SHOWING HOW MAJOR GRANTLY RETURNED TO GUESTWICK.
Grace, when she was left alone, threw herself upon the sofa, and hid
her face in her hands. She was weeping almost hysterically, and had
been utterly dismayed and frightened by her lover's impetuosity.
Things had gone after a fashion which her imagination had not painted
to her as possible. Surely she had the power to refuse the man if she
pleased. And yet she felt as she lay there weeping that she did in
truth belong to him as part of his goods, and that her generosity had
been foiled. She had especially resolved that she would not confess
to any love for him. She had made no such confession. She had guarded
herself against doing so with all the care which she knew how to
use. But he had assumed the fact, and she had been unable to deny
it. Could she have lied to him, and have sworn that she did not love
him? Could she have so perjured herself, even in support of her
generosity? Yes, she would have done so,--so she told herself,--if a
moment had been given to her for thought. She ought to have done so,
and she blamed herself for being so little prepared for the occasion.
The lie would be useless now. Indeed, she would have no opportunity
for telling it; for of course she would not answer,--would not even
read his letter. Though he might know that she loved him, yet she
would not be his wife. He had forced her secret from her, but he
could not force her to marry him. She did love him, but he should
never be disgraced by her love.
After a while she was able to think of his conduct, and she believed
that she ought to be very angry with him. He had taken her roughly in
his arms, and had insulted her. He had forced a kiss from her. She
had felt his arms warm and close and strong about her, and had not
known whether she was in paradise or in purgatory. She was very angry
with him. She would send back his letter to him without reading
it,--without opening it, if that might be possible. He had done that
to her which nothing could justify. But yet,--yet,--yet how dearly
she loved him! Was he not a prince of men? He had behaved badly, of
course; but had any man ever behaved so badly before in so divine a
way? Was it not a thousand pities that she should be driven to deny
anything to a lover who so richly deserved everything that could be
given to him? He had kissed her hand as he let her go, and now, not
knowing what she did, she kissed the spot on which she had felt his
lips. His arm had been round her waist, and the old frock which she
wore should be kept by her for ever, because it had been so graced.
What was she now to say to Lily and to Lily's mother? Of one thing
there was no doubt. She would never tell them of her lover's wicked
audacity. That was a secret never to be imparted to any ears. She
would keep her resentment to herself, and not ask the protection of
any vicarious wrath. He could never so sin again, that was certain;
and she would keep all knowledge and memory of the sin for her own
purposes. But how could it be that such a man as that, one so good
though so sinful, so glorious though so great a trespasser, should
have come to such a girl as her and have asked for her love? Then she
thought of her father's poverty and the misery of her own condition,
and declared to herself that it was very wonderful.
Lily was the first to enter the room, and she, before she did so,
learned from the servant that Major Grantly had left the house. "I
heard the door, miss, and then I saw the top of his hat out of the
pantry window." Armed with this certain information Lily entered the
drawing-room, and found Grace in the act of rising from the sofa.
"Am I disturbing you?" said Lily.
"No; not at all. I am glad you have come. Kiss me, and be good to
me." And she twined her arms about Lily and embraced her.
"Am I not always good to you, you simpleton? Has he been good?"
"I don't know what you mean?"
"And have you been good to him?"
"As good as I knew how, Lily."
"And where is he?"
"He has gone away. I shall never see him any more, Lily."
Then she hid her face upon her friend's shoulder and broke forth
again into hysterical tears.
"But tell me, Grace, what he said;--that is, if you mean to tell me!"
"I will tell you everything;--that is, everything I can." And Grace
blushed as she thought of the one secret which she certainly would
not tell.
"Has he,--has he done what I said he would do? Come, speak out
boldly. Has he asked you to be his wife?"
"Yes," said Grace, barely whispering the word.
"And you have accepted him?"
"No, Lily, I have not. Indeed, I have not. I did not know how to
speak, because I was surprised;--and he, of course, could say what
he liked. But I told him as well as I could, that I would not marry
him."
"And why;--did you tell him why?"
"Yes; because of papa!"
"Then, if he is the man I take him to be, that answer will go for
nothing. Of course he knew all that before he came here. He did not
think you were an heiress with forty thousand pounds. If he is in
earnest, that will go for nothing. And I think he is in earnest."
"And so was I in earnest."
"Well, Grace;--we shall see."
"I suppose I may have a will of my own, Lily."
"Do not be so sure of that. Women are not allowed to have wills of
their own on all occasions. Some man comes in a girl's way, and she
gets to be fond of him, just because he does come in her way. Well;
when that has taken place, she has no alternative but to be taken if
he chooses to take her; or to be left, if he chooses to leave her."
"Lily, don't say that."
"But I do say it. A man may assure himself that he will find for
himself a wife who shall be learned, or beautiful, or six feet
high, if he wishes it, or who has red hair, or red eyes, or red
cheeks,--just what he pleases; and he may go about till he finds it,
as you can go about and match your worsteds. You are a fool if you
buy a colour you don't want. But we can never match our worsteds
for that other piece of work, but are obliged to take any colour
that comes,--and, therefore, it is that we make such a jumble of it!
Here's mamma. We must not be philosophical before her. Mamma, Major
Grantly has--skedaddled."
"Oh, Lily, what a word!"
"But, oh, mamma, what a thing! Fancy his going away and not saying a
word to anybody!"
"If he had anything to say to Grace, I suppose he said it."
"He asked her to marry him, of course. We none of us had any doubt
about that. He swore to her that she and none but she should be his
wife,--and all that kind of thing. But he seems to have done it in
the most prosaic way;--and now he has gone away without saying a word
to any of us. I shall never speak to him again,--unless Grace asks
me."
"Grace, my dear, may I congratulate you?" said Mrs. Dale.
Grace did not answer, as Lily was too quick for her. "Oh, she has
refused him, of course. But Major Grantly is a man of too much sense
to expect that he should succeed the first time. Let me see; this is
the fourteenth. These clocks run fourteen days, and, therefore, you
may expect him again about the twenty-eighth. For myself, I think you
are giving him an immense deal of unnecessary trouble, and that if he
left you in the lurch it would only serve you right; but you have the
world with you, I'm told. A girl is supposed to tell a man two fibs
before she may tell him one truth."
"I told him no fib, Lily. I told him that I would not marry him, and
I will not."
"But why not, dear Grace?" said Mrs. Dale.
"Because the people say that papa is a thief!" Having said this,
Grace walked slowly out of the room, and neither Mrs. Dale nor Lily
attempted to follow her.
"She's as good as gold," said Lily, when the door was closed.
"And he;--what of him?"
"I think he is good, too; but she has told me nothing yet of what
he has said to her. He must be good, or he would not have come down
here after her. But I don't wonder at his coming, because she is so
beautiful! Once or twice as we were walking back to-day, I thought
her face was the most lovely that I had ever seen. And did you see
her just now, as she spoke of her father?"
"Oh, yes;--I saw her."
"Think what she will be in two or three years' time, when she becomes
a woman. She talks French, and Italian, and Hebrew for anything that
I know; and she is perfectly beautiful. I never saw a more lovely
figure;--and she has spirit enough for a goddess. I don't think that
Major Grantly is such a fool after all."
"I never took him for a fool."
"I have no doubt all his own people do;--or they will, when they hear
of it. But, mamma, she will grow to be big enough to walk atop of all
the Lady Hartletops in England. It will all come right at last."
"You think it will?"
"Oh, yes. Why should it not? If he is worth having, it will;--and
I think he is worth having. He must wait till this horrid trial is
over. It is clear to me that Grace thinks that her father will be
convicted."
"But he cannot have taken the money."
"I think he took it, and I think it wasn't his. But I don't think he
stole it. I don't know whether you can understand the difference."
"I am afraid a jury won't understand it."
"A jury of men will not. I wish they could put you and me on it,
mamma. I would take my best boots and eat them down to the heels, for
Grace's sake, and for Major Grantly's. What a good-looking man he
is!"
"Yes, he is."
"And so like a gentleman! I'll tell you what, mamma; we won't say
anything to her about him for the present. Her heart will be so full
she will be driven to talk, and we can comfort her better in that
way." The mother and daughter agreed to act upon these tactics, and
nothing more was said to Grace about her lover on that evening.
Major Grantly walked from Mrs. Dale's house to the inn and ordered
his gig, and drove himself out of Allington, almost without
remembering where he was or whither he was going. He was thinking
solely of what had just occurred, and of what, on his part, should
follow as the result of that meeting. Half at least of the noble
deeds done in this world are due to emulation, rather than to the
native nobility of the actors. A young man leads a forlorn hope
because another young man has offered to do so. Jones in the
hunting-field rides at an impracticable fence because he is told that
Smith took it three years ago. And Walker puts his name down for ten
guineas at a charitable dinner, when he hears Thompson's read out for
five. And in this case the generosity and self-denial shown by Grace
warmed and cherished similar virtues within her lover's breast. Some
few weeks ago Major Grantly had been in doubt as to what his duty
required of him in reference to Grace Crawley; but he had no doubt
whatsoever now. In the fervour of his admiration he would have gone
straight to the archdeacon, had it been possible, and have told him
what he had done and what he intended to do. Nothing now should
stop him;--no consideration, that is, either as regarded money or
position. He had pledged himself solemnly, and he was very glad that
he had pledged himself. He would write to Grace and explain to her
that he trusted altogether in her father's honour and innocence, but
that no consideration as to that ought to influence either him or her
in any way. If, independently of her father, she could bring herself
to come to him and be his wife, she was bound to do so now, let the
position of her father be what it might. And thus, as he drove his
gig back towards Guestwick, he composed a very pretty letter to the
lady of his love.
And as he went, at the corner of the lane which led from the main
road up to Guestwick cottage, he again came upon John Eames, who
was also returning to Guestwick. There had been a few words spoken
between Lady Julia and Johnny respecting Major Grantly after the
girls had left the cottage, and Johnny had been persuaded that the
strange visitor to Allington could have no connection with his
arch-enemy. "And why has he gone to Allington?" John demanded,
somewhat sternly, of his hostess.
"Well; if you ask me, I think he has gone there to see your cousin,
Grace Crawley."
"He told me that he knew Grace," said John, looking as though he were
conscious of his own ingenuity in putting two and two together very
cleverly.
"Your cousin Grace is a very pretty girl," said Lady Julia.
"It's a long time since I've seen her," said Johnny.
"Why, you saw her just this minute," said Lady Julia.
"I didn't look at her," said Johnny. Therefore, when he again met
Major Grantly, having continued to put two and two together with
great ingenuity, he felt quite sure that the man had nothing to do
with the arch-enemy, and he determined to be gracious. "Did you find
them at home at Allington?" he said, raising his hat.
"How do you do again?" said the major. "Yes, I found your friend Mrs.
Dale at home."
"But not her daughter, or my cousin? They were up there;--where I've
come from. But, perhaps, they had got back before you left."
"I saw them both. They found me on the road with Mr. Dale."
"What,--the squire? Then you have seen everybody?"
"Everybody I wished to see at Allington."
"But you wouldn't stay at the 'Red Lion?'"
"Well, no. I remembered that I wanted to get back to London; and as
I had seen my friends, I thought I might as well hurry away."
"You knew Mrs. Dale before, then?"
"No, I didn't. I never saw her in my life before. But I knew the old
squire when I was a boy. However, I should have said friend. I went
to see one friend, and I saw her."
John Eames perceived that his companion put a strong emphasis on the
word "her," as though he were determined to declare boldly that he
had gone to Allington solely to see Grace Crawley. He had not the
slightest objection to recognizing in Major Grantly a suitor for his
cousin's hand. He could only reflect what an unusually fortunate girl
Grace must be if such a thing could be true. Of those poor Crawleys
he had only heard from time to time that their misfortunes were as
numerous as the sands on the sea-shore, and as unsusceptible of any
fixed and permanent arrangement. But, as regarded Grace, here would
be a very permanent arrangement. Tidings had reached him that Grace
was a great scholar, but he had never heard much of her beauty. It
must probably be the case that Major Grantly was fond of Greek. There
was, he reminded himself, no accounting for tastes; but as nothing
could be more respectable than such an alliance, he thought that it
would become him to be civil to the major.
"I hope you found her quite well. I had barely time to speak to her
myself."
"Yes, she was very well. This is a sad thing about her father."
"Very sad," said Johnny. Perhaps the major had heard about the
accusation for the first time to-day, and was going to find an escape
on that plea. If such was the case, it would not be so well to be
particularly civil.
"I believe Mr. Crawley is a cousin of yours?" said the major.
"His wife is my mother's first-cousin. Their mothers were sisters."
"She is an excellent woman."
"I believe so. I don't know much about them myself,--that is,
personally. Of course I have heard of this charge that has been made
against him. It seems to me to be a great shame."
"Well, I can't exactly say that it is a shame. I do not know that
there has been anything done with a feeling of persecution or of
cruelty. It is a great mystery, and we must have it cleared up if we
can."
"I don't suppose he can have been guilty," said Johnny.
"Certainly not in the ordinary sense of the word. I heard all the
evidence against him."
"Oh, you did?"
"Yes," said the major. "I live near them in Barsetshire, and I am one
of his bailsmen."
"Then you are an old friend, I suppose?"
"Not exactly that; but circumstances make me very much interested
about them. I fancy that the cheque was left in his house by
accident, and that it got into his hands he didn't know how, and that
when he used it he thought it was his."
"That's queer," said Johnny.
"He is very odd, you know."
"But it's a kind of oddity that they don't like at the assizes."
"The great cruelty is," said the major, "that whatever may be the
result, the punishment will fall so heavily upon his wife and
daughters. I think the whole county ought to come forward and take
them by the hand. Well, good-by. I'll drive on, as I'm a little in a
hurry."
"Good-by," said Johnny. "I'm very glad to have had the pleasure of
meeting you." "He's a good sort of a fellow after all," he said to
himself when the gig had passed on. "He wouldn't have talked in that
way if he had meant to hang back."