But the Duke was no doubt more than the house, the father-in-law more than the tables. Isabel, in the ordinary way of society, he had already known almost with intimacy5. She, the while, had been well aware that if all things could possibly be made to run smoothly6 with her, this lordly host, who was so pleasantly courteous7 to her, would become her father-in-law. But she had known also that he, in his courtesy, had been altogether unaware8 of any such intention on her part, and that she would now present herself to him in an aspect very different from that in which she had hitherto been regarded. She was well aware that the Duke had not wished to take her into his family,—would not himself have chosen her for his son's wife. She had seen enough to make her sure that he had even chosen another bride for his heir. She had been too clever not to perceive that Lady Mabel Grex had been not only selected,—but almost accepted as though the thing had been certain. She had learned nearly the whole truth from Silverbridge, who was not good at keeping a secret from one to whom his heart was open. That story had been all but read by her with exactness. "I cannot lose you now," she had said to him, leaning on his arm;—"I cannot afford to lose you now. But I fear that someone else is losing you." To this he answered nothing, but simply pressed her closer to his side. "Someone else," she continued, "who perhaps may have reason to think that you have injured her." "No," he said boldly; "no; there is no such person." For he had never ceased to assure himself that in all that matter with Mabel Grex he had been guilty of no treachery. There had been a moment, indeed, in which she might have taken him; but she had chosen to let it pass from her. All of which, or nearly all of which,—Isabel now saw, and had seen also that the Duke had been a consenting party to that other arrangement. She had reason therefore to doubt the manner of her acceptance.
But she had been accepted. She had made such acceptance by him a stipulation9 in her acceptance of his son. She was sure of the ground on which she trod and was determined10 to carry herself, if not with pride, yet with dignity. There might be difficulties before her, but it should not be her fault if she were not as good a Countess, and,—when time would have it so,—as good a Duchess as another.
The visit was made not quite in the fashion in which Silverbridge himself had wished. His idea had been to call for Isabel in his cab and take her down to Carlton Terrace. "Mother must go with me," she had said. Then he looked blank,—as he could look when he was disappointed, as he had looked when she would not talk to him at the lunch, when she told him that it was not her business to entertain him. "Don't be selfish," she added, laughing. "Do you think that mother will not want to have seen the house that I am to live in?"
"She shall come afterwards as often as she likes."
"What,—paying me morning visits from New York! She must come now, if you please. Love me, love my mother."
"I am awfully11 fond of her," said Silverbridge, who felt that he really had behaved well to the old lady.
"So am I,—and therefore she shall go and see the house now. You are as good as gold,—and do everything just as I tell you. But a good time is coming, when I shall have to do everything that you tell me." Then it was arranged that Mrs. and Miss Boncassen were to be taken down to the house in their own carriage, and were to be received at the door by Lord Silverbridge.
Another arrangement had also been made. Isabel was to be taken to the Duke immediately upon her arrival and to be left for awhile with him, alone, so that he might express himself as he might find fit to do to this newly-adopted child. It was a matter to him of such importance that nothing remaining to him in his life could equal it. It was not simply that she was to be the wife of his son,—though that in itself was a consideration very sacred. Had it been Gerald who was bringing to him a bride, the occasion would have had less of awe12. But this girl, this American girl, was to be the mother and grandmother of future Dukes of Omnium,—the ancestress, it was to be hoped, of all future Dukes of Omnium! By what she might be, by what she might have in her of mental fibre, of high or low quality, of true or untrue womanliness, were to be fashioned those who in days to come might be amongst the strongest and most faithful bulwarks13 of the constitution. An England without a Duke of Omnium,—or at any rate without any Duke,—what would it be? And yet he knew that with bad Dukes his country would be in worse stress than though she had none at all. An aristocracy;—yes; but an aristocracy that shall be of the very best! He believed himself thoroughly14 in his order; but if his order, or many of his order, should become as was now Lord Grex, then, he thought, that his order not only must go to the wall but that, in the cause of humanity, it had better do so. With all this daily, hourly, always in his mind, this matter of the choice of a wife for his heir was to him of solemn importance.
When they arrived Silverbridge was there and led them first of all into the dining-room. "My!" said Mrs. Boncassen, as she looked around her. "I thought that our Fifth Avenue parlours whipped everything in the way of city houses."
"What a nice little room for Darby and Joan to sit down to eat a mutton-chop in," said Isabel.
"It's a beastly great barrack," said Silverbridge;—"but the best of it is that we never use it. We'll have a cosy15 little place for Darby and Joan;—you'll see. Now come to the governor. I've got to leave you with him."
"Oh me! I am in such a fright."
"He can't eat you," said Mrs. Boncassen.
"And he won't even bite," said Silverbridge.
"I should not mind that because I could bite again. But if he looks as though he thought I shouldn't do, I shall drop."
"My belief is that he's almost as much in love with you as I am," said Silverbridge, as he took her to the door of the Duke's room. "Here we are, sir."
"My dear," said the Duke, rising up and coming to her, "I am very glad to see you. It is good of you to come to me." Then he took her in both his hands and kissed her forehead and her lips. She, as she put her face up to him, stood quite still in his embrace, but her eyes were bright with pleasure.
"Shall I leave her?" said Silverbridge.
"For a few minutes."
"Don't keep her too long, for I want to take her all over the house."
"A few minutes,—and then I will bring her up to the drawing-room." Upon this the door was closed, and Isabel was alone with her new father. "And so, my dear, you are to be my child."
"If you will have me."
"Come here and sit down by me. Your father has already told you that;—has he not?"
"He has told me that you had consented."
"And Silverbridge has said as much?"
"I would sooner hear it from you than from either of them."
"Then hear it from me. You shall be my child. And if you will love me you shall be very dear to me. You shall be my own child,—as dear as my own. I must either love his wife very dearly, or else I must be an unhappy man. And she must love me dearly, or I must be unhappy."
"I will love you," she said, pressing his hand.
"And now let me say some few words to you, only let there be no bitterness in them to your young heart. When I say that I take you to my heart, you may be sure that I do so thoroughly. You shall be as dear to me and as near as though you had been all English."
"Shall I?"
"There shall no difference be made. My boy's wife shall be my daughter in very deed. But I had not wished it to be so."
"I knew that;—but could I have given him up?"
"He at any rate could not give you up. There were little prejudices;—you can understand that."
"Oh yes."
"We who wear black coats could not bring ourselves readily to put on scarlet16 garments; nor should we sit comfortably with our legs crossed like Turks."
"I am your scarlet coat and your cross-legged Turk," she said, with feigned17 self-reproach in her voice, but with a sparkle of mirth in her eye.
"But when I have once got into my scarlet coat I can be very proud of it, and when I am once seated in my divan18 I shall find it of all postures19 the easiest. Do you understand me?"
"I think so."
"Not a shade of any prejudice shall be left to darken my mind. There shall be no feeling but that you are in truth his chosen wife. After all neither can country, nor race, nor rank, nor wealth, make a good woman. Education can do much. But nature must have done much also."
"Do not expect too much of me."
"I will so expect that all shall be taken for the best. You know, I think, that I have liked you since I first saw you."
"I know that you have always been good to me."
"I have liked you from the first. That you are lovely perhaps is no merit; though, to speak the truth, I am well pleased that Silverbridge should have found so much beauty."
"That is all a matter of taste, I suppose," she said, laughing.
"But there is much that a young woman may do for herself which I think you have done. A silly girl, though she had been a second Helen, would hardly have satisfied me."
"Or perhaps him," said Isabel.
"Or him; and it is in that feeling that I find my chief satisfaction,—that he should have had the sense to have liked such a one as you better than others. Now I have said it. As not being one of us I did at first object to his choice. As being what you are yourself, I am altogether reconciled to it. Do not keep him long waiting."
"I do not think he likes to be kept waiting for anything."
"I dare say not. I dare say not. And now there is one thing else." Then the Duke unlocked a little drawer that was close to his hand, and taking out a ring put it on her finger. It was a bar of diamonds, perhaps a dozen of them, fixed21 in a little circlet of gold. "This must never leave you," he said.
"It never shall,—having come from you."
"It was the first present that I gave to my wife, and it is the first that I give to you. You may imagine how sacred it is to me. On no other hand could it be worn without something which to me would be akin20 to sacrilege. Now I must not keep you longer or Silverbridge will be storming about the house. He of course will tell me when it is to be; but do not you keep him long waiting." Then he kissed her and led her up into the drawing-room. When he had spoken a word of greeting to Mrs. Boncassen, he left them to their own devices.
After that they spent the best part of an hour in going over the house; but even that was done in a manner unsatisfactory to Silverbridge. Wherever Isabel went, there Mrs. Boncassen went also. There might have been some fun in showing even the back kitchens to his bride-elect, by herself;—but there was none in wandering about those vast underground regions with a stout22 lady who was really interested with the cooking apparatus23 and the wash-houses. The bedrooms one after another became tedious to him when Mrs. Boncassen would make communications respecting each of them to her daughter. "That is Gerald's room," said Silverbridge. "You have never seen Gerald. He is such a brick." Mrs. Boncassen was charmed with the whips and sticks and boxing-gloves in Gerald's room, and expressed an opinion that young men in the States mostly carried their knick-knacks about with them to the Universities. When she was told that he had another collection of "knick-knacks" at Matching, and another at Oxford24, she thought that he was a very extravagant25 young man. Isabel, who had heard all about the gambling26 in Scotland, looked round at her lover and smiled.
"Well, my dear," said Mrs. Boncassen, as they took their leave, "it is a very grand house, and I hope with all my heart you may have your health there and be happy. But I don't know that you'll be any happier because it's so big."
"Wait till you see Gatherum," said Silverbridge. "That, I own, does make me unhappy. It has been calculated that three months at Gatherum Castle would drive a philosopher mad."
In all this there had been a certain amount of disappointment for Silverbridge; but on that evening, before dinner in Brook27 Street, he received compensation. As the day was one somewhat peculiar28 in its nature he decided29 that it should be kept altogether as a holiday, and he did not therefore go down to the House. And not going to the House of course he spent the time with the Boncassens. "You know you ought to go," Isabel said to him when they found themselves alone together in the back drawing-room.
"Of course I ought."
"Then go. Do you think I would keep a Briton from his duties?"
"Not though the constitution should fall in ruins. Do you suppose that a man wants no rest after inspecting all the pots and pans in that establishment? A woman, I believe, could go on doing that kind of thing all day long."
"You should remember at least that the—woman was interesting herself about your pots and pans."
"And now, Bella, tell me what the governor said to you." Then she showed him the ring. "Did he give you that?" She nodded her head in assent30. "I did not think he would ever have parted with that."
"It was your mother's."
"She wore it always. I almost think that I never saw her hand without it. He would not have given you that unless he had meant to be very good to you."
"He was very good to me. Silverbridge, I have a great deal to do, to learn to be your wife."
"I'll teach you."
"Yes; you'll teach me. But will you teach me right? There is something almost awful in your father's serious dignity and solemn appreciation31 of the responsibilities of his position. Will you ever come to that?"
"I shall never be a great man as he is."
"It seems to me that life to him is a load;—which he does not object to carry, but which he knows must be carried with a great struggle."
"I suppose it ought to be so with everyone."
"Yes," she said, "but the higher you put your foot on the ladder the more constant should be your thought that your stepping requires care. I fear that I am climbing too high."
"You can't come down now, my young woman."
"I have to go on now,—and do it as best I can. I will try to do my best. I will try to do my best. I told him so, and now I tell you so. I will try to do my best."
"Perhaps after all I am only a 'pert poppet'," she said half an hour afterwards, for Silverbridge had told her of that terrible mistake made by poor Dolly Longstaff.
"Brute32!" he exclaimed.
"Not at all. And when we are settled down in the real Darby-and-Joan way I shall hope to see Mr. Longstaff very often. I daresay he won't call me a pert poppet, and I shall not remind him of the word. But I shall always think of it; and remembering the way in which my character struck an educated Englishman,—who was not altogether ill-disposed towards me,—I may hope to improve myself."
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1
reposed
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| v.将（手臂等）靠在某人（某物）上( repose的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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2
ornaments
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| n.装饰( ornament的名词复数 )；点缀；装饰品；首饰v.装饰，点缀，美化( ornament的第三人称单数 ) | |
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3
alabaster
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| adj.雪白的；n.雪花石膏；条纹大理石 | |
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4
abode
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| n.住处，住所 | |
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5
intimacy
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| n.熟悉，亲密，密切关系，亲昵的言行 | |
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6
smoothly
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| adv.平滑地，顺利地，流利地，流畅地 | |
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7
courteous
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| adj.彬彬有礼的，客气的 | |
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8
unaware
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| a.不知道的，未意识到的 | |
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9
stipulation
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| n.契约，规定，条文；条款说明 | |
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10
determined
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| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
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11
awfully
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| adv.可怕地，非常地，极端地 | |
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12
awe
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| n.敬畏，惊惧；vt.使敬畏，使惊惧 | |
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13
bulwarks
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| n.堡垒( bulwark的名词复数 )；保障；支柱；舷墙 | |
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14
thoroughly
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| adv.完全地，彻底地，十足地 | |
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15
cosy
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| adj.温暖而舒适的，安逸的 | |
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16
scarlet
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| n.深红色，绯红色，红衣；adj.绯红色的 | |
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17
feigned
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| a.假装的，不真诚的 | |
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18
divan
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| n.长沙发；（波斯或其他东方诗人的）诗集 | |
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19
postures
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| 姿势( posture的名词复数 )； 看法； 态度； 立场 | |
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20
akin
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| adj.同族的，类似的 | |
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21
fixed
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| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
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23
apparatus
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| n.装置，器械；器具，设备 | |
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24
Oxford
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| n.牛津（英国城市） | |
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25
extravagant
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| adj.奢侈的；过分的；(言行等)放肆的 | |
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26
gambling
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| n.赌博；投机 | |
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27
brook
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| n.小河，溪；v.忍受，容让 | |
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28
peculiar
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| adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的 | |
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29
decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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30
assent
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| v.批准，认可；n.批准，认可 | |
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31
appreciation
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| n.评价；欣赏；感谢；领会，理解；价格上涨 | |
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32
brute
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| n.野兽，兽性 | |
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