第15章 CHAPTER IV(1)

"WHAT do you think of the evening, Aunt Ruth?" Ethel was in her aunt's room, comfortably wrapped in a pink kimono, when she asked this question.

"What do you think of it, Ethel?"

"I am not sure."

"The dinner was well served."

"Yes. Who was the little dark man you talked with, aunt?""He was a Mr. Marriot, a banker, and a friend of Bryce Denning's. He is a fresh addition to society, I think. He had the word `gold' always on his lips; and he believes in it as good men believe in God. The general conversation annoyed him; he could not understand men being entertained by it.""They were, though, for once Jamie Sayer forgot to talk about his pictures.""Is that the name of your escort?"

"Yes."

"And is he an artist?"

"A second-rate one. He is painting Dora's picture, and is a great favorite of Mrs. Denning's.""A strange, wild-looking man. When I saw him first he was lying, dislocated, over his ottoman rather than sitting on it.""Oh, that is a part of his affectations.

He is really a childish, self-conscious creature, with a very decided dash of vulgarity.

He only tries to look strange and wild, and he would be delighted if he knew you had thought him so.""I was glad to see Claudine Jeffrys. How slim and graceful she is! And, pray, who is that Miss Ullman?""A very rich woman. She has Bryce under consideration. Many other men have been in the same position, for she is sure they all want her money and not her. Perhaps she is right. I saw you talking to her, aunt.""For a short time. I did not enjoy her company. She is so mercilessly realistic, she takes all the color out of life. Everything about her, even her speech, is sharp-lined as the edge of a knife. She could make Bryce's life very miserable.""Perhaps it might turn out the other way.

Bryce Denning has capacities in the same line. How far apart, how far above every man there, stood Basil Stanhope!""He is strikingly handsome and graceful, and I am sure that his luminous serenity does not arise from apathy. I should say he was a man of very strong and tender feelings.""And he gives all the strength and tenderness of his feelings to Dora. Men are strange creatures.""Who directed Dora's dress this evening?"

"Herself or her maid. I had nothing to do with it. The effect was stunning.""Fred thought so. In fact, Fred Hostyn----"

"Fell in love with her."

"Exactly. `Fell,' that is the word--fell prostrate. Usually the lover of to-day walks very timidly and carefully into the condition, step by step, and calculating every step before he takes it. Fred plunged headlong into the whirling vortex. I am very sorry. It is a catastrophe.""I never witnessed the accident before. I have heard of men getting wounds and falls, and developing new faculties in consequence, but we saw the phenomenon take place this evening.""Love, if it be love, is known in a moment. man who never saw the sun before would know it was the sun. In Fred's case it was an instantaneous, impetuous passion, flaming up at the sight of such unexpected beauty--a passion that will probably fade as rapidly as it rose.""Fred is not that kind of a man, aunt. He does not like every one and everything, but whoever or whatever he does like becomes a lasting part of his life. Even the old chairs and tables at Mostyn are held as sacred objects by him, though I have no doubt an American girl would trundle them off to the garret. It is the same with the people. He actually regards the Rawdons as belonging in some way to the Mostyns; and I do not believe he has ever been in love before.""Nonsense!"