The Case of General Ople and Lady Camper | Page 8

her suggestion the
General had bought a couple of horses, that she might ride in the park,
accompanied by her father or the little groom. Still, the great lady was
hard to read. She tested the resources of his income by all sorts of
instigation to expenditure, which his gallantry could not withstand; she
encouraged him to talk of his deeds in arms; she was friendly, almost
affectionate, and most bountiful in the presents of fruit, peaches,
nectarines, grapes, and hot-house wonders, that she showered on his
table; but she was an enigma in her evident dissatisfaction with him for
something he seemed to have left unsaid. And what could that be?
At their last interview she had asked him, 'Are you sure, General, you
have nothing more to tell me?'
And as he remarked, when relating it to Elizabeth, 'One might really be
tempted to misapprehend her ladyship's . . . I say one might commit
oneself beyond recovery. Now, my dear, what do you think she
intended?'
Elizabeth was 'burning brown,' or darkly blushing, as her manner was.
She answered, 'I am certain you know of nothing that would interest
her; nothing, unless . . .'
'Well?' the General urged her.
'How can I speak it, papa?'
'You really can't mean . . .'
'Papa, what could I mean?'
'If I were fool enough!' he murmured. 'No, no, I am an old man. I was
saying, I am past the age of folly.'
One day Elizabeth came home from her ride in a thoughtful mood. She
had not, further than has been mentioned, incited her father to think of
the age of folly; but voluntarily or not, Lady Camper had, by an excess

of graciousness amounting to downright invitation; as thus, 'Will you
persist in withholding your confidence from me, General?' She added, 'I
am not so difficult a person.' These prompting speeches occurred on the
morning of the day when Elizabeth sat at his table, after a long ride into
the country, profoundly meditative.
A note was handed to General Ople, with the request that he would step
in to speak with Lady Camper in the course of the evening, or next
morning. Elizabeth waited till his hat was on, then said, 'Papa, on my
ride to- day, I met Mr. Rolles.'
'I am glad you had an agreeable escort, my dear.'
'I could not refuse his company.'
'Certainly not. And where did you ride?'
'To a beautiful valley; and there we met . . '
'Her ladyship?'
'Yes.'
'She always admires you on horseback.'
'So you know it, papa, if she should speak of it.'
'And I am bound to tell you, my child,' said the General, 'that this
morning Lady Camper's manner to me was . . . if I were a fool . . . I say,
this morning I beat a retreat, but apparently she . . . I see no way out of
it, supposing she . . .'
'I am sure she esteems you, dear papa,' said Elizabeth. 'You take to her,
my dear?' the General inquired anxiously; 'a little?--a little afraid of
her?'
'A little,' Elizabeth replied, 'only a little.'
'Don't be agitated about me.'

'No, papa; you are sure to do right.'
'But you are trembling.'
'Oh! no. I wish you success.'
General Ople was overjoyed to be reinforced by his daughter's good
wishes. He kissed her to thank her. He turned back to her to kiss her
again. She had greatly lightened the difficulty at least of a delicate
position.
It was just like the imperious nature of Lady Camper to summon him in
the evening to terminate the conversation of the morning, from the
visible pitfall of which he had beaten a rather precipitate retreat. But if
his daughter cordially wished him success, and Lady Camper offered
him the crown of it, why then he had only to pluck up spirit, like a good
commander who has to pass a fordable river in the enemy's presence; a
dash, a splash, a rattling volley or two, and you are over, established on
the opposite bank. But you must be positive of victory, otherwise, with
the river behind you, your new position is likely to be ticklish. So the
General entered Lady Camper's drawing-room warily, watching the fair
enemy. He knew he was captivating, his old conquests whispered in his
ears, and her reception of him all but pointed to a footstool at her feet.
He might have fallen there at once, had he not remembered a hint that
Mr. Reginald Rolles had dropped concerning Lady Camper's amazing
variability.
Lady Camper began.
'General, you ran away from me this morning. Let me speak. And, by
the way, I must reproach you; you should not have left it to me. Things
have