MARGOT: "No, I won"t."
PETER: "Was it D--ly?"
MARGOT: "I shan"t tell you. I"m not Sam Lewis; and, since I"m such a liar, is it worth while asking me these stupid questions?"
PETER: "Ah, Margot, this is the worst blow of my life! I see you are deceiving me. I know who paid my debt now."
MARGOT: "Then why ask ME? ..."
PETER: "When I went to India I had never spoken to D--ly in my life. Why should he have paid my debts for me? You had much better tell me the simple truth and get it over: it"s all settled and you"re going to marry him."
MARGOT: "Since I"ve got into the way of lying, you might spare yourself and me these vulgar questions."
PETER (SEIZING MY HANDS IN ANGUISH): "Say you aren"t going to marry him ... tell me, tell me it"s NOT true."
MARGOT: "Why should I? He has never asked me to."
After this the question of matrimony was bound to come up between us. The first time it was talked of, I was filled with anxiety. It seemed to put a finish to the radiance of our friendship and, worse than that, it brought me up against my father, who had often said to me: "You will never marry Flower; you must marry your superior."
Peter himself, in a subconscious way, had become aware of the situation. One evening, riding home, he said:
"Margie, do you see that?"
He pointed to the spire of the Melton Church and added:
"That is what you are in my life. I am not worth the b.u.t.ton on your boot!"
To which I replied:
"I would not say that, but I cannot find goodness for two."
I was profundly unhappy. To live for ever with a man who was incapable of loving any one but himself and me, who was without any kind of moral ambition and chronically indifferent to politics and religion, was a nightmare.
I said to him:
"I will marry you if you get some serious occupation, Peter, but I won"t marry an idle man; you think of nothing but yourself and me."
PETER: "What in the name of goodness would you have me think of?
Geography?"
MARGOT: "You know exactly what I mean. Your power lies in love- making, not in loving; you don"t love any one but yourself."
At this, Peter moved away from me as if I had struck him and said in a low tense voice:
"I am glad I did not say that. I would not care to have said such a cat-cruel thing; but I pity the man who marries you! He will think--as I did--that you are impulsively, throbbingly warm and kind and gentle; and he will find that he has married a governess and a prig; and a woman whose fire--of which she boasts so much-- blasts his soul."
I listened to a Peter I had never heard before, His face frightened me. It indicated suffering. I put my head against his and said:
"How can I make an honest man of you, my dearest?"
I was getting quite clever about people, as the Mrs. Bo episode had taught me a lot.
A short time after this conversation, I observed a dark, good- looking woman pursuing Peter Flower at every ball and party. He told me when I teased him that she failed to arrest his attention and that, for the first time in my life, I flattered him by my jealousy. I persisted and said that I did not know if it was jealousy but that I was convinced she was a bad friend for him.
PETER: "I"ve always noticed you think things bad when they don"t suit you, but why should I give up my life to you? What do you give me in return? I"m the laughing-stock of London! But, if it is any satisfaction to you, I will tell you I don"t care for the black lady, as you call her, and I never see her except at parties."
I knew Peter as well as a cat knows its way in the dark and I felt the truth of his remark: what did I give him? But I was not in a humour to argue.
The lady often asked me to go and see her, but I shrank from it and had never been inside her house.
One day I told Peter I would meet him at the Soane Collection in Lincoln"s Inn Fields. To my surprise he said he had engaged himself to see his sister, who had been ill, and pointed out with a laugh that my governessing was taking root. He added:
"I don"t mind giving it up if you can spend the whole afternoon with me."
I told him I would not have him give up going to see his sister for the world.
Finding myself at a loose end, I thought I would pay a visit to the black lady, as it was unworthy of me to have such a prejudice against some one whom I did not know. It was a hot London day; pale colours, thin stuffs, naked throats and large hats were strewn about the parks and streets.
When I arrived, the lady"s bell was answered by a hall-boy and, hearing the piano, I told him he need not announce me. When I opened the door, I saw Peter and the dark lady sharing the same seat in front of the open piano. She wore a black satin sleeveless tea-gown, cut low at the throat, with a coral ribbon round her waist, and she had stuck a white rose in her rather dishevelled Carmen hair. I stood still, startled by her beauty and stunned by Peter"s face. She got up, charmed to see me, and expressed her joy at the amazing luck which had brought me there that very afternoon, as she had a wonderful Spaniard coming to play to her after tea and she had often been told by Peter how musical I was, etc., etc. She hoped I was not shocked by her appearance, but she has just come back from a studio and it was too hot to expect people to get into decent clothes. She was perfectly at her ease and more than welcoming; before I could answer, she rallied Peter and said she pleaded guilty of having lured him away from the path of duty that afternoon, ending with a slight twinkle:
"From what I"m told, Miss Margot, you would NEVER have done anything so wicked? ..."
I felt ice in my blood and said:
"You needn"t believe that! I"ve lured him away from the path of duty for the last eight years, haven"t I, Peter?"
There was an uncomfortable silence and I looked about for a means of escape, but it took me some little time to find one.
I said good-bye and left the house.
When I was alone I locked the door, flung myself on my sofa, and was blinded by tears. Peter was right; he had said, "Why should I give up my life to you?" Why indeed! And yet, after eight years, this seemed a terrible ending to me.
"What do you give me in return?" What indeed? What claim had I to his fidelity? I thought I was giving gold for silver, but the dark lady would have called it copper for gold. Was she prepared to give everything for nothing? Why should I call it nothing? What did I know of Peter"s love for her? All I knew was she had taught him to lie; and he must love her very much to do that: he had never lied to me before.
I went to the opera that night with my father and mother. Peter came into our box in a state of intense misery; I could hardly look at him. He put his hand out toward me under the programme and I took it.
At that moment the servant brought me a note and asked me to give her the answer. I opened it and this was what I read:
"If you want to do a very kind thing come and see me after the opera to-night. Don"t say no."
I showed it to Peter, and he said, "Go." It was from the dark lady; I asked him what she wanted me for and he said she was terribly unhappy.
"Ah, Peter," said I, "what HAVE you done? ..."
PETER: "I know ... it"s quite true; but I"ve broken it off for ever with her."
Nothing he could have said then would have lightened my heart.