"What about Scotland this summer, Roddy? Are you going?"
"Don"t think so. Depends----"
Then there was silence. The little conversation had been as stiff as it was possible a conversation could be. The China dragons must have wondered--never before so constrained a dialogue between these two!
Now another pause, then suddenly Roddy, his hands clutching one another, his face redder than ever--
"I want--I wonder--dash it--have I your leave to ask your granddaughter to marry me?"
She laughed.
"Really, my dear Roddy, you"ve been very long about it--coming out with it, I mean. Didn"t you know and didn"t I know that that"s what you came for to-day?"
"Well then, may I?"
She paused and watched his anxiety. Between both of them there hung, now, the recollection of so many things--conversations and deeds and thoughts known to both of them, so many, many things that no others in all the world could know. She waited for his eyes, caught them and held them.
"Are you in love with her?"
"Yes--that is--she"s splendid----"
"You haven"t known her very long and you"re a little impulsive, ain"t you, Roddy, about these things?"
"No--I don"t know her now. But we"ve seen a lot of one another these last months--a fearful lot. She"s--oh! hang it! I never can say things--but she"s a brick."
"Do you think she"ll accept you?"
"How can any feller tell? I think she likes me--she"s odd----"
"Yes--she is--very. She"s a mixture--she"s very young--and she won"t understand you."
His eyes were suddenly troubled and, as she saw that trouble, she was alarmed. He really _did_ care....
"Yes, I know--I don"t understand myself. I"m wild sometimes--I wish I weren"t----"
"Marriage is going to make you a model character, Roddy. Of course I"m glad--but it won"t be easy, you know. And she won"t be easy."
"I want her though. I"ve never thought of marriage before. I do want her."
"My dear Roddy, you speak as though she were a sheep or a dog. It"s only her first season. Don"t you think you"d better wait a little?"
"No. I want her now."
"Well, you"re definite enough--" She paused and then, in a voice that had, in spite of her, real emotion, "You have my consent. You"ve got _my_ blessing."
He rose and came clumsily towards her.
"You don"t know--I"m no use at words, but I"m dam" grateful--Rippin" of you!"
For a second he touched her dried, withered hand--how cold it was! and in this hot weather, too.
"You"ll ask her at Julia Ma.s.siter"s next week?"
"Expect so--I say you are----"
Then he sat down again. The room was relieved of an immense burden; once more they were at ease together.
"The other night--" he said, bending forward and chuckling ever so little.
III
Lady Carloes, Agnes Lady Farnet, and old Mrs. Brunning were coming to play bridge with her. The ceremonial was ever the same! They arrived at half-past nine and at half-past eleven supper for four was served in the d.u.c.h.ess"s little green room, behind her bedroom (a little room like a box with a green wall-paper, a card-table and silver candlesticks). They played, sometimes, until three or four o"clock in the morning; the d.u.c.h.ess played an exceedingly good game and Mrs. Brunning (a bony little woman like a plucked chicken) was the best bridge player in London. The other two were moderate, but made mistakes which allowed the d.u.c.h.ess the free use of her most caustic wit and satire.
Lord John came just before dinner as he always did for a few minutes every evening. He stood there, fat and smiling and amiable and, as always, a little nervous.
"Well, John?"
She liked John the best of her children, although he was, of course, the most fearful fool, but she liked his big broad face and he was always clean and healthy; moreover, she could use him more easily than any of them.
"Bridge to-night, mother, isn"t it?"
"Yes. Not so hot this evening. Just give me that book. Turn the lamp up a little--no--not that one. The de Goncourt book. Yes. Thank you."
"Anything I can get for you, mother? Anyone I can send to you?"
He was thinking, as he smiled down at her, "She"s old to-night--old and tired. This hot weather...."
She looked up at him before she settled herself--
"Roddy Seddon came this afternoon----"
"Yes. I know."
Suddenly his heart began to beat. He had known, during all these last weeks, of what the common talk had been. He knew, too, what his conscience had told him, and he knew, too, how perpetually he had silenced that same conscience.
"He asked me whether he had my permission to propose to Rachel----"
"Yes."
"Of course I gave it him. I thought it most suitable in every way."
Now was Lord John"s moment. He knew, even as it descended upon him, what was the right to do. He must protest--Roddy Seddon was not the right man to marry Rachel, Rachel who was to him more than anyone in the world--
He must protest--
And then with that impulse went the old warning that because his mother seemed to him older and feebler to-night than he had ever known her, therefore if he spoke now, it would involve far more than the immediate dispute. There was a sudden impulse in him to risk discomfort, to risk a scene, to break, perhaps, in the new a.s.sertion of his authority, all the old domination, to smash a tradition to pieces.