It is one thing to say you could never marry a man, and it is another
thing to refuse him when he asks you.
That very afternoon Mr. Arthur had received the intimation at his
bank that he was shortly to be made a cashier. He glowed with the
prospect. His conversation that evening was of the brightest. The
poisoned shafts of Miss Hallard's satire met the armoured resistance
of his high spirits. They fell--pointless and unavailing--from his
unbounded faith in himself. A man who, after a comparatively few
years' service in a bank, is deemed fitted for the responsible duties
of a cashier, is qualified to express an opinion, even on art. Mr.
Arthur expressed many.
"Don't see how you can say a thing's artistic if you don't like it,"
he declared.
"I think you're quite right, Mr. Arthur," said Mrs. Hewson. "If I
like a thing--like that picture in one of the Christmas Annuals--I
always say, 'Now I call that artistic,' don't I, Ern?"
Her husband nodded with his mouth full of the best bloater.
"Well, you couldn't call that thing artistic, Mrs. Hewson, if you
mean the thing that's over the piano in the sitting-room?"
"Why not?" asked Janet; "don't you like it?"
"No," said Mr. Arthur emphatically, "nor any one else either, I
should think. I bet you a shilling they wouldn't."
"But Mrs. Hewson does," Janet replied quietly. "Doesn't that satisfy
you that it must be artistic, since some one likes it?"
Mrs. Hewson, finding herself suddenly the object of the conversation,
picked her teeth in hurried confusion. Her husband surveyed the
company over the rim of his cup and then returned to his reading of
the evening paper.
During the weighted silence that followed Janet's last remark, he
laid down his paper.
"I see," he said, "as 'ow there are some people up in the north of
England 'aving what they call Pentecostal visitations."
Mrs. Hewson laughed tentatively, the uncertain giggle that scarcely
dares to come between the teeth. She knew her husband's leaning
towards the arid humour of an obscure joke.
"What's that, Ern?"
"Well, 'cording to the paper, they get taken with it sudden. They
can't stand up. They fall down in the middle of the service and roll
about, just as if they'd 'ad too much to drink."
Mrs. Hewson's laugh became genuine and unafraid, a hysterical
clattering of sounds that tumbled from her mouth.
"Silly fools," she said; "the way people go on. Read it--what is it?
Read it."
Mr. Hewson picked some bones out of the bloater with a dirty hand,
placed the filleted morsel in his mouth, washed it down with a
mouthful of tea, and then cleared his throat and began to read.
Mr. Arthur seized this opportunity. "It's quite fine again now," he
said in an undertone to Sally.
She expressed mild surprise--the lifting of her eyebrows, the casual
"Really." Then it seemed to her that he did not exactly deserve to
be treated like that and she told him how she had got wet through,
coming home.
"Changed your clothes, I hope," he whispered.
"Oh yes."
"You might get pneumonia, you know," he said.
She smiled at that. "And of such are the Kingdom of Heaven."
He gazed at her in surprise. "Why should you say that?" he asked.
"Don't know--why shouldn't I?"
He looked down at his empty plate. There was something he wanted to
say to her. He kept looking round the table for inspiration. At last,
with Mrs. Hewson's burst of laughter at the paper's description of
the Pentecostal visitations, he took the plunge--head down--the
words spluttering in whispers out of his lips.
"Would you care to come for a little walk down the Strand-on-Green?"
he asked. "It's a lovely night now."
In the half breath of a second, Sally's eyes sought Janet's face
across the table. Janet had heard and, with her eyes, she urged Sally
to accept. This all passed unknown to Mr. Arthur. He thought Sally
was hesitating--the moments thumped in his heart.
"I don't mind for a little while," she said.
He rose from the table, conscious of victory. "I'll just go and get
on my boots," he said, and he slipped away.
Sally mounted to her room followed by Janet.
"He's going to propose," said Miss Hallard.
"He's not," retorted Sally.
"I'm perfectly certain he is. He's been excited about something all
the evening. He's come into some money or something. He talked
to-night as if he could buy up all the art treasures in the kingdom."
"You think he's going to buy me up?"
"He's going to make his offer. What'll you do?"
"Well--what can I do? Would you marry him?"
"That's not the question. There's no chance of him asking me. You
can't speculate on whether you'll marry a man until he asks you--your
mind is biassed before then."
"I don't believe you'd marry any one," said Sally.
"It's quite probable," she replied laconically.
Sally began to take off her hat again. "I'm not going out with him,"
she said. "I shall hate it."
"Don't be foolish--put on that hat, and see what it's like to be
proposed to by an earnest young gentleman on the banks of a river,
at nine o'clock in the evening. Go on--don't be foolish, Sally. It
does a woman good to be proposed to--teaches her manners--go on. You
may like him--you don't know."
Sally obeyed reluctantly. In the heart of her was a dread of it; in
her mind, the tardy admission that she was doing her duty,
sacrificing at the altar upon which every woman at some time or other
is compelled to make her offering.
In the little linoleum'd passage, known as the hall, Mr. Arthur was
waiting for her. He had exchanged his felt slippers for a pair of
boots; round his neck he had wrapped an ugly muffler and a cap was
perched jauntily on his head. The impression that he gave Sally, of
being confident of his success, stung her for a moment to resentment.
She determined to refuse him. But that mood was only momentary. When
the door had closed behind them and they had begun to walk along the
paved river path, the impression and its accompanying decision
vanished.
Sally was a romantic--that cannot be denied. She could talk
reverently about love in the abstract. In her mind, it was not a
condition into which one fell, as the unwary traveller falls into
the ditch by the roadside, picking himself out as quickly as may be,
or, in his weariness, choosing at least to sleep the night there and
go on with his journey next morning. In the heart of Sally, whether
it were a pitfall or not, love was an end in itself. She directed
all her steps towards that destination, and any light of romance
allured her.
That evening, walking up towards Kew Bridge, the lights of the barges
lying in the stream, looking themselves like huddled reptiles
seeking the warmth of each other's bodies, the lights of the little
buildings on the eyot, and the lamps of the bridge itself, all dancing
quaint measures in the black water, brought to the susceptibility
of Sally's mind a sense of romance. For the moment, until he spoke,
she forgot the actual presence of Mr. Arthur. The vague knowledge
that some one was with her, stood for the indefinite, the unknown
quantity whose existence was essential to the completion of the
whole.
As they passed by the City Barge--that little old-fashioned inn which
faces the water on the river path--she looked in through the windows.
There were bargemen, working men who lived near by, and others whose
faces she had often seen as she had walked to her tram in the morning,
all talking, laughing good-naturedly, some with the pewter pots
pressed to their lips, head throwing slightly back, others enforcing
a point with an empty mug on the bar counter. And outside, ahead of
them, the lean, gaunt willows, around whose very trunks the hard
paving had been laid, shot up into the black sky like witches' brooms
that the wind was combing out.
Bright, cheerful lights glowed in every cottage window. In some it
was only the light of a fire that leaped a ruddy dance on the
whitewashed walls, and caught reflections in the lintels of the
windows. In others it was a candle, in others a small oil lamp; but
in all, looking through the windows as she passed, Sally saw some
old man or woman seated over a fire. There is romance, even in content.
Sally was half conscious of it, until Mr. Arthur spoke; then it
whipped out, vanished--a wisp of smoke that the air scatters.
"Let's lean over that railing and watch the boats," he suggested.
There were scarcely any boats moving, to be seen. He spoke at random,
as if the river swarmed with them; but only a little tug now and then
scurried like a water-rat out of the shadows of the bridge, and sped
down along towards Chiswick. In its wake, spreading out in
ever-broadening lines, it left a row of curling waves that came
lapping to the steps below them. These sounds and the occasional
noise of voices across on the Kew side, were the only interruptions
to the silence. For some moments they stood there, leaning on the
railing, saying nothing, watching some dull, dark figures of men who
were moving about on the little island that belongs to the Thames
Conservancy.
"I--I've got something I want to tell you, Miss Bishop," Mr. Arthur
said at length with sudden resolve.
Sally caught her breath. If it were only somebody she could love!
What a moment it would be then--what a moment! Her lips felt suddenly
dry. She sucked them into her mouth and moistened them.
"What is it?" she asked.
Mr. Arthur coughed, pulled out a handkerchief and blew his nose
loudly. The sound, intensified there in that still place, jarred
through Sally's senses. She roughly told herself that she was a fool.
"You know I'm in a bank?" he began.
"Yes; of course."
"It's a private bank."
"Really?"
"Yes; what I mean is, they pay better than most banks usually do."
"Really?"
"And they're going to make me a cashier."
"Oh, is that good?"
"Well, there's hardly a fellow of my age in any bank that's got to
a responsible position like that, in the time I have. I bet you a
shilling there isn't."
"Well, I can't afford to bet a shilling on it."
"No, of course not; I didn't mean that. What I mean--"
"I understand what you mean," said Sally. A sense of humour might
have gone far to save him at that moment. She accredited it against
him that he had none. "You might just as well have bet ten pounds,"
she added with a smile, "and I should have known what you meant. Ten
pounds always sounds better than a shilling--even in that sort
of--of--transaction."
"Ah, you're only joking," said he.
"No, I'm not," she replied. "I'm quite serious. I like the sound of
ten pounds better. There's a nice ring of bravado about it. A shilling
seems so mean."
For a few moments he was silenced by the weight of her
incomprehensibleness. Such a moment comes at all times to every man,
whatever his dealings with a woman may be. Mr. Arthur stood leaning
on the railing, looking out at the black water and thinking how little
she understood of the seriousness of his position, or the meaning
that such an uplifting of his financial status conveyed to a man.
She did not even know what he was about to propose. It would steady
her considerably when she heard that; she would be less flippant then.
Out of the corners of his eyes, he watched her face--the little, round,
childish face almost perfect in outline--the gentle force, petulance
almost, in the shapely chin, and the lips--tantalizing--they looked
so innocent. In another few moments he would be kissing those lips;
in another few moments he would be feeling the warmth of that hand
that lay idly over the railing. He wondered if he were really wise.
Was he being carried away by the first flush of triumph which his
success had brought him? There was time to draw back yet.
"Well," she said, "was that what you were going to tell me?"
He turned round and met her look; his eyes wandered over her face.
Those lips--they were indescribably alluring. It seemed impossible
to give up the delight of kissing them; yet, of course, that was
foolish, that was weak. He was not going to let the whole of his life
hang upon a momentary desire like that. If she did not appeal to him
in other ways, if he did not find admiration for her character,
respect for her numerous good qualities, he would certainly not be
so wanting in control as to let a passing inclination sway him to
a momentous decision. He recounted those good qualities to himself
reassuringly. Her innocence, her gentleness, her apparent
willingness to be led by any one stronger than herself. Mr. Arthur
dwelt long on that. That was a distinctly promising characteristic.
He would consider that essential in any woman whom he thought to make
his wife. Then she was demonstrative. He had often seen her show signs
of deep affection to Miss Hallard. At the moment, that seemed a very
necessary quality too. He felt just then that a little demonstration
of affection on her part--if she put her hand in his, or leant her
head up against his shoulder--would make him intensely happy. And
those lips! He half closed his eyes and his hand shook.
"No; that wasn't all," he said emotionally. "That was only
preliminary to what I'm going to say."
Sally kept her eyes away from him. She did not want to watch his face.
She knew he was very good, very honourable, very conscientious in
his work; she knew that he would make a reasonably good husband, that
he was about to offer her a position in life which it was incumbent
upon any girl in her circumstances to consider well before refusing.
But she could not look at his face while these things were weighing
out their balance in her mind. It seemed hard enough to be compelled
to listen to the sound of his voice; the weak, uncertain quality that
it possessed, that faint suggestion of commonness which did not
exactly admit of dropped aitches, but rang jarringly in her ears.
"I'm listening," she said rigidly. Her eyes were fixed without motion
on the quiet water.
"Well, I want you to marry me," he exclaimed impulsively.
She said nothing. She waited.
"After next month, I shall have two hundred pounds a year. We could
be very comfortable on that--couldn't we?"
"Do you think so?" she asked.
"Well, I'll bet you a shilling there are a good many men in
London--married--who are comfortable enough on less. Besides, next
year it'll be two hundred and twenty."
"And you want me to marry you?"
"Yes. I'm offering you a comfortable home of your own. No more pigging
it like this in lodgings. You'll have your own house to look
after--your own drawing-room. I don't want to boast about it, but
don't you think it's a good thing for you?" He felt himself it was
a big thing he was offering--and so it was--the biggest he had. "What
I mean to say," he continued, "I'm a gentleman, you're earning your
own living. I'm going to make you your own mistress--"
"But I don't love you," she said quietly, overlooking with generosity
his insinuations about the position she held.
He gazed at her in amazement. "Why not?" he asked.
"Why not? Oh, why should you ask me a hard question like that?"
"'Cause I want to know. What's the matter with me? I bet you--"
"Oh, don't!" she begged, "I don't love you; that's all. I can't say
any more."
"Then why did you come out with me this evening?"
"I don't know. Of course, I ought not to--I suppose I ought not to."
"But you haven't said you won't marry me."
"No. But haven't I said enough?"
"No."
"You'd marry me, knowing that I didn't love you?"
She turned her eyes to his. The pathos of that touched her. His senses
swam when she looked at him.
"Yes," he said thickly. "You might not love me now--you would."
There, he spoilt it all again. She was so certain of its
impossibility; he was so confident of his success. With the sentiment
of his humility, the unselfishness of his devotion, he might have
won her even then. The pity in a woman is often minister to her heart.
But pity left her when he made so sure.
"Oh, it's no good talking like this," she said gently; "I know I
shouldn't."
He leant nearer to her, peering into her face. "Well, will you think
about it--will you think it over?" He felt certain that when she
thought of that home of her own, she would be bound to relent--any
woman would. "Let me know some other time."
"If you like. I don't know why you should be so good to me."
Passionately he seized her arm with his hand. "Because I love
you--don't you see?"
"Yes; I see. I shouldn't think there's much to love in me though."
"Wouldn't you? My God--I do! Will you give me a kiss?"
One would think he might have known that that was the last thing he
should have asked for. One would think he might have realized that
passion was the last thing he should have shown her at such a moment
as that. But he fancied that any woman might want to be kissed under
the circumstances. He had a vague idea that his passion might awaken
emotion in her; that with the touch of his lips, she might drop her
arms about his neck and swoon into submission. He did not know the
fiddle string upon which he was playing; he did not know the fine
edge upon which all her thoughts were balancing.
She drew quickly away from him; freed her arm and turned towards the
house with lips tight pressed together.
"I'm going in," she said.