Part 37 (1/2)
”You think he isn't a good man.”
”Oh, blow his goodness. The point is, he's common, vulgar--bad form in every way, if you understand. Anyone in your position should never be seen speaking to him.”
”But is there anything against his moral character?”
”Oh, confound his moral character,” he said, with an oath, for which he apologised at once. ”It isn't that I'm squeamish about. The point is, Madeline, he's no gentleman.”
”He seemed to me to be quite a gentleman.”
”I'm sorry to hear you say that,” he said, mournfully, getting up and throwing another log on the fire. ”It shows how you may be deceived by such scoundrels.”
”But is that a nice word to use of any man against whose moral character you have no complaint to make?”
”No, it isn't a nice word, but he isn't a nice person. I don't care to mention such things, but you may not be aware that he is an infidel?”
”What is that, Gervase?”
”Oh! I don't know, but it's something bad, you bet. I heard the vicar talking about it last time I was at home, and he was pretty sick, I can a.s.sure you. If Sterne were to die to-morrow I question if the vicar would allow him to be buried in consecrated ground.”
”And what would happen then?” she asked, wonderingly.
”Oh! don't ask me. I am not up in those things, but I just mention the matter to show you he's a pretty bad sort, and not the sort of person for any one like you to be on speaking terms with.”
”But what I want to know is, has he ever done anyone any wrong. Ever cheated people, or told lies about them, or stolen their property. Or has he ever been known to get drunk, or to behave in any way unworthy of a gentleman?”
”My dear Madeline, I hate saying anything unpleasant about anyone. But a man who never goes to church, who doesn't believe in the Church, who has no respect for the clergy or the bishops, who has been heard to denounce some of our most sacred inst.i.tutions, such as the land laws, who has even said that patriotism was a curse, and war an iniquity--what can you expect of such a man? He may not have actually stolen his neighbour's property, but he would very much like to.”
”I don't think that necessarily follows,” she said, seriously. ”I think it is possible for a man to have very small respect for the clergy, and for what is called the Church, and yet for him to have a profound sense of honour, and an unquenchable love for righteousness.”
”Then you don't think staying away from church is as bad as getting drunk?”
”I should think not, indeed,” she answered, quickly. ”A man who gets drunk, I mean an educated man, a gentleman--sinks beneath contempt.”
”Sterne may get drunk for all I know,” he said, uneasily. ”You see, I have been out of England for a long time.”
She closed her book with a sudden movement, and rose to her feet.
”No, you must not go yet,” he said, in alarm. ”We have not settled the matter which I wish particularly to have settled to-day.”
”We have talked quite long enough for one afternoon,” she answered, coolly.
”But, Madeline, have you no pity?” he said, pleadingly.
”It would be folly to rush into such a matter hastily,” she answered, in the same tone.
”But--but, Madeline, answer me one question,” he entreated. ”Have you--have you seen this man Sterne since I came back?”
”You have no right to ask that question,” she said, drawing herself up to her full height. ”Nevertheless, I will answer it. I have not,” and without another word she swept out of the room.
Her heart was in a tumult of conflicting emotions. She was less satisfied with Gervase than she had ever been before, and less satisfied with herself. And yet she saw no way out of the position in which she found herself. It was next to impossible, situated as she was, to upset what had been taken for granted so long, particularly as she had acquiesced from the first in the unspoken arrangement. She felt as if in coming to England she had been lured into a trap, and yet it was a trap she had been eager to fall into. She had hoped when she saw Gervase, that all her old reverence and admiration and hero wors.h.i.+p would flame into life again, instead of which his coming had been as cold water on the f.a.ggots. Whether he had lost some of the qualities she had so much admired or whether all the change was in herself, she did not know, but the glamour had all pa.s.sed away, and her eyes ached with looking at the common-place.