“my dear, sit down; i want to speak to you. do you know i should like to see you—married.” this speech was made at dunripple to edith brownlow by her uncle, sir gregory, one morning in july, as she was attending him with his breakfast. his breakfast consisted always of a cup of chocolate, made after a peculiar fashion, and edith was in the habit of standing by the old man’s bedside while he took it. she would never sit down, because she knew that were she to do so she would be pretty nearly hidden out of sight in the old arm-chair that stood at the bed-head; but now she was specially invited to do so, and that in a manner which almost made her think that it would be well that she should hide herself for a space. but she did not sit down. there was the empty cup to be taken from sir gregory’s hands, and, after the first moment of surprise, edith was not quite sure that it would be good that she should hide herself. she took the cup and put it on the table, and then returned, without making any reply. “i should like very much to see you married, my dear,” said sir gregory, in the mildest of voices.
“do you want to get rid of me, uncle?”
“no, my dear; that is just what i don’t want. of course you’ll marry somebody.”
“i don’t see any of course, uncle gregory.”
“but why shouldn’t you? i suppose you have thought about it.”
“only in a general way, uncle gregory.”
sir gregory marrable was not a wise man. his folly was of an order very different from that of lord trowbridge,—very much less likely to do harm to himself or others, much more innocent, and, folly though it was, a great deal more compatible with certain intellectual gifts. lord trowbridge, not to put too fine a point upon it, was a fool all round. he was much too great a fool to have an idea of his own folly. now sir gregory distrusted himself in everything, conceived himself to be a poor creature, would submit himself to a child on any question of literature, and had no opinion of his own on any matter outside his own property,—and even as to that his opinion was no more than lukewarm. yet he read a great deal, had much information stored away somewhere in his memory, and had learned at any rate to know how small a fly he was himself on the wheel of the world. but, alas, when he did meddle with anything he was apt to make a mess of it. there had been some conversation between him and his sister-in-law, edith’s mother, about walter marrable; some also between him and his son, and between him and miss marrable, his cousin. but as yet no one had spoken to edith, and as captain marrable himself had not spoken, it would have been as well, perhaps, if sir gregory had held his tongue. after edith’s last answer the old man was silent for awhile, and then he returned to the subject with a downright question,—
“how did you like walter when he was here?”
“captain marrable?”
“yes,—captain marrable.”
“i liked him well enough,—in a way, uncle gregory.”
“nothing would please me so much, edith, as that you should become his wife. you know that dunripple will belong to him some day.”
“if gregory does not marry.” edith had hardly known whether to say this or to leave it unsaid. she was well aware that her cousin gregory would never marry,—that he was a confirmed invalid, a man already worn out, old before his time, and with one foot in the grave. but had she not said it, she would have seemed to herself to have put him aside as a person altogether out of the way.
“gregory will never marry. of course while he lives dunripple will be his; but if walter were to marry he would make arrangements. i dare say you can’t understand all about that, my dear; but it would be a very good thing. i should be so happy if i thought that you were to live at dunripple always.”
edith kissed him and escaped without giving any other answer. ten days after that walter marrable was to be again at dunripple,—only for a few days; but still in a few days the thing might be settled. edith had heard something of mary lowther, but not much. there had been some idea of a match between walter and his cousin mary, but the idea had been blown away. so much edith had heard. to herself walter marrable had been very friendly, and, in truth, she had liked him much. they two were not cousins, but they were so connected, and had for some weeks been so thrown together, as to be almost as good as cousins. his presence at dunripple had been very pleasant to her, but she had never thought of him as a lover. and she had an idea of her own, that girls ought not to think of men as lovers without a good deal of provocation.
sir gregory spoke to mrs. brownlow on the same subject, and as he told her what had taken place between him and edith, she felt herself compelled to speak to her daughter.
“if it should take place, my dear, it would be very well; but i would rather your uncle had not mentioned it.”
“it won’t do any harm, mamma. i mean, that i shan’t break my heart.”
“i believe him to be a very excellent young man,—not at all like his father, who has been as bad as he can be.”
“wasn’t he in love with mary lowther last winter?”
“i don’t know, my dear. i never believe stories of this kind. when i hear that a young man is going to be married to a young lady, then i believe that they are in love with each other.”
“it is to be hoped so then, mamma?”
“but i never believe any thing before. and i think you may take it for granted that there is nothing in that.”
“it would be nothing to me, mamma.”
“it might be something. but i will say nothing more about it. you’ve so much good sense that i am quite sure you won’t get into trouble. i wish sir gregory had not spoken to you; but as he has, it may be as well that you should know that the family arrangement would be very agreeable to your uncle and to cousin gregory. the title and the property must go to captain marrable at last, and sir gregory would make immediate sacrifices for you, which perhaps he would not make for him.”
edith understood all about it very clearly, and would have understood all about it with half the words. she would have little or no fortune of her own, and in money her uncle would have very little to give to her. indeed, there was no reason why he should give her anything. she was not connected with any of the marrables by blood, though chance had caused her to live at dunripple almost all her life. she had become half a marrable already, and it might be very well that she should become a marrable altogether. walter was a remarkably handsome man, would be a baronet, and would have an estate, and might, perhaps, have the enjoyment of the estate by marrying her earlier than he would were he to marry any one else. edith brownlow understood it all with sufficient clearness. but then she understood also that young women shouldn’t give away their hearts before they are asked for them; and she was quite sure that walter marrable had made no sign of asking for hers. nevertheless, within her own bosom she did become a little anxious about mary lowther, and she wished that she knew that story.
on the fourth of august walter marrable reached dunripple, and found the house given up almost entirely to the doctor. both his uncle and his cousin were very ill. when he was able to obtain from the doctor information on which he could rely, he learned that mr. marrable was in real danger, but that sir gregory’s ailment was no more than his usual infirmity heightened by anxiety on behalf of his son. “your uncle may live for the next ten years,” said the doctor; “but i do not know what to say about mr. marrable.” all this time the care and time of the two ladies were divided between the invalids. mrs. brownlow tended her nephew, and edith, as usual, waited upon sir gregory. in such circumstances it was not extraordinary that edith brownlow and walter marrable should be thrown much together,—especially as it was the desire of all concerned with them that they should become man and wife. poor edith was subject to a feeling that everybody knew that she was expected to fall in love with the man. she thought it probable, too, that the man himself had been instructed to fall in love with her. this no doubt created a great difficulty for her, a difficulty which she felt to be heavy and inconvenient;—but it was lessened by the present condition of the household. when there is illness in a house, the feminine genius and spirit predominates the male. if the illness be so severe as to cause a sense of danger, this is so strongly the case that the natural position of the two is changed. edith, quite unconscious of the reason, was much less afraid of her proposed lover than she would have been had there been no going about on tiptoe, no questions asked with bated breath, no great need for womanly aid.
walter had been there four days, and was sitting with edith one evening out on the lawn among the rhododendrons. when he had found what was the condition of the household, he had offered to go back at once to his regiment at birmingham. but sir gregory would not hear of it. sir gregory hated the regiment, and had got an idea in his head that his nephew ought not to be there at all. he was too weak and diffident to do it himself; but if any one would have arranged it for him, he would have been glad to fix an income for walter marrable on condition that walter should live at home, and look after the property, and be unto him as a son. but nothing had been fixed, nothing had been said, and on the day but one following, the captain was to return to birmingham. mrs. brownlow was with her nephew, and walter was sitting with edith among the rhododendrons, the two having come out of the house together after such a dinner as is served in a house of invalids. they had become very intimate, but edith brownlow had almost determined that walter marrable did not intend to fall in love with her. she had quite determined that she would not fall in love with him till he did. what she might do in that case she had not told herself. she was not quite sure. he was very nice,—but she was not quite sure. one ought to be very fond of a young man, she said to herself, before one falls in love with him. nevertheless her mind was by no means set against him. if one can oblige one’s friends one ought, she said, again to herself.
she had brought him out a cup of coffee, and he was sitting in a garden chair with a cigar in his mouth. they were walter and edith to each other, just as though they were cousins. indeed, it was necessary that they should be cousins to each other, for the rest of their lives, if no more.
“let us drop the captain and the miss,” he had said himself; “the mischief is in it if you and i can’t suppose ourselves to be related.” she had assented cordially, and had called him walter without a moment’s hesitation. “edith,” he said to her now, after he had sat for a minute or two with the coffee in his hand; “did you ever hear of a certain cousin of ours, called mary lowther?”
“oh, dear, yes; she lives with aunt sarah at loring; only aunt sarah isn’t my aunt, and miss lowther isn’t my cousin.”
“just so. she lives at loring. edith, i love you so much that i wonder whether i may tell you the great secret of my life?”
“of course you may. i love secrets; and i specially love the secrets of those who love me.” she said this with a voice perfectly clear, and a face without a sign of disappointment; but her little dream had already been dissipated. she knew the secret as well as though it had been told.
“i was engaged to marry her.”
“and you will marry her?”
“it was broken off,—when i thought that i should be forced to go to india. the story is very long, and very sad. it is my own father who has ruined me. but i will tell it you some day.” then he told it all, as he was sitting there with his cigar in his hand. stories may seem to be very long, and yet be told very quickly.
“but you will go back to her now?” said edith.
“she has not waited for me.”
“what do you mean?”
“they tell me that she is to be married to a—to a—certain mr. gilmore.”
“already!”
“he had offered to her twenty times before i ever saw her. she never loved him, and does not now.”
“who has told you this, captain marrable?” she had not intended to alter her form of speech, and when she had done so would have given anything to have called him then by his christian name.
“my uncle john.”
“i would ask herself.”
“i mean to do so. but somehow, treated as i am here, i am bound to tell my uncle of it first. and i cannot do that while gregory is so ill.”
“i must go up to my uncle now, walter. and i do so hope she may be true to you. and i do so hope i may like her. don’t believe anything till she has told you herself.” saying this, edith brownlow returned to the house, and at once put her dream quietly out of her sight. she said nothing to her mother about it then. it was not necessary that she should tell her mother as yet.
