Produced by David Widger
By Edward Bulwer-Lytton
It is several weeks after the date of the last chapter; the lime-trees inthe Tuileries are clothed in green.
In a somewhat spacious apartment on the ground-floor in the quietlocality of the Rue d'Anjou, a man was seated, very still and evidentlyabsorbed in deep thought, before a writing-table placed close to thewindow.
Seen thus, there was an expression of great power both of intellect andof character in a face which, in ordinary social commune, might rather benoticeable for an aspect of hardy frankness, suiting well with the clear-cut, handsome profile, and the rich dark auburn hair, waving carelesslyover one of those broad open foreheads, which, according to an oldwriter, seem the "frontispiece of a temple dedicated to Honour."
The forehead, indeed, was the man's most remarkable feature. It couldnot but prepossess the beholder. When, in private theatricals, he hadneed to alter the character of his countenance, he did it effectually,merely by forcing down his hair till it reached his eyebrows. He nolonger then looked like the same man.
The person I describe has been already introduced to the reader as GrahamVane. But perhaps this is the fit occasion to enter into some suchdetails as to his parentage and position as may make the introductionmore satisfactory and complete.
His father, the representative of a very ancient family, came intopossession, after a long minority, of what may be called a fair squire'sestate, and about half a million in moneyed investments, inherited on thefemale side. Both land and money were absolutely at his disposal,unencumbered by entail or settlement. He was a man of a brilliant,irregular genius, of princely generosity, of splendid taste, of agorgeous kind of pride closely allied to a masculine kind of vanity. Assoon as he was of age he began to build, converting his squire's hallinto a ducal palace. He then stood for the county; and in days beforethe first Reform Bill, when a county election was to the estate of acandidate what a long war is to the debt of a nation. He won theelection; he obtained early successes in Parliament. It was said by goodauthorities in political circles that, if he chose, he might aspire tolead his party, and ultimately to hold the first rank in the governmentof his country.
That may or may not be true; but certainly he did not choose to take thetrouble necessary for such an ambition. He was too fond of pleasure, ofluxury, of pomp. He kept a famous stud of racers and hunters. He was amunificent patron of art. His establishments, his entertainments, wereon a par with those of the great noble who represented the loftiest (Mr.Vane would not own it to be the eldest) branch of his genealogical tree.
He became indifferent to political contests, indolent in his attendanceat the House, speaking seldom, not at great length nor with muchpreparation, but with power and fire, originality and genius; so thathe was not only effective as an orator, but combining with eloquenceadvantages of birth, person, station, the reputation of patrioticindependence, and genial attributes of character, he was an authorityof weight in the scales of party.
This gentleman, at the age of forty, married the dowerless daughter of apoor but distinguished naval officer, of noble family, first cousin tothe Duke of Alton.
He settled on