"There Must Be Time"
At the end of the third week in July, when the Session was still
sitting, and when no day had been absolutely as yet fixed for the
escape of members, Mr. Wharton received a letter from his friend
Arthur Fletcher which certainly surprised him very much, and which
left him for a day or two unable to decide what answer ought to be
given. It will be remembered that Ferdinand Lopez destroyed himself
in March, now three months since. The act had been more than a nine
days' wonder, having been kept in the memory of many men by the
sedulous efforts of Quintus Slide, and by the fact that the name of
so great a man as the Prime Minister was concerned in the matter. But
gradually the feeling about Ferdinand Lopez had died away, and his
fate, though it had outlived the nominal nine days, had sunk into
general oblivion before the end of the ninth week. The Prime Minister
had not forgotten the man, nor had Quintus Slide. The name was
still common in the columns of the "People's Banner," and was never
mentioned without being read by the unfortunate Duke. But others had
ceased to talk of Ferdinand Lopez.
To the mind, however, of Arthur Fletcher the fact of the man's
death was always present. A dreadful incubus had come upon his life,
blighting all his prospects, obscuring all his sun by a great cloud,
covering up all his hopes, and changing for him all his outlook into
the world. It was not only that Emily Wharton should not have become
his wife, but that the woman whom he loved with so perfect a love
should have been sacrificed to so vile a creature as this man. He
never blamed her,--but looked upon his fate as Fate. Then on a sudden
he heard that the incubus was removed. The man who had made him and
her wretched had by a sudden stroke been taken away and annihilated.
There was nothing now between him and her,--but a memory. He could
certainly forgive, if she could forget.
Of course he had felt at the first moment that time must pass by. He
had become certain that her mad love for the man had perished. He
had been made sure that she had repented her own deed in sackcloth
and ashes. It had been acknowledged to him by her father that she
had been anxious to be separated from her husband, if her husband
would consent to such a separation. And then, remembering as he did
his last interview with her, having in his mind as he did every
circumstance of that caress which he had given her,--down to the
very quiver of the fingers he had pressed,--he could not but flatter
himself that at last he had touched her heart. But there must be
time! The conventions of the world operate on all hearts, especially
on the female heart, and teach that new vows, too quickly given, are
disgraceful. The world has seemed to decide that a widow should take
two years before she can bestow herself on a second man without a
touch of scandal. But the two years is to include everything, the
courtship of the second as well as the burial of the first,--and
not only the courtship, but the preparation of the dresses and the
wedding itself. And then this case was different from all others. Of
course there must be time, but surely not here a full period of two
years! Why should the life of two young persons be so wasted, if it
were the case that they loved each other? There was horror here,
remorse, pity, perhaps pardon; but there was no love,--none of that
love which is always for a time increased in its fervour by the loss
of the loved object; none of that passionate devotion which must at
first make the very idea of another man's love intolerable. There
had been a great escape,--an escape which could not but be inwardly
acknowledged, however little prone the tongue might be to confess it.
Of course there must be time;--but how much time? He argued it in his
mind daily, and at each daily argument the time considered by him to
be appropriate was shortened. Three months had passed and he had not
yet seen her. He had resolved that he would not even attempt to see
her till her father should consent. But surely a period had passed
sufficient to justify him in applying for that permission. And then
he bethought himself that it would be best in applying for that
permission to tell everything to Mr. Wharton. He well knew that
he would be telling no secret. Mr. Wharton knew the state of his
feelings as well as he knew it himself. If ever there was a case in
which time might be abridged, this was one; and therefore he wrote
his letter,--as follows:--
3, ---- Court, Temple, 24th July, 187--.
MY DEAR MR. WHARTON,
It is a matter of great regret to me that we should see
so little of each other,--and especially of regret that I
should never now see Emily.
I may as well rush into the matter at once. Of course this
letter will not be shown to her, and therefore I may write
as I would speak if I were with you. The wretched man whom
she married is gone, and my love for her is the same as
it was before she had ever seen him, and as it has always
been from that day to this. I could not address you
or even think of her as yet, did I not know that that
marriage had been unfortunate. But it has not altered her
to me in the least. It has been a dreadful trouble to us
all,--to her, to you, to me, and to all connected with us.
But it is over, and I think that it should be looked back
upon as a black chasm which we have bridged and got over,
and to which we need never cast back our eyes.
I have no right to think that, though she might some day
love another man, she would, therefore, love me; but I
think that I have a right to try, and I know that I should
have your good-will. It is a question of time, but if I
let time go by, some one else may slip in. Who can tell?
I would not be thought to press indecently, but I do feel
that here the ordinary rules which govern men and women
are not to be followed. He made her unhappy almost from
the first day. She had made a mistake which you and she
and all acknowledged. She has been punished; and so have
I,--very severely I can assure you. Wouldn't it be a good
thing to bring all this to an end as soon as possible,--if
it can be brought to an end in the way I want?
Pray tell me what you think. I would propose that you
should ask her to see me, and then say just as much as you
please. Of course I should not press her at first. You
might ask me to dinner, and all that kind of thing, and so
she would get used to me. It is not as though we had not
been very, very old friends. But I know you will do the
best. I have put off writing to you till I sometimes think
that I shall go mad over it if I sit still any longer.
Your affectionate friend,
ARTHUR FLETCHER.
When Mr. Wharton got this letter he was very much puzzled. Could he
have had his wish, he too would have left the chasm behind him as
proposed by his young friend, and have never cast an eye back upon
the frightful abyss. He would willingly have allowed the whole Lopez
incident to be passed over as an episode in their lives, which, if it
could not be forgotten, should at any rate never be mentioned. They
had all been severely punished, as Fletcher had said, and if the
matter could end there he would be well content to bear on his own
shoulders all that remained of that punishment, and to let everything
begin again. But he knew very well it could not be so with her. Even
yet it was impossible to induce Emily to think of her husband without
regret. It had been only too manifest during the last year of their
married life that she had felt horror rather than love towards him.
When there had been a question of his leaving her behind, should he
go to Central America, she had always expressed herself more than
willing to comply with such an arrangement. She would go with him
should he order her to do so, but would infinitely sooner remain
in England. And then, too, she had spoken of him while alive with
disdain and disgust, and had submitted to hear her father describe
him as infamous. Her life had been one long misery, under which she
had seemed gradually to be perishing. Now she was relieved, and her
health was re-established. A certain amount of unjoyous cheerfulness
was returning to her. It was impossible to doubt that she must have
known that a great burden had fallen from her back. And yet she would
never allow his name to be mentioned without giving some outward
sign of affection for his memory. If he was bad, so were others bad.
There were many worse than he. Such were the excuses she made for
her late husband. Old Mr. Wharton, who really thought that in all
his experience he had never known any one worse than his son-in-law,
would sometimes become testy, and at last resolved that he would
altogether hold his tongue. But he could hardly hold his tongue now.
He, no doubt, had already formed his hopes in regard to Arthur
Fletcher. He had trusted that the man whom he had taught himself some
years since to regard as his wished-for son-in-law, might be constant
and strong enough in his love to forget all that was past, and to be
still willing to redeem his daughter from misery. But as days had
crept on since the scene at the Tenway Junction, he had become aware
that time must do much before such relief would be accepted. It
was, however, still possible that the presence of the man might do
something. Hitherto, since the deed had been done, no stranger had
dined in Manchester Square. She herself had seen no visitor. She
had hardly left the house except to go to church, and then had been
enveloped in the deepest crape. Once or twice she had allowed herself
to be driven out in a carriage, and, when she had done so, her
father had always accompanied her. No widow, since the seclusion
of widows was first ordained, had been more strict in maintaining
the restraints of widowhood as enjoined. How then could he bid
her receive a new lover,--or how suggest to her that a lover was
possible? And yet he did not like to answer Arthur Fletcher without
naming some period for the present mourning,--some time at which he
might at least show himself in Manchester Square.
"I have had a letter from Arthur Fletcher," he said to his daughter a
day or two after he had received it. He was sitting after dinner, and
Everett was also in the room.
"Is he in Herefordshire?" she asked.
"No;--he is up in town, attending to the House of Commons, I suppose.
He had something to say to me, and as we are not in the way of
meeting he wrote. He wants to come and see you."
"Not yet, papa."
"He talked of coming and dining here."
"Oh yes; pray let him come."
"You would not mind that?"
"I would dine early and be out of the way. I should be so glad if you
would have somebody sometimes. I shouldn't think then that I was such
a--such a restraint to you."
But this was not what Mr. Wharton desired. "I shouldn't like that, my
dear. Of course he would know that you were in the house."
"Upon my word, I think you might meet an old friend like that," said
Everett.
She looked at her brother, and then at her father, and burst into
tears. "Of course you shall not be pressed if it would be irksome to
you," said her father.
"It is the first plunge that hurts," said Everett. "If you could once
bring yourself to do it, you would find afterwards that you were more
comfortable."
"Papa," she said slowly, "I know what it means. His goodness I shall
always remember. You may tell him I say so. But I cannot meet him
yet." Then they pressed her no further. Of course she had understood.
Her father could not even ask her to say a word which might give
comfort to Arthur as to some long distant time.
He went down to the House of Commons the next day, and saw his young
friend there. Then they walked up and down Westminster Hall for
nearly an hour, talking over the matter with the most absolute
freedom. "It cannot be for the benefit of any one," said Arthur
Fletcher, "that she should immolate herself like an Indian
widow,--and for the sake of such a man as that! Of course I have no
right to dictate to you,--hardly, perhaps, to give an opinion."
"Yes, yes, yes."
"It does seem to me, then, that you ought to force her out of that
kind of thing. Why should she not go down to Herefordshire?"
"In time, Arthur,--in time."
"But people's lives are running away."
"My dear fellow, if you were to see her you would know how vain it
would be to try to hurry her. There must be time."