'Love me, for I love you,' and answer me
'Love me, for I love you.'--CHRISTINA ROSSETTI.
'Tis the night of the ball, dinner is over and the house party is
collected in the hall, waiting the arrival of the guests. The fiddles
are scraping away in the drawing-room, where the furniture having been
taken away and the carpet removed, the floor looks inviting and 'is
perfectly delicious' owns Philippa, having performed a _pas seul_
thereon, before anyone was down. She looks extremely pretty to-night in
a quaint, little white satin dress, her hair fluffed all round her
head, and tied up with pale green ribbons.
At this moment she is striving in vain to button up one of Chubby's
gloves. 'It's awfully good of you,' he says. 'I can't think why they are
so tight, what--'
'If I don't button it this time,' she replies, 'I really can't try any
more, for I have not got my own on yet, and I know they'll begin to
dance in a moment.'
'You'll let me have the first, won't you?' he says.
'Certainly,' she answers, all her attention absorbed in the button which
is just half in the button-hole, one little poke and 'there it's done,'
she says.
But alas! it is _done_ indeed, for there is an ominous crack, and a
large split is seen right across it.
'What a nuisance,' says Helmdon, gazing at the torn article.
'Oh I hope it wasn't my fault,' says Lippa.
'No; not at all, I assure you--'
'Don't waste time then looking at it, fetch another quickly,' and
Philippa begins hastily to cover her own bare hands. 'Chubby,' she calls
after him, 'they're beginning to dance. I can't keep this one for you,
the next one will do just as well, won't it?'
'Quite,' is the reply as he ascends the stairs three steps at a time;
while she becomes aware of two men making for her, Harkness and
Dalrymple, the former she feels will reach her first, and she has no
desire to dance with him: so she suddenly feels that she ought to be
nearer her sister-in-law, and edging her way through the crowd gains her
chaperon's side, a second before Jimmy comes up.
'May I have this?' he says eagerly, and receiving an affirmative, he
leads her off to the ball-room, where the "Garden of Sleep" waltz is
echoing through the well-lighted apartment, and the air is fragrant with
the scent of many flowers. Already a goodly crowd is there, mammas,
elderly spinsters, girls of all sizes and ages, in satin, silks, and
tulle; old men, middle-aged men, young men and mere boys are all
collected there. In a second Dalrymple and Philippa join in the giddy
dance; for what is more giddifying (if I may use such a word), than
waltzing in a room full of people who have not summoned up courage
enough to begin, round and round they go, till Miss Seaton at length
says, 'I think I really must stop although the best part of the tune is
just coming. We can't be like the river, can we, going on forever:'
'Men may come and men may go,'
'But I go on forever.'
She murmurs more to herself than to him, as they make their way to the
conservatory, and then, 'Do you like poetry?' she asks.
'Pretty well, I don't read much of it.'
'I am so fond of it,' replies Philippa, settling herself comfortably on
a sofa surrounded by cushions, 'I could read it all day.'
'Ah, you see you have more time to do what you like, but when a fellow
has been at work all day, he doesn't feel inclined for poetry, you've
got nothing to do except to read and do fancy work, I suppose.'
'That's a mistake that all men make, they think that girls have nothing
to do all day, when they have quite as much as men if not more; you
don't know anything about them. And I think poetry is the _most_ restful
thing to read when one's tired, you see our minds soar to higher things
than yours, you study the _Racing Calendar_ and the newspapers, don't
you?'
'Generally, not always,' admits Jimmy.
'The _Racing Calendar_, _versus_ Tennyson, Longfellow, or Mrs Browning;
but I don't believe you're half listening to me,' says she, for he is
gazing straight in front of him.
'I assure you I was,' he protests, 'I am in a crowd now, may I not muse
on the "absent face that has fixed" me.'
'No, certainly not, you ought to be thinking of me,' this in a slightly
aggrieved tone.
'How do you know I wasn't,' gazing at her earnestly.
'I'm not absent,' and then Philippa seeing what might be implied,
blushes a rosy red, and rising says, 'We must go back now, I promised
Lord Helmdon this dance, and he'll never find me here. Ah! there he is.'
'Are you so anxious to dance with him?' asks Jimmy in a would-be
indifferent tone.
'Yes, of course,' she replies, 'I like him so much, don't you?'
'Oh, yes,' replies Dalrymple with equal indifference. And so the evening
wears on and Miss Seaton is congratulating herself at having eluded
Captain Harkness, when she suddenly finds him standing before her.
'Won't you give me a dance?' he says in his suave tone. 'I have been
trying to speak to you all the evening--'
'Have you?' she replies, and not knowing quite how to get out of it.
'You may have the next one if you like,' she says.
'May I really? Then I shall find you somewhere about here?'
Lippa nods, and her partner, an aged baronet, claims her and they go
through the intricacies of the lancers. Almost before the next dance has
begun, Harkness appears; he dances beautifully and knows it too, but it
is not long before he suggests a saunter in the garden.
Philippa consents, and forth they go into the cool night air. A hundred
tiny lamps have been placed among the bushes, which shed a subdued light
over the scene; charming corners have been arranged to sit in, while
the splashing of the fountains mingles with the laughter and
conversation of the company.
'What an interminable dance,' thinks Philippa, as having walked a good
way round the garden, she finds herself once more outside the ball-room,
and the same tune is still being played. She heaves a sigh of despair
and raising her eyes meets those of Dalrymple, who is propping himself
against a pillar. There is a look of reproach in them, and Lippa, though
her conscience tells her she was unkind to him, feels an insane desire
to make him jealous, and turns with an adorable smile to Harkness, not
having heard a word of what he has just been saying; but he, thinking he
has everything in his grasp, smiles, and leads her almost before she is
aware, to a secluded corner.
'I--er I have been meaning to say something to you all this evening,' he
begins, standing before her with his arms folded.
'Indeed,' replies Miss Seaton lightly, 'it can't be anything of great
importance, or you would have said it before.'
'Not important,' this with a little more energy, 'why it is of vital
importance; on it hangs the whole fate of my existence, Miss Seaton,'
bending towards her, 'er--er Philippa, do you not know, have you not
guessed that I love you, that to see you is necessary to my happiness,
the first time I saw you--hear me,' as she makes as if to speak, 'you
must know it, do you not see it in my eyes?' he is growing melodramatic
and Lippa feels inclined to laugh, 'but one word, you love me, do you
not, ah!' and he is about to seize her hand when she steps back from him
saying,--
'I am afraid, Captain Harkness, you have made a mistake.'
'Mistake,' he replies, 'do you mean that you will not marry me.'
'Yes, I mean that I will _not_ marry you.'
'Not marry me,' it is getting monotonous this repeating of her words,
and she makes a movement of impatience, then all of a sudden his
expression changes, 'I am afraid I put the question too soon,' he says,
coming a little closer and taking hold of her hand, 'but do you love
another?'
'Leave go,' she exclaims, 'I think you forget, what--'
'Who is it,' he goes on, not heeding her, 'is it Helmdon or Dalrymple?'
he is so close that she can feel his breath on her cheek, 'ah, I can see
by your eyes it is Dalrymple?'
This is too much, and with a sudden movement she raises her other hand
and gives him a good box on the ear. He is so taken aback that he drops
Lippa's hand, and she, thoroughly frightened, rushes down the path into
the unlighted part of the garden, and falls headlong into the arms of
Jimmy; who, consumed with despair, has sought refuge in solitude.
'I--er I beg your pardon,' says Philippa, starting back, 'I--I--' but
sobs check her words.
'What is the matter?' asks he tenderly, his despair having vanished; the
gentle tone of his voice makes her cry the more and so he does the thing
that comes most naturally to him, without thinking of the consequences,
for he puts his arm round her, and kisses her madly; and Lippa without
resisting, leans her perturbed little head against his shoulder feeling
unutterably happy.
'Why have you been running away from me all the evening?' he asks, when
a perfect understanding has been made between them.
'I didn't,' she says indignantly, 'it was you who never came near me.'
A kiss is the answer to this, and then tenderly, 'But what were you
crying about just now?'
'I was frightened rather--'
'What at, darling?' asks Jimmy, gazing down at the blushing face, which
is being rubbed up and down against his coat sleeve.
'At--at what I'd done,' stammers Lippa.
'Something very dreadful, no doubt,' says he with a look that belies his
words.
'Yes, you're quite right,' Miss Seaton answers, 'it _was_ dreadful. I
can't think how I did it, shall I have to beg his pardon?'
'His! whose?' asks Jimmy quickly.
'Captain Harkness,' is the whispered reply, while she digs a hole in the
gravel path with the heel of her white satin shoe. 'I boxed him on the
ear, I hardly knew what I was doing at the moment, and now I can't think
how I could do it--you see he'd asked me to marry him.'
'Is that the usual way you refuse your suitors?' says Jimmy laughing.
'What a mercy I had not to suffer the same fate.'
'Now if I remember rightly,' replies Miss Seaton gravely, 'you haven't
asked me to marry you.'
'What have I done then?' asks Dalrymple.
'You've told me you loved me, but that isn't a bit the same, you know.'
'No, of course not, but, dearest, you _will_ marry me?'
'Silly boy,' is the reply, while she suddenly reaches up and kisses him,
and then disengaging herself from his detaining arm hurries back to the
house, whither he follows her a little more slowly.