Bettina was in London. The ocean voyage had done her good, and the necessary effect of change, variety, new faces, new feelings, new thoughts, had been to take her out of herself—the self that was nothing but a grieving and bereaved1 daughter—and to quicken the pleasure-loving instincts and thirst for admiration2 which were as inherently, though not as prominently, a part of her. There was still a root of bitterness springing up within her whenever she thought of her mother’s being taken from her, and this very element it was which urged her to make all she could of life, in the hope of partially3 filling the void in her heart. She was not even yet reconciled to the loss of her mother, and there was a certain defiance4 of destiny in her resolution to get some compensation for the wrong she had sustained in losing what was dearest to her.
On arriving in London, Bettina went to a [Pg 15]hotel, and from there made inquiries5 as to the whereabouts of Lord Hurdly. Parliament was in session, and his lordship was in his town house in Grosvenor Square. Having ascertained6 the hour at which he was most likely to be at home, Bettina betook herself at that hour to his house.
She refused to give her name to the servant who answered her ring, and asked merely that Lord Hurdly might be told that a lady wished to speak to him on a matter of importance. The servant, after a moment’s hesitation8, ushered9 her into a small reception-room on the first floor, and requested her to wait there.
She stood for a few moments alone in this room, her heart beating fast. She wore the American style of deep mourning, which swathed her in dense10, impenetrable black from head to feet, and seemed to add to her somewhat unusual tallness.
The door opened. Lord Hurdly entered. She had seen photographs of him, and even through that thick veil would have known him anywhere. The tall, thin figure, sharp eyes, aquiline11 nose, clean-shaven face, and scrupulous12 dress were all familiar to both memory and imagination.
He paused on the threshold of the room, as if slightly repelled13 by the strange appearance of [Pg 16]the shrouded14 figure before him. Then he spoke15, coldly and concisely16.
“You wished to speak to me?” he said. “I have a few moments only at my disposal.”
Bettina raised one hand and threw back her veil, revealing thus not only her face, but her whole figure clothed in smooth, tight-fitting black, so plain and devoid17 of trimming that the exquisite18 lines were shown to the best advantage. Her face, surrounded by black draperies, looked as purely19 tinted20 as a flower, and the excitement of the moment had made her eyes brilliant and flushed her cheeks.
The imperturbability21 of Lord Hurdly’s face relaxed. His lips parted; a smothered22 sound, as of surprise, escaped him. Certainly at that moment Bettina was nothing less than bewilderingly beautiful.
“I have to beg your pardon for coming to you so unceremoniously,” she said. “My excuse is that I have a matter of great importance to speak to you of.”
Her voice was certainly a charming one, and if her accent was such as he might have found fault with under other circumstances, under these he found it an added attraction. She had put her own construction on Lord Hurdly’s evident surprise [Pg 17]at sight of her, and it was one which gave her an increased self-possession and added to her sense of power.
“Let us go into another room,” said Lord Hurdly. “I cannot keep you here, and whatever you may have to say to me I am quite at leisure to attend to.”
He led the way from the room, and Bettina followed in silence. She had had innumerable dreams of grandeur23, poor child! but she had been too ignorant even to imagine such a place as this house. Its furnishing and decorations represented not only the accumulated wealth, but also the accumulated taste and opportunity, of many successive generations. She felt an ineffable24 emotion of deep, sensuous25 enjoyment26 in her present surroundings which made her heart leap at the idea that all these things might some day be hers. Lord Hurdly looked exceedingly well preserved, and that day might be very far distant. All the more reason, therefore, she told herself, why she should make peace between him and Horace, so that she might at least be sometimes a guest in this house, and be lifted into an atmosphere where she felt for the first time that she was in her true element. It was not only the magnificence which she saw on every side which [Pg 18]so appealed to her. It was that air of the best in everything that made her feel, in Lord Hurdly’s presence, as well as in his house, that civilization could not go further—that life, on its material side, had nothing more to offer. And Bettina had now reached a point in her experience where material pleasure seemed to be all that was left. She quite believed that all of the joy of loving was buried in the grave of her mother.
Her heart was beating fast as she entered Lord Hurdly’s library and saw him close the door behind them. It then struck her as being a little peculiar27 that he should have brought her here without even knowing who she was or what she wanted of him.
A doubt, a scarcely possible suspicion, came into her mind.
“Have you any idea who I am?” she said.
“It suffices me to know what you are.”
“Ah! I do not understand,” she said, puzzled.
“You have come upon me without ceremony, madam,” said Lord Hurdly, with a slightly old-fashioned pomposity28 in his polished manner, “and I may therefore ask you to excuse an absence of ceremony in me in alluding29 to the impression which you have made upon me. You are a stranger to me—an American, I judge from [Pg 19]your speech. I hope that I am to be so fortunate as to hear that there is something which I can do for you.”
“There is,” Bettina said—“a thing so vital and important to me that, now I am in your presence, I am afraid to venture to speak, for fear you may refuse to hear my prayer.”
“You are in small danger from that quarter, I assure you. I am ready to do for you whatever you may ask. Let me, however, put a few questions before I hear your request. You are wearing mourning. Is it, perhaps, for your husband?”
“For my mother,” said Bettina, with a sudden trembling of the lip and suffusion31 of the eyes which gave her a new charm, in revealing the fact that this young goddess had a human heart which could be quickly stirred to emotion.
“Forgive me,” said Lord Hurdly, with great courtesy. “Forget that I have roughly touched a spot so sore, and tell me this, if you will: are you married or unmarried?”
“I am unmarried,” said Bettina, beginning to tremble as she found the important moment upon her; “but I am about to be married. I have made this visit to London beforehand only [Pg 20]to see you. The man I am going to marry is your cousin and heir, Horace Spotswood.”
Lord Hurdly’s guarded face betrayed a certain agitation32, but the signs of this were quickly controlled.
He looked straight into her eyes for a few seconds without speaking. Then he crossed the room and touched an electric button, saying, as he did so:
“I will get rid of an engagement that I had, so that I may be quite at leisure to talk with you.”
Neither spoke again until the servant had come, taken his instructions, and gone away, closing the door behind him. There was a certain determination in Lord Hurdly’s manner and expression which did not escape Bettina. She was sure that her revelation of her identity had prompted some decisive course of action in his mind, but what it was she could not guess from that inscrutable face.
“I am now quite free for the morning,” her companion said. “Naturally there is much for us to say to each other. Will you not lay aside your bonnet33 and wrap? The day is warm, and that heavy mourning must distress34 you.”
Certainly his manner was kind. Bettina began [Pg 21]to like him and to hope for success in her object in coming here. Quickly unbuttoning her black gloves, she unsheathed her lovely hands, which were bare of rings. Then with a few deft35 motions she removed her outer wrap and her bonnet with its long, thick veil.
In so doing she revealed the fact that she had an exquisite head, with delicious masses of brown hair which looked almost reddish in its contrast to the dense black of her gown, the smooth severity of which accentuated36 every lovely curve of her figure, as it would have done every defect, had there been defect. This gown was fitted to her so absolutely that one had the satisfying sense that one looked at the woman instead of at her clothes. There were fine old portraits on the wall, of noble ladies who had once done the honors of this great establishment, but the fairest of them paled before the glowing loveliness of this girl. For she looked a girl, despite her sombre garments, and there was a certain timidity in her manner which strengthened this impression.
Lord Hurdly offered her a seat, and then took another, facing her.
“In engaging yourself to marry Horace Spotswood,” he began, deliberately37, “you have made [Pg 22]the supreme38, if not the irreparable, mistake of your life.”
“Why?” she asked, concisely.
“Because he is no match for you, and because your marrying him would not only place you on a lower plane than where you belong, but it would also so seriously injure his position in life that there would be no possible chance for him to retrieve41 it until my death. I am comparatively a young man, and likely to live a long time. Apart from that, I may marry. I had no expectation or intention of doing so, but his recent defiance of me has made me sometimes feel inclined to the idea. I have so far changed in my feeling on this subject that if I could meet and win a woman to my mind, I would marry at once. What then would become of Horace? He has a mere7 pittance42 besides his pay, which is a ridiculous sum for a man to marry on. He has wronged you in putting you in such a position, and you have equally wronged him.”
Bettina had turned very white as he spoke. The picture he drew was bad enough in itself, but to have it sketched43 before her in her present surroundings made it infinitely44 worse.
[Pg 23]
“If we have wronged each other, we have done it ignorantly,” she said. “He assured me that you were determined45 never to marry, and he counted on your past kindness and your attachment46 to him—”
She broke off, her voice shaken.
“On the same ground I counted on him,” said Lord Hurdly. “He was in no position to marry against my will, and in engaging to do so he defied me. Let him take the consequences.”
“Then you are determined not to relent?” Bettina faltered47. “You will not forgive him for the offence of proposing to make me his wife?”
“I did not say that,” returned Lord Hurdly, with a subtle change of tone. “I certainly should not forgive him for marrying you, but for proposing to do so I am ready enough to forgive him, provided he comes to his senses at that point and goes no further. In that event I am ready not only to continue the handsome income that I have allowed him, but to give him outright48 the principal of it.”
Bettina had never pretended that she was deeply in love with Horace Spotswood. Indeed, she had quite decided49 within herself that she was incapable50 of such a state of feeling, and it was her belief that the fervor51 and intensity52 of love [Pg 24]which she had given to her mother had taken the place of what some women give to their husbands. Still, she looked upon her prospective53 marriage to him as one of the fixed54 facts of the universe, and Lord Hurdly’s words bewildered her.
Keener than this surprise, however, was her sense of humiliation55 at the implacable offence which Lord Hurdly had taken at his heir’s proposed marriage with herself. That he had wished Horace to marry she knew; it was therefore the woman whom he had chosen that Lord Hurdly resented.
She rose to her feet, feeling herself giddy, and knowing that she was white with agitation. Her one idea was to get away—to escape the scrutiny56 of the intense gaze which was fixed upon her.
“I must go. I beg your pardon for coming,” she said, with a proud coldness, reaching for her wrap.
“You must not go. I owe you endless thanks for coming, and I will show you that you have to congratulate yourself also on this interview. If you went now, you would defeat all the good that may come of it. Sit down, I beg of you, and hear me out.”
His manner was not only urgent, it was also [Pg 25]kind, and nothing could have been more respectful than his every look and tone.
Bettina sat down again and waited.
“What is it that has shocked you?” he said. “Is it because of your great love for Horace—or is it his for you which you are thinking of most?”
“I do not see that I am bound to answer you that question,” said Bettina, proudly. “My reasons are sufficient for myself.”
“You are in no way bound, my dear young lady, but you would be wise to answer me. I have every disposition57 to act as your friend in this matter, and you would be making a mistake to turn away from me without hearing what I have to say. If you are imagining that the young fellow with whom you have an engagement of marriage would be rendered inconsolable by the loss of you, when it would be made up to him by the possession of a fortune, perhaps you overestimate58 things.”
“The unselfishness of man’s love in general, and of this man’s in particular,” he said; “and, for another thing, yourself. It seems a brutal60 thing to say, but if you believe that that hotheaded, undisciplined boy is capable of a sustained [Pg 26]affection against such odds61 of fortune as this case presents, then I disagree with you, and I know him better than you do.”
Bettina’s face flushed.
“He does love me—he does!” she cried, in some agitation. “I have been cold and careless toward him, and have told him that my heart was buried in my mother’s grave.” At these words her voice trembled. “He knows how hard it is for me to think of another kind of love just yet; but he has been kindness itself, and has written me the dearest, lovingest letters that ever a woman had. If they have been a little rarer and colder lately, it is only because of my own shortcomings toward him. I shall try to atone62 for them now. Since I realize how great an injury I have done to him, I shall try to be his compensation for it.”
“And you think you will succeed? I doubt it.”
Something in his manner impressed her in spite of herself. Perhaps he saw that it was so, for he pushed his advantage.
“Compare the length and opportunities of my intercourse63 with him and yours,” he said. “You would be acting64 the part of absolute folly65 not to listen to me now. In the end you will be as free [Pg 27]to act as you were in the beginning. Only let me remind you that his future is involved as well as your own.”
He saw that this argument told.
“I am willing to listen,” she said.
“I am grateful to you,” he answered, with that air of finished politeness which makes the best graces of a young man seem crude, and which Bettina was not too ignorant to appreciate at its proper value.
“I have known Horace as child and boy and man—if he may yet be called a man,” he said, with a light touch of scorn. “You have known him in one capacity and state only—that of a lover, a rôle he can no doubt play very prettily66, and one in which, despite his youth, he is far from being unpractised. He has been in love oftener than it behooves67 me to say or you to hear—quite harmless affairs, of course, but they prove to one who has watched him as I have that his nature is fickle68 and capricious. I confess that when I heard you say, just now, that his letters of late had been rarer and less ardent69, I could not wholly attribute it to the reason which so quickly satisfied you. As a rule, these intensely ardent feelings are not of long duration, and I know well both the intensity and the brevity of [Pg 28]Horace’s attacks of love. It was for this very reason that I so resented the idea of his marrying without my advice. I foresaw that he would soon weary of any woman. All the more reason, therefore, for his choosing one who was suited to him, apart from the matter of his loving her. I knew he had not the staying quality—that he was quite incapable of a sustained affection. I therefore considered his taste in the matter less than my own. As he was my heir in the event of my not marrying, I felt that I had the right to demand that he should marry suitably to his position.”
“I regret that he should have made an engagement which has disappointed you,” said Bettina, a slight curl at the corners of her lips.
“I regret it also; but you may remember that at the beginning of this interview I spoke of this mistake on your part and on his as great, though not perhaps irreparable.”
He was looking at her keenly, and he saw that his words had no effect upon her except to mystify her.
“I do not see any way to its reparation,” she said, and was about to continue, when he interrupted her.
[Pg 29]
“A consent that he would never give,” said Bettina, with a certain pride of confidence.
“And you?” he asked.
“Nor I either,” she said, “unless I were convinced that he wished it.”
“It would perhaps be not impossible to convince you of that, granted a little time,” said Lord Hurdly. “But, apart from his wish, have you no consideration for his interest? His position in diplomacy73 is at present insignificant74, but he has talents and a chance to rise, unless that chance be utterly75 frustrated76 by his embarrassing himself with a family—a condition that would be death to his career. Ask any one you choose, and they will tell you that there cannot be two opinions about this. Besides, through my help he has been able to live like a man of fortune. His allowance, however, will be stopped on the day of his marriage, if he persists in such a course. If he abandons it, he will find himself with the principal as well as the interest at his disposal. So situated77, he has every chance to rise. Under the other conditions, he inevitably78 falls. What would become of him ultimately is too dreary79 a line of conjecture80 to dwell upon.”
[Pg 30]
Bettina’s face was paler still. The tears sprang to her eyes—tears of mortification81 and keen regret. The thought of her mother pierced through her, and the consciousness that she had no longer the refuge of that gentle heart to cast herself upon almost overcame her. Pride lent her aid, however, and she rallied quickly.
“You have fully82 demonstrated to me,” she said, “that I have injured your cousin in promising83 to marry him. I did it in ignorance, however. With the facts before me which you have just given, I should perhaps have acted differently. Regret now, however, is useless.”
“On the contrary, this is one of the rare cases in which regret is not useless. The reparation of your mistake is in your own hands.”
The possibility of doing what he urged flashed through Bettina’s mind. Horace would certainly be infinitely better off without her, in every rational and material sense; and at this stage of Bettina’s development the rational and material were predominant. But what of her, apart from Horace? This thought found vent30 in words.
“You have been looking at this subject from your own point of view,” she said, “and perhaps naturally. I must, however, think of an aspect of the case in which you have no interest. I am [Pg 31]absolutely alone in the world, and if, for your cousin’s sake, I made this sacrifice—”
In spite of herself her voice faltered.
Lord Hurdly drew his chair a little nearer to her. His eyes were fixed upon her with a yet more intent gaze as he said, with directness and decision:
“You are quite mistaken. It is this aspect of the case which concerns me chiefly. If, as is undoubtedly84 true, the prevention of this most mistaken marriage would be an advantage to Horace, to you it may be a far greater gain, and to me it may be the fulfilment of all that I have ever desired in life.”
“What do you mean?” she said, bewildered.
“I mean that the supreme desire of my heart is, and has been from the moment my eyes rested on you, to make you Lady Hurdly absolutely and at once, instead of your waiting for a name and position which, after all, may never come to you.”
Her heart beat so that her breathing came in smothered gasps85. The piercing demand of his eyes was almost terrifying to her. She saw that he was absolutely in earnest, and the commiseration86 which she felt for Horace struggled with the dazzling temptation which this opportunity [Pg 32]offered to that strong ambition which was so great an element in her essential nature.
“Do not be shocked or startled by the suddenness of my proposal,” he said. “I trust that you will come to see that it is eminently87 wise and reasonable. When I said the marriage was an unsuitable one, I was thinking more of you than of Horace. Your beauty, your manner, your voice, your words, your whole ego88 and personality, show you to have been born for a great position. It is a case of manifest destiny. The fortune and the social rank that I can bestow89 are all too little for you; I should like to be able to put a queen’s crown on your beautiful head. But such as I am—a man who has made his impression on the current history of his country, and who, though no longer young in the crude sense that counts only by months and years, is still by no means old—and such things as I have and can command, I lay at your feet, begging you humbly90 to impart to them a value which they have never had before, by accepting them and becoming the sharer of my name, my position, and my fortune, and the mistress of my heart.”
He had risen and was standing91 in front of her with the resolution of a strong purpose in his eyes. But she could not meet them, those dominating, [Pg 33]searching eyes. The thoughts that his words had given rise to were too agitating92, too uncertain, too tormenting93 to her. The thought of giving Horace up pained her more than she would have believed, while the vision of the grandeur so urged upon her, which not ten minutes gone she had seen dashed like a full beaker from her thirsty lips, tormented94 her as well. It was to her a vast sacrifice to think of resigning such possibilities, yet at the first she had no other thought but to resign them. The arguments for Horace’s future career which had been urged upon her also played their part in her consciousness now, and the seething95 confusion of images in her brain made her senses swim.
Lord Hurdly must have seen her agitation, for he hastened to say:
“I have been too hasty. You must forgive me. Do not try to answer me at present. I see that you are overwrought. Let me beseech96 you to rest a little while. I will send for the housekeeper97.”
“No, no! I must go,” she answered, starting to her feet. But she had overestimated98 her strength. She sank back in her chair.
He went himself and brought her a glass of wine, talking to her with a soothing99 reassurance100 [Pg 34]as she drank it. He reproached himself for having been too hurried, too rash, but pleaded the earnestness of his hopes as an excuse. When she had taken the wine she wanted to go, but he entreated101 her so humbly not to punish him too deeply for his fault that when he begged her to let him call the housekeeper to sit with her until luncheon102, which he implored103 her to take before leaving, she acquiesced104, too fagged out mentally to take any decided position of her own.
To the housekeeper Lord Hurdly explained that this lady was in deep trouble—a fact sufficiently105 attested106 by her heavy mourning—and would like to rest awhile before eating some luncheon. Bettina saw herself regarded with a respectful awe107 which she had never had a taste of before. The housekeeper, with the sweetest of voices and kindest of manners, promised to do all in her power, and Lord Hurdly withdrew.
Bettina could not talk. She lay back on the lounge and submitted to be gently fanned and having salts occasionally held to her nose. But all her effort was to compose her thoughts—a difficult attempt, as the image of her mother was the one which insisted on taking the pre-eminence in her mind. She ordered it down, with a sort of bitterness. Had her mother been alive,[Pg 35]she would have gladly fled from this puzzle into which her life had tangled108 itself, and gone back to America to rest and mother-love. So she told herself, at least. But then followed the reflection that in her mother’s death the refuge of love’s calm and protection was gone from her forever, and that she must either remain in Europe under one or the other of the two conditions offered her, or else resign herself to the apathy109 of despair.
It was not in her to do this, and the brilliant possibilities which Lord Hurdly had suggested flashed into her mind, and so excited her that she suddenly rose to her feet and announced that her slight indisposition was past, asking the housekeeper to take her somewhere to rearrange her hair and prepare herself for luncheon.
Even had Bettina been the possessor of a happy heart which rejoiced in a fulfilled and contented110 love for the man she had promised to marry, the other, dominating side of her nature could not have been quite stifled111 as she walked through the halls and corridors of this magnificent mansion112. These were things her imagination had always pictured as her proper position in life, and which the unregenerate heart within her had always craved113. But how far beyond her ignorant dreams [Pg 36]was the grand repose114 of this beautiful house! It was so much more than she had conceived that the new supply to her senses seemed, in a way, to create a new demand in them.
Never, perhaps, had she so appreciated what it must be to be a grande dame115 as to-day, when she was on the point of refusing such an opportunity, though it was just within her grasp. For she had no idea but that she should refuse it, and this very consciousness made her more friendly in her feelings and actions toward Lord Hurdly than she would otherwise have been.
When she had adjusted her dress and smoothed her hair, before large mirrors which gave her a better view of her loveliness than she had ever had before, a servant summoned her to luncheon, and at the foot of the stairs she saw Lord Hurdly awaiting her.
So seen, a decided baldness, which she had not much noticed before, became evident, but there was a certain distinction in the man’s general air which this rather seemed to heighten. His manner of delicate solicitude116 for her was the perfection of good-breeding, and when she answered him reassuringly117, and walked by his side to the dining-room, a sudden conviction seized her that she had come into her own—that this was the [Pg 37]position for which she had been born, and that, independent of the fact that she had determined to decline it, it was her fate, which she could not escape. She tried to coax118 the belief that it was as Horace’s wife that she would one day enjoy all these delights, but the thought eluded119 her. She could not see Horace in the seat now filled by his cousin. In imagination as well as in reality it was Lord Hurdly who occupied that seat.
This conviction, which every moment deepened, she could not shake off and could not account for. She had a feeling that it was forced upon her consciousness through some dominating power of Lord Hurdly’s spirit over her own. She felt as if she were hypnotized. She wondered if it could be so, and if she would presently come to herself and find that it was all a delusion120 and she had never seen Lord Hurdly or his house, but was on her way to St. Petersburg to join Horace and settle down to a limited and economical way of living.
At this thought her heart fell. She had laid her hand upon this dazzling prize of worldly wealth and position. Could she let it go?
During luncheon no reference was made to the subject of their late conversation. The servants remained in the room, and Lord Hurdly talked [Pg 38]of public and quite impersonal121 affairs. In so doing he showed a trenchant122 insight, a broad knowledge of the world, an undeniably powerful mentality123, and a decided skill in the art of pleasing. If the tone of his talk was cynical124, it found, for that very reason, all the clearer echo in Bettina’s heart. A certain tendency to cynicism was inborn125 in her, and the bitterness she felt at the loss of her mother had accentuated this. What was the use of loving, she asked herself, when love must end like this? In her heart she passionately126 hoped that she might never love again. And she had also a shrinking from being loved in any ardent manner that might make demands upon her which she could not respond to.
When the time came for Bettina to leave, she found that the cab in which she had come had been sent away, and, in its place, Lord Hurdly’s brougham waited for her. He escorted her himself to the carriage door, and when the great footman who held it open touched his hat in silence as he took her orders, and then mounted beside his twin brother on the box and she was bowled away, on padded cushions from which emanated127 a delicious odor of fine leather, Bettina felt that, for the first time in her life, she was in her proper element.
[Pg 39]
The events of the morning seemed to her like some agitating dream. She wondered how long it had been since she left her hotel, and tried to guess what time it was. As she did so, her eyes fell on the small clock, neatly128 encased in the leather upholstering of the carriage just in front of her. The fitness of this object and of everything about her gave her a delicious sense of adaptation to her environment which she had never had before.
When she got out at her hotel, the footman, with the same salute129 of ineffable respect, said that his lordship had told him to ask if she had any further orders for the carriage to-day or to-morrow. She declined the offer, but, none the less, she felt flattered by the attention.
Lord Hurdly’s only further reference to their last conversation had been to ask her to pay his words the respect of a few days’ consideration at least. He had learned from her that Horace was unaware130 of her being in England, and that she had a whole week at her disposal before he would expect to meet her there. When he asked for a part of that week, in which to give him the opportunity to prove to her that her duty to Horace, as well as to herself, demanded the rupture of this mistaken engagement, she was sufficiently influenced [Pg 40]by the subtlety131 of this appeal to grant his request.
To her surprise, several days went by, and he did not come to see her nor write. Every morning the carriage was sent to the hotel and the footman came to her door for orders, but she always answered that she did not require it. Every morning, also, came a lavish132 offering of flowers, the great exotic flowers which Bettina loved—huge, heavy-petalled roses and green translucent-looking orchids133. But, except for these, he did not thrust himself upon her notice—a fact which during the first and second days she gave him the greatest credit for, but by the third had grown to feel a certain resentment134 at.
In the mean time there had followed her from home a letter from Horace. It was the coldest she had ever had from him, and set her to thinking deeply as to the possible cause of his coldness. Could it be, she asked herself, that Lord Hurdly was right in calling him capricious? Had he—as was possible, of course—cooled in his ardor135 for her, and come to see that this hasty engagement of his had been a great mistake, as she herself had come to see?
For this point, at least, Bettina had positively136 reached. Why, therefore, should she adhere to [Pg 41]her engagement in the face of the knowledge that such an adherence137 would be to his disadvantage, no less than to hers?
These arguments would have quite prevailed with her but for one thing. This was the conviction, not yet changed, though somewhat shaken by Lord Hurdly’s account of him, that Horace really loved her and would suffer in losing her.
Deprived of the restraint of her mother’s influence, Bettina had progressed with rapidity in her way toward worldliness and selfish ambition, but she had a heart. Her love for her mother had given abundant proof of that, if there were nothing else; and now her heart combated the influence of her head, which decreed that only a fool would reject the great good fortune now held out to her.
In point of fact, Bettina had been influenced more by ambition than by love in engaging herself to Horace, and the gratification of a far more splendid ambition was offered to her in making this other marriage. In it, also, love would play but little part, and this she felt to be decidedly a gain. Yet she was not so far lost to the sentiments of kindness and loyalty138, that she had learned from the teaching and example of her mother, as [Pg 42]not to hesitate before wounding and humiliating the man who, as she still believed, loved her devotedly139. Could it have been proved that she was mistaken in so believing, Lord Hurdly’s case would have been already won.
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1
bereaved
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| adj.刚刚丧失亲人的v.使失去（希望、生命等）( bereave的过去式和过去分词)；（尤指死亡）使丧失（亲人、朋友等）；使孤寂；抢走（财物） | |
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2
admiration
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| n.钦佩，赞美，羡慕 | |
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3
partially
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| adv.部分地，从某些方面讲 | |
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4
defiance
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| n.挑战，挑衅，蔑视，违抗 | |
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inquiries
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| n.调查( inquiry的名词复数 )；疑问；探究；打听 | |
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6
ascertained
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| v.弄清，确定，查明( ascertain的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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7
mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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8
hesitation
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| n.犹豫，踌躇 | |
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ushered
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| v.引，领，陪同( usher的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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dense
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| a.密集的，稠密的，浓密的；密度大的 | |
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11
aquiline
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| adj.钩状的，鹰的 | |
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scrupulous
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| adj.审慎的，小心翼翼的，完全的，纯粹的 | |
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repelled
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| v.击退( repel的过去式和过去分词 )；使厌恶；排斥；推开 | |
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shrouded
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| v.隐瞒( shroud的过去式和过去分词 )；保密 | |
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15
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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16
concisely
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| adv.简明地 | |
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17
devoid
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| adj.全无的，缺乏的 | |
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18
exquisite
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| adj.精美的；敏锐的；剧烈的，感觉强烈的 | |
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19
purely
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| adv.纯粹地，完全地 | |
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20
tinted
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| adj. 带色彩的 动词tint的过去式和过去分词 | |
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21
imperturbability
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| n.冷静；沉着 | |
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22
smothered
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| （使）窒息， （使）透不过气( smother的过去式和过去分词 )； 覆盖； 忍住； 抑制 | |
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23
grandeur
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| n.伟大，崇高，宏伟，庄严，豪华 | |
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24
ineffable
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| adj.无法表达的，不可言喻的 | |
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25
sensuous
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| adj.激发美感的；感官的，感觉上的 | |
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26
enjoyment
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| n.乐趣；享有；享用 | |
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27
peculiar
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| adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的 | |
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28
pomposity
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| n.浮华；虚夸；炫耀；自负 | |
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29
alluding
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| 提及，暗指( allude的现在分词 ) | |
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30
vent
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| n.通风口，排放口；开衩；vt.表达，发泄 | |
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31
suffusion
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| n.充满 | |
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32
agitation
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| n.搅动；搅拌；鼓动，煽动 | |
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33
bonnet
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| n.无边女帽；童帽 | |
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34
distress
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| n.苦恼，痛苦，不舒适；不幸；vt.使悲痛 | |
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35
deft
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| adj.灵巧的，熟练的（a deft hand 能手） | |
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36
accentuated
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| v.重读( accentuate的过去式和过去分词 )；使突出；使恶化；加重音符号于 | |
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37
deliberately
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| adv.审慎地；蓄意地；故意地 | |
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38
supreme
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| adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的 | |
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39
ebb
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| vi.衰退，减退；n.处于低潮，处于衰退状态 | |
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40
veins
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| n.纹理；矿脉( vein的名词复数 )；静脉；叶脉；纹理 | |
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41
retrieve
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| vt.重新得到，收回；挽回，补救；检索 | |
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42
pittance
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| n.微薄的薪水，少量 | |
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43
sketched
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| v.草拟（sketch的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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44
infinitely
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| adv.无限地，无穷地 | |
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45
determined
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| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
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46
attachment
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| n.附属物，附件；依恋；依附 | |
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47
faltered
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| （嗓音）颤抖( falter的过去式和过去分词 )； 支吾其词； 蹒跚； 摇晃 | |
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48
outright
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| adv.坦率地；彻底地；立即；adj.无疑的；彻底的 | |
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49
decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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50
incapable
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| adj.无能力的，不能做某事的 | |
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51
fervor
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| n.热诚；热心；炽热 | |
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52
intensity
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| n.强烈，剧烈；强度；烈度 | |
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53
prospective
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| adj.预期的，未来的，前瞻性的 | |
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54
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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55
humiliation
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| n.羞辱 | |
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56
scrutiny
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| n.详细检查，仔细观察 | |
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57
disposition
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| n.性情，性格；意向，倾向；排列，部署 | |
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58
overestimate
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| v.估计过高，过高评价 | |
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59
withheld
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| withhold过去式及过去分词 | |
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60
brutal
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| adj.残忍的，野蛮的，不讲理的 | |
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61
odds
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| n.让步，机率，可能性，比率；胜败优劣之别 | |
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62
atone
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| v.赎罪，补偿 | |
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63
intercourse
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| n.性交；交流，交往，交际 | |
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64
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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65
folly
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| n.愚笨，愚蠢，蠢事，蠢行，傻话 | |
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66
prettily
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| adv.优美地；可爱地 | |
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67
behooves
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| n.利益，好处( behoof的名词复数 )v.适宜( behoove的第三人称单数 ) | |
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68
fickle
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| adj.(爱情或友谊上)易变的，不坚定的 | |
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69
ardent
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| adj.热情的，热烈的，强烈的，烈性的 | |
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70
pointed
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| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
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71
rupture
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| n.破裂；(关系的)决裂；v.(使)破裂 | |
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72
mutual
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| adj.相互的，彼此的；共同的，共有的 | |
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73
diplomacy
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| n.外交；外交手腕，交际手腕 | |
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74
insignificant
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| adj.无关紧要的，可忽略的，无意义的 | |
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75
utterly
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| adv.完全地，绝对地 | |
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76
frustrated
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| adj.挫败的，失意的，泄气的v.使不成功( frustrate的过去式和过去分词 )；挫败；使受挫折；令人沮丧 | |
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77
situated
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| adj.坐落在...的，处于某种境地的 | |
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78
inevitably
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| adv.不可避免地；必然发生地 | |
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79
dreary
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| adj.令人沮丧的，沉闷的，单调乏味的 | |
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80
conjecture
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| n./v.推测，猜测 | |
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81
mortification
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| n.耻辱，屈辱 | |
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82
fully
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| adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地 | |
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83
promising
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| adj.有希望的，有前途的 | |
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84
undoubtedly
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| adv.确实地，无疑地 | |
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85
gasps
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| v.喘气( gasp的第三人称单数 )；喘息；倒抽气；很想要 | |
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86
commiseration
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| n.怜悯，同情 | |
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87
eminently
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| adv.突出地；显著地；不寻常地 | |
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88
ego
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| n.自我，自己，自尊 | |
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89
bestow
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| v.把…赠与，把…授予；花费 | |
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90
humbly
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| adv. 恭顺地，谦卑地 | |
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91
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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92
agitating
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| 搅动( agitate的现在分词 )； 激怒； 使焦虑不安； （尤指为法律、社会状况的改变而）激烈争论 | |
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93
tormenting
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| 使痛苦的，使苦恼的 | |
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94
tormented
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| 饱受折磨的 | |
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95
seething
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| 沸腾的，火热的 | |
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96
beseech
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| v.祈求，恳求 | |
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97
housekeeper
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| n.管理家务的主妇，女管家 | |
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98
overestimated
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| 对（数量）估计过高，对…作过高的评价( overestimate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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99
soothing
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| adj.慰藉的；使人宽心的；镇静的 | |
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100
reassurance
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| n.使放心，使消除疑虑 | |
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101
entreated
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| 恳求，乞求( entreat的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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102
luncheon
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| n.午宴，午餐，便宴 | |
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103
implored
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| 恳求或乞求（某人）( implore的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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104
acquiesced
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| v.默认，默许( acquiesce的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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105
sufficiently
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| adv.足够地，充分地 | |
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106
attested
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| adj.经检验证明无病的，经检验证明无菌的v.证明( attest的过去式和过去分词 )；证实；声称…属实；使宣誓 | |
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107
awe
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| n.敬畏，惊惧；vt.使敬畏，使惊惧 | |
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108
tangled
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| adj. 纠缠的，紊乱的 动词tangle的过去式和过去分词 | |
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109
apathy
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| n.漠不关心，无动于衷；冷淡 | |
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110
contented
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| adj.满意的，安心的，知足的 | |
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111
stifled
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| （使）窒息， （使）窒闷( stifle的过去式和过去分词 )； 镇压，遏制； 堵 | |
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112
mansion
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| n.大厦，大楼；宅第 | |
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113
craved
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| 渴望，热望( crave的过去式 )； 恳求，请求 | |
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114
repose
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| v.(使)休息；n.安息 | |
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115
dame
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| n.女士 | |
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116
solicitude
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| n.焦虑 | |
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117
reassuringly
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| ad.安心，可靠 | |
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118
coax
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| v.哄诱，劝诱，用诱哄得到，诱取 | |
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119
eluded
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| v.（尤指机敏地）避开( elude的过去式和过去分词 )；逃避；躲避；使达不到 | |
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120
delusion
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| n.谬见，欺骗，幻觉，迷惑 | |
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121
impersonal
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| adj.无个人感情的，与个人无关的，非人称的 | |
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122
trenchant
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| adj.尖刻的，清晰的 | |
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123
mentality
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| n.心理，思想，脑力 | |
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124
cynical
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| adj.(对人性或动机)怀疑的，不信世道向善的 | |
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125
inborn
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| adj.天生的，生来的，先天的 | |
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126
passionately
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| ad.热烈地，激烈地 | |
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127
emanated
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| v.从…处传出，传出( emanate的过去式和过去分词 )；产生，表现，显示 | |
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128
neatly
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| adv.整洁地，干净地，灵巧地，熟练地 | |
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129
salute
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| vi.行礼，致意，问候，放礼炮；vt.向…致意，迎接，赞扬；n.招呼，敬礼，礼炮 | |
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130
unaware
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| a.不知道的，未意识到的 | |
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131
subtlety
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| n.微妙，敏锐，精巧；微妙之处，细微的区别 | |
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132
lavish
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| adj.无节制的；浪费的；vt.慷慨地给予，挥霍 | |
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133
orchids
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| n.兰花( orchid的名词复数 ) | |
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134
resentment
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| n.怨愤，忿恨 | |
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135
ardor
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| n.热情，狂热 | |
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136
positively
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| adv.明确地，断然，坚决地；实在，确实 | |
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137
adherence
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| n.信奉，依附，坚持，固着 | |
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138
loyalty
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| n.忠诚，忠心 | |
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139
devotedly
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| 专心地； 恩爱地； 忠实地； 一心一意地 | |
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