Alicia Terrill was angry, and not without cause.
Women have no sense of men's humour, and I do not think the Duke was
tactful.
He was a young man who took things for granted.
Had Alicia been an heiress, she might have entered into the spirit of
the Duke's humour. She could have afforded the whim. But she was not
rich. Money is a horrid thing, and especially horrid to the poor girl
who marries the rich man, however sincere and whole hearted her love is
for him, and his for her.
For there comes, and there must come, an unpleasant feeling of
dependence, a sensation such as must have been experienced by the
unfortunate negroes who lived in Uncle Tom's Cabin (and nowhere else),
when the whip of the overseer cracked, that is particularly irksome to a
girl of independent character.
The Duke, as I say, took much for granted. Money was as nothing to him,
he did not count it as a serious factor in life.
People with money seldom do.
You may say, having in mind the incidence of the Duke's tempestuous
wooing, that there was little solid foundation for a true and abiding
companionship such as marriage implies; that the ground was already
prepared for misunderstandings. Perhaps your judgment is correct: in
offering my own opinion, in all modesty, I venture to differ, because I
know the Duke intimately.
"If you really loved me," she went on, "you would realize that I was
your first interest--you would be ready to sacrifice these wretched
whims of yours. It isn't the money and it isn't that I am ashamed of
the suburbs--I would live in the Brixton Road--but I want to be the
first thing in your life----" She faltered and made an heroic attempt
to appear calm.
The Duke was genuinely astonished at the outburst, at the defiance that
trembled in her tone, at the proximity of tears.
Nay, he was scared and showed it.
"My dear girl," he began.
"I'm _not_ your dear girl," she flamed, "I will not accept your horrid
patronage. I will not allow you to treat quite serious matters--matters
that affect my life--as subjects for your amusement."
"My dearest----" he began but she stopped him.
She removed the half circle of diamonds from her finger with
deliberation. She said nothing because she was choking.
She did not throw it at him, because she was a lady and had lived in
Portland Place.
She laid it on the table and fled.
The Duke stood speechless and open mouthed; he did not behave like a
hero.
Did Alicia behave like a heroine?
A study of contemporary fiction compels me to confess reluctantly that
she did not.
But this is a true story, and this remarkable scene I have described
actually occurred.