“Oh, I have n’t remembered them. She said she had a bad temper--that she led her mother a dreadful life. Now, poor Mrs. Vivian says she is an angel.”
“Ah yes,” Bernard observed; “Mrs. Vivian says that, very freely.”
“Angela declared that she was jealous, ungenerous, unforgiving--all sorts of things. I remember she said ‘I am very false,’ and I think she remarked that she was cruel.”
“But this did n’t put you off,” said Bernard.
“She makes up very well!” Bernard exclaimed, laughing.
“It was not clever from the point of view of wishing to discourage me.”
“Possibly. But I am sure,” said Bernard, “that if I had been present at your interview--excuse the impudence of the hypothesis--I should have been struck with the young lady’s--” and he paused a moment.
“Well, her ability was not sufficient to induce me to give up my idea. She told me that after I had known her six months I should detest her.”
“I have no doubt she could make you do it if she should try. That ‘s what I mean by her ability.”
“She calls herself cruel,” said Gordon, “but she has not had the cruelty to try. She has been very reasonable--she has been perfect. I agreed with her that I would drop the subject for a while, and that meanwhile we should be good friends. We should take time to know each other better and act in accordance with further knowledge. There was no hurry, since we trusted each other--wrong as my trust might be. She had no wish that I should go away. I was not in the least disagreeable to her; she liked me extremely, and I was perfectly free to try and please her. Only I should drop my proposal, and be free to take it up again or leave it alone, later, as I should choose. If she felt differently then, I should have the benefit of it, and if I myself felt differently, I should also have the benefit of it.”
“That ‘s a very comfortable arrangement. And that ‘s your present situation?” asked Bernard.
“Miss Vivian feels differently?” said Bernard.
Gordon’s companion, with a laugh, clapped him on the shoulder again.
“Admirable youth, you are a capital match!”
“To your money and to your modesty. There is as much of one as of the other--which is saying a great deal.”
“Well,” said Gordon, “in spite of that enviable combination, I am not happy.”