HER ANSWER.
Humphreys, the delegate from the North, and O'Halloran, the Irish
reporter, had been invited by George Brand to dine with him on this
evening--Humphreys having to start for Wolverhampton next day--and the
three were just sitting down when Lord Evelyn called in, uninvited, and
asked if he might have a plate placed for him. Humphreys was anxious
that their host should set out with him for the North in the morning;
but Brand would not promise. He was obviously thinking of other things.
He was at once restless, preoccupied, and silent.
"I hope, my lord, you have come to put our friend here in better
spirits," said Humphreys, blushing a little as he ventured to call one
of the Brands of Darlington his friend.
"What is the matter?"
At this moment Waters appeared at the door with a letter in his hand.
Brand instantly rose, went forward to him and took the letter, and
retired into an adjoining room. Without looking, he know from whom it
had come.
His hand was shaking as he opened the envelope; but the words that met
his eyes were calm.
"My dear friend,--Your letter has given me joy and pain. Joy that you
still adhere to your noble resolve; that you have found gladness in your
life; that you will work on to the end, whatever the fruit of the work
may be. But this other thought of yours--that only distresses me; it
clouds the future with uncertainty and doubt, where there should only be
clear faith. My dear friend, I must ask you to put away that thought.
Let the _feu sacre_ of the regenerator, the liberator, have full
possession of you. How I should blame myself if I were to distract you
from the aims to which you have devoted your life. I have no one to
advise me; but this I know is _right_. You will, I think, not
misunderstand me--you will not think it unmaidenly of me--if I confess
to you that I have written these words with some pain, some touch of
regret that all is not possible to you that you may desire. But for one
soul on devotion. Do I express myself clearly?--you know English is not
my native tongue. If we may not go through life together, in the sense
that you mean, we need not be far apart; and you will know, as you go
forward in the path of a noble duty, that there is not any one who
regards you and the work you will do with a greater pride and affection
than your friend,
NATALIE."
What could it all mean? he asked himself. This was not the letter of a
woman who loved another man; she would have been more explicit; she
would have given sufficient reason for her refusal. He read again, with
a beating heart, with a wild hope, that veiled and subtle expression of
regret. Was it not that she was prepared to sacrifice forever those
dreams of a secure and happy and loving life, that come naturally to a
young girl, lest they should interfere with what she regarded as the
higher duty, the more imperative devotion? In that case, it was for a
firmer nature than her own to take this matter in hand. She was but a
child; knowing nothing of the sorrows of the world, of the necessity of
protection, of the chances the years might bring. Scarcely conscious of
what he did--so eagerly was his mind engaged--he opened a drawer and
locked the letter in. Then he went hastily into the other room.
"Evelyn," said he, "will you take my place, like a good fellow? I shall
be back as soon as I can. Waters will get you everything you want."
"But about Wolverhampton, Mr. Brand?" shouted Humphreys after him.
There was no answer; he was half-way down the stairs.
When the hansom arrived in Curzon Street a hurried glance showed him
that the dining-room was lit up. She was at home, then: that was enough.
For the rest, he was not going to trouble himself with formalities when
so beautiful a prize might still be within his reach.
He knocked at the door; the little Anneli appeared.
"Anneli," said he, "I want to see Miss Lind for a moment--say I shall
not detain her, if there is any one with her--"
"They are in the dining-room, sir; Madame Potecki, and a strange
gentleman--"
"Ask your mistress to let me see her for one moment; don't you
understand?"
"They are just finishing dinner, sir: if you will step up to the
drawing-room they will be there in a minute or two."
But at last he got the little German maid to understand that he wished
to see Miss Lind alone for the briefest possible time; and that she was
to carry this message in an undertone to her mistress. By himself he
made his way up-stairs to the drawing-room; the lamps were lit.
He lifted books, photographs, and what not, with trembling fingers, and
put them down again without knowing it. He was thinking, not looking.
And he was trying to force himself into a masterful mood. She was only a
child, he kept repeating to himself--only a child, who wanted guidance,
instruction, a protecting hand. It was not her fancies, however generous
and noble, that should shape the destinies of two lives. A beautiful
child, ignorant of the world and its evil: full of dreams of impossible
and unnecessary self-sacrifice, she was not one to ordain; surely her
way in life was to be led, and cherished, and loved, trusting to the
stronger hand for guidance and safety.
There was a slight rustle outside, and presently Natalie entered the
room. She was pale--perhaps she looked all the paler that she wore the
long, sweeping black dress she had worn at Lady Evelyn's. In silence she
gave him her hand; he took it in both his.
"Natalie!"
It was a cry of entreaty, almost of pain; for this fond vision of his of
her being only a child, to be mastered and guided, had fled the moment
he caught sight of this tall and beautiful woman, whose self-command,
despite that paleness and a certain apprehension in the dark eyes, was
far greater than his own.
"Natalie, you must give me a clearer answer."
He tried to read the answer in her eyes; but she lowered them as she
spoke.
"Was not my answer clear?" she said, gently. "I wished not to give you
pain."
"But was all your answer there?" he said quickly. "Were there no other
reasons? Natalie! don't you know that, if you regretted your decision
ever so little--if you thought twice about it--if even now you can give
me leave to hope that one day you will be my wife--there were no reasons
at all in your letter for your refusing--none at all? If you love me
even so little that you regret--"
"I must not listen to you," she said hurriedly. "No, no. My answer was
best for us both. I am sorry if it pains you; but you have other things
to think of; we have our separate duties in the world--duties that are
of first importance. My dear friend," she continued, with an air of
appeal, "don't you see how I am situated? I have no one to advise
me--not even my father, though I can guess what he would say. I know
what he would say; and my heart tells me that I have done right."
"One word," said he. "This you must answer me frankly. Is there no
other reason for your refusal? Is your heart free to choose?"
She looked up and met his eyes for a moment: only for a moment.
"I understand you," she said, with some slight color mounting to the
pale clear olive of her brow. "No, there is not any reason like that."
A quick, proud light leaped into his eyes.
"Then," said he, "I refuse to accept your refusal. Natalie, you will be
my wife!"
"Oh, do not say that--do not think of it. I have done wrong even to
listen, to let you speak--"
"But what I say is true. I claim you, as surely as I now hold your
hand--"
"Hush!"
There were two people coming into the room; he did not care if there
were a regiment. He relinquished her hand, it is true; but there was a
proud and grateful look on his face; he did not even turn to regard the
new-comers.
These were Madame Potecki and Calabressa. The little Polish lady had
misconstrued Natalie's parting words to mean that some visitors had
arrived, and that she and Calabressa were to follow when they pleased.
Now that they had appeared in the drawing-room, they could not fail to
perceive how matters stood, and, in fact, the little gentlewoman was on
the point of retiring. But Natalie was quite mistress of the situation.
She reminded Madame Potecki that she had met Mr. Brand before. She
introduced Calabressa to the stranger, saying that he was a friend of
her father's.
"It is opportune--it is a felicitous circumstance," said Calabressa, in
his nasal French. "Mademoiselle, behold the truth. If I do not have a
cigarette after my food, I die--veritably I die! Now your friend, the
friend of the house, surely he will take compassion on me; and we will
have a cigarette together in some apartment."
Here he touched Brand's elbow, having sidled up to him. On any other
occasion Brand would have resented the touch, the invitation, the mere
presence of this theatrical-looking albino. But he was not in a captious
mood. How could he refuse when he heard Natalie say, in her soft, low
voice,
"Will you be so kind, Mr. Brand? Anneli will light up papa's little
smoking-room."
Directly afterward he found himself in the small study, alone with this
odd-looking person, whom he easily recognized as the stranger who had
been walking in the Park with Natalie in the morning. Closer inspection
rendered him less afraid of this rival.
Calabressa rolled a cigarette between his fingers, and lit it.
"I ask your pardon, monsieur. I ask your pardon beforehand. I am about
to be impertinent; it is necessary. If you will tell me some things, I
will tell you some things which it may be better for you to know. First,
then, I assume that you wish to marry that dear child, that beautiful
young lady up-stairs."
"My good friend, you are a little bit too outrageous," said Brand.
"Ah! Then I must begin. You know, perhaps, that the mother of this young
lady is alive?"
"Alive!"
"I perceive you do not know," said Calabressa, coolly. "I thought you
would know--I thought you would guess. A child might guess. She told me
you had seen the locket--_Natalie to Natalushka_--was not that enough?"
"If Miss Lind herself did not guess that her mother was alive, how
should I?"
"If you have been brought up for sixteen or eighteen years to mourn one
as dead, you do not quickly imagine that he or she is not dead: you
perceive?"
"Well, it is extraordinary enough," said Brand, thoughtfully. "With such
a daughter, if she has the heart of a mother at all, how could she
remain away from her for sixteen years?"
A thought struck him, and his forehead colored quickly.
"There was no disgrace?"
At this word Calabressa started, and the small eyes flashed fire.
"I tell you, monsieur, that it is not in my presence that any one must
mention the word disgrace and also the name of Natalie Berezolyi. No; I
will answer--I myself--I will answer for the good name of Natalie
Berezolyi, by the bounty of Heaven!"
He shrugged his shoulders.
"You are ignorant--you made a mistake. And I--well, you perceive,
monsieur, that I am not ashamed to confess--I loved her; she was the
radiant light, the star of my life!"
"La lumiere rayonnante, l'etoile de ma vie!"--the phrases sounded
ridiculous enough when uttered by this histrionic person; but even his
self-conscious gesticulation did not offend Brand. This man, at all
events, had loved the mother of Natalie.
"Then it was some very powerful motive that kept mother and daughter
apart?" said he.
"Yes; I cannot explain it all to you, if I quite know it all. But every
year the mother comes with a birthday present of flowers for the child,
and watches to see her once or twice; and then away back she goes to the
retreat of her father. Ah, the devotion of that beautiful saint! If
there is a heaven at all, Natalie Berezolyi will be among the angels."
"Then you have come to tell Natalie that her mother is alive. I envy
you. How grateful the girl will be to you!"
"I? What, I? No, truly, I dare not. And that is why I wish to speak to
you: I thought perhaps you would guess, or find out: then I say, do not
utter a word! Why do I give you this secret? Why have I sought to speak
with you, monsieur? Well, if you will not speak, I will. Something the
little Natalushka said--to me she must always be the little Natalushka
in name, though she is so handsome a woman now--something she said to me
revealed a little secret. Then I said, 'Perhaps Natalushka will have a
happier life than Natalie has had, only her husband must be discreet.'
Now, monsieur, listen to me. What I said to Natalushka I say to you: do
not thwart her father's wishes. He is a determined man, and angry when
he is opposed."
"My good sir, other people may have an ounce or two of determination
also. You mean that I must never let Natalie know that her mother is
alive, for fear of Lind? Is that what you mean? Come, then!"
He strode to the door, and had his hand on the handle, when Calabressa
jumped up and caught him, and interposed.
"For Heaven's sake--for Heaven's sake, monsieur, why be so
inconsiderate, so rash?"
"Has the dread of this man frightened you out of your wits?"
"He is invulnerable--and implacable," said Calabressa. "But he is a good
friend when he has his own way. Why not be friends? You will have to ask
him for his daughter. Consider, monsieur, that is something."
"Well, there is reason in that," Brand said, reflectively. "And I am
inclined to be friendly with every one to-night, Signor Calabressa. It
may be that Lind has his reasons; and he is the natural guardian of his
daughter--at present. But she might have another guardian, Signor
Calabressa?"
"The wicked one!--she has promised herself to you? And she told me she
had no sweethearts, the rogue!"
"No, she has not promised. But what may not one dare to hope for, when
one sees her so generous and kind? She is like her mother, is she not?
Now I am going to slip away, Signor Calabressa; when you have had
another cigarette, will you go up-stairs and explain to the two ladies
that I have three friends who are now dining at my house, and I must get
back to them?"
Calabressa rose, and took the taller man's hand in his.
"I think our little Natalushka is right in trusting herself to you; I
think you will be kind to her; I know you will be brave enough to
protect her. All very well. But you English are so headstrong. Why not a
little caution, a little prudence, to smooth the way through life?"
Brand laughed: but he had taken a liking to this odd-looking man.
"Now, good-night, Signor Calabressa. You have done me a great service.
And if Natalie's mother wishes to see her daughter--well, I think the
opportunity will come. In the mean time, I will be quite cautious and
prudent, and compromise nobody; even if I cannot wholly promise to
tremble at the name of the Invulnerable and the Implacable."
"Ah, monsieur," said Calabressa, with a sigh, his gay gesticulation
having quite left him, "I hope I have done no mischief. It was all for
the little Natalushka. It will be so much better for you and for her to
be on good terms with Ferdinand Lind."
"We will see," Brand said, lightly. "The people in this part of the
world generally do as they're done by."