Part 21 (1/2)

”Do you mean to say that you have missed me?” he asked.

”If I had meant to say it, it would not be worth your making a note of.

I am very dishonest and my compliments are worthless.”

Acton was silent for some moments. ”You have broken down,” he said at last.

Madame Munster left her chair, and began to move about.

”Only for a moment. I shall pull myself together again.”

”You had better not take it too hard. If you are bored, you need n't be afraid to say so--to me at least.”

”You should n't say such things as that,” the Baroness answered. ”You should encourage me.”

”I admire your patience; that is encouraging.”

”You should n't even say that. When you talk of my patience you are disloyal to your own people. Patience implies suffering; and what have I had to suffer?”

”Oh, not hunger, not unkindness, certainly,” said Acton, laughing.

”Nevertheless, we all admire your patience.”

”You all detest me!” cried the Baroness, with a sudden vehemence, turning her back toward him.

”You make it hard,” said Acton, getting up, ”for a man to say something tender to you.” This evening there was something particularly striking and touching about her; an unwonted softness and a look of suppressed emotion. He felt himself suddenly appreciating the fact that she had behaved very well. She had come to this quiet corner of the world under the weight of a cruel indignity, and she had been so gracefully, modestly thankful for the rest she found there. She had joined that simple circle over the way; she had mingled in its plain, provincial talk; she had shared its meagre and savorless pleasures. She had set herself a task, and she had rigidly performed it. She had conformed to the angular conditions of New England life, and she had had the tact and pluck to carry it off as if she liked them. Acton felt a more downright need than he had ever felt before to tell her that he admired her and that she struck him as a very superior woman. All along, hitherto, he had been on his guard with her; he had been cautious, observant, suspicious. But now a certain light tumult in his blood seemed to tell him that a finer degree of confidence in this charming woman would be its own reward. ”We don't detest you,” he went on. ”I don't know what you mean. At any rate, I speak for myself; I don't know anything about the others. Very likely, you detest them for the dull life they make you lead. Really, it would give me a sort of pleasure to hear you say so.”

Eugenia had been looking at the door on the other side of the room; now she slowly turned her eyes toward Robert Acton. ”What can be the motive,” she asked, ”of a man like you--an honest man, a galant homme--in saying so base a thing as that?”

”Does it sound very base?” asked Acton, candidly. ”I suppose it does, and I thank you for telling me so. Of course, I don't mean it literally.”

The Baroness stood looking at him. ”How do you mean it?” she asked.

This question was difficult to answer, and Acton, feeling the least bit foolish, walked to the open window and looked out. He stood there, thinking a moment, and then he turned back. ”You know that doc.u.ment that you were to send to Germany,” he said. ”You called it your 'renunciation.' Did you ever send it?”

Madame Munster's eyes expanded; she looked very grave. ”What a singular answer to my question!”

”Oh, it is n't an answer,” said Acton. ”I have wished to ask you, many times. I thought it probable you would tell me yourself. The question, on my part, seems abrupt now; but it would be abrupt at any time.”

The Baroness was silent a moment; and then, ”I think I have told you too much!” she said.

This declaration appeared to Acton to have a certain force; he had indeed a sense of asking more of her than he offered her. He returned to the window, and watched, for a moment, a little star that twinkled through the lattice of the piazza. There were at any rate offers enough he could make; perhaps he had hitherto not been sufficiently explicit in doing so. ”I wish you would ask something of me,” he presently said. ”Is there nothing I can do for you? If you can't stand this dull life any more, let me amuse you!”

The Baroness had sunk once more into a chair, and she had taken up a fan which she held, with both hands, to her mouth. Over the top of the fan her eyes were fixed on him. ”You are very strange to-night,” she said, with a little laugh.

”I will do anything in the world,” he rejoined, standing in front of her. ”Should n't you like to travel about and see something of the country? Won't you go to Niagara? You ought to see Niagara, you know.”

”With you, do you mean?”

”I should be delighted to take you.”