"I?" she asked, looking up at him in wonder. "My dear Norman, I have never found fault with the duke in my life."
"Then why can you not love him?"
"That is a very different thing. I find no fault with him; on the contrary, I agree with you that he is one of the n.o.blest of men, yet I have never thought of marrying him."
"But, Philippa"--and with kindly impressiveness he laid one hand on her shoulder--"why do you not think of marrying him? Between you and myself there can be no compliments, no flattery. I tell you that of all the women in England you are the most fitted to be the d.u.c.h.ess of Hazlewood--and you would be a beautiful d.u.c.h.ess, too. Think of the position you would occupy--second only to royalty. I should like to see you in such a position--you would fill it grandly. Think of the power, the influence, the enormous amount of good you could do; think of it all, Philippa?"
He did not see the sudden, sharp quiver of pain that pa.s.sed over the beautiful face, nor how pale it grew in the starlight.
"I am thinking," she answered, quietly--"I am listening attentively to all that you say."
She drew the light scarf more closely around her shoulders and shuddered as though a chill breeze had pa.s.sed over her.
"Are you cold, dear?" he asked kindly.
"Cold! How could I be on this warm starlit night? Go on, Norman; let me hear all that you have to say."
"I am trying to persuade you to accept what seems to me one of the happiest lots ever offered to woman. I want to see you the Duke of Hazlewood"s wife. I cannot imagine any man more calculated to win a woman"s love, or to please her fancy, than he is. He is young, handsome, n.o.ble in face and figure as he is in heart and soul; and he is clever and gifted."
"Yes," she allowed, slowly, "he is all that, Norman."
"Some day or other he will be the leading spirit in the land; he will be the head of a great party."
"That I believe," she agreed.
"And he loves you so well, Philippa; I have never seen a man more devoted. How many years has he loved you now--two or three? And he tells me that he shall go unmarried to the grave unless you consent to be his wife."
"Did he tell you that? He must indeed be attached to me," she observed.
"Norman, did he ask you to say all this to me?"
"He asked me to plead his cause," replied Lord Arleigh.
"Why did he ask you to do so?"
"Because--believing us to be what we really are, Philippa, tried and true friends--he thought I should have some influence over you."
"Clever duke!" she said. "Norman, are you well versed in modern poetry?"
He looked up in blank surprise at the question--it was so totally unexpected.
"In modern poetry?" he repeated. "Yes, I think I am. Why, Philippa?"
"I will tell you why," she said, turning her beautiful face to him. "If you will be patient, I will tell you why."
She was silent for a few minutes, and then Lord Arleigh said:
"I am patient enough, Philippa; will you tell me why?"
The dark eyes raised to his had in them a strange light--a strange depth of pa.s.sion.
"I want to know if you remember the beautiful story of Priscilla, the Puritan maiden," she said, in a tremulous voice--the loveliest maiden of Plymouth?"
"You mean the story of Miles Standish," he corrected. "Yes, I remember it, Philippa."
"That which a Puritan maiden could do, and all posterity sing her praises for, surely I--a woman of the world--may do without blame. Do you remember, Norman, when John Alden goes to her to do the wooing which the stanch soldier does not do for himself--do you remember her answer?
Let me give you the verse--
""But, as he warmed and glowed in his simple and eloquent language, Quite forgetful of self, and full of the praise of his rival, Archly the maiden smiled, and with eyes overrunning with laughter, Said in a tremulous voice, "Why don"t you speak for yourself, John?"""
The sweet musical voice died away in the starlight, the wind stirred the crimson roses--silence, solemn and deep, fell over Lord Arleigh and his companion. Philippa broke it.
"Surely you, in common with all of us, admire the Puritan maiden, Norman?"
"Yes, I do admire her," he answered; "she is one of my favorite heroines."
"So she is of mine; and I love her the more for the womanly outburst of honest truth that triumphed over all conventionality. Norman, what she, the "loveliest maiden in Plymouth," the beloved of Miles Standish, said to John Alden, I say to you--"Why don"t you speak for yourself?""
There was infinite tenderness in his face as he bent over her--infinite pain in his voice as he spoke to her.
"John Alden loved Priscilla," he said, slowly--"she was the one woman in all the world for him--his ideal--his fate, but I--oh Philippa, how I hate myself because I cannot answer you differently! You are my friend, my sister, but not the woman I must love as my wife."
"When you urged me a few minutes since to marry your friend, you asked me why I could not love him, seeing that he had all lovable qualities.
Norman, why can you not love me?"
"I can answer you only in the same words--I do not know. I love you with as true an affection as ever man gave to woman; but I have not for you a lover"s love. I cannot tell why, for you are one of the fairest of fair women."
"Fair, but not your "ideal woman,"" she said, gently.
"No, not my "ideal woman,"" he returned; "my sister, my friend--not my love."
"I am to blame," she said, proudly; "but again I must plead that I am like Priscilla. While you are pleading the cause of another, the truth came uppermost; you must forgive me for speaking so forcibly. As the poem says:
""There are moments in life when the heart is so full of emotions That if, by chance, it be shaken, or into its depths, like a pebble, Drops some careless word, it overflows, and its secret, Spilt on the ground like water, can never be gathered together.""
"My dearest Philippa, you have not been to blame," he said; "you judge yourself so hardly always."
"It is the fate of a woman to be silent," she said again. "Still, I am glad that I have spoken. Norman, will you tell me what your ideal of woman is like, that I may know her when I see her?"
"Nay," he objected, gently, "let us talk of something else."
But she persisted.
"Tell me," she urged, "that I may know in what she differs from me."
"I do not know that I can tell you," he replied. "I have not thought much of the matter."
"But if any one asked you to describe your ideal of what a woman should be, you could do it," she pursued.
"Perhaps so, but at best it would be but an imperfect sketch. She must be young, fair, gentle, pure, tender of heart, n.o.ble in soul, with a kind of shy, sweet grace; frank, yet not outspoken; free from all affectation, yet with nothing unwomanly; a mixture of child and woman.