"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 her
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 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 the 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
longed, 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.