“You are kind and generous-hearted, as you ever were,” was the rejoinder, “but I cannot forget so readily”—here she paused, sighed deeply, then continued—“I am so glad to have had this—this conversation with you; your manner has been so cold and stern, I was afraid you had repented of your promise that if we ever met again it should be as friends.”
“Well, you see,” returned Harry, in an embarrassed tone, “you see circumstances have changed with me since the time to which you refer; and I thought—in fact, you yourself said in that note it would be better—I assure you I meant nothing unkind, why should I? as long as you——” and here, having been on the point of “putting his foot in it,” as he mentally paraphrased his colloquial étourderie, Harry paused in confusion, actually blushing in his generous fear of wounding his companion’s feelings. Having relieved his embarrassment by giving that unfortunate scapegoat, the white-nosed horse, one more for himself, he resumed—“And now let me ask you whether you approve of the wife I have chosen?”
Harry made this inquiry, not because he felt particularly anxious to learn Arabella’s opinion of Alice, but because he wanted to say something, and this was the first idea which occurred to him, thus the moment he had spoken he wished the speech unsaid. Miss Crofton hesitated for a moment ere she replied, in a slightly constrained tone of voice—
“Your choice does your taste credit; for, in her style, Mrs. Coverdale is singularly pretty, and I can imagine her very attractive—when she pleases.”
“You speak as if she had not pleased, in your case,” rejoined Harry, smiling at the unmistakable emphasis with which the concluding words had been spoken. Miss Crofton smiled also; then with a melancholy expression she replied—
“In my anomalous position in life, I am too well accustomed to slights to feel a moment’s annoyance at such trifles.”
“But it annoys me though,” returned Coverdale, firing up with the indignation all generous natures feel at the idea of indignity being offered to any one in a dependent situation. “I am surprised at such want of right feeling, or even common courtesy, in Alice! She cannot be aware of the impression her manner has made on you. I shall speak to her about it.”
“Do not think of such a thing!” exclaimed Arabella, hastily; “it was folly in me to mention it:”—she fixed her eyes on his face, and reading there that his resolution was unchanged, she laid her hand gently on his arm, and continued. “Listen, and I will tell you the whole truth: womanly instinct, I suppose, made your wife dislike me from the first moment she was introduced to me. I have tried in vain to conquer her dislike, and we now, by a sort of tacit consent, avoid each other; were you to interfere in my behalf, it would be of no avail; on the contrary, it would increase the evil, and, pardon my saying, might lead to a disagreement between you; for, I may be mistaken, but I have fancied Mrs. Coverdale appears a little impatient of control sometimes—I hope I am mistaken.”
She waited for a reply; but Harry, not being able to deny the charge, and not choosing to assent to it, remained silent, and she, rightly interpreting his reserve, continued:—
“In that case, I implore you, do not dream of advocating my cause. Were I to be the occasion of any difference between you, it would render me most unhappy.”