At last he saw her, almost by accident, and that meeting certainly was not fit for the purpose of his suit.He called at Stone Buildings the day after her arrival, and found her at her father's chambers.She had come there keeping some appointment with him, and certainly had not expected to meet her lover.He was confused and hardly able to say a word to account for his presence, but she greeted him with almost sisterly affection, saying some word of Longbarns and his family, telling him how Everett, to Alured's great delight, had been sworn in as a magistrate for the County, and how at the last hunt meeting John Fletcher had been asked to take the County hounds because Lord Weobly at seventy-five had declared himself to be unable any longer to ride as a master of hounds ought to ride.All these things Arthur had of course heard, such news being too important to be kept long from him; but on none of these subjects had he much to say.He stuttered and stammered, and quickly went away;--not, however, before he had promised to come to dine as usual on the next Sunday, and not without observing that the anniversary of that fatal day of release had done something to lighten the sombre load of mourning which the widow had hitherto worn.
Yes;--he would dine there on the Sunday, but how would it be with him then? Mr Wharton never went out of the house on a Sunday evening, and could hardly be expected to leave his own drawing-room for the sake of giving a lover an opportunity.No;--he must wait till that evening should have passed, and then make the occasion for himself as best he might.The Sunday came and the dinner was eaten, and after dinner there was a single bottle of port and the single bottle of claret.'How do you think she is looking?' asked the father.'She was as pale as death before we got her down into the country.'
'Upon my word, sir,' said he, 'I've hardly looked at her.It is not a matter of looks now, as it used to be.It has got beyond that.It is not that I am indifferent to seeing a pretty face, or that I have no longer an opinion of my own about a woman's figure.But there grows up, I think, a longing which almost kills that consideration.'
'To me she is as beautiful as ever,' said the father proudly.
Fletcher did manage, when in the drawing-room to talk for a while about John and the hounds, and then went away, having resolved that he would come again on the very next day.Surely she would not give an order that he should be denied admittance.She had been too calm, too even, to confident of herself for that.Yes;--he would come and tell her plainly what he had to say.He would tell it with all the solemnity of which he was capable, with a few words, and those the strongest of which he could use.
Should she refuse him;--as he almost knew that she would at first,--then he would tell her of her father and of the wishes of all their joint friends.'Nothing,' he would say to her, 'nothing but personal dislike can justify you in refusing to heal many wounds.' As he fixed on these words he failed to remember how little probable it is that a lover should ever be able to use the phrases which he arranges.
On the Monday he came, and asked for Mrs Lopez, slurring over the word as best he could.The butler said his mistress was at home.
Since the death of the man he had so thoroughly despised, the old servant had never called her Mrs Lopez.Arthur was shown upstairs, and found the lady he sought,--but he found Mrs Roby also.It may be remembered that Mrs Roby, after the tragedy, had been refused admittance into Mr Wharton's house.Since that there had been some correspondence, and a feeling had prevailed that the woman was not to be quarrelled with forever.'I did not do it, papa, because of her,' Emily said with some scorn, and that scorn had procured Mrs Roby's pardon.She was now making a morning call, and suiting her conversation to the black dress of her niece.Arthur was horrified at seeing her.Mrs Roby had always been to him odious, not only as a personal enemy but as a vulgar woman.He, at any rate, attributed on her a great part of the evil that had been done, feeling sure that had there been no house round the corner, Emily Wharton would never have become Mrs Lopez.As it was he was forced to shake hands with her, and forced to listen to the funereal tone in which Mrs Roby asked him if he did not think that Mrs Lopez looked much improved since her sojourn in Hertfordshire.He shrank at the sound, and then, in order that it might not be repeated, took occasion to show that he was allowed to call his early playmate by her Christian name.
Mrs Roby, thinking that she ought to check him, remarked that Mrs Lopez's return was a great thing for Mr Wharton.Thereupon Arthur Fletcher seized his hat off the ground, wished them both good-bye, and hurried out of the room.'What a very odd manner he has taken up since he became a Member of Parliament,' said Mrs Roby.
Emily was silent for a moment, and then with an effort,--with intense pain,--she said a word or two which she thought had better be at once spoken.'He went because he does not like to hear that name.'
'Good gracious!'
'And papa does not like it.Don't say a word about it, aunt;pray don't,--but call me Emily.'
'Are you going to be ashamed of your name?'
'Never mind, aunt.If you think it wrong, you must stay away;--but I will not have papa wounded.'
'Oh;--if Mr Wharton wishes it;--of course.' That evening Mrs Roby told Dick Roby, her husband, what an old fool Mr Wharton was.
The next day quite early, Fletcher was again at the house and was again admitted upstairs.The butler, no doubt, knew well enough why he came, and also knew that the purport of his coming had at any rate the sanction of Mr Wharton.The room was empty when he was shown into it, but she came to him very soon.'I went away yesterday rather abruptly,' he said.'I hope you did not think me rude.'
'Oh no.'
'Your aunt was here, and I had something I wished to say but could not say it very well before her.'
'I knew that she had driven you away.You and Aunt Harriet were never great friends.'