"It is not me, sir!" said Osborne. "Both note and call are for
Roger."
"I don't understand it," said the Squire. "These Whig fellows have
never done their duty by me; not that I want it of them. The Duke
of Debenham used to pay the Hamleys a respect due to 'em--the
oldest landowners in the county--but since he died, and this
shabby Whig lord has succeeded him, I've never dined at the lord
lieutenant's--no, not once."
"But I think, sir, I've heard you say Lord Cumnor used to invite
you,--only you did not choose to go," said Roger.
"Yes. What d'ye mean by that? Do you suppose I was going to desert
the principles of my family, and curry favour with the Whigs? No!
leave that to them. They can ask the heir of the Hamleys fast enough
when a county election is coming on."
"I tell you, sir," said Osborne, in the irritable tone he sometimes
used when his father was particularly unreasonable, "it is not me
Lord Hollingford is inviting; it is Roger. Roger is making himself
known for what he is, a first-rate fellow," continued Osborne--a
sting of self-reproach mingling with his generous pride in his
brother--"and he's getting himself a name; he's been writing
about these new French theories and discoveries, and this foreign
_savant_ very naturally wants to make his acquaintance, and so Lord
Hollingford asks him to dine. It's as clear as can be," lowering his
tone, and addressing himself to Roger; "it has nothing to do with
politics, if my father would but see it."
Of course the Squire heard this little aside with the unlucky
uncertainty of hearing which is a characteristic of the beginning
of deafness; and its effect on him was perceptible in the increased
acrimony of his next speech.
"You young men think you know everything. I tell you it's a palpable
Whig trick. And what business has Roger--if it is Roger the man
wants--to go currying favour with the French? In my day we were
content to hate 'em and to lick 'em. But it's just like your conceit,
Osborne, setting yourself up to say it's your younger brother they're
asking, and not you; I tell you it's you. They think the eldest son
was sure to be called after his father, Roger--Roger Hamley, junior.
It's as plain as a pike-staff. They know they can't catch me with
chaff, but they've got up this French dodge. What business had you to
go writing about the French, Roger? I should have thought you were
too sensible to take any notice of their fancies and theories; but if
it is you they've asked, I'll not have you going and meeting these
foreigners at a Whig house. They ought to have asked Osborne. He's
the representative of the Hamleys, if I'm not; and they can't get me,
let 'em try ever so. Besides, Osborne has got a bit of the mounseer
about him, which he caught with being so fond of going off to the
Continent, instead of coming back to his good old English home."