Ayala's Angel [201]
somebody over the head, as he did." It was thus he was talking to himself as he got out of the cab at the door of the hotel.
"And now, Jonathan," said Lady Albury, "what can there possibly be to justify you in giving me all this trouble?
"You know you had to come up about that cook's character."
"I know that I have given that as a reason to Sir Harry; but I know also that I should have gone without a cook for a twelve month had you not summoned me."
"The truth is I could not get down to Stalham and back without losing an additional day, which I cannot possibly spare. With you it does not very much matter how many days you spare."
"Nor how much money I spend, nor how much labour I take, so that I obey all the commands of Colonel Jonathan Stubbs! What on earth is there that I can say or do for you more?"
"There are one or two things", said he, "that I want you to understand. In the first place, I am quite in earnest about this."
"Don't I know that you're in earnest?"
"But perhaps you do not understand the full extent of my earnestness. If she were to refuse me ultimately I should go away."
"Go away! Go where?"
"Oh; that I have not at all thought of -- probably to India, as I might manage to get a regiment there. But in truth it would matter very little."
"You are talking like a goose."
"That is very likely, because in this matter I think and feel like a goose. It is not a great thing in a man to be turned out of his course by some undefined feeling which he has as to a young woman. But the thing has occurred before now, and will occur again, in my case, if I am thrown over."
"What on earth is there about the girl?" asked Lady Albury. "There is that precious brother-in-law of ours going to hang himself incontinently because she will not look at him. And that unfortunate friend of yours, Tom Tringle, is, if possible, worse than Ben Batsby or yourself."
"If two other gentlemen are in the same condition it only makes it the less singular that I should be the third. At any rate, I am the third."
"You do not mean to liken yourself to them?"
"Indeed I do. As to our connection with Miss Dormer, I can see no difference. We are all in love with her, and she has refused us all. It matters little whether a man's ugliness or his rings or his natural stupidity may have brought about this result. "You are very modest, Jonathan."
"I always was, only you never could see it. I am modest in this matter; but not for that reason the less persistent in doing the best I can for myself. My object now in seeing you is to let you understand that it is -- well, not life and death, because she will not suffice either to kill me or to keep me alive -- but one of those matters which, in a man's career, are almost as important to him as life and death. She was very decided in her refusal."
"So is every girl when a first offer is made to her. How is any girl so to arrange her thoughts at a moment's notice as to accept a man off-hand?"
"Girls do do so."
"Very rarely, I think; and when they do they are hardly worth having," said Lady Albury, laying down the law on the matter with great precision. "If a girl accept a man all at once when she has had, as it were, no preparation for such a proposal, she must always surely be in a state of great readiness for matrimonial projects. When there has been a prolonged period of spooning then of course it is quite a different thing. The whole thing has in fact been arranged before the important word has been spoken."
"What a professor in the art you are!" said he.
"The odd thing is, that such a one as you should be so ignorant. Can't you understand that she would not come to Stalham if her mind were made up against you? I said nothing of you as a lover, but I took care to let her know that you were coming. You are very ready to put yourself in the same boat with poor Ben Batsby or that other unfortunate wretch. Would she, do you think, have consented to come had she known that Ben would have been there, or your friend Tom Tringle?"
"And now, Jonathan," said Lady Albury, "what can there possibly be to justify you in giving me all this trouble?
"You know you had to come up about that cook's character."
"I know that I have given that as a reason to Sir Harry; but I know also that I should have gone without a cook for a twelve month had you not summoned me."
"The truth is I could not get down to Stalham and back without losing an additional day, which I cannot possibly spare. With you it does not very much matter how many days you spare."
"Nor how much money I spend, nor how much labour I take, so that I obey all the commands of Colonel Jonathan Stubbs! What on earth is there that I can say or do for you more?"
"There are one or two things", said he, "that I want you to understand. In the first place, I am quite in earnest about this."
"Don't I know that you're in earnest?"
"But perhaps you do not understand the full extent of my earnestness. If she were to refuse me ultimately I should go away."
"Go away! Go where?"
"Oh; that I have not at all thought of -- probably to India, as I might manage to get a regiment there. But in truth it would matter very little."
"You are talking like a goose."
"That is very likely, because in this matter I think and feel like a goose. It is not a great thing in a man to be turned out of his course by some undefined feeling which he has as to a young woman. But the thing has occurred before now, and will occur again, in my case, if I am thrown over."
"What on earth is there about the girl?" asked Lady Albury. "There is that precious brother-in-law of ours going to hang himself incontinently because she will not look at him. And that unfortunate friend of yours, Tom Tringle, is, if possible, worse than Ben Batsby or yourself."
"If two other gentlemen are in the same condition it only makes it the less singular that I should be the third. At any rate, I am the third."
"You do not mean to liken yourself to them?"
"Indeed I do. As to our connection with Miss Dormer, I can see no difference. We are all in love with her, and she has refused us all. It matters little whether a man's ugliness or his rings or his natural stupidity may have brought about this result. "You are very modest, Jonathan."
"I always was, only you never could see it. I am modest in this matter; but not for that reason the less persistent in doing the best I can for myself. My object now in seeing you is to let you understand that it is -- well, not life and death, because she will not suffice either to kill me or to keep me alive -- but one of those matters which, in a man's career, are almost as important to him as life and death. She was very decided in her refusal."
"So is every girl when a first offer is made to her. How is any girl so to arrange her thoughts at a moment's notice as to accept a man off-hand?"
"Girls do do so."
"Very rarely, I think; and when they do they are hardly worth having," said Lady Albury, laying down the law on the matter with great precision. "If a girl accept a man all at once when she has had, as it were, no preparation for such a proposal, she must always surely be in a state of great readiness for matrimonial projects. When there has been a prolonged period of spooning then of course it is quite a different thing. The whole thing has in fact been arranged before the important word has been spoken."
"What a professor in the art you are!" said he.
"The odd thing is, that such a one as you should be so ignorant. Can't you understand that she would not come to Stalham if her mind were made up against you? I said nothing of you as a lover, but I took care to let her know that you were coming. You are very ready to put yourself in the same boat with poor Ben Batsby or that other unfortunate wretch. Would she, do you think, have consented to come had she known that Ben would have been there, or your friend Tom Tringle?"