The Irrational Knot Part 50

"Yes. It makes the house pleasant for them; it makes them attentive to you; and it gives you great power for good. When I was a romantic boy, any good woman could have made a saint of me. Let them fall in love with you as much as they please. Afterwards they will seek wives according to a higher standard than if they had never known you. But do not return the compliment, or your influence will become an evil one."

"Ned: I had not intended to tell you this; but now I will. Sholto Douglas not only loves me, but he told me so to-day."

"Of course. A man always does tell it, sooner or later."

Marian sat down on the sofa and looked at him for some time gravely and a little wistfully. "I think," she said, "I should feel very angry if any woman made such a confession to you."

"A Christian British lady does not readily forgive a breach of convention; nor a woman an invasion of her privileges, even when they have become a burden to her."

"What do you mean by that?" she said, rising.

"Marian," he said, looking straight at her: "are you dissatisfied?"

"What reason have I to--"

"Never mind the reasons. Are you?"

"No," said she, steadfastly.

He smiled indulgently; pressed her hand for a moment against his cheek; and went out for the short walk he was accustomed to take before retiring.

CHAPTER XV

In October Marian was at Sark, holiday making at the house of Hardy McQuinch's brother, who had recently returned to England with a fortune made in Australia. Conolly, having the house at Holland Park to himself, fitted a spare room as a laboratory, and worked there every night. One evening, returning home alone a little before five o'clock, he shut himself into this laboratory, and had just set to work when Armande, the housemaid, interrupted him.

"Mrs. Leith Fairfax, sir."

Conolly had had little intercourse with Mrs. Fairfax since before his marriage, when he had once shewn her the working of his invention at Queen Victoria Street; and as Marian had since resented her share of Douglas's second proposal by avoiding her society as far as possible without actually discontinuing her acquaintance, this visit was a surprise. Conolly looked darkly at Armande, and went to the drawing-room without a word.

"_How_ do you do, Mr. Conolly?" said Mrs. Fairfax, as he entered. "I need not ask: you are looking so well. Have I disturbed you?"

"You have--most agreeably. Pray sit down."

"I know your time is priceless. I should never have ventured to come, but that I felt sure you would like to hear all the news from Sark. I have been there for the last fortnight. Marian told me to call on you the moment I returned."

"Yes," said Conolly, convinced that this was not true. "She promised to do so in her last letter."

Mrs. Fairfax, on the point of publis.h.i.+ng a few supplementary fictions, checked herself, and looked suspiciously at him.

"The air of Sark has evidently benefited you," he said, as she paused.

"You are looking very well--I had almost said charming."

Mrs. Fairfax glanced archly at him, and said, "Nonsense! but, indeed, the trip was absolutely necessary for me. I should hardly have been alive had I remained at work; and poor Willie McQuinch was bent on having me."

"He has been described to me as an inveterate lion hunter."

"It is not at all pleasant, I a.s.sure you, to be persecuted with invitations from people who wish to see a real live novelist. But William McQuinch's place at Sark is really palatial. He is called Sarcophagus on account of his wealth. A great many people whom he knew were staying in the island, besides those in the house with us. Marian was the beauty of the place. How every one admires her! Why do you not go down, Mr. Conolly?"

"I am too busy. Besides, it will do Marian good to be rid of me for a while."

"Absurd, Mr. Conolly! You should not leave her there by herself."

"By herself! Why, is not the place full?"

"Yes; but I do not mean that. There is n.o.body belonging to her there."

"You forget. Miss McQuinch is her bosom friend. There is Marmaduke, her cousin; and his mother, her Aunt Dora. Then, is there not Mr. Sholto Douglas, one of her oldest and most attached friends?"

"Oh! Is Mr. Douglas in charge of her?"

"No doubt he will take charge of her, if she is overtaken by her second childhood whilst he is there. Meanwhile, she is in charge of herself, is she not? And there is hardly any danger of her feeling lonely."

"No. Sholto Douglas will provide against that."

"Your opinion confirms the accounts I have had from other sources. It appears that Mr. Douglas is very attentive to my wife."

"Very, indeed, Mr. Conolly. You must not think that I am afraid of anything--anything--"

"Anything?"

"Well--Oh, you know what I mean. Anything wrong. At least, not exactly wrong, but--"

"Anything undomestic."

"Yes. You see, Marian's position is a very difficult one. She is so young and so good looking that she is very much observed; and it seems so strange her being without her husband."

"Pretty ladies whose husbands are never seen, often get talked about in the world, do they not?"

"That is just what I mean. How cleverly you get everything out of me, Mr. Conolly! I called here without the faintest idea of alluding to Marian's situation; and now you have made me say all sorts of things.

What a fortune you would have made at the bar!"

"I must apologize, I did not mean to cross-examine you. Naturally, of course, you would not like to make me uneasy about Marian."

"It is the very last thing I should desire. But now that it has slipped out, I really think you ought to go to Sark."

"Indeed! I rather infer that I should be very much in the way."

"The more reason for you to go, Mr. Conolly."

"Not at all, Mrs. Leith Fairfax. The attentions of a husband are stale, unsuited to holiday time. Picture to yourself my arrival at Sark with the tender a.s.surance in my mouth, 'Marian, I love you.' She would reply, 'So you ought. Am I not your wife?' The same advance from another--Mr.

Douglas, for instance--would affect her quite differently, and much more pleasantly."

"Mr. Conolly; is this indifference, or supreme confidence?"

"Neither of these conjugal claptraps. I merely desire that Marian should enjoy herself as much as possible; and the more a woman is admired, the happier she is. Perhaps you think that, in deference to the general feeling in such matters, I should become jealous."