I can see its true by the way you say that, his friend ingenuously stated.
Do Freer and his wife believe it? Jackson went on impatiently.
They want you to go and see them. You can judge for yourself.
Ill go and see them and tell them to mind their business.
In Jermyn Street; but I forget the number. Im sorry the marchioness isnt one of ours, Doctor Feeder continued.
If I should marry her she would be quick enough. But I dont see what difference it can make to you, said Jackson.
Why, shell look down on the profession, and I dont like that from your wife.
That will touch me more than you.
Then it is true? Doctor Feeder cried with a finer appeal.
She wont look down. Ill answer for that.
You wont care. Youre out of it all now.
No, Im not. I mean to do no end of work.
Ill believe that when I see it, said Sidney Feeder, who was by no means perfectly incredulous, but who thought it salutary to take that tone. Im not sure youve any right to workyou oughtnt to have everything; you ought to leave the field to us, not take the bread out of our mouths and get the kudos. You must pay the penalty of being bloated. Youd have been celebrated if you had continued to practisemore celebrated than any one. But you wont be nowyou cant be any way you fix it. Some one else is going to be in your place.
Jackson Lemon listened to this, but without meeting the eyes of the prophet; not, however, as if he were avoiding them, but as if the long stretch of the Ride, now less and less obstructed, irresistibly drew him off again and made his companions talk retarding. Nevertheless he answered deliberately and kindly enough. I hope it will be you, old boy. And he bowed to a lady who rode past.
Very likely it will. I hope I make you feel mean. Thats what Im trying to do.
Oh awfully! Jackson cried. All the more that Im not in the least engaged.
Well, thats good. Wont you come up to-morrow? Doctor Feeder went on.
Ill try, my dear fellow. I cant be sure. By-bye!
Oh youre lost anyway! sighed Sidney Feeder as the other started away.
II
It was Lady Marmaduke, wife of Sir Henry of that clan, who had introduced the amusing young American to Lady Beauchemin; after which Lady Beauchemin had made him acquainted with her mother and sisters. Lady Marmaduke too was of outland strain, remaining for her conjugal baronet the most ponderable consequence of a tour in the United States. At present, by the end of ten years, she knew her London as she had never known her New York, so that it had been easy for her to be, as she called herself, Jacksons social godmother. She had views with regard to his career, and these views fitted into a scheme of high policy which, if our space permitted, I should be glad to lay before the reader in its magnitude. She wished to add an arch or two to the bridge on which she had effected her transit from America; and it was her belief that Doctor Lemon might furnish the materials. This bridge, as yet a somewhat sketchy and rickety structure, she sawin the futureboldly stretch from one solid pier to another. It could but serve both ways, for reciprocity was the keynote of Lady Marmadukes plan. It was her belief that an ultimate fusion was inevitable and that those who were the first to understand the situation would enjoy the biggest returns from it. The first time the young man had dined with her he met Lady Beauchemin, who was her intimate friend. Lady Beauchemin was remarkably gracious, asking him to come and see her as if she really meant it. He in fact presented himself and in her drawing-room met her mother, who happened to be calling at the same moment. Lady Canterville, not less friendly than her daughter, invited him down to Pasterns for Eastertide, and before a month had passed it struck him that, though he was not what he would have called intimate at any house in London, the door of the house of Clement opened to him pretty often. This seemed no small good fortune, for it always opened upon a charming picture. The inmates were a blooming and beautiful race, and their interior had an aspect of the ripest comfort. It was not the splendour of New Yorkas New York had lately begun to appear to the young manbut an appearance and a set of conditions, of factors as he used to say, not to be set in motion in that city by any power of purchase. He himself had a great deal of money, and money was good even when it was new; but old money was somehow more to the shilling and the pound. Even after he learned that Lord Cantervilles fortune was less present than past it was still the positive golden glow that struck him. It was Lady Beauchemin who had told him her father wasnt rich; having told him furthermore many surprising thingsthings both surprising in themselves and surprising on her lips. This was to come home to him afresh that eveningthe day he met Sidney Feeder in the Park. He dined out in the company of Lady Beauchemin, and afterwards, as she was aloneher husband had gone down to listen to a debateshe offered to take him on. She was going to several places, at some of which he must be due. They compared notes, and it was settled they should proceed together to the Trumpingtons, whither, it appeared at eleven oclock, all the world was proceeding, with the approach to the house choked for half a mile with carriages. It was a close muggy night; Lady Beauchemins chariot, in its place in the rank, stood still for long periods. In his corner beside her, through the open window, Jackson Lemon, rather hot, rather oppressed, looked out on the moist greasy pavement, over which was flung, a considerable distance up and down, the flare of a public-house. Lady Beauchemin, however, was not impatient, for she had a purpose in her mind, and now she could say what she wished.
Do you really love her? That was the first thing she said.
Well, I guess so, Jackson Lemon answered as if he didnt recognise the obligation to be serious.
She looked at him a moment in silence; he felt her gaze and, turning his eyes, saw her face, partly shadowed, with the aid of a street-lamp. She was not so pretty as Lady Barb; her features had a certain sharpness; her hair, very light in colour and wonderfully frizzled, almost covered her eyes, the expression of which, however, together with that of her pointed nose and the glitter of several diamonds, emerged from the gloom. What she next said seemed somehow to fall in with that. You dont seem to know. I never saw a man in so vague a state.
You push me a little too much; I must have time to think of it, the young man returned. You know in my country they allow us plenty of time. He had several little oddities of expression, of which he was perfectly conscious and which he found convenient, for they guarded him in a society condemning a lonely New Yorker who proceeded by native inspiration to much exposure; they ensured him the profit corresponding with sundry sacrifices. He had no great assortment of vernacular drolleries, conscious or unconscious, to draw upon; but the occasional use of one, discreetly chosen, made him appear simpler than he really was, and reasons determined his desiring this result. He was not simple; he was subtle, circumspect, shrewdperfectly aware that he might make mistakes. There was a danger of his making one nowa mistake that might gravely count. He was resolved only to succeed. It is true that for a great success he would take a certain risk; but the risk was to be considered, and he gained time while he multiplied his guesses and talked about his country.
You may take ten years if you like, said Lady Beauchemin. Im in no hurry whatever to make you my brother-in-law. Only you must remember that you spoke to me first.
What did I say?
You spoke to me of Barb as the finest girl you had seen in England.
Oh Im willing to stand by that. And he had another try, which would have been transparent to a compatriot. I guess I like her type.
I should think you might!
I like her all roundwith all her peculiarities.
What do you mean by her peculiarities?
Well, she has some peculiar ideas, said Jackson Lemon in a tone of the sweetest reasonableness, and she has a peculiar way of speaking.
Ah, you cant expect us to speak so well as you! cried Lady Beauchemin.
I dont see why not. He was perfectly candid. You do some things much better.
Weve our own ways at any rate, and we think them the best in the worldas they mostly are! laughed Lady Beauchemin. One of thems not to let a gentleman devote himself to a girl for so long a time without some sense of responsibility. If you dont wish to marry my sister you ought to go away.
I ought never to have come, said Jackson Lemon.
I can scarcely agree to that, her ladyship good-naturedly replied, as in that case I should have lost the pleasure of knowing you.
It would have spared you this duty, which you dislike very much.
Asking you about your intentions? Oh I dont dislike it at all! she cried. It amuses me extremely.
Should you like your sister to marry me? asked Jackson with great simplicity.
If he expected to take her by surprise he was disappointed: she was perfectly prepared to commit herself. I should like it particularly. I think English and American society ought to be but one. I mean the best of each. A great whole.
Will you allow me to ask whether Lady Marmaduke suggested that to you? he at once inquired.
Weve often talked of it.
Oh yes, thats her aim.
Well, its my aim too. I think theres a lot to be done.
And youd like me to do it?
To begin it, precisely. Dont you think we ought to see more of each other? I mean, she took the precaution to explain, just the best in each country.
Jackson Lemon appeared to weigh it. Im afraid I havent any general ideas. If I should marry an English girl it wouldnt be for the good of the species.
Well, we want to be mixed a little. That Im sure of, Lady Beauchemin said.
You certainly got that from Lady Marmaduke, he commented.
Its too tiresome, your not consenting to be serious! But my father will make you so, she went on with her pleasant assurance. I may as well let you know that he intends in a day or two to ask you your intentions. Thats all I wished to say to you. I think you ought to be prepared.
Im much obliged to you. Lord Canterville will do quite right, the young man allowed.
There was to his companion something really unfathomable in this little American doctor whom she had taken up on grounds of large policy and who, though he was assumed to have sunk the medical character, was neither handsome nor distinguished, but only immensely rich and quite originalsince he wasnt strictly insignificant. It was unfathomable to begin with that a medical man should be so rich, or that so rich a man should be medical; it was even, to an eye always gratified by suitability and, for that matter, almost everywhere recognising it, rather irritating. Jackson Lemon himself could have explained the anomaly better than any one else, but this was an explanation one could scarcely ask for. There were other things: his cool acceptance of certain situations; his general indisposition to make comprehension easy, let alone to guess it, with all his guessing, so much hindered; his way of taking refuge in jokes which at times had not even the merit of being American; his way too of appearing to be a suitor without being an aspirant. Lady Beauchemin, however, was, like her puzzling friend himself, prepared to run a certain risk. His reserves made him slippery, but that was only when one pressed. She flattered herself she could handle people lightly. My father will be sure to act with perfect tact, she said; though of course if you shouldnt care to be questioned you can go out of town. She had the air of really wishing to act with the most natural delicacy.
I dont want to go out of town; Im enjoying it far too much here, Jackson cried. And wouldnt your father have a right to ask me what I should mean by that?
Lady Beauchemin thoughtshe really wondered. But in a moment she exclaimed: Hes incapable of saying anything vulgar!
She hadnt definitely answered his inquiry, and he was conscious of this; but he was quite ready to say to her a little later, as he guided her steps from the brougham to the strip of carpet which, beneath a rickety border of striped cloth and between a double row of waiting footmen, policemen and dingy amateurs of both sexes, stretched from the curbstone to the portal of the Trumpingtons: Of course I shant wait for Lord Canterville to speak to me.
He had been expecting some such announcement as this from Lady Beauchemin and really judged her father would do no more than his duty. He felt he should be prepared with an answer to the high challenge so prefigured, and he wondered at himself for still not having come to the point. Sidney Feeders question in the Park had made him feel rather pointless; it was the first direct allusion as yet made to his possible marriage by any one but Lady Beauchemin. None of his own people were in London; he was perfectly independent, and even if his mother had been within reach he couldnt quite have consulted her on the subject. He loved her dearly, better than any one; but she wasnt a woman to consult, for she approved of whatever he did: the fact of his doing it settled the case for it. He had been careful not to be too serious when he talked with Lady Barbs relative; but he was very serious indeed as he thought over the matter within himself, which he did even among the diversions of the next half-hour, while he squeezed, obliquely and with tight arrests, through the crush in the Trumpingtons drawing-room. At the end of the half-hour he came away, and at the door he found Lady Beauchemin, from whom he had separated on entering the house and who, this time with a companion of her own sex, was awaiting her carriage and still going on. He gave her his arm to the street, and as she entered the vehicle she repeated that she hoped hed just go out of town.
Who then would tell me what to do? he returned, looking at her through the window.
She might tell him what to do, but he felt free all the same; and he was determined this should continue. To prove it to himself he jumped into a hansom and drove back to Brook Street and to his hotel instead of proceeding to a bright-windowed house in Portland Place where he knew he should after midnight find Lady Canterville and her daughters. He recalled a reference to that chance during his ride with Lady Barb, who would probably expect him; but it made him taste his liberty not to go, and he liked to taste his liberty. He was aware that to taste it in perfection he ought to turn in; but he didnt turn in, he didnt even take off his hat. He walked up and down his sitting-room with his head surmounted by this ornament, a good deal tipped back, and with his hands in his pockets. There were various cards stuck into the frame of the mirror over his chimney-piece, and every time he passed the place he seemed to see what was written on one of themthe name of the mistress of the house in Portland Place, his own name and in the lower left-hand corner A small Dance. Of course, now, he must make up his mind; hed make it up by the next day: that was what he said to himself as he walked up and down; and according to his decision hed speak to Lord Canterville or would take the night-express to Paris. It was better meanwhile he shouldnt see Lady Barb. It was vivid to him, as he occasionally paused with fevered eyes on the card in the chimney-glass, that he had come pretty far; and he had come so far because he was under the spellyes, he was under the spell, or whatever it was, of Lady Barb. There was no doubt whatever of this; he had a faculty for diagnosis and he knew perfectly what was the matter with him. He wasted no time in musing on the mystery of his state; in wondering if he mightnt have escaped such a seizure by a little vigilance at first, or if it would abate should he go away. He accepted it frankly for the sake of the pleasure it gave himthe girl was the delight of most of his sensesand confined himself to considering how it would square with his general situation to marry her. The squaring wouldnt at all necessarily follow from the fact that he was in love; too many other things would come in between. The most important of these was the change not only of the geographical but of the social standpoint for his wife, and a certain readjustment that it would involve in his own relation to things. He wasnt inclined to readjustments, and there was no reason why he should be: his own position was in most respects so advantageous. But the girl tempted him almost irresistibly, satisfying his imagination both as a lover and as a student of the human organism; she was so blooming, so complete, of a type so rarely encountered in that degree of perfection. Jackson Lemon was no Anglomaniac, but he took peculiar pleasure in certain physical facts of the Englishtheir complexion, their temperament, their tissue; and Lady Barb had affected him from the first as in flexible virginal form a wonderful compendium of these elements. There was something simple and robust in her beauty; it had the quietness of an old Greek statue, without the vulgarity of the modern simper or of contemporary prettiness. Her head was antique, and though her conversation was quite of the present period Jackson told himself that some primitive sincerity of soul couldnt but match with the cast of her brow, of her bosom, of the back of her neck, and with the high carriage of her head, which was at once so noble and so easy. He saw her as she might be in the future, the beautiful mother of beautiful children in whom the appearance of race should be conspicuous. He should like his children to have the appearance of race as well as other signs of good stuff, and wasnt unaware that he must take his precautions accordingly. A great many people in England had these indications, and it was a pleasure to him to see them, especially as no one had them so unmistakably as the second daughter of the Cantervilles. It would be a great luxury to call a creature so constituted ones own; nothing could be more evident than that, because it made no difference that she wasnt strikingly clever. Striking cleverness wasnt one of the signs, nor a mark of the English complexion in general; it was associated with the modern simper, which was a result of modern nerves. If Jackson had wanted a wife all fiddlestrings of course he could have found her at home; but this tall fair girl, whose character, like her figure, appeared mainly to have been formed by riding across country, was differently put together. All the same would it suit his book, as they said in London, to marry her and transport her to New York? He came back to this question; came back to it with a persistency which, had she been admitted to a view of it, would have tried the patience of Lady Beauchemin. She had been irritated more than once at his appearing to attach himself so exclusively to that horn of the dilemmaas if it could possibly fail to be a good thing for a little American doctor to marry the daughter of an English peer. It would have been more becoming in her ladyships eyes that he should take this for granted a little more and take the consent of her ladyshipsof their ladyshipsfamily a little less. They looked at the matter so differently! Jackson Lemon was conscious that if he should propose for the young woman who so strongly appealed to him it would be because it suited him, and not because it suited his possible sisters-in-law. He believed himself to act in all things by his own faculty of choice and volition, a feature of his outfit in which he had the highest confidence.