The Woman with One Hand (and) Mr. Ely's Engagement Part 21

"That I would earn my prize."

"How could you do that?"

"Ah! how indeed! For, truly, it could not be earned. But when I saw you first I was the laziest of men. Until that hour I had thrown my life away. I told myself that until I had done something to redeem the past, until I had made my mark upon the time, I might not make my pet.i.tion for the prize."

"Then it is your fault, my friend."

"If there is a fault, it certainly is mine, for I am full of fault.

But what especial evil have I done?"

She removed her hands from his, and tapping a pebble with her little foot, she smiled.

"You can never guess."

"Is it so black a crime?"

Suddenly she put her two hands to her face and laughed. But her cheeks were crimson all the same.

"Oh! what have I done? I shall never dare to tell." She peeped at him round the edges of her hands. "Shall you be angry with me, Will?"

"Never, if you call me Will!"

"Do you know--- But let me begin at the beginning." She removed her hands, and putting them behind her back, looked at him shyly, and then looked down. "Do you know, I thought that you would never come again."

He laughed, and there was something in his laughter made her laugh too. "So I was not happy--for I loved you all the time." He laughed again, and, putting his arm about her waist, drew her closer to his side. "Do you know what happened yesterday?"

"Did the cat drink all the cream?"

"No, worse than that--for we haven't got a cat. Have you forgotten Pompey, sir? Somebody asked me to be his wife!"

"What! Who?"

"Do you know Mr. Frederic Ely?"

"Good heavens! Was he the man?"

"What man? w.i.l.l.y--surely you do not know!"

"So that was what he was coming into the country for! To think of the little beggar's impudence. And I wished him luck, by gad!"

He laughed. But she was still.

"w.i.l.l.y! what do you mean? Do you know all about it, then?"

"Why, it was a bargain, sweet. He was to try his luck, and then I mine. I was so sure of you, you see!"

She released herself from his embrace, and again covering her face with her hands, she s.h.i.+vered.

"What have you done?"

"It was this way; let me unfold the tale. I went to Mr. Ash and told him what you know: how all my life was centred in my love for you. He told me that just before I came another man had brought to him the self-same tale."

"Surely not quite the same? Surely he did not say that all his life was centred in his love for me?"

"No, not exactly that! Yet, sweet, why not? For who shall know you and not love you as his life? But at least another man had come to him who wished to win your hand--that priceless hand! And he had given him his word. So it was agreed that he should try his fortune first, and if he failed--I knew that he would fail!--I should try mine. And if I won--ah, how I longed to win!--Mr. Ash would crown success with his consent."

Silence reigned again. They stood a little way apart, he with his eyes fixed on her face, she with hers upon the ground.

"What have I done?" The words were whispered in an undertone. Then she looked up at him with a sudden fire in her eyes. "Do you know what I have done? I have promised this other man to be his wife."

"What! Good G.o.d! Lily! what do you mean?"

"He asked me to be his wife. I said I would. I thought that you were false, you see."

"You thought that I was false! But--it is madness! It is a foolish dream!"

"Do not look so utterly dismayed. You said that you would not be vexed, you know. Besides, now it is another thing."

"Another thing! But--Lily, tell me exactly what it is that you have done."

"I will tell you just exactly what it is that I have done. To begin, then. You see, I have not been happy--ever since you went away."

"You foolish maid! And yet you wisest of them all."

"I waited--oh, Will, I waited such a weary time! I thought that you would write, or--or do something that you never did. And at last I began to think that waiting was in vain. And when I was in the most hopeless of my hopeless moods--it was no further back than yesterday, yet it seemed years ago!"--she put forth her hand and touched his arm, and he laughed beneath his breath--"a letter came from Mr. Ash. He said that Mr. Ely was coming here. I showed the letter to my aunt. She seemed to take it for granted that I would do exactly what my guardian wished me to--as though it were a decree that was written in the skies. So when he came, and asked me to be his wife--just out of spite and wickedness I said I would. He never asked me if I loved him; he never pretended even to love me. It was just a bargain: I was to be his wife."

"My little love! What is it you have done? And now, pray, what is it that you mean to do?"

"I shall write and tell him I have changed my mind."

"Changed your mind! What do you suppose that he will say to that?"

"Why, what can he say? It is like a commercial treaty which is in the air. There are some of the clauses to which I am unable to agree. So I withdraw from the negotiations and refuse to sign."

"One thing is sure: you cannot be his wife."

"Will, I am just like you! I love you better than my life!"

"Sweetheart! Then I have won the prize! I thought that I had won the prize! Will you forgive me my presumption in that I thought that I had won the prize?"

"You should not have kept me so long waiting. It is your fault that I have sinned."

"You shall not have cause again to esteem me false; and observe, fair maid, I had a higher estimate of you."

"w.i.l.l.y! That is unkind!"

Then she turned her face up to his, and when he saw that sweet face upturned and those sweet eyes, what could he do but kiss, not once nor twice, but many times, those sweetest lips? And by this time the two were close together. He had his arm about her waist and pressed her to his breast.

"Do you know that, from my point of view, fair queen, this was worth waiting for?"