DOUBTS AND QUESTIONS
(Greek passage)
AlCÆUS.
Bacchis! ''Tis vain to brood on care,
Since grief no remedy supplies;
Be ours the sparkling bowl to share,
And drown our sorrows as they rise.
Mr. Falconer saw no more of Miss Gryll till the party assembled in the
drawing-rooms. She necessarily took the arm of Lord Curryfin for dinner,
and it fell to the lot of Mr. Falconer to offer his to Miss Niphet, so
that they sat at remote ends of the table, each wishing himself in the
other's place; but Lord Curryfin paid all possible attention to his fair
neighbour. Mr. Falconer could see that Miss Gryll's conversation with
Lord Curryfin was very animated and joyous: too merry, perhaps, for
love: but cordial to a degree that alarmed him. It was, however,
clear by the general mirth at the head of the table, that nothing very
confidential or sentimental was passing. Still, a young lady who had
placed the destiny of her life on a point of brief suspense ought not to
be so merry as Miss Gryll evidently was. He said little to Miss Niphet;
and she, with her habit of originating nothing, sat in her normal state
of statue-like placidity, listening to the conversation near her. She
was on the left hand of _Mr. Gryll._ Miss Ilex was on his right, and
on her right was the Reverend Doctor Opimian. These three kept up an
animated dialogue. Mr. MacBorrowdale was in the middle of the table, and
amused his two immediate fair neighbours with remarks appertaining to
the matter immediately before them, the preparation and arrangement of a
good dinner: remarks that would have done honour to Francatelli.
After a while, Mr. Falconer bethought him that he would try to draw out
_Miss Niphet._'s opinion on the subject nearest his heart. He said to
her: 'They are very merry at the head of the table.'
_Miss Niphet._. I suppose Lord Curryfin is in the vein for amusing his
company, and he generally succeeds in his social purposes.
_Mr. Falconer._ You lay stress on social, as if you thought him not
successful in all his purposes.
_Miss Niphet._ Not in all his inventions, for example. But in the
promotion of social enjoyment he has few equals. Of course, it must be
in congenial society. There is a power of being pleased, as well as a
power of pleasing. With Miss Gryll and Lord Curryfin, both meet in both.
No wonder that they amuse those around them.
_Mr. Falconer._ In whom there must also be a power of being pleased.
_Miss Niphet._. Most of the guests here have it. If they had not they
would scarcely be here. I have seen some dismal persons, any one of
whom would be a kill-joy to a whole company. There are none such in this
party. I have also seen a whole company all willing to be pleased, but
all mute from not knowing what to say to each other: not knowing how to
begin. Lord Curryfin would be a blessing to such a party. He would be
the steel to their flint.
_Mr. Falconer._ Have you known him long?
_Miss Niphet._. Only since I met him here.
_Mr. Falconer._ Have you heard that he is a suitor to Miss Gryll?
_Miss Niphet._. I have heard so.
_Mr. Falconer._ Should you include the probability of his being accepted
in your estimate of his social successes?
_Miss Niphet._. Love affairs are under influences too capricious for the
calculation of probabilities.
_Mr. Falconer._ Yet I should be very glad to hear your opinion. You know
them both so well.
_Miss Niphet._ I am disposed to indulge you, because I think it is not
mere curiosity that makes you ask the question, Otherwise I should not
be inclined to answer it, I do not think he will ever be the affianced
lover of _Morgana._ Perhaps he might have been if he had persevered as
he began. But he has been used to smiling audiences. He did not find the
exact reciprocity he looked for. He fancied that it was, or would be,
for another, I believe he was right.
_Mr. Falconer._ Yet you think he might have succeeded if he had
persevered.
_Miss Niphet._ I can scarcely think otherwise, seeing how much he has to
recommend him.
_Mr. Falconer._ But he has not withdrawn.
Miss Nipket. No, and will not. But she is too high-minded to hold him
to a proposal not followed up as it commenced even if she had not turned
her thoughts elsewhere.
_Mr. Falconer._ Do you not think she could recall him to his first
ardour if she exerted all her fascinations for the purpose?
_Miss Nipket._ It may be so. I do not think she will try. (_She added,
to herself_:) I do not think she would succeed.
Mr. Falconer did not feel sure she would not try: he thought he saw
symptoms of her already doing so. In his opinion Morgana was, and must
be, irresistible. But as he had thought his fair neighbour somewhat
interested in the subject, he wondered at the apparent impassiveness
with which she replied to his questions.
In the meantime he found, as he had often done before, that the more his
mind was troubled, the more Madeira he could drink without disordering
his head.