The Portrait of A Lady (24 page)

‘‘I suppose you mean it's improper for me to walk alone!'' Henrietta exclaimed. ‘‘Merciful powers, have I come to this?''

‘‘There is not the slightest need of your walking alone,'' said Mr. Bantling, in an off-hand tone expressive of gallantry. ‘‘I should be greatly pleased to go with you.''

‘‘I simply meant that you would be late for dinner,'' Ralph answered. ‘‘Think of those poor ladies, in their impatience, waiting for you.''

‘‘You had better have a hansom, Henrietta,'' said Isabel.

‘‘I will get you a hansom, if you will trust to me,'' Mr. Bantling went on. ‘‘We might walk a little till we meet one.''

‘‘I don't see why I shouldn't trust to him, do you?'' Henrietta inquired of Isabel.

‘‘I don't see what Mr. Bantling could do to you,'' Isabel answered, smiling; ‘‘but if you like, we will walk with you till you find your cab.''

‘‘Never mind; we will go alone. Come on, Mr. Bantling, and take care you get me a good one.''

Mr. Bantling promised to do his best, and the two took their departure, leaving Isabel and her cousin standing in the square, over which a clear September twilight had now begun to gather. It was perfectly still; the wide quadrangle of dusky houses showed lights in none of the windows, where the shutters and blinds were closed; the pavements were a vacant expanse, and putting aside two small children from a neighbouring slum, who, attracted by symptoms of abnormal animation in the interior, were squeezing their necks between the rust railings of the enclosure, the most vivid object within sight was the big red pillar-post on the south-east corner.

‘‘Henrietta will ask him to get into the cab and go with her to Jermyn Street,'' Ralph observed. He always spoke of Miss Stackpole as Henrietta.

‘‘Very possibly,'' said his companion.

‘‘Or rather, no, she won't,'' he went on. ‘‘But Bantling will ask leave to get in.''

‘‘Very likely again. I am very glad they are such good friends.''

‘‘She has made a conquest. He thinks her a brilliant woman. It may go far,'' said Ralph.

Isabel was silent a moment.

‘‘I call Henrietta a very brilliant woman; but I don't think it will go far,'' she rejoined at last. ‘‘They would never really know each other. He has not the least idea what she really is, and she has no just comprehension of Mr. Bantling.''

‘‘There is no more usual basis of matrimony than a mutual misunderstanding. But it ought not to be so difficult to understand Bob Bantling,'' Ralph added. ‘‘He is a very simple fellow.''

‘‘Yes, but Henrietta is simpler still. And pray, what am I to do?'' Isabel asked, looking about her through the fading light, in which the limited landscape-gardening of the square took on a large and effective appearance. ‘‘I don't imagine that you will propose that you and I, for our amusement, should drive about London in a hansom.''

‘‘There is no reason why we should not stay here—if you don't dislike it. It is very warm; there will be half an hour yet before dark; and if you permit it, I will light a cigarette.''

‘‘You may do what you please,'' said Isabel, ‘‘if you will amuse me till seven o'clock. I propose at that hour to go back and partake of a simple and solitary repast— two poached eggs and a muffin—at Pratt's Hotel.''

‘‘May I not dine with you?'' Ralph asked.

‘‘No, you will dine at your club.''

They had wandered back to their chairs in the centre of the square again, and Ralph had lighted his cigarette. It would have given him extreme pleasure to be present in person at the modest little feast she had sketched; but in default of this he liked even being forbidden. For the moment, however, he liked immensely being alone with her, in the thickening dusk, in the centre of the multitudinous town; it made her seem to depend upon him and to be in his power. This power he could exert but vaguely; the best exercise of it was to accept her decisions submissively. There was almost an emotion in doing so.

‘‘Why won't you let me dine with you?'' he asked, after a pause.

‘‘Because I don't care for it.''

‘‘I suppose you are tired of me.''

‘‘I shall be an hour hence. You see I have the gift of foreknowledge.''

‘‘Oh, I shall be delightful meanwhile,'' said Ralph. But he said nothing more, and as Isabel made no rejoinder, they sat some time in silence which seemed to contradict his promise of entertainment. It seemed to him that she was preoccupied, and he wondered what she was thinking about; there were two or three very possible subjects. At last he spoke again. ‘‘Is your objection to my society this evening caused by your expectation of another visitor?''

She turned her head with a glance of her clear, fair eyes.

‘‘Another visitor? What visitor should I have?''

He had none to suggest; which made his question seem to himself silly as well as brutal.

‘‘You have a great many friends that I don't know,'' he said, laughing a little awkwardly. ‘‘You have a whole past from which I was perversely excluded.''

‘‘You were reserved for my future. You must remember that my past is over there across the water. There is none of it here in London.''

‘‘Very good, then, since your future is seated beside you. Capital thing to have your future so handy.'' And Ralph lighted another cigarette and reflected that Isabel probably meant that she had received news that Mr. Caspar Goodwood had crossed to Paris. After he had lighted his cigarette he puffed it awhile, and then he went on. ‘‘I promised awhile ago to be very amusing; but you see I don't come up to the mark, and the fact is there is a good deal of temerity in my undertaking to amuse a person like you. What do you care for my feeble attempts? You have grand ideas—you have a high standard in such matters. I ought at least to bring in a band of music or a company of mountebanks.''

‘‘One mountebank is enough, and you do very well. Pray go on, and in another ten minutes I shall begin to laugh.''

‘‘I assure you that I am very serious,'' said Ralph. ‘‘You do really ask a great deal.''

‘‘I don't know what you mean. I ask nothing!''

‘‘You accept nothing,'' said Ralph. She coloured, and now suddenly it seemed to her that she guessed his meaning. But why should he speak to her of such things? He hesitated a little, and then he continued. ‘‘There is something I should like very much to say to you. It's a question I wish to ask. It seems to me I have a right to ask it, because I have a kind of interest in the answer.''

‘‘Ask what you will,'' Isabel answered gently, ‘‘and I will try and satisfy you.''

‘‘Well, then, I hope you won't mind my saying that Lord Warburton has told me of something that has passed between you.''

Isabel started a little; she sat looking at her open fan. ‘‘Very good; I suppose it was natural he should tell you.''

‘‘I have his leave to let you know he has done so. He has some hope still,'' said Ralph.

‘‘Still?''

‘‘He had it a few days ago.''

‘‘I don't believe he has any now,'' said the girl.

‘‘I am very sorry for him, then; he is such a fine fellow.''

‘‘Pray, did he ask you to talk to me?''

‘‘No, not that. But he told me because he couldn't help it. We are old friends, and he was greatly disappointed. He sent me a line asking me to come and see him, and I rode over to Lockleigh the day before he and his sister lunched with us. He was very heavy-hearted; he had just got a letter from you.''

‘‘Did he show you the letter?'' asked Isabel, with momentary loftiness.

‘‘By no means. But he told me it was a neat refusal. I was very sorry for him,'' Ralph repeated.

For some moments Isabel said nothing; then at last, ‘‘Do you know how often he had seen me? Five or six times.''

‘‘That's to your glory.''

‘‘It's not for that I say it.''

‘‘What then do you say it for? Not to prove that poor Warburton's state of mind is superficial, because I am pretty sure you don't think that.''

Isabel certainly was unable to say that she thought it; but presently she said something else. ‘‘If you have not been requested by Lord Warburton to argue with me, then you are doing it disinterestedly—or for the love of argument.''

‘‘I have no wish to argue with you at all. I only wish to leave you alone. I am simply greatly interested in your own sentiments.''

‘‘I am greatly obliged to you!'' cried Isabel, with a laugh.

‘‘Of course you mean that I am meddling in what doesn't concern me. But why shouldn't I speak to you of this matter without annoying you or embarrassing myself? What's the use of being your cousin, if I can't have a few privileges? What is the use of adoring you without the hope of a reward, if I can't have a few compensations? What is the use of being ill and disabled, and restricted to mere spectatorship at the game of life, if I really can't see the show when I have paid so much for my ticket? Tell me this,'' Ralph went on, while Isabel listened to him with quickened attention: ‘‘What had you in your mind when you refused Lord Warburton?''

‘‘What had I in my mind?''

‘‘What was the logic—the view of your situation—that dictated so remarkable an act?''

‘‘I didn't wish to marry him—if that is logic.''

‘‘No, that is not logic—and I knew that before. What was it you said to yourself? You certainly said more than that.''

Isabel reflected a moment and then she answered this inquiry with a question of her own. ‘‘Why do you call it a remarkable act? That is what your mother thinks, too.''

‘‘Warburton is such a fine fellow; as a man I think he has hardly a fault. And then, he is what they call here a swell. He has immense possessions, and his wife would be thought a superior being. He unites the intrinsic and the extrinsic advantages.''

Isabel watched her cousin while he spoke, as if to see how far he would go. ‘‘I refused him because he was too perfect then. I am not perfect myself, and he is too good for me. Besides, his perfection would irritate me.''

‘‘That is ingenious rather than candid,'' said Ralph. ‘‘As a fact, you think nothing in the world too perfect for you.''

‘‘Do I think I am so good?''

‘‘No, but you are exacting, all the same, without the excuse of thinking yourself good. Nineteen women out of twenty, however, even of the most exacting sort, would have contented themselves with Warburton. Perhaps you don't know how he has been run after.''

‘‘I don't wish to know. But it seems to me,'' said Isabel, ‘‘that you told me of several faults that he has, one day when I spoke of him to you.''

Ralph looked grave. ‘‘I hope that what I said then had no weight with you; for they were not faults, the things I spoke of; they were simply peculiarities of his position. If I had known he wished to marry you, I would never have alluded to them. I think I said that as regards that position he was rather a sceptic. It would have been in your power to make him a believer.''

‘‘I think not. I don't understand the matter, and I am not conscious of any mission of that sort. You are evidently disappointed,'' Isabel added, looking gently but earnestly at her cousin. ‘‘You would have liked me to marry Lord Warburton.''

‘‘Not in the least. I am absolutely without a wish on the subject. I don't pretend to advise you, and I content myself with watching you—with the deepest interest.''

Isabel gave a rather conscious sigh. ‘‘I wish I could be as interesting to myself as I am to you!''

‘‘There you are not candid again; you are extremely interesting to yourself. Do you know, however,'' said Ralph, ‘‘that if you have really given Lord Warburton his final answer, I am rather glad it has been what it was. I don't mean I am glad for you, and still less, of course, for him. I am glad for myself.''

‘‘Are you thinking of proposing to me?''

‘‘By no means. From the point of view I speak of that would be fatal; I should kill the goose that supplies me with golden eggs. I use that animal as a symbol of my insane illusions. What I mean is, I shall have the entertainment of seeing what a young lady does who won't marry Lord Warburton.''

‘‘That is what your mother counts upon too,'' said Isabel.

‘‘Ah, there will be plenty of spectators! We shall contemplate the rest of your career. I shall not see all of it, but I shall probably see the most interesting years. Of course, if you were to marry our friend, you would still have a career—a very honourable and brilliant one. But relatively speaking, it would be a little prosaic. It would be definitely marked out in advance; it would be wanting in the unexpected. You know I am extremely fond of the unexpected, and now that you have kept the game in your hands I depend on your giving us some magnificent example of it.''

‘‘I don't understand you very well,'' said Isabel, ‘‘but I do so well enough to be able to say that if you look for magnificent examples of anything I shall disappoint you.''

‘‘You will do so only by disappointing yourself—and that will go hard with you!''

To this Isabel made no direct reply; there was an amount of truth in it which would bear consideration. At last she said, abruptly—‘‘I don't see what harm there is in my wishing not to tie myself. I don't want to begin life by marrying. There are other things a woman can do.''