"Quite as much as I can bear."
"No; but tell me--about _how_ much? More than a hundred pounds?"
"I haven"t worked it out in pounds, shillings, and pence," he said grimly; "but I should put it higher myself."
"Won"t they take back some of the things? They ought to," she suggested timidly.
"The things? Oh, the furniture! Good Heavens, Ella! do you suppose I care a straw about that? All I can think of is how I could have gone on deceiving myself like this, believing I knew your every thought; and all the time--pah, what a fool I"ve been!"
"I thought I should get used to it," she pleaded. "And oh, you don"t know how hard I have tried to bear it, not to let anyone see what I felt--you don"t know!"
"And I would rather not know," he replied, "for it"s not exactly flattering, you see, Ella. And at all events, it"s over now. This is the last time I shall trouble you; you will see no more of me after to-day."
Ella could only stare at him incredulously. Had he really taken the matter so seriously to heart as this? Could he not forgive the wound to his vanity? How hard, how utterly unworthy of him!
"Yes," he continued, "I see now we were quite unsuited to one another. I should never have made you happy, Ella; it"s best to find it out before it"s too late. So let us shake hands and say good-bye, my dear."
She felt powerless to appeal to him, and yet it was not wholly pride that tied her tongue; she was too shaken and stunned to make the least effort at remonstrance.
"Then, if it must be," she said at last, very low--"good-bye, George."
He crushed her hand in his strong grasp. "Don"t mind about me," he said roughly. "You"ve nothing to blame yourself for. I daresay I shall get over it all right. It"s rather sudden at first--that"s all!" And with that he was gone.
Flossie, coming in a little later, found her sister sitting by the window, smiling in a strange, vacant way. "_Well?_" said Flossie eagerly, for she had been anxiously waiting to hear the result of the interview.
"It"s all over, Flossie; he has broken it off."
"Oh, Ella, I"m so glad! I _hoped_ he would, but I wasn"t sure. Well, you may thank me for delivering you, darling. If I hadn"t spoken plainly----"
"Tell me what you said."
"Oh, let me see. Well, I told him anybody else would have seen long ago that your feelings were altered. I said you were perfectly miserable at having to marry him, only you thought it was too late to say so. I told him he didn"t understand you in the least, and you hadn"t a single thought or taste in common. I said if he cared about you at all, the best way he could prove it was by setting you free, and not spoiling your life and his own too. I put it as pleasantly as I could," said Flossie navely, "but he is very trying!"
"You told him all that! What made you invent such wicked, cruel lies?
Flossie, it is you that have spoilt our lives, and I will never forgive you--never, as long as I live!"
"Ella!" cried the younger sister, utterly astonished at this outburst.
"Why, didn"t you tell me the other day how miserable you were, and how you dared not speak about it? And now, when I----"
"Go away, Flossie; you have done mischief enough!"
"Oh, very well, I"m going--if this is all I get for helping you. Is it _my_ fault if you don"t know your own mind, and say what you don"t mean?
And if you really want your dearly beloved George back again, there"s time yet; he hasn"t gone--he"s in the drawing-room with mother."
How infinitely petty her past misery seemed now! for what trifles she had thrown away George"s honest heart! If only there was a chance still!
at least false pride should not come between them any longer: so thought Ella on her way to the drawing-room. George was still there; as she turned the door-handle she heard her mother"s clear resonant tones. "Not that that is any excuse for Ella," she was saying.
Ella burst precipitately into the room. She was only just in time, for George had risen and was evidently on the point of leaving. "George,"
she exclaimed, panting after her rapid flight, "I--I came to tell you----"
"My dear Ella," interrupted Mrs. Hylton, "the kindest thing you can do for George now is to let him go without any more explanations."
Ella stopped; again her mind became a blank. What had she come for; what was it she felt she must say? While she hesitated, George was already at the other door; he seemed anxious to avoid hearing her; in another second he would be gone.
She cried to him piteously. "George, dear George, don"t leave me!... I can"t bear it!"
"This is too ridiculous!" exclaimed her mother angrily. "What is it that you _do_ want, Ella?"
"I want George," she said simply. "It was all a mistake, George. Flossie mistook---- Oh, you don"t really think that I have left off caring for you? I haven"t, dear, indeed I haven"t--won"t you believe me?"
"I had better leave you to come to an understanding together," said Mrs.
Hylton, not in the best of tempers, for she had been more sorry for George than for the rupture he came to announce, and she swept out of the room with very perceptible annoyance.
"I thought it was all up with me, Ella; I did indeed," said George, a minute or two later, his face still pale after all this emotion. "But tell me--what"s wrong with the furniture I ordered?"
"Nothing, dear, nothing," she answered, blushing. "Don"t think about it any more."
"No? But your mother was talking about it too," he insisted. "Come, Ella, dear, for heaven"s sake let us have no more misunderstandings! I see now what an a.s.s I was not to wait and let you choose for yourself; these aesthetic things are not in my line. But I"d no idea you"d care so much!"
"But I don"t now--a bit."
"Well, I do, then. And the house must be done all over again, and exactly as you would like it; so there"s no more to be said about it,"
said George, without a trace of pique or wounded vanity.
"George, you are too good to me; I don"t deserve it. And indeed you must not--think of the expense!"
His face lengthened slightly; he knew well enough that the change would cost him dear.
"I"ll manage it somehow," he declared stoutly.
Would her mother help them now? thought Ella, and felt more than doubtful. No, in spite of her own wishes, she must not allow George to carry out his intentions.
"But you forget Carrie and Jessie," she said; "we shall hurt their feelings so if we change now."
"By Jove! I forgot that," he said. "Yes, they won"t like it--they meant well, poor girls, and took a lot of trouble. Still, you"re the first person to be considered, Ella. I"ll try and smooth it over with them, and if they choose to be offended, why, they must--that"s all. And I tell you what. Suppose we go and see the house now, and you shall tell me just what wants doing to make it right?"
She would have liked to decline this rather invidious office, especially as she felt no compromise to be possible; but he was so urgent that she finally agreed to go with him.
As they gained Campden Hill and the road in which their house stood, George stopped. "Hullo!" he said, "that can"t be the house--what"s the matter with it?"
Very soon it was pretty evident what had been the matter--the walls were scorched and streaming, the window sashes were empty, charred and wasted by fire, the door was blistered and blackened, a stalwart fireman in his undress cap, with his helmet slung at his back, was just opening the gate as they came up.
"Can"t come in, sir," he said, civilly enough. "No one admitted."
"Hang it!" exclaimed George, "it"s my own fire--I"m the tenant."
"Oh, I beg your pardon, sir--it"s been got under some hours now. I was just going off duty."