"Then you _must_ care for me if that's so."
"Have I ever pretended not to?" he asked.
"You told them down-stairs--"
He snapped his fingers as though what he had said there didn't count.
"Well, but you must be more than merely interested in me," I said.
"Interest is a pretty big thing, isn't it?" he said slowly.
"Not as big as love," I said.
"We're not going to talk about love," he replied. "We'll have to cut
that out entirely, Nora."
"But I thought you said you wanted me to go on loving you, and that I
was not to stop, no matter what happened."
He stirred uneasily at that, and then, after a moment, he said:
"That's true. Never stop doing that, will you, sweetheart?"
You see, I was succeeding beautifully with him when he called me
_that_. He regretted it a moment later, for he rose and began fussing
with his bag. I followed him across the room. I always followed him
everywhere, just like a little dog. He took a little package out of
his bag, and he asked me if I remembered the day in the carriage, when
he told me to open my mouth and shut my eyes. Of course I did. He said
that I was to shut my eyes now, but I need not open my mouth. He'd give
me the real prize now.
So then I did, and he put something about my neck. Then he led me over
to the mirror, and I saw it was a pearl necklace.
At that time I had not the remotest idea of the value of jewelry. I had
never possessed any except the ring Dick had given me. In a vague sort
of way I knew that gold and diamonds were costly things, and of course
I supposed that pearls were, too. It was not, therefore, the value of
his present that impressed me, for I frankly looked upon it merely as
a "pretty necklace"; but I was enchanted to think he had remembered
me, and when I opened my eyes and saw them, they looked so creamy and
lovely on my neck that I wanted to hug him for them. However, he held
me off at arm's length, to "see how they looked" on me.
He said I was not to wear them to work, but only on special occasions,
when he was there and took me to places, and that he was going to get
me a little safe in which to keep them. I thought that ridiculous, to
get a safe just to keep a string of beads in; and then he laughed and
said that the "beads" were to be only the forerunner of other beautiful
things he was going to give me.
I had never cared particularly about jewelry or such things. I had
never had any, and never had wanted any. I liked pretty clothes and
things like that--but I had never thought about the subject of jewelry.
I told this to Roger and he said he would change all that.
He was, in fact, going to cultivate in me a taste for the best in
everything, he said. I asked him why. It seemed to me that nothing was
to be gained by acquiring a taste for luxurious things--for a girl in
my position, and he replied in a grim sort of way:
"All the same, you're going to have them. By and by you won't be able
to do without them."
"Jewels and such things?"
"Yes--jewels and such things." Then he added:
"There need never be a time in your life when I won't be able to
gratify your least wish, if you will let me."
When he was putting on his coat, he asked me what sort of position I
had, and I told him it was pretty bad. He said he wished me to go down
to see Mr. Forman, the president of a large wholesale dry-goods firm.
He added that he had heard of a good position there--short hours and
good salary. I was delighted, and asked him if he thought I'd get the
position, and he smiled and said he thought I would.
He was drawing on his gloves and was nearly ready to go when he
asked his next question, and that was whether I had made any new
acquaintances; what men I had met, and whether I had been out anywhere
with any particular man. He usually asked me those questions first
of all, and then would keep on about them all through his visit. I
hesitated, for I was reluctant to tell him about Bennet. He roughly
took me by the shoulder when I did not answer him at once, and he said:
"Well, with whom have you been going out?"
I told him about Bennet, but only about his coming to see me, his
reading to me, and of my going to his and Butler's rooms, and to Hull
House. He stared at me so peculiarly while I was speaking that I
thought he was angry with me, and he suddenly took off his coat and hat
and sat down again.
"Why didn't you tell me about this chap before?" he asked me suddenly.
"I thought you wouldn't be interested," I quibbled.
"That is not true, Nora," he said. "You knew very well I would."
He leaned forward in the chair, with his hands gripped together, and
stared at the fire, and then he said almost as if to himself:
"If I had come on, this wouldn't have happened."
"Nothing has happened," I insisted.
"Oh, yes, this--er--Bennet is undoubtedly in love with you."
"Well, suppose he is?" I said. "What does it matter to you? If you
don't care for me, why shouldn't other men?"
He turned around and looked at me hard a moment. Then he got up, walked
up and down a while, and then came over and took my face up in his hand.
"Nora, will you give up this chap if I ask you to?"
I was piling up proof that he cared for me more than he would admit. I
said flippantly:
"Old 'Dog in the Manger,' will _you_ love me if I do?"
He said in a low voice:
"I _can't_."