Dont go away or I shall think Ive offended you. You cant console an injured noblewoman.
How will she be injured? People will be charming to her.
Theyll be charming to hercharming to her! These words fell from the lips of Dexter Freer, who had opened the door of the room and stood with the knob in his hand, putting himself into relation to his wifes talk with their visitor. This harmony was achieved in an instant. Of course I know whom you mean, he said while he exchanged greetings with Jackson. My wife and Inaturally were great busybodieshave talked of your affair and we differ about it completely. She sees only the dangers, while I see all the advantages.
By the advantages he means the fun for us, Mrs. Freer explained, settling her sofa-cushions.
Jackson looked with a certain sharp blankness from one of these disinterested judges to the other; even yet they scarce saw how their misdirected freedom wrought on him. It was hardly more agreeable to him to know that the husband wished to see Lady Barb in America than to know that the wife waved away such a vision. There was that in Dexter Freers face which seemed to forecast the affair as taking place somehow for the benefit of the spectators. I think you both see too mucha great deal too muchin the whole thing, he rather coldly returned.
My dear young man, at my age I may take certain liberties, said Dexter Freer. Do what youve plannedI beseech you to do it; it has never been done before. And then as if Jacksons glance had challenged this last assertion he went on: Never, I assure you, this particular thing. Young female members of the British aristocracy have married coachmen and fishmongers and all that sort of thing; but theyve never married you and me.
They certainly havent married the likes of either of you! said Mrs. Freer.
Im much obliged to you for your advice. It may be thought that Jackson Lemon took himself rather seriously, and indeed Im afraid that if he hadnt done so there would have been no occasion even for this summary report of him. But it made him almost sick to hear his engagement spoken of as a curious and ambiguous phenomenon. He might have his own ideas about itone always had about ones engagement; but the ideas that appeared to have peopled the imagination of his friends ended by kindling a small hot expanse in each of his cheeks. Id rather not talk any more about my little plans, he added to his host. Ive been saying all sorts of absurd things to Mrs. Freer.
Theyve been most interesting and most infuriating, that lady declared. Youve been very stupidly treated.
May she tell me when you go? her husband asked of the young man.
Im going nowshe may tell you whatever she likes.
Im afraid weve displeased you, she went on; Ive said too much what I think. You must pardon meits all for your mother.
Its she whom I want Lady Barb to see! Jackson exclaimed with the inconsequence of filial affection.
Deary me! Mrs. Freer gently wailed.
We shall go back to America to see how you get on, her husband said; and if you succeed it will be a great precedent.
Oh I shall succeed! And with this he took his departure. He walked away with the quick step of a man labouring under a certain excitement; walked up to Piccadilly and down past Hyde Park Corner. It relieved him to measure these distances, for he was thinking hard, under the influence of irritation, and it was as if his movement phrased his passion. Certain lights flashed on him in the last half-hour turned to fire in him; the more that they had a representative value and were an echo of the common voice. If his prospects wore that face to Mrs. Freer they would probably wear it to others; so he felt a strong sharp need to show such others that they took a mean measure of his position. He walked and walked till he found himself on the highway of Hammersmith. I have represented him as a young man with a stiff back, and I may appear to undermine this plea when I note that he wrote that evening to his solicitor that Mr. Hardman was to be informed he would agree to any proposals for settlements that this worthy should make. Jacksons stiff back was shown in his deciding to marry Lady Barbarina on any terms. It had come over him through the action of this desire to prove he wasnt afraidso odious was the imputationthat terms of any kind were very superficial things. What was fundamental and of the essence of the matter would be to secure the grand girl and then carry everything out.
V
On Sundays now you might be at home, he said to his wife in the following month of Marchmore than six months after his marriage.
Are the people any nicer on Sundays than they are on other days? Lady Barb asked from the depths of her chair and without looking up from a stiff little book.
He waited ever so briefly before answering. I dont know whether they are, but I think you might be.
Im as nice as I know how to be. You must take me as I am. You knew when you married me that I wasnt American.
Jackson stood before the fire toward which his wifes face was turned and her feet extended; stood there some time with his hands behind him and his eyes dropped a little obliquely on Lady Barbs bent head and richly-draped figure. It may be said without delay that he was sore of soul, and it may be added that he had a double cause. He knew himself on the verge of the first crisis that had occurred between himself and his wifethe reader will note that it had occurred rather promptlyand he was annoyed at his annoyance. A glimpse of his state of mind before his marriage has been given the reader, who will remember that at that period our young man had believed himself lifted above possibilities of irritation. When one was strong one wasnt fidgety, and a union with a species of calm goddess would of course be a source of repose. Lady Barb was a calm, was an even calmer goddess still, and he had a much more intimate view of her divinity than on the day he had led her to the altar; but Im not sure he felt either as firm or as easy.
How do you know what people are? he said in a moment. Youve seen so few; youre perpetually denying yourself. If you should leave New York to-morrow youd know wonderfully little about it.
Its all just the same, she pleaded. The people are all exactly alike. Theres only one sort.
How can you tell? You never see them.
Didnt I go out every night for the first two months we were here?
It was only to about a dozen housesthose, I agree, always the same; people, moreover, you had already met in London. Youve got no general impressions.
She raised her beautiful blank face. Thats just what I have got; I had them before I came. I see no difference whatever. Theyve just the same namesjust the same manners.
Again for an instant Jackson hung fire; then he said with that practised flat candour of which mention has already been made and which he sometimes used in London during his courtship: Dont you like it over here?
Lady Barb had returned to her book, but she looked up again. Did you expect me to like it?
I hoped you would, of course. I think I told you so.
I dont remember. You said very little about it; you seemed to make a kind of mystery. I knew of course you expected me to live here, but I didnt know you expected me to like it.
You thought I asked of you the sacrifice, as it were.
Im sure I dont know, said Lady Barb. She got up from her chair and tossed her unconsolatory volume into the empty seat. I recommend you to read that book, she added.
Is it interesting?
Its an American novel.
I never read novels.
You had really better look at that one. It will show you the kind of people you want me to know.
Ive no doubt its very vulgar, Jackson said. I dont see why you read it.
What else can I do? I cant always be riding in the Park. I hate the Park, she quite rang out.
Its just as good as your own, said her husband.
She glanced at him with a certain quickness, her eyebrows slightly lifted. Do you mean the park at Pasterns?
No; I mean the park in London.
Oh I dont care about London. One was only in London a few weeks. She had a horrible lovely ease.
Yet he but wanted to help her to turn round. I suppose you miss the country, he suggested. It was his idea of life that he shouldnt be afraid of anything, not be afraid, in any situation, of knowing the worst that was to be known about it; and the demon of a courage with which discretion was not properly commingled prompted him to take soundings that were perhaps not absolutely necessary for safety and yet that revealed unmistakable rocks. It was useless to know about rocks if he couldnt avoid them; the only thing was to trust to the wind.
I dont know what I miss. I think I miss everything! This was his wifes answer to his too-curious inquiry. It wasnt peevish, for that wasnt the tone of a calm goddess; but it expressed a good deala good deal more than Lady Barb, who was rarely eloquent, had expressed before. Nevertheless, though his question had been precipitate, Jackson said to himself that he might take his time to think over what her fewness of words enclosed; he couldnt help seeing that the future would give him plenty of chance. He was in no hurry to ask himself whether poor Mrs. Freer, in Jermyn Street, mightnt after all have been right in saying that when it came to marrying an English caste-product it wasnt so simple to be an American doctorit might avail little even in such a case to be the heir of all the ages. The transition was complicated, but in his bright mind it was rapid, from the brush of a momentary contact with such ideas to certain considerations which led him to go on after an instant: Should you like to go down into Connecticut?
Into Connecticut?
Thats one of our States. Its about as large as Ireland. Ill take you there if you like.
What does one do there?
We can try and get some hunting.
You and I alone?
Perhaps we can get a party to join us.
The people in the State?
Yeswe might propose it to them.
The tradespeople in the towns?
Very truetheyll have to mind their shops, Jackson said. But we might hunt alone.
Are there any foxes?
No, but there are a few old cows.
Lady Barb had already noted that her husband sought the relief of a laugh at her expense, and she was aware that this present opportunity was neither worse nor better than some others. She didnt mind that trick in him particularly now, though in England it would have disgusted her; she had the consciousness of virtue, an immense comfort, and flattered herself she had learned the lesson of an altered standard of fitnessbesides which there were so many more disagreeable things in America than being laughed at by ones husband. But she pretended not to like it because this made him stop, and above all checked discussion, which with Jackson was habitually so facetious and consequently so tiresome. I only want to be left alone, she said in answerthough indeed it hadnt the style of an answerto his speech about the cows. With this she wandered away to one of the windows that looked out on the Fifth Avenue. She was very fond of these windows and had taken a great fancy to the Fifth Avenue, which, in the high-pitched winter weather, when everything sparkled, was bright and funny and foreign. It will be seen that she was not wholly unjust to her adoptive country: she found it delightful to look out of the window. This was a pleasure she had enjoyed in London only in the most furtive manner; it wasnt the kind of thing that girls in England did. Besides, in London, in Hill Street, there was nothing particular to see; whereas in the Fifth Avenue everything and every one went by, and observation was made consistent with dignity by the quantities of brocade and lace dressing the embrasure, which somehow wouldnt have been tidy in England and which made an ambush without concealing the brilliant day. Hundreds of womenthe queer women of New York, who were unlike any that Lady Barb had hitherto seenpassed the house every hour; and her ladyship was infinitely entertained and mystified by the sight of their clothes. She spent more time than she was aware of in this recreation, and had she been addicted to returning upon herself, to asking herself for an account of her conductan inquiry she didnt indeed completely neglect, but made no great form ofshe must have had a wan smile for this proof of what she appeared mainly to have come to America for, conscious though she was that her tastes were very simple and that so long as she didnt hunt it didnt much matter what she did.
Her husband turned about to the fire, giving a push with his foot to a log that had fallen out of its place. Then he saidand the connexion with the words she had just uttered was direct enoughYou really must manage to be at home on Sundays, you know. I used to like that so much in London. All the best women here do it. You had better begin to-day. Im going to see my mother. If I meet any one Ill tell them to come.
Tell them not to talk so much, said Lady Barb among her lace curtains.
Ah, my dear, Jackson returned, it isnt every one who has your concision. And he went and stood behind her in the window, putting his arm round her waist. It was as much of a satisfaction to him as it had been six months before, at the time the solicitors were settling the matter, that this flower of an ancient stem should be worn upon his own breast; he still thought its fragrance a thing quite apart, and it was as clear as day to him that his wife was the handsomest woman in New York. He had begun, after their arrival, by telling her this very often; but the assurance brought no colour to her cheek, no light to her eyes: to be the handsomest woman in New York, now that she was acquainted with that city, plainly failed to strike her as a position in life. The reader may, moreover, be informed that, oddly enough, Lady Barb didnt particularly believe this assertion. There were some very pretty women in New York, and without in the least wishing to be like themshe had seen no woman in America whom she desired to resembleshe envied them some of their peculiar little freshnesses. Its probable that her own finest points were those of which she was most unconscious. But Jackson was intensely aware of all of them; nothing could exceed the minuteness of his appreciation of his wife. It was a sign of this that after he had stood behind her a moment he kissed her very tenderly. Have you any message for my mother? he asked.
Please give her my love. And you might take her that book.
What book?
That nasty one Ive been reading.
Oh bother your books! he cried with a certain irritation as he went out of the room.