'Oh no, I didn't. I'm not in love with her now. But I think she's beautiful. I mean she has a beautiful soul—she has atmosphere, she has something that I need. I could live in the same house with her in perfect harmony for ever. I could teach her to understand my Things. She does already by instinct.'
'You're marrying her as a kind of custodian for your collection?'
'A great deal, of course. And, then, I couldn't marry a young girl. It would be ridiculous. A society woman—a regular beauty—would jar on me and irritate me. She would think herself more important than my pictures.'
Cecil could hardly help a smile, angry as he was.
'And Mrs Raymond,' went on Lord Selsey, 'is delightfully unworldly—and yet sensible. Of course, she's not a bit in love with me either. But she likes me awfully, and I persuaded her. It was all done by argument.'
'I could never persuade her,' said Cecil bitterly.
'Of course not. She has such a sense of form. She saw the incongruity…. I needn't ask you to forgive me, old boy. I know, of course, there's nothing to forgive. You've got over your fancy, or you will very soon. I haven't injured you in any sort of way, and I didn't take her away from you. She's ten years older than you, and nine years younger than me…. You're still my heir just the same. This will make no difference, and you'll soon be reconciled. I'm sure of that.'
'Of course, I'm not such a brute as not to be glad, for her,' said Cecil slowly, after a slight struggle. 'It seems a bit rough, though, at first.' He held out his hand.
'Thanks, dear old boy. You see I'm right. You can't be angry with me…. You see it's a peculiar case. It won't be like an ordinary marriage, a young married couple and so on, nor a mariage de convenance, either, in the ordinary sense. Here are two lonely people intending to live solitary lives. Suddenly, you—most kindly, I must say—introduce us. I, with my great experience and my instinctive flair, see immediately that this is the right woman in the right place. I bother her until she consents—and there you are.'
'I hope you'll be happy.'