“Well done!” said Erskine coolly, as the last fragment of Hebe’s head crumbled at the touch of the bullet.
“Very fruitlessly done,” said Trefusis. “I am a good shot, but of what use is it to me? None. I once met a gamekeeper who was a Methodist. He was a most eloquent speaker, but a bad shot. If he could have swapped talents with me I would have given him ten thousand pounds to boot willingly, although he would have profited as much as I by the exchange alone. I have no more desire or need to be a good shot than to be king of England, or owner of a Derby winner, or anything else equally ridiculous, and yet I never missed my aim in my life — thank blind fortune for nothing!”
“King of England!” said Erskine, with a scornful laugh, to show Trefusis that other people were as liberty-loving as he. “Is it not absurd to hear a nation boasting of its freedom and tolerating a king?”
“Oh, hang your republicanism, Chester!” said Sir Charles, who privately held a low opinion of the political side of the Patriot Martyrs.
“I won’t be put down on that point,” said Erskine. “I admire a man that kills a king. You will agree with me there, Trefusis, won’t you?”
“Certainly not,” said Trefusis. “A king nowadays is only a dummy put up to draw your fire off the real oppressors of society, and the fraction of his salary that he can spend as he likes is usually far too small for his risk, his trouble, and the condition of personal slavery to which he is reduced. What private man in England is worse off than the constitutional monarch? We deny him all privacy; he may not marry whom he chooses, consort with whom he prefers, dress according to his taste, or live where he pleases. I don’t believe he may even eat or drink what he likes best; a taste for tripe and onions on his part would provoke a remonstrance from the Privy Council. We dictate everything except his thoughts and dreams, and even these he must keep to himself if they are not suitable, in our opinion, to his condition. The work we impose on him has all the hardship of mere task work; it is unfruitful, incessant, monotonous, and has to be transacted for the most part with nervous bores. We make his kingdom a treadmill to him, and drive him to and fro on the face of it. Finally, having taken everything else that men prize from him, we fall upon his character, and that of every person to whom he ventures to show favor. We impose enormous expenses on him, stint him, and then rail at his parsimony. We use him as I use those statues — stick him up in the place of honor for our greater convenience in disfiguring and abusing him. We send him forth through our crowded cities, proclaiming that he is the source of all good and evil in the nation, and he, knowing that many people believe it, knowing that it is a lie, and that he is powerless to shorten the working day by one hour, raise wages one penny, or annul the smallest criminal sentence, however unjust it may seem to him; knowing that every miner in the kingdom can manufacture dynamite, and that revolvers are sold for seven and sixpence apiece; knowing that he is not bullet proof, and that every king in Europe has been shot at in the streets; he must smile and bow and maintain an expression of gracious enjoyment whilst the mayor and corporation inflict upon him the twaddling address he has heard a thousand times before. I do not ask you to be loyal, Erskine; but I expect you, in common humanity, to sympathize with the chief figure in the pageant, who is no more accountable for the manifold evils and abominations that exist in his realm than the Lord Mayor is accountable for the thefts of the pickpockets who follow his show on the ninth of November.”
Sir Charles laughed at the trouble Trefusis took to prove his case, and said soothingly, “My dear fellow, kings are used to it, and expect it, and like it.”
“And probably do not see themselves as I see them, any more than common people do,” assented Trefusis.
“What an exquisite face!” exclaimed Erskine suddenly, catching sight of a photograph in a rich gold and coral frame on a miniature easel draped with ruby velvet. Trefusis turned quickly, so evidently gratified that Sir Charles hastened to say, “Charming!” Then, looking at the portrait, he added, as if a little startled, “It certainly is an extraordinarily attractive face.”
“Years ago,” said Trefusis, “when I saw that face for the first time, I felt as you feel now.”
Silence ensued, the two visitors looking at the portrait, Trefusis looking at them.
“Curious style of beauty,” said Sir Charles at last, not quite so assuredly as before.
Trefusis laughed unpleasantly. “Do you recognize the artist — the enthusiastic amateur — in her?” he said, opening another drawer and taking out a bundle of drawings, which he handed to be examined.
“Very clever. Very clever indeed,” said Sir Charles. “I should like to meet the lady.”
“I have often been on the point of burning them,” said Trefusis; “but there they are, and there they are likely to remain. The portrait has been much admired.”
“Can you give us an introduction to the original, old fellow?” said Erskine.
“No, happily. She is dead.”
Disagreeably shocked, they looked at him for a moment with aversion. Then Erskine, turning with pity and disappointment to the picture, said, “Poor girl! Was she married?”
“Yes. To me.”
“Mrs. Trefusis!” exclaimed Sir Charles. “Ah! Dear me!”
Erskine, with proof before him that it was possible for a beautiful girl to accept Trefusis, said nothing.
“I keep her portrait constantly before me to correct my natural amativeness. I fell in love with her and married her. I have fallen in love once or twice since but a glance at my lost Hetty has cured me of the slightest inclination to marry.”
Sir Charles did not reply. It occurred to him that Lady Brandon’s portrait, if nothing else were left of her, might be useful in the same way.
“Come, you will marry again one of these days,” said Erskine, in a forced tone of encouragement.
“It is possible. Men should marry, especially rich men. But I assure you I have no present intention of doing so.”
Erskine’s color deepened, and he moved away to the table where the albums lay.
“This is the collection of photographs I spoke of,” said Trefusis, following him and opening one of the books. “I took many of them myself under great difficulties with regard to light — the only difficulty that money could not always remove. This is a view of my father’s house — or rather one of his houses. It cost seventy-five thousand pounds.”
“Very handsome indeed,” said Sir Charles, secretly disgusted at being invited to admire a photograph, such as house agents exhibit, of a vulgarly designed country house, merely because it had cost seventy-five thousand pounds. The figures were actually written beneath the picture.
“This is the drawingroom, and this one of the best bedrooms. In the righthand corner of the mount you will see a note of the cost of the furniture, fittings, napery, and so forth. They were of the most luxurious description.”
“Very interesting,” said Sir Charles, hardly disguising the irony of the comment.
“Here is a view — this is the first of my own attempts — of the apartment of one of the under servants. It is comfortable and spacious, and solidly furnished.”
“So I perceive.”
“These are the stables. Are they not handsome?”
“Palatial. Quite palatial.”
“There is every luxury that a horse could desire, including plenty of valets to wait on him. You are noting the figures, I hope. There is the cost of the building and the expenditure per horse per annum.”
“I see.”
“Here is the exterior of a house. What do you think of it?”
“It is rather picturesque in its dilapidation.”
“Picturesque!