human
Such a day as I have had! and twelve shillings for the fly, 'pikes not included,
gpt
No, my dear Vance, I was hurt for a moment, but that's long since over!
human
Still you seem to have something on your mind,
gpt
That is true: I have. I should like your advice. Read that letter. Ought I to go? Would it look mercenary, grasping? You know what I mean.
human
Darrell, he exclaimed.
gpt
Oh, it is so, then! He read with great attention, put down the letter, and shook Lionel by the hand.
human
I congratulate you: all is settled as it should be. Go? of course: you would be an ill-mannered lout if you did not. Is it far from hence must you return to town first?
gpt
No, I find I can get across the country,--two hours by the railway. There is a station at the town which bears the post-mark of the letter. I shall make for that, if you advise it.
human
You knew I should advise it, or you would not have tortured your intellect by those researches into Bradshaw.
gpt
Shrewdly said, answered Lionel, laughing;
human
You never told me your cousin's name was Darrell: not that I should have been much wiser if you had; but, thunder and lightning, Lionel! do you know that your cousin Darrell is a famous man?
gpt
Famous!--Nonsense. I suppose he was a good lawyer, for I have heard my mother say, with a sort of contempt, that he had made a great fortune at the bar.
human
But he was in Parliament.
gpt
Was he? I did not know.
human
And this is senatorial fame! You never heard your schoolfellows talk of Mr. Darrell?--they would not have known his name if you had boasted of it?
gpt
Certainly not.
human
Would your schoolfellows have known the names of Wilkie, of Landseer, of Turner, Maclise? I speak of painters.
gpt
I should think so, indeed.
human
And yet Her Serene Sublimity-ship, Lady Selina Vipont, says to me with divine compassion, 'Not in the way of your delightful art to know such men as Mr. Darrell!' Oh, as if I did not see through it, too, when she said, /a propos/ of my jean cap and velveteen jacket, 'What matters how you dress? Every one knows who you are!' Would she have said that to the earl of Dunder, or even to Sir Gregory Stollhead? No. I am the painter Frank Vance,--nothing more nor less; and if I stood on my head in a check shirt and a sky-coloured apron, Lady Selina Vipont would kindly murmur, 'Only Frank Vance the painter: what does it signify?' Aha!--and they think to put me to use, puppets and lay figures! it is I who put them to use! Hark ye, Lionel, you are nearer akin to these fine folks than I knew of. Promise me one thing: you may become of their set, by right of your famous Mr. Darrell; if ever you hear an artist, musician, scribbler, no matter what, ridiculed as a tuft- hunter,--seeking the great, and so forth,--before you join in the laugh, ask some great man's son, with a pedigree that dates from the Ark, 'Are you not a toad-eater too? Do you want political influence; do you stand contested elections; do you curry and fawn upon greasy Sam the butcher and grimy Tom the blacksmith for a vote? Why? useful to your career, necessary to your ambition? Aha! is it meaner to curry and fawn upon white-handed women and elegant coxcombs? Tut, tut! useful to a career, necessary to ambition!'