Part 17 (1/2)

”I'm above family prejudices,” Mrs. Farnaby proceeded. ”You needn't be afraid of offending me. Speak out.”

Rufus would have spoken out to any other woman in the universe. _This_ woman had preserved him from ridicule--_this_ woman had rubbed his head dry. He prevaricated.

”I don't suppose I understand the ladies in this country,” he said.

But Mrs. Farnaby was not to be trifled with. ”If Amelius was your son, and if he asked you to consent to his marriage with my niece,” she rejoined, ”would you say Yes?”

This was too much for Rufus. ”Not if he went down on both his knees to ask me,” he answered.

Mrs. Farnaby was satisfied at last, and owned it without reserve. ”My own opinion,” she said, ”exactly expressed! don't be surprised. Didn't I tell you I had no family prejudices? Do you know if he has spoken to my husband, yet?”

Rufus looked at his watch. ”I reckon he's just about done it by this time.”

Mrs. Farnaby paused, and reflected for a moment. She had already attempted to prejudice her husband against Amelius, and had received an answer which Mr. Farnaby considered to be final. ”Mr. Goldenheart honours us if he seeks our alliance; he is the representative of an old English family.” Under these circ.u.mstances, it was quite possible that the proposals of Amelius had been accepted. Mrs. Farnaby was not the less determined that the marriage should never take place, and not the less eager to secure the a.s.sistance of her new ally. ”When will Amelius tell you about it?” she asked.

”When I go back to his lodgings, ma'am.”

”Go back at once--and bear this in mind as you go. If you can find out any likely way of parting these two young people (in their own best interests), depend on one thing--if I can help you, I will. I'm as fond of Amelius as you are. Ask him if I haven't done my best to keep him away from my niece. Ask him if I haven't expressed my opinion, that she's not the right wife for him. Come and see me again as soon as you like. I'm fond of Americans. Good morning.”

Rufus attempted to express his sense of grat.i.tude, in his own briefly eloquent way. He was not allowed a hearing. With one and the same action, Mrs. Farnaby patted him on the shoulder, and pushed him out of the room.

”If that woman was an American citizen,” Rufus reflected, on his way through the streets, ”she'd be the first female President of the United States!” His admiration of Mrs. Farnaby's energy and resolution, expressed in these strong terms, acknowledged but one limit. Highly as he approved of her, there was nevertheless an unfathomable something in the woman's eyes that disturbed and daunted him.

CHAPTER 3

Rufus found his friend at the lodgings, prostrate on the sofa, smoking furiously. Before a word had pa.s.sed between them, it was plain to the New Englander that something had gone wrong.

”Well,” he asked; ”and what does Farnaby say?”

”d.a.m.n Farnaby!”

Rufus was secretly conscious of an immense sense of relief. ”I call that a stiff way of putting it,” he quietly remarked; ”but the meaning's clear. Farnaby has said No.”

Amelius jumped off the sofa, and planted himself defiantly on the hearthrug.

”You're wrong for once,” he said, with a bitter laugh. ”The exasperating part of it is that Farnaby has said neither Yes nor No.

The oily-whiskered brute--you haven't seen him yet, have you?--began by saying Yes. 'A man like me, the heir of a fine old English family, honoured him by making proposals; he could wish no more brilliant prospect for his dear adopted child. She would fill the high position that was offered to her, and fill it worthily.' That was the fawning way in which he talked to me at first! He squeezed my hand in his horrid cold s.h.i.+ny paw till, I give you my word of honour, I felt as if I was going to be sick. Wait a little; you haven't heard the worst of it yet. He soon altered his tone--it began with his asking me, if I had 'considered the question of settlements'. I didn't know what he meant.

He had to put it in plain English; he wanted to hear what my property was. 'Oh, that's soon settled,' I said. 'I've got five hundred a year; and Regina is welcome to every farthing of it.' He fell back in his chair as if I had shot him; he turned--it was worse than pale, he positively turned green. At first he wouldn't believe me; he declared I must be joking. I set him right about that immediately. His next change was a proud impudence. 'Have you not observed, sir, in what style Regina is accustomed to live in my house? Five hundred a year? Good heavens!

With strict economy, five hundred a year might pay her milliner's bill and the keep of her horse and carriage. Who is to pay for everything else--the establishment, the dinner-parties and b.a.l.l.s, the tour abroad, the children, the nurses, the doctor? I tell you this, Mr. Goldenheart, I'm willing to make a sacrifice to you, as a born gentleman, which I would certainly not consent to in the case of any self-made man. Enlarge your income, sir, to no more than four times five hundred pounds, and I guarantee a yearly allowance to Regina of half as much again, besides the fortune which she will inherit at my death. That will make your income three thousand a year to start with. I know something of domestic expenses, and I tell you positively, you can't do it on a farthing less.' That was his language, Rufus. The insolence of his tone I can't attempt to describe. If I hadn't thought of Regina, I should have behaved in a manner unworthy of a Christian--I believe I should have taken my walking-cane, and given him a sound thras.h.i.+ng.”

Rufus neither expressed surprise nor offered advice. He was lost in meditation on the wealth of Mr. Farnaby. ”A stationer's business seems to eventuate in a lively profit, in this country,” he said.

”A stationer's business?” Amelius repeated disdainfully. ”Farnaby has half a dozen irons in the fire besides that. He's got a newspaper, and a patent medicine, and a new bank, and I don't know what else. One of his own friends said to me, 'n.o.body knows whether Farnaby is rich or poor; he is going to do one of two things--he is going to die worth millions, or to die bankrupt.' Oh, if I can only live to see the day when Socialism will put that sort of man in his right place!”

”Try a republic, on our model, first,” said Rufus. ”When Farnaby talks of the style his young woman is accustomed to live in, what does he mean?”

”He means,” Amelius answered smartly, ”a carriage to drive out in, champagne on the table, and a footman to answer the door.”

”Farnaby's ideas, sir, have crossed the water and landed in New York,”