第54章 THE LADY PENELOPE(1)

By the man of Family In going out of Casterbridge by the low-lying road which eventually conducts to the town of Ivell,you see on the right hand an ivied manor-house,flanked by battlemented towers,and more than usually distinguished by the size of its many mullioned windows.Though still of good capacity,the building is much reduced from its original grand proportions;it has,moreover,been shorn of the fair estate which once appertained to its lord,with the exception of a few acres of park-land immediately around the mansion.This was formerly the seat of the ancient and knightly family of the Drenghards,or Drenkhards,now extinct in the male line,whose name,according to the local chronicles,was interpreted to mean Strenuus Miles,vel Potator,though certain members of the family were averse to the latter signification,and a duel was fought by one of them on that account,as is well known.With this,however,we are not now concerned.

In the early part of the reign of the first King James,there was visiting near this place of the Drenghards a lady of noble family and extraordinary beauty.She was of the purest descent;ah,there's seldom such blood nowadays as hers!She possessed no great wealth,it was said,but was sufficiently endowed.Her beauty was so perfect,and her manner so entrancing,that suitors seemed to spring out of the ground wherever she went,a sufficient cause of anxiety to the Countess her mother,her only living parent.Of these there were three in particular,whom neither her mother's complaints of prematurity,nor the ready raillery of the maiden herself,could effectually put off.The said gallants were a certain Sir John Gale,a Sir William Hervy,and the well-known Sir George Drenghard,one of the Drenghard family before-mentioned.

They had,curiously enough,all been equally honoured with the distinction of knighthood,and their schemes for seeing her were manifold,each fearing that one of the others would steal a march over himself.Not content with calling,on every imaginable excuse,at the house of the relative with whom she sojourned,they intercepted her in rides and in walks;and if any one of them chanced to surprise another in the act of paying her marked attentions,the encounter often ended in an altercation of great violence.So heated and impassioned,indeed,would they become,that the lady hardly felt herself safe in their company at such times,notwithstanding that she was a brave and buxom damsel,not easily put out,and with a daring spirit of humour in her composition,if not of coquetry.

At one of these altercations,which had place in her relative's grounds,and was unusually bitter,threatening to result in a duel,she found it necessary to assert herself.Turning haughtily upon the pair of disputants,she declared that whichever should be the first to break the peace between them,no matter what the provocation,that man should never be admitted to her presence again;and thus would she effectually stultify the aggressor by making the promotion of a quarrel a distinct bar to its object.

While the two knights were wearing rather a crest-fallen appearance at her reprimand,the third,never far off,came upon the scene,and she repeated her caveat to him also.Seeing,then,how great was the concern of all at her peremptory mood,the lady's manner softened,and she said with a roguish smile -'Have patience,have patience,you foolish men!Only bide your time quietly,and,in faith,I will marry you all in turn!'

They laughed heartily at this sally,all three together,as though they were the best of friends;at which she blushed,and showed some embarrassment,not having realized that her arch jest would have sounded so strange when uttered.The meeting which resulted thus,however,had its good effect in checking the bitterness of their rivalry;and they repeated her speech to their relatives and acquaintance with a hilarious frequency and publicity that the lady little divined,or she might have blushed and felt more embarrassment still.

In the course of time the position resolved itself,and the beauteous Lady Penelope (as she was called)made up her mind;her choice being the eldest of the three knights,Sir George Drenghard,owner of the mansion aforesaid,which thereupon became her home;and her husband being a pleasant man,and his family,though not so noble,of as good repute as her own,all things seemed to show that she had reckoned wisely in honouring him with her preference.

But what may lie behind the still and silent veil of the future none can foretell.In the course of a few months the husband of her choice died of his convivialities (as if,indeed,to bear out his name),and the Lady Penelope was left alone as mistress of his house.By this time she had apparently quite forgotten her careless declaration to her lovers collectively;but the lovers themselves had not forgotten it;and,as she would now be free to take a second one of them,Sir John Gale appeared at her door as early in her widowhood as it was proper and seemly to do so.

She gave him little encouragement;for,of the two remaining,her best beloved was Sir William,of whom,if the truth must be told,she had often thought during her short married life.But he had not yet reappeared.Her heart began to be so much with him now that she contrived to convey to him,by indirect hints through his friends,that she would not be displeased by a renewal of his former attentions.Sir William,however,misapprehended her gentle signalling,and from excellent,though mistaken motives of delicacy,delayed to intrude himself upon her for a long time.Meanwhile Sir John,now created a baronet,was unremitting,and she began to grow somewhat piqued at the backwardness of him she secretly desired to be forward.