The philosopher closed his book, took off his gla.s.ses, wiped them, replaced them, and leaned back against the trunk of the apple-tree.
The girl picked a dandelion in pieces. After a long pause she asked:
"You think B"s feelings wouldn"t be at all likely to--to change?"
"That depends on the sort of man he is. But if he is an able man, with intellectual interests which engross him--a man who has chosen his path in life--a man to whom women"s society is not a necessity--"
"He"s just like that," said the girl, and she bit the head off a daisy.
"Then," said the philosopher, "I see not the least reason for supposing that his feelings will change."
"And would you advise her to marry the other --A?"
"Well, on the whole, I should. A is a good fellow (I think we made A a good fellow), he is a suitable match, his love for her is true and genuine--"
"It"s tremendous!"
"Yes--and--er--extreme. She likes him. There is every reason to hope that her liking will develop into a sufficiently deep and stable affection. She will get rid of her folly about B, and make A a good wife. Yes, Miss May, if I were the author of your novel I should make her marry A, and I should call that a happy ending."
A silence followed. It was broken by the philosopher.
"Is that all you wanted my opinion about, Miss May?" he asked, with his finger between the leaves of the treatise on ontology.
"Yes, I think so. I hope I haven"t bored you?"
"I"ve enjoyed the discussion extremely. I had no idea that novels raised points of such psychological interest. I must find time to read one."
The girl had shifted her position till, instead of her full face, her profile was turned toward him. Looking away toward the paddock that lay brilliant in sunshine on the skirts of the apple orchard, she asked in low slow tones, twisting her hands in her lap:
"Don"t you think that perhaps if B found out afterward--when she had married A, you know--that she had cared for him so very, very much, he might be a little sorry?"
"If he were a gentleman he would regret it deeply."
"I mean--sorry on his own account; that--that he had thrown away all that, you know?"
The philosopher looked meditative.
"I think," he p.r.o.nounced, "that it is very possible he would. I can well imagine it."
"He might never find anybody to love him like that again," she said, gazing on the gleaming paddock.
"He probably would not," agreed the philosopher.
"And--and most people like being loved, don"t they?"
"To crave for love is an almost universal instinct, Miss May."
"Yes, almost," she said, with a dreary little smile. "You see, he"ll get old, and--and have no one to look after him."
"He will."
"And no home."
"Well, in a sense, none," corrected the philosopher, smiling. "But really you"ll frighten me. I"m a bachelor myself, you know, Miss May."
"Yes," she whispered, just audibly.
"And all your terrors are before me."
"Well, unless--"
"Oh, we needn"t have that "unless,"" laughed the philosopher, cheerfully. "There"s no "unless" about it, Miss May."
The girl jumped to her feet; for an instant she looked at the philosopher. She opened her lips as if to speak, and at the thought of what lay at her tongue"s tip her face grew red. But the philosopher was gazing past her, and his eyes rested in calm contemplation on the gleaming paddock.
"A beautiful thing, sunshine, to be sure," said he.
Her blush faded away into paleness; her lips closed. Without speaking, she turned and walked slowly away, her head drooping.
The philosopher heard the rustle of her skirt in the long gra.s.s of the orchard; he watched her for a few moments.
"A pretty, graceful creature," said he, with a smile. Then he opened his book, took his pencil in his hand, and slipped in a careful forefinger to mark the fly-leaf.
The sun had pa.s.sed mid-heaven and began to decline westward before he finished the book. Then he stretched himself and looked at his watch.
"Good gracious, two o"clock! I shall be late for lunch!" and he hurried to his feet.
He was very late for lunch.
"Everything"s cold," wailed his hostess. "Where have you been, Mr. Jerningham?"
"Only in the orchard-reading."
"And you"ve missed May!"
"Missed Miss May? How do you mean? I had a long talk with her this morning--a most interesting talk."
"But you weren"t here to say good-by. Now you don"t mean to say that you forgot that she was leaving by the two-o"clock train? What a man you are!"
"Dear me! To think of my forgetting it!" said the philosopher, shamefacedly.
"She told me to say good-bye to you for her."
"She"s very kind. I can"t forgive myself."
His hostess looked at him for a moment; then she sighed, and smiled, and sighed again.
"Have you everything you want?" she asked.
"Everything, thank you," said he, sitting down opposite the cheese, and propping his book (he thought he would just run through the last chapter again) against the loaf; "everything in the world that I want, thanks."