Marry her? Yes, he would marry her; she should be his wife. His people?
It was a pity. Poor old people--they would fret and worry. He had been
selfish, had not thought of them? Well, who could foresee this outrage
of journalism? The luck had been dead against him. Did he not know
plenty of men in London--he was going to say the Commons, but he was
fairer to the Commons than it, as a body, would be to him--who did much
worse? These had escaped: the hunters had been after him. What would
he do? Take the whip? He got to his feet with an oath. Take the whip?
Never--never! He would fight this thing tooth and nail. Had he come
to England to let them use him for a sensation only--a sequence of
surprises, to end in a tragedy, all for the furtive pleasure of the
British breakfast-table? No, by the Eternal! What had the first Gaston
done? He had fought--fought Villiers and others, and had held up his
head beside his King and Rupert till the hour of Naseby.
When the summer was over he would return to Paris, to London. The
journalist--punish him? No; too little--a product of his time. But the
British people he would fight, and he would not give up Ridley Court.
He could throw the game over when it was all his, but never when it was
going dead against him.
That speech in the Commons? He remembered gladly that he had contended
for conceptions of social miseries according to surrounding influences
of growth and situation. He had not played the hypocrite.
No, not even with Delia. He had acted honestly at the beginning,
and afterwards he had done what he could so long as he could. It was
inevitable that she must be hurt, even if he had married, not giving
her what he had given this dompteuse. After all, was it so terrible? It
could not affect her much in the eyes of the world. And her heart? He
did not flatter himself. Yet he knew that it would be the thing--the
fallen idol--that would grieve her more than thought of the man. He
wished that he could have spared her in the circumstances. But it had
all come too suddenly: it was impossible. He had spared, he could spare,
nobody. There was the whole situation. What now to do?--To remain here
while it pleased them, then Paris, then London for his fight.
Three days went round. There were idle hours by the sea, little
excursions in a sail-boat to Penmark, and at last to Point du Raz. It
was a beautiful day, with a gentle breeze, and the point was glorified.
The boat ran in lightly between the steep dark shore and the comb of
reef that looked like a host of stealthy pumas crumbling the water. They
anchored in the Bay des Trepasses. An hour on shore exploring the caves,
and lunching, and then they went back to the boat, accompanied by a
Breton sailor, who had acted as guide.
Gaston lay reading,--they were in the shade of the cliff,--while Andree
listened to the Breton tell the legends of the coast. At length Gaston’s
attention was attracted. The old sailor was pointing to the shore, and
speaking in bad French.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account