"Davila, am I?" she demanded.
"Are you what?"
"Blushing?"
"Not the slightest, dear."
"Here"s your sour ball!" said Macloud, handing him the gla.s.s.
"Sweetened by your touch, I suppose!"
"No! By the ladies" presence--G.o.d save them!"
"Colin," said Croyden, as, an hour later, they walked back to Clarendon, "you should have told me."
"Should have told you what?" Macloud asked.
"Don"t affect ignorance, old man--you knew Elaine was coming."
"I did--yesterday."
"And that it was she in the trap."
"The m.u.f.f hid her face from me, too."
"But you knew."
"I could only guess."
"Do you think it was wise to let her come?" Croyden demanded.
"I had nothing to do with her decision. Miss Carrington asked her, she accepted."
"Didn"t you give her my address?"
"I most a.s.suredly did not."
Croyden looked at him, doubtfully.
"I"m telling you the truth," said Macloud. "She tried to get your address, when I was last in Northumberland, and I refused."
"And then, she stumbles on it through Davila Carrington! The world _is_ small. I reckon, if I went off into some deserted spot in Africa, it wouldn"t be a month until some fellow I knew, or who knows a mutual friend, would come nosing around, and blow on me."
"Are you sorry she came?" Macloud asked.
"No! I"m not sorry she came--at least, not now, since she"s here.--I"ll be sorry enough when she goes, however."
"And you will let her go?"
Croyden nodded. "I must--it"s the only proper thing to do."
"Proper for whom?"
"For both!"
"Would it not be better that _she_ should decide what is proper for her?"
"Proper for me, then."
"Based on your peculiar notion of relative wealth between husband and wife--without regard to what she may think on the subject. In other words, have you any right to decline the risk, if she is willing to undertake it?"
"The risk is mine, not hers. She has the money. Her income, for three months, about equals my entire fortune."
"Can"t you forget her fortune?"
"And live at the rate of pretty near two hundred thousand dollars a year?" Croyden laughed. "Could you?"
"I think I could, if I loved the girl."
"And suffer in your self-respect forever after?"
"There is where we differ. You"re inclined to be hyper-critical. If you play _your_ part, you won"t lose your self-respect."
"It is a trifle difficult to do--to play my part, when all the world is saying, "he married her for her money," and shows me scant regard in consequence."
"Why the devil need you care what the world says!"
"I don"t!"
"What?" Macloud exclaimed.
"I don"t--the world may go hang. But the question is, how long can the man retain the woman"s esteem, with such a handicap."
"Ah! that is easy! so long as he retains her love."
"Rather an uncertain quant.i.ty."
"It depends entirely on yourself.--If you start with it, you can hold it, if you take the trouble to try."
"You"re a strong partisan!" Croyden laughed, as they entered Clarendon.
"And what are you?" Macloud returned.
"Just what I should like to know----"
"Well, I"ll tell you what you are if you don"t marry Elaine Cavendish,"
Macloud interrupted--"You"re an unmitigated fool!"
"a.s.suming that Miss Cavendish would marry me."