next morning, constance, seated as usual in the loggia, which was now, as the weather grew hot, veiled with an awning, heard—her ears being very quick, and on the alert for every sound—a tinkle of the bell, a sound of admittance, the step of domenico leading some visitor to the place in which she sat. was it he, coming yet again to implore her pardon, an extension of privileges, a hope for the future? she made out instantaneously, however, that the footstep which followed domenico was not that of young gaunt. it was softer, less decided—an indefinite female step. she sat up in her chair and listened, letting her book fall, and next moment saw mrs gaunt, old-fashioned, unassured, with a troubled look upon her face, in her shawl and big hat, come out almost{v3-93} timidly upon the loggia. constance sprang to her feet—then in a moment collapsed and shrank away into herself. before the young lover she was a queen, and to her father she preserved her dignity very well; but when his mother appeared, the girl had no longer any power to hold up her head. mrs gaunt was old, very badly dressed, not very clever or wise; but constance felt those mild, somewhat dull eyes penetrating to the depths of her own guilty heart.
“how do you do, miss waring?” said mrs gaunt, stiffly. (she had called her “my dear” yesterday, and had been so anxious to please her, doing everything she could to ingratiate herself.) “i hope i do not disturb you so early; but my son, captain gaunt, is going away——”
“oh yes—i heard. i am very sorry,” the guilty constance murmured, hanging her head.
“i do not know that there is any cause to be sorry; we were going anyhow in a few days. and in london my son will find many friends.”
“i mean,” said constance, drawing a long breath, beginning to recover a little courage,{v3-94} feeling, even in her discomfiture, a faint amusement still—“i mean, for his friends here, who will miss him so much.”
mrs gaunt darted a glance at her, half wrathful, half wavering; it had seemed so unnatural to her that any girl could play with or resist her son. perhaps, after all, he had misunderstood constance. she said, proudly, “his friends always miss george; he is so friendly. nobody ever asks anything from him, to take any trouble or make any sacrifice, in vain.”
“i am sure he is very good,” said constance, tremulous, yet waking to the sense of humour underneath.
“that is why i am here to-day,” said mrs gaunt. “my son—remembers—though perhaps you will allow he has not much call to do so, miss waring—that you said something about a parcel for frances. dear frances; he will see her—that will always be something.”
“then he is not coming to say good-bye?” she said, opening her eyes with a semblance of innocent and regretful surprise.
“oh, miss waring! oh, constance!” cried{v3-95} the poor mother. “but perhaps my boy has made a mistake. he is very wretched. i am sure he never closed his eyes all last night. if you saw him this morning, it would go to your heart. ah, my dear, he thinks you will have nothing to say to him, and his heart is broken. if you will only let me tell him that he has made a mistake!”
“is it about me, mrs gaunt?”
“oh, constance! who should it be about but you? he has never looked at any one else since he saw you first. all that has been in his mind has been how to see you, how to talk to you, to make himself agreeable if he could—to try and get your favour. i will not conceal anything from you. i never was satisfied from the first. i thought you were too grand, too much used to fine people and their ways, ever to look at one of us. but then, when i saw my george, the flower of my flock, with nothing in his mind but how to please you, his eyes following you wherever you went, as if there was not another in the world——”
“there was not another in bordighera, at least,” said constance, under her breath.{v3-96}
“there was not——? what did you say—what did you say? oh, there was nobody that he ever wasted a thought on but you. i had my doubts all the time. i used to say, ‘george, dear, don’t go too far; don’t throw everything at her feet till you know how she feels.’ but i might as well have talked to the sea. if he had been the king of all the world, he would have poured everything into your lap. oh, my dear, a man’s true love is a great thing; it is more than crowns or queen’s jewels. you might have all the world contains, and beside that it would be as nothing—and this is what he has given you. surely you did not understand him when he spoke, or he did not understand you. perhaps you were taken by surprise—fluttered, as girls will be, and said the wrong words. or you were shy. or you did not know your own mind. oh, constance, say it was a mistake, and give me a word of comfort to take to my boy!”
the tears were running down the poor mother’s cheeks as she pleaded thus for her son. when she had left home that morning, after surprising, divining the secret, which he{v3-97} had done his best to hide from her overnight, there had been a double purpose in mrs gaunt’s mind. she had intended to pour out such vials of wrath upon the girl who had scorned her son, such floods of righteous indignation, that never, never should she raise her head again; and she had intended to watch her opportunity, to plead on her knees, if need were, if there was any hope of getting him what he wanted. it did not disturb her that these two intentions were totally opposed to each other. and she had easily been beguiled into thinking that there was good hope still.
while she spoke, constance on her side had been going through a series of observations, running comments upon this address, which did not move her very much. “if he had been king of all the world—ah, that would have made a difference,” she said to herself; and it was all she could do to refrain from bursting forth in derisive laughter at the suggestion that she herself had perhaps been shy, or had not known her own mind. to think that any woman could be such a simpleton, so easily deceived! the question was, whether to{v3-98} be gentle with the delusion, and spare mrs gaunt’s feelings; or whether to strike her down at once with indignation and sharp scorn. there passed through the mind of constance a rapid calculation that in so small a community it was better not to make an enemy, and also perhaps some softening reflections from the remorse which really had touched her last night. so that when mrs gaunt ended by that fervent prayer, her knees trembling with the half intention of falling upon them, her voice faltering, her tears flowing, constance allowed herself to be touched with responsive emotion. she put out both her hands and cried, “oh, don’t speak like that to me; oh, don’t look at me so! dear, dear mrs gaunt, teach me what to do to make up for it! for i never thought it would come to this. i never imagined that he, who deserves so much better, would trouble himself about me. oh, what a wretched creature i am to bring trouble everywhere! for i am not free. don’t you know i am—engaged to some one else? oh, i thought everybody knew of it! i am not free.{v3-99}”
“not free!” said mrs gaunt, with a cry of dismay.
“oh, didn’t you know of it?” said constance. “i thought everybody knew. it has been settled for a long time—since i was quite a child.”
“my dear,” said mrs gaunt, solemnly, “if your heart is not in it, you ought not to go on with it. i did hear something of—a gentleman, whom your mamma wished you to marry; who was very rich, and all that.”
constance nodded her head slowly, in a somewhat melancholy assent.
“but i was told that you did not wish it yourself—that you had broken it off—that you had come here to avoid—— oh, my dear girl, don’t take up a false sense of duty, or—or honour—or self-sacrifice! constance, you may have a right to sacrifice yourself, but not another—not another, dear. and all his happiness is wrapped up in you. and if it is a thing your heart does not go with!” cried the poor lady, losing herself in the complication of phrases. constance only shook her head.{v3-100}
“dear mrs gaunt! i must think of honour and duty. what would become of us all if we put an engagement aside, because—because——? and it would be cruel to the other; he is not strong. i could not, oh, i could not break off—oh no, not for worlds—it would kill him. but will you try and persuade captain gaunt not to think hardly of me? i thought i might enjoy his friendship without any harm. if i have done wrong, oh forgive me!” constance cried.
mrs gaunt dried her eyes. she was a simple-minded woman, who knew what she wanted, and whose instinct taught her to refuse a stone when it was offered to her instead of bread. she said, “he will forgive you, miss waring; he will not think hardly of you, you may be sure. they are too infatuated to do that, when a girl like you takes the trouble to—— but i think you might have thought twice before you did it, knowing what you tell me now. a young man fresh from india, where he has been working hard for years—coming home to get up his strength, to enjoy himself a {v3-101}little, to make up for all his long time away—— and because you are a little lonely, and want to enjoy his—friendship, as you say, you go and spoil his holiday for him, make it all wretched, and make even his poor mother wish that he had never come home at all. and you think it will all be made up if you say you are sorry at the end! to him, perhaps, poor foolish boy; but oh, not to me.”
constance made no reply to this. she had done her best, and for a moment she thought she had succeeded; but she had always been aware, by instinct, that the mother was less easy to beguile than the son; and she was silent, attempting no further self-defence.
“young men are a mystery to me,” said mrs gaunt, standing with agitated firmness in the middle of the loggia, taking no notice of the chair which had been offered her. she did not even look at constance, but directed her remarks to the swaying palms in the foreground and the hills behind—“they are a mystery! there may be one under their very eyes that is as good as gold and as true as steel, and they will never so much as look at{v3-102} her. and there will be another that thinks of nothing but amusing herself, and that is the one they will adore. oh, it is not for the first time now that i have found it out! i had my misgivings from the very first; but he was like all the rest—he would not hear a word from his mother; and now i am sure i wish his furlough was at an end; i wish he had never come home. his father and i would rather have waited on and pined for him, or even made up our minds to die without seeing him, rather than he should have come here to break his heart.”
she paused a moment and then resumed again, turning from the palms and distant peaks to concentrate a look of fire upon constance, who sat sunk in her wicker chair, turning her head away.
“and if a man were to go astray after being used like that, whose fault would it be? if he were to go wrong—if he were to lose heart, to say what’s the good? whose fault would it be? oh, don’t tell me that you didn’t know what you were doing—that you didn’t mean to break his heart! did you think he had no heart at{v3-103} all? but then, why should you have taken the trouble? it wouldn’t have amused you, it would have been no fun, had he had no heart.”
“you seem,” said constance, without turning her head, launching a stray arrow in self-defence, “to know all about it, mrs gaunt.”
“perhaps i do know all about it,—i am a woman myself. i wasn’t always old and faded. i know there are some things a girl may do in innocence, and some—that no one but a wicked woman of the world—— oh, you are young to be called such a name. i oughtn’t, at your age, however i may suffer by you, to call you such a name.”
“you may call me what name you like. fortunately i have not to look to you as my judge. look here,” cried constance, springing to her feet. “you say you are a woman yourself. i am not like frances, a girl that knew nothing. if your son is at my feet, i have had better men at my feet, richer men, far better matches than captain gaunt. would any one in their senses expect me to marry a poor soldier, to go out to india, to follow the regiment? you forget i’m lady markha{v3-104}m’s daughter as well as mr waring’s. put yourself in her place for a moment, and think what you would say if your daughter told you that was what she was going to do. to marry a poor man, not even at home—an officer in india! what would you say? you would lock me up in my room, and keep me on bread and water. you would say, the girl is mad. at least that is what my mother, if she could, would do.”
mrs gaunt caught upon the point which was most salient and attackable. “an indian officer!” she cried. “that shows how little you know. he is not an indian officer—he is a queen’s officer: not that it matters. there were men in the company’s service that—— the company’s service was—— how dare you speak so to me? general gaunt was in the company’s service!” she cried, with an outburst of injured feeling and excited pride.
to this constance made reply with a mocking laugh, which nearly drove her adversary frantic, and resumed her seat, having said what she had to say.
poor mrs gaunt sat down, too, in sheer inability to support herself. her limbs trembled{v3-105} under her. she wanted to cry, but would not, had she died in that act of self-restraint. and as she could not have said another word without crying, force was upon her to keep silence, though her heart burned. after an interval, she said, tremulously, “if this is one of our punishments for eve’s fault, it’s far, far harder to bear than the other; and every woman has to bear it more or less. to see a man that ought to make one woman’s happiness turned into a jest by another woman, and made a laughing-stock of, and all his innocent pleasure turned into bitterness. why did you do it? were there not plenty of men in the world that you should take my boy for your plaything? wasn’t there room for you in london, that you should come here? oh, what possessed you to come here, where no one wanted you, and spoil all?”
constance turned round and stared at her accuser with troubled eyes. it was a question to which it was difficult to give any answer; and she could not deny that it was a very pertinent question. no one had wanted her. there had been room for her in london, and{v3-106} a recognised place, and everything a girl could desire. oh, how she desired now those things which belonged to her, which she had left so lightly, which there was nothing here to replace! why had she left them? if a wish could have taken her back, out of this foreign, alien, unloved scene, away from mrs gaunt, scolding her in the big hat and shawl, which would be only fit for a charade at home, to lady markham’s soft and lovely presence—to claude, even poor claude, with his beautiful eyes and his fear of draughts—how swiftly would she have travelled through the air! but a wish would not do it; and she could only stare at her assailant blankly, and in her heart echo the question, why, oh why?
notwithstanding this stormy interview, constance had so far recovered by the afternoon, and was so utterly destitute of anything else by way of amusement, that she walked down to the railway station at the hour when the train started for marseilles and england, with a perfectly composed and smiling countenance, and the little parcel for frances under her arm. mrs gaunt was like a woman turned to stone{v3-107} when she suddenly saw this apparition, standing upon the platform, talking to her old general, amusing and occupying him so that he almost forgot that he was here on no joyful but a melancholy occasion. and to see george hurry forward, his dark face lit up with a sudden glow, his hat in his hand, as if he were about to address the queen! these are things which are very hard upon women, to whom it is generally given to preserve their senses even when the most seductive siren smiles.
“you would not come to say good-bye to me, so i had to take it into my own hands,” constance said, in her clear young voice, which was to be heard quite distinctly through all the jabber of the riviera functionaries. “and here is the little parcel for frances, if you will be so very good. do go and see them, captain gaunt.”
“of course he will go and see them,” said the general—“too glad. he has not so many people to see in town that he should forget our old friend waring’s near connections, and frances, whom we were all so fond of. and you may be sure he will be honoured by any commissions you will give him.{v3-108}”
“oh, i have no commissions. markham does my commissions when i have any. he is the best of brothers in that respect. give my love to mamma, captain gaunt. she will like to see some one who has seen me. tell her i get on—pretty well. tell them all to come out here.”
“he must not do that, miss waring; for it will soon be too hot, and we are all going away.”
“oh, i was not in earnest,” said constance; “it was only a little jest. i must look too sincere for anything, for people are always taking my little jokes as if i meant them, every word.” she raised her eyes to captain gaunt as she spoke, and with one steady look made an end in a moment of all the hasty hopes that had sprung up again in less time than jonah’s gourd. she put the parcel in his charge, and shook hands with him, taking no notice of his sudden change of countenance,—and not only this, but waited a little way off till the poor young fellow had got into the train, and had been taken farewell of by his parents. then she waved her hand and a little film of{v3-109} a pocket-handkerchief, and waited till the old pair came out, mrs gaunt with very red eyes, and even the general blowing his nose unnecessarily.
“it seems only the other day that we came down to meet him—after not seeing him for so many years.”
“oh, my poor boy! but i should not mind if i thought he had got any good out of his holiday,” said mrs gaunt, launching a burning look among her tears at the siren.
“oh, i think he has enjoyed himself, mrs gaunt. i am sure you need not have any burden on your mind on that account,” the young deceiver said smoothly.
yes, he had enjoyed himself, and now had to pay the price of it in disappointment and ineffectual misery. this was all it had brought him, this brief intoxicating dream, this fool’s paradise. constance walked with them as far as their way lay together, and “talked very nicely,” as he said afterwards, to the general; but mrs gaunt, if she could have done it with a wish, would have willingly pitched this siren, where other sirens belong to—into the sea.
