Sandra Belloni | Page 9

to them.
They decided to go down to Wilson's farm that very day, and forestall
their rivals by having her up to Brookfield. The idea of doing this had
been in a corner of their minds all the morning: it seemed now the most
sensible plan in the world. It was patronage, in its right sense. And they
might be of great service to her, by giving a proper elevation and tone
to her genius; while she might amuse them, and their guests, and be let
off, in fact, as a firework for the nonce. Among the queenly cases of
women who are designing to become the heads of a circle (if I may use
the term), an accurate admeasurement of reciprocal advantages can

scarcely be expected to rank; but the knowledge that an act, depending
upon us for execution, is capable of benefiting both sides, will make the
proceeding appear so unselfish, that its wisdom is overlooked as well as
its motives. The sisters felt they were the patronesses of the little
obscure genius whom they longed for to illumine their household,
before they knew her name. Cornet Wilfrid Pole must have chuckled
mightily to see them depart on their mission. These ladies, who
managed everybody, had themselves been very cleverly managed. It is
doubtful whether the scheme to surprise and delight Mr. Pericles would
have actuated the step they took, but for the dread of seeing the
rapacious Tinleys snatch up their lawful prey. The Tinleys were known
to be quite capable of doing so. They had, on a particular occasion,
made transparent overtures to a celebrity belonging to the Poles, whom
they had first met at Brookfield: could never have hoped to have seen
had they not met him at Brookfield; and girls who behaved in this way
would do anything. The resolution was taken to steal a march on them;
nor did it seem at all odd to people naturally so hospitable as the
denizens of Brookfield, that the stranger of yesterday should be the
guest of to-day. Kindness of heart, combined with a great scheme in the
brain, easily put aside conventional rules.
"But we don't know her name," they said, when they had taken the
advice of the gentlemen on what they had already decided to do: all
excepting Mr. Pericles, for whom the surprise was in store.
"Belloni--Miss Belloni," said Wilfrid.
"Are you sure? How do you know--?"
"She told Laura Tinley."
Within five minutes of the receipt of this intelligence the ladies were on
their way to Wilson's farm.
CHAPTER IV
The circle which the ladies of Brookfield were designing to establish
just now, was of this receipt:--Celebrities, London residents, and

County notables, all in their severally due proportions, were to meet,
mix, and revolve: the Celebrities to shine; the Metropolitans to act as
satellites; the County ignoramuses to feel flattered in knowing that all
stood forth for their amusement: they being the butts of the
quick-witted Metropolitans, whom they despised, while the sons of
renown were encouraged to be conscious of their magnanimous
superiority over both sets, for whose entertainment they were ticketed.
This is a pudding indeed! And the contemplation of the skill and energy
required to get together and compound such a Brookfield Pudding,
well-nigh leads one to think the work that is done out of doors a very
inferior business, and, as it were, mere gathering of fuel for the fire
inside. It was known in the neighbourhood that the ladies were
preparing one; and moreover that they had a new kind of plum; in other
words, that they intended to exhibit a prodigy of genius, who would
flow upon the world from Brookfield. To announce her with the
invitations, rejecting the idea of a surprise in the assembly, had been
necessary, because there was no other way of securing Lady Gosstre,
who led the society of the district. The great lady gave her promise to
attend: "though," as she said to Arabella, "you must know I abominate
musical parties, and think them the most absurd of entertainments
possible; but if you have anything to show, that's another matter."
Two or three chosen friends were invited down beforehand to inspect
the strange girl, and say what they thought of her; for the ladies
themselves were perplexed. They had found her to be commonplace: a
creature without ideas and with a decided appetite. So when Tracy
Runningbrook, who had also been a plum in his day, and was still a
poet, said that she was exquisitely comic, they were induced to take the
humorous view of the inexplicable side in the character of Miss Belloni,
and tried to laugh at her eccentricities. Seeing that Mr. Pericles
approved of her voice as a singer, and Tracy Runningbrook let pass her
behaviour as