Presently Carry opened the door; and it was clear she was in high spirits.
"Oh, Mopsy," said she--and this was a pet name she gave her sister Carry when the latter was in great favor--"did you ever see such a morning in November? Don"t you think papa might take us to Kew Gardens?"
"I want to speak to you, Carry--come here," she said, gravely; and the younger sister went and stood by the table. "You know you and I are thrown very much on each other; and we ought to have no secrets from each other; and we ought to be always quite sure of each other"s sympathy. Now, Carry, you must be patient, you must be kind: if I don"t get sympathy from you, from whom should I get it?"
Carry withdrew a step, and her manner instantly changed. Gertrude White was a very clever actress; but she had never been able to impose on her younger sister. This imploring look was all very fine; this appeal for sympathy was pathetic enough; but both only awakened Carry"s suspicions.
In their ordinary talk sisters rarely use such formal words as "sympathy."
"What do you mean?" said she, sharply.
"There--already!" exclaimed the other, apparently in deep disappointment. "Just when I most need your kindness and sympathy, you show yourself most unfeeling--"
"I wish you would tell me what it is all about," Carry said, impatiently.
The elder sister lowered her eyes, and her fingers began to work with a paper-knife that was lying there. Perhaps this was only a bit of stage-business: or perhaps she was really a little apprehensive about the effect of her announcement.
"Carry," she said, in a low voice, "I have promised to marry Sir Keith Macleod."
Carry uttered a slight cry of horror and surprise; but this too was only a bit of stage effect, for she had fully antic.i.p.ated the disclosure.
"Well, Gertrude White!" said she, apparently when she had recovered her breath. "Well--I--I--I--never!"
Her language was not as imposing as her gestures; but then n.o.body had written the part for her; whereas her very tolerable acting was nature"s own gift.
"Now, Carry, be reasonable--don"t be angry: what is the use of being vexed with what is past recalling? Any other sister would be very glad at such a time--" These were the hurried and broken sentences with which the culprit sought to stave off the coming wrath. But, oddly enough, Miss Carry refrained from denunciations or any other stormy expression of her anger and scorn. She suddenly a.s.sumed a cold and critical air.
"I suppose," said she, "before you allowed Sir Keith Macleod to ask you to become his wife, you explained to him our circ.u.mstances."
"I don"t understand you."
"You told him, of course, that you had a ne"er-do-well brother in Australia, who might at any moment appear and disgrace the whole family?"
"I told him nothing of the kind. I had no opportunity of getting into family affairs. And if I had, what has Tom got to do with Sir Keith Macleod? I had forgotten his very existence--no wonder, after eight years of absolute silence."
But Carry, having fired this shot, was off after other ammunition.
"You told him you had sweethearts before?"
"No, I did not," said Miss Gertrude White, warmly, "because it isn"t true."
"What?--Mr. Howson?"
"The orchestra leader in a provincial theatre!"
"Oh yes! but you did not speak so contemptuously of him then. Why, you made him believe he was another Mendelssohn!"
"You are talking nonsense."
"And Mr. Brook--you no doubt told him that Mr. Brook called on papa, and asked him to go down to Doctors" Commons and see for himself what money he would have--"
"And what then? How can I prevent any idiotic boy who chooses to turn me into a heroine from going and making a fool of himself?"
"Oh, Gertrude White!" said Carry, solemnly. "Will you sit there and tell me you gave him no encouragement?"
"This is mere folly!" the elder sister said, petulantly; as she rose and proceeded to put straight a few of the things about the room. "I had hoped better things of you, Carry. I tell you of an important step I have taken in my life, and you bring out a lot of tattle and nonsense.
However, I can act for myself. It is true, I had imagined something different. When I marry, of course, we shall be separated. I had looked forward to the pleasure of showing you my new home."
"Where is it to be?"
"Wherever my husband wishes it to be," she answered, proudly; but there was a conscious flush of color in her face as she uttered--for the first time--that word.
"In the Highlands, I suppose, for he is not rich enough to have two houses," said Carry; which showed that she had been pondering over this matter before. "And he has already got his mother and his old-maid sister, or whatever she is, in the house. You will make a pretty family!"
This was a cruel thrust. When Macleod had spoken of the far home overlooking the Northern seas, what could be more beautiful than his picture of the n.o.ble and silver-haired dame, and of the gentle and loving cousin who was the friend and counsellor of the poor people around? And when he had suggested that some day or other Mr. White might bring his daughter to these remote regions to see all the wonders and the splendors of them, he told her how the beautiful mother would take her to this place and to that place, and how that Janet Macleod would pet and befriend her, and perhaps teach her a few words of the Gaelic, that she might have a kindly phrase for the pa.s.ser-by. But this picture of Carry"s!--a houseful of wrangling women!
If she had had her will just then, she would instantly have recalled Macleod, and placed his courage and careless confidence between her and this cruel criticism. She had never, in truth, thought of these things.
His pertinacity would not allow her. He had kept insisting that the only point for her to consider was whether she had sufficient love for him to enable her to answer his great love for her with the one word "Yes."
Thereafter, according to his showing, everything else was a mere trifle.
Obstacles, troubles, delays?--he would hear of nothing of the sort. And although, while he was present, she had been inspired by something of this confident feeling, now when she was attacked in his absence she felt herself defenceless.
"You may be as disagreeable as you like, Carry," said she, almost wearily. "I cannot help it. I never could understand your dislike to Sir Keith Macleod."
"Cannot you understand," said the younger sister, with some show of indignation, "that if you are to marry at all, I should like to see you marry an Englishman, instead of a great Highland savage who thinks about nothing but beasts" skins. And why should you marry at all, Gertrude White? I suppose he will make you leave the theatre; and instead of being a famous woman whom everybody admires and talks about, you will be plain Mrs. n.o.body, hidden away in some place, and no one will ever hear of you again! Do you know what you are doing? Did you ever hear of any woman making such a fool of herself before?"
So far from being annoyed by this strong language, the elder sister seemed quite pleased.
"Do you know, Carry, I like to hear you talk like that," she said, with a smile. "You almost persuade me that I am not asking him for too great a sacrifice, after all--"
"A sacrifice! On his part!" exclaimed the younger sister; and then she added, with decision: "but it shan"t be, Gertrude White! I will go to papa."
"Pardon me," said the elder sister, who was nearer the door, "you need not trouble yourself: I am going now."
She went into the small room which was called her father"s study, but which was in reality a sort of museum. She closed the door behind her.
"I have just had the pleasure of an interview with Carry, papa," she said, with a certain bitterness of tone, "and she has tried hard to make me as miserable as I can be. If I am to have another dose of it from you, papa, I may as well have it at once. I have promised to marry Sir Keith Macleod."
She sank down in an easy-chair. There was a look on her face which plainly said, "Now do your worst; I cannot be more wretched than I am."
"You have promised to marry Sir Keith Macleod?" he repeated, slowly, and fixing his eyes on her face.
He did not break into any rage, and accuse Macleod of treachery or her of filial disobedience. He knew that she was familiar with that kind of thing. What he had to deal with was the immediate future, not the past.
"Yes," she answered.
"Well," he said, with the same deliberation of tone, "I suppose you have not come to me for advice, since you have, acted so far for yourself. If I were to give you advice, however, it would be to break your promise as soon as you decently can, both for his sake and for your own."
"I thought you would say so," she said, with a sort of desperate mirth.
"I came to have all my wretchedness heaped on me at once. It is a very pleasing sensation. I wonder if I could express it on the stage. That would be making use of my new experiences--as you have taught me--"