AYALA'S MARRIAGE.
Now we have come to our last chapter, and it may be doubted whether
any reader,--unless he be some one specially gifted with a genius
for statistics,--will have perceived how very many people have been
made happy by matrimony. If marriage be the proper ending for a
novel,--the only ending, as this writer takes it to be, which is not
discordant,--surely no tale was ever so properly ended, or with so
full a concord, as this one. Infinite trouble has been taken not only
in arranging these marriages but in joining like to like,--so that,
if not happiness, at any rate sympathetic unhappiness, might be
produced. Our two sisters will, it is trusted, be happy. They have
chosen men from their hearts, and have been chosen after the same
fashion. Those two other sisters have been so wedded that the one
will follow the idiosyncrasies of her husband, and the other bring
her husband to follow her idiosyncrasies, without much danger of
mutiny or revolt. As to Miss Docimer there must be room for fear. It
may be questioned whether she was not worthy of a better lot than
has been achieved for her by joining her fortunes to those of Frank
Houston. But I, speaking for myself, have my hopes of Frank Houston.
It is hard to rescue a man from the slough of luxury and idleness
combined. If anything can do it, it is a cradle filled annually. It
may be that he will yet learn that a broad back with a heavy weight
upon it gives the best chance of happiness here below. Of Lord John's
married prospects I could not say much as he came so very lately on
the scene; but even he may perhaps do something in the world when
he finds that his nursery is filling, For our special friend Tom
Tringle, no wife has been found. In making his effort,--which he
did manfully,--he certainly had not chosen the consort who would be
fit for him. He had not seen clearly, as had done his sisters and
cousins. He had fallen in love too young,--it being the nature of
young men to be much younger than young ladies, and, not knowing
himself, had been as might be a barn-door cock who had set his heart
upon some azure-plumaged, high-soaring lady of the woods. The lady
with the azure plumes had, too, her high-soaring tendencies, but she
was enabled by true insight to find the male who would be fit for
her. The barn-door cock, when we left him on board the steamer going
to New York, had not yet learned the nature of his own requirements.
The knowledge will come to him. There may be doubts as to Frank
Houston, but we think that there need be none as to Tom Tringle. The
proper wife will be forthcoming; and in future years, when he will
probably have a Glenbogie and a Merle Park of his own, he will own
that Fortune did well for him in making his cousin Ayala so stern to
his prayers.
But Ayala herself,--Ayala our pet heroine,--had not been yet married
when the last chapter was written, and now there remains a page or
two in which the reader must bid adieu to her as she stands at the
altar with her Angel of Light. She was at Stalham for a fortnight
before her marriage, in order, as Lady Albury said, that the buxom
ladysmaid might see that everything had been done rightly in
reference to the trousseau. "My dear," said Lady Albury, "it is
important, you know. I dare say you can bake and brew, because you
say so; but you don't know anything about clothes." Ayala, who by
this time was very intimate with her friend, pouted her lips, and
said that if "Jonathan did not like her things as she chose to have
them he might do the other thing." But Lady Albury had her way,
inducing Sir Harry to add something even to Uncle Tom's liberality,
and the buxom woman went about her task in such a fashion that
if Colonel Stubbs were not satisfied he must have been a very
unconscionable Colonel. He probably would know nothing about
it,--except that his bride in her bridal array had not looked so
well as in any other garments, which, I take it, is invariably the
case,--till at the end of the first year a glimmer of the truth as to
a lady's wardrobe would come upon him. "I told you there would be a
many new dresses before two years were over, Miss," said the buxom
female, as she spread all the frocks and all the worked petticoats
and all the collars and all the silk stockings and all the lace
handkerchiefs about the bedroom to be inspected by Lady Albury, Mrs.
Gosling, and one or two other friends, before they were finally
packed up.
Then came the day on which the Colonel was to reach Stalham, that day
being a Monday, whereas the wedding was to take place on Wednesday.
It was considered to be within the bounds of propriety that the
Colonel should sleep at Stalham on the Monday, under the same roof
with his bride; but on the Tuesday it was arranged that he should
satisfy the decorous feeling of the neighbourhood by removing himself
to the parsonage, which was distant about half-a-mile across the
park, and was contiguous to the church. Here lived Mr. Greene, the
bachelor curate, the rector of the parish being an invalid and absent
in Italy.
"I don't see why he is to be sent away after dinner to walk across
the park in the dark," said Ayala, when the matter was discussed
before the Colonel's coming.
"It is a law, my dear," said Lady Albury, "and has to be obeyed
whether you understand it or not, like other laws. Mr. Greene will be
with him, so that no one shall run away with him in the dark. Then he
will be able to go into church without dirtying his dress boots."
"But I thought there would be half-a-dozen carriages at least."
"But there won't be room in one of them for him. He is to be nobody
until he comes forth from the church as your husband. Then he is to
be everybody. That is the very theory of marriage."
* * * * * *
"I think we managed it all very well between us," said Lady Albury
afterwards, "but you really cannot guess the trouble we took."
"Why should there have been trouble?"
"Because you were such a perverse creature, as the old lady said.
I am not sure that you were not right, because a girl does so often
raise herself in her lover's estimation by refusing him half-a-dozen
times. But you were not up to that."
"Indeed I was not. I am sure I did not intend to give any trouble to
anybody."
"But you did. Only think of my going up to London to meet him, and of
him coming from Aldershot to meet me, simply that we might put our
heads together how to overcome the perversity of such a young woman
as you!" There then came a look almost of pain on Ayala's brow. "But
I do believe it was for the best. In this way he came to understand
how absolutely necessary you were to him."
"Am I necessary to him?"
"He thinks so."
"Oh, if I can only be necessary to him always! But there should have
been no going up to London. I should have rushed into his arms at
once."
"That would have been unusual."
"But so is he unusual," said Ayala.
It is probable that the Colonel did not enjoy his days at Stalham
before his marriage, except during the hour or two in which he was
allowed to take Ayala out for a last walk. Such days can hardly be
agreeable to the man of whom it is known by all around him that he
is on the eve of committing matrimony. There is always, on such
occasions, a feeling of weakness, as though the man had been subdued,
brought at length into a cage and tamed, so as to be made fit for
domestic purposes, and deprived of his ancient freedom amongst
the woods;--whereas the girl feels herself to be the triumphant
conqueror, who has successfully performed this great act of taming.
Such being the case, the man had perhaps better keep away till he is
forced to appear at the church-door.
Nevertheless our Colonel did enjoy his last walk. "Oh, yes," she
said, "of course we will go to the old wood. Where else? I am so glad
that poor fox went through Gobblegoose;--otherwise we should never
have gone there, and then who knows whether you and I would ever have
been friends again any more?"
"If one wood hadn't been there, I think another would have been
found."
"Ah, that's just it. You can know that you had a purpose, and perhaps
were determined to carry it out."
"Well, rather."
"But I couldn't be sure of that. I couldn't carry out my purpose,
even if I had one. I had to doubt, and to be unhappy, and to hate
myself, because I had been perverse. I declare, I do think you men
have so much the best of it. How glorious would it have been to be
able to walk straight up and say, Jonathan Stubbs, I love you better
than all the world. Will you be my husband?"
"But suppose the Jonathan Stubbs of the occasion were to decline the
honour. Where would you be then?"
"That would be disagreeable," said Ayala.
"It is disagreeable,--as you made me feel twice over."
"Oh, Jonathan, I am so sorry."
"Therefore it is possible that you may have the best of it."
* * * * * *
"And so you never will take another walk with Ayala Dormer?" she
said, as they were returning home.
"Never another," he replied.
"You cannot think how I regret it. Of course I am glad to become
your wife. I do not at all want to have it postponed. But there is
something so sweet in having a lover;--and you know that though I
shall have a husband I shall never have a lover again,--and I never
had one before, Jonathan. There has been very little of it. When a
thing has been so sweet it is sad to think that it must be gone for
ever!" Then she leaned upon him with both her hands, and looked up
at him and smiled, with her lips a little open,--as she knew that he
liked her to lean upon him and to look,--for she had caught by her
instinct the very nature of the man, and knew how to witch him with
her little charms. "Ah me! I wonder whether you'll like me to lean
upon you when a dozen years have gone by."
"That depends on how heavy you may be."
"I shall be a fat old woman, perhaps. But I shall lean upon
you,--always, always. What else shall I ever have to lean upon now?"
"What else should you want?"
"Nothing,--nothing,--nothing! I want nothing else. I wonder whether
there is anybody in all the world who has got so completely
everything that she ever dreamed of wanting as I have. But if you
could have been only my lover for a little longer--!" Then he assured
her that he would be her lover just the same, even though they were
husband and wife. Alas, no! There he had promised more than it is
given to a man to perform. Faith, honesty, steadiness of purpose,
joined to the warmest love and the truest heart, will not enable a
husband to maintain the sweetness of that aroma which has filled with
delight the senses of the girl who has leaned upon his arm as her
permitted lover.
"What a happy fellow you are!" said Mr. Greene, as, in the intimacy
of the moment, they walked across the park together.
"Why don't you get a wife for yourself?"
"Yes; with £120 a-year!"
"With a little money you might."
"I don't want to have to look for the money; and if I did I shouldn't
get it. I often think how very unfairly things are divided in this
world."
"That will all be made up in the next."
"Not if one covets one's neighbour's wife,--or even his ass," said
Mr. Greene.
On the return of the two lovers to the house from their walk there
were Mr. and Mrs. Dosett, who would much rather have stayed away had
they not been unwilling not to show their mark of affection to their
niece. I doubt whether they were very happy, but they were at any
rate received with every distinction. Sir Thomas and Aunt Emmeline
were asked, but they made some excuse. Sir Thomas knew very well that
he had nothing in common with Sir Harry Albury; and, as for Aunt
Emmeline, her one journey to Stalham had been enough for her. But Sir
Thomas was again very liberal, and sent down as his contribution to
the wedding presents the very necklace which Ayala had refused from
her cousin Tom. "Upon my word, your uncle is magnificent," said Lady
Albury, upon which the whole story was told to her. Lucy and her
husband were away on their tour, as were Gertrude and hers on theirs.
This was rather a comfort, as Captain Batsby's presence at the house
would have been a nuisance. But there was quite enough of guests to
make the wedding, as being a country wedding, very brilliant. Among
others, old Tony Tappett was there, mindful of the manner in which
Cranbury Brook had been ridden, and of Croppy's presence when the
hounds ran their fox into Dillsborough Wood. "I hope she be to ride
with us, off and on, Colonel," said Tony, when the ceremony had been
completed.
"Now and then, Tony, when we can get hold of Croppy."
"Because, when they come out like that, Colonel, it's a pity to lose
'em, just because they's got their husbands to attend to."
And Lord Rufford was there, with his wife, who on this occasion was
very pressing with her invitations. She had heard that Colonel Stubbs
was likely to rise high in his profession, and there were symptoms,
of which she was an excellent judge, that Mrs. Colonel Stubbs would
become known as a professional beauty. And Larry Twentyman was there,
who, being in the neighbourhood, was, to his great delight, invited
to the breakfast.
Thus, to her own intense satisfaction, Ayala was handed over to her
ANGEL OF LIGHT.
* * * * * *
Transcriber's note:
Obvious typographical errors have been corrected.
Volume II, Chapter XXVII, paragraph 12. Lady Albury's first
name appears eight times in the text. It appears three times as
"Rosaline" (including here) and five times as "Rosalind." Trollope
was not a stickler for consistency, and the two spellings have
been left as they appear in the original text.
Volume II, Chapter XXXI, paragraph 1. Trollope seems to use
"necklace" and "bracelet" interchangeably in describing Tom's
gift for Ayala.
Volume II, Chapter XXXVII, paragraph 1. The astute reader will
recall that, in Chapter XXIX, Sir Thomas, after reading Gertrude's
letter, "calmly tore the letter in little bits, and threw them
into the waste-paper basket." Here we discover the letter was
preserved.
Volume II, Chapter XLII, paragraph 13. Here the mare with the
broken knees is sent at once into Hastings for the doctor.
The reader perhaps recalls that in Chapter XXX, when the mare
fell and cut her knees to the bone while being driven by Mr.
Traffick, Sir Thomas ordered his groom to shoot her. We do
not know whether this is one of Trollope's inconsistencies or
whether the groom merely ignored Sir Thomas' instructions.
Volume III, Chapter LII, paragraph 17. The astute reader will
remember that the pony ridden by Ayala in the hunt at the start of
Volume II was named "Sprite." Here the pony reappears but with a
different name: "Croppy."
Specific changes in wording of the text are listed below.
Volume I, Chapter III, paragraph 43. The word "at" was added to
the sentence: "I don't see it AT all," said Ayala, flashing
round.
Volume I, Chapter VII, paragraph 57. The word "nothing" was
changed to "anything" in the sentence: If he could only be made
to understand that it could never mean ANYTHING!
Volume I, Chapter IX, paragraph 12. The word "to" was deleted
from the sentence which in the original was as follows: She has
spoken a word or two to me TO which had been better unsaid, but
I am well convinced that it has come from hot temper and not
from a bad heart.
Volume I, Chapter XIV, paragraph 2. A comma was added after
the word "carriage" in the sentence: There would be quite
enough for a CARRIAGE, for three months upon a mountain in
Switzerland, and three more among the art treasures of Italy.
Volume I, Chapter XV, paragraph 42. The word "I" was changed to
"to" in the sentence: I don't know what TO say, but I can't.
Volume II, Chapter XXIII, paragraph 47. The word "were" was
changed to "where" in the sentence: Captain Batsby and three
other gentlemen were put inside, WHERE they consoled themselves
with unlimited tobacco.
Volume II, Chapter XXVII, paragraph 4. "Albury" was changed to
"Stalham" in the heading of the letter: STALHAM, Monday, 18th
November, 18--.
Volume III, Chapter LII, paragraph 1. A question mark was
changed to a full stop at the end of the sentence: If he ever
did come again it should not be because she had asked for his
coming.