第16章 CHAPTER IV(2)

"He was so surprised by the attack. If it had been the tenth or twentieth time he would have taken it more philosophically;besides, if he had ever loved any woman, he would have gone on loving her, and we should have known all about her perfections by this time.""Dora is nearly a married woman, and Mostyn knows it.""Nearly may make all the difference.

When Dora is married he will be compelled to accept the inevitable and make the best of it.""When Dora is married he will idealize her, and assure himself that her marriage is the tragedy of both their lives.""Dora will give him no reason to suppose such a thing. I am sure she will not. She is too much in love with Mr. Stanhope to notice any other lover.""You are mistaken, Ethel. Swiftly as Fred was vanquished she noticed it, and many times--once even while leaning on Mr. Stanhope's arm--she turned the arrow in the heart wound with sweet little glances and smiles, and pretty appeals to the blind adoration of her new lover. It was, to me, a humiliating spectacle. How could she do it?""I am sure Dora meant no wrong. It is so natural for a lovely girl to show off a little. She will marry and forget Fred Mostyn lives.""And Fred will forget?"

"Fred will not forget."

"Then I shall be very sorry for your father and grandmother.""What have they to do with Fred marrying?"

"A great deal. Fred has been so familiar and homely the last two or three weeks, that they have come to look upon him as a future member of the family. It has been `Cousin Ethel' and `Aunt Ruth' and even `grandmother' and `Cousin Fred,' and no objections have been made to the use of such personal terms. I think your father hopes for a closer tie between you and Fred Mostyn than cousinship.""Whatever might have been is over. Do you imagine I could consent to be the secondary deity, to come after Dora--Dora of all the girls I have ever known? The idea is an insult to my heart and my intelligence.

Nothing on earth could make me submit to such an indignity.""I do not suppose, Ethel, that any wife is the first object of her husband's love.""At least they tell her she is so, swear it an inch deep; and no woman is fool enough to look beyond that oath, but when she is sure that she is a second best! AH! That is not a position I will ever take in any man's heart knowingly.""Of course, Fred Mostyn will have to marry.""Of course, he will make a duty of the event. The line of Mostyns must be continued.

England might go to ruin if the Mostyns perished off the English earth; but, Aunt Ruth, I count myself worthy of a better fate than to become a mere branch in the genealogical tree of the Mostyns. And that is all Fred Mostyn's wife will ever be to him, unless he marries Dora.""But that very supposition implies tragedy, and it is most unlikely.""Yes, for Dora is a good little thing. She has never been familiar with vice. She has even a horror of poor women divorced from impossible husbands. She believes her marriage will be watched by the angels, and recorded in heaven. Basil has instructed her to regard marriage as a holy sacrament, and I am sure he does the same.""Then why should we forecast evil to their names? As for Cousin Fred, I dare say he is comfortably asleep.""I am sure he is not. I believe he is smoking and calling himself names for not having come to New York last May, when father first invited him. Had he done so things might have been different.""Yes, they might. When Good Fortune calls, and the called `will not when they may,' then, `when they will' Good Fortune has become Misfortune. Welcome a pleasure or a gain at once, or don't answer it at all. It was on this rock, Ethel, the bark that carried my love went to pieces. I know; yes, I know!""My dear aunt!"

"It is all right now, dear; but things might have been that are not. As to Dora, I think she may be trusted with Basil Stanhope. He is one of the best and handsomest men I ever saw, and he has now rights in Dora's love no one can tamper with. Mostyn is an honorable man.""All right, but--

"Love will venture in, Where he daurna well be seen;O Love will venture in, Where Wisdom once has been--and then, aunt, what then?"

PART SECOND PLAYING WITH FIRE