THE LADY EXPLAINS STILL FURTHER
"When a woman says she will, she will!
You may depend on't!
And when she says she won't, she won't!
And there's an end on't!"
"I knew you would! I knew you had only got to get together to
understand each other perfectly."
This was what Mr. Ash said as he entered the room. He had caught Miss
Truscott's words, but misapplied their meaning. He advanced towards
Mr. Ely with beaming countenance.
"I congratulate you, Ely; I do with all my heart. Who was right about
the little misunderstanding, now? Did I not tell you that there was a
romantic side about the feminine character with which you were
unacquainted, a sort of airy nothing which is a source of continual
perplexity to the most experienced man. And wasn't it worth it all for
the sake of the reconciliation at the end?"
Mr. Ely gasped.
"This--this is the final straw!"
"Ah, my boy, I know more about a woman than you. We old bachelors are
not quite blind, after all."
It was with difficulty that Mr. Ely obtained sufficient self-control
to enable him to speak.
"Do I understand that you are offering me your congratulations?"
"Certainly! I congratulate you with all my heart, my boy."
Mr. Ash held out his hand. Mr. Ely ignored it. He did more. He looked
as though he would have liked to have spurned it from him. He eyed Mr.
Ash with withering scorn.
"I'm a fit subject for congratulations. I'm the happiest man alive. I
suppose there's no man in England who has more cause to bless his
stars than I have."
"I am so glad to hear it, Mr. Ely, I cannot tell."
Mr. Ely started as though he had been shot. Mrs. Clive had, in her
turn, made her appearance on the scene. She, too, had overheard his
words. She came sailing across the room all smiles and condescension.
"I knew my niece, you see. Who should know her if not I? The girl has
been to me as my own child. What I learnt at my mother's knees I, in
my turn, have taught to her--what she is she owes to me. Receive my
sincerest congratulations, Mr. Ely, upon this fortunate event."
Mr. Ely stared at the old lady as though his eyes were starting from
his head. It was only after an interval that his thoughts were able to
find expression in speech.
"I don't know if all the world has lost its mental equilibrium, or if
it's only I! What she is she owes to you? I don't know that I should
like to be owed a debt like that, by George! You have taught her what
you yourself learnt at your mother's knee? You must have learnt some
funny things! And as for your congratulations--as for your
congratulations, madam"--Mr. Ely settled his waistcoat in its
place--"I don't know if a deliberate insult is intended, but in any
case you may postpone your congratulations to a future date."
Mr. Ash looked surprised, Mrs. Clive bewildered. But Miss Truscott
laughed--the most musical of little laughs.
"You see, my good people, although you are all of you older than I,
there is not one of you who understands."
"That's one consolation," said Mr. Ely, "at any rate."
Miss Truscott, without heeding him, went on, to Mr. Ash's and Mrs.
Clive's increasing bewilderment--
"One would really think that love was quite a new creation--you seem
never to have heard of it before! You see, guardian"--she turned with
an air of the most bewitching frankness to Mr. Ash--"when your letter
came I was more than twelve months gone in love. I think that love
must be a sort of disease which has to run its course through
different stages. I was in the stage of dark despair. At that moment I
would have married Pompey had he asked me--I looked on Mr. Ely just as
I would have looked on Pompey, you understand."
"Flattering, upon my word!" Mr. Ely was just able to articulate.
But Miss Truscott only looked at him and laughed.
"But the morning after, that stage had passed away, and with it all
the things which appertained to it had gone--whether you call it
Pompey or Mr. Ely, it is just the same, those things had gone--I was
sane again, in my right mind. Love claimed me on that day, and, of
course when love claimed me I was his. For to think"--she bore herself
quite straight, with her head a little back, so that, in some strange
way, she seemed to have grown in stature before their very eyes--"for
to think that this to me means love"--she motioned to Mr. Ely with her
hand--"this little gentleman of stocks and shares--it is the most
foolish thing that ever yet I heard. None knows better than this
gentleman himself that love is just the thing he does not even care to
understand; and to me, love, with the eternity of meaning the little
word conveys, is all the world."
She favoured Mr. Ely with her most sweeping curtsey, the sweetest
mockery of laughter in her eyes.
"Mr. Ely, I wish you, sir, good day. For the engagement-ring which
cost you twenty pounds I hope that you will find a wearer soon."
She went to the window, and stood just outside, with her finger on her
lips.
"One word in confidence. Next time you ask a girl to be your wife, do
not insist upon it as your chiefest qualification for the married
state that you are indeed a business man!"
She passed down the steps, and across the lawn, and went away; and
directly she was out of sight they heard her voice upraised in a burst
of joyous song.