Part 2 (1/2)
”I am wiser now, and live here, not here,” he answered, touching first his forehead then his breast, with melancholy meaning. ”While my brain is spared me I can survive the ossification of all the heart I ever had, since, at best, it is an unruly member. Almost as inconvenient as a conscience; that, thank fortune, I never had. Yes; to study the mysterious mechanism of human nature is a most absorbing pastime, when books weary, and other sources of enjoyment are forbidden. Try it, and see what an exciting game it becomes, when men and women are the p.a.w.ns you learn to move at will. Goethe's boyish puppet-show was but a symbol of the skill and power which made the man the magician he became.”
”An impious pastime, a dearly purchased fame, built on the broken hearts of women!” exclaimed Olivia, walking to and fro with the noiseless step and restless grace of a leopardess pacing its cage.
Helwyze neither seemed to see nor hear her, for his gloomy eyes stared at a little bird tilting on a spray that swung in the freshening wind, and his thoughts followed their own path.
”'Pale, cold innocence.' It is curious that it should charm me. A good sign, perhaps; for poets tell us that fallen angels sigh for the heaven they have lost, and try to rise again on the wings of spirits stronger and purer than themselves. Would they not find virtue insipid after a fiery draught of sin? Did not Paradise seem a little dull to Dante, in spite of Beatrice? I wish I knew.”
”Is it for this that you want the girl's help?” asked Olivia, pausing in her march to look at him. ”I shall wait with interest to see if she lifts you up to sainthood, or you drag her down to your level, where intellect is G.o.d, conscience ignored, and love despised. Unhappy Gladys! I should have said, because I cannot keep her from you, if I would; and in your hands she will be as helpless as the dumb creatures surgeons torture, that they may watch a living nerve, count the throbbing of an artery, or see how long the poor things will live bereft of some vital part. Let the child alone, Jasper, or you will repent of it.”
”Upon my word, Olivia, you are in an ominously prophetic mood. I hear a carriage; and, as I am invisible to all eyes but your gifted ones, pardon me if I unceremoniously leave the priestess on her tripod.”
And the curtain dropped between them as suddenly as it had been lifted, depriving the woman of the one troubled joy of her life-companions.h.i.+p with him.
IV.
Felix, are you asleep?”
”No, sir, only resting.”
”Have you been at work?”
”Decidedly; I rowed across the lake and back.”
”Alone?”
”Gladys went with me, singing like a mermaid all the way.”
”Ah!”
Both men were lounging in the twilight; but there was a striking difference in their way of doing it. Canaris lay motionless on a couch, his head pillowed on his arms, enjoying the luxury of repose, with the dolce far niente only possible to those in whose veins runs Southern blood. Helwyze leaned in a great chair, which looked a miracle of comfort; but its occupant stirred restlessly, as if he found no ease among its swelling cus.h.i.+ons; and there was an alert expression in his face, betraying that the brain was at work on some thought or purpose which both absorbed and excited.
A pause followed the brief dialogue, during which Canaris seemed to relapse into his delicious drowse, while Helwyze sat looking at him with the critical regard one bestows on a fine work of art. Yet something in the spectacle of rest he could not share seemed to annoy him; for, suddenly turning up the shaded lamp upon his table, he dispelled the soft gloom, and broke the silence.
”I have a request to make. May I trouble you to listen?”
There was a tone of command in the courteously worded speech, which made Canaris sit erect, with a respectful- ”At your service, sir.”
”I wish you to marry,” continued Helwyze, with such startling abruptness that the young man gazed at him in mute amazement for a moment. Then, veiling his surprise by a laugh, he asked lightly- ”Isn't it rather soon for that, sir? I am hardly of age.”
”Geniuses are privileged; and I am not aware of any obstacle, if I am satisfied,” answered Helwyze, with an imperious gesture, which seemed to put aside all objections.
”Do you seriously mean it, sir?”
”I do.”
”But why such haste?”
”Because it is my pleasure.”
”I will not give up my liberty so soon,” cried the young man, with a mutinous flash of the eye.
”I thought you had already given it up. If you choose to annul the agreement, do it, and go. You know the forfeit.”
”I forgot this possibility. Did I agree to obey in all things?”
”It was so set down in the bond. Entire obedience in return for the success you coveted. Have I failed in my part of the bargain?”
”No, sir; no.”
”Then do yours, or let us cancel the bond, and part.”
”How can we? What can I do without you? Is there no way but this?”
”None.”
Canaris looked dismayed-and well he might, for it seemed impossible to put away the cup he had thirsted for, when its first intoxicating draught was at his lips.
Helwyze had spoken with peculiar emphasis, and his words were full of ominous suggestion to the listener's ear; for he alone knew how much rebellion would cost him, since luxury and fame were still dearer than liberty or honor. He sprung up, and paced the room, feeling like some wild creature caught in a snare.
Helwyze, regardless of his chafing, went on calmly, as if to a willing hearer, eying him vigilantly the while, though now his own manner was as persuasive as it had been imperative before.
”I ask no more than many parents do, and will give you my reasons for the demand, though that was not among the stipulations.”
”A starving man does not stop to weigh words, or haggle about promises. I was desperate, and you offered me salvation; can you wonder that I clutched the only hand held out to me?” demanded Canaris, with a world of conflicting emotions in his expressive face, as he paused before his master.
”I am not speaking of the first agreement, that was brief as simple. The second bargain was a more complicated matter. You were not desperate then; you freely entered into it, reaped the benefits of it, and now wish to escape the consequences of your own act. Is that fair?”
”How could I dream that you would exact such obedience as this? I am too young; it is a step that may change my whole life; I must have time,” murmured Canaris, while a sudden change pa.s.sed over his whole face; his eye fell before the glance bent on him, as the other spoke.
”It need not change your life, except to make it freer, perhaps happier. Hitherto you have had all the pleasure, now I desire my share. You often speak of grat.i.tude; prove it by granting my request, and, in adding a new solace to my existence, you will find you have likewise added a new charm to your own.”
”It is so sudden-I do desire to show my grat.i.tude-I have tried to do my part faithfully so far,” began Canaris, as if a look, a word, had tamed his high spirit, and enforced docility sorely against his will.
”So far, I grant that, and I thank you for the service which I desire to lessen by the step you decline to take. I have spoilt you for use, but not for ornament. I still like to see you flourish; I enjoy your success; I cannot free you; but I can give you a mate, who will take your place and amuse me at home, while you sing and soar abroad. Is that sufficiently poetical for a poet's comprehension?” and Helwyze smiled, that satiric smile of his, still watching the young man's agitated countenance.
”But why need I marry? Why cannot”-there Canaris hesitated, for he lacked the courage to make the very natural suggestion Olivia had done.
Helwyze divined the question on his lips, and answered it with stern brevity.
”That is impossible;” then added, with the sudden softening of tone which made his voice irresistibly seductive, ”I have given one reason for my whim: there are others, which affect you more nearly and pleasantly, perhaps. Little more than a year ago, your first book came out, making you famous for a time. You have enjoyed your laurels for a twelvemonth, and begin to sigh for more. The world has petted you, as it does any novelty, and expects to be paid for its petting, else it will soon forget you.”
”No fear of that!” exclaimed the other, with the artless arrogance of youth.
”If I thought you would survive the experiment, I would leave you to discover what a fickle mistress you serve. But frost would soon blight your budding talent, so we will keep on the world's sunny side, and tempt the Muse, not terrify her.”
Nothing could be smoother than the voice in which these words were said; but a keen ear would have detected an accent of delicate irony in it, and a quick eye have seen that Canaris winced, as if a sore spot had been touched.
”I should think marriage would do that last, most effectually,” he answered, with a scornful shrug, and an air of great distaste.