He took the page up to his own bedroom, and held it up to the window-pane. Blurred9 and indistinct, the words nevertheless came out legibly in patches here and there, so that with a little patient deciphering Harold could spell out the sense of both letters, though they crossed one another obliquely10 at a slight angle. "Very brief and casual acquaintance ... Montagus' steam-launch expedition up the river from Surbiton to-morrow ... am going and am particularly anxious to meet you ... this favour of you...." "So that's his plan, is it?" Harold said to himself. "Softly, softly, Mr. Ernest, I think I can checkmate you! What's this in the one to Mrs. Montagu? 'Expect me to turn up at half-past two.' Aha, I thought so! Checkmate, Mr. Ernest, checkmate: a scholar's mate for you! He'll be at the hospital till half-past one; then he'll take the train to Clapham Junction11, expecting to catch the South-Western at 2.10. But to-morrow's the first of the month; the new time-tables come into force; I've got one and looked it out already. The South-Western now leaves at 2.4, three minutes before Mr. Ernest's train arrives at Clapham Junction. I have him now, I have him now, depend upon it. I'll go down instead of him. I'll get the party under way at once. I'll monopolize12 Isabel, pretty Isabel. I'll find my opportunity at Aunt Portlebury's, and Ernest won't get down to Surbiton till the 2.50 train. Then he'll find his bird flown already. Aha! that'll make him angry.[Pg 149] Checkmate, my young friend, checkmate. You said it should be war, and war you shall have it. I thank thee, friend, for teaching me that word. Rivals now, you said; yes, rivals. 'Dolus an virtus, quis in hoste requirat?' Why, that comes out of the passage about Androgeos! An omen1, a good omen. There's nothing like war for quickening the intelligence. I haven't looked at a Virgil since I was in the sixth form; and yet the line comes back to me now, after five years, as pat as the Catechism."
Chuckling13 to himself at the fraud to stifle14 conscience (for he had a conscience), Harold Carnegie dressed hastily for dinner, and went down quickly in a state of feverish15 excitement. Dinner passed off grimly enough. He knew Ernest had written to Isabel; and Ernest guessed from the other's excited, triumphant16 manner (though he tried hard to dissemble the note of triumph in it) that Harold must have written too—perhaps forestalling17 him by a direct proposal. In a dim way Mrs. Carnegie guessed vaguely18 that some coldness had arisen between her two boys, the first time for many years; and so she held her peace for the most part, or talked in asides to Nellie Holt and her daughter. The conversation was therefore chiefly delegated to Mr. Carnegie himself, who discoursed19 with much animation20 about the iniquitous21 nature of the new act for reducing costs in actions for the recovery of small debts—a subject calculated to arouse the keenest interest in the minds of Nellie and Edie.
Next morning, Harold Carnegie started for the office with prospective23 victory elate in his very step, and yet with the consciousness of his own mean action grinding him down to the pavement as he walked along it. What a dirty, petty, dishonourable subterfuge24! and still he would go through with it. What a self-degrading bit of treachery! and yet he would carry it out. "Pater," he said, as he walked along, "I mean to take a holiday this afternoon. I'm going to the Montagus' water-party."[Pg 150]
"Very inconvenient25, Harold, my boy; 'Wilkins versus26 the Great Northern Railway Company' coming on for hearing; and, besides, Ernest's going there too. They won't want a pair of you, will they?"
"Can't help it, Pater," Harold answered. "I have particular business at Surbiton, much more important to me than 'Wilkins versus the Great Northern Railway Company.'"
His father looked at him keenly. "Ha!" he said, "a lady in the case, is there? Very well, my boy, if you must you must, and that's the end of it. A young man in love never does make an efficient lawyer. Get it over quickly, pray; get it over quickly, that's all I beg of you."
"I shall get it over, I promise you," Harold answered, "this very afternoon."
The father whistled. "Whew," he said, "that's sharp work, too, Harold, isn't it? You haven't even told me her name yet. This is really very sudden." But as Harold volunteered no further information, Mr. Carnegie, who was a shrewd man of the world, held it good policy to ask him nothing more about it for the present; and so they walked on the rest of the way to the father's office in unbroken silence.
At one o'clock, Harold shut up his desk at the office and ran down to Surbiton. At Clapham Junction he kept a sharp look-out for Ernest, but Ernest was not there. Clearly, as Harold anticipated, he hadn't learnt the alteration27 in the time-tables, and wouldn't reach Clapham Junction till the train for Surbiton had started.
At Surbiton, Harold pushed on arrangements as quickly as possible, and managed to get the party off before Ernest arrived upon the scene. Mrs. Montagu, seeing "one of the young Carnegies" duly to hand, and never having attempted to discriminate28 between them in any way, was perfectly29 happy at the prospect22 of getting landed at Lady[Pg 151] Portlebury's without any minute investigation30 of the intricate question of Christian31 names. The Montagus were nouveaux riches in the very act of pushing themselves into fashionable society; and a chance of invading the Portlebury lawn was extremely welcome to them upon any terms whatsoever32.
Isabel Walters was looking charming. A light morning dress became her even better than the dark red satin of the night before last; and she smiled at Harold with the smile of a mutual33 confidence when she took his hand, in a way that made his heart throb34 fast within him. From that moment forward, he forgot Ernest and the unworthy trick he was playing, and thought wholly and solely35 of Isabel Walters.
What a handsome young man he was, really, and how cleverly and brilliantly he talked all the way up to Portlebury Lodge36! Everybody listened to him; he was the life and soul of the party. Isabel felt more flattered than ever at his marked attention. He was the doctor, wasn't he? No, the lawyer. Well, really, how impossible it was to distinguish and remember them. And so well connected, too. If he were to propose to her, now, she could afford to be so condescending37 to Amy Balfour.
At Lady Portlebury's lawn the steam-launch halted, and Harold managed to get Isabel alone among the walks, while his aunt escorted the main body of visitors thus thrust upon her hands over the conservatories38. Eager and hasty, now, he lost no time in making the best of the situation.
"I guessed as much, of course, from your letter, Mr. Carnegie," Isabel said, playing with her fan with downcast eyes, as he pressed his offer upon her; "and I really didn't know whether it was right of me to come here without showing it to mamma and asking her advice about it. But I'm quite sure I oughtn't to give you an answer at once, because I've seen so very little of you. Let us leave[Pg 152] the question open for a little. It's asking so much to ask one for a definite reply on such a very short acquaintance."
"No, no, Miss Walters," Harold said quickly. "For Heaven's sake, give me an answer now, I beg of you—I implore39 you. I must have an answer at once, immediately. If you can't love me at first sight, for my own sake—as I loved you the moment I saw you—you can never, never, never love me! Doubt and hesitation40 are impossible in true love. Now, or refuse me for ever! Surely you must know in your own heart whether you can love me or not; if your heart tells you that you can, then trust it—trust it—don't argue and reason with it, but say at once you will make me happy for ever."
"Mr. Carnegie," Isabel said, lifting her eyes for a moment, "I do think, perhaps—I don't know—but perhaps, after a little while, I could love you. I like you very much; won't that do for the present? Why are you in such a hurry for an answer? Why can't you give me a week or two to decide in?"
"Because," said Harold, desperately41, "if I give you a week my brother will ask you, and perhaps you will marry him instead of me. He's always before me in everything, and I'm afraid he'll be before me in this. Say you'll have me, Miss Walters—oh, do say you'll have me, and save me from the misery42 of a week's suspense43!"
"But, Mr. Carnegie, how can I say anything when I haven't yet made up my own mind about it? Why, I hardly know you yet from your brother."
"Ah, that's just it," Harold cried, in a voice of positive pain. "You won't find any difference at all between us, if you come to know us; and then perhaps you'll be induced to marry my brother. But you know this much already, that here am I, begging and pleading before you this very minute, and surely you won't send me away with my prayer unanswered!"
There was such a look of genuine anguish44 and passion[Pg 153] in his face that Isabel Walters, already strongly prepossessed in his favour, could resist no longer. She bent45 her head a little, and whispered very softly, "I will promise, Mr. Carnegie; I will promise."
Harold seized her hand eagerly, and covered it with kisses. "Isabel," he cried in a fever of joy, "you have promised. You are mine—mine—mine. You are mine, now and for ever!"
Isabel bowed her head, and felt a tear standing46 dimly in her eye, though she brushed it away hastily. "Yes," she said gently; "I will be yours. I think—I think—I feel sure I can love you."
Harold took her ungloved hand tenderly in his, and drew a ring off her finger. "Before I give you mine," he said, "you will let me take this one? I want it for a keepsake and a memorial."
Isabel whispered, "Yes."
Harold drew another ring from his pocket and slipped it softly on her third finger. Isabel saw by the glitter that there was a diamond in it. Harold had bought it the day before for that very purpose. Then he took from a small box a plain gold locket, with the letter H raised on it. "I want you to wear this," he said, "as a keepsake for me."
"But why H?" Isabel asked him, looking a little puzzled. "Your name's Ernest, isn't it?"
Harold smiled as well as he was able. "How absurd it is!" he said, with an effort at gaiety. "This ridiculous similarity pursues us everywhere. No, my name's Harold."
Isabel stood for a moment surprised and hesitating. She really hardly knew for the second which brother she ought to consider herself engaged to. "Then it wasn't you who wrote to me?" she said, with a tone of some surprise and a little start of astonishment47.
"No, I certainly didn't write to you; but I came here[Pg 154] to-day expecting to see you, and meaning to ask you to be my wife. I learned from my brother ("there can be no falsehood in putting it that way," he thought vainly to himself) that you were to be here; and I determined48 to seize the opportunity. Ernest meant to have come, too, but I believe he must have lost the train at Clapham Junction." That was all literally49 true, and yet it sounded simple and plausible50 enough.
Isabel looked at him with a puzzled look, and felt almost compelled to laugh, the situation was so supremely51 ridiculous. It took a moment to think it all out rationally. Yet, after all, though the letter came from the other brother, Ernest, it was this particular brother, Harold, she had been talking to and admiring all the day; it was this particular brother, Harold, who had gained her consent, and whom she had promised to love and to marry. And at that moment it would have been doing Isabel Walters an injustice52 not to admit that in her own soul she did then and there really love Harold Carnegie.
"Harold," she said slowly, as she took the locket and hung it round her neck, "Harold. Yes, now I know. Then, Harold Carnegie, I shall take your locket and wear it always as a keepsake from you." And she looked up at him with a smile in which there was something more than mere53 passing coquettish fancy. You see, he was really terribly in earnest; and the very fact that he should have been so anxious to anticipate his brother, and should have anticipated him successfully, made her woman's heart go forth54 toward him instinctively55. As Harold himself said, he was there bodily present before her; while Ernest, the writer of the mysterious letter, was nothing more to her in reality than a name and a shadow. Harold had asked her, and won her; and she was ready to love and cleave56 to Harold from that day forth for that very reason. What woman of them all has a better reason to give in the last resort for the faith that is in her?
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1
omen
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| n.征兆，预兆；vt.预示 | |
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forestalled
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| v.先发制人，预先阻止( forestall的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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anticipatory
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| adj.预想的，预期的 | |
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furtive
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| adj.鬼鬼崇崇的，偷偷摸摸的 | |
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loathed
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| v.憎恨，厌恶( loathe的过去式和过去分词 )；极不喜欢 | |
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jealousy
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| n.妒忌，嫉妒，猜忌 | |
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goading
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| v.刺激( goad的现在分词 )；激励；（用尖棒）驱赶；驱使（或怂恿、刺激）某人 | |
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remorsefully
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| adv.极为懊悔地 | |
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blurred
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| v.（使）变模糊( blur的过去式和过去分词 )；（使）难以区分；模模糊糊；迷离 | |
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obliquely
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| adv.斜； 倾斜； 间接； 不光明正大 | |
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junction
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| n.连接，接合；交叉点，接合处，枢纽站 | |
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monopolize
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| v.垄断，独占，专营 | |
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chuckling
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| 轻声地笑( chuckle的现在分词 ) | |
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stifle
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| vt.使窒息；闷死；扼杀；抑止，阻止 | |
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feverish
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| adj.发烧的，狂热的，兴奋的 | |
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triumphant
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| adj.胜利的，成功的；狂欢的，喜悦的 | |
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forestalling
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| v.先发制人，预先阻止( forestall的现在分词 ) | |
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vaguely
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| adv.含糊地，暖昧地 | |
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discoursed
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| 演说（discourse的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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animation
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| n.活泼，兴奋，卡通片／动画片的制作 | |
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iniquitous
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| adj.不公正的；邪恶的；高得出奇的 | |
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prospect
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| n.前景，前途；景色，视野 | |
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prospective
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| adj.预期的，未来的，前瞻性的 | |
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subterfuge
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| n.诡计；藉口 | |
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inconvenient
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| adj.不方便的，令人感到麻烦的 | |
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versus
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| prep.以…为对手，对；与…相比之下 | |
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alteration
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| n.变更，改变；蚀变 | |
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discriminate
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| v.区别，辨别，区分；有区别地对待 | |
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perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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investigation
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| n.调查，调查研究 | |
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Christian
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| adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒 | |
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whatsoever
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| adv.（用于否定句中以加强语气）任何；pron.无论什么 | |
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mutual
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| adj.相互的，彼此的；共同的，共有的 | |
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throb
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| v.震颤，颤动；(急速强烈地)跳动，搏动 | |
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solely
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| adv.仅仅，唯一地 | |
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lodge
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| v.临时住宿，寄宿，寄存，容纳；n.传达室，小旅馆 | |
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condescending
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| adj.谦逊的,故意屈尊的 | |
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conservatories
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| n.（培植植物的）温室，暖房( conservatory的名词复数 ) | |
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implore
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| vt.乞求，恳求，哀求 | |
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hesitation
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| n.犹豫，踌躇 | |
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desperately
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| adv.极度渴望地，绝望地，孤注一掷地 | |
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misery
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| n.痛苦，苦恼，苦难；悲惨的境遇，贫苦 | |
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suspense
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| n.（对可能发生的事）紧张感，担心，挂虑 | |
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anguish
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| n.(尤指心灵上的)极度痛苦，烦恼 | |
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bent
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| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
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46
standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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astonishment
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| n.惊奇，惊异 | |
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determined
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| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
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49
literally
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| adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实 | |
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50
plausible
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| adj.似真实的，似乎有理的，似乎可信的 | |
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51
supremely
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| adv.无上地，崇高地 | |
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52
injustice
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| n.非正义，不公正，不公平，侵犯（别人的）权利 | |
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53
mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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54
forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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55
instinctively
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| adv.本能地 | |
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56
cleave
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| v．(clave；cleaved)粘着，粘住；坚持；依恋 | |
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