_Ad_. Dear Lady Elaine, Lady Gules has given me special permission and
opportunity to explain myself more fully than was possible yesterday.
Please tell me why you were so surprised at what I said, and why you
think me so very objectionable?
_El_. I don't think you at all objectionable, Mr Gresham, as a member of
society; on the contrary, I think you charming; though I do feel that,
magnetically, we are wide as the poles asunder! Oh, believe me, we have
no grounds of common sympathy, either in matters of philosophical,
political, or religious thought--and above all, in art! You seem to lack
that enthusiasm for humanity which could alone constitute an affinity
between us. I was surprised, because I had hoped to find in you an
intelligent companion; and mortified at the discovery that you could not
rise to higher ground than that of an ordinary admirer,--men in these
days seem to think that women have no other _raison d'etre_ except to be
made love to.
_Ad_. I do not think that is a new idea, Lady Elaine; but is it
absolutely necessary, in order that you should return the deep affection
I feel for you, that we should agree politically, philosophically,
theologically, and aesthetically? In old days women did not trouble
themselves on these matters, but trusted to their hearts rather than to
their heads to guide their affections.
_El_. And so I do now. I feel instinctively that we are not kindred
spirits; that the mysterious chord of sympathy which vibrates in the
heart of a girl with the first tone of the voice of the man she is
destined to love, does not exist between us. Oh, indeed, indeed, Mr
Gresham, although I adore Frederic Harrison as a thinker, as much as I
dislike Mr Mallock--though I read every word he writes as a duty--I am
not destitute of romance. I am a profound believer in the doctrine of
affinity. Who that accepts, as I do, the marvellous teaching of Comte,
and remembers that the highest ideas which it contains were inspired by a
woman, could fail to be? But I shall know the man towards whom I am
destined to occupy the relation that Comte's Countess did to him, at a
glance. No words will need to pass between us to assure us that we are
one in sentiment. It will be as impossible for him to be indifferent to
elevating the taste of the masses in matters of domestic detail, or be
otherwise wanting in a whole-hearted devotion to the service of humanity,
or to scoff at the theory of evolution, as it would be for him to accept
the errors and superstitions of an obsolete theology, or the antiquated
dogmas of the Conservatives about landed property.
_Ad_. And if I fulfilled all these conditions, so far as a thorough
philosophical and political sympathy was concerned, would that avail me
nothing to produce this hidden affinity?
_El_. Absolutely nothing. In the first place, you could not pretend to
believe and feel what you did not believe and feel; and in the second, if
you could, I should instantly sense the absence of that internal
attraction towards each other which would be irresistible in both. You
were right, Mr Gresham, when you said the heart and not the head should
be the guide; and I trust it absolutely--so give up a hope which must be
vain. Believe me, I feel deeply pained at having to speak so decidedly,
but it is better that you should be under no delusion. Still, do not let
me lose you as a friend whom I shall always esteem. You will soon get
over it, and will have no difficulty in finding a wife who will suit you
far better than I should ever have done.
_Ad_. There, believe me, you are mistaken; but it is a point impossible
to discuss. Good-bye, Lady Elaine. Thanks for your frankness and
patience with me. Perhaps I shall get over it, as you say. I shall take
refuge in my yacht, and try the curative effect of a cruise round the
world. It will be a year at least before we meet again. [_Exit_
Adolphus.
_El_. Poor Adolphus! how absolutely impossible is love, where the hidden
sympathy of soul is wanting!--and yet how nice he is [_sighs_], and how
manfully he accepted his fate! What philosophy can really explain the
mystery of that magnetic affinity called love, which so unaccountably
exercises its attracting influences over the whole animal creation, and
most probably over plants? If it is a latent potentiality of matter, how
did it get there? Now for a scene with mamma.
[_Exit_ Elaine.