THE BEGINNING OF BLUNDERS.
Dacres paused now, and lighting a fresh cigar, smoked away at it in
silence, with long and solemn and regular puffs. Hawbury watched him
for some time, with a look of dreamy curiosity and lazy interest. Then
he rose, and dawdled about the room for a few minutes. Then he lighted
a cigar, and finally, resuming his seat, he said:
"By Jove!"
Dacres puffed on.
"I'm beginning to think," said Hawbury, "that your first statement is
correct. You are shot, my boy--hit hard--and all that; and now I
should like to ask you one question."
"Ask away."
"What are you going to do about it? Do you intend to pursue the
acquaintance?"
"Of course. Why not?"
"What do you intend to do next?"
"Next? Why, call on her, and inquire after her health."
"Very good."
"Well, have you any thing to say against that?"
"Certainly not. Only it surprises me a little."
"Why?"
"Because I never thought of Scone Dacres as a marrying man, and can't
altogether grapple with the idea."
"I don't see why a fellow shouldn't marry if he wants to," said
Dacres. "What's the matter with me that I shouldn't get married as
well as lots of fellows?"
"No reason in the world, my dear boy. Marry as many wives as you
choose. My remark referred merely to my own idea of you, and not to
any thing actually innate in your character. So don't get huffy at a
fellow."
Some further conversation followed, and Dacres finally took his
departure, full of thoughts about his new acquaintance, and racking
his brains to devise some way of securing access to her.
On the following evening he made his appearance once more at Hawbury's
rooms.
"Well, old man, what's up? Any thing more about the child-angel?"
"Well, a little. I've found out her name."
"Ah! What is it?"
"Fay. Her name is Minnie Fay."
"Minnie Fay. I never heard of the name before. Who are her people?"
"She is traveling with Lady Dalrymple."
"The Dowager, I suppose?"
"Yes."
"Who are the other ladies?"
"Well, I don't exactly remember."
"Didn't you find out?"
"Yes; I heard all their names, but I've forgotten. I know one of them
is the child-angel's sister, and the other is her cousin. The one I
saw with her was probably the sister."
"What, the one named Ethel?"
"Yes."
"Ethel--Ethel Fay. H'm," said Hawbury, in a tone of disappointment. "I
knew it would be so. There are so many Ethels about."
"What's that?"
"Oh, nothing. I once knew a girl named Ethel, and--Well, I had a faint
idea that it would be odd if this should be the one. But there's no
such chance."
"Oh, the name Ethel is common enough."
"Well, and didn't you find out any thing about her people?"
"Whose--Ethel's?"
"Your child-angel's people."
"No. What do I care about her people? They might be Jews or
Patagonians for all I care."
"Still I should think your interest in her would make you ask."
"Oh no; my interest refers to herself, not to her relatives. Her
sister Ethel is certainly a deuced pretty girl, though."
"Sconey, my boy, I'm afraid you're getting demoralized. Why, I
remember the time when you regarded the whole female race with a lofty
scorn and a profound indifference that was a perpetual rebuke to more
inflammable natures. But now what a change! Here you are, with a
finely developed eye for female beauty, actually reveling in dreams of
child-angels and their sisters. By Jove!"
"Nonsense," said Dacres.
"Well, drive on, and tell all about it. You've seen her, of course?"
"Oh yes."
"Did you call?"
"Yes; she was not at home. I went away with a snubbed and subdued
feeling, and rode along near the Villa Reale, when suddenly I met the
carriage with Lady Dalrymple and the child-angel. She knew me at once,
and gave a little start. Then she looked awfully embarrassed. Then she
turned to Lady Dalrymple; and by the time I had got up the carriage
had stopped, and the ladies both looked at me and bowed. I went up,
and they both held out their hands. Lady Dalrymple then made some
remarks expressive of gratitude, while the child-angel sat and
fastened her wonderful eyes on me, and threw at me such a pleading,
touching, entreating, piteous, grateful, beseeching look, that I
fairly collapsed.
"When Lady Dalrymple stopped, she turned to her and said:
"'And oh, aunty darling, did you _ever_ hear of any thing like it? It
was _so_ brave. Wasn't it an awfully plucky thing to do, now? And I
was really inside the crater! I'm sure _I_ never could have done such
a thing--no, not even for my _own papa_! Oh, how I do _wish_ I could
do something to show how _awfully_ grateful I am! And, aunty darling,
I do _wish_ you'd tell me what to do.'
"All this quite turned my head, and I couldn't say any thing; but sat
on my saddle, devouring the little thing with my eyes, and drinking in
the wonderful look which she threw at me. At last the carriage
started, and the ladies, with a pleasant smile, drove on. I think I
stood still there for about five minutes, until I was nearly run down
by one of those beastly Neapolitan calèches loaded with twenty or
thirty natives."
"See here, old man, what a confoundedly good memory you have! You
remember no end of a lot of things, and give all her speeches
verbatim. What a capital newspaper reporter you'd make!"
"Oh, it's only _her_ words, you know. She quickens my memory, and
makes a different man of me."
"By Jove!"
"Yes, old chap, a different man altogether."
"So I say, by Jove! Head turned, eyes distorted, heart generally
upset, circulation brought up to fever point, peace of mind gone, and
a general mania in the place of the old self-reliance and content."
"Not content, old boy; I never had much of that."
"Well, we won't argue, will we? But as to the child-angel--what next?
You'll call again?"
"Of course."
"When?"
"To-morrow."
"Strike while the iron is hot, hey? Well, old man, I'll stand by you.
Still I wish you could find out who her people are, just to satisfy a
legitimate curiosity."
"Well, I don't know the Fays, but Lady Dalrymple is her aunt; and I
know, too, that she is a niece of Sir Gilbert Biggs."
"What!" cried Hawbury, starting. "Who? Sir what?"
"Sir Gilbert Biggs."
"Sir Gilbert Biggs?"
"Yes."
"Sir Gilbert Biggs! By Jove! Are you sure you are right? Come, now.
Isn't there some mistake?"
"Not a bit of a mistake; she's a niece of Sir Gilbert. I remember
that, because the name is a familiar one."
"Familiar!" repeated Hawbury; "I should think so. By Jove!"
Hawbury here relapsed into silence, and sat with a frown on his face,
and a puzzled expression. At times he would mutter such words as,
"Deuced odd!" "Confounded queer!" "What a lot!" "By Jove!" while
Dacres looked at him in some surprise.
"Look here, old fellow!" said he at last. "Will you have the kindness
to inform me what there is in the little fact I just mentioned to
upset a man of your size, age, fighting weight, and general coolness
of blood?"
"Well, there is a deuced odd coincidence about it, that's all."
"Coincidence with what?"
"Well, I'll tell some other time. It's a sore subject, old fellow.
Another time, my boy. I'll only mention now that it's the cause of my
present absence from England. There's a bother that I don't care to
encounter, and Sir Gilbert Biggs's nieces are at the bottom of it."
"You don't mean this one, I hope?" cried Dacres, in some alarm.
"Heaven forbid! By Jove! No. I hope not."
"No, I hope not, by Jove!" echoed the other.
"Well, old man," said Hawbury, after a fit of silence, "I suppose
you'll push matters on now, hard and fast, and launch yourself into
matrimony?"
"Well--I--suppose--so," said Dacres, hesitatingly.
"You _suppose_ so. Of course you will. Don't I know you, old chap?
Impetuous, tenacious of purpose, iron will, one idea, and all that
sort of thing. Of course you will; and you'll be married in a month."
"Well," said Dacres, in the same hesitating way, "not so soon as that,
I'm afraid."
"Why not?"
"Why, I have to get the lady first."
"The lady; oh, she seems to be willing enough, judging from your
description. Her pleading look at you. Why, man, there was love at
first sight. Then tumbling down the crater of a volcano, and getting
fished out. Why, man, what woman could resist a claim like that,
especially when it is enforced by a man like Scone Dacres? And, by
Jove! Sconey, allow me to inform you that I've always considered you a
most infernally handsome man; and what's more, my opinion is worth
something, by Jove!"
Hereupon Hawbury stretched his head and shoulders back, and pulled
away with each hand at his long yellow pendent whiskers. Then he
yawned. And then he slowly ejaculated,
"By Jove!"
"Well," said Dacres, thoughtfully, "there is something in what you
say; and, to tell the truth, I think there's not a bad chance for me,
so far as the lady herself is concerned; but the difficulty is not in
that quarter."
"Not in that quarter! Why, where the mischief else could there be any
difficulty, man?"
Dacres was silent.
"You're eager enough?"
Dacres nodded his head sadly.
"Eager! why, eager isn't the word. You're mad, man--mad as a March
hare! So go in and win."
Dacres said nothing.
"You're rich, not over old, handsome, well born, well bred, and have
saved the lady's life by extricating her from the crater of a volcano.
She seems too young and childlike to have had any other affairs. She's
probably just out of school; not been into society; not come out; just
the girl. Confound these girls, I say, that have gone through
engagements with other fellows!"
"Oh, as to that," said Dacres, "this little thing is just like a
child, and in her very simplicity does not know what love is.
Engagement! By Jove, I don't believe she knows the meaning of the
word! She's perfectly fresh, artless, simple, and guileless. I don't
believe she ever heard a word of sentiment or tenderness from any man
in her life."
"Very likely; so where's the difficulty?"
"Well, to tell the truth, the difficulty is in my own affairs."
"Your affairs! Odd, too. What's up? I didn't know any thing had
happened. That's too infernal bad, too."
"Oh, it's nothing of that sort; money's all right; no swindle. It's an
affair of another character altogether."
"Oh!"
"And one, too, that makes me think that--"
He hesitated.
"That what?"
"That I'd better start for Australia."
"Australia!"
"Yes."
"What's the meaning of that?"
"Why," said Dacres, gloomily, "it means giving up the child-angel, and
trying to forget her--if I ever can."
"Forget her! What's the meaning of all this? Why, man, five minutes
ago you were all on fire about her, and now you talk quietly about
giving her up! I'm all adrift."
"Well, it's a mixed up matter."
"What is?"
"My affair."
"Your affair; something that has happened?"
"Yes. It's a sore matter, and I don't care to speak about it just
now."
"Oh!"
"And it's the real cause why I don't go back to England."
"The mischief it is! Why, Dacres, I'll be hanged if you're not using
the very words I myself used a few minutes ago."
"Am I?" said Dacres, gloomily.
"You certainly are; and that makes me think that our affairs are in a
similar complication."
"Oh no; mine is very peculiar."
"Well, there's one thing I should like to ask, and you needn't answer
unless you like."
"Well?"
"Doesn't your difficulty arise from some confounded woman or other?"
"Well--yes."
"By Jove, I knew it! And, old fellow, I'm in the same situation."
[Illustration: "BY JOVE, I KNEW IT!"]
"Oh ho! So you're driven away from England by a woman?"
"Exactly."
Dacres sighed heavily.
"Yours can't be as bad as mine," said he, with a dismal look. "Mine is
the worst scrape that ever you heard of. And look at me now, with the
child-angel all ready to take me, and me not able to be taken.
Confound the abominable complications of an accursed civilization, I
say!"
"And I say, Amen!" said Hawbury.