Rivington

“ A faint laugh came to his ear. "Yes; but where?"
Rivington briefly considered.
"St. Paul's Cathedral, under the dome, three o'clock. Will that do?"
"Yes, I'll be there. You won't fail?"
"Not if I live," said Rivington. "Anything else?"
"No; only a million thanks! I'll explain everything when we meet."
"All right. Good-bye!"
As he hung up the receiver, a heavy frown drove the kindliness out of his face.
"What have they been doing to the child?" he said. "It's a pretty desperate step for a girl to take. At least it might be, it would be, if I were any one else." ”

“ In the course of the afternoon I called to see Miss Rivington at Fortescue Mansions. The young lady herself was absent, but her companion, Miss Curtice, told me that Miss Rivington was with her brother at the hospital, that she was in very great and genuine distress, and that as far as she could tell had had no news whatever from Colonel Normanton. For a brief moment I wondered if the man really meant to quit London, and to give Miss Rivington up in the most effectual way by deserting her. ”

“ It was like a snarl. The white teeth gleamed for a moment. "I had no idea," Dinghra said, still with the same feverish rapidity, "that I had a rival."
"Are we rivals?" said Rivington, amiably regretful. "It's the first I have heard of it."
"You must have known!" The green glare suddenly began to flicker with a ruddy tinge as of flame. "Every one knew that I was after her."
"Oh yes, I knew that," said Rivington. "But—pardon me if I fail to see that that fact constitutes any rivalry between us. We were engaged long before she met you. We have been engaged for years." ”

“ Normanton staggered as he walked. Hilda Rivington clung to him, pitiably.
“It is all false,” she repeated. “It is a monstrous charge, and the man who has brought it against you must be mad.”
She flashed her beautiful eyes at me with indescribable scorn.
“Ask him, Miss Rivington,” I said. “Ask him to tell you the truth. If, knowing all, you still wish to proceed with the marriage, I have done my part, and can say nothing further. I have come here at your brother's request. ”

“ My uneasiness now grew greater—I felt convinced that Colonel Normanton was not acting straight, and that Miss Rivington ought to be watched. The Colonel's object would be, if report told true, to hurry on the marriage on any pretext, after which he could snap his fingers at us all.
Feeling anxious and uneasy, I called one day at the hospital, and had my first interview with Rivington—he was quite conscious, but was only allowed to speak a few words. The moment he saw me he motioned me to draw near.
“You are the man I want,” he said, in a low whisper, and with the ghost of a smile ”

“ When in the autumn of 1783, the British evacuated New York, Rivington was, of course, suffered to remain, while other Tories were driven away and their estates confiscated. Major Tallmadge mentions Rivington as "a gentleman of business, of education and of honour," a somewhat stilted way of describing the journalist who, owing to his position, was able to mix with the loyalist families on a friendly and familiar footing, the revolutionary authorities paying him at the rate of £100 a month for services rendered. ”

“ Tommy did not permit himself to feel encouraged by these promises; nevertheless, he decided not to see Colonel Willetts until after he had tried elsewhere. But Rivington insisted upon going to his father's office that very afternoon.
“They are always after him. Every time he invests in a new thing or puts up another building he talks poverty for a month. You just chase yourself down-town right away.”
Rivington's obvious eagerness to see Tommy succeed had the effect of making Tommy feel that, after all, his friends were in New York. The work lay in Dayton, but his happiness in New York. ”

“ In England, to return there, John Rivington was still successfully fostering his father’s business. A quiet and sedate man, with nothing of James’ rashness and venture about him, he is described by West as being stout and well formed, particularly neat in his person, of dignified and gentlemanly address, going with gold-headed cane and nosegay twice a day to service at St. Paul’s—as befitted the great religious publisher of the day, and living generally upon the most friendly terms with the members of the Episcopal Bench, and breakfasting every alternate Monday with Bishop Seeker at Lambeth. ”

“ We start early." Without another word he left the room.
At daybreak the next morning Rivington and George, in a small sail-boat, were making for the New Jersey shore.
George was dressed in a groom's livery, and carried a large despatch-box on his knees.
Almost all the dwellers in the country surrounding the Hook had found it to their best interests to hide any desire that they might have to show their leaning toward patriotism, and, to tell the truth, most of them were advanced Tories.
It was to visit one of these men, a dealer in live-stock, that Mr. Rivington was making the trip. ”

“ Dinghra will only follow me, and I shall be more at his mercy than ever in the country."
"If he finds you," said Rivington.
"But mother would tell him directly where to look."
"If she knew herself," he returned drily.
"Oh!" She stared at him with eyes of grave doubt. "But," she said, after a moment, "I have no money. I can't live on nothing."
"I do," said Rivington. "You can do the same."
She shook her head instantly, though she smiled.
"Not on the same nothing, Mr. Rivington."
He took his hand abruptly from hers.
"Look here, Chirpy," he said; "don't be a snob!"
"I'm not," she protested. ”

“ There is, however, one favor I would ask of you. To actually, indisputably, know that Sir Edward Rivington has been to England will at least make me sure of my ground. It will be a difficult task, one worthy of the cleverest woman, the prettiest widow in Paris." And, even in his worry of mind, he smiled as he paid me the double compliment. "Ask where you will in London, and they will tell you he is still in Paris. A man would fail miserably, a woman's intuition will succeed." ”

“ And Tommy smiled bravely.
“Well, I'll take one hundred shares each for Rivington and Marion. I guess you can count on their proxies forever. It isn't a bad start. If your other friends will do as much you are fixed. I wish you luck.”
“Come on, Thomas, we'll call again under more propitious circumstances. Good day, sir.” And Rivington saluted his father militarily and escorted Tommy from the office.
Outside, Tommy insisted upon looking up some of his other friends, but Rivington was against it.
“I tell you you'll have to see the old gentleman again. He always says no at first. ”

“ I know, without seeing, the instant he comes into the room."
She paused. Rivington still said nothing.
"He is very rich, you know," she went on, with an effort. "He will be Rajah of Ferosha some day. And, of course, every one is very nice to him in consequence. I never was that. Don't think it! But I used to laugh at him. It's my way. Most men don't like it. No Englishmen do that I know of. But he—this man—is, somehow, different from every one else. ”

“ He busied himself for some minutes, then asked if lunch should be sent upstairs.
“No, thank you,” Lady Elaine said. “I shall not breathe freely until I am out of this house forever. I shall never forget your kindness, viscount.”
[Pg 118]
There were tears in her eyes and in her voice, and Rivington felt that his cause was half won.
“I will accompany you to London,” he said. “A man is useful in looking after things, and I may be able to assist you in the choice of a house. I know every inch of the suburbs. ”

“ Rivington was for centuries the home of the Pilkingtons, "gentlemen of repute in their shire before the Conquest," as old Fuller tells us; if tradition is to be relied on, the chief of them bore himself bravely upon the red field of Hastings, and when sought for by the victors for espousing the cause of the defeated Harold, to avoid discovery, disguised himself as a mower, in commemoration of which circumstance his descendants have ever since borne the man and scythe for their crest. ”

“ Then Rivington, seeing that Tommy was still serious, became serious in turn. “Tom, that's what I've always said. If they'd only make the work interesting they'd make you think business was your pet elective and unappreciated geniuses would gladly put in ten horns a day. But what do they give you instead? A last year's advertisement of a special sale of cod-liver oil, and you trying to work off four inches of waist-line. I am going to tell my honored father to take a tip from Thompson. There's Marion!” ”

“ He’s of good family, but the Rivingtons are growing poorer every year. They try to live on their traditions, and traditions don’t pay grocers. I hope you’ll help him. He’s a very decent fellow.”
“I shall vote for him,” replied Peter, marvelling that he should be able to give a lift to the man who, in the Harvard days, had seemed so thoroughly the mate of Watts and the other rich fellows of the “gang.” Rivington being the only candidate who had two votes, he was promptly selected. ”

“ They have no chance here in Rivington. And some of the girls at Miss Trimble's school they knew best live right around the Cornings. Everybody that is anybody lives up there beyond the creek. It will be like stepping into a new world. They must want a big rental for the place,” she added, pleadingly.
“Yep,” remarked Busby calmly. “I'm paying five thousand dollars cash for twelve months' use of the house as it stands—furniture, garage, three automobiles, everything.” ”

“ Viscount Rivington whispered. “There they are, Miss Nugent—the woman I love and the man whom you covet. Are we to stand idly by while all that life holds dear drifts away?”
“No!” she said, and their eyes met. They understood each other.
[Pg 11]
CHAPTER II. A RIFT IN THE LUTE.
“She is the loveliest girl in all England,” the papers said, when the engagement of Sir Harold Annesley and Lady Elaine Seabright was announced. “And Sir Harold is the lion of the season. Both are extremely wealthy, and it is in every way a most suitable match.”
The wooing and winning had been short and decisive. ”

“ Rivington, who had heard his father's decision, broke in cheerfully: “Market must have gone against you to-day, father. Tommy will come again when you have gathered in the unearned increment.”
“Hang it,” said the colonel, irascibly, to his only son, “will you ever be serious—”
“No use getting angry, dad. I'll bring Tommy round to-morrow and the day after, and so on. There is more labor involved in our daily trips than in signing one check. In the mean time he is dining with us to-night at home. We expect you to be there. And in case you change your mind—Ah, be a sport, dad! ”

“ From November 1875 to his death he was the secretary of the Royal Asiatic Society, and for many years secretary to the Royal Society of Literature. He died at 102 Cheyne Walk, Chelsea, London, on 21 June 1885, having married on 11 July 1861 Louisa, eldest daughter of Francis Rivington of Harley Street, London. ”

“ Rivington was coaxing his pipe back to life. He accomplished his object before he replied. Then:
"You need not have the faintest fear of that," he said. "Dinghra has had the advantage of a public-school education. He has doubtless been thrashed before."
"He is vindictive," she objected.
"He may be, but he is shrewd enough to know when the game is up. Frankly, Chirpy, I don't think the prospect of pestering you, or even of punishing me, will induce him to take the field again after we are married. ”

“ He will turn up again from Timbuctoo or some other outlandish place, by and by, for the sole purpose of creating another sensation; [Pg 63] but he may get far more than he expects. For my part, I wash my hands of the affair, and shall insist upon Lady Elaine accepting Viscount Rivington.”
The earl spoke decidedly, and Colonel Greyson had little to say. What argument could he offer? None, until the mystery surrounding Sir Harold’s movements was cleared up. ”

“ You won't like it."
"Speak!" said Dinghra eagerly. His eyes literally blazed at the Englishman's imperturbable face.
Slowly Rivington took his hands from his pockets. Slowly he rose. For a moment he seemed to tower almost threateningly over the lesser man, then carelessly he suffered his limbs to relax.
"The price," he said, "is that you come to me every day for a fortnight for as sound a licking as I am in a condition to administer. I will release Miss Ernestine Cardwell for that, and that alone." He paused. ”

“ Freeman says, "from his fortified height, on a flock which he had to guard no less against worldly than against ghostly foes."
There is a wide-spread belief among the people of Rivington that Pilkington was the first Protestant bishop appointed by Queen Elizabeth, but this is undoubtedly an error. Parker had been appointed to the archiepiscopal see of Canterbury in the preceding year, and many other vacant sees had also been filled up, but those of York and Durham had been purposely kept open for a year, in the hope that the former holders—Heath and Tunstall—would conform. ”

“ Rivière's fist was clenched as he answered: "I'll fight Fate for both of us."
She was silent for a few moments. Then she asked: "Will you write a letter for me?" [Pg 121]
He brought pen and ink, and waited for her dictation.
"My dear Barrèze," she dictated slowly, "you must find someone else to paint your scenes of Provence. I am blinded for life——"
"Don't ask me to write that!"
"I am blinded for life," she continued with the clear tones of one whose mental vision sees the future unveiled. "They want me to go to Hegelmann at Wiesbaden. ”