lord hampstead has been left standing for a long time in marion fay's sitting-room after the perpetration of his great offence, and mrs. roden has been standing there also, having come to the house almost immediately after her return home from her italian journey. hampstead, of course, knew most of the details of the di crinola romance, but marion had as yet heard nothing of it. there had been so much for him to say to her during the interview which had been so wretchedly interrupted by his violence that he had found no time to mention to her the name either of roden or of di crinola.
"you have done that which makes me ashamed of myself." these had been marion's last words as mrs. roden entered the room. "i didn't know lord hampstead was here," said mrs. roden.
"oh, mrs. roden, i'm so glad you are come," exclaimed marion. this of course was taken by the lady as a kindly expression of joy that she should have returned from her journey; whereas to hampstead it conveyed an idea that marion was congratulating herself that protection had come to her from further violence on his part. poor marion herself hardly knew her own meaning,—hardly had any. she could not even tell herself that she was angry with her lover. it was probable that the very ecstacy of his love added fuel to hers. if a lover so placed as were this lover,—a lover who had come to her asking her to be his wife, and who had been received with the warmest assurance of her own affection for him,—if he were not justified in taking her in his arms and kissing her, when might a lover do so? the ways of the world were known to her well enough to make her feel that it was so, even in that moment of her perturbation. angry with him! how could she be angry with him? he had asked her, and she had declared to him that she was not angry. nevertheless she had been quite in earnest when she had said that now,—after the thing that he had done,—he must "never, never come to her again."
she was not angry with him, but with herself she was angry. at the moment, when she was in his arms, she bethought herself how impossible had been the conditions she had imposed upon him. that he should be assured of her love, and yet not allowed to approach her as a lover! that he should be allowed to come there in order that she might be delighted in looking at him, in hearing his voice, in knowing and feeling that she was dear to him; but that he should be kept at arm's length because she had determined that she should not become his wife! that they should love each other dearly; but each with a different idea of love! it was her fault that he should be there in her presence at all. she had told herself that it was her duty to sacrifice herself, but she had only half carried out her duty. should she not have kept her love to herself,—so that he might have left her, as he certainly would have done had she behaved to him coldly, and as her duty had required of her. she had longed for some sweetness which would be sweet to her though only a vain encouragement to him. she had painted for her own eyes a foolish picture, had dreamed a silly dream. she had fancied that for the little of life that was left to her she might have been allowed the delight of loving, and had been vain enough to think that her lover might be true to her and yet not suffer himself! her sacrifice had been altogether imperfect. with herself she was angry,—not with him. angry with him, whose very footfall was music to her ears! angry with him, whose smile to her was as a light specially sent from heaven for her behoof! angry with him, the very energy of whose passion thrilled her with a sense of intoxicating joy! angry with him because she had been enabled for once,—only for once,—to feel the glory of her life, to be encircled in the warmth of his arms, to become conscious of the majesty of his strength! no,—she was not angry. but he must be made to understand,—he must be taught to acknowledge,—that he must never, never come to her again. the mind can conceive a joy so exquisite that for the enjoyment of it, though it may last but for a moment, the tranquillity, even the happiness, of years may be given in exchange. it must be so with her. it had been her own doing, and if the exchange were a bad one, she must put up with the bargain. he must never come again. then mrs. roden had entered the room, and she was forced to utter whatever word of welcome might first come to her tongue.
"yes," said hampstead, trying to smile, as though nothing had happened which called for special seriousness of manner, "i am here. i am here, and hope to be here often and often till i shall have succeeded in taking our marion to another home."
"no," said marion faintly, uttering her little protest ever so gently.
"you are very constant, my lord," said mrs. roden.
"i suppose a man is constant to what he really loves best. but what a history you have brought back with you, mrs. roden! i do not know whether i am to call you mrs. roden."
"certainly, my lord, you are to call me so."
"what does it mean?" asked marion.
"you have not heard," he said. "i have not been here time enough to tell her all this, mrs. roden."
"you know it then, lord hampstead?"
"yes, i know it;—though roden has not condescended to write me a line. what are we to call him?" to this mrs. roden made no answer on the spur of the moment. "of course he has written to fanny, and all the world knows it. it seems to have reached the foreign office first, and to have been sent down from thence to my people at trafford. i suppose there isn't a club in london at which it has not been repeated a hundred times that george roden is not george roden."
"not george roden?" asked marion.
"no, dearest. you will show yourself terribly ignorant if you call him so."
"what is he then, my lord?"
"marion!"
"i beg your pardon. i will not do it again this time. but what is he?"
"he is the duca di crinola."
"duke!" said marion.
"that's what he is, marion."
"have they made him that over there?"
"somebody made one of his ancestors that ever so many hundred years ago, when the traffords were—; well, i don't know what the traffords were doing then;—fighting somewhere, i suppose, for whatever they could get. he means to take the title, i suppose?"
"he says not, my lord."
"he should do so."
"i think so too, lord hampstead. he is obstinate, you know; but, perhaps, he may consent to listen to some friend here. you will tell him."
"he had better ask others better able than i am to explain all the ins and outs of his position. he had better go to the foreign office and see my uncle. where is he now?"
"he has gone to the post office. we reached home about noon, and he went at once. it was late yesterday when we reached folkestone, and he let me stay there for the night."
"has he always signed the old name?" asked hampstead.
"oh yes. i think he will not give it up."
"nor his office?"
"nor his office. as he says himself, what else will he have to live on?"
"my father might do something." mrs. roden shook her head. "my sister will have money, though it may probably be insufficient to furnish such an income as they will want."
"he would never live in idleness upon her money, my lord. indeed i think i may say that he has quite resolved to drop the title as idle lumber. you perhaps know that he is not easily persuaded."
"the most obstinate fellow i ever knew in my life," said hampstead, laughing. "and he has talked my sister over to his own views." then he turned suddenly round to marion, and asked her a question. "shall i go now, dearest?" he said.
she had already told him to go,—to go, and never to return to her. but the question was put to her in such a manner that were she simply to assent to his going, she would, by doing so, assent also to his returning. for the sake of her duty to him, in order that she might carry out that self-sacrifice in the performance of which she would now be so resolute, it was necessary that he should in truth be made to understand that he was not to come back to her. but how was this to be done while mrs. roden was present with them? had he not been there then she could have asked her friend to help her in her great resolution. but before the two she could say nothing of that which it was in her heart to say to both of them. "if it pleases you, my lord," she said.
"i will not be 'my lord.' here is roden, who is a real duke, and whose ancestors have been dukes since long before noah, and he is allowed to be called just what he pleases, and i am to have no voice in it with my own particular and dearest friends! nevertheless i will go, and if i don't come to-day, or the day after, i will write you the prettiest little love-letter i can invent."
"don't," she said;—oh so weakly, so vainly;—in a manner so utterly void of that intense meaning which she was anxious to throw into her words. she was conscious of her own weakness, and acknowledged to herself that there must be another interview, or at any rate a letter written on each side, before he could be made to understand her own purpose. if it must be done by a letter, how great would be the struggle to her in explaining herself. but perhaps even that might be easier than the task of telling him all that she would have to tell, while he was standing by, impetuous, impatient, perhaps almost violent, assuring her of his love, and attempting to retain her by the pressure of his hand.
"but i shall," he said, as he held her now for a moment. "i am not quite sure whether i may not have to go to trafford; and if so there shall be the love-letter. i feel conscious, mrs. roden, of being incapable of writing a proper love-letter. 'dearest marion, i am yours, and you are mine. always believe me ever thine.' i don't know how to go beyond that. when a man is married, and can write about the children, or the leg of mutton, or what's to be done with his hunters, then i dare say it becomes easy. good-bye dearest. good-bye, mrs. roden. i wish i could keep on calling you duchess in revenge for all the 'my lordings.'" then he left them.
there was a feeling in the mind of both of them that he had conducted himself just as a man would do who was in a high good-humour at having been permanently accepted by the girl to whom he had offered his hand. marion fay knew that it was not so;—knew that it never could be so. mrs. roden knew that it had not been so when she had left home, now nearly two months since; and knew also that marion had pledged herself that it should not be so. the young lord then had been too strong with his love. a feeling of regret came over her as she remembered that the reasons against such a marriage were still as strong as ever. but yet how natural that it should be so! was it possible that such a lover as lord hampstead should not succeed in his love if he were constant to it himself? sorrow must come of it,—perhaps a tragedy so bitter that she could hardly bring herself to think of it. and marion had been so firm in her resolve that it should not be so. but yet it was natural, and she could not bring herself to express to the girl either anger or disappointment. "is it to be?" she said, putting on her sweetest smile.
"no!" said marion, standing up suddenly,—by no means smiling as she spoke! "it is not to be. why do you look at me like that, mrs. roden? did i not tell you before you went that it should never be so?"
"but he treats you as though he were engaged to you?"
"how can i help it? what can i do to prevent it? when i bid him go, he still comes back again, and when i tell him that i can never be his wife he will not believe me. he knows that i love him."
"you have told him that?"
"told him! he wanted no telling. of course he knew it. love him! oh, mrs. roden, if i could die for him, and so have done with it! and yet i would not wish to leave my dear father. what am i to do, mrs. roden?"
"but it seemed to me just now that you were so happy with him."
"i am never happy with him;—but yet i am as though i were in heaven."
"marion!"
"i am never happy. i know that it cannot be, that it will not be, as he would have it. i know that i am letting him waste his sweetness all in vain. there should be some one else, oh, so different from me! there should be one like himself, beautiful, strong in health, with hot eager blood in her veins, with a grand name, with grand eyes and a broad brow and a noble figure, one who, in taking his name, will give him as much as she takes—one, above all, who will not pine and fade before his eyes, and trouble him during her short life with sickness and doctors and all the fading hopes of a hopeless invalid. and yet i let him come, and i have told him how dearly i love him. he comes and he sees it in my eyes. and then it is so glorious, to be loved as he loves. oh, mrs. roden, he kissed me." that to mrs. roden did not seem to be extraordinary; but, not knowing what to say to it at the moment, she also kissed the girl. "then i told him that he must go, and never come back to me again."
"were you angry with him?"
"angry with him! with myself i was angry. i had given him the right to do it. how could i be angry with him? and what does it matter;—except for his sake? if he could only understand! if he would only know that i am in earnest when i speak to him! but i am weak in everything except one thing. he will never make me say that i will be his wife."
"my marion! dear marion!"
"but father wishes it."
"wishes you to become his wife?"
"he wishes it. why should i not be like any other girl, he says. how can i tell him? how can i say that i am not like to other girls because of my darling, my own dearest mother? and yet he does not know it. he does not see it, though he has seen so much. he will not see it till i am there, on my bed, unable to come to him when he wants me."
"there is nothing now to show him or me that you may not live to be old as he is."
"i shall not live to be old. you know that i shall not live to be more than young. have any of them lived? for my father,—for my dear father,—he must find it out for himself. i have sometimes thought that even yet i might last his time—that i might be with him to the end. it might be so,—only that all this tortures me."
"shall i tell him;—shall i tell lord hampstead?"
"he must at any rate be told. he is not bound to me as my father is. for him there need be no great sorrow." at this mrs. roden shook her head. "must it be so?"
"if he is banished from your presence he will not bear it lightly."
"will a young man love me like that;—a young man who has so much in the world to occupy him? he has his ship, and his hounds, and his friends, and his great wealth. it is only girls, i think, who love like that."
"he must bear his sorrow as others do."
"but it shall be made as light as i can make it,—shall it not? i should have done this before. i should have done it sooner. had he been made to go away at once, then he would not have suffered. why would he not go when i told him? why would he not believe me when i spoke to him? i should have heard all his words and never have answered him even with a smile. i should not have trembled when he told me that i was there, at his hearth, as a friend. but who thought then, mrs. roden, that this young nobleman would have really cared for the quaker girl?"
"i saw it, marion."
"could you see just by looking at him that he was so different from others? are his truth, and his loving heart, and his high honour, and his pure honesty, all written in his eyes,—to you as they are to me? but, mrs. roden, there shall be an end of it! though it may kill me,—though it may for a little time half-break his heart,—it shall be done! oh, that his dear heart should be half-broken for me! i will think of it, mrs. roden, to-night. if writing may do it, perhaps i may write. or, perhaps, i may say a word that he will at least understand. if not you shall tell him. but, mrs. roden, it shall be done!"
