The day after
them, Lord Eskdale came over from his principal seat in the contiguous
county, of which he was lord-lieutenant. He was the first cousin of the
duke, his father and the second Duke of Bellamont having married two
sisters, and of course intimately related to the duchess and her family.
Lord Eskdale exercised a great influence over the house of Montacute,
though quite unsought for by him. He was the only man of the world
whom they knew, and they never decided upon anything out of the limited
circle of their immediate experience without consulting him. Lord
Eskdale had been the cause of their son going to Eton; Lord Eskdale had
recommended them to send him to Christ-church. The duke had begged his
cousin to be his trustee when he married; he had made him his executor,
and had intended him as the guardian of his son. Although, from the
difference of their habits, little thrown together in their earlier
youth, Lord Eskdale had shown, even then, kind consideration for his
relative; he had even proposed that they should travel together, but
the old duke would not consent to this. After his death, however, being
neighbours as well as relatives, Lord Eskdale had become the natural
friend and counsellor of his Grace.
The duke deservedly reposed in him implicit confidence, and entertained
an almost unbounded admiration of his cousin's knowledge of mankind.
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