"You did indeed."
"And she said nothing?"
"Nothing."
"Then what _were_ you talking about?"
"I was advising her to marry no man who did not love her."
"What an extraordinary piece of advice to give to a girl who, as far as you knew, was not going to be married at all! What led up to it?"
"Not t.i.ta, certainly. It was I who led up to it."
"And why?"
"Do you think I have been blind and deaf, Maurice, during the past fortnight?" Miss Knollys almost compels his gaze. "If you are going to marry this young girl, _this child,_ I hope, I"--almost pa.s.sionately--_"hope_ it will be for her good and yours."
"Margaret! What a tone! You mean something!"
"I do." Margaret"s strong face lights up with honest anxiety. "I mean this!" She takes a step nearer him. "How is it between you and Marian?"
"Why, how has it been?" asks he, with affected lightness; but a change pa.s.ses over his face.
"Oh, Maurice, take care!" says his cousin, laying her hand upon his arm.
"Well, if you must have it," says he, frowning, "all that is over."
He breaks away from her, frowning still.
It is quite plain to her that she has offended him. But even as he leaves her he looks back; a sort of grim smile illumines his face.
"I note that in your "hoping" you have put Miss Bolton before me; that is as it should be. She is a sworn admirer of yours. Did you know it?"
"No. But she appeals to me--I don"t know why--but I feel that I could love her," says Margaret, in short sentences as if thinking, and as if a little surprised at herself. Suddenly she breaks into a more immediate feeling. "Oh, Maurice, love her too! Try, _try_ to love her; she is so young. Her very _soul_ is in your keeping. Be good to her; she is a mere baby. If you neglect her, forget her----"
Maurice casts a queer look at her.
""Is thy servant a dog?"" quotes he.
Margaret moves slowly away. She had, when Maurice met her, been bent on going upstairs to her books and her thoughts; but now she turns backward. She feels as if she wants something. Perhaps she finds it--unconsciously, however--when she stops before a tall, soldierly-looking man, who, seeing her, comes to meet her with evident pleasure.
"You look disturbed!" says Colonel Neilson.
He is, as I have said, a tall man, with a kindly face, and deep eyes of a dark colour. There is nothing very special about him; he is not, strictly speaking, handsome, yet he was, last season, one of the most popular men in town.
"Yes, and no," says Margaret. "My cousin has confided a sort of secret to me."
"A secret! I may not hear it, then?"
"Well, I don"t know. It is, as I have hinted, a _sort_ of secret, not very much to be kept."
"I may hear it, then?"
"I suppose so. At all events," with a laugh, soft and silk, "I should like you to hear it, because I want your opinion. You will give it?"
"You know I will give you everything I have," says he.
"Oh no! you must not talk like that," says she. "Put all that on one side, and let me have you for my friend. I want one now--not for myself, but for another; for two others, in fact. You know how fond I am of Maurice, and lately I have contracted quite a romantic, for _me"_--she pauses and laughs--"well, quite a romantic affection, for a little girl staying here with my aunt. You know who I mean--t.i.ta Bolton."
"A charming child?"
"I am so glad you like her! But, as you say, she is a mere child; and Maurice has proposed to her, and she has accepted him, and I am curious about her future."
"Hers only?"
"Oh no! His, too!"
"It will be a risk, certainly," says Colonel Neilson. "I thought--I imagined--I had heard that Rylton was engaged to his cousin, Mrs.
Bethune--a very beautiful woman."
"How can you think so!" says Margaret. "Well, yes, no doubt she _is_ beautiful, but I should not like Maurice to marry her."
"You would prefer his marrying the "charming child"?"
"I don"t know what I prefer," says Miss Knollys. She casts a reproachful glance at him that certainly is not deserved. Has he not served her late and early for the past six years? "I thought you would help me!"
"You know I shall do that, however things may turn."
"Well, help me here. What _ought_ Maurice to do? I am so dreadfully unhappy about this projected marriage of his."
"It seems to me you are unhappy about all things except those that concern yourself. Your own future seems a blank to you; is it not so?"
Miss Knollys makes a little movement.
"Why should it be always a blank?" says he. "Margaret," in a low tone, "let me fill it!"
Margaret rises impatiently.
"After all, you can"t help me," says she, turning abruptly away.
"Margaret, hear me!"
"No, no, no! What is the use?"