The immediate effect upon St. Cleeve of the receipt of her well-reasoned
argument for retrocession was, naturally, a bitter attack upon himself
for having been guilty of such cruel carelessness as to leave in her way
the lawyer's letter that had first made her aware of his uncle's
provision for him. Immature as he was, he could realize Viviette's
position sufficiently well to perceive what the poor lady must suffer at
having suddenly thrust upon her the responsibility of repairing her own
situation as a wife by ruining his as a legatee. True, it was by the
purest inadvertence that his pending sacrifice of means had been
discovered; but he should have taken special pains to render such a
mishap impossible. If on the first occasion, when a revelation might
have been made with impunity, he would not put it in the power of her
good nature to relieve his position by refusing him, he should have shown
double care not to do so now, when she could not exercise that
benevolence without the loss of honour.
With a young man's inattention to issues he had not considered how sharp
her feelings as a woman must be in this contingency. It had seemed the
easiest thing in the world to remedy the defect in their marriage, and
therefore nothing to be anxious about. And in his innocence of any
thought of appropriating the bequest by taking advantage of the loophole
in his matrimonial bond, he undervalued the importance of concealing the
existence of that bequest.
The looming fear of unhappiness between them revived in Swithin the warm
emotions of their earlier acquaintance. Almost before the sun had set he
hastened to Welland House in search of her. The air was disturbed by
stiff summer blasts, productive of windfalls and premature descents of
leafage. It was an hour when unripe apples shower down in orchards, and
unbrowned chestnuts descend in their husks upon the park glades. There
was no help for it this afternoon but to call upon her in a direct
manner, regardless of suspicions. He was thunderstruck when, while
waiting in the full expectation of being admitted to her presence, the
answer brought back to him was that she was unable to see him.
This had never happened before in the whole course of their acquaintance.
But he knew what it meant, and turned away with a vague disquietude. He
did not know that Lady Constantine was just above his head, listening to
his movements with the liveliest emotions, and, while praying for him to
go, longing for him to insist on seeing her and spoil all. But the
faintest symptom being always sufficient to convince him of having
blundered, he unwittingly took her at her word, and went rapidly away.
However, he called again the next day, and she, having gained strength by
one victory over herself, was enabled to repeat her refusal with greater
ease. Knowing this to be the only course by which her point could be
maintained, she clung to it with strenuous and religious pertinacity.
Thus immured and self-controlling she passed a week. Her brother, though
he did not live in the house (preferring the nearest watering-place at
this time of the year), was continually coming there; and one day he
happened to be present when she denied herself to Swithin for the third
time. Louis, who did not observe the tears in her eyes, was astonished
and delighted: she was coming to her senses at last. Believing now that
there had been nothing more between them than a too-plainly shown
partiality on her part, he expressed his commendation of her conduct to
her face. At this, instead of owning to its advantage also, her tears
burst forth outright.