When the matter was settled, he went back to Gatherum Castle, as he had arranged to do with the Duchess, and managed to interest her Grace in all his proceedings3. She promised that she would call on his bride in town, and even went so far as to send her a costly4 wedding present. "You are sure she has got money?" said the Duchess.
"I am not sure of anything," said Lopez,—"except this, that I do not mean to ask a single question about it. If he says nothing to me about money, I certainly shall say nothing to him. My feeling is this, Duchess; I am not marrying Miss Wharton for her money. The money, if there be any, has had nothing to do with it. But of course it will be a pleasure added if it be there." The Duchess complimented him, and told him that this was exactly as it should be.
But there was some delay as to the seat for Silverbridge. Mr. Grey's departure for Persia had been postponed,—the Duchess thought only for a month or six weeks. The Duke, however, was of opinion that Mr. Grey should not vacate his seat till the day of his going was at any rate fixed5. The Duke, moreover, had not made any promise of supporting his wife's favourite. "Don't set your heart upon it too much, Mr. Lopez," the Duchess had said; "but you may be sure I will not forget you." Then it had been settled between them that the marriage should not be postponed, or the proposed trip to Italy abandoned, because of the probable vacancy6 at Silverbridge. Should the vacancy occur during his absence, and should the Duke consent, he could return at once. All this occurred in the last week or two before his marriage.
There were various little incidents which did not tend to make the happiness of Emily Wharton complete. She wrote to her cousin Mary Wharton, and also to Lady Wharton;—and her father wrote to Sir Alured; but the folk at Wharton Hall did not give in their adherence7. Old Mrs. Fletcher was still there, but John Fletcher had gone home to Longbarns. The obduracy8 of the Whartons might probably be owing to these two accidents. Mrs. Fletcher declared aloud, as soon as the tidings reached her, that she never wished to see or hear anything more of Emily Wharton. "She must be a girl," said Mrs. Fletcher, "of an ingrained vulgar taste." Sir Alured, whose letter from Mr. Wharton had been very short, replied as shortly to his cousin. "Dear Abel,—We all hope that Emily will be happy, though of course we regret the marriage." The father, though he had not himself written triumphantly9, or even hopefully,—as fathers are wont10 to write when their daughters are given away in marriage,—was wounded by the curtness11 and unkindness of the baronet's reply, and at the moment declared to himself that he would never go to Herefordshire any more. But on the following day there came a worse blow than Sir Alured's single line. Emily, not in the least doubting but that her request would be received with the usual ready assent12, had asked Mary Wharton to be one of her bridesmaids. It must be supposed that the answer to this was written, if not under the dictation, at any rate under the inspiration, of Mrs. Fletcher. It was as follows:—
Dear Emily,
Of course we all wish you to be very happy in your marriage, but equally of course we are all disappointed. We had taught ourselves to think that you would have bound yourself closer with us down here, instead of separating yourself entirely13 from us.
Under all the circumstances mamma thinks it would not be wise for me to go up to London as one of your bridesmaids.
Your affectionate Cousin,
Mary Wharton.
This letter made poor Emily very angry for a day or two. "It is as unreasonable14 as it is ill-natured," she said to her brother.
"What else could you expect from a stiff-necked, prejudiced set of provincial15 ignoramuses?"
"What Mary says is not true. She did not think that I was going to bind16 myself closer with them, as she calls it. I have been quite open with her, and have always told her that I could not be Arthur Fletcher's wife."
"Why on earth should you marry to please them?"
"Because they don't know Ferdinand they are determined17 to insult him. It is an insult never to mention even his name. And to refuse to come to my marriage! The world is wide and there is room for us and them; but it makes me unhappy,—very unhappy,—that I should have to break with them." And then the tears came into her eyes. It was intended, no doubt, to be a complete breach18, for not a single wedding present was sent from Wharton Hall to the bride. But from Longbarns,—from John Fletcher himself,—there did come an elaborate coffee-pot, which, in spite of its inutility and ugliness, was very valuable to Emily.
But there was one other of her old Herefordshire friends who received the tidings of her marriage without quarrelling with her. She herself had written to her old lover.
My dear Arthur,
There has been so much true friendship and affection between us that I do not like that you should hear from any one but myself the news that I am going to be married to Mr. Lopez. We are to be married on the 28th of November,—this day month.
Yours affectionately,
Emily Wharton.
To this she received a very short reply;—
Dear Emily,
I am as I always have been.
Yours,
A. F.
He sent her no present, nor did he say a word to her beyond this; but in her anger against the Herefordshire people she never included Arthur Fletcher. She pored over the little note a score of times, and wept over it, and treasured it up among her inmost treasures, and told herself that it was a thousand pities. She could talk, and did talk, to Ferdinand about the Whartons, and about old Mrs. Fletcher, and described to him the arrogance19 and the stiffness and the ignorance of the Herefordshire squirearchy generally; but she never spoke20 to him of Arthur Fletcher,—except in that one narrative21 of her past life, in which, girl-like, she told her lover of the one other lover who had loved her.
But these things of course gave a certain melancholy22 to the occasion which perhaps was increased by the season of the year,—by the November fogs, and by the emptiness and general sadness of the town. And added to this was the melancholy of old Mr. Wharton himself. After he had given his consent to the marriage he admitted a certain amount of intimacy23 with his son-in-law, asking him to dinner, and discussing with him matters of general interest,—but never, in truth, opening his heart to him. Indeed, how can any man open his heart to one whom he dislikes? At best he can only pretend to open his heart, and even this Mr. Wharton would not do. And very soon after the engagement Lopez left London and went to the Duke's place in the country. His objects in doing this and his aspirations24 in regard to a seat in Parliament were all made known to his future wife,—but he said not a word on the subject to her father; and she, acting25 under his instructions, was equally reticent26. "He will get to know me in time," he said to her, "and his manner will be softened27 towards me. But till that time shall come, I can hardly expect him to take a real interest in my welfare."
When Lopez left London not a word had been said between him and his father-in-law as to money. Mr. Wharton was content with such silence, not wishing to make any promise as to immediate28 income from himself, pretending to look at the matter as though he should say that, as his daughter had made for herself her own bed, she must lie on it, such as it might be. And this silence certainly suited Ferdinand Lopez at the time. To tell the truth of him,—though he was not absolutely penniless, he was altogether propertyless. He had been speculating in money without capital, and though he had now and again been successful, he had also now and again failed. He had contrived29 that his name should be mentioned here and there with the names of well-known wealthy commercial men, and had for the last twelve months made up a somewhat intimate alliance with that very sound commercial man, Mr. Mills Happerton. But his dealings with Mr. Sextus Parker were in truth much more confidential30 than those with Mr. Mills Happerton, and at the present moment poor Sexty Parker was alternately between triumph and despair as things went this way or that.
It was not, therefore, surprising that Ferdinand Lopez should volunteer no statements to the old lawyer about money, and that he should make no inquiries31. He was quite confident that Mr. Wharton had the wealth which was supposed to belong to him, and was willing to trust to his power of obtaining a fair portion of it as soon as he should in truth be Mr. Wharton's son-in-law. Situated32 as he was, of course he must run some risk. And then, too, he had spoken of himself with a grain of truth when he had told the Duchess that he was not marrying for money. Ferdinand Lopez was not an honest man or a good man. He was a self-seeking, intriguing33 adventurer, who did not know honesty from dishonesty when he saw them together. But he had at any rate this good about him, that he did love the girl whom he was about to marry. He was willing to cheat all the world,—so that he might succeed, and make a fortune, and become a big and a rich man; but he did not wish to cheat her. It was his ambition now to carry her up with him, and he thought how he might best teach her to assist him in doing so,—how he might win her to help him in his cheating, especially in regard to her own father. For to himself, to his own thinking, that which we call cheating was not dishonesty. To his thinking there was something bold, grand, picturesque34, and almost beautiful in the battle which such a one as himself must wage with the world before he could make his way up in it. He would not pick a pocket, or turn a false card, or, as he thought, forge a name. That which he did, and desired to do, took with him the name of speculation35. When he persuaded poor Sexty Parker to hazard his all, knowing well that he induced the unfortunate man to believe what was false, and to trust what was utterly36 untrustworthy, he did not himself think that he was going beyond the lines of fair enterprise. Now, in his marriage, he had in truth joined himself to real wealth. Could he only command at once that which he thought ought to be his wife's share of the lawyer's money, he did not doubt but that he could make a rapid fortune. It would not do for him to seem to be desirous of the money a day before the time;—but, when the time should come, would not his wife help him in his great career? But before she could do so she must be made to understand something of the nature of that career, and of the need of such aid.
Of course there arose the question where they should live. But he was ready with an immediate answer to this question. He had been to look at a flat,—a set of rooms,—in the Belgrave Mansions37, in Pimlico, or Belgravia you ought more probably to call it. He proposed to take them furnished till they could look about at their leisure and get a house that should suit them. Would she like a flat? She would have liked a cellar with him, and so she told him. Then they went to look at the flat, and old Mr. Wharton condescended38 to go with them. Though his heart was not in the business, still he thought that he was bound to look after his daughter's comfort. "They are very handsome rooms," said Mr. Wharton, looking round upon the rather gorgeous furniture.
"Oh, Ferdinand, are they not too grand?" said Emily.
"Perhaps they are a little more than we quite want just at present," he said. "But I'll tell you, sir, just how it has happened. A man I know wanted to let them for one year, just as they are, and offered them to me for ￡450,—if I could pay the money in advance, at the moment. And so I paid it."
"You have taken them, then?" said Mr. Wharton.
"Is it all settled?" said Emily, almost with disappointment.
"I have paid the money, and I have so far taken them. But it is by no means settled. You have only to say you don't like them, and you shall never be asked to put your foot in them again."
"But I do like them," she whispered to him.
"The truth is, sir, that there is not the slightest difficulty in parting with them. So that when the chance came in my way I thought it best to secure the thing. It had all to be done, so to say, in an hour. My friend,—as far as he was a friend, for I don't know much about him,—wanted the money and wanted to be off. So here they are, and Emily can do as she likes." Of course the rooms were regarded from that moment as the home for the next twelve months of Mr. and Mrs. Ferdinand Lopez.
And then they were married. The marriage was by no means a gay affair, the chief management of it falling into the hands of Mrs. Dick Roby. Mrs. Dick indeed provided not only the breakfast,—or saw rather that it was provided, for of course Mr. Wharton paid the bill,—but the four bridesmaids also, and all the company. They were married in the church in Vere Street, then went back to the house in Manchester Square, and within a couple of hours were on their road to Dover. Through it all not a word was said about money. At the last moment,—when he was free from fear as to any questions about his own affairs,—Lopez had hoped that the old man would say something. "You will find so many thousand pounds at your bankers';"—or, "You may look to me for so many hundreds a year." But there was not a word. The girl had come to him without the assurance of a single shilling. In his great endeavour to get her he had been successful. As he thought of this in the carriage, he pressed his arm close round her waist. If the worst were to come to the worst, he would fight the world for her. But if this old man should be stubborn, close-fisted, and absolutely resolved to bestow39 all his money upon his son because of this marriage,—ah!—how should he be able to bear such a wrong as that?
Half-a-dozen times during that journey to Dover he resolved to think nothing further about it, at any rate for a fortnight; and yet, before he reached Dover, he had said a word to her. "I wonder what your father means to do about money? He never told you?"
"Not a word."
"It is very odd that he should never have said anything."
"Does it matter, dear?"
"Not in the least. But of course I have to talk about everything to you;—and it is odd."
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1
postponed
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| vt.& vi.延期，缓办，（使）延迟vt.把…放在次要地位；[语]把…放在后面（或句尾）vi.（疟疾等）延缓发作（或复发） | |
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2
alleging
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| 断言，宣称，辩解( allege的现在分词 ) | |
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proceedings
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| n.进程，过程，议程；诉讼(程序)；公报 | |
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costly
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| adj.昂贵的，价值高的，豪华的 | |
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5
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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6
vacancy
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| n.（旅馆的）空位，空房，（职务的）空缺 | |
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7
adherence
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| n.信奉，依附，坚持，固着 | |
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8
obduracy
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| n.冷酷无情，顽固，执拗 | |
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9
triumphantly
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| ad.得意洋洋地；得胜地；成功地 | |
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10
wont
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| adj.习惯于；v.习惯；n.习惯 | |
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11
curtness
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| n.简短；草率；简略 | |
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12
assent
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| v.批准，认可；n.批准，认可 | |
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13
entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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14
unreasonable
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| adj.不讲道理的，不合情理的，过度的 | |
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15
provincial
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| adj.省的，地方的；n．外省人，乡下人 | |
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16
bind
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| vt.捆，包扎；装订；约束；使凝固；vi.变硬 | |
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17
determined
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| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
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18
breach
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| n.违反，不履行；破裂；vt.冲破，攻破 | |
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19
arrogance
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| n.傲慢，自大 | |
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spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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narrative
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| n.叙述，故事；adj.叙事的，故事体的 | |
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melancholy
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| n.忧郁，愁思；adj.令人感伤（沮丧）的，忧郁的 | |
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intimacy
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| n.熟悉，亲密，密切关系，亲昵的言行 | |
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24
aspirations
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| 强烈的愿望( aspiration的名词复数 )； 志向； 发送气音； 发 h 音 | |
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acting
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| n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的 | |
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26
reticent
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| adj.沉默寡言的；言不如意的 | |
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27
softened
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| （使）变软( soften的过去式和过去分词 )； 缓解打击； 缓和； 安慰 | |
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28
immediate
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| adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的 | |
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29
contrived
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| adj.不自然的，做作的；虚构的 | |
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30
confidential
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| adj.秘（机）密的，表示信任的，担任机密工作的 | |
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31
inquiries
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| n.调查( inquiry的名词复数 )；疑问；探究；打听 | |
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32
situated
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| adj.坐落在...的，处于某种境地的 | |
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33
intriguing
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| adj.有趣的；迷人的v.搞阴谋诡计(intrigue的现在分词)；激起…的好奇心 | |
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picturesque
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| adj.美丽如画的，（语言）生动的，绘声绘色的 | |
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speculation
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| n.思索，沉思；猜测；投机 | |
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36
utterly
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| adv.完全地，绝对地 | |
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37
mansions
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| n.宅第，公馆，大厦( mansion的名词复数 ) | |
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38
condescended
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| 屈尊，俯就( condescend的过去式和过去分词 )； 故意表示和蔼可亲 | |
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39
bestow
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| v.把…赠与，把…授予；花费 | |
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