Volume Ii Part 13 (1/2)
”In matters of dress, Miss Warrender, did I become a married man I should naturally defer to the wishes of my wife.”
”You don't mean to say that you would dress like other people?”
”Yes, Miss Warrender, I should do so, though it would not be without a pang that I should relinquish what I look upon as the true clerical garb.”
”Don't think of it, Mr. Puffin, don't think of it, for an instant. The n.o.ble savage in his war-paint, his wampum, his feathers and his scalps, is a dignified object; but dress him in a suit of common clothes and cut his hair and he ceases to be interesting.”
”Do you really think, Miss Warrender, that I should lose influence if I adopted the costume of ordinary life, should I enter upon the perilous sea of matrimony?”
”Well, Mr. Puffin, if you dressed like other people and married, I don't see how, to use your own expression, 'the female members of your congregation could continue to look upon you as one of themselves,'
because if they did, you see you would be only Mrs. Puffin's sister after all.”
”Yes, I am afraid that is the _reductio ad absurdum_. But we are wandering away, Miss Warrender; it was about my heart, and not about my garments, that I sought to converse with you.”
”Oh, Mr. Puffin, I should make the worst of confidants; I never by any chance keep a secret.”
”And yet I am ready to trust your discretion, Miss Warrender.”
”I confess you rouse my curiosity. Do I know the lady?”
”Yes, Miss Warrender, she is your best friend and your worst enemy.”
”Now you intrigue me, Mr. Puffin, for all my acquaintances address me as their dearest Lucy, and as for my enemies--I've guessed it, Mr. Puffin.
I never had an enemy till Mr. Sleek's hay making. I suppose Miss Connie Sleek is the bride-elect. Let me congratulate you, Mr. Puffin, but do tell me one thing, it is so interesting--what are Miss Sleek's ideas about the clerical garb?”
”I fear you wilfully misunderstand me, Miss Warrender. My aspirations are higher. I do not think Miss Sleek would ever be the ideal wife for a clergyman.”
”You mystify me, Mr. Puffin.”
Mr. Puffin possessed a copy of the ”Bab Ballads.” He remembered two lines in them that gave him that hope which they say springs eternal in the human breast.
”It isn't so much the lover who woos, As the lover's way of wooing.”
He remembered that Mr. Gilbert's successful lover came to the point at once, so, to use a hunting simile, he sat well down in his saddle, and he hardened his heart.
”Dear Miss Warrender,” he said, and there was a certain amount of dignity about the man, despite his long hair and his eccentric appearance, ”I am only a working clergyman, but I am a gentleman; and I wish you, for both our sakes, to share my lot.”
Here Lucy Warrender cast down her pretty eyes and smiled, for she felt that she had won Haggard's new bonnet fairly and honestly.
The parson continued, taking heart of grace from the false little smile upon her lips:
”I'm going to ask you to give up a great deal for the sake of religion, and for my sake, Miss Warrender. I'm going to ask you to give up the world, its frivolous enjoyments and its pleasures, and to tread with me a th.o.r.n.y and toilsome path which leads to higher things. I know my presumption, Miss Warrender. I know that in trying to do good according to my lights I often merely succeed in making myself ridiculous. If I am ridiculous in your eyes, Miss Warrender, you can have but one answer to give me. But my proposition to you is at least disinterested. I know you will believe that. I don't ask you for an answer now, Miss Warrender. I should scorn to s.n.a.t.c.h a favourable answer from an inexperienced girl.”
Lucy gave another little smile.
”Think over what I have said, dear Miss Warrender; if you feel equal to making the sacrifice, so do I. Take time to think it over.”
”No, Mr. Puffin. I have been foolish and wicked, perhaps, if I have unknowingly encouraged you; but you have spoken honestly enough to me, and the least you deserve is an honest answer. I am not fit, Mr.
Puffin, to be any man's wife--any honest man's wife--least of all a clergyman's.”
Lucy felt that she had said a little too much, so she hastened to qualify it.