The other nodded. Wayne stared.
"Mother," he said, "you don"t mean to say you are letting yourself be influenced by a taunt like that of Mrs. Farron"s, which she didn"t even believe herself?"
Mrs. Wayne was shocked.
"Oh, no; not that, Pete. It isn"t that at all. But when a girl has been brought up--"
Wayne saw it all in an instant.
"Oh, yes, I see. We"ll talk of that later."
But Adelaide had seen, too.
"No; do go on, Mrs. Wayne. You don"t approve of the way my daughter has been brought up."
"I don"t think she has been brought up to be a poor man"s wife."
"No. I own I did not have that particular destiny in mind."
"And when I heard you a.s.suming just now that every one was always concerned about money, and when I realized that the girl must have been brought up in that atmosphere and belief--"
"I see. You thought she was not quite the right wife for your son?"
"But I would try so hard," said Mathilde. "I would learn; I--"
"Mathilde," interrupted her mother, "when a lady tells you you are not good enough for her son, you must not protest."
"Come, come, Adelaide, there is no use in being disagreeable," said Mr. Lanley.
"Disagreeable!" returned his daughter. "Mrs. Wayne and I are entirely agreed. She thinks her son too good for my daughter, and I think my daughter too good for her son. Really, there seems nothing more to be said. Good-by, Mr. Wayne." She held out her long, white hand to him. Mrs.
Wayne was trying to make her position clearer to Mathilde, but Pete thought this an undesirable moment for such an attempt.
Partly as an a.s.sertion of his rights, partly because she looked so young and helpless, he stopped and kissed her.
"I"ll come and see you about half-past ten tomorrow morning," he said very clearly, so that every one could hear. Adelaide looked blank; she was thinking that on Pringle she could absolutely depend. Wayne saw his mother and Lanley bow to each other, and the next moment he had contrived to get her out of the house.
Mathilde rushed away to her own room, and Adelaide and her father were left alone. She turned to him with one of her rare caresses.
"Dear Papa," she said, "what a comfort you are to me! What should I do without you? You"ll never desert me, will you?" And she put her head on his shoulder. He patted her with an absent-minded rhythm, and then he said, as if he were answering some secret train of thought:
"I don"t see what else I could have done."
"You couldn"t have done anything else," replied his daughter, still nestling against him. "But Mrs. Baxter had frightened me with her account of your sentimental admiration for Mrs. Wayne, and I thought you might want to make yourself agreeable to her at the expense of my poor child."
She felt his shoulder heave with a longer breath.
"I can"t imagine putting anything before Mathilde"s happiness," he said, and after a pause he added: "I really must go home. Mrs. Baxter will think me a neglectful host."
"Don"t you want to bring her to dine here to-night? I"ll try and get some one to meet her. Let me see. She thinks Mr. Wilsey--"
"Oh, I can"t stand Wilsey," answered her father, crossly.
"Well, I"ll think of some one to sacrifice on the altar of your friendship. I certainly don"t want to dine alone with Mathilde. And, by the way, Papa, I haven"t mentioned any of this to Vincent."
He thought it was admirable of her to bear her anxieties alone so as to spare her sick husband.
"Poor girl!" he said. "You"ve had a tot of trouble lately."
In the meantime Wayne and his mother walked slowly home.
"I suppose you"re furious at me, Pete," she said.
"Not a bit," he answered. "For a moment, when I saw what you were going to say, I was terrified. But no amount of tact would have made Mrs.
Farron feel differently, and I think they might as well know what we really think and feel. I was only sorry if it hurt Mathilde."
"Oh dear, it"s so hard to be truthful!" exclaimed his mother. He laughed, for he wished she sometimes found it harder; and she went on:
"Poor little Mathilde! You know I wouldn"t hurt her if I could help it.
It"s not her fault. But what a terrible system it is, and how money does blind people! They can"t see you at all as you are, and yet if you had fifty thousand dollars a year, they"d be more aware of your good points than I am. They can"t see that you have resolution and charm and a sense of honor. They don"t see the person, they just see the lack of income."
Pete smiled.
"A person is all Mrs. Farron says she asks for her daughter."
"She does not know a person when she sees one."
"She knew one when she married Farron."
Mrs. Wayne sniffed.
"Perhaps he married her," she replied.
Her son thought this likely, but he did not answer, for she had given him an idea--to see Farron. Farron would at least understand the situation.
His mother approved of the suggestion.
"Of course he"s not Mathilde"s father."
"He"s not a sn.o.b."
They had reached the house, and Pete was fishing in his pocket for his keys.
"Do you think Mr. Lanley is a sn.o.b?" he asked.
As usual Mrs. Wayne evaded the direct answer.
"I got an unfavorable impression of him this afternoon."
"For failing to see that I was a king among men?"