This eBook was produced by Dagny,
and David Widger,
BOOK VII.
Every man should strive to be as good as possible, but not
suppose himself to be the only thing that is good.
—PLOTIN. EN. 11. lib. ix. c. 9.
CHAPTER I.
"Deceit is the strong but subtle chain which runs through
all the members of a society, and links them together;
trick or be tricked is the alternative; 'tis the way of
the world, and without it intercourse would drop."
/Anonymous writer/ of 1722.
"A lovely child she was, of looks serene,
And motions which o'er things indifferent shed
The grace and gentleness from whence they came."
PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY.
"His years but young, but his experience old."—SHAKESPEARE.
"He after honour hunts, I after love."—/Ibid./
LUMLEY FERRERS was one of the few men in the world who act upon aprofound, deliberate, and organized system—he had done so even from aboy. When he was twenty-one, he had said to himself, "Youth is theseason for enjoyment: the triumphs of manhood, the wealth of age, do notcompensate for a youth spent in unpleasurable toils." Agreeably to thismaxim, he had resolved not to adopt any profession; and being fond oftravel, and of a restless temper, he had indulged abroad in all thegratifications that his moderate income could afford him: that incomewent farther on the Continent than at home, which was another reason forthe prolongation of his travels. Now, when the whims and passions ofyouth were sated; and, ripened by a consummate and various knowledge ofmankind, his harder capacities of mind became developed and centred intosuch ambition as it was his nature to conceive, he acted no less upon aregular and methodical plan of conduct, which he carried into details.He had little or nothing within himself to cross his cold theories bycontradictory practice; for he was curbed by no principles and regulatedbut by few tastes: and our tastes are often checks as powerful as ourprinciples. Looking round the English world, Ferrers saw, that at hisage and with an equivocal position, and no chances to throw away, it wasnecessary that he should cast off all attributes of the character of thewanderer and the /garcon/.
"There is nothing respectable in lodgings and a cab," said Ferrers tohimself—that "/self/" was his grand confidant!—"nothing stationary.Such are the appliances of a here-to-day-gone-to-morrow kind of life.One never looks substantial till one pays rates and taxes, and has abill with one's butcher!"
Accordingly, without saying a word to anybody, Ferrers took a long leaseof a large house, in one of those quiet streets that proclaim the ownersdo not wish to be made by fashionable situations—streets in which, ifyou have a large house, it is supposed to be because you can afford one.He was very particular in its being a respectable street—Great GeorgeStreet, Westminster, was the one he selected.
No frippery or baubles, common to the mansions of young bachelors—nobuhl, and marquetrie, and Sevres china, and cabinet pictures,distinguished the large dingy drawing-rooms of Lumley Ferrers. Hebought all the old furniture a bargain of the late tenant—tea-colouredchintz curtains, and chairs and sofas that were venerable and solemnwith the accumulated dust of twenty-five years. The only things aboutwhich he was particular were a very long dining-table that would holdfour-and-twenty, and a new mahogany sideboard. Somebody asked h