Part 11 (1/2)
”That is because you have appealed to Ulfar's feelings instead of to his judgment. When Ulfar considers how savagely primitive these dalesmen are in their pa.s.sions, he will understand that discretion is the n.o.bler part of valour. In Russia he thought it a very prudent thing to get out of the way when a pack of wolves were in the neighbourhood.”
”The law will protect me in this house. Human beings have to mind the law.”
”There are times when human beings are a law unto themselves. How would you like to see a crowd of angry men shouting around this house for you? Think of your sister,--and of me, if I am worth so much consideration.”
”I am not to be frightened, Sarah.”
”Will you consider, then, that as far as Keswick and Kendal on one side, and as far as Dalton and Whitehaven on the other side, every local newspaper will have, or will make, its own version of the affair? The Earl of Lonsdale, with a large party, is now at Whitehaven Castle. What a _sauce piquante_ it will be to his dinners!
How the men will howl over it, and how the women will snicker and smile!”
”Sarah! you can think of the hatefullest things.”
”And Lonsdale will go up to London purposely to have the delight of telling it at the clubs.”
”Sarah!”
”And the 'Daily Whisper' will get Lonsdale's most delectable version, and blow it with the four winds of heaven to the four corners of the civilized world.”
”Sarah Sandys, I--”
”Worse still! that poor girl whom you treated so abominably, must suffer the whole thing over again. Her name will be put as the head and front of your offending. All her sorrows and heartbreak will be made a penny mouthful for country b.u.mpkins and scandalous gammers to 'Oh!' and 'Ah!' over. Ulfar, if you are a man, you will not give her a moment's terror of such consequences. You may see that she fears them, by her sending her brother to entreat your absence.”
”And I must be called coward and runaway!”
”Let them call you anything they like, so that you spare her further shame and sorrow.”
”Your talking in this fas.h.i.+on to me, Sarah, is very like Satan correcting sin. I loved Aspatria when I met you in Rome.”
”Of course! Adam always has his Eve ready. 'Not my fault, good people!
Look at this woman! With her bright smiles and her soft tongue she beguiled me; and so I fell!' We can settle that question, you and I, again. Now you must ring the bell, and order your horse--say, at four o'clock to-morrow morning. You can have nearly six hours'
sleep,--quite enough for you.”
”You have not convinced me, Sarah.”
”Then you must ride now, and be convinced afterward. For your sister's sake and for Aspatria's sake, you will surely go away.”
Lady Redware was crying, and she cried a little harder to emphasize Sarah's pleading. Ulfar was in a hard strait. He looked angrily at the handsome little woman urging him to do the thing he hated to do, and then taking the kerchief from his sister's face, he kissed her, and promised to leave Redware at dawn of day.
”But,” said he, ”if you send me away now, I tell you, our parting is likely to be for many years, perhaps for life. I am going beyond civilization, and so beyond scandal.”
”Do not flatter yourself so extravagantly, Ulfar. There is scandal everywhere, and always has been, even from the beginning. I have no doubt those nameless little sisters of Cain and Abel were talked about unpleasantly by their sisters and brothers-in-law. In fact, wherever there are women there are men glad to pull them down to their own level.”
”Is it not very hard, then, that I am not to be permitted to stay here and defend the women I love?”
Sarah shook her head. ”It is beyond your power, Ulfar. If Porthos were on earth again, or Amadis of Gaul, they might have happy and useful careers in handling as they deserve the maligners of good, quiet women. But the men of this era!--which of them durst lift the stone that the hand without sin is permitted to cast?”
So they talked the night away, drifting gradually from the unpleasant initial subject to Ulfar's plan of travel and the far-off prospect of his return. And in the gray, cold dawn he bade them farewell, and they watched him until he vanished in the mists rolling down the mountain.
Then they kissed each other,--a little, sad kiss of congratulation, wet with tears; they had won their desire, but their victory had left them weeping. Alas! it is the very condition of success that every triumph must be baptized with somebody's tears.
This event, beginning in such a trifle as an almost accidental visit of Aspatria to the vicar, was the line sharply dividing very different lives. Nothing in Seat-Ambar was ever quite the same after it. William Anneys, indeed, quickly perceived and acknowledged his fault, and the reconciliation was kind and complete; but Aspatria had taken a step forward, and crossed clearly that bound which divides girlhood from womanhood. Unconsciously she a.s.sumed a carriage that Will felt compelled to respect, and a tone was in her voice he did not care to bluff and contradict. He never again ordered her to remain silent or to leave his presence. A portion of his household authority had pa.s.sed from him, both as regarded Aspatria and Brune; and he felt himself to be less master than he had formerly been.