"Aline will be glad to see you again, Mr. Smart," said she amiably.
"She was speaking of you only a day or two ago."
"Was she?" I inquired, with sudden interest which I contrived to conceal.
"Yes. She was wondering why you have never thought of marrying."
I closed my eyes for a second, and the piece of bread finally found the right channel.
"And what did you say to that?" I asked quietly.
She was disconcerted. "I? Oh, I think I said you didn"t approve of marrying except for love, Mr. Smart."
"Um!" said I. "Love on both sides is the better way to put it."
"Am I to infer that you may have experienced a one-sided leaning toward matrimony?"
"So far as I know, I have been singularly unsupported, Mrs. t.i.tus."
"You really ought to marry."
"Perhaps I may. Who knows?"
"Aline said you would make an excellent husband."
"By that she means a stupid one, I suppose. Excellent husbands are invariably stupid. They always want to stay at home."
She appeared thoughtful. "And expect their wives to stay at home too."
"On the contrary, an excellent husband lets his wife go where she likes--without him."
"I am afraid you do not understand matrimony, Mr. Smart," she said, and changed the subject.
I am afraid that my mind wandered a little at this juncture, for I missed fire on one or two direct questions. Mrs. t.i.tus was annoyed; it would not be just to her to say that she was offended. If she could but have known that my thoughts were of the day and minute when I so brutally caressed the Countess Tarnowsy, I fancy she would have changed her good opinion of me. To tell the truth, I was wondering just how the Countess would behave toward me, with the memory of that unforgettable incident standing between us. I had been trying to convince myself for a very long time that my fault was not as great in her eyes as it was in mine.
Along about five o"clock, I went to my room. I daresay I was sulking.
A polite bell-boy tapped on my door at half-past six. He presented a small envelope to me, thanked me three or four times, and, as an afterthought, announced that there was to be an answer.
Whereupon I read the Countess"s note with a magnificently unreadable face. I cleared my throat, and (I think) squared my shoulders somewhat as a soldier does when he is being commended for valour, and said:
"Present my compliments to the Countess, and say that Mr. Smart will be down in five minutes."
The boy stared. "The--the what, sir?"
"The _what_?" I demanded.
"I mean the _who_, sir."
"The Countess. The lady who sent you up with this note."
"Wasn"t no Countess sent me up hyer, boss. It was Miss Tarsney."
Somehow staggered, I managed to wave my hand comprehensively.
"Never mind. Just say that I"ll be down in two minutes."
He grinned. "I reckon I"d better hustle, or you"ll beat me down, boss."
CHAPTER XXI
SHE PROPOSES
She was still in her riding habit when I found her alone in the parlour of the t.i.tus suite.
I give you my word my heart almost stopped beating. I"ve never seen any one so lovely as she was at that moment. _Never_, I repeat. Her hair, blown by the kind November winds, strayed--but no! I cannot begin to define the loveliness of her. There was a warm, rich glow in her cheeks and a light in her eyes that actually bewildered me, and more than that I am not competent to utter.
"You have come at last," she said, and her voice sounded very far off; although I was lifting her ungloved hand to my lips. She clenched my fingers tightly, I remember that; and also that my hand shook violently and that my face _felt_ pale.
I think I said that I had come at last. She took my other hand in hers and drawing dangerously close to me said:
"I do not expect to be married for at least a year, John."
"I--I congratulate you," I stammered foolishly.
"I have a feeling that it isn"t decent for one to marry inside of two years after one has been divorced."
"How is Rosemary?" I murmured.
"You _are_ in love with me, aren"t you, John, dear?"
"Goo--good heaven!" I gasped.
"I _know_ you are. That"s why I am so sure of myself. Is it asking too much of you to marry me in a year from--"
I haven"t the faintest notion how long afterward it was that I asked her what was to become of that poor, unlucky devil, Lord Amberdale.
"He isn"t a devil. He"s a dear, and he is going to marry a bred-in-the-bone countess next January. You will like him, because he is every bit as much in love with his real countess are you are with a sham one. He is a bird of your feather. And now don"t you want to come with me to see Rosemary?"
"Rosemary," I murmured, as in a dream--a luxurious lotus-born dream.
She took my arm and advanced with me into a room adjoining the parlour.
As we pa.s.sed through the door, she suddenly squeezed my arm very tightly and laid her head against my shoulder.
We were in a small sitting-room, confronting Jasper t.i.tus, his wife and his tiny grand-daughter, who was ready for bed.