The Complete Writings of Charles Dudley Warner Part 210

This clever woman never showed more courage or more tact than in this campaign, and was never more agreeable and fascinating. She was even popular. If she was not accepted as a leader, she had a certain standing with the leaders, as a person of vivacity and social influence. Any company was eager for her presence. Her activity, spirit, and affability quite won the regard of the society reporters, and those who know Newport only through the newspapers would have concluded that the Mavicks were on the top of the wave. She, however, perfectly understood her position, and knew that the sweet friends, who exchanged with her, whenever they met, the conventional phrases of affection commented sarcastically upon her ambitions for her daughter. It was, at the same time, an ambition that they perfectly understood, and did not condemn on any ethical grounds. Evelyn was certainly a sweet girl, rather queerly educated, and never likely to make much of a dash, but she was an heiress, and why should not her money be put to the patriotic use of increasing the growing Anglo-American cordiality?

Lord Montague was, of course, a favorite, in demand for all functions, and in request for the private and intimate entertainments. He was an authority in the stables and the kennels, and an eager comrade in all the sports of the island. His easy manner, his self-possession everywhere, even his slangy talk, were accepted as evidence that he was above conventionalities. "The little man isn't a beauty," said Sally McTabb, "but he shows 'race.'" He might be eccentric, but when you came to know him you couldn't help liking the embryo duke in him.

In fact, things were going very well with Mrs. Mavick, except in her own household. There was something there that did not yield, that did not flow with her plans. With Lord Montague she was on the most intimate and confidential relations. He was almost daily at the house. Often she drove with him; frequently Evelyn was with them. Indeed, the three came to be a.s.sociated in the public mind. There could be no doubt of the intentions of the young n.o.bleman. That he could meet any opposition was not conceived.

The n.o.ble lord, since they had been in Newport, had freely opened his mind to Mrs. Mavick, and on a fit occasion had formally requested her daughter's hand. Needless to say that he was accepted. Nay, more, he felt that he was trusted like a son. He was given every opportunity to press his suit. Somewhat to his surprise, he did not appear to make much headway. He was rarely able to see her alone, even for a moment.

Such evasiveness in a young girl to a man of his rank astonished him.

There could be no reason for it in himself; there must be some influence at work unknown to his social experience.

He did not reproach Mrs. Mavick with this, but he let her see that he was very much annoyed.

"If I had not your a.s.surance to the contrary, Mrs. Mavick," he said one day in a pet, "I should think she shunned me."

"Oh, no, Lord Montague, that could not be. I told you that she had had a peculiar education; she is perfectly ignorant of the world, she is shy, and--well, for a girl in her position, she is unconventional. She is so young that she does not yet understand what life is."

"You mean she does not know what I offer her?"

"Why, my dear Lord Montague, did you ever offer her anything?"

"Not flat, no," said my lord, hesitating. "Every time I approach her she s.h.i.+es off like a young filly. There is something I don't understand."

"Evelyn," and Mrs. Mavick spoke with feeling, "is an affectionate and dutiful child. She has never thought of marriage. The prospect is all new to her. But I am sure she would learn to love you if she knew you and her mind were once turned upon such a union. My lord, why not say to her what you feel, and make the offer you intend? You cannot expect a young girl to show her inclination before she is asked." And Mrs. Mavick laughed a little to dispel the seriousness.

"By Jove! that's so, good enough. I'll do it straight out. I'll tell her to take it or leave it. No, I don't mean that, of course. I'll tell her that I can't live without her--that sort of thing, you know. And I can't, that's just the fact."

"You can leave it confidently to her good judgment and to the friends.h.i.+p of the family for you."

Lord Montague was silent for a moment, and seemed to be looking at a problem in his shrewd mind. For he had a shrewd mind, which took in the whole situation, Mrs. Mavick and all, with a perspicacity that would have astonished that woman of the world.

"There is one thing, perhaps I ought not to say it, but I have seen it, and it is in my head that it is that--I beg your pardon, madam--that d.a.m.ned governess."

The shot went home. The suggestion, put into language that could be more easily comprehended than defended, illuminated Mrs. Mavick's mind in a flash, seeming to disclose the source of an opposition to her purposes which secretly irritated her. Doubtless it was the governess. It was her influence that made Evelyn less pliable and amenable to reason than a young girl with such social prospects as she had would naturally be.

Besides, how absurd it was that a young lady in society should still have a governess. A companion? The proper companion for a girl on the edge of matrimony was her mother!

XXI

This idea, once implanted in Mrs. Mavick's mind, bore speedy fruit. No one would have accused her of being one of those uncomfortable persons who are always guided by an inflexible sense of justice, nor could it be said that she was unintelligently unjust. Facile as she was, in all her successful life she had never acted upon impulse, but from a conscience keenly alive to what was just to herself. Miss McDonald was in the way.

And Mrs. Mavick had one quality of good generals.h.i.+p--she acted promptly on her convictions.

When Mr. Mavick came over next day to spend Sunday in what was called in print the bosom of his family, he looked very much worn and haggard and was in an irritated mood. He had been very little in Newport that summer, the disturbed state of business confining him to the city. And to a man of his age, New York in midsummer in a panicky season is not a recreation.

The moment Mrs. Mavick got her husband alone she showed a lively solicitude about his health.

"I suppose it has been dreadfully hot in the city?"

"Hot enough. Everything makes it hot."

"Has anything gone wrong? Has that odious Ault turned up again?"

"Turned up is the word. Half the time that man is a mole, half the time a bull in a china-shop. He sails up to you bearing your own flag, and when he gets aboard he shows the skull and cross-bones."

"Is it so bad as that?"

"As bad as what? He is a bad lot, but he is just an adventurer--a Napoleon who will get his Waterloo before fall. Don't bother about things you don't understand. How are things down here?"

"Going swimmingly." "So I judged by the bills. How is the lord?"

"Now don't be vulgar, Tom. You must keep up your end. Lord Montague is very nice; he is a great favorite here."

"Does Evelyn like him?"

"Yes, she likes him; she likes him very much."

"She didn't show it to me."

"No, she is awfully shy. And she is rather afraid of him, the big t.i.tle and all that. And then she has never been accustomed to act for herself.

She is old enough to be independent and to take her place in the world.

At her age I was not in leading-strings."

"I should say not," said Mavick.

"Except in obedience to my mother," continued Carmen, not deigning to notice the sarcasm. "And I've been thinking that McDonald--"

"So you want to get rid of her?"

"What a brutal way of putting it! No. But if Evelyn is ever to be self-reliant it is time she should depend more on herself. You know I am devoted to McDonald. And, what is more, I am used to her. I wasn't thinking of her. You don't realize that Evelyn is a young lady in society, and it has become ridiculous for her to still have a governess.

Everybody would say so."

"Well, call her a companion."

"Ah, don't you see it would be the same? She would still be under her influence and not able to act for herself."

"What are you going to do? Turn her adrift after eighteen--what is it, seventeen?--years of faithful service?"

"How brutally you put it. I'm going to tell McDonald just how it is.

She is a sensible woman, and she will see that it is for Evelyn's good.

And then it happens very luckily. Mrs. Van Cortlandt asked me last winter if I wouldn't let her have McDonald for her little girl when we were through with her. She knew, of course, that we couldn't keep a governess much longer for Evelyn. I am going to write to her. She will jump at the chance."

"And McDonald?"

"Oh, she likes Mrs. Van Cortlandt. It will just suit her."

"And Evelyn? That will be another wrench." Men are so foolishly tender-hearted about women.

"Of course, I know it seems hard, and will be for a little. But it is for Evelyn's good, I am perfectly sure."