"I? Oh, I cannot," said Nan, almost shuddering, and turning away.
"But you know what interests him; for he"s always talking to you,"
persisted Madge, good-naturedly. "Anybody but me would be jealous; but I"m not. The day before yesterday Mrs. ---- went by; and I asked him to look at her hair, that every one is raving about; and he plainly told me your hair was the prettiest he had ever seen. Now, I don"t call that polite. He might have said "except yours," if only for the look of the thing. But I don"t mind--not a bit I"m very glad he likes you, Nan----"
"Madge! Madge!"
It was almost a cry wrung from the heart. But in an instant she had controlled herself again. She turned to her sister, and said with great apparent calmness,
"Surely, dear, you ought to know what to write. These are things that cannot be advised about. Letters of that kind are secret----"
"Oh, I don"t care about that. I think it is stupid," said Madge at once. "There is no use having any pretence about it. And I don"t know in the world what to write about. Look,--I have begun about the Kenyons" invitation, and asked him whether he"d mind my going. I like those little dances better than the big b.a.l.l.s----"
She held out the letter she had begun. But Nan would not even look at it.
"It isn"t usual, is it, Madge," she said, hurriedly, "for a girl who is engaged to go out to a dance by herself?"
"But we are all going!"
"You know what I mean. It is a compliment you should pay him not to go."
"Well," said Madge somewhat defiantly, "I don"t know about that. One does as one is done by. And I don"t think he"d care if I went and danced the whole night through--even with Jack Hanbury."
"Oh, how can you say such a thing!" said her sister, staring at her; for this was a new development altogether.
But Madge was not to be put down.
"Oh, I am not such a fool. I can see well enough. There isn"t much romance about the whole affair; and that"s the short and the long of it. Of course it"s a very good arrangement for both of us, I believe; and that"s what they say now-a-days--marriages are "arranged.""
"I don"t know what you mean Madge! You never spoke like that before."
"Perhaps I was afraid of frightening you; for you have high and mighty notions of things, dear Nan, for all your mouse-like ways. But don"t I see very well that he is marrying to please his parents; and to settle down and be the good boy of the family? That"s the meaning of the whole thing----"
"You don"t mean to say, Madge," said the elder sister, though she hesitated, and seemed to have to force herself to ask the question, "You don"t mean to say you think he does not--love you?"
At this Madge flushed up a little, and said--
"Oh, well, I suppose he does, in a kind of way, though he doesn"t take much trouble about saying it. It isn"t of much consequence; we shall have plenty of time afterwards. Mind, if only Jack Hanbury could get invited by the Kenyons, and I were to dance two or three times with him, and Frank get to hear of it, I suppose there would be a n.o.ble rampage: _then_ he might speak out a little more."
"Have you been dreaming Madge?" said Nan, again staring at her sister.
"What has put such monstrous things into your head? Mr. Hanbury--at the Kenyons"--and you would dance with him!"
"Well, why not?" said Madge, with a frown; for this difficulty about the letter-writing had clearly operated on her temper and made her impatient. "All the world isn"t supposed to know about the Vice-Chancellor"s warning. Why shouldn"t he be invited by the Kenyons?
And why should he know that I am going? And why, if we both happen to be there, shouldn"t we dance together? Human beings are human beings, in spite of Vice-Chancellors. They can"t lock up a man for dancing with you? At all events, they can"t lock me up, even if Jack is there."
"Madge, put these things out of your head. You won"t go to the Kenyons", for Captain King would not like it----"
"I don"t think he"d take the trouble to object," Madge interjected.
"And Mr. Hanbury won"t be there; and there will be no dancing, and no quarrel. If you wish to write to Captain King about what will interest him, write about what interests yourself. That he is sure to be interested in----"
"Well, but that is exactly what I can"t write to him about. I know what I am interested in well enough. Edith has just told me Mr.
Roberts has been pressing her to fix a time for their marriage. She thinks the end of April; so that they could be back in London for the latter end of the season. Now I think that would do very well for us too--and it is always nice for two sisters to get married on the same day--only Frank has never asked me a word about it, and how am I to write to him about it? So you see, wise Mother Nan, I can"t write to him about what interests me."
Nan had started somewhat when she heard this proposal; it seemed strange to her.
"April?" she said. "You"ve known Captain King a very short time, Madge. You were not thinking of getting married in April next?"
"Perhaps I"d better wait until I"m asked," said Madge, with a laugh, as she turned to go away. "Well, if you won"t tell me what to write about, I must go and get this bothered letter done somehow. I do believe the best way will be to write about you; that will interest him anyway."
Frank King remained away for a few weeks, and during this time the first symptoms appeared of the coming spring. The days began to lengthen, there were crocuses in the gardens, there were reports of primroses and sweet violets in the woods about Horsham; in London Parliament was sitting, and in Brighton well-known faces were recognisable amongst the promenaders on the Sat.u.r.day afternoons. Then Mr. Roberts, as Edith"s accepted suitor, received many invitations to the house in Brunswick Terrace; and in return was most indefatigable in arranging riding-parties, driving-parties, walking-parties, with in each case a good hotel for luncheon as his objective point. Madge joined in these diversions with great good-will; and made them the excuse for the shortness of the letters addressed to Kingscourt. Nan went also; she was glad to get into the country on any pretence; and she seemed merry enough. When Mr. Roberts drove along the King"s Road with these three comely damsels under his escort, he was a proud man; and he may have comforted himself with the question, that as beer sometimes led to a baronetcy, why shouldn"t soda-water?
Strangely enough, Nan had entirely ceased making inquiries about sisterhoods and inst.i.tutions for the training of nurses. She seemed quite reconciled to the situation of things as they were. She did not cease her long absences from the house; but every one knew that on these occasions she was off on one of her solitary wanderings; and she came home in the evening apparently more contented than ever. She had even brought herself to speak of Madge"s married life, which at first she would not do.
"You see," she said to her sister on one occasion, "if you and Edith get married on the same day, I must remain and take care of mamma; she must not be left quite alone."
"Oh, as for that," said Madge, "Mrs. Arthurs does better than the whole of us; and I"m not going to have you made a prisoner of. I"m going to have a room at Kingscourt called "Nan"s room," and it shall have no other name as long as I am there. Then we shall have a proper house in London by and by; and of course you"ll come up for the season, and see all the gaieties. I think we ought to have one of the red houses just by Prince"s; that would be handy for everything; and you might come up, Nan, and help me to buy things for it. And you shall have a room there too, you shall; and you may decorate it and furnish it just as you like. I know quite well what you would like--the room small; the woodwork all bluey-white; plenty of Venetian embroidery flung about; all the fire-place bra.s.s; some of those green Persian plates over the mantelpiece; about thirteen thousand Chinese fans arranged like fireworks on the walls; a fearful quant.i.ty of books and a low easy-chair; red candles; and in the middle of the whole thing a nasty, dirty, little beggar-girl to feed and pet----"
"I think, Madge," her sister said, gravely, "that you should not set your heart on a town-house at all. Remember, old Mr. King is giving his son Kingscourt at a great sacrifice. As I understand it, it will be a long time before the family estate is what it has been; and you would be very ungrateful if you were extravagant----"
"Oh, I don"t see that," said Madge. "They are conferring no favour on me. I don"t see why I should economise. I am marrying for fun, not for love."
She blurted out this inadvertently--to Nan"s amazement and horror--but instantly retracted it, with the blood rushing to her temples.
"Of course I don"t mean that, Nan--how could I have been so stupid! I don"t mean _that--exactly_. What I mean is that it doesn"t seem to me as if it was supposed to be a very fearfully romantic match, and all that kind of thing. It"s a very good arrangement; but it isn"t I who ought to be expected to make sacrifices----"
"But surely your husband"s interests will be yours!" exclaimed Nan.
"Oh yes, certainly," her sister said, somewhat indifferently. "No doubt that"s true, in a way. Quite true, in a kind of way. Still, there are limits; and I should not like to be buried alive for ever in the country."
Then she sighed.
"Poor Jack!" she said.
She went to the window.
"When I marry, I know at least one who will be sorry. I can fancy him walking up and down there--looking at the house as he used to do; and, oh! so grateful if only you went to the window for a moment. He will see it in the papers, I suppose."
She turned to her sister, and said, triumphantly--
"Well, the Vice-Chancellor was done that time!"
"What time?"
"Valentine"s morning. You can send flowers without any kind of writing to be traced. Do you think I don"t know who sent me the flowers?"
"At all events, you should not be proud of it. You should be sorry.
It is a very great pity----"
"Yes, that"s what I think," said Madge. "How can I help pitying him?