RENEWING IS OF LOVE.
Next morning broke bright and clear, for the north wind had blown
freshly all the night, and swept the smoke of the town right out to sea,
where it lay along the horizon as a soft saffron-reddish cloud.
Accordingly the sky overhead was of a summer-like blue; and the sea was
of a shining green, save where it grew opaque and brown as it neared the
shore; while the welcome sunlight was everywhere abroad, giving promise
of a cheerful day, even now in December. And Vin Harris was standing at
a window of the hotel, looking absently out on the wide and empty
thoroughfares.
A waiter brought him a note. He glanced at the handwriting with
startled eyes, then tore the envelope open. This was what he read--
"Dear Vincent, I wish to speak with you for a moment if you are not
engaged. I am going down to the breakwater, and will wait there for a
little while.
"MAISRIE."
He called to the waiter.
"When did this come?"
"I found it lying on the hall table, sir--just this minute, sir."
He did not waste time on further questions. In a couple of seconds he
was outside and had crossed the road; and there, sure enough--far below
him--out on the breakwater--was a solitary figure that he instantly
recognised. He went quickly down the steps; he did not stay to ask what
this might mean, or to prepare himself in any way; as he approached her,
all his anxiety was to know if her eyes were kind--or hostile. Well,
they were neither; but there was a certain pride in her tone as she
spoke.
"Vincent, you were angry with me last night. Why?"
"Maisrie," said he, "why don't you put up that furred collar round your
neck? It is so cold this morning. See, let me put it up for you."
She retreated an inch, declining: she waited for him to answer her
question.
"Angry with you?" he said, with obvious constraint. "No, but I was
vexed. I was vexed with a lot of things--that I can hardly explain. Not
with you personally--at least--well, at any rate I did not mean to
offend you. If I have offended you I ask your pardon----"
Here he paused: these stammering sentences were so insufficient. And
then all at once he said----
"Maisrie, who was that young man?"
She looked surprised.
"Do you mean Mr. Glover?"
"Glover?--oh, that is his name. But who is he?--what is he?--how did
you come to know him so intimately?----"
Perhaps she began to see a little.
"I don't know him at all, Vincent. He is a friend of my
grandfather's--or rather he is the son of a friend of my
grandfather's--a wine-merchant in London. We met him on the day we came
here----"
"And he lost no time in showing off his acquaintance with you," said
Vincent, bitterly, "--driving you up and down the King's Road, before
all Brighton!"
At this she lowered her head a little.
"I did not wish to go, Vincent. Grandfather pressed me. I did not like
to refuse."
"Oh," said he, "I have no right to object. It is not for me to object.
If new friends are to be treated as old friends--what does it matter?"
She regarded him reproachfully.
"You know very well, Vincent, that if I had thought it would vex you, I
would not have gone--no--nothing in the world would have induced
me--nothing! And how cruel it is of you to speak of new friends--and to
say that old friends are so quickly forgotten! Is that all you believe
of what I have told you many a time? But--but if I have pained you, I
am sorry," she continued, still with downcast lashes. "Tell me what you
wish me to do. I will not speak to him again, if you would rather I
should not. If he comes to the house, I will stay in my own room until
he is gone--anything, anything rather than that you should be vexed.
For you have been so kind to me!"
"No, no," said he, hastily. "No, I have been altogether wrong. Do just
as you please yourself, Maisrie: that will be the right thing. I have
been an ass and a fool to doubt you. But--but it made me mad to think
of any man coming between you and me----"
"Vincent!"
She raised her head; and for one ineffable moment her maiden eyes were
unveiled and fixed upon him--with such a tenderness and pride and trust
as altogether bewildered him and entranced him beyond the powers of
speech. For here was confession at last!--her soul had declared itself:
no matter what might happen now, he knew she was his own! And yet, when
she spoke, it was as if she had divined his thoughts, and would
dissipate that too wonderful dream.
"No," she said, rather wistfully, and her eyes were averted again, "that
is the last thing you need think about, Vincent; no man will ever come
between you and me. No man will ever take your place in my
regard--and--and esteem----"
"Is that all, Maisrie?" he said, gently; but in truth that sudden
revelation had left him all trembling and overjoyed. He was almost
afraid to speak to her, lest she should withdraw that unspoken avowal.
"And--and affection: why should not I say it?--I may not have another
chance," she went on. "You need not fear, Vincent. No man will ever
come between you and me; but a woman will--and welcome! You will
marry--you will be happy--and no one will be better pleased to hear of
it all than I shall. And why," she continued, with a kind of
cheerfulness, "why, even in that case, should we speak of any one coming
between us? We shall have the same affection, the same kind thoughts,
even then, I hope----"
"Maisrie, why do you talk like that!" he protested. "You know quite
well that you will be my wife--or no one."
She shook her head.
"If you do not see for yourself that it is impossible--if you do not
understand, Vincent--then some day I must tell you----"
"Ah, but you have told me something far more important, and only a
minute or two ago," said he. "You have told me all I want to know, this
very morning! You are not aware of the confession you have made, since
you came out on this breakwater? I have seen in your eyes what I never
saw before; and everything else is to me as nothing. Difficulties?--I
don't believe in them. I see our way as clear as daylight; and there's
neither man nor woman coming between us. Oh, yes, I have discovered
something this morning--that makes our way clear enough! Maisrie, do
you know what wonderful eyes you have?--they can say so many
things--perhaps even more than you intend. So much the better--so much
the better--for I know they speak true."
She did not seem to share his joyous confidence.
"I must be going now, Vincent," she said. "Grandfather will wonder why I
am so long in getting his newspapers. And I am glad to know you are no
longer vexed with me. I could not bear that. And I will take care you
shall have no further cause--indeed I will, Vincent."
She was for bidding him good-bye, but he detained her: a wild wish had
come into his head.
"Maisrie," said he, with a little hesitation, "couldn't you--couldn't
you give me some little thing to keep as a souvenir of this happy
morning? Ah, you don't know all you have told me, perhaps! Only some
little thing: could you give me a sandal-wood bead, Maisrie--could you
cut one off your necklace?--and I will get a small gold case made for
it, and wear it always and always, and when I open it, the perfume will
remind me of you and of our walks together, and the evenings in that
little parlour----"
But instantly she had pulled off her gloves, and with busy fingers
unclasped the necklace; then she touched it with her lips, and placed
the whole of the warm and scented treasure in his hand.
"I only wanted one of the beads, Maisrie," said he, with something of
shamefacedness.
"Take it, Vincent--I have not many things to give," she said, simply.
"Then--then would you wear something if I gave it to you?" he asked.
"Oh, yes, if you would like that," she answered at once.
"Oh, well, I must try to get something nice--something appropriate,"
said he. "I wonder if a Brighton jeweller could make me a small white
dove in ivory or mother-of-pearl, that you could wear just as if it had
alighted on your breast--a pin, you know, for your neck--and the pin
could be made of a row of rubies or sapphires--while the dove itself
would be white."
"But, Vincent," she said, doubtingly, "if I were to wear that?"
"What would it mean? Is that what you ask? Shall I tell you, Maisrie?
It would mean a betrothal!"
She shrank back.
"No--no," she said. "No--I could not wear that!"
"Oh, are you frightened by a word?" said he, cheerfully. "Very
well--very well--it shan't mean anything of the kind! It will only
serve to remind you of a morning on which you and I went for a little
stroll down a breakwater at Brighton, when the Brighton people were so
kind as to leave it all to ourselves. Nothing more than that,
Maisrie!--if you wish it. Only you must wear the little white dove--as
an emblem of peace and goodwill--and a messenger bringing you good
news--and a lot of things like that, that I'm too stupid to put into
words. For this is a morning not to be forgotten by either of us, all
our lives long, I hope. You think you have not said anything?--then you
shouldn't have such tell-tale eyes, Maisrie! And I believe them. I
don't believe you when you talk about vague impossibilities. Well, I
suppose I must let you go; and I suppose we cannot say good-bye--out
here in the open----"
"But you are coming, too, Vincent--a little way?"
"As far as ever you will allow me," said he. "Till the end of life, if
you like--and as I hope."
But that was looking too far ahead in the present circumstances.
"What are you going to do to-day, Maisrie?" he asked, as they were
leaving the breakwater and making up for the Marine Parade. "Oh, I
forgot: you are going out walking at eleven."
She blushed slightly.
"No, Vincent; I think I shall remain at home."
"On a morning like this?--impossible! Why, you must go out in the
sunlight. Sunlight is rare in December."
Then she said, with some little embarrassment, "I do not wish to vex you
any more, Vincent. If I went out with grandfather, we should meet Mr.
Glover----"
"Mr. Glover?" he said, interrupting her. "Dearest Maisrie, I don't mind
if you were to go walking with twenty Mr. Glovers!--I don't mind that
now. It is the sunlight that is of importance; it is getting you into
the sunlight that is everything. And if Mr. Glover asks you to go
driving with him in the afternoon, of course you must go!--it will
interest you to see the crowd and the carriages, and it will keep you in
the fresh air. Oh, yes, if I'm along in the King's Road this afternoon,
I shall look out for you; and if you should happen to see me, then just
remember that you have given me your sandal-wood necklace, and that I am
the proudest and happiest person in the whole town of Brighton. Why, of
course you must go out, both morning and afternoon," he continued, in
this gay and generous fashion, as they were mounting the steps towards
the upper thoroughfare. "Sunlight is just all the world, for flowers,
and pretty young ladies, and similar things; and now you're away from
the London fogs, you must make the best of it. It is very wise of your
grandfather to lay aside his work while the fine weather lasts. Now be a
good, sensible girl, and go out at eleven o'clock."
"Vincent," she said, "if I do go with grandfather this morning, will you
come down the town, and join us?"
"Oh, well," said he, rather hesitating, "I--I do not wish to inflict
myself on anybody. But don't mistake, Maisrie: I shall be quite happy,
even if I see you walking up and down with the purveyor of bad sherry.
It won't vex me in the least: something you told me this morning has
made me proof against all that. The important thing is that you should
keep in the sunlight!"
"I ask you to come, Vincent."
"Oh, very well, certainly," said he--not knowing what dark design was in
her mind.
He was soon to discover. When he left her in St. James's Street,
whither she had gone to get the morning newspapers for her grandfather,
he went back to the hotel, and to his own room, to take out this
priceless treasure of a necklace she had bestowed on him, and to wonder
how best he could make of it a cunning talisman that he could have near
his heart night and day. And also he set to work to sketch out designs
for the little breast-pin he meant to have made, with its transverse row
of rubies or sapphires, with its white dove in the centre. An
inscription? That was hardly needed: there was a sufficient
understanding between him and her. And surely this was a betrothal,
despite her timid shrinking back? The avowal of that morning had been
more to him than words; during that brief moment it seemed as if Heaven
shone in her eyes; and as if he could see there, as in a vision, all the
years to come--all the years that he and she were to be
together--shining with a soft celestial radiance. And would not this
small white dove convey its message of peace?--when it lay on her bosom,
"so light, so light."
Then all of a sudden it occurred to him--why, he had been talking and
walking with an adventuress, a begging-letter impostor, a common
swindler, and had quite forgotten to be on his guard! All the solemn
warnings he had received had entirely vanished from his mind when he was
out there on the breakwater with Maisrie Bethune. He had looked into
her eyes--and never thought of any swindling! Had this sandal-wood
necklace--that was sweet with a fragrance more than its own--that seemed
to have still some lingering warmth in it, borrowed from its recent and
secret resting-place--been given him as a lure? The white
dove--significant of all innocence, and purity, and peace--was that to
rest on the heart of a traitress? Well, perhaps; but it did not appear
to concern him much, as he got his hat and cane, and pulled on a fresh
pair of gloves, and went out into the open air.
Nay, he was in a magnanimous mood towards all mankind. He would not
even seek to interfere with Sherry, as he mentally and meanly styled his
rival. If it pleased the young gentleman in the cover-coat to walk up
and down the King's Road with Maisrie Bethune--very well. If he took
her for a drive after luncheon, that would amuse her, and also was well.
The time for jealous dread, for angry suspicions, for reproachful
accusations, was over and gone. A glance from Maisrie's eyes had
banished all that. Sherry might parade his acquaintanceship as much as
he chose, so long as Maisrie was kept in the open air and the sunlight:
that was the all-important point.
By-and-bye he went away down to the King's Road, and very speedily
espied the three figures he expected to find there, though as yet they
were at some distance. They were coming towards him: in a few minutes
he would be face to face with them. And he had made up his mind what he
meant to do. Maisrie should see that he was actuated no longer by
jealous rage; that he had confidence in her; that he feared no rival
now. And so it was that when they came near, he merely gave them a
general and pleasant "Good-morning!" and raised his hat to Maisrie, and
was for passing on. But he had reckoned without his host--or hostess
rather.
"Vincent!" said Maisrie, in expostulation.
Then he stopped.
"Aren't you coming with us? We are going along to the Chain Pier, to
get out of the crowd. Won't you come?"
"Oh, yes, if I may!" said he, gladly enough--and he knew that the other
young man was staring, not to say scowling, at this unwelcome intrusion.
Now Maisrie had been walking between her grandfather and young Glover;
but the moment that Vincent joined the little party, she fell behind.
"Four abreast are too many," said she. "We must go two and two;
grandfather, will you lead the way with Mr. Glover?"
It was done, and dexterously done, in a moment; and if the selection of
the new comer as her companion was almost too open and marked, perhaps
that was her intention. At all events, when the two others had moved
forward, Vincent said in an undertone--
"This is very kind of you, Maisrie."
And she replied, rather proudly--
"I wished to show you that I could distinguish between old and new
friends."
Then he grew humble.
"Maisrie," said he, "don't you treasure up things against me! It was
only a phrase. And just remember how I was situated. I came away down
to Brighton merely to catch a glimpse of you; and about the first thing
I saw was this young fellow, whom I had never heard of, driving you up
and down among the fashionable crowd. You see, Maisrie, you hadn't
given me the sandal-wood necklace then; and what is of far more
consequence, you hadn't allowed your eyes to tell me what they told me
this morning. So what was I to think? No harm of you, of course; but I
was miserable;--and--and I thought you could easily forget; and all the
afternoon I looked out for you; and all the evening I wandered about the
streets, wondering whether you would be in one of the restaurants or the
hotels. If I could only have spoken a word with you! But then, you
know, I had been in a kind of way shut off from you; and--and there was
this new acquaintance--"
"I am very sorry, Vincent," she said also in a low voice. "It seems
such a pity that one should vex one's friends unintentionally; because
in looking back, you like to think of their always being pleased with
you; and then again there may be no chance of making up--and you are
sorry when it is too late----"
"Come, come, Maisrie," he said with greater freedom--for some people had
intervened, and the other two were now a little way ahead, "I am not
going to let you talk in that way. You always speak as if you and I
were to be separated----"
"Wouldn't it be better, Vincent?" she said, simply.
"Why?"
"Why?" she repeated, in an absent kind of way. "Well, you know nothing
about us, Vincent."
"I have been told a good deal of late, then!" he said, in careless
scorn.
And the next instant he wished he had bitten his tongue out ere making
that haphazard speech. The girl looked up at him with a curious quick
scrutiny--as if she were afraid.
"What have you been told, Vincent?" she demanded, in quite an altered
tone.
"Oh, nothing!" he said, with disdain. "A lot of rubbish! Every one has
good-natured friends, I suppose, who won't be satisfied with minding
their own business. And although you may laugh at the moment, at the
mere ridiculousness of the thing, still, if it should happen that just
at the same time you should see some one you are very fond of--in--in a
position that you can't explain to yourself--well, then---- But what is
the use of talking, Maisrie! I confess that I was jealous out of all
reason, jealous to the verge of madness; but then I paid the penalty, in
hours and hours of misery; and now you come along and heap coals of fire
on my head, until I am so ashamed of myself that I don't think I am fit
to live. And that's all about it; and my only excuse is that you had
not told me then what your eyes told me this morning."
She remained silent and thoughtful for a little while; but as she made
no further reference to his inadvertent admission that he had heard
certain things of herself and her grandfather, he inwardly hoped that
that unlucky speech had gone from her memory. Moreover, they were come
to the Chain Pier; and as those two in front waited for them, so that
they should go through the turnstile one after the other, there was just
then no opportunity for further confidential talking. But once on the
Pier, old George Bethune, who was eagerly discoursing on some subject or
another (with magnificent emphasis of arm and stick) drew ahead again,
taking his companion with him. And Vin Harris, regarding the
picturesque figure of the old man, and his fine enthusiastic manner,
which at all events seemed so sincere, began to wonder whether there
could be any grains of truth in the story that had been told him, or
whether it was a complete and malevolent fabrication. His appearance
and demeanour, certainly, were not those of a professional impostor: it
was hard to understand how a man of his proud and blunt self-assertion
could manage to wheedle wine merchants and tailors. Had he really
called himself Lord Bethune; or was it not far more likely that some
ignorant colonial folk, impressed by his talk of high lineage and by his
personal dignity, had bestowed on him that title? The young
man--guessing and wondering--began to recall the various counts of that
sinister indictment; and at last he said to his companion, in a musing
kind of way----
"Maisrie, you know that motto your grandfather is so proud of: 'Stand
Fast, Craig-Royston!' Have you any idea where Craig-Royston is?"
"I? No, not at all," she said simply.
"You have never been there?"
"Vincent!" she said. "You know I have never been in Scotland."
"Because there is such an odd thing in connection with it," he
continued. "In one edition of Black's Guide to Scotland, Craig-Royston
is not mentioned anywhere; and in another it is mentioned, but only in a
footnote. And I can't find it in the map. You don't know if there are
any people of your name living there now?"
"I am sure I cannot say," she made answer. "Grandfather could tell you;
he is always interested in such things."
"And Balloray," he went on, "I could find no mention of Balloray; but of
course there must be such a place?"
"I wish there was not," she said, sadly. "It is the one bitter thing in
my grandfather's life. I wish there never had been any such place. But
I have noticed a change in him of late. He does not complain now as he
used to complain; he is more resigned; indeed, he seldom talks of it.
And when I say complain, that is hardly the word. Don't you think he
bears his lot with great fortitude? I am sure it is more on my account
than his own that he ever thinks of the estate that was lost. And I am
sure he is happier with his books than with all the land and money that
could be given to him. He seems to fancy that those old songs and
ballads belong to him; they are his property; he is happier with them
than with a big estate and riches."
"I could not find Balloray in the index to the Guide," Vincent resumed,
"but of course there must be such a place--there is the ballad your
grandfather is so fond of--'The bonnie mill-dams o' Balloray.'"
She looked up suddenly, with some distress in her face.
"Vincent, don't you understand? Don't you understand that grandfather
is easily taken with a name--with the sound of it--and sometimes he
confuses one with another? That ballad is not about Balloray; it is
about Binnorie; it is 'The bonnie mill-dams o' Binnorie.' Grandfather
forgets at times; and he is used to Balloray; and that has got into his
head in connection with the ballad. I thought perhaps you knew."
"Oh, no," said he, lightly, for he did not attach any great importance
to this chance confusion. "The two words are not unlike; I quite see how
one might take the place of the other. Of course you will make sure
that he puts in the right name when he comes to publish the volume."
And so they walked up and down the almost deserted pier, in the bright
sunlight, looking out on the lapping green waters, or up to the terraced
yellow houses above the tall cliffs. Sometimes, of course, the four of
them came together; and more than once the horsey-looking young
gentleman insidiously tried to detach Maisrie from her chosen
companion--and tried in vain. At last, when it became about time for
them to be going their several ways home, he made a bold stroke.
"Come, Mr. Bethune," said he, as they were successively passing through
the turnstile, "I want you and Miss Bethune to take pity on a poor
solitary bachelor, and come along and have a bit of lunch with me at the
Old Ship. It will be a little change for you, won't it?--and we can
have a private room if you prefer that."
The old gentleman seemed inclined to close with this offer; but he
glanced towards Maisrie for her acquiescence first.
"Oh, thank you, Mr. Glover," said she, promptly; "but I have everything
arranged at our lodgings; and we must not disappoint our landlady. Some
other time, perhaps, thank you! Good morning!"
Then the moment he was gone, she turned to her companion.
"Vincent, have you any engagement? No? Then, will you be very
courageous and come with us and take your chance? I can promise you a
biscuit at least."
"And I'm sure I don't want anything more," said he, most gratefully; for
surely she was trying her best to show him that she distinguished
between old and new friends.
And then again, when they reached the rooms, and when the three of them
were seated at table, she waited upon him with a gentle care and
assiduity that were almost embarrassing. He wished the wretched things
at the bottom of the sea: why should commonplace food and drink
interfere with his answering Maisrie's eyes, or thinking of her
overwhelming kindness? As for old George Bethune, the sharp air and the
sunlight had given him an admirable appetite; and he allowed the young
people to amuse themselves with little courtesies, and attentions, and
protests just as they pleased. Cheese and celery were solid and
substantial things: he had no concern about a drooping eyelash, or some
pretty, persuasive turn of speech.
And yet he was not unfriendly towards the young man.
"Wouldn't you like to go to the theatre this evening, Maisrie?" Vincent
asked. "It is the _Squires Daughter_. I know you've seen it already;
but I could go a dozen times--twenty times--the music is so delightful.
And the travelling company is said to be quite as good as the London
one: Miss Kate Burgoyne has changed into it, you know, and I shouldn't
wonder if she sung all the better because of the L3000 damages that Sir
Percival Miles has had to pay her. Shall I go along and see if I can
get a box?"
"What do you say, grandfather?" the girl asked.
"Oh, yes--very well, very well," said he, in his lofty way. "A little
idleness more or less is not of much account. But we must begin to work
soon, Maisrie; fresh air and sunlight are all very well; but we must
begin to work--while the day is with us, though luckily one has not to
say to you as yet--_jam te premet nox, falulaeque Manes, et domus exilis
Plutonia_."
"Then if we go to the theatre," said Maisrie, "Vincent must come in here
for a little while on his way home; and you and he will have a smoke
together; and it will be quite like old times."--And Vincent looked at
her, as much as to say, 'Maisrie, don't make me too ashamed: haven't you
forgiven me yet for that foolish phrase?'
The afternoon passed quickly enough: to Vincent every moment was golden.
Then in the evening they went to the theatre; and the young people at
least were abundantly charmed with the gay costumes, the pretty music,
and the fun and merriment of the bright little operetta. George Bethune
seemed less interested. He sate well back in the box, his face in
shadow; and although his eyes, from under those shaggy eyebrows, were
fixed on the stage, it was in an absent fashion, as if he were thinking
of other things. And indeed he was thinking of far other things; for
when, after the piece was over, those three set out to walk home through
the dark streets, Maisrie and Vincent could hear the old man, who walked
somewhat apart from them, reciting to himself, and that in a proud and
sustained voice. It was not the frivolity of comic opera that he had in
his mind; it was something of finer and sterner stuff; as they crossed
by the Old Steine, where there was a space of silence, they could make
out clearly what this was--
'Thy faith and troth thou sall na get,
And our true love sall never twin,
Until ye tell what comes of women,
I wot, who die in strong travailing?'
'Their beds are made in the heavens high,
Down at the foot of our good Lord's knee,
Weel set about wi' gillyflowers,
I wot sweet company for to see.
'O cocks are crowing a merry midnight,
I wot the wild-fowl are boding day;
The psalms of heaven will soon be sung,
And I, ere now, will be missed away.'
There was a curiously solemn effect about this solitary voice, here in
the dark. The old man did not seem to care whether he was overheard or
not; it was entirely to himself that he was repeating the lines of the
old ballad. And thereafter he walked on in silence, while the two
lovers, busy with their own little world, were murmuring nothings to
each other.
But Maisrie, for one, was soon to be recalled to the actualities, and
even grim incongruities, of every day life. When they reached their
lodgings the servant girl, who opened the door to them, paused for a
second and looked up and down the street.
"Yes, sir, there he is," said she.
"Who?" George Bethune demanded.
"A man who has been asking for you, sir--and said he would wait."
At the same moment there came out of the gloom a rather shabby-looking
person.
"Mr. George Bethune?" he said.
"Yes, that is my name," the old man answered, impatiently: probably he
suspected.
"Something for you, sir," said the stranger, handing a folded piece of
paper--and therewith he left.
It was all the work of a second; and the next instant they were indoors,
and in the little parlour; but in that brief space of time a great
change had taken place. Indeed, Maisrie's mortification was a piteous
thing to see; it seemed so hard she should have had to endure this
humiliation under the very eyes of her lover; she would not look his way
at all; she busied herself with putting things on the table; her
downcast face was overwhelmed with confusion and shame. For surely
Vincent would know what that paper was? The appearance of the man--his
hanging about--her grandfather's angry frown--all pointed plainly
enough. And that it should happen at the end of this long and happy
day--this day of reconciliation--when she had tried so assiduously to be
kind to him--when he had spoken so confidently of the future that lay
before them! It was as if some cruel fate had interposed to say to him:
'Now you see the surroundings in which this girl has lived: and do you
still dream of making her your wife?'
And perhaps old George Bethune noticed this shame and vexation on the
part of his granddaughter, and may have wished to divert attention from
it; at all events, when he had brewed his toddy, and lit his pipe, and
drawn his chair in towards the fire, he set off upon one of his
monologues, quite in the old garrulous vein; and he was as friendly
towards Vincent as though this visit had been quite anticipated.
Maisrie sat silent and abashed; and Vincent, listening vaguely, thought
it was all very fine to have a sanguine and happy-go-lucky temperament,
but that he--that is, the younger man--would be glad to have this
beautiful and pensive creature of a girl removed into altogether
different circumstances. He knew why she was ashamed and
downcast--though, to be sure, he said to himself that the serving of a
writ was no tremendous cataclysm. Such little incidents must
necessarily occur in the career of any one who had such an arrogant
disdain of pounds and pence as her grandfather professed. But that
Maisrie should have to suffer humiliation: that was what touched him to
the quick. He looked at her--at her beautiful and wistful eyes, and the
sensitive lines of her profile and under-lip; and his heart bled for
her. And all this following upon her outspoken avowal of that morning
seemed to demand some more definite and immediate action on his
part--when once the quiet of the night had enabled him to consider his
position.
When he rose to leave, he asked them what they meant to do the next day.
But Maisrie would hardly say anything; she seemed rather to wish him to
go, so distressed and disheartened she was. And go he did, presently;
but he bore away with him no hurt feeling on account of his tacit
dismissal. He understood all that; and he understood her. And as he
went away home through the dark, he began to recall the first occasions
on which he had seen Maisrie Bethune walking in Hyde Park with her
grandfather; and the curious fancies that were then formed in his own
mind--that here apparently was a beautiful, and sensitive, and suffering
soul that ought to be rescued and cheered and comforted, were one found
worthy to be her champion and her friend. Her friend?--she had
confessed he was something more than that on this very morning. Her
lover, then?--well, her lover ought to be her champion too, if only the
hours of the night would lend him counsel.