Ayala's Angel [167]
to see us. I asked Mudbury whether we should have him to dinner one day last week, and he said it would be better to let him go his own way."
"Nevertheless, he is coming here on Sunday."
"Has he written to you?"
"Yes, he has written to me -- in answer to a line from me. I told him that I wished to see him."
"Was that wise?"
"Wise or not, I did so."
"Why should you wish to see him?"
"Am I to tell you the truth or a lie?"
"Not a lie, certainly. I will not ask for the truth if the truth be unpalatable to you."
"It is unpalatable -- but yet I might as well tell it you. I wrote to ask him to come and see me, because I love him so dearly." "Oh, Imogene!"
"It is the truth."
"Did you tell him so?"
"No; I told him nothing. I merely said, that, if this match was over between him and that girl of Sir Thomas Tringle, then he might come and see me again. That was all that I said. His letter was very much longer, but yet it did not say much. However, he is to come, and I am prepared to renew our engagement should he declare that he is willing to do so."
"What will Mudbury say?"
"I do not care very much what he says. I do not know that I am bound to care. If I have resolved to entangle myself with a long engagement, and Mr Houston is willing to do the same, I do not think that my brother should interfere. I am my own mistress, and am dealing altogether with my own happiness.
"Imogene, we have discussed this so often before."
"Not a doubt; and with such effect that with my permission Frank was enabled to ask this young woman with a lot of money to marry him. Had it been arranged, I should have had no right to find fault with him, however sore of heart I might have been. All that has fallen through, and I consider myself quite entitled to renew my engagement again. I shall not ask him, you may be sure of that."
"It comes to the same thing, Imogene."
"Very likely. It often happens that ladies mean that to be expressed which it does not become them to say out loud. So it may be with me on this occasion. Nevertheless, the word, if it have to be spoken, will have to be spoken by him. What I want you to do now is to let me have the drawing-room alone at three o'clock on Sunday. If anything has to be said it will have to be said without witnesses."
With some difficulty Mrs Docimer was induced to accede to the request, and to promise that, at any rate for the present, nothing should be said to her husband on the subject.
CHAPTER 39 CAPTAIN BATSBY
In the meantime, poor Ayala, whose days were running on in a very melancholy manner under her aunt's wings in Kingsbury Crescent, was creating further havoc and disturbing the bosom of another lover. At Stalham she had met a certain Captain Batsby, and had there attracted his attention. Captain Batsby had begged her to ride with him on one of those hunting days, and had offered to give her a lead -- having been at the moment particularly jealous of Colonel Stubbs. On that day both Ayala and Nina had achieved great honour -- but this, to the great satisfaction of Captain Batsby, had not been achieved under the leadership of Colonel Stubbs. Larry Twentyman, long famous among the riding-men of the Ufford and Rufford United Hunt, had been the hero of the hour. Thus Captain Batsby's feelings had been spared, and after that he had imagined that any kindly feelings which Ayala might have had for the Colonel had sunk into abeyance. Then he had sought some opportunity to push himself into Ayala's favour, but hitherto his success in that direction had not been great. Captain Batsby was regarded by the inhabitants of Stalham as a nuisance -- but as a nuisance which could not be avoided. He was half-brother to Sir Harry, whose mother had married, as her second husband, a certain opulent Mr Batsby out of Lancashire. They were both dead now, and nothing of them remained but this Captain. He was good-natured, simple, and rich, and in the arrangement of the Albury-cum-Batsby affairs, which took place after the death of Mrs Batsby, made
"Nevertheless, he is coming here on Sunday."
"Has he written to you?"
"Yes, he has written to me -- in answer to a line from me. I told him that I wished to see him."
"Was that wise?"
"Wise or not, I did so."
"Why should you wish to see him?"
"Am I to tell you the truth or a lie?"
"Not a lie, certainly. I will not ask for the truth if the truth be unpalatable to you."
"It is unpalatable -- but yet I might as well tell it you. I wrote to ask him to come and see me, because I love him so dearly." "Oh, Imogene!"
"It is the truth."
"Did you tell him so?"
"No; I told him nothing. I merely said, that, if this match was over between him and that girl of Sir Thomas Tringle, then he might come and see me again. That was all that I said. His letter was very much longer, but yet it did not say much. However, he is to come, and I am prepared to renew our engagement should he declare that he is willing to do so."
"What will Mudbury say?"
"I do not care very much what he says. I do not know that I am bound to care. If I have resolved to entangle myself with a long engagement, and Mr Houston is willing to do the same, I do not think that my brother should interfere. I am my own mistress, and am dealing altogether with my own happiness.
"Imogene, we have discussed this so often before."
"Not a doubt; and with such effect that with my permission Frank was enabled to ask this young woman with a lot of money to marry him. Had it been arranged, I should have had no right to find fault with him, however sore of heart I might have been. All that has fallen through, and I consider myself quite entitled to renew my engagement again. I shall not ask him, you may be sure of that."
"It comes to the same thing, Imogene."
"Very likely. It often happens that ladies mean that to be expressed which it does not become them to say out loud. So it may be with me on this occasion. Nevertheless, the word, if it have to be spoken, will have to be spoken by him. What I want you to do now is to let me have the drawing-room alone at three o'clock on Sunday. If anything has to be said it will have to be said without witnesses."
With some difficulty Mrs Docimer was induced to accede to the request, and to promise that, at any rate for the present, nothing should be said to her husband on the subject.
CHAPTER 39 CAPTAIN BATSBY
In the meantime, poor Ayala, whose days were running on in a very melancholy manner under her aunt's wings in Kingsbury Crescent, was creating further havoc and disturbing the bosom of another lover. At Stalham she had met a certain Captain Batsby, and had there attracted his attention. Captain Batsby had begged her to ride with him on one of those hunting days, and had offered to give her a lead -- having been at the moment particularly jealous of Colonel Stubbs. On that day both Ayala and Nina had achieved great honour -- but this, to the great satisfaction of Captain Batsby, had not been achieved under the leadership of Colonel Stubbs. Larry Twentyman, long famous among the riding-men of the Ufford and Rufford United Hunt, had been the hero of the hour. Thus Captain Batsby's feelings had been spared, and after that he had imagined that any kindly feelings which Ayala might have had for the Colonel had sunk into abeyance. Then he had sought some opportunity to push himself into Ayala's favour, but hitherto his success in that direction had not been great. Captain Batsby was regarded by the inhabitants of Stalham as a nuisance -- but as a nuisance which could not be avoided. He was half-brother to Sir Harry, whose mother had married, as her second husband, a certain opulent Mr Batsby out of Lancashire. They were both dead now, and nothing of them remained but this Captain. He was good-natured, simple, and rich, and in the arrangement of the Albury-cum-Batsby affairs, which took place after the death of Mrs Batsby, made