Westgate

“ Westgate.
“You should have gone to Hurlingham,” said Willie Woodley.
“No; let Lord Lambeth tell us,” Mrs. Westgate insisted.
“There are plenty of places to go to,” said Lord Lambeth; “each one stupider than the other. I mean people’s houses; they send you cards.”
“No one has sent us cards,” said Bessie.
“We are very quiet,” her sister declared. “We are here as travelers.” ”

“ Why it seems to be generally ignored I don't know, but in this respect it is a fellow-sufferer with Westgate-on-Sea, whose name is on no sign-post that ever I've seen in the Island of Thanet, though it may by this time figure on some recent maps. The village of "Garlinge," which is on the inland side of the L.C.&D. line, is to be found on every direction-post and on every map, and the fashionable Westgate is, so to speak, nowhere. ”

“ Westgate, asking at frequent intervals to be allowed to sit down and wait till they came back, was as frequently informed that they would never do anything so weak. When it befell that Bessie’s glowing appeals, chiefly on collateral points of English history, but left the warder gaping she resorted straight to Lord Lambeth. His lordship then pleaded gross incompetence, declaring he knew nothing about that sort of thing and greatly diverted, to all appearance, at being treated as an authority.
“You can’t honestly expect people to know as awfully much as you,” he said. ”

“ Westgate, the termination of whose interview with Lady Pimlico had allowed her to revert to their elder visitor.
“I’m speaking of the young men calling so much on the young ladies,” the Duchess explained.
“But surely in England,” Mrs. Westgate appealed, “the young ladies don’t call on the young men?”
“Some of them do—almost!” Lady Pimlico declared. “When a young man’s a great parti.”
“Bessie, you must make a note of that,” said Mrs. Westgate. “My sister”—she gave their friends the benefit of the knowledge—“is a model traveller. ”

“ Westgate had spoken. She presently turned to him with a remark which established her identity.
“It’s a great pity you couldn’t have brought my brother-in-law with you. It’s a great shame he should be in New York in these days.”
“Oh, yes; it’s so very hot,” said Lord Lambeth.
“It must be dreadful,” said the young girl.
“I daresay he is very busy,” Lord Lambeth observed.
“The gentlemen in America work too much,” the young girl went on.
“Oh, do they? I daresay they like it,” said her interlocutor.
“I don’t like it. One never sees them.”
“Don’t you, really?” asked Lord Lambeth. ”

“ Westgate’s invitation. “Depend upon it,” he said, “that girl means to try for you.”
“It seems to me you are doing your best to make a fool of me,” the modest young nobleman answered.
“She has been asking me,” said Beaumont, “all about your people and your possessions.”
“I am sure it is very good of her!” Lord Lambeth rejoined.
“Well, then,” observed his companion, “if you go, you go with your eyes open.”
“Damn my eyes!” exclaimed Lord Lambeth. “If one is to be a dozen times a day at the house, it is a great deal more convenient to sleep there. ”

“ We have ours ever so much more in hand. She’s so devilish positive.”
The superlative degree so variously affirmed, however, was evidently a source of attraction in Mrs. Westgate, for the elder man was constantly at his hostess’s side. He detached himself one day to the extent of going to New York to talk over the Tennessee Central with her husband ”

“ Westgate and his client strolled across the bar enclosure to where Barry and the rector were standing.
“Congratulations, old boy!” said Barry to the lawyer. “You did a fine piece of work!”
“Oh,” replied Westgate carelessly, “the case was easy. The law was all on our side.” He turned to [17] the rector. “We are always glad to see you in court, Mr. Farrar.”
“The court-room is an extremely interesting place,” replied the clergyman.
“More interesting than profitable, if one is a litigant,” remarked Mr. Malleson. “I suppose, when the millennium comes, there will be no more litigation, Mr. Farrar?” ”

“ Westgate. It isn’t p. 257perhaps for me to say it, but you couldn’t be in better ones. Also in those of her sister, who’s staying with her. She’s half-crazy about Englishmen. She thinks there’s nothing like them.”
“Mrs. Westgate or—a—her sister?” asked Percy Beaumont modestly, yet in the tone of a collector of characteristic facts.
“Oh I mean my wife,” said Mr. Westgate. “I don’t suppose my sister-in-law knows much about them yet. You’ll show her anyhow. She has always led a very quiet life. She has lived in Boston.” ”

“ J. L. Westgate from the many friends he had left there as the consignee, as it were, of his compatriots. “He’s really very decent,” the Englishman in London had said, “and he has an awfully pretty wife. He’s tremendously hospitable—he’ll do everything in the world for you, and as he knows every one over there it’s quite needless I should give you any other introduction. He’ll make you see every one—trust him for the right kick-off. He has a tremendously pretty wife.” It was natural that in the hour of tribulation Lord Lambeth and Mr. ”

“ The chief said nothing, though a pause on Westgate's part gave him an opportunity of speaking.
"It is absurd," said the chief at last. "Silwood belongs to one of the best firms in London. His partner, Eversleigh, stands at the head of his profession. You saw him at the inquest."
"Yes; he sat beside Miss Thornton. I thought it rather strange that she should be present at the inquest, but it was evident she was much attached to Mr. Eversleigh in a daughterly way. They say she is engaged to his son."
"Well, Westgate, how does that fit in with your theories about Silwood, Eversleigh's partner?" ”

“ The girl had walked away with Lord Lambeth by her side, to whom she was talking still; and Percy Beaumont watched them as they passed toward the house. “She fulfils her own mission,” he presently said; “that of being very attractive.”
But even here Mrs. Westgate discriminated. “I don’t know that I should precisely say attractive. She’s not so much that as she’s charming when you really know her. ”

“ His borough of Staplegate, just opposite the palace and within the city boundaries, was surrounded by a wall and exempt from the jurisdiction of both the city and the county; [694] even the royal writ did not run in it. Since his tenants in Westgate and Wingham were free from the town authorities, when Westgate men took to building their houses so near the river that the stream was driven against the city walls with such force as to make them fall, the town was helpless to check the evil, and complained as loudly of the wrong in 1467 [695] as it had done in 1290. ”

“ Westgate placed a chair for her and endeavored to quiet her.
“I don’t think the bishop will make a decision of any kind to-night,” he assured her. “He may not care at any time to exercise his power to decree a direct dismissal. But why have you changed your mind in the matter?”
“I haven’t changed my mind about his sermons and his ridiculous ideas and all that, but I hate to see him disgraced, and I’m so sorry for poor, dear Mrs. Farrar. I went to call on her to-day. You should have seen her, Philip. She’s a mere wreck. ”

“ Because you’re over conservative, just as mother is; just as all these people are who have more than enough for themselves, and can’t begin to appreciate the desires and struggles and needs of the poor.”
Westgate’s patience was ebbing. He felt that the girl was taking an entirely unreasonable attitude.
“Ruth,” he said, “you are losing your head over this thing. You are being carried away by your sympathies and by this man’s plausible appeal. You don’t detect the fallacies in his position. You are not exercising your judgment.” ”

“ American life was certainly growing a great deal more private; it was growing very much like England. Everything at Newport, for instance, was thoroughly private; Lord Lambeth would probably be struck with that. It was also represented to the strangers that it mattered very little whether their hotel was agreeable, as everyone would want them to make visits; they would stay with other people, and, in any case, they would be a great deal at Mrs. Westgate’s. They would find that very charming; it was the pleasantest house in Newport. It was a pity Mr. Westgate was always away ”

“ Papa ordered a man to take the boxes round to our house, and we started to walk, retaining the same order; we girls together in front, and papa and Percy behind. So down Westgate, across the bridge over the Stour, and under the noble old gate, which, so many centuries back, frowned down upon the haughty priest à Becket, as he passed under it upon that last journey to Canterbury from which he returned alive no more. ”

“ Look at her now! By Jupiter! she’s a beauty!”
Barry’s enthusiasm was not unfounded, the plaintiff’s wife was in animated conversation with her lawyer during the brief interval preceding his address. Evidently she was pointing out to him some mistake in Westgate’s declarations, or fallacy in his logic. The jurors, the lawyers, the spectators in the court-room, were watching her, no less than were Barry Malleson and the Reverend Mr. Farrar. She was worth watching. ”

“ Mrs. Westgate tells me that there’s no such thing as the fast girl in America; that it’s p. 288an English invention altogether and that the term has no meaning here.”
“All the better. It’s an animal I detest,” said Lord Lambeth.
“You prefer, then, rather a priggish American précieuse?”
Lord Lambeth took his time. “Do you call Miss Alden all that?”
“Her sister tells me,” said Percy Beaumont, “that she’s tremendously literary.”
“Well, why shouldn’t she be? She’s certainly very clever and has every appearance of a well-stored mind.” ”

“ So had the rector of Christ Church. Both of them had heard the riotous and savage shouts. In the breast of the capitalist only fierce wrath was roused; but in the breast of the minister anger was mingled with pity.
[343]
“I can do nothing here,” he said. “I may still be able to do something out there.”
He turned to go, but Westgate laid a hand on his arm.
“You had better stay here,” he said, “where you will be comparatively safe. It’s a wild mess outside. Bricks and bullets are likely to fly soon.”
“No matter! My place is with the men. They may listen to me yet.” ”

“ Hodge was left at the gate, while Fuller and Westgate with excited horses, uncontrollable, advanced into the pasture in close proximity to the Confederates, who were busily engaged in tearing down the fence, in246 order to make their escape. Westgate was unable to stop or guide his horse, which was carrying him in the direction of the enemy. To save himself from becoming a prisoner or being killed, he jumped from his horse, throwing all his weight on the left rein, which caused the horse to whirl half way around. ”

“ I’ve already told you that he’s not a man who harbors resentments. It’s not in his nature. But the memory of what he passed through here still haunts him. It always will haunt him. His experience was too terrible and tragic to be soon forgotten. Yet he blames no one but himself. He says the bishop was almost like a heavenly father to him.”
“The bishop is a saint!”
Lest she should make a spectacle of herself on the street, Ruth gave a final dab at her eyes, and then resolutely put her handkerchief away.
“Oh,” said Westgate, “I almost forgot to tell you. I saw Barry Malleson out there, too.” ”

“ As reasonably might the modern citizen leave his street door wide open all night, as the mediæval town not close its gates when the hours of darkness were come; and so those travellers and pilgrims who, from much story-telling, praying, or feasting along the road, arrived late at Canterbury, found the portals of Westgate sternly closed against them. ”

“ Westgate?” asked Lord Lambeth of this gentleman’s wife.
“He’s where he always is—in that tiresome New York.”
“He must have staying power,” said the young man.
She appeared to consider. “Well, he stays ahead of every one else.”
p. 310Lord Lambeth sat nearly an hour with his American friends; but it is not our purpose to relate their conversation in full. He addressed a great many remarks to the younger lady and finally turned toward her altogether, while Willie Woodley wasted a certain amount of effort to regale Mrs. Westgate. Bessie herself was sparing of effusion ”

“ Westgate's chief, who had been editor of the Morning Light, knew and appreciated the speciality of his subordinate. Discussing the case after the verdict, he asked him what he thought of it.
"I don't know quite what to think," replied Westgate, "but I am not satisfied. ”

“ Malleson to take back the men who had left him, and give them their old places. Philip, it was—it was heavenly in you to do that.”
They had reached the Tracy house, and were standing for a moment by the newel-post before ascending the steps.
“Yes,” said Westgate; “what with peace in the mills, and peace in the church, the storm seems to be about over. There’s only one cloud in the sky, and the shadow of that cloud rests on me alone. You can banish it. Everything else has been restored to its normal condition; is it not time for us to get back on [390] the old footing? I want you. ”

“ Captain Littledale told me he didn’t know anything like it anywhere. It’s entirely different from most watering-places; it’s a much more refined life. I must say I think that when one goes to a foreign country one ought to enjoy the differences. Of course there are differences; otherwise what did one come abroad for? Look for your pleasure in the differences, Lord Lambeth; that’s the way to do it; and then I am sure you’ll find American society—at least the Newport phase quite unique. I wish very much Mr. Westgate were here; but he’s dreadfully confined to New York. ”