"Well?"
Minnie sighed.
"So what could I say?"
Minnie paused.
Mrs. Willoughby looked troubled.
"Kitty, I _wish_ you wouldn"t look at me with that dreadful expression. You really make me feel quite frightened."
"Minnie," said the other, in a serious voice, "do you really _love_ this man?"
"Love this man! why no, not particularly; but I _like_ him; that is, I think I do, or rather I thought I did; but really I"m so worried about all my troubles that I wish he had never come down after me. I don"t see why he did, either. I didn"t ask him to. I remember, now, I really felt quite embarra.s.sed when I saw him. I knew there would be trouble about it. And I wish you would take me back home. I hate Italy. Do, Kitty darling. But then--"
Minnie paused again.
"Well, Minnie dear, we certainly must contrive some plan to shake him off without hurting his feelings. It can"t be thought of. There are a hundred objections. If the worst comes to the worst we can go back, as you say, to England."
"I know; but then," said Minnie, "that"s the very thing that I can"t do--"
"Can"t do what?"
"Go back to England."
"Back to England! Why not? I don"t know what you mean."
"Well, you see, Kitty, that"s the very thing I came to see you about.
This dreadful man--the Count, you know--has some wonderful way of finding out where I go; and he keeps all the time appearing and disappearing in the very strangest manner; and when I saw him on the roof of the Cathedral it really made me feel quite giddy. He is _so_ determined to win me that I"m afraid to look round. He takes the commonest civility as encouragement. And then, you know--there it is--I really can"t go back to England."
"What do you mean by that?"
"Why there"s--a--a dreadful person there," said Minnie, with an awful look in her eyes.
"A what?"
"A--person," said Minnie.
"A man?"
Minnie nodded. "Oh yes--of course. Really when one thinks of one"s troubles it"s enough to drive one distracted. This person is a man. I don"t know why it is that I should be _so_ worried and _so_ distracted by men. I do _not_ like them, and I wish there were no such persons."
"Another man!" said Mrs. Willoughby, in some surprise. "Well, Minnie, you certainly--"
"Now don"t, don"t--not a word; I know all you"re going to say, and I won"t stand it;" and Minnie ran over to her sister and held her hand over her mouth.
"I won"t say a word," said Mrs. Willoughby, as soon as she had removed Minnie"s hand; "so begin."
Minnie resumed her place on the sofa, and gave a long sigh.
"Well, you know, Kitty darling, it happened at Brighton last September. You were in Scotland then. I was with old Lady Shrewsbury, who is as blind as a bat--and where"s the use of having a person to look after you when they"re blind! You see, my horse ran away, and I think he must have gone ever so many miles, over railroad bridges and hedges and stone walls. I"m certain he jumped over a small cottage.
Well, you know, when all seemed lost, suddenly there was a strong hand laid on the reins, and my horse was stopped. I tumbled into some strange gentleman"s arms, and was carried into a house, where I was resuscitated. I returned home in the gentleman"s carriage.
"Now the worst of it is," said Minnie, with a piteous look, "that the person who stopped the horse called to inquire after me the next day.
Lady Shrewsbury, like an old goose, was awfully civil to him; and so there I was! His name is Captain Kirby, and I wish there were no captains in the world. The life he led me! He used to call, and I had to go out riding with him, and old Lady Shrewsbury utterly neglected me; and so, you know, Kitty darling, he at last, you know, of course, proposed. That"s what they all do, you know, when they save your life.
Always! It"s awful!"
Minnie heaved a sigh, and sat apparently meditating on the enormous baseness of the man who saved a lady"s life and then proposed; and it was not until Mrs. Willoughby had spoken twice that she was recalled to herself.
"What did you tell him?" was her sister"s question.
"Why, what could I tell him?"
"What!" cried Mrs. Willoughby; "you don"t--"
"Now, Kitty, I think it"s very unkind in you, when I want all your sympathy, to be _so_ horrid."
"Well, tell it your own way, Minnie dearest."
Minnie sat for a time regarding vacancy with a soft, sad, and piteous expression in her large blue eyes; with her head also a little on one side, and her delicate hands gently clasped in front of her.
[Ill.u.s.tration: "ANOTHER MAN!"]
"You see, Kitty darling, he took me out riding, and--he took me to the place where I had met him, and then he proposed. Well, you know, I didn"t know what to say. He was _so_ earnest, and _so_ despairing. And then, you know, Kitty dearest, he had saved my life, and so--"
"And so?"
"Well, I told him I didn"t know, and was shockingly confused, and then we got up quite a scene. He swore that he would go to Mexico, though why I can"t imagine; and I really wish he had; but I was frightened at the time, and I cried; and then he got worse, and I told him not to; whereupon he went into raptures, and began to call me no end of names--spooney names, you know; and I--oh, I did _so_ want him to stop!--I think I must have promised him all that he wanted; and when I got home I was frightened out of my poor little wits, and cried all night."
"Poor dear child!" exclaimed Mrs. Willoughby, with tender sympathy.
"What a wretch!"
"No, he wasn"t a wretch at all; he was awfully handsome, only, you know, he--was--so--_aw_fully persevering, and kept _so_ at my heels; but I hurried home from Brighton, and thought I had got rid of him."
"And hadn"t you?"
"Oh dear, no," said Minnie, mournfully. "On the day after my arrival there came a letter; and, you know, I had to answer it; and then another; and so it went on--"
"Oh, Minnie! why didn"t you tell me before?"
"How could I when you were off in that horrid Scotland? I _always_ hated Scotland."
"You might have told papa."
"I couldn"t. I think papa"s cruel _too_. He doesn"t care for me at all. Why didn"t he find out our correspondence and intercept it, the way papas always do in novels? If I were _his_ papa I"d not let _him_ be so worried."
"And did he never call on you?"
"Yes; he got leave of absence once, and I had a dreadful time with him. He was in a desperate state of mind. He was ordered off to Gibraltar. But I managed to comfort him; and, oh dear, Kitty dear, did you _ever_ try to comfort a man, and the man a total stranger?"