"Ida," he said, "do you realized the force of your words to Mr.
Van Berg at the table to-day, taken in connection with your action?
You said, "congenial society for me, or none at all." Whatever Van"s faults are, he is a perfect gentleman; and yet you treat him as rudely and coldly as you can, and a.s.sert by your actions that Sibley"s society is by far the most congenial to you."
Ida"s overstrained nerves gave way, and she said, irritably:
"You understood the cheerful questions of our appetizing table-talk to-day better than you understand me; so please be still."
"Oh, pshaw, Ik," commenced Mrs. Mayhew, who now began to wake up since the theme was quite within her sphere, "you are affecting very Puritanical views of late. It does not seem so very long since you and Sibley were good friends."
"It is within the memory of woman, if not of man," added Ida, maliciously, "since you drank his brandy, and considerable of it, too."
Stanton flushed angrily but controlled himself.
"He was never my friend--never more than an acquaintance," he said emphatically, "and I never before knew him as well as I do now. Moreover, I may as well say it plainly, I am through with that style of men, forever. There is little prospect of my ever becoming saint-like, but I shall, at least, cease to be vulgar in my a.s.sociations. I protest against Sibley"s coming to our table again."
"You are absurdly unreasonable," replied Mrs. Mayhew in an aggrieved tone. "Sibley is only sowing his wild oats now as you did in the past. I don"t know why he is not as good as your friend Mr. Van Berg, who, as far as I can make out, is more of an infidel than anything else. I never could endure these doubting, unsettling people."
"I admit that Sibley is established," said Stanton. "There is little prospect of his ever getting out of the mire in which he is now imbedded."
"Nonsense! What has Sibley done that is particularly out of the way, more than you and other young men? I"m sure his family is quite as rich and fashionable as that of this artist."
"More rich and fashionable. There is just the difference between the Sibleys and the Van Bergs that there is between a drop curtain at a theatre and one of Bierstadt"s oil paintings. There is more paint and surface in the former, but truth and genius in the latter.
If you prefer paint and surface it is a matter of taste."
"I won"t endure such insinuations from you," said Mrs. Mayhew, indignantly.
"Oh, hush mother!" said Ida, quietly. "I think Ik is very magnanimous in praising his friend in view of circ.u.mstances that are becoming quite apparent. Possibly he is exaggerating a little, in order to show us what a great, generous soul he has. For one, I would like to know wherein this superior race of Van Bergs differs from those who have had the presumption to suppose themselves at least equals."
Ida"s allusion and tone stung Stanton into saying more than he intended, and thus the girl"s artifice became successful. Hearing about Van berg and all that related to him was like looking out of a desert into a fruitful oasis; and yet cruel as was the fascination, it was also irresistible.
"The manner in which the Van Bergs live, would be a revelation to you," said Stanton, angrily, "and one undoubtedly not at all to your taste. In comparison with the Sibley show-rooms, which are stuffed and crowded with costly and incongruous trumpery, Mrs. Van Berg"s house would seem very plain; but to one capable of distinguishing the difference, the evidence of mind and taste, instead of mere money, is seen on every side. Simplicity and beauty are united as far as possible. Everything is the best of its kind and devoid of veneer and sham. There is no lavish and vulgar profusion, and there is a harmony of color and decoration that makes every room a picture in itself. Moreover, the house does not grow suddenly shabby after you leave those parts which are seen by visitors. It is all genuine and high-toned, like the people who live in it."
"What sort of people are Mrs. Van Berg and her daughter?" Ida asked, with averted face and low constrained voice.
"Mrs. Van Berg comes of a family that has been aristocratic for several generations, and one that has been singularly free from black sheep. She appears to strangers somewhat reserved and stately, but when you become better acquainted you find she has a warm, kind heart. But she has a perfect horror of vulgarity. If she had seen this Sibley take more wine than he ought and make a spectacle of himself at a public table, she would no more admit him to her parlor than a Bowery rough. Mere wealth would not turn the scale a hair in his favor. If she has impressed on her son one trait more than another, it is this disgust with all kinds of vulgar people and vulgar vice. I don"t think Van will sit down at the same table with Sibley again, or permit Miss Burton to do so."
Ida averted her face still farther, but said nothing.
"Indeed!" said Mrs. Mayhew; "and has Miss Burton given him the rights of a protector."
"Sorry to disappoint you, aunt; but I have no nice bit of gossip to report. Miss Burton is an orphan, and so any friend of hers has a right to protect her. I would have taken this matter into my own hands were it not out of consideration for you and Ida, who unfortunately have permitted yourselves to be identified with Sibley as his especial friends. Indeed, most in the house regard him as Ida"s favored or accepted suitor. But I warn you to cut loose from him at once or you may suffer a severe humiliation. If you and Ida will continue to encourage him, then I tell you plainly I shall follow you no further into the slough."
The maiden stamped her foot and made an emphatic gesture of rage and protest, but did not trust herself to answer the cruel words, each one of which was like the thrust of a knife.
But Mrs. Mayhew, whose desire to be respectable was a ruling pa.s.sion, now became thoroughly alarmed and said hastily:
"Mr. Sibley is certainly nothing to me, and I hope nothing to Ida.
Get rid of him any way you can, since things have reached the pa.s.s you represent. If society is going to put him under ban, we must cut him; that"s all there is about it, and his behavior at dinner gives us an excuse."
During this conversation Mr. Mayhew had been lying on the sofa with closed eyes, and as motionless as if he were dead. Now he said in low, bitter tones:
"Mark it well--an excuse, not a reason. O, virtue! how beautiful thou art!"
"You are the last one in the world to speak on this subject," said Mrs. Mayhew, angrily.
"Right again. You see, Ik, my family never before met a man who promised to make such an appropriate addition to our number. It"s a pity you are interfering;" and he poured out a large gla.s.s of brandy.
"Would to G.o.d I had died before I had seen this day!" cried Ida in a tone of such sharp agony that all turned towards her in a questioning surprise; but she rushed into her own room and locked the door after her.
"Things have gone farther between her and Sibley than we thought,"
said Stanton, gloomily.
"Well, Ik," said Mr. Mayhew with a laugh that was dreadful to hear, "you had better cut loose from us. We are all going to the devil by the shortest cut."
"Would to heaven I had never seen you!" cried Mrs. Mayhew, hysterically. "YOU are the one who is dragging us down. If my nephew deserts us, I will brand him as a coward and no gentleman."
"I"ll not desert you unless you desert yourself," said Stanton, with a gesture of disgust and impatience; "but if you persist in going down into the deepest quagmires you can find, you cannot expect me to follow you;" and with these words he left the room.
Mr. Mayhew was soon sunk in the deepest lethargy, and his wife spent the afternoon in impotently fretting and fuming against her "miserable fate," as she termed it, and in trying to devise some way of keeping up appearances.
Chapter XXVIII. Rather Volcanic.
Stanton was glad to escape from the house after the interview described in the previous chapter; and observing that Van Berg was reclining under a tree at some little distance from the hotel, stolled thither and threw himself down on the gra.s.s beside him.
But his perturbation was so evident that his friend remarked:
"You are out of sorts, Ik. What"s the matter?"
"I"ve been settling this Sibley business with my aunt and cousin,"
snarled Stanton; "and some women always make such blasted fools of themselves. But they won"t have anything more to do with him; at least, I"m sure my aunt won"t. As for Ida--but the less said the better. I"m so out of patience with her folly that I can"t trust myself to speak of her."
"Stanton," said Van Berg, gloomily, "you have no idea of the regret and disquiet which that girl has caused me as an artist. I have seen her features now for weeks, and I cannot help looking at them, for they almost realize my idea of perfection. But the a.s.sociations of this beauty are beginning to irritate me beyond endurance."
"It was a motley crowd that I was the means of bringing to your table," said Stanton, with an oath; "and I"ve no doubt you have wished us all away many times."
Van Berg laid his hand on his friend"s arm, and looked into his eyes.
"Ik," he said slowly, "I was your friend when I came here--I am your friend still. If I cannot love you better than I do myself, you must forgive me. But I shall never take one unfair advantage of you, and I recognize the fact that you have equal rights with myself. Ik, let us be frank with each other this once more, and then the future must settle all questions. The woman we both love is too pure and good for either of us to do a mean thing to win her.
Do your best, old fellow. If you succeed, I will congratulate you with an honest heart even thought it be a heavy one. I shall not detract from you in the slightest degree, or cease to show for you the thorough liking and respect that I feel. It shall simply be a maiden"s choice between us two; and you know it is said that the heart makes this choice for reasons inexplicable even to itself."
"Van, you are a n.o.ble, generous fellow," said the impulsive Stanton, grasping his friend"s hand. "I must admit that you have been a fair and considerate rival. Even my jealousy could find no fault."
Then he added, in deep despondency: "But it is of no use. You have virtually won her already."