Part 53 (1/2)
”At Dalradern Castle, at his own house; if she likes this better than a Paris pension, or an Irish cabin, it is quite at her service.”
”But, of course, you replied the thing was impossible; such an arrangement couldn't be. It would be indelicate, improper, indecent?”
”I didn't say all that; but I hinted that as Sir Within was a bachelor, there were difficulties----”
”Difficulties, Sir! What do you mean by difficulties? Is it possible that one evening's companions.h.i.+p with a person hardened by a long life of 'libertinage' can have so warped your moral sense as to render you blind to so obvious a shame as this?”
”He said his housekeeper----”
”His housekeeper! Am I to believe, Sir, that you listened to all this with the patience with which you repeat it now, and that no feeling of propriety roused you to an indignant rejection of such a scheme? Was his Claret or his Burgundy so insinuating as this?”
”When he said housekeeper----”
”Pray, Sir, do not push my endurance beyond all limits. I have given a very wide margin for the influence of Sir Within's fascinations; but, bear in mind, that the magnetism of his wit and his wine has not extended to me.”
”If you want to imply, Miss Courtenay, that I was not in a condition to judge of----.”
”Mr. M'Kinlay, I say nothing at any time by implication. People are p.r.o.ne to call me too outspoken. What I say and what I mean to say is this, that I cannot imagine a person of your intelligence calmly listening to and concurring in such a project.”
”I am free to own I disliked it, and I distrusted it; the few words that your brother's butler, Rickards, said about this girl's craft and subtlety, the artful way she got round people, the study she made of the tempers and tastes of those about her----”
”And with all this before you, with this knowledge fresh as it was in your mind, you quietly sit down to agree to a plan which opens to these very qualities a most dangerous field of exercise. What do you mean by it? What do you intend? I can't suppose,” said she, with a sneer, ”you contemplated her being Lady Wardle?”
”I certainly did not,” said he, with a sickly smile.
”Well, Sir, you have placed yourself in a position for malevolent people to impute worse to you. Will you just tell me, who ever heard of such a thing? Is there any country, any society ever tolerated it? This girl is close on sixteen.”
”He asked particularly about her age,” said M'Kinlay, who was now so confused, that he knew not well what he said.
And, simple as the words were, they seemed to pierce to her very heart, for she sprang to her feet, and in a voice trembling with pa.s.sion, said:
”I sincerely trust that you manage the material questions confided to you with more ability and tact than you do matters of social interest, and I can only say, Sir, it is the last occasion of this kind on which you will be troubled with any commission from me.”
”I believed I was strictly carrying out your intentions. You said she must not come abroad.”
”But I never said----” she stopped, and the crimson flush rose on her face and covered her whole forehead. ”Now mind me, Mr. M'Kinlay, and remember, I do not intend that you should twice mistake my meaning, my wish was, and is, that this girl should go back to the place, the people, and the condition from which my brother, in a very ill-judging hour, took her. I believed, and I believe, that her presence in any, the most remote, connexion with our family, is fraught with inconvenience, or worse--do you understand me so far?”
”I do,” said he, slowly.
”Well, with this strong conviction on my mind, I desire that she should be sent home again; and I tell Mr. M'Kinlay now, that any favour he cares for or values at my hands, depends on the success with which he carries out this wish.”
”But how is this possible? What can I do?”
”That is for your consideration, Sir; you entangled the skein, you must try if you cannot undo it. Lawyers, I have always heard, have resources at their command common mortals never have dreamed of. You may discover that Sir Within has no right to exercise this guardians.h.i.+p. You might find out,” she smiled dubiously as she uttered the words, ”that the girl's friends disapproved of this protection,--very humble people occasionally are right-minded on these points,--you might find--how can I tell what your ingenuity could not find--excellent reasons that she should go back to Ireland and to the obscurity she should never have quitted. I don't doubt it may be hard to do this; but until I learn that it is impossible, I will never consent to withdraw from Mr. M'Kinlay that confidence with which his character and his abilities have ever inspired me.”
”If the desire to win your favour Miss Courtenay----”
”No, no, Mr. M'Kinlay, that is not enough! We women are very practical, if we are not very logical; we ask for success from those who aspire to our good esteem.”
”To meet a difficulty, the first thing is to see where is the hitch!”