Part 59 (1/2)
His low pleasant laugh did not embarra.s.s her, and he answered:
”You are very kind to kindle that beacon of encouragement, but I fear your charitable sympathy clouds your judgment. Do you imagine any fair young girl could brave my grey hairs and wrinkles?”
”A young girl would not suit you, sir; but there must be n.o.ble middle-aged ladies whom you could admire, and trust, and love?”
He bent his white head, and whispered:
”Such, for instance, as Mrs. Carew, who converts all places into Ogygia?”
Without lifting her eyes, she merely shook her head, and he continued:
”Miss Orme, all men have their roseleaf romance. Mine expanded very early, but fate crumpled, crushed it into a shapeless ruin, and leaving the wreck behind me, I went to the wilds of California. Since then, I have missed the humanising influence of home ties, of feminine a.s.sociation; but as I look down the hill, when the sun of my life is casting long shadows, I sometimes feel that it would be a great blessing had I a sister, cousin, niece, or even an adopted daughter, whom I could love and lean upon in my lonely old age. Once I seriously entertained the thought of selecting an orphan from some Asylum, and adopting her into my heart and home.”
”When you do, I sincerely hope she will prove all that you wish, and faithfully requite your goodness.”
She spoke so earnestly that he smiled, and added:
”Can you recommend one to me? I envy Palma his guardians.h.i.+p, and if I could find a young girl like you, I should not hesitate to solicit----”
”Pardon me, Mr. Chesley, but Mr. Palma is endeavouring to attract your notice,” said Mrs. Palma.
The host held in his hand an envelope.
”A telegram for you. Shall I direct the bearer to wait?”
”With your permission, I will examine it.”
Having glanced at the lines, he turned the sheet of paper over, and with a pencil wrote a few words; then handed it to Terry, requesting him to direct the bearer to have the answer promptly telegraphed.
”Nothing unpleasant, I trust?” said Mr. Palma.
”Thank you, no. Only a summons which obliges me to curtail my visit, and return to Was.h.i.+ngton by the midnight train.”
Interpreting a look from her stepson, Mrs. Palma hastened the slow course of the dinner by a whisper to the waiter behind her chair; and as she asked some questions relative to mutual friends residing in Was.h.i.+ngton, Regina had no opportunity of renewing the conversation.
Mr. Roscoe was a.s.siduous in his attentions to Miss St. Clare, and Regina looked over at Olga, who was talking very learnedly to a small gentleman, a prominent and erudite scientist, whose knitted eyebrows now and then indicated dissatisfaction with her careless manner of handling his pet theories.
Her cheeks glowed, her eyes sparkled, and a teasing smile sat upon her lips, as she recklessly rolled her irreverent ball among his technical ten pins; and repeated defiantly:
”Is old Religion but a spectre now, Haunting the solitude of darkened minds, Mocked out of memory by the sceptic day?
Is there no corner safe from peeping Doubt?”
”But, Miss Neville, I must be allowed to say that you do not in the least grasp the vastness of this wonderful law of 'Natural Selection,' of the 'Survival of the Fittest,' which is omnipotent in its influence.”
”Ah, but my reverence for Civilization cries out against your savage enactments! Look at the bulwarks of defence which Asylums and Hospitals lift against the operation of your merciless decree. The maimed, the feeble, the demented, become the wards of religion and charity; the Unfittest of humanity are carefully preserved, and the race is r.e.t.a.r.ded it its development. Civilized legislation and philanthropy are directly opposed to your 'Survival of the Fittest;'
and since I am not a tattooed princess of the South Pacific, allowed to regale myself with _croquettes_ of human brains, or a _ragout_ of baby's ears and hands, well flavoured with wine and lemon, I accepted civilization. I believe China is the best place for the successful testing of your theory, for there the unfittest have for centuries been destroyed; yet I have not heard that the superior, the 'Coming Race,' has appeared among the tea farms.”
Elevating his voice, the small gentleman appealed to his host.
”I thought Mr. Palma too zealous a disciple of Modern Science to permit Miss Neville to indulge such flagrant heresies. She has absolutely denied that the mental development of a horse, or a dog, or ape is strictly a.n.a.logous to that of man----”