第39章 THE TEMPTATION(9)

Upon reaching the house he found that his mother had asked for him, and running hastily up to change his clothes, he came down and bent over the upright Elizabethan chair."I have been worrying a good deal about you, my son," she said, with a sprightly gesture in which the piece of purple glass struck the dominant note."Are you quite sure that you are feeling perfectly well? No palpitations of the heart when you go upstairs? and no particular heaviness after meals? I dreamed about you all night long, and though there's not a woman in the world freer from superstition, I can't help feeling uneasy." Taking her hand, he gently caressed the slender fingers."Why, I'm a regular ox, mother," he returned, laughing, --my muscle is like iron, and Iassure you I'm ready for my meals day or night.There's no use worrying about me, so you'd as well give it up." "I can't understand it, I really can't," protested Mrs.Blake, still unconvinced."I am an old woman, you know, and I am anxious to have you settled in life before I die--but there seems to be a most extraordinary humour in the family with regard to marriage.

I'm sure your poor father would turn in his grave at the very idea of his having no grand-children to come after him." "Well, there's time yet, mother; give us breathing space." "There's not time in my day, Christopher, for I am very old, and half dead as it is--but it does seem hard that I am never to be present at the marriage of a child.As for Cynthia, she is out of the question, of course, which is a great pity.I have very little patience with an unmarried woman--no, not if she were Queen Elizabeth herself though I do know that they are sometimes found very useful in the dairy or the spinning-room.As for an old bachelor, I have never seen the spot on earth--and I've lived to a great age--where he wasn't an encumbrance.They really ought to be taught some useful occupation, such as skimming milk or carding wool." "I hardly think either of those pursuits would be to my taste," protested Christopher, "but I give you leave to try your hand on Uncle Tucker." "Tucker has been a hero, my son," rejoined the old lady in a stately voice, "and the privilege of having once been a hero is that nobody expects you to exert yourself again.A man who has taken the enemy's guns single-handed, or figured prominently in a society scandal, is comfortably settled in his position and may slouch pleasantly for the remainder of his life.But for an ordinary gentleman it is quite different, and as we are not likely to have another war, you really ought to marry.You are preparing to go through life too peacefully, my son." "Good Lord!" exclaimed Christopher, "are you hankering after squabbles? Well, you shan't drag me into them, at any cost.

There's Uncle Tucker to your hand, as I said before." "I'm sure Tucker might have married several times had he cared about it,"replied Mrs.Blake reprovingly."Miss Matoaca Bolling always had a sentiment for him, I am certain, and even after his misfortune she went so far as to present him with a most elaborate slipper of red velvet ornamented with steel beads.I remember well her consulting me as to whether it would be better to seem unsympathetic and give him two or to appear indelicate and offer him one.I suggested that she should make both for the same foot, which, I believe, she finally decided to do." "Well, well, this is all very interesting, mother," said Christopher, rising from his seat, "but I've promised old Jacob Weatherby to pass my word on his tobacco.On the way down, however, I'll cast my eyes about for a wife." "Between here and the Weatherbys'

farm? Why, Christopher!" "That's all right, but unless you expect me to pick up one on the roadside I don't see how we'll manage.