Dr. Wainwright's Patient: A Novel

by Edmund Yates

"What was her reason? Did she not care for him?" asked Mrs. Derinzy, almost in a whisper. She was subdued by the earnestness of George's manner, and some womanly feelings, which, though tepid, still had a place in her worldly scheming nature, were touched.

It was fortunate for the zeal and sincerity of George's advocacy of the cause of the loves of Paul and Daisy, that he was entirely ignorant of the Orpington episode. He had no actual acquaintance with the other motives which had influenced Miss Stafford to reject Paul's proposal of marriage, or the arguments with which she enforced them.

He had a general idea of the ground she had taken up throughout--the ground of their social inequality, the inadequacy of means, and the inevitable grief to which a marriage contracted under those grave disadvantages must come; and he had, on the whole, approved her views, until he had beheld their practical effect. He detailed to Mrs. Derinzy his conviction concerning Miss Stafford's reasons, and stoutly maintained that those reasons were quite consistent with a disinterested attachment to Paul, and with a sound and elevated sense of self-respect. To this view of the subject Paul's mother was entirely indifferent. When it was made plain to her--as it was with irresistible clearness, which not even the obstinacy of an illiberal woman sitting in judgment on a social inferior could resist--that Miss Stafford's character was unblemished, in the ordinary sense of the phrase, she was obliged to shift her ground; and thenceforth her anxiety was to be convinced that Daisy had really refused to marry her son, and to be assured that she was likely to maintain her resolution. In her solicitude on this point, Mrs. Derinzy was even ready to praise Miss Stafford.

It was most wise of her; it showed an unusual degree of sense and judgment in one so young, and necessarily so ignorant of the world; and really it was impossible to praise such good taste too highly. Mrs. Derinzy could assure Miss Stafford, from her own observation, which she had had many opportunities of confirming, that these unequal marriages never "did." They always resulted in misery to the wife. When the husband outlived the first infatuation, and began to find society and old habits essential to his comfort, society would not have the wife, and she could not fit in with the old habits; and then came impatience and disgust, and all the rest of it. Oh no, such marriages never "did;" and Mrs. Derinzy was delighted to learn--delighted for the girl's own sake; for Mr. Wainwright's narrative had inspired her with quite an interest in this deserving young person--that she had acted with so much judgment and discretion. She really deserved to prosper, and Mrs. Derinzy was quite ready to wish her, after the most disinterested fashion, the utmost amount of good fortune which should not involve her marriage with Paul.

But this was precisely the contingency towards which it was George's object to direct her thoughts. Notwithstanding the ambiguity with which Daisy had spoken, he believed that she would be ready to sacrifice all her pride, and to lay aside all her misgivings, when, the great relief of Paul's being out of immediate danger realised, she should be convinced that his health and his peace must alike depend on her; and when that time should have come, much would depend upon his mother. Happily, George had judgment as well as zeal, and contented himself on this occasion with convincing Mrs. Derinzy, not only that there was no contamination to be dreaded in the presence of the "young person" under whose watchful care her son was struggling back to life, but that she owed it to Daisy to show, by immediately visiting Paul, and recognising her properly, that she was willing to undo the compromising impression which her refusal to enter Paul's room had produced. Those were two great points to gain in one interview; and when he had gained them, with the addition of having his offer to escort Mrs. Derinzy to Paul's lodgings accepted, he bethought himself, for positively the first time, of the Captain.

Was he at home? was he much alarmed? George asked.

The Captain was not at home; was out of town for a couple of days, in fact; had gone to some races, Mrs. Derinzy did not remember where; she knew so little about things of that kind, all the racing places were pretty much alike to her.

George politely suggested that the Captain's absence was fortunate; he would not have much suspense to suffer; there was every reason to hope all danger would be at an end before his return.

To which Mrs. Derinzy replied with some sharpness that Captain Derinzy was not endowed with susceptible nerves, and that he was not easily alarmed by any illness except his own.

They went out together, and George took leave of Mrs. Derinzy at the door of Paul's lodgings, having ascertained that the doctor had again seen the patient, and pronounced that there was no change to be expected in his condition for some time. He lingered for a moment until Mrs. Derinzy had begun to ascend the stairs under convoy of a maid, and then he turned away, hoping for favourable results from this strange and momentous meeting between Daisy and Paul's mother; and glad on his own account that a rupture between himself and the Derinzys, which his interference had appeared to render imminent, was at least postponed.