What preparations?55 she asked, walking to the window.
I dont exactly know. She wishes me to see her lawyer. Unfortunately, he added in a joking tone, you are not one of those girls whose marriage is a simple matter of the ceremony.
She turned and came towards him, her hands hanging clasped before her.
That is something I have to speak of. I cannot mention it to Mrs. Clarendon, and if I tell you now it will be done with. I desire that there shall be no kind of settlement. Nothing of the kind is enacted by the will, and I do not wish it. Will you please to see that my wish is respected?
Why is it your wish?
I can give no reason. I wish it.
I imagine there will be very strong opposition, and not only from Mrs. Clarendon. I expect the trustees will have something to say.
Adas eyes flashed; her whole face showed agitation, passionate impatience.
What does it matter what they say? she exclaimed. What are they to me? What is my future to them? If you refuse to give me an assurance that my one desire shall be respected I must turn to Mrs. Clarendon, and that will be hateful to me! I have asked nothing else; but this I wish.
You put as much persistence into it as another would in pleading for exactly the opposite, remarked Lacour, his coolness contrasting strangely with her agitated vehemence. You know that a wish of yours is a law to me, and I promise you to agree to nothing you would dislike; remember that they cannot do without my assent. But you see, he added, that it is not a very easy thing for me to urge. I have already been made to feel quite sufficiently
He interrupted himself. Ada waited for him to resume, still standing before him, but he kept silence.
What have you been made to feel? she asked, more quietly, her eyes searchingly fixed on him.
Well, we wont speak of that. Why do you stand? Come and let us talk of other things. You do indeed, Ada, look wretchedly ill.
She averted her face impatiently. Though he had risen and was placing a chair for her, she moved to the window again.
For my own part, said Vincent, watching her, I am grieved that you have set your mind on that. My own resolve was that everything should be settled on you. I hadnt given the matter a thought till just lately, but well, that is what I had determined.
Ada turned in his direction.
You have been corresponding with Mrs. Clarendon? she said, only half interruptedly. Yes, you told me. I understand.
What she understood was clear enough to Lacour, and his silence was filled with a rather vigorous inward debate. A protest of consciencestrengthened by prudential reasonsurged his next words.
You mustnt let me convey a false impression. Mrs. Clarendon is delicacy itself; I am quite sure she would not mean
He checked himself, naturally confirming the false impression. Conscience had still a voice, but the resolve with which he had come into Adas presence grew stronger as he talked with her.
Then she did a curious thing. Coming from the window, she seemed about to walk past him, but, instead of passing, paused just when her dress almost brushed his feet, and stood with her eyes fixed on the ground.
Do sit down. Lacour forced himself to say, rising again and laying his hand on the other chair.
He saw that she trembled; then, with a quick movement, she went to a chair at a greater distance.
These things are horribly awkward to talk about, he said, leaning forward at his ease. Lets put them aside, shall we? We shall have plenty of time to consider all that.
Ada raised her face and looked at him.
Plenty of time?
Surely. I have begged Mrs. Clarendon to remember how anxious we both are to do nothing hastily, to leave her ample time for the arrangements she will find necessary,her own, I mean. I am sure I represented your wish?
Certainly, was the scarcely audible reply.
It will of course be some time before she is perfectly strong, Vincent pursued, noting with much satisfaction what he deemed a proof of the strength of her passion for him; she was so clearly disappointed. Such an illness must have pulled her down seriously. I should think by the summer she will be herself again. It is wretched that we are so utterly dependent on others, and are bound to act with such cautious regard.
You have fixed the summer, in your correspondence with her?
Oh no! I leave it quite open. But we cannot, of course, wait for ever.
Ada sat motionless, her hands in her lap. Her features were fixed in hard, blank misery. No wonder the girl looked ill. Ever since the day on which she wrote to Lacour her acceptance of his offer, life had been to her a mere battle of passions. When time and the events which so rapidly succeeded had dulled the memory of that frenzy which drove her to the step, of set purpose she nursed all the dark and resentful instincts of her nature, that they might support her to the end. Pride was an ally; if it cost her her life she would betray by no sign the suffering she had brought upon herself. She blinded her feelings, strove to crush her heart when it revolted against her self-imposed deception that she loved this man who would become her husband. Had she not found a pleasure in his society? Did not his attentions flatter and even move her? And ever she heard a voice saying that he cared nothing for her, that she had a face which could attract no man, that her money alone drew him to her, and that voice was always Mrs. Clarendons. Hatred of Isabel was in moments almost madness. It seemed in some horribly unnatural way to be increased by the sight of the pale and suffering face; a wretched perversion poisoned the sympathy which showed itself in many an act of kindness. The struggle with her better nature brought her at times near to delirium. When Isabels convalescence began, Ada counted the days. She knew that Lacour would not postpone their marriage an hour later than necessity demanded; her strength would surely hold out a few more weeks. That he did not come to see her was at once a relief and a source of bitterness; his letters she read with a mixture of eagerness and cold criticism. She stirred herself to factitious passion, excited all the glowing instincts, all the dormant ardours, of her beingand shivered before the flame. Every motive that could render marriage desirable she dwelt upon till it should become part of her hourly consciousness. The life she would lead when marriage had given her freedom was her constant forethought. She was made for enjoyment, and would enjoy. For her should exist no petty social rules, no conventional hypocrisies. In London her house should be a gathering-place of Bohemians. She herself did not lack brains, and her wealth would bring people about her. She would be a patroness of art and letters, would make friends of actresses who needed helping to opportunities of success, of artists who were struggling against unmerited neglect. Reading had filled her mind with images of such a world; was it not better than that dull sphere which styled itself exclusive?.... When at length Mrs. Clarendon left Knightswell to go to the Strattons, Ada promised herself that any morning might bring a definite proposal of a day for her wedding. With difficulty she restrained herself from asking when it was to be. She had put aside every doubt, every fear, every regret; her life burned towards that day which would complete her purpose. And now....
But we must see each other oftener, Lacour was saying. If Mrs. Clarendon will welcome me
She interrupted him harshly.
Is Mrs. Clarendon the only person you consult henceforth?
Is Mrs. Clarendon the only person you consult henceforth?
My dear Ada, you mustnt misunderstand a mere form of politeness.
Such forms have always been disagreeable to me.
She rose and moved to the fire-place. Lacour watched her from under his eyebrows. It grew more and more evident how strong was his hold upon her; he asked himself whether a little innocent quarrel might not best serve his ends.
I am wearying you, he said, rising.
She could not let him go without plain question and answer; it seemed to her that she had reached the limit of endurance, that her strength would fail under the trial of another hour. Yet her lips would form no word.
In what have I displeased you, Ada? Vincent inquired, with an air of much surprise.
Clearly I have done so. Pray tell me what I have said or done.
She turned from the fire and faced him.
When is it your intention for our marriage to take place?
Lacour was suspicious again. This astounding eagerness must be the result of some information she had received; she dreaded to lose him. Did not her desire about the settlement somehow depend upon the same cause?
Surely I have no interest in putting it off, he said, his head a little on one side, his most delicate smile in full play.
But you think it had better not be before the summer?
Is not that best? I have no will but yours, Ada.
I think, she replied slowly, that it shall be, not this summer, but the summer of next year.
A year and a half still? For whatever reason? he cried.
I shall come of age then, she continued, looking past him with vague eyes. I need consult no one then about my wishes.
My dear Ada, you surely do not think I hesitated
No, she said firmly, but it will be better. Have I your consent to this?
He walked away a few steps, desperately puzzled, exasperated, by the necessity of answering yes or no, when more than he could imagine might depend upon the choice.
This is a joke, Ada! he said, coming back with disturbed countenance.
Nothing less. I ask you to postpone our marriage till I am twenty-one.
Her eyes did not move from his face. If he had said, We will be married next week, she would have given him her hand in assent. Surely at that moment the air must have been full of invisible mocking spirits, waiting, waiting in delicious anticipation of human folly.
If that is your wish, Lacour said, I cannot oppose it. He had assumed dignity.
My constancy, Ada, can bear a test of eighteen months.
I will let Mrs. Clarendon know, Ada observed quietly. It will relieve her mind.
Should he leave her thus? He hesitated for a moment. Pooh! As if he could not whistle her back whenever it suited him to do so; women appreciate a display of dignity and firmness. He held his hand in silence, and, when she gave him hers, he just touched it with his lips. As he moved to the door he expected momently to hear his name uttered, to find himself recalled. No; she allowed him to disappear. He left the house rather hurriedly, and not in an entirely sweet temper, in spite of the fact that he had gained the very end he had in view, and which he had feared would be so difficult of attainment, would necessitate such a succession of hypocrisies and small conflicts.
How the imps in the air exploded as soon as he was gone!
CHAPTER II
Mrs. Stratton was summoned home by her husbands arrival just before Christmas. Isabel preferred to delay yet a little, and reached Chislehurst a fortnight later, accomplishing the journey with the assistance of her maid only. It proved rather too much for her strength, and for a day or two she had to keep her room. Then she joined the family, very pale still, and not able to do much more than hold a kind of court throned by the fireside, but with the light of happiness on her face, listening with a bright smile to every ones conversation, equally interested in Master Edgars latest exploit by flood or field, and in his mothers rather trenchant comments on neighbouring families.
All the Strattons were at home. The four British youths had been keeping what may best be described by Coleridges phrase, Devils Yule. Colonel Stratton was by good luck a man of substance, and could maintain an establishment corresponding to the needs of such a household. Though Mrs. Stratton had spoken of her house as being too large, it would scarcely be deemed so by the guests of mature age who shared it with the two young Strattons already at Woolwich and Sandhurst, and the other two who were still mewing their mighty youth at scholastic institutions. There was a certain upper chamber in which were to be found appliances for the various kinds of recreation sought after by robust young Britons; here they put on gloves, and pummelled each other to their hearts satisfactionthudthud! Here they vied with one another at single-stickthwackthwack! Here they swung dumb-bells, and tumbled on improvised trapezes. And hence, when their noble minds yearned for variety, they rushed headlong, pell-mell into the lower regions of the house, to the delights of the billiard-room. They had the use of a couple of horses, and the frenzy of their over-full veins drove them in turns, like demon huntsmen, over the frozen or muddy country. They returned at the hour of dinner, and ateate in stolid silence, till they had appeased the gnawing of hunger, then flung themselves here and there about the drawing-room till their thoughts, released from the brief employment of digestion, could formulate remarks on such subjects as interest youth of their species.
Mrs. Stratton enjoyed it all. Her offspring were perfect in her eyes. Had they been less riotous she would have conceived anxiety about their health. When her third boy, Reginald, aged thirteen years, fell to fisticuffs with a youthful tramp in a lane hard by, and came home irrecognisable from blood and dirt, she viewed him with amused astonishment, and, after setting him to rights with sponge and sticking-plaster, laughingly recommended that in future he should fight only with his social equals. With the two eldest she was a sort of sister; they walked with her about the garden with their arms over her shoulders; the confidence between her and them was perfect, and certainly they were very fond of her. They were stalwart young ruffians, these two, with immaculate complexions and the smooth roundness of feature which entitles men to be called handsome by ladies who are addicted to the use of that word. Mrs. Stratton would rather have been their mother than have borne Shakespeare and Michael Angelo as twins.
Their fatherone may be excused for almost forgetting himwas a man of not more than medium height, but very solidly built, and like all his boys, bullet-headed. His round chubby face was much bronzed, his auburn hair and bushy beard of the same colour preserved to him a youthful appearance, which was aided by the remarkably innocent and soft-tempered look of his eyes. He was a man of weak will and great bodily strength; his sons had a string of stories to illustrate the latterthe former would perhaps have been best discoursed upon by Mrs. Stratton. A man of extreme simplicity in his habits, and abnormally shy; with men he was by no means at his ease till they became very old acquaintances, and with women ease never came to him at all. The defect was the more painful owing to his very limited moyens in the matter of conversation; had it not been for the existence of weather, the colonel would, under ordinary circumstances, have preserved the silence for which nature intended him. Of Mrs. Clarendon in particular he had a kind of fear, though at the same time he was attracted to her by her unfailing charm; he knew she sought opportunities of teasing him, and, though it cost him much perspiration, he did not dislike the torment. With her he would have been brought to talk if with any one; a fearful fascination often drew him to her side, only to find, when he valorously opened his lips, that a roguish smile had robbed him of every conception of what he was going to say.