. "How are you!" he repeated in a more mechanical voice, and withdrew his smile. Lord Plowden fidgeted on his feet for a brief, embarrassed interval before the desk, and then dropped into a chair at its side. With a deliberate effort at nonchalance, he crossed his legs, and caressed the ankle on his knee with a careless hand. "Anything new?" he asked.
"What have I done with my freedom that has been worth while?" "Not much," murmured Celia, under her breath. She moved forward, and stood beside Edith, with an arm round her waist. They looked together at the lake. "It is Lord Plowden, is it not?" asked the American, as the silence grew constrained. Lady Cressage looked up alertly, and then hesitated over her reply. "No," she said at last.
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