I wish to goodness hed come, then! the head of the house ejaculated fervently; for the noise you all make when he isnt here to look after you is enough to distract a saint. All day long I have to scrape at my fiddle; and when I come back home at night I have to sit, as best I can, in a perfect bedlam. Its too much for my poor nerves. They never were vigorous. Henry, my boy, will you stop that intolerable noise? A Jews harp, too! Goodness gracious! what a vulgar instrument! Dicks late to-night. I wonder what keeps him.
It was part and parcel of Mr. Plantagenets silent method of claiming royal descent that he called all his children with studious care after the earlier Plantagenets, his real or supposed ancestors, who were Kings of England. Thus his firstborn was Richard, in memory of their distinguished predecessor, the mighty Cour-de-Lion; his next was Lionel Clarence, after the second son of Edward IV., the particular prince upon whom Mr. Plantagenet chose to affiliate his family pedigree; and his third was Henry, that being the Plantagenet name which sat first and oftenest upon the throne of England. His eldest girl, in like manner, was christened Maud, after the foundress of his house, who married Geoffrey Plantagenet, and so introduced the blood of the Conqueror into the Angevin race; his youngest was Eleanor, after the wife of Henry II., who brought us Poitou and Aquitaine as heirlooms.
Mr. Plantagenet, indeed, never overtly mentioned these interesting little points in public himself; but they oozed out, for all that, by lateral leakage, and redounded thereby much the more to their contrivers credit. His very reticence told not a little in his favour. For a dancing-master to claim by word or deed that he is de jure King of England would be to lay himself open to unsparing ridicule; but to let it be felt or inferred that he is so, without ever for one moment arrogating to himself the faintest claim to the dignity, is to pose in silence as an injured innocent a person of most distinguished and exalted origin, with just that little suspicion of pathos and mystery about his unspoken right which makes the thing really dignified and interesting. So people at the White Horse were wont to whisper to one another in an awe-struck undertone that if every man had his rights, theres some as says our Mr. Plantagenet had ought to be sot pretty high well up where the Queens a-sitting. And though Mr. Plantagenet himself used gently to brush aside the flattering impeachment with one wave of his pompous hand All thats been altered long ago, my dear sir, by the Act of Settlement yet he came in for a good many stray glasses of sherry at other peoples expense, on the strength of the popular belief that he might, under happier auspices, have filled a throne, instead of occupying the chair of honour by the old oak chimney-piece in a public-house parlour.
Hardly, however, had Mr. Plantagenet uttered those memorable words, Dicks late to-night; I wonder what keeps him, when the front door opened, and the Heir Apparent entered.
Immediately some strange change seemed to pass by magic over the assembled household. Everybody looked up, as though an event had occurred. Mrs. Plantagenet herself, a weary-looking woman with gentle goodness beaming out of every line in her worn face, gave a sigh of relief.
Oh, Dick, she cried, Im so glad youve come! Weve all been waiting for you.
Richard glanced round the room with a slight air of satisfaction. It was always a pleasure to him to find his father at home, and not, as was his wont, in the White Horse parlour; though, to say the truth, the only reason for Mr. Planta-genets absence that night from his accustomed haunt was this little tiff with the landlord over his vulgar hints of payment. Then he stooped down and kissed his mother tenderly on the forehead, patted Eleanors curly head with a brotherly caress, gave a kindly glance at Prince Hal, as he loved to call him mentally, and sat down in the easy-chair his mother pushed towards him.
For a moment there was silence; then Dick began in an explanatory voice:
Im sorry Im late; but I had a piece of work to finish to-night, mother rather particular work, too: a little bit of bookbinding.
You get paid extra for that, Richard, dont you? his father asked, growing interested.
Well, yes, Dick answered, rather grudgingly;
I get paid extra for that; I do it in overtime.
But that wasnt all, he went on hurriedly, well aware that his father was debating in his own mind whether he couldnt on the strength of it borrow a shilling. It was a special piece of work for the new governess at the Rectory. And, mother, isnt it odd? her names Mary Tudor!
There isnt much in that, his father answered, balancing his cigarette daintily between his first and second finger. A Stuarts are na sib to the King, you know, Richard. The Plantagenets who left the money had nothing to do with the Royal Family that is to say, with us, Mr. Plantagenet went on, catching himself up by an after-thought.
They were mere Sheffield cutlers, people of no antecedents, who happened to take our name upon themselves by a pure flight of fancy, because they thought it high-sounding. Which it is, undoubtedly. And as for Tudors, bless your heart, theyre common enough in Wales. In point of fact though Im proud of Elizabeth, as a by-blow of the family we must always bear in mind that for us, my dear boy, the Tudors were never anything but a distinct mesalliance.
Of course, Richard answered with profound conviction.
His father glanced at him sharply. To Mr. Plantagenet himself this shadowy claim to royal descent was a pretty toy to be employed for the mystification of strangers and the aggrandisement of the family a lever to work on Lady Agathas feelings; but to his eldest son it was an article of faith, a matter of the most cherished and the profoundest belief, a reason for behaving ones self in every position in life so as not to bring disgrace on so distinguished an ancestry.
A moments silence intervened; then Dick turned round with his grave smile to Clarence:
And how does Thucydides get on? he asked with brotherly solicitude.
Clarence wriggled a little uneasily on his wooden chair.
Well, its not a hard bit, he answered, with a shamefaced air. I thought I could do it in a jiffy after you came home, Dick. It wont take two minutes. Its just that piece, dont you know, about the revolt in Corcyra.
Dick looked down at him reproachfully..
Oh, Clarry, he cried with a pained face, you know you cant have looked at it. Not a hard bit, indeed! why, its one of the obscurest and most debated passages in all Thucydides! Now, whats the use of my getting you a nomination, old man, and coaching you so hard, and helping to pay your way at the grammar school, in hopes of your getting an Exhibition in time, if you wont work for yourself, and lift yourself on to a better position? And he glanced at the wooden mantelpiece, on whose vacant scroll he had carved deep with his penknife his own motto in life, Noblesse oblige, in Lombardic letters, for his brothers benefit.
Clarence dropped his eyes and looked really penitent.
Well, but I say, Dick, he answered quickly, if its so awfully difficult, dont you think it ud be better for me to go over it with you first just a running construe and then Id get a clearer idea of what the chap was driving at from the very beginning?