"But all was false and hollow; though his tongue
Dropped manna, and could make the worse appear
The better reason, to perplex and dash
Maturest counsels."
"Shall I take you to Lady Baring?" says Hardinge, quickly, rising
and bending as if to offer her his arm.
"No, thank you," coldly.
"I think," anxiously, "you once told me you did not care for
Sir----"
"Did I? It seems quite terrible the amount of things I have told
everybody." There is a distinct flash in her lovely eyes now, and
her small hand has tightened round her fan. "Sometimes--I talk
folly! As a fact" (with a touch of defiance), "I like Sir Hastings,
although he _is_ my guardian's brother!--my guardian who would so
gladly get rid of me." There is bitterness on the young, red mouth.
"You should not look at it in that light."
"Should I not? You should be the last to say that, seeing that
you were the one to show me how to regard it. Besides, you forget
Sir Hastings is Lady Baring's brother too, and--you haven't anything
to say against _her,_ have you? Ah!" with a sudden lovely smile,
"you, Sir Hastings?"
"You are not dancing," says the tall, gaunt man, who has now come up
to her. "So much I have seen. Too warm? Eh? You show reason, I
think. And yet, if I might dare to hope that you would give me this
waltz----"
"No, no," says she, still with her most charming air. "I am not
dancing to-night. I shall not dance this year."
"That is a Median law, no doubt," says he. "If you will not dance
with me, then may I hope that you will give me the few too short
moments that this waltz may contain?"
Hardinge makes a vague movement but an impetuous one. If the girl
had realized the fact of his love for her, she might have been
touched and influenced by it, but as it is she feels only a sense of
anger towards him. Anger unplaced, undefined, yet nevertheless
intense.
"With pleasure," says she to Sir Hastings, smiling at him almost
across Hardinge's outstretched hand. The latter draws back.
"You dismiss me?" says he, with a careful smile. He bows to her--he
is gone.
"A well-meaning young man," says Sir Hastings, following Hardinge's
retreating figure with a delightfully lenient smile. "Good-looking
too; but earnest. Have you noticed it? Entirely well-bred, but just
a little earnest! _Such_ a mistake!"
"I don't think that," says Perpetua. "To be earnest! One _should_
be earnest."
"Should one?" Sir Hastings looks delighted expectation. "Tell me
about it," says he.
"There is nothing to tell," says Perpetua, a little petulantly
perhaps. This tall, thin man! what a _bore_ he is! And yet, the
other--Mr. Hardinge--well _he_ was worse; he was a _fool,_ anyway;
he didn't understand the professor one bit! "I like Mr. Hardinge,"
says she suddenly.
"Happy Hardinge! But little girls like you are good to everyone, are
you not? That is what makes you so lovely. You could be good to even
a scapegrace, eh? A poor, sad outcast like me?" He laughs and leans
towards her, his handsome, dissipated, abominable face close to
hers.
Involuntarily she recoils.
"I hope everyone is good to you," says she. "Why should they not be?
And why do you call yourself an outcast? Only bad people are
outcasts. And bad people," slowly, "are not known, are they?"
"Certainly not," says he, disconcerted. This little girl from a far
land is proving herself too much for him. And it is not her words
that disconcert him so much as the straight, clear, open glance from
the thoughtful eyes.
To turn the conversation into another channel seems desirable to
him.
"I hope you are happy here with my sister," says he, in his anything
but everyday tone.
"Quite happy, thank you. But I should have been happier still, I
think, if I had been allowed to stay with your brother."
Sir Hastings drops his glasses. Good heavens! what kind of a girl is
this!
"To stay with my brother! To _stay,"_ stammers he.
"Yes. He _is_ your brother, isn't he? The professor, I mean. I
should quite have enjoyed living with him, but he wouldn't hear of
it. He--he doesn't like me, I'm afraid?" Perpetua looks at him
anxiously. A little hope that he will contradict Hardinge's
statement animates her mind. To feel herself a burden to her
guardian--to anyone--she, who in the old home had been nothing less
than an idol! Surely Sir Hastings, his own brother, will say
something, will say something, will tell her something to ease this
chagrin at her heart.
"Who told you that?" asks Sir Hastings. "Did he himself? I shouldn't
put it beyond him. He is a misogynist; a mere bookworm! Of no
account. Do not waste a thought on him."
"You mean----"
"That he detests the best part of life--that he has deliberately
turned his back on all that makes our existence here worth having. I
should call him a fool, but that one so dislikes having an imbecile
in one's family."
"The best part of life! You say he has turned his back on that." She
lets her hands fall upon her knees, and turns a frowning, perplexed,
but always lovely face to his. "What is it," asks she, "that best
part?"
"Women!" returns he, slowly, undauntedly, in spite of the innocence,
the serenity, that shines in the young and exquisite face before
him.
Her eyes do not fall before his. She is plainly thinking. Yes; Mr.
Hardinge was right, he will never like her. She is only a stay, a
hindrance to him!
"I understand," says she sorrowfully. "He will not care--_ever._ I
shall be always a trouble to him. He----"
"Why think of him?" says Sir Hastings contemptuously. He leans
towards her; fired by her beauty, that is now enhanced by the regret
that lies upon her pretty lips, he determines on pushing his cause
at once. "If _he_ cannot appreciate you, others can--_I_ can. I----"
He pauses; for the first time in his life, on such an occasion as
this, he is conscious of a feeling of awkwardness. To tell a woman
he loves her has been the simplest thing in the world hitherto, but
now, when at last he is in earnest--when poverty has driven him to
seek marriage with an heiress as a cure for all his ills--he finds
himself tongue-tied; and not only by the importance of the
situation, so far as money goes, but by the clear, calm, waiting
eyes of Perpetua.
"Yes?" says she; and then suddenly, as if not caring for the answer
she has demanded, "You mean that he---- You _too_ think that he
dislikes me?" There is woe in the pale, small, lovely face.
"Very probably. He was always eccentric. Perfect nuisance at home.
None of us could understand him. I shouldn't in the least wonder if
he had taken a rooted aversion to you, and taken it badly too! Miss
Wynter! it quite distresses me to think that it should be _my
_brother, of all men, who has failed to see your charm. A charm
that----" He pauses effectively, to let his really fine eyes have
some play. The conservatory is sufficiently dark to disguise the
ravages that dissipation has made upon his handsome features. He can
see that Perpetua is regarding him earnestly, and with evident
interest. Already he regards his cause as won. It is plain that the
girl is attracted by his face, as indeed she is! She is at this
moment asking herself, who is it he is like?
"You were saying?" says she dreamily.
"That the charm you possess, though of no value in the eyes of your
guardian, is, to _me,_ indescribably attractive. In fact--I----"
A second pause, meant to be even more effective.
Perpetua turns her gaze more directly upon him. It occurs to her
that he is singularly dull, poor man.
"Go on," says she. She nods her head at him with much encouragement.
Her encouragement falls short. Sir Hastings, who had looked for
girlish confusion, is somewhat disconcerted by this open patronage.
"May I" says he--"You _permit_ me then to tell you what I have so
long feared to disclose. I"--dramatically--_"love you!"_
He is standing over her, his hand on the back of her chair, waiting
for the swift blush, the tremor, the usual signs that follow on one
of his declarations. Alas! there is no blush now, no tremor, no sign
at all.
"That is very good of you," says Perpetua, in an even tone. She
moves a little away from him, but otherwise shows no emotion
whatever. "The more so, in that it must be so difficult for you to
love a person in fourteen days! Ah! that is kind, indeed."
A curious light comes into Sir Hastings' eyes. This little
Australian girl, is she _laughing_ at him? But the fact is that
Perpetua is hardly thinking of him at all, or merely as a shadow to
her thoughts. Who _is_ he like? that is the burden of her inward
song. At this moment she knows. She lifts her head to see the
professor standing in the curtained doorway down below. Ah! yes,
that is it! And, indeed, the resemblance between the two brothers is
wonderfully strong at this instant! In the eyes of both a quick fire
is kindled.