Poor Billy dared not understand. Her eyes downcast, her foot tapping the floor gently, Margaret was all one blush. She, too, was trembling a little, and she was a little afraid and quite unutterably happy; and outwardly she was very much the tiny lady of Oberon's court, very much the coquette quintessentialised.
It is pitiable that our proud Margaret should come to such a pass. Ah, the men that you have flouted and scorned and bedeviled and mocked at, Margaret—could they see you now, I think the basest of them could not but pity and worship you. This man is bound in honour to another woman; yet a little, and his lips will open—very dry, parched lips they are now—and he will tell you, and your pride will drive you mad, and your heart come near to breaking.
'Don't you understand—oh, you silly Billy!' She was peeping at him meltingly from under her lashes.
'I—I'm imagining vain things,' said Mr. Woods. 'I—oh, Peggy, Peggy, I think I must be going mad!'
He stared hungrily at the pink, startled face that lifted toward his.
Ah, no, no, it could not be possible, this thing he had imagined for a moment. He had misunderstood.
And now just for a little (thought poor Billy) let my eyes drink in those dear felicities of colour and curve, and meet just for a little the splendour of those eyes that have the April in them, and rest just for a little upon that sanguine, close-grained, petulant mouth; and then I will tell her, and then I think that I must die.
'Peggy——' he began, in a flattish voice.
'They have evidently gone,' said the voice of Mr. Kennaston; 'yes, those beautiful, happy young people have foolishly deserted the very prettiest spot in the gardens. Let us sit here, Kathleen.'
'But I'm not an eavesdropper,' Mr. Woods protested, half angrily.
I fear Margaret was not properly impressed.
'Please, Billy,' she pleaded, in a shrill whisper, 'please let's listen. He's going to propose to her now, and you've no idea how funny he is when he proposes. Oh, don't be so pokey, Billy—do let's listen!'
But Mr. Woods had risen with a strange celerity and was about to leave the summer-house.
Margaret pouted. Mrs. Saumarez and Mr. Kennaston were seated not twenty feet from the summer-house, on the bench which Miss Hugonin had just left. And when that unprincipled young woman finally rose to her feet, it must be confessed that it was with a toss of the head and with the reflection that while to listen wasn't honourable, it would at least be very amusing. I grieve to admit it, but with Billy's scruples she hadn't the slightest sympathy.
Then Kennaston cried, suddenly: 'Why, you're mad, Kathleen! Woods wants to marry
Miss Hugonin turned to Mr. Woods with a little intake of the breath.
No, I shall not attempt to tell you what Billy saw in her countenance.
Timanthes-like, I drape before it the vines of the summer-house. For a brief space I think we had best betake ourselves outside, leaving Margaret in a very pitiable state of anger, and shame, and humiliation, and heartbreak— leaving poor Billy with a heart that ached, seeing the horror of him in her face.
XXIII
Mrs. Saumarez laughed bitterly.
'No,' she said, 'Billy cared for me, you know, a long time ago. And this morning he told me he still cared. Billy doesn't pretend to be a clever man, you see, and so he can afford to practice some of the brute virtues, such as constancy and fidelity.'
There was a challenging flame in her eyes, but Kennaston let the stab pass unnoticed. To do him justice, he was thinking less of himself, just now, than of how this news would affect Margaret; and his face was very grave and strangely tender, for in his own fashion he loved Margaret.
'It's nasty, very nasty,' he said, at length, in a voice that was puzzled. 'Yet I could have sworn yesterday——' Kennaston paused and laughed lightly. 'She was an heiress yesterday, and to-day she is nobody. And Mr. Woods, being wealthy, can afford to gratify the virtues you commend so highly and, with a fidelity that is most edifying, return again to his old love. And she welcomes him—and the Woods millions—with open arms. It is quite affecting, is it not, Kathleen?'
'You needn't be disagreeable,' she observed.
'My dear Kathleen, I assure you I am not angry. I am merely a little sorry for human nature. I could have sworn Woods was honest. But rogues all, rogues all, Kathleen! Money rules us in the end; and now the parable is fulfilled, and Love the prodigal returns to make merry over the calf of gold. Confess,' Mr. Kennaston queried, with a smile, 'is it not strange an all-wise Creator should have been at pains to fashion this brave world about us for little men and women such as we to lie and pilfer in? Was it worth while, think you, to arch the firmament above our rogueries, and light the ageless stars as candles to display our antics? Let us be frank, Kathleen, and confess that life is but a trivial farce ignobly played in a very stately temple.'
And Mr. Kennaston laughed again.
'Let us be frank!' Kathleen cried, with a little catch in her voice. 'Why, it isn't in you to be frank, Felix Kennaston! Your life is nothing but a succession of poses—shallow, foolish poses meant to hoodwink the world and at times yourself. For you do hoodwink yourself, don't you, Felix?' she asked, eagerly, and gave him no time to answer. She feared, you see, lest his answer might dilapidate the one fortress she had been able to build about his honour.
'And now,' she went on, quickly, 'you're trying to make me think you a devil of a fellow, aren't you? And you're hinting that I've accepted Billy because of his money, aren't you? Well, it is true that I wouldn't marry him if he were poor. But he's very far from being poor.
And he cares for me. And I am fond of him. And so I shall marry him and make him as good a wife as I can. So there!'
Mrs. Saumarez faced him with an uneasy defiance. He was smiling oddly.
'I have heard it rumoured in many foolish tales and jingling verses,' said Kennaston, after a little, 'that a thing called love exists in the world. And I have also heard, Kathleen, that it sometimes enters into the question of marriage. It appears that I was misinformed.'
'No,' she answered, slowly, 'there is a thing called love. I think women are none the better for knowing it. To a woman, it means to take some man—some utterly commonplace man, perhaps—perhaps, only an idle
Kennaston bowed his head. 'It is true,' said he; 'that is the love of women.'
'To a man,' she went on, dully, 'it means to take some woman—the nearest woman who isn't actually deformed—and to make pretty speeches to her and to make her love him. And after a while—' Kathleen shrugged her shoulders drearily. 'Why, after a while,' said she, 'he grows tired and looks for some other woman.'
'It is true,' said Kennaston—'yes, very true that some men love in that fashion.'
There ensued a silence. It was a long silence, and under the tension of it Kathleen's composure snapped like a cord that has been stretched to the breaking point.
'Yes, yes, yes!' she cried, suddenly; 'that is how I have loved you and that is how you've loved me, Felix Kennaston! Ah, Billy told me what happened last night! And that—that was why I—' Mrs. Saumarez paused and regarded him curiously. 'You don't make a very noble figure, just now, do you?' she asked, with careful deliberation. 'You were ready to sell yourself for Miss Hugonin's money, weren't you? And now you must take her without the money. Poor Felix! Ah, you poor, petty liar, who've over-reached yourself so utterly!' And again Kathleen began to laugh, but somewhat shrilly, somewhat hysterically.
'You are wrong,' he said, with a flush. 'It is true that I asked Miss Hugonin to marry me. But she—very wisely, I dare say—declined.'
'Ah!' Kathleen said, slowly. Then—and it will not do to inquire too closely into her logic—she spoke with considerable sharpness: 'She's a conceited little cat! I never in all my life knew a girl to be quite so conceited as she
