Part 43 (1/2)
”Had you expressed to him any particular liking for Charlotte Pain?”
”I had not; at any time. Sir George believed Miss Pain had a large fortune, and he recommended me, more than once, to think of her, and it.
He said she was a handsome girl, and none the worse for possessing a fortune. He had heard she would have thirty thousand pounds. I used to laugh it off. I cared for Maria too much to cast a thought to Charlotte Pain. That is the whole truth, Mr. Hastings, on my honour.”
”Would he have objected to Maria?”
”To Maria I am certain he would not have objected. To her want of fortune he might. But that is a thing that only concerns myself. I do not require fortune with my wife, and I do not seek it. You will give her to me, Mr. Hastings? You will dispense with unnecessary ceremony, and let her go abroad with me?” he urged. ”She will do me more good than all else.”
”I will give you no promise of any sort, Mr. George G.o.dolphin. As to taking her abroad with you, it is absurd to think of it. And no daughter of mine shall enter a family where she is not sure of a hearty welcome.
I must first know the sentiments of yours.”
George looked radiant. ”Mr. Hastings, if they heartily welcome Maria, will you allow _me_ to welcome her?”
”Possibly I may.”
”Then it is an affair decided. Janet will be relieved of a nightmare; and Maria is, I believe, Thomas's prime favourite in all the world, now that Ethel is gone.”
”Of what nightmare will it relieve Miss G.o.dolphin?” inquired the Rector.
A smile crossed George's lips. ”She, like you, has been fearing that I intended to connect myself with Charlotte Pain. Only yesterday I a.s.sured Janet that she was mistaken; but I scarcely think she placed entire faith in me. She does not like Miss Pain.”
”Do you think you have pursued a wise course in giving cause for this talk, regarding Miss Pain?”
”I have not given cause to Miss Pain herself, Mr. Hastings,” replied George, warmly. ”I am convinced that she has known in her heart of my attachment to Maria. As to whiling away a few hours with her occasionally in idle talk, it is a pastime that Charlotte Pain is given to favour.”
”And myself also,” Mr. George might have added.
They left the room together. A servant came up to Mr. Hastings as he was crossing the hall, and said an applicant at the door craved speech of him. The Rector turned to it, and George entered the drawing-room alone.
Maria stood, pale, anxious, excited, leaning against a corner of the window, half shrouded by the muslin curtains. She scarcely dared look up when George entered. It was not _his_ gaze that she dreaded to meet, but that of Mr. Hastings. To anger or displease her father was wormwood to Maria.
George cast a glance round the room. ”Where's Charlotte Pain?” he asked.
”She is gone,” was Maria's answer. ”Oh, George!” clasping her hands, and lifting to him her streaming eyes: ”it was cruel of her to say what she did!”
”I could give it a better name than that, Maria. Never mind: we can afford to be generous to-day.”
”Is papa fully convinced that--that I do not deserve blame?”
”He was convinced of that before he left this room. You are to be mine, Maria,” he softly added in a whisper. ”And very shortly. I must take you abroad with me.”
She stood before him, not daring to look up now: shrinking from his ardent gaze, the crimson mantling to her pure cheek.
”Mr. Hastings demurs at the haste; calls it absurd,” continued George; ”but, if you will consent to waive ceremony, surely he may do so. Which would be more absurd, Maria? your marrying without the three months'
preparation for millinery deemed necessary by fas.h.i.+on, or my going away alone for an indefinite period, perhaps to die.”
”Not to die, George!” she involuntarily answered in a tone painfully beseeching--as if he held the fiat of life or death in his own hands.
”But--about the haste--I don't know---- I heard you thought of departing soon?”
”I ought to be away in a fortnight's time.”