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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Path Of Duty, by Henry James
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Path Of Duty
+
+Author: Henry James
+
+Release Date: June 8, 2007 [EBook #21772]
+Last Updated: September 20, 2016
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: UTF-8
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE PATH OF DUTY ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by David Widger
+
+
+
+
+
+THE PATH OF DUTY.
+
+By Henry James
+
+1885
+
+
+I am glad I said to you the other night at Doubleton, inquiring--too
+inquiring--compatriot, that I wouldn’t undertake to tell you the story
+(about Ambrose Tester), but would write it out for you; inasmuch as,
+thinking it over since I came back to town, I see that it may really be
+made interesting. It _is_ a story, with a regular development, and for
+telling it I have the advantage that I happened to know about it
+from the first, and was more or less in the confidence of every one
+concerned. Then it will amuse me to write it, and I shall do so as
+carefully and as cleverly as possible The first winter days in London
+are not madly gay, so that I have plenty of time; and if the fog is
+brown outside, the fire is red within. I like the quiet of this season;
+the glowing chimney-corner, in the midst of the December mirk, makes me
+think, as I sit by it, of all sorts of things. The idea that is almost
+always uppermost is the bigness and strangeness of this London world.
+Long as I have lived here,--the sixteenth anniversary of my marriage is
+only ten days off,--there is still a kind of novelty and excitement in
+it It is a great pull, as they say here, to have remained sensitive,--to
+have kept one’s own point of view. I mean it’s more entertaining,--it
+makes you see a thousand things (not that they are all very charming).
+But the pleasure of observation does not in the least depend on the
+beauty of what one observes. You see innumerable little dramas; in fact,
+almost everything has acts and scenes, like a comedy. Very often it is a
+comedy with tears. There have been a good many of them, I am afraid,
+in the case I am speaking of. It is because this history of Sir Ambrose
+Tester and Lady Vandeleur struck me, when you asked me about the
+relations of the parties, as having that kind of progression, that when
+I was on the point of responding, I checked myself, thinking it a pity
+to tell you a little when I might tell you all. I scarcely know what
+made you ask, inasmuch as I had said nothing to excite your curiosity.
+Whatever you suspected, you suspected on your own hook, as they say. You
+had simply noticed the pair together that evening at Doubleton. If you
+suspected anything in particular, it is a proof that you are rather
+sharp, because they are very careful about the way they behave in
+public. At least they think they are. The result, perhaps, doesn’t
+necessarily follow. If I have been in their confidence you may say that
+I make a strange use of my privilege in serving them up to feed the
+prejudices of an opinionated American. You think English society very
+wicked, and my little story will probably not correct the impression.
+Though, after all, I don’t see why it should minister to it; for what I
+said to you (it was all I did say) remains the truth. They are treading
+together the path of duty. You would be quite right about its being base
+in me to betray them. It is very true that they have ceased to confide
+in me; even Joscelind has said nothing to me for more than a year. That
+is doubtless a sign that the situation is more serious than before, all
+round,--too serious to be talked about. It is also true that you are
+remarkably discreet, and that even if you were not it would not make
+much difference, inasmuch as if you were to repeat my revelations in
+America, no one would know whom you were talking about. But all the
+same, I should be base; and, therefore, after I have written out my
+reminiscences for your delectation, I shall simply keep them for my own.
+You must content yourself with the explanation I have already given you
+of Sir Ambrose Tester and Lady Vandeleur: they are following--hand
+in hand, as it were--the path of duty. This will not prevent me from
+telling everything; on the contrary, don’t you see?
+
+
+
+
+I.
+
+His brilliant prospects dated from the death of his brother, who had
+no children, had indeed steadily refused to marry. When I say brilliant
+prospects, I mean the vision of the baronetcy, one of the oldest in
+England, of a charming seventeenth-century house, with its park, in
+Dorsetshire, and a property worth some twenty thousand a year. Such a
+collection of items is still dazzling to me, even after what you would
+call, I suppose, a familiarity with British grandeur. My husband is n’t
+a baronet (or we probably should n’t be in London in December), and he
+is far, alas, from having twenty thousand a year. The full enjoyment of
+these luxuries, on Ambrose Tester’s part, was dependent naturally, on
+the death of his father, who was still very much to the fore at the time
+I first knew the young man. The proof of it is the way he kept nagging
+at his sons, as the younger used to say, on the question of taking a
+wife. The nagging had been of no avail, as I have mentioned, with
+regard to Francis, the elder, whose affections were centred (his brother
+himself told me) on the winecup and the faro-table. He was not an
+exemplary or edifying character, and as the heir to an honorable name
+and a fine estate was very unsatisfactory indeed. It had been possible
+in those days to put him into the army, but it was not possible to keep
+him there; and he was still a very young man when it became plain that
+any parental dream of a “career” for Frank Tester was exceedingly vain.
+Old Sir Edmund had thought matrimony would perhaps correct him, but
+a sterner process than this was needed, and it came to him one day at
+Monaco--he was most of the time abroad--after an illness so short that
+none of the family arrived in time. He was reformed altogether, he was
+utterly abolished.
+
+The second son, stepping into his shoes, was such an improvement that
+it was impossible there should be much simulation of mourning. You have
+seen him, you know what he is; there is very little mystery about him.
+As I am not going to show this composition to you, there is no harm
+in my writing here that he is--or at any rate he was--a remarkably
+attractive man. I don’t say this because he made love to me, but
+precisely because he did n’t. He was always in love with some one
+else,--generally with Lady Vandeleur. You may say that in England
+that usually does n’t prevent; but Mr. Tester, though he had almost no
+intermissions, did n’t, as a general thing, have duplicates. He was not
+provided with a second loved object, “under-studying,” as they say, the
+part. It was his practice to keep me accurately informed of the state of
+his affections,--a matter about which he was never in the least vague.
+When he was in love he knew it and rejoiced in it, and when by a miracle
+he was not he greatly regretted it. He expatiated to me on the charms of
+other persons, and this interested me much more than if he had attempted
+to direct the conversation to my own, as regards which I had no
+illusions. He has told me some singular things, and I think I may say
+that for a considerable period my most valued knowledge of English
+society was extracted from this genial youth. I suppose he usually found
+me a woman of good counsel, for certain it is that he has appealed to
+me for the light of wisdom in very extraordinary predicaments. In his
+earlier years he was perpetually in hot water; he tumbled into scrapes
+as children tumble into puddles. He invited them, he invented them; and
+when he came to tell you how his trouble had come about (and he always
+told the whole truth), it was difficult to believe that a man should
+have been so idiotic.
+
+And yet he was not an idiot; he was supposed to be very clever,
+and certainly is very quick and amusing. He was only reckless, and
+extraordinarily natural, as natural as if he had been an Irishman. In
+fact, of all the Englishmen that I have known he is the most Irish in
+temperament (though he has got over it comparatively of late). I used to
+tell him that it was a great inconvenience that he didn’t speak with a
+brogue, because then we should be forewarned, and know with whom we were
+dealing. He replied that, by analogy, if he were Irish enough to have
+a brogue he would probably be English, which seemed to me an answer
+wonderfully in character. Like most young Britons of his class he went
+to America, to see the great country, before he was twenty, and he took
+a letter to my father, who had occasion, _à propos_ of some pickle of
+course, to render him a considerable service. This led to his coming
+to see me--I had already been living here three or four years--on
+his return; and that, in the course of time, led to our becoming fast
+friends, without, as I tell you, the smallest philandering on either
+side. But I must n’t protest too much; I shall excite your suspicion.
+“If he has made love to so many women, why should n’t he have made love
+to you?”--some inquiry of that sort you will be likely to make. I have
+answered it already, “Simply on account of those very engagements.” He
+could n’t make love to every one, and with me it would n’t have done him
+the least good. It was a more amiable weakness than his brother’s, and
+he has always behaved very well. How well he behaved on a very important
+occasion is precisely the subject of my story.
+
+He was supposed to have embraced the diplomatic career; had been
+secretary of legation at some German capital; but after his brother’s
+death he came home and looked out for a seat in Parliament. He found it
+with no great trouble and has kept it ever since. No one would have the
+heart to turn him out, he is so good-looking. It’s a great thing to be
+represented by one of the handsomest men in England, it creates such a
+favorable association of ideas. Any one would be amazed to discover that
+the borough he sits for, and the name of which I am always forgetting,
+is not a very pretty place. I have never seen it, and have no idea that
+it is n’t, and I am sure he will survive every revolution. The people
+must feel that if they should n’t keep him some monster would be
+returned. You remember his appearance,--how tall, and fair, and strong
+he is, and always laughing, yet without looking silly. He is exactly
+the young man girls in America figure to themselves--in the place of the
+hero--when they read English novels, and wish to imagine something very
+aristocratic and Saxon. A “bright Bostonian” who met him once at my
+house, exclaimed as soon as he had gone out of the room, “At last, at
+last, I behold it, the mustache of Roland Tremayne!”
+
+“Of Roland Tremayne!”
+
+“Don’t you remember in _A Lawless Love_, how often it’s mentioned, and
+how glorious and golden it was? Well, I have never seen it till now, but
+now I _have_ seen it!”
+
+If you had n’t seen Ambrose Tester, the best description I could give
+of him would be to say that he looked like Roland Tremayne. I don’t know
+whether that hero was a “strong Liberal,” but this is what Sir Ambrose
+is supposed to be. (He succeeded his father two years ago, but I shall
+come to that.) He is not exactly what I should call thoughtful,
+but he is interested, or thinks he is, in a lot of things
+that I don’t understand, and that one sees and skips in the
+newspapers,--volunteering, and redistribution, and sanitation, and the
+representation of minors--minorities--what is it? When I said just now
+that he is always laughing, I ought to have explained that I did n’t
+mean when he is talking to Lady Vandeleur. She makes him serious, makes
+him almost solemn; by which I don’t mean that she bores him. Far from
+it; but when he is in her company he is thoughtful; he pulls his golden
+mustache, and Roland Tremayne looks as if his vision were turned in,
+and he were meditating on her words. He does n’t say much himself; it is
+she--she used to be so silent--who does the talking. She has plenty to
+say to him; she describes to him the charms that she discovers in the
+path of duty. He seldom speaks in the House, I believe, but when he does
+it’s offhand, and amusing, and sensible, and every one likes it. He
+will never be a great statesman, but he will add to the softness of
+Dorsetshire, and remain, in short, a very gallant, pleasant, prosperous,
+typical English gentleman, with a name, a fortune, a perfect appearance,
+a devoted, bewildered little wife, a great many reminiscences, a great
+many friends (including Lady Vandeleur and myself), and, strange to
+say, with all these advantages, something that faintly resembles a
+conscience.
+
+
+
+
+II.
+
+Five years ago he told me his father insisted on his marrying,--would
+not hear of his putting it off any longer. Sir Edmund had been harping
+on this string ever since he came back from Germany, had made it both
+a general and a particular request, not only urging him to matrimony in
+the abstract, but pushing him into the arms of every young woman in the
+country. Ambrose had promised, procrastinated, temporized; but at last
+he was at the end of his evasions, and his poor father had taken the
+tone of supplication. “He thinks immensely of the name, of the place and
+all that, and he has got it into his head that if I don’t marry before
+he dies, I won’t marry after.” So much I remember Ambrose Tester said to
+me. “It’s a fixed idea; he has got it on the brain. He wants to see me
+married with his eyes, and he wants to take his grandson in his arms.
+Not without that will he be satisfied that the whole thing will go
+straight. He thinks he is nearing his end, but he isn’t,--he will live
+to see a hundred, don’t you think so?--and he has made me a solemn
+appeal to put an end to what he calls his suspense. He has an idea some
+one will get hold of me--some woman I can’t marry. As if I were not old
+enough to take care of myself!”
+
+“Perhaps he is afraid of me,” I suggested, facetiously.
+
+“No, it is n’t you,” said my visitor, betraying by his tone that it was
+some one, though he didn’t say whom. “That’s all rot, of course; one
+marries sooner or later, and I shall do like every one else. If I marry
+before I die, it’s as good as if I marry before he dies, is n’t it? I
+should be delighted to have the governor at my wedding, but it is n’t
+necessary for the legality, is it?”
+
+I asked him what he wished me to do, and how I could help him. He knew
+already my peculiar views, that I was trying to get husbands for all the
+girls of my acquaintance and to prevent the men from taking wives. The
+sight of an ummarried woman afflicted me, and yet when my male friends
+changed their state I took it as a personal offence. He let me know that
+so far as he was concerned I must prepare myself for this injury, for
+he had given his father his word that another twelvemonth should not see
+him a bachelor. The old man had given him _carte blanche_; he made no
+condition beyond exacting that the lady should have youth and health.
+Ambrose Tester, at any rate, had taken a vow and now he was going
+seriously to look about him. I said to him that what must be must be,
+and that there were plenty of charming girls about the land, among
+whom he could suit himself easily enough. There was no better match in
+England, I said, and he would only have to make his choice. That however
+is not what I thought, for my real reflections were summed up in the
+silent exclamation, “What a pity Lady Vandeleur isn’t a widow!” I hadn’t
+the smallest doubt that if she were he would marry her on the spot; and
+after he had gone I wondered considerably what _she_ thought of this
+turn in his affairs. If it was disappointing to me, how little it must
+be to _her_ taste! Sir Edmund had not been so much out of the way
+in fearing there might be obstacles to his son’s taking the step he
+desired. Margaret Vandeleur was an obstacle. I knew it as well as if Mr.
+Tester had told me.
+
+I don’t mean there was anything in their relation he might not freely
+have alluded to, for Lady Vandeleur, in spite of her beauty and
+her tiresome husband, was not a woman who could be accused of an
+indiscretion. Her husband was a pedant about trifles,--the shape of his
+hatbrim, the _pose_ of his coachman, and cared for nothing else; but
+she was as nearly a saint as one may be when one has rubbed shoulders
+for ten years with the best society in Europe. It is a characteristic
+of that society that even its saints are suspected, and I go too far
+in saying that little pinpricks were not administered, in considerable
+numbers to her reputation. But she did n’t feel them, for still
+more than Ambrose Tester she was a person to whose happiness a good
+conscience was necessary. I should almost say that for her happiness it
+was sufficient, and, at any rate, it was only those who didn’t know
+her that pretended to speak of her lightly. If one had the honor of her
+acquaintance one might have thought her rather shut up to her beauty
+and her grandeur, but one could n’t but feel there was something in her
+composition that would keep her from vulgar aberrations. Her husband was
+such a feeble type that she must have felt doubly she had been put upon
+her honor. To deceive such a man as that was to make him more ridiculous
+than he was already, and from such a result a woman bearing his name
+may very well have shrunk. Perhaps it would have been worse for Lord
+Vandeleur, who had every pretension of his order and none of its
+amiability, if he had been a better, or at least, a cleverer man. When a
+woman behaves so well she is not obliged to be careful, and there is
+no need of consulting appearances when one is one’s self an appearance.
+Lady Vandeleur accepted Ambrose Tester’s attentions, and Heaven knows
+they were frequent; but she had such an air of perfect equilibrium that
+one could n’t see her, in imagination, bend responsive. Incense was
+incense, but one saw her sitting quite serene among the fumes. That
+honor of her acquaintance of which I just now spoke it had been given me
+to enjoy; that is to say, I met her a dozen times in the season in a
+hot crowd, and we smiled sweetly and murmured a vague question or two,
+without hearing, or even trying to hear, each other’s answer. If I knew
+that Ambrose Tester was perpetually in and out of her house and always
+arranging with her that they should go to the same places, I doubt
+whether she, on her side, knew how often he came to see me. I don’t
+think he would have let her know, and am conscious, in saying this, that
+it indicated an advanced state of intimacy (with her, I mean).
+
+I also doubt very much whether he asked her to look about, on his
+behalf, for a future Lady Tester. This request he was so good as to make
+of me; but I told him I would have nothing to do with the matter. If
+Joscelind is unhappy, I am thankful to say the responsibility is not
+mine. I have found English husbands for two or three American girls, but
+providing English wives is a different affair. I know the sort of men
+that will suit women, but one would have to be very clever to know the
+sort of women that will suit men. I told Ambrose Tester that he must
+look out for himself, but, in spite of his promise, I had very little
+belief that he would do anything of the sort. I thought it probable that
+the old baronet would pass away without seeing a new generation come
+in; though when I intimated as much to Mr. Tester, he made answer in
+substance (it was not quite so crudely said) that his father, old as he
+was, would hold on till his bidding was done, and if it should not be
+done, he would hold on out of spite. “Oh, he will tire me out;” that
+I remember Ambrose Tester did say. I had done him injustice, for six
+months later he told me he was engaged. It had all come about very
+suddenly. From one day to the other the right young woman had been
+found. I forget who had found her; some aunt or cousin, I think; it had
+not been the young man himself. But when she was found, he rose to the
+occasion; he took her up seriously, he approved of her thoroughly, and
+I am not sure that he didn’t fall a little in love with her, ridiculous
+(excuse my London tone) as this accident may appear. He told me that his
+father was delighted, and I knew afterwards that he had good reason to
+be. It was not till some weeks later that I saw the girl; but meanwhile
+I had received the pleasantest impression of her, and this impression
+came--must have come--mainly from what her intended told me. That proves
+that he spoke with some positiveness, spoke as if he really believed he
+was doing a good thing. I had it on my tongue’s end to ask him how Lady
+Vandeleur liked her, but I fortunately checked this vulgar inquiry. He
+liked her evidently, as I say; every one liked her, and when I knew her
+I liked her better even than the others. I like her to-day more than
+ever; it is fair you should know that, in reading this account of her
+situation. It doubtless colors my picture, gives a point to my sense of
+the strangeness of my little story.
+
+Joscelind Bernardstone came of a military race, and had been brought
+up in camps,--by which I don’t mean she was one of those objectionable
+young women who are known as garrison hacks. She was in the flower of
+her freshness, and had been kept in the tent, receiving, as an only
+daughter, the most “particular” education from the excellent Lady Emily
+(General Bernardstone married a daughter of Lord Clandufly), who looks
+like a pink-faced rabbit, and is (after Joscelind) one of the nicest
+women I know. When I met them in a country-house, a few weeks after the
+marriage was “arranged,” as they say here, Joscelind won my affections
+by saying to me, with her timid directness (the speech made me feel
+sixty years old), that she must thank me for having been so kind to Mr.
+Tester. You saw her at Doubleton, and you will remember that though she
+has no regular beauty, many a prettier woman would be very glad to look
+like her. She is as fresh as a new-laid egg, as light as a feather,
+as strong as a mail-phaeton. She is perfectly mild, yet she is clever
+enough to be sharp if she would. I don’t know that clever women are
+necessarily thought ill-natured, but it is usually taken for granted
+that amiable women are very limited. Lady Tester is a refutation of the
+theory, which must have been invented by a vixenish woman who was _not_
+clever. She has an adoration for her husband, which absorbs her without
+in the least making her silly, unless indeed it is silly to be modest,
+as in this brutal world I sometimes believe. Her modesty is so great
+that being unhappy has hitherto presented itself to her as a form of
+egotism,--that egotism which she has too much delicacy to cultivate. She
+is by no means sure that if being married to her beautiful baronet is
+not the ideal state she dreamed it, the weak point of the affair is not
+simply in her own presumption. It does n’t express her condition, at
+present, to say that she is unhappy or disappointed, or that she has a
+sense of injury. All this is latent; meanwhile, what is obvious, is that
+she is bewildered,--she simply does n’t understand; and her perplexity,
+to me, is unspeakably touching. She looks about her for some
+explanation, some light. She fixes her eyes on mine sometimes, and on
+those of other people, with a kind of searching dumbness, as if there
+were some chance that I--that they--may explain, may tell her what it is
+that has happened to her. I can explain very well, but not to her,--only
+to you!
+
+
+
+
+III.
+
+It was a brilliant match for Miss Bernardstone, who had no fortune at
+all, and all her friends were of the opinion that she had done very well
+After Easter she was in London with her people, and I saw a good deal
+of them, in fact, I rather cultivated them. They might perhaps even have
+thought me a little patronizing, if they had been given to thinking that
+sort of thing. But they were not; that is not in their line. English
+people are very apt to attribute motives,--some of them attribute much
+worse ones than we poor simpletons in America recognize, than we have
+even heard of! But that is only some of them; others don’t, but
+take everything literally and genially. That was the case with the
+Bernardstones; you could be sure that on their way home, after dining
+with you, they would n’t ask each other how in the world any one could
+call you pretty, or say that many people _did_ believe, all the same,
+that you had poisoned your grandfather.
+
+Lady Emily was exceedingly gratified at her daughter’s engagement; of
+course she was very quiet about it, she did n’t clap her hands or drag
+in Mr. Tester’s name; but it was easy to see that she felt a kind of
+maternal peace, an abiding satisfaction. The young man behaved as well
+as possible, was constantly seen with Joscelind, and smiled down at her
+in the kindest, most protecting way. They looked beautiful together; you
+would have said it was a duty for people whose color matched so well to
+marry. Of course he was immensely taken up, and did n’t come very often
+to see me; but he came sometimes, and when he sat there he had a look
+which I did n’t understand at first. Presently I saw what it expressed;
+in my drawing-room he was off duty, he had no longer to sit up and play
+a part; he would lean back and rest and draw a long breath, and forget
+that the day of his execution was fixed. There was to be no indecent
+haste about the marriage; it was not to take place till after the
+session, at the end of August It puzzled me and rather distressed me.
+that his heart should n’t be a little more in the matter; it seemed
+strange to be engaged to so charming a girl and yet go through with it
+as if it were simply a social duty. If one had n’t been in love with her
+at first, one ought to have been at the end of a week or two. If Ambrose
+Tester was not (and to me he did n’t pretend to be), he carried it off,
+as I have said, better than I should have expected. He was a gentleman,
+and he behaved like a gentleman, with the added punctilio, I think, of
+being sorry for his betrothed. But it was difficult to see what, in the
+long run, he could expect to make of such a position. If a man
+marries an ugly, unattractive woman for reasons of state, the thing is
+comparatively simple; it is understood between them, and he need have
+no remorse at not offering her a sentiment of which there has been
+no question. But when he picks out a charming creature to gratify his
+father and _les convenances_, it is not so easy to be happy in not
+being able to care for her. It seemed to me that it would have been much
+better for Ambrose Tester to bestow himself upon a girl who might have
+given him an excuse for tepidity. His wife should have been healthy but
+stupid, prolific but morose. Did he expect to continue not to be in
+love with Joscelind, or to conceal from her the mechanical nature of his
+attentions? It was difficult to see how he could wish to do the one or
+succeed in doing the other. Did he expect such a girl as that would be
+happy if he did n’t love her? and did he think himself capable of being
+happy if it should turn out that she was miserable? If she should n’t
+be miserable,--that is, if she should be indifferent, and, as they say,
+console herself, would he like that any better?
+
+I asked myself all these questions and I should have liked to ask them
+of Mr. Tester; but I did n’t, for after all he could n’t have answered
+them. Poor young man! he did n’t pry into things as I do; he was not
+analytic, like us Americans, as they say in reviews. He thought he was
+behaving remarkably well, and so he was--for a man; that was the strange
+part of it. It had been proper that in spite of his reluctance he should
+take a wife, and he had dutifully set about it. As a good thing is
+better for being well done, he had taken the best one he could possibly
+find. He was enchanted with--with his young lady, you might ask? Not
+in the least; with himself; that is the sort of person a man is! Their
+virtues are more dangerous than their vices, and Heaven preserve you
+when they want to keep a promise! It is never a promise to _you_, you
+will notice. A man will sacrifice a woman to live as a gentleman should,
+and then ask for your sympathy--for _him_! And I don’t speak of the bad
+ones, but of the good. They, after all, are the worst Ambrose Tester, as
+I say, did n’t go into these details, but synthetic as he might be, was
+conscious that his position was false. He felt that sooner or later, and
+rather sooner than later, he would have to make it true,--a process that
+could n’t possibly be agreeable. He would really have to make up his
+mind to care for his wife or not to care for her. What would Lady
+Vandeleur say to one alternative, and what would little Joscelind say to
+the other? That is what it was to have a pertinacious father and to
+be an accommodating son. With me, it was easy for Ambrose Tester to be
+superficial, for, as I tell you, if I did n’t wish to engage him, I did
+n’t wish to disengage him, and I did n’t insist Lady Vandeleur insisted,
+I was afraid; to be with her was of course very complicated; even more
+than Miss Bernardstone she must have made him feel that his position was
+false. I must add that he once mentioned to me that she had told him
+he ought to marry. At any rate, it is an immense thing to be a pleasant
+fellow. Our young fellow was so universally pleasant that of course his
+_fiancée_ came in for her share. So did Lady Emily, suffused with hope,
+which made her pinker than ever; she told me he sent flowers even to
+her. One day in the Park, I was riding early; the Row was almost empty.
+I came up behind a lady and gentleman who were walking their horses,
+close to each other, side by side In a moment I recognized her, but not
+before seeing that nothing could have been more benevolent than the way
+Ambrose Tester was bending over his future wife. If he struck me as a
+lover at that moment, of course he struck her so. But that is n’t the
+way they ride to-day.
+
+
+
+
+IV.
+
+One day, about the end of June, he came in to see me when I had two
+or three other visitors; you know that even at that season I am almost
+always at home from six to seven. He had not been three minutes in the
+room before I saw that he was different,--different from what he
+had been the last time, and I guessed that something had happened in
+relation to his marriage. My visitors did n’t, unfortunately, and they
+stayed and stayed until I was afraid he would have to go away without
+telling me what, I was sure, he had come for. But he sat them out; I
+think that by exception they did n’t find him pleasant. After we were
+alone he abused them a little, and then he said, “Have you heard about
+Vandeleur? He ‘s very ill. She’s awfully anxious.” I had n’t heard, and
+I told him so, asking a question or two; then my inquiries ceased,
+my breath almost failed me, for I had become aware of something very
+strange. The way he looked at me when he told me his news was a full
+confession,--a confession so full that I had needed a moment to take it
+in. He was not too strong a man to be taken by surprise,--not so strong
+but that in the presence of an unexpected occasion his first movement
+was to look about for a little help. I venture to call it help, the sort
+of thing he came to me for on that summer afternoon. It is always help
+when a woman who is not an idiot lets an embarrassed man take up her
+time. If he too is not an idiot, that does n’t diminish the service; on
+the contrary his superiority to the average helps him to profit. Ambrose
+Tester had said to me more than once, in the past, that he was capable
+of telling me things, because I was an American, that he would n’t
+confide to his own people. He had proved it before this, as I have
+hinted, and I must say that being an American, with him, was sometimes a
+questionable honor. I don’t know whether he thinks us more discreet and
+more sympathetic (if he keeps up the system: he has abandoned it with
+me), or only more insensible, more proof against shocks; but it is
+certain that, like some other Englishmen I have known, he has appeared,
+in delicate cases, to think I would take a comprehensive view. When I
+have inquired into the grounds of this discrimination in our favor, he
+has contented himself with saying, in the British-cursory manner, “Oh,
+I don’t know; you are different!” I remember he remarked once that our
+impressions were fresher. And I am sure that now it was because of my
+nationality, in addition to other merits, that he treated me to the
+confession I have just alluded to. At least I don’t suppose he would
+have gone about saying to people in general, “Her husband will probably
+die, you know; then why should n’t I marry Lady Vandeleur?”
+
+That was the question which his whole expression and manner asked of me,
+and of which, after a moment, I decided to take no notice. Why shouldn’t
+he? There was an excellent reason why he should n’t It would just kill
+Joscelind Bernardstone; that was why he should n’t? The idea that he
+should be ready to do it frightened me, and independent as he might
+think my point of view, I had no desire to discuss such abominations. It
+struck me as an abomination at this very first moment, and I have never
+wavered in my judgment of it. I am always glad when I can take the
+measure of a thing as soon as I see it; it ‘s a blessing to _feel_ what
+we think, without balancing and comparing. It’s a great rest, too, and
+a great luxury. That, as I say, was the case with the feeling excited in
+me by this happy idea of Ambrose Tester’s. Cruel and wanton I thought it
+then, cruel and wanton I thought it later, when it was pressed upon me.
+I knew there were many other people that did n’t agree with me, and I
+can only hope for them that their conviction was as quick and positive
+as mine; it all depends upon the way a thing strikes one. But I will add
+to this another remark. I thought I was right then, and I still think I
+was right; but it strikes me as a pity that I should have wished so
+much to be right Why could n’t I be content to be wrong; to renounce my
+influence (since I appeared to possess the mystic article), and let my
+young friend do as he liked? As you observed the situation at Doubleton,
+should n’t you say it was of a nature to make one wonder whether, after
+all, one did render a service to the younger lady?
+
+At all events, as I say, I gave no sign to Ambrose Tester that I
+understood him, that I guessed what he wished to come to. He got no
+satisfaction out of me that day; it is very true that he made up for it
+later. I expressed regret at Lord Vandeleur’s illness, inquired into its
+nature and origin, hoped it would n’t prove as grave as might be
+feared, said I would call at the house and ask about him, commiserated
+discreetly her ladyship, and in short gave my young man no chance
+whatever. He knew that I had guessed his _arrière-pensée_, but he let
+me off for the moment, for which I was thankful; either because he was
+still ashamed of it, or because he supposed I was reserving myself for
+the catastrophe,--should it occur. Well, my dear, it did occur, at the
+end of ten days. Mr. Tester came to see me twice in that interval, each
+time to tell me that poor Vandeleur was worse; he had some internal
+inflammation which, in nine cases out of ten, is fatal. His wife was
+all devotion; she was with him night and day. I had the news from other
+sources as well; I leave you to imagine whether in London, at the height
+of the season, such a situation could fail to be considerably discussed.
+To the discussion as yet, however, I contributed little, and with
+Ambrose Tester nothing at all. I was still on my guard. I never admitted
+for a moment that it was possible there should be any change in his
+plans. By this time, I think, he had quite ceased to be ashamed of his
+idea, he was in a state almost of exaltation about it; but he was very
+angry with me for not giving him an opening.
+
+As I look back upon the matter now, there is something almost amusing in
+the way we watched each other,--he thinking that I evaded his question
+only to torment him (he believed me, or pretended to believe me, capable
+of this sort of perversity), and I determined not to lose ground by
+betraying an insight into his state of mind which he might twist into an
+expression of sympathy. I wished to leave my sympathy where I had placed
+it, with Lady Emily and her daughter, of whom I continued, bumping
+against them at parties, to have some observation. They gave no signal
+of alarm; of course it would have been premature. The girl, I am sure,
+had no idea of the existence of a rival. How they had kept her in the
+dark I don’t know; but it was easy to see she was too much in love to
+suspect or to criticise. With Lady Emily it was different; she was a
+woman of charity, but she touched the world at too many points not to
+feel its vibrations. However, the dear little woman planted herself
+firmly; to the eye she was still enough. It was not from Ambrose Tester
+that I first heard of Lord Vandeleur’s death; it was announced, with a
+quarter of a column of “padding,” in the _Times_. I have always known
+the _Times_ was a wonderful journal, but this never came home to me so
+much as when it produced a quarter of a column about Lord Vandeleur. It
+was a triumph of word-spinning. If he had carried out his vocation, if
+he had been a tailor or a hatter (that’s how I see him), there might
+have been something to say about him. But he missed his vocation, he
+missed everything but posthumous honors. I was so sure Ambrose Tester
+would come in that afternoon, and so sure he knew I should expect him,
+that I threw over an engagement on purpose. But he didn’t come in, nor
+the next day, nor the next. There were two possible explanations of
+his absence. One was that he was giving all his time to consoling Lady
+Vandeleur; the other was that he was giving it all, as a blind, to
+Joscelind Bernardstone. Both proved incorrect, for when he at last
+turned up he told me he had been for a week in the country, at his
+father’s. Sir Edmund also had been unwell; but he had pulled through
+better than poor Lord Vandeleur. I wondered at first whether his son had
+been talking over with him the question of a change of base; but guessed
+in a moment that he had not suffered this alarm. I don’t think that
+Ambrose would have spared him if he had thought it necessary to give him
+warning; but he probably held that his father would have no ground for
+complaint so long as he should marry some one; would have no right to
+remonstrate if he simply transferred his contract. Lady Vandeleur had
+had two children (whom she had lost), and might, therefore, have
+others whom she should n’t lose; that would have been a reply to nice
+discriminations on Sir Edmund’s part.
+
+
+
+
+V.
+
+In reality, what the young man had been doing was thinking it over
+beneath his ancestral oaks and beeches. His countenance showed
+this,--showed it more than Miss Bernardstone could have liked. He looked
+like a man who was crossed, not like a man who was happy, in love. I was
+no more disposed than before to help him out with his plot, but at the
+end of ten minutes we were articulately discussing it. When I say _we_
+were, I mean he was; for I sat before him quite mute, at first, and
+amazed at the clearness with which, before his conscience, he had
+argued his case. He had persuaded himself that it was quite a simple
+matter to throw over poor Joscelind and keep himself free for the
+expiration of Lady Vandeleur’s term of mourning. The deliberations of
+an impulsive man sometimes land him in strange countries. Ambrose Tester
+confided his plan to me as a tremendous secret. He professed to wish
+immensely to know how it appeared to me, and whether my woman’s
+wit could n’t discover for him some loophole big enough round, some
+honorable way of not keeping faith. Yet at the same time he seemed
+not to foresee that I should, of necessity, be simply horrified.
+Disconcerted and perplexed (a little), that he was prepared to find me;
+but if I had refused, as yet, to come to his assistance, he appeared to
+suppose it was only because of the real difficulty of suggesting to him
+that perfect pretext of which he was in want. He evidently counted upon
+me, however, for some illuminating proposal, and I think he would have
+liked to say to me, “You have always pretended to be a great friend of
+mine,”--I hadn’t; the pretension was all on his side,--“and now is
+your chance to show it. Go to Joscelind and make her feel (women have
+a hundred ways of doing that sort of thing), that through Vandeleur’s
+death the change in my situation is complete. If she is the girl I take
+her for, she will know what to do in the premises.”
+
+I was not prepared to oblige him to this degree, and I lost no time
+in telling him so, after my first surprise at seeing how definite his
+purpose had become. His contention, after all, was very simple. He had
+been in love with Lady Vandeleur for years, and was now more in love
+with her than ever. There had been no appearance of her being, within a
+calculable period, liberated by the death of her husband. This nobleman
+was--he didn’t say what just then (it was too soon)--but he was only
+forty years old, and in such health and preservation as to make such a
+contingency infinitely remote. Under these circumstances, Ambrose had
+been driven, for the most worldly reasons--he was ashamed of them,
+pah!--into an engagement with a girl he did n’t love, and did n’t
+pretend to love. Suddenly the unexpected occurred; the woman he did
+love had become accessible to him, and all the relations of things were
+altered.
+
+Why should n’t he alter, too? Why should n’t Miss Bernardstone alter,
+Lady Emily alter, and every one alter? It would be _wrong_ in him to
+marry Joscelind in so changed a world;--a moment’s consideration would
+certainly assure me of that. He could no longer carry out his part of
+the bargain, and the transaction must stop before it went any further.
+If Joscelind knew, she would be the first to recognize this, and the
+thing for her now was to know.
+
+“Go and tell her, then, if you are so sure of it,” I said. “I wonder you
+have put it off so many days.”
+
+He looked at me with a melancholy eye. “Of course I know it’s beastly
+awkward.”
+
+It was beastly awkward certainly; there I could quite agree with him,
+and this was the only sympathy he extracted from me. It was impossible
+to be less helpful, less merciful, to an embarrassed young man than
+I was on that occasion. But other occasions followed very quickly, on
+which Mr. Tester renewed his appeal with greater eloquence. He assured
+me that it was torture to be with his intended, and every hour that he
+did n’t break off committed him more deeply and more fatally. I repeated
+only once my previous question,--asked him only once why then he did n’t
+tell her he had changed his mind. The inquiry was idle, was even unkind,
+for my young man was in a very tight place. He did n’t tell her, simply
+because he could n’t, in spite of the anguish of feeling that his chance
+to right himself was rapidly passing away. When I asked him if Joscelind
+appeared to have guessed nothing, he broke out, “How in the world can
+she guess, when I am so kind to her? I am so sorry for her, poor little
+wretch, that I can’t help being nice to her. And from the moment I am
+nice to her she thinks it’s all right.”
+
+I could see perfectly what he meant by that, and I liked him more for
+this little generosity than I disliked him for his nefarious scheme.
+In fact, I did n’t dislike him at all when I saw what an influence my
+judgment would have on him. I very soon gave him the full benefit of
+it. I had thought over his case with all the advantages of his own
+presentation of it, and it was impossible for me to see how he could
+decently get rid of the girl. That, as I have said, had been my original
+opinion, and quickened reflection only confirmed it. As I have also
+said, I had n’t in the least recommended him to become engaged; but once
+he had done so I recommended him to abide by it. It was all very well
+being in love with Lady Vandeleur; he might be in love with her, but he
+had n’t promised to marry her. It was all very well not being in love
+with Miss Bernardstone; but, as it happened, he had promised to marry
+her, and in my country a gentleman was supposed to keep such promises.
+If it was a question of keeping them only so long as was convenient,
+where would any of us be? I assure you I became very eloquent and
+moral,--yes, moral, I maintain the word, in spite of your perhaps
+thinking (as you are very capable of doing) that I ought to have advised
+him in just the opposite sense. It was not a question of love, but
+of marriage, for he had never promised to love poor Joscelind. It was
+useless his saying it was dreadful to marry without love; he knew that
+he thought it, and the people he lived with thought it, nothing of the
+kind. Half his friends had married on those terms. “Yes, and a pretty
+sight their private life presented!” That might be, but it was the first
+time I had ever heard him say it. A fortnight before he had been quite
+ready to do like the others. I knew what I thought, and I suppose I
+expressed it with some clearness, for my arguments made him still more
+uncomfortable, unable as he was either to accept them or to act in
+contempt of them. Why he should have cared so much for my opinion is
+a mystery I can’t elucidate; to understand my little story, you must
+simply swallow it. That he did care is proved by the exasperation with
+which he suddenly broke out, “Well, then, as I understand you, what you
+recommend me is to marry Miss Bernardstone, and carry on an intrigue
+with Lady Vandeleur!”
+
+He knew perfectly that I recommended nothing of the sort, and he must
+have been very angry to indulge in this _boutade_. He told me that other
+people did n’t think as I did--that every one was of the opinion that
+between a woman he did n’t love and a woman he had adored for years
+it was a plain moral duty not to hesitate. “Don’t hesitate then!” I
+exclaimed; but I did n’t get rid of him with this, for he returned to
+the charge more than once (he came to me so often that I thought he must
+neglect both his other alternatives), and let me know again that the
+voice of society was quite against my view. You will doubtless be
+surprised at such an intimation that he had taken “society” into his
+confidence, and wonder whether he went about asking people whether they
+thought he might back out. I can’t tell you exactly, but I know that
+for some weeks his dilemma was a great deal talked about. His friends
+perceived he was at the parting of the roads, and many of them had no
+difficulty in saying which one _they_ would take. Some observers thought
+he ought to do nothing, to leave things as they were. Others took very
+high ground and discoursed upon the sanctity of love and the wickedness
+of really deceiving the girl, as that would be what it would amount to
+(if he should lead her to the altar). Some held that it was too late to
+escape, others maintained that it is never too late. Some thought Miss
+Bernardstone very much to be pitied; some reserved their compassion for
+Ambrose Tester; others, still, lavished it upon Lady Vandeleur.
+
+The prevailing opinion, I think, was that he ought to obey the
+promptings of his heart--London cares so much for the heart! Or is it
+that London is simply ferocious, and always prefers the spectacle that
+is more entertaining? As it would prolong the drama for the young man to
+throw over Miss Bernardstone, there was a considerable readiness to see
+the poor girl sacrificed. She was like a Christian maiden in the Roman
+arena. That is what Ambrose Tester meant by telling me that public
+opinion was on his side. I don’t think he chattered about his quandary,
+but people, knowing his situation, guessed what was going on in his
+mind, and he on his side guessed what they said. London discussions
+might as well go on in the whispering-gallery of St. Paul’s. I could of
+course do only one thing,--I could but reaffirm my conviction that the
+Roman attitude, as I may call it, was cruel, was falsely sentimental.
+This naturally did n’t help him as he wished to be helped,--did n’t
+remove the obstacle to his marrying in a year or two Lady Vandeleur. Yet
+he continued to look to me for inspiration,--I must say it at the cost
+of making him appear a very feeble-minded gentleman. There was a moment
+when I thought him capable of an oblique movement, of temporizing with a
+view to escape. If he succeeded in postponing his marriage long enough,
+the Bernardstones would throw _him_ over, and I suspect that for a day
+he entertained the idea of fixing this responsibility on them. But he
+was too honest and too generous to do so for longer, and his destiny was
+staring him in the face when an accident gave him a momentary relief.
+General Bernardstone died, after an illness as sudden and short as that
+which had carried off Lord Vandeleur; his wife and daughter were plunged
+into mourning and immediately retired into the country. A week later
+we heard that the girl’s marriage would be put off for several
+months,--partly on account of her mourning, and partly because her
+mother, whose only companion she had now become, could not bear to part
+with her at the time originally fixed and actually so near. People of
+course looked at each other,--said it was the beginning of the end,
+a “dodge” of Ambrose Tester’s. I wonder they did n’t accuse him of
+poisoning the poor old general. I know to a certainty that he had
+nothing to do with the delay, that the proposal came from Lady Emily,
+who, in her bereavement, wished, very naturally, to keep a few months
+longer the child she was going to lose forever. It must be said, in
+justice to her prospective son-in-law, that he was capable either of
+resigning himself or of frankly (with however many blushes) telling
+Joscelind he could n’t keep his agreement, but was not capable of trying
+to wriggle out of his difficulty. The plan of simply telling Joscelind
+he couldn’t,--this was the one he had fixed upon as the best, and this
+was the one of which I remarked to him that it had a defect which should
+be counted against its advantages. The defect was that it would kill
+Joscelind on the spot.
+
+I think he believed me, and his believing me made this unexpected
+respite very welcome to him. There was no knowing what might happen in
+the interval, and he passed a large part of it in looking for an issue.
+And yet, at the same time, he kept up the usual forms with the girl whom
+in his heart he had renounced. I was told more than once (for I had lost
+sight of the pair during the summer and autumn) that these forms were at
+times very casual, that he neglected Miss Bernardstone most flagrantly,
+and had quite resumed his old intimacy with Lady Vandeleur. I don’t
+exactly know what was meant by this, for she spent the first three
+months of her widowhood in complete seclusion, in her own old house
+in Norfolk, where he certainly was not staying with her. I believe he
+stayed some time, for the partridge shooting, at a place a few miles
+off. It came to my ears that if Miss Bernardstone did n’t take the hint
+it was because she was determined to stick to him through thick and
+thin. She never offered to let him off, and I was sure she never would;
+but I was equally sure that, strange as it may appear, he had not ceased
+to be nice to her. I have never exactly understood why he didn’t hate
+her, and I am convinced that he was not a comedian in his conduct to
+her,--he was only a good fellow. I have spoken of the satisfaction that
+Sir Edmund took in his daughter-in-law that was to be; he delighted in
+looking at her, longed for her when she was out of his sight, and
+had her, with her mother, staying with him in the country for weeks
+together. If Ambrose was not so constantly at her side as he might have
+been, this deficiency was covered by his father’s devotion to her, by
+her appearance of being already one of the family. Mr. Tester was away
+as he might be away if they were already married.
+
+
+
+
+VI.
+
+In October I met him at Doubleton; we spent three days there together.
+He was enjoying his respite, as he didn’t scruple to tell me; and he
+talked to me a great deal--as usual--about Lady Vandeleur. He did n’t
+mention Joscelind’s name, except by implication in this assurance of how
+much he valued his weeks of grace.
+
+“Do you mean to say that, under the circumstances, Lady Vandeleur is
+willing to marry you?”
+
+I made this inquiry more expressively, doubtless, than before; for when
+we had talked of the matter then he had naturally spoken of her consent
+as a simple contingency. It was contingent upon the lapse of the first
+months of her bereavement; it was not a question he could begin to press
+a few days after her husband’s death.
+
+“Not immediately, of course; but if I wait, I think so.” That, I
+remember, was his answer.
+
+“If you wait till you get rid of that poor girl, of course.”
+
+“She knows nothing about that,--it’s none of her business.”
+
+“Do you mean to say she does n’t know you are engaged?”
+
+“How should she know it, how should she believe it, when she sees how I
+love her?” the young man exclaimed; but he admitted afterwards that he
+had not deceived her, and that she rendered full justice to the motives
+that had determined him. He thought he could answer for it that she
+would marry him some day or other.
+
+“Then she is a very cruel woman,” I said, “and I should like, if you
+please, to hear no more about her.” He protested against this, and, a
+month later, brought her up again, for a purpose. The purpose, you will
+see, was a very strange one indeed. I had then come back to town; it
+was the early part of December. I supposed he was hunting, with his own
+hounds; but he appeared one afternoon in my drawing-room and told me I
+should do him a great favor if I would go and see Lady Vandeleur.
+
+“Go and see her? Where do you mean, in Norfolk?”
+
+“She has come up to London--did n’t you know it? She has a lot of
+business. She will be kept here till Christmas; I wish you would go.”
+
+“Why should I go?” I asked. “Won’t you be kept here till Christmas too,
+and is n’t that company enough for her?”
+
+“Upon my word, you are cruel,” he said, “and it’s a great shame of you,
+when a man is trying to do his duty and is behaving like a saint.”
+
+“Is that what you call saintly, spending all your time with Lady
+Vandeleur? I will tell you whom I think a saint, if you would like to
+know.”
+
+“You need n’t tell me; I know it better than you. I haven’t a word to
+say against her; only she is stupid and hasn’t any perceptions. If I am
+stopping a bit in London you don’t understand why; it’s as if you had
+n’t any perceptions either! If I am here for a few days, I know what I
+am about.”
+
+“Why should I understand?” I asked,--not very candidly, because I should
+have been glad to. “It’s your own affair; you know what you are about,
+as you say, and of course you have counted the cost.”
+
+“What cost do you mean? It’s a pretty cost, I can tell you.” And then
+he tried to explain--if I would only enter into it, and not be so
+suspicious. He was in London for the express purpose of breaking off.
+
+“Breaking off what,--your engagement?”
+
+“No, no, damn my engagement,--the other thing. My acquaintance, my
+relations--”
+
+“Your intimacy with Lady Van--?” It was not very gentle, but I believe
+I burst out laughing. “If this is the way you break off, pray what would
+you do to keep up?”
+
+He flushed, and looked both foolish and angry, for of course it was not
+very difficult to see my point. But he was--in a very clumsy manner of
+his own--trying to cultivate a good conscience, and he was getting no
+credit for it. “I suppose I may be allowed to look at her! It’s a matter
+we have to talk over. One does n’t drop such a friend in half an hour.”
+
+“One does n’t drop her at all, unless one has the strength to make a
+sacrifice.”
+
+“It’s easy for you to talk of sacrifice. You don’t know what she is!” my
+visitor cried.
+
+“I think I know what she is not. She is not a friend, as you call her,
+if she encourages you in the wrong, if she does n’t help you. No, I have
+no patience with her,” I declared; “I don’t like her, and I won’t go to
+see her!”
+
+Mr. Tester looked at me a moment, as if he were too vexed to trust
+himself to speak. He had to make an effort not to say something rude.
+That effort however, he was capable of making, and though he held his
+hat as if he were going to walk out of the house, he ended by staying,
+by putting it down again, by leaning his head, with his elbows on
+his knees, in his hands, and groaning out that he had never heard
+of anything so impossible, and that he was the most wretched man in
+England. I was very sorry for him, and of course I told him so; but
+privately I did n’t think he stood up to his duty as he ought. I said to
+him, however, that if he would give me his word of honor that he would
+not abandon Miss Bernardstone, there was no trouble I would n’t take
+to be of use to him. I did n’t think Lady Vandeleur _was_ behaving well.
+He must allow me to repeat that; but if going to see her would give him
+any pleasure (of course there was no question of pleasure for _her_) I
+would go fifty times. I could n’t imagine how it would help him, but I
+would do it as I would do anything else he asked me. He did n’t give me
+his word of honor, but he said quietly, “_I_ shall go straight; you need
+n’t be afraid;” and as he spoke there was honor enough in his face.
+This left an opening, of course, for another catastrophe. There might be
+further postponements, and poor Lady Emily, indignant for the first
+time in her life, might declare that her daughter’s situation had become
+intolerable and that they withdrew from the engagement. But this was too
+odious a chance, and I accepted Mr. Tester’s assurance. He told me that
+the good I could do by going to see Lady Vandeleur was that it would
+cheer her up, in that dreary, big house in Upper Brook Street, where
+she was absolutely alone, with horrible overalls on the furniture, and
+newspapers--actually newspapers--on the mirrors. She was seeing no one,
+there was no one to see; but he knew she would see me. I asked him if
+she knew, then, he was to speak to me of coming, and whether I might
+allude to him, whether it was not too delicate. I shall never forget his
+answer to this, nor the tone in which he made it, blushing a little, and
+looking away. “Allude to me? Rather!” It was not the most fatuous speech
+I had ever heard; it had the effect of being the most modest; and it
+gave me an odd idea, and especially a new one, of the condition in
+which, at any time, one might be destined to find Lady Vandeleur. If
+she, too, were engaged in a struggle with her conscience (in this light
+they were an edifying pair!) it had perhaps changed her considerably,
+made her more approachable; and I reflected, ingeniously, that it
+probably had a humanizing effect upon her. Ambrose Tester did n’t go
+away after I had told him that I would comply with his request. He
+lingered, fidgeting with his stick and gloves, and I perceived that he
+had more to tell me, and that the real reason why he wished me to go and
+see Lady Vandeleur was not that she had newspapers on her mirrors. He
+came out with it at last, for that “Rather!” of his (with the way I took
+it) had broken the ice.
+
+“You say you don’t think she behaved well” (he naturally wished to
+defend her). “But I dare say you don’t understand her position. Perhaps
+you would n’t behave any better in her place.”
+
+“It’s very good of you to imagine me there!” I remarked, laughing.
+
+“It’s awkward for me to say. One doesn’t want to dot one’s i’s to that
+extent.”
+
+“She would be delighted to marry you. That’s not such a mystery.”
+
+“Well, she likes me awfully,” Mr. Tester said, looking like a handsome
+child. “It’s not all on one side; it’s on both. That’s the difficulty.”
+
+“You mean she won’t let you go?--she holds you fast?”
+
+But the poor fellow had, in delicacy, said enough, and at this he jumped
+up. He stood there a moment, smoothing his hat; then he broke out again:
+“Please do this. Let her know--make her feel. You can bring it in, you
+know.” And here he paused, embarrassed.
+
+“What can I bring in, Mr. Tester? That’s the difficulty, as you say.”
+
+“What you told me the other day. You know. What you have told me
+before.”
+
+“What I have told you--?”
+
+“That it would put an end to Joscelind! If you can’t work round to it,
+what’s the good of being--you?” And with this tribute to my powers he
+took his departure.
+
+
+
+
+VII.
+
+It was all very well of him to be so flattering, but I really did n’t
+see myself talking in that manner to Lady Vandeleur. I wondered why he
+didn’t give her this information himself, and what particular value it
+could have as coming from me. Then I said to myself that of course he
+_had_ mentioned to her the truth I had impressed upon him (and which by
+this time he had evidently taken home), but that to enable it to produce
+its full effect upon Lady Yandeleur the further testimony of a witness
+more independent was required. There was nothing for me but to go and
+see her, and I went the next day, fully conscious that to execute Mr.
+Tester’s commission I should have either to find myself very brave or
+to find her strangely confidential; and fully prepared, also, not to be
+admitted. But she received me, and the house in Upper Brook Street was
+as dismal as Ambrose Tester had represented it. The December fog (the
+afternoon was very dusky) seemed to pervade the muffled rooms, and her
+ladyship’s pink lamplight to waste itself in the brown atmosphere.
+He had mentioned to me that the heir to the title (a cousin of her
+husband), who had left her unmolested for several months, was now taking
+possession of everything, so that what kept her in town was the business
+of her “turning out,” and certain formalities connected with her dower.
+This was very ample, and the large provision made for her included the
+London house. She was very gracious on this occasion, but she certainly
+had remarkably little to say. Still, she was different, or at any rate
+(having taken that hint), I saw her differently. I saw, indeed, that I
+had never quite done her justice, that I had exaggerated her stiffness,
+attributed to her a kind of conscious grandeur which was in reality much
+more an accident of her appearance, of her figure, than a quality of
+her character. Her appearance is as grand as you know, and on the day
+I speak of, in her simplified mourning, under those vaguely gleaming
+_lambris_, she looked as beautiful as a great white lily. She is very
+simple and good-natured; she will never make an advance, but she will
+always respond to one, and I saw, that evening, that the way to get on
+with her was to treat her as if she were not too imposing. I saw also
+that, with her nun-like robes and languid eyes, she was a woman who
+might be immensely in love. All the same, we hadn’t much to say to
+each other. She remarked that it was very kind of me to come, that she
+wondered how I could endure London at that season, that she had taken a
+drive and found the Park too dreadful, that she would ring for some more
+tea if I did n’t like what she had given me. Our conversation wandered,
+stumbling a little, among these platitudes, but no allusion was made
+on either side to Ambrose Tester. Nevertheless, as I have said, she was
+different, though it was not till I got home that I phrased to myself
+what I had detected.
+
+Then, recalling her white face, and the deeper, stranger expression
+of her beautiful eyes, I entertained myself with the idea that she was
+under the influence of “suppressed exaltation.” The more I thought of
+her the more she appeared to me not natural; wound up, as it were, to
+a calmness beneath which there was a deal of agitation. This would have
+been nonsense if I had not, two days afterwards, received a note
+from her which struck me as an absolutely “exalted” production. Not
+superficially, of course; to the casual eye it would have been perfectly
+commonplace. But this was precisely its peculiarity, that Lady Vandeleur
+should have written me a note which had no apparent point save that
+she should like to see me again, a desire for which she did succeed in
+assigning a reason. She reminded me that she was paying no calls, and
+she hoped I wouldn’t stand on ceremony, but come in very soon again, she
+had enjoyed my visit so much. We had not been on note-writing terms, and
+there was nothing in that visit to alter our relations; moreover, six
+months before, she would not have dreamed of addressing me in that
+way. I was doubly convinced, therefore, that she was passing through a
+crisis, that she was not in her normal state of nerves. Mr. Tester had
+not reappeared since the occasion I have described at length, and I
+thought it possible he had been capable of the bravery of leaving town.
+I had, however, no fear of meeting him in Upper Brook Street; for,
+according to my theory of his relations with Lady Vaudeleur, he
+regularly spent his evenings with her, it being clear to me that they
+must dine together. I could answer her note only by going to see her
+the next day, when I found abundant confirmation of that idea about
+the crisis. I must confess to you in advance that I have never really
+understood her behavior,--never understood why she should have taken
+me so suddenly--with whatever reserves, and however much by implication
+merely--into her confidence. All I can say is that this is an accident
+to which one is exposed with English people, who, in my opinion,
+and contrary to common report, are the most demonstrative, the most
+expansive, the most gushing in the world. I think she felt rather
+isolated at this moment, and she had never had many intimates of her own
+sex. That sex, as a general thing, disapproved of her proceedings during
+the last few months, held that she was making Joscelind Bernardstone
+suffer too cruelly. She possibly felt the weight of this censure, and at
+all events was not above wishing some one to know that whatever injury
+had fallen upon the girl to whom Mr. Tester had so stupidly engaged
+himself, had not, so far as she was concerned, been wantonly inflicted.
+I was there, I was more or less aware of her situation, and I would do
+as well as any one else.
+
+She seemed really glad to see me, but she was very nervous.
+Nevertheless, nearly half an hour elapsed, and I was still wondering
+whether she had sent for me only to discuss the question of how a London
+house whose appointments had the stamp of a debased period (it had been
+thought very handsome in 1850) could be “done up” without being made
+æsthetic. I forget what satisfaction I gave her on this point; I
+was asking myself how I could work round in the manner prescribed by
+Joscelind’s intended. At the last, however, to my extreme surprise, Lady
+Vandeleur herself relieved me of this effort.
+
+“I think you know Mr. Tester rather well,” she remarked, abruptly,
+irrelevantly, and with a face’ more conscious of the bearings of
+things than any I had ever seen her wear. On my confessing to such an
+acquaintance, she mentioned that Mr. Tester (who had been in London a
+few days--perhaps I had seen him) had left town and would n’t come back
+for several weeks. This, for the moment, seemed to be all she had to
+communicate; but she sat looking at me from the corner of her sofa as if
+she wished me to profit in some way by the opportunity she had given me.
+Did she want help from outside, this proud, inscrutable woman, and was
+she reduced to throwing out signals of distress? Did she wish to be
+protected against herself,--applauded for such efforts as she had
+already made? I didn’t rush forward, I was not precipitate, for I felt
+that now, surely, I should be able at my convenience to execute my
+commission. What concerned me was not to prevent Lady Vandeleur’s
+marrying Mr. Tester, but to prevent Mr. Tester’s marrying her. In a few
+moments--with the same irrelevance--she announced to me that he wished
+to, and asked whether I didn’t know it I saw that this was my chance,
+and instantly, with extreme energy, I exclaimed,--
+
+“Ah, for Heaven’s sake don’t listen to him! It would kill Miss
+Bernardstone!”
+
+The tone of my voice made her color a little, and she repeated, “Miss
+Bernardstone?”
+
+“The girl he is engaged to,--or has been,--don’t you know? Excuse me, I
+thought every one knew.”
+
+“Of course I know he is dreadfully entangled. He was fairly hunted
+down.” Lady Vandeleur was silent a moment, and then she added, with a
+strange smile, “Fancy, in such a situation, his wanting to marry me!”
+
+“Fancy!” I replied. I was so struck with the oddity of her telling
+me her secrets that for the moment my indignation did not come to a
+head,--my indignation, I mean, at her accusing poor Lady Emily (and even
+the girl herself) of having “trapped” our friend. Later I said to myself
+that I supposed she was within her literal right in abusing her rival,
+if she was trying sincerely to give him up. “I don’t know anything
+about his having been hunted down,” I said; “but this I do know, Lady
+Vandeleur, I assure you, that if he should throw Joscelind over she
+would simply go out like that!” And I snapped my fingers.
+
+Lady Vandeleur listened to this serenely enough; she tried at least to
+take the air of a woman who has no need of new arguments. “Do you know
+her very well?” she asked, as if she had been struck by my calling Miss
+Bernardstone by her Christian name.
+
+“Well enough to like her very much.” I was going to say “to pity her;”
+ but I thought better of it.
+
+“She must be a person of very little spirit. If a man were to jilt me, I
+don’t think I should go out!” cried her ladyship with a laugh.
+
+“Nothing is more probable than that she has not your courage or your
+wisdom. She may be weak, but she is passionately in love with him.”
+
+I looked straight into Lady Vandeleur’s eyes as I said this, and I was
+conscious that it was a tolerably good description of my hostess.
+
+“Do you think she would really die?” she asked in a moment.
+
+“Die as if one should stab her with a knife. Some people don’t believe
+in broken hearts,” I continued. “I did n’t till I knew Joscelind
+Bernardstone; then I felt that she had one that would n’t be proof.”
+
+“One ought to live,--one ought always to live,” said Lady Yandeleur;
+“and always to hold up one’s head.”
+
+“Ah, I suppose that one ought n’t to feel at all, if one wishes to be a
+great success.”
+
+“What do you call a great success?” she asked.
+
+“Never having occasion to be pitied.”
+
+“Being pitied? That must be odious!” she said; and I saw that though she
+might wish for admiration, she would never wish for sympathy. Then, in
+a moment, she added that men, in her opinion, were very base,--a remark
+that was deep, but not, I think, very honest; that is, in so far as the
+purpose of it had been to give me the idea that Ambrose Tester had done
+nothing but press her, and she had done nothing but resist. They were
+very odd, the discrepancies in the statements of each of this pair; but
+it must be said for Lady Vandeleur that now that she had made up her
+mind (as I believed she had) to sacrifice herself, she really persuaded
+herself that she had not had a moment of weakness. She quite unbosomed
+herself, and I fairly assisted at her crisis. It appears that she had
+a conscience,--very much so, and even a high ideal of duty. She
+represented herself as moving heaven and earth to keep Ambrose Tester up
+to the mark, and you would never have guessed from what she told me that
+she had entertained ever so faintly the idea of marrying him. I am sure
+this was a dreadful perversion, but I forgave it on the score of that
+exaltation of which I have spoken. The things she said, and the way she
+said them, come back to me, and I thought that if she looked as handsome
+as that when she preached virtue to Mr. Tester, it was no wonder he
+liked the sermon to be going on perpetually.
+
+“I dare say you know what old friends we are; but that does n’t make any
+difference, does it? Nothing would induce me to marry him,--I have n’t
+the smallest intention of marrying again. It is not a time for me to
+think of marrying, before his lordship has been dead six months. The
+girl is nothing to me; I know nothing about her, and I don’t wish to
+know; but I should be very, very sorry if she were unhappy. He is the
+best friend I ever had, but I don’t see that that’s any reason I should
+marry him, do you?” Lady Vaudeleur appealed to me, but without waiting
+for my answers, asking advice in spite of herself, and then remembering
+it was beneath her dignity to appear to be in need of it. “I have told
+him that if he does n’t act properly I shall never speak to him again.
+She’s a charming girl, every one says, and I have no doubt she will make
+him perfectly happy. Men don’t feel things like women, I think, and if
+they are coddled and flattered they forget the rest. I have no doubt she
+is very sufficient for all that. For me, at any rate, once I see a
+thing in a certain way, I must abide by that I think people are so
+dreadful,--they do such horrible things. They don’t seem to think what
+one’s duty may be. I don’t know whether you think much about that, but
+really one must at times, don’t you think so? Every one is so selfish,
+and then, when they have never made an effort or a sacrifice themselves,
+they come to you and talk such a lot of hypocrisy. I know so much
+better than any one else whether I should marry or not. But I don’t
+mind telling you that I don’t see why I should. I am not in such a bad
+position,--with my liberty and a decent maintenance.”
+
+In this manner she rambled on, gravely and communicatively,
+contradicting herself at times; not talking fast (she never did), but
+dropping one simple sentence, with an interval, after the other, with
+a certain richness of voice which always was part of the charm of her
+presence. She wished to be convinced against herself, and it was a
+comfort to her to hear herself argue. I was quite willing to be part
+of the audience, though I had to confine myself to very superficial
+remarks; for when I had said the event I feared would kill Miss
+Bernardstone I had said everything that was open to me. I had nothing
+to do with Lady Vandeleur’s marrying, apart from that I probably
+disappointed her. She had caught a glimpse of the moral beauty of
+self-sacrifice, of a certain ideal of conduct (I imagine it was rather
+new to her), and would have been glad to elicit from me, as a person
+of some experience of life, an assurance that such joys are not
+insubstantial. I had no wish to wind her up to a spiritual ecstasy from
+which she would inevitably descend again, and I let her deliver herself
+according to her humor, without attempting to answer for it that she
+would find renunciation the road to bliss. I believed that if she should
+give up Mr. Tester she would suffer accordingly; but I did n’t think
+that a reason for not giving him up. Before I left her she said to me
+that nothing would induce her to do anything that she did n’t think
+right. “It would be no pleasure to me, don’t you see? I should be always
+thinking that another way would have been better. Nothing would induce
+me,--nothing, nothing!”
+
+
+
+
+VIII.
+
+She protested too much, perhaps, but the event seemed to show that she
+was in earnest. I have described these two first visits of mine in some
+detail, but they were not the only ones I paid her. I saw her several
+times again, before she left town, and we became intimate, as London
+intimacies are measured. She ceased to protest (to my relief, for it
+made me nervous), she was very gentle, and gracious, and reasonable, and
+there was something in the way she looked and spoke that told me that
+for the present she found renunciation its own reward. So far, my
+scepticism was put to shame; her spiritual ecstasy maintained itself.
+If I could have foreseen then that it would maintain itself till the
+present hour I should have felt that Lady Vandeleur’s moral nature is
+finer indeed than mine. I heard from her that Mr. Tester remained at his
+father’s, and that Lady Emily and her daughter were also there. The day
+for the wedding had been fixed, and the preparations were going rapidly
+forward. Meanwhile--she didn’t tell me, but I gathered it from things
+she dropped--she was in almost daily correspondence with the young man.
+I thought this a strange concomitant of his bridal arrangements; but
+apparently, henceforth, they were bent on convincing each other that
+the torch of virtue lighted their steps, and they couldn’t convince
+each other too much. She intimated to me that she had now effectually
+persuaded him (always by letter), that he would fail terribly if he
+should try to found his happiness on an injury done to another, and that
+of course she could never be happy (in a union with him), with the
+sight of his wretchedness before her. That a good deal of correspondence
+should be required to elucidate this is perhaps after all not
+remarkable. One day, when I was sitting with her (it was just before she
+left town), she suddenly burst into tears. Before we parted I said to
+her that there were several women in London I liked very much,--that was
+common enough,--but for her I had a positive respect, and that was rare.
+My respect continues still, and it sometimes makes me furious.
+
+About the middle of January Ambrose Tester reappeared in town. He told
+me he came to bid me good-by. He was going to be beheaded. It was no
+use saying that old relations would be the same after a man was married;
+they would be different, everything would be different. I had wanted him
+to marry, and now I should see how I liked it He did n’t mention that I
+had also wanted him not to marry, and I was sure that if Lady Vandeleur
+had become his wife, she would have been a much greater impediment to
+our harmless friendship than Joscelind Bernardstone would ever be. It
+took me but a short time to observe that he was in very much the same
+condition as Lady Vandeleur. He was finding how sweet it is to renounce,
+hand in hand with one we love. Upon him, too, the peace of the Lord had
+descended. He spoke of his father’s delight at the nuptials being so
+near at hand; at the festivities that would take place in Dorsetshire
+when he should bring home his bride. The only allusion he made to what
+we had talked of the last time we were together was to exclaim suddenly,
+“How can I tell you how easy she has made it? She is so sweet, so
+noble. She really is a perfect creature!” I took for granted that he
+was talking of his future wife, but in a moment, as we were at
+cross-purposes, perceived that he meant Lady Vandeleur. This seemed to
+me really ominous. It stuck in my mind after he had left me. I was half
+tempted to write him a note, to say, “There is, after all, perhaps,
+something worse than your jilting Miss Bernardstone would be; and that
+is the danger that your rupture with Lady Vandeleur may become more of a
+bond than your marrying her would have been For Heaven’s sake, let your
+sacrifice _be_ a sacrifice; keep it in its proper place!”
+
+Of course I did n’t write; even the slight responsibility I had already
+incurred began to frighten me, and I never saw Mr. Tester again till he
+was the husband of Joscelind Bernardstone. They have now been married
+some four years; they have two children, the eldest of whom is, as he
+should be, a boy. Sir Edmund waited till his grandson had made good his
+place in the world, and then, feeling it was safe, he quietly, genially
+surrendered his trust. He died, holding the hand of his daughter-in-law,
+and giving it doubtless a pressure which was an injunction to be brave.
+I don’t know what he thought of the success of his plan for his son;
+but perhaps, after all, he saw nothing amiss, for Joscelind is the last
+woman in the world to have troubled him with her sorrows. From him,
+no doubt, she successfully concealed that bewilderment on which I have
+touched. You see I speak of her sorrows as if they were a matter of
+common recognition; certain it is that any one who meets her must see
+that she does n’t pass her life in joy. Lady Vandeleur, as you know, has
+never married again; she is still the most beautiful widow in England.
+She enjoys the esteem of every one, as well as the approbation of her
+conscience, for every one knows the sacrifice she made, knows that she
+was even more in love with Sir Ambrose than he was with her. She goes
+out again, of course, as of old, and she constantly meets the baronet
+and his wife. She is supposed to be even “very nice” to Lady Tester,
+and she certainly treats her with exceeding civility. But you know (or
+perhaps you don’t know) all the deadly things that, in London, may lie
+beneath that method. I don’t in the least mean that Lady Vandeleur has
+any deadly intentions; she is a very good woman, and I am sure that in
+her heart she thinks she lets poor Joscelind off very easily. But the
+result of the whole situation is that Joscelind is in dreadful fear of
+her, for how can she help seeing that she has a very peculiar power over
+her husband? There couldn’t have been a better occasion for observing
+the three together (if together it may be called, when Lady Tester is so
+completely outside), than those two days of ours at Doubleton. That’s
+a house where they have met more than once before; I think she and Sir
+Ambrose like it. By “she” I mean, as he used to mean, Lady Vandeleur.
+You saw how Lady Tester was absolutely white with uneasiness. What can
+she do when she meets everywhere the implication that if two people
+in our time have distinguished themselves for their virtue, it is her
+husband and Lady Vandeleur? It is my impression that this pair are
+exceedingly happy. His marriage _has_ made a difference, and I see him
+much less frequently and less intimately. But when I meet him I notice
+in him a kind of emanation of quiet bliss. Yes, they are certainly in
+felicity, they have trod the clouds together, they have soared into the
+blue, and they wear in their faces the glory of those altitudes. They
+encourage, they cheer, inspire, sustain, each other, remind each other
+that they have chosen the better part Of course they have to meet for
+this purpose, and their interviews are filled, I am sure, with its
+sanctity. He holds up his head, as a man may who on a very critical
+occasion behaved like a perfect gentleman. It is only poor Joscelind
+that droops. Have n’t I explained to you now why she does n’t
+understand?
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Path Of Duty, by Henry James
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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Path Of Duty, by Henry James
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Path Of Duty
+
+Author: Henry James
+
+Release Date: June 8, 2007 [EBook #21772]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE PATH OF DUTY ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by David Widger
+
+
+
+
+
+THE PATH OF DUTY.
+
+By Henry James
+
+1885
+
+
+I am glad I said to you the other night at Doubleton, inquiring--too
+inquiring--compatriot, that I wouldn't undertake to tell you the story
+(about Ambrose Tester), but would write it out for you; inasmuch as,
+thinking it over since I came back to town, I see that it may really be
+made interesting. It _is_ a story, with a regular development, and for
+telling it I have the advantage that I happened to know about it
+from the first, and was more or less in the confidence of every one
+concerned. Then it will amuse me to write it, and I shall do so as
+carefully and as cleverly as possible The first winter days in London
+are not madly gay, so that I have plenty of time; and if the fog is
+brown outside, the fire is red within. I like the quiet of this season;
+the glowing chimney-corner, in the midst of the December mirk, makes me
+think, as I sit by it, of all sorts of things. The idea that is almost
+always uppermost is the bigness and strangeness of this London world.
+Long as I have lived here,--the sixteenth anniversary of my marriage is
+only ten days off,--there is still a kind of novelty and excitement in
+it It is a great pull, as they say here, to have remained sensitive,--to
+have kept one's own point of view. I mean it's more entertaining,--it
+makes you see a thousand things (not that they are all very charming).
+But the pleasure of observation does not in the least depend on the
+beauty of what one observes. You see innumerable little dramas; in fact,
+almost everything has acts and scenes, like a comedy. Very often it is a
+comedy with tears. There have been a good many of them, I am afraid,
+in the case I am speaking of. It is because this history of Sir Ambrose
+Tester and Lady Vandeleur struck me, when you asked me about the
+relations of the parties, as having that kind of progression, that when
+I was on the point of responding, I checked myself, thinking it a pity
+to tell you a little when I might tell you all. I scarcely know what
+made you ask, inasmuch as I had said nothing to excite your curiosity.
+Whatever you suspected, you suspected on your own hook, as they say. You
+had simply noticed the pair together that evening at Doubleton. If you
+suspected anything in particular, it is a proof that you are rather
+sharp, because they are very careful about the way they behave in
+public. At least they think they are. The result, perhaps, doesn't
+necessarily follow. If I have been in their confidence you may say that
+I make a strange use of my privilege in serving them up to feed the
+prejudices of an opinionated American. You think English society very
+wicked, and my little story will probably not correct the impression.
+Though, after all, I don't see why it should minister to it; for what I
+said to you (it was all I did say) remains the truth. They are treading
+together the path of duty. You would be quite right about its being base
+in me to betray them. It is very true that they have ceased to confide
+in me; even Joscelind has said nothing to me for more than a year. That
+is doubtless a sign that the situation is more serious than before, all
+round,--too serious to be talked about. It is also true that you are
+remarkably discreet, and that even if you were not it would not make
+much difference, inasmuch as if you were to repeat my revelations in
+America, no one would know whom you were talking about. But all the
+same, I should be base; and, therefore, after I have written out my
+reminiscences for your delectation, I shall simply keep them for my own.
+You must content yourself with the explanation I have already given you
+of Sir Ambrose Tester and Lady Vandeleur: they are following--hand
+in hand, as it were--the path of duty. This will not prevent me from
+telling everything; on the contrary, don't you see?
+
+
+
+
+I.
+
+His brilliant prospects dated from the death of his brother, who had
+no children, had indeed steadily refused to marry. When I say brilliant
+prospects, I mean the vision of the baronetcy, one of the oldest in
+England, of a charming seventeenth-century house, with its park, in
+Dorsetshire, and a property worth some twenty thousand a year. Such a
+collection of items is still dazzling to me, even after what you would
+call, I suppose, a familiarity with British grandeur. My husband is n't
+a baronet (or we probably should n't be in London in December), and he
+is far, alas, from having twenty thousand a year. The full enjoyment of
+these luxuries, on Ambrose Tester's part, was dependent naturally, on
+the death of his father, who was still very much to the fore at the time
+I first knew the young man. The proof of it is the way he kept nagging
+at his sons, as the younger used to say, on the question of taking a
+wife. The nagging had been of no avail, as I have mentioned, with
+regard to Francis, the elder, whose affections were centred (his brother
+himself told me) on the winecup and the faro-table. He was not an
+exemplary or edifying character, and as the heir to an honorable name
+and a fine estate was very unsatisfactory indeed. It had been possible
+in those days to put him into the army, but it was not possible to keep
+him there; and he was still a very young man when it became plain that
+any parental dream of a "career" for Frank Tester was exceedingly vain.
+Old Sir Edmund had thought matrimony would perhaps correct him, but
+a sterner process than this was needed, and it came to him one day at
+Monaco--he was most of the time abroad--after an illness so short that
+none of the family arrived in time. He was reformed altogether, he was
+utterly abolished.
+
+The second son, stepping into his shoes, was such an improvement that
+it was impossible there should be much simulation of mourning. You have
+seen him, you know what he is; there is very little mystery about him.
+As I am not going to show this composition to you, there is no harm
+in my writing here that he is--or at any rate he was--a remarkably
+attractive man. I don't say this because he made love to me, but
+precisely because he did n't. He was always in love with some one
+else,--generally with Lady Vandeleur. You may say that in England
+that usually does n't prevent; but Mr. Tester, though he had almost no
+intermissions, did n't, as a general thing, have duplicates. He was not
+provided with a second loved object, "under-studying," as they say, the
+part. It was his practice to keep me accurately informed of the state of
+his affections,--a matter about which he was never in the least vague.
+When he was in love he knew it and rejoiced in it, and when by a miracle
+he was not he greatly regretted it. He expatiated to me on the charms of
+other persons, and this interested me much more than if he had attempted
+to direct the conversation to my own, as regards which I had no
+illusions. He has told me some singular things, and I think I may say
+that for a considerable period my most valued knowledge of English
+society was extracted from this genial youth. I suppose he usually found
+me a woman of good counsel, for certain it is that he has appealed to
+me for the light of wisdom in very extraordinary predicaments. In his
+earlier years he was perpetually in hot water; he tumbled into scrapes
+as children tumble into puddles. He invited them, he invented them; and
+when he came to tell you how his trouble had come about (and he always
+told the whole truth), it was difficult to believe that a man should
+have been so idiotic.
+
+And yet he was not an idiot; he was supposed to be very clever,
+and certainly is very quick and amusing. He was only reckless, and
+extraordinarily natural, as natural as if he had been an Irishman. In
+fact, of all the Englishmen that I have known he is the most Irish in
+temperament (though he has got over it comparatively of late). I used to
+tell him that it was a great inconvenience that he didn't speak with a
+brogue, because then we should be forewarned, and know with whom we were
+dealing. He replied that, by analogy, if he were Irish enough to have
+a brogue he would probably be English, which seemed to me an answer
+wonderfully in character. Like most young Britons of his class he went
+to America, to see the great country, before he was twenty, and he took
+a letter to my father, who had occasion, _� propos_ of some pickle of
+course, to render him a considerable service. This led to his coming
+to see me--I had already been living here three or four years--on
+his return; and that, in the course of time, led to our becoming fast
+friends, without, as I tell you, the smallest philandering on either
+side. But I must n't protest too much; I shall excite your suspicion.
+"If he has made love to so many women, why should n't he have made love
+to you?"--some inquiry of that sort you will be likely to make. I have
+answered it already, "Simply on account of those very engagements." He
+could n't make love to every one, and with me it would n't have done him
+the least good. It was a more amiable weakness than his brother's, and
+he has always behaved very well. How well he behaved on a very important
+occasion is precisely the subject of my story.
+
+He was supposed to have embraced the diplomatic career; had been
+secretary of legation at some German capital; but after his brother's
+death he came home and looked out for a seat in Parliament. He found it
+with no great trouble and has kept it ever since. No one would have the
+heart to turn him out, he is so good-looking. It's a great thing to be
+represented by one of the handsomest men in England, it creates such a
+favorable association of ideas. Any one would be amazed to discover that
+the borough he sits for, and the name of which I am always forgetting,
+is not a very pretty place. I have never seen it, and have no idea that
+it is n't, and I am sure he will survive every revolution. The people
+must feel that if they should n't keep him some monster would be
+returned. You remember his appearance,--how tall, and fair, and strong
+he is, and always laughing, yet without looking silly. He is exactly
+the young man girls in America figure to themselves--in the place of the
+hero--when they read English novels, and wish to imagine something very
+aristocratic and Saxon. A "bright Bostonian" who met him once at my
+house, exclaimed as soon as he had gone out of the room, "At last, at
+last, I behold it, the mustache of Roland Tremayne!"
+
+"Of Roland Tremayne!"
+
+"Don't you remember in _A Lawless Love_, how often it's mentioned, and
+how glorious and golden it was? Well, I have never seen it till now, but
+now I _have_ seen it!"
+
+If you had n't seen Ambrose Tester, the best description I could give
+of him would be to say that he looked like Roland Tremayne. I don't know
+whether that hero was a "strong Liberal," but this is what Sir Ambrose
+is supposed to be. (He succeeded his father two years ago, but I shall
+come to that.) He is not exactly what I should call thoughtful,
+but he is interested, or thinks he is, in a lot of things
+that I don't understand, and that one sees and skips in the
+newspapers,--volunteering, and redistribution, and sanitation, and the
+representation of minors--minorities--what is it? When I said just now
+that he is always laughing, I ought to have explained that I did n't
+mean when he is talking to Lady Vandeleur. She makes him serious, makes
+him almost solemn; by which I don't mean that she bores him. Far from
+it; but when he is in her company he is thoughtful; he pulls his golden
+mustache, and Roland Tremayne looks as if his vision were turned in,
+and he were meditating on her words. He does n't say much himself; it is
+she--she used to be so silent--who does the talking. She has plenty to
+say to him; she describes to him the charms that she discovers in the
+path of duty. He seldom speaks in the House, I believe, but when he does
+it's offhand, and amusing, and sensible, and every one likes it. He
+will never be a great statesman, but he will add to the softness of
+Dorsetshire, and remain, in short, a very gallant, pleasant, prosperous,
+typical English gentleman, with a name, a fortune, a perfect appearance,
+a devoted, bewildered little wife, a great many reminiscences, a great
+many friends (including Lady Vandeleur and myself), and, strange to
+say, with all these advantages, something that faintly resembles a
+conscience.
+
+
+
+
+II.
+
+Five years ago he told me his father insisted on his marrying,--would
+not hear of his putting it off any longer. Sir Edmund had been harping
+on this string ever since he came back from Germany, had made it both
+a general and a particular request, not only urging him to matrimony in
+the abstract, but pushing him into the arms of every young woman in the
+country. Ambrose had promised, procrastinated, temporized; but at last
+he was at the end of his evasions, and his poor father had taken the
+tone of supplication. "He thinks immensely of the name, of the place and
+all that, and he has got it into his head that if I don't marry before
+he dies, I won't marry after." So much I remember Ambrose Tester said to
+me. "It's a fixed idea; he has got it on the brain. He wants to see me
+married with his eyes, and he wants to take his grandson in his arms.
+Not without that will he be satisfied that the whole thing will go
+straight. He thinks he is nearing his end, but he isn't,--he will live
+to see a hundred, don't you think so?--and he has made me a solemn
+appeal to put an end to what he calls his suspense. He has an idea some
+one will get hold of me--some woman I can't marry. As if I were not old
+enough to take care of myself!"
+
+"Perhaps he is afraid of me," I suggested, facetiously.
+
+"No, it is n't you," said my visitor, betraying by his tone that it was
+some one, though he didn't say whom. "That's all rot, of course; one
+marries sooner or later, and I shall do like every one else. If I marry
+before I die, it's as good as if I marry before he dies, is n't it? I
+should be delighted to have the governor at my wedding, but it is n't
+necessary for the legality, is it?"
+
+I asked him what he wished me to do, and how I could help him. He knew
+already my peculiar views, that I was trying to get husbands for all the
+girls of my acquaintance and to prevent the men from taking wives. The
+sight of an ummarried woman afflicted me, and yet when my male friends
+changed their state I took it as a personal offence. He let me know that
+so far as he was concerned I must prepare myself for this injury, for
+he had given his father his word that another twelvemonth should not see
+him a bachelor. The old man had given him _carte blanche_; he made no
+condition beyond exacting that the lady should have youth and health.
+Ambrose Tester, at any rate, had taken a vow and now he was going
+seriously to look about him. I said to him that what must be must be,
+and that there were plenty of charming girls about the land, among
+whom he could suit himself easily enough. There was no better match in
+England, I said, and he would only have to make his choice. That however
+is not what I thought, for my real reflections were summed up in the
+silent exclamation, "What a pity Lady Vandeleur isn't a widow!" I hadn't
+the smallest doubt that if she were he would marry her on the spot; and
+after he had gone I wondered considerably what _she_ thought of this
+turn in his affairs. If it was disappointing to me, how little it must
+be to _her_ taste! Sir Edmund had not been so much out of the way
+in fearing there might be obstacles to his son's taking the step he
+desired. Margaret Vandeleur was an obstacle. I knew it as well as if Mr.
+Tester had told me.
+
+I don't mean there was anything in their relation he might not freely
+have alluded to, for Lady Vandeleur, in spite of her beauty and
+her tiresome husband, was not a woman who could be accused of an
+indiscretion. Her husband was a pedant about trifles,--the shape of his
+hatbrim, the _pose_ of his coachman, and cared for nothing else; but
+she was as nearly a saint as one may be when one has rubbed shoulders
+for ten years with the best society in Europe. It is a characteristic
+of that society that even its saints are suspected, and I go too far
+in saying that little pinpricks were not administered, in considerable
+numbers to her reputation. But she did n't feel them, for still
+more than Ambrose Tester she was a person to whose happiness a good
+conscience was necessary. I should almost say that for her happiness it
+was sufficient, and, at any rate, it was only those who didn't know
+her that pretended to speak of her lightly. If one had the honor of her
+acquaintance one might have thought her rather shut up to her beauty
+and her grandeur, but one could n't but feel there was something in her
+composition that would keep her from vulgar aberrations. Her husband was
+such a feeble type that she must have felt doubly she had been put upon
+her honor. To deceive such a man as that was to make him more ridiculous
+than he was already, and from such a result a woman bearing his name
+may very well have shrunk. Perhaps it would have been worse for Lord
+Vandeleur, who had every pretension of his order and none of its
+amiability, if he had been a better, or at least, a cleverer man. When a
+woman behaves so well she is not obliged to be careful, and there is
+no need of consulting appearances when one is one's self an appearance.
+Lady Vandeleur accepted Ambrose Tester's attentions, and Heaven knows
+they were frequent; but she had such an air of perfect equilibrium that
+one could n't see her, in imagination, bend responsive. Incense was
+incense, but one saw her sitting quite serene among the fumes. That
+honor of her acquaintance of which I just now spoke it had been given me
+to enjoy; that is to say, I met her a dozen times in the season in a
+hot crowd, and we smiled sweetly and murmured a vague question or two,
+without hearing, or even trying to hear, each other's answer. If I knew
+that Ambrose Tester was perpetually in and out of her house and always
+arranging with her that they should go to the same places, I doubt
+whether she, on her side, knew how often he came to see me. I don't
+think he would have let her know, and am conscious, in saying this, that
+it indicated an advanced state of intimacy (with her, I mean).
+
+I also doubt very much whether he asked her to look about, on his
+behalf, for a future Lady Tester. This request he was so good as to make
+of me; but I told him I would have nothing to do with the matter. If
+Joscelind is unhappy, I am thankful to say the responsibility is not
+mine. I have found English husbands for two or three American girls, but
+providing English wives is a different affair. I know the sort of men
+that will suit women, but one would have to be very clever to know the
+sort of women that will suit men. I told Ambrose Tester that he must
+look out for himself, but, in spite of his promise, I had very little
+belief that he would do anything of the sort. I thought it probable that
+the old baronet would pass away without seeing a new generation come
+in; though when I intimated as much to Mr. Tester, he made answer in
+substance (it was not quite so crudely said) that his father, old as he
+was, would hold on till his bidding was done, and if it should not be
+done, he would hold on out of spite. "Oh, he will tire me out;" that
+I remember Ambrose Tester did say. I had done him injustice, for six
+months later he told me he was engaged. It had all come about very
+suddenly. From one day to the other the right young woman had been
+found. I forget who had found her; some aunt or cousin, I think; it had
+not been the young man himself. But when she was found, he rose to the
+occasion; he took her up seriously, he approved of her thoroughly, and
+I am not sure that he didn't fall a little in love with her, ridiculous
+(excuse my London tone) as this accident may appear. He told me that his
+father was delighted, and I knew afterwards that he had good reason to
+be. It was not till some weeks later that I saw the girl; but meanwhile
+I had received the pleasantest impression of her, and this impression
+came--must have come--mainly from what her intended told me. That proves
+that he spoke with some positiveness, spoke as if he really believed he
+was doing a good thing. I had it on my tongue's end to ask him how Lady
+Vandeleur liked her, but I fortunately checked this vulgar inquiry. He
+liked her evidently, as I say; every one liked her, and when I knew her
+I liked her better even than the others. I like her to-day more than
+ever; it is fair you should know that, in reading this account of her
+situation. It doubtless colors my picture, gives a point to my sense of
+the strangeness of my little story.
+
+Joscelind Bernardstone came of a military race, and had been brought
+up in camps,--by which I don't mean she was one of those objectionable
+young women who are known as garrison hacks. She was in the flower of
+her freshness, and had been kept in the tent, receiving, as an only
+daughter, the most "particular" education from the excellent Lady Emily
+(General Bernardstone married a daughter of Lord Clandufly), who looks
+like a pink-faced rabbit, and is (after Joscelind) one of the nicest
+women I know. When I met them in a country-house, a few weeks after the
+marriage was "arranged," as they say here, Joscelind won my affections
+by saying to me, with her timid directness (the speech made me feel
+sixty years old), that she must thank me for having been so kind to Mr.
+Tester. You saw her at Doubleton, and you will remember that though she
+has no regular beauty, many a prettier woman would be very glad to look
+like her. She is as fresh as a new-laid egg, as light as a feather,
+as strong as a mail-phaeton. She is perfectly mild, yet she is clever
+enough to be sharp if she would. I don't know that clever women are
+necessarily thought ill-natured, but it is usually taken for granted
+that amiable women are very limited. Lady Tester is a refutation of the
+theory, which must have been invented by a vixenish woman who was _not_
+clever. She has an adoration for her husband, which absorbs her without
+in the least making her silly, unless indeed it is silly to be modest,
+as in this brutal world I sometimes believe. Her modesty is so great
+that being unhappy has hitherto presented itself to her as a form of
+egotism,--that egotism which she has too much delicacy to cultivate. She
+is by no means sure that if being married to her beautiful baronet is
+not the ideal state she dreamed it, the weak point of the affair is not
+simply in her own presumption. It does n't express her condition, at
+present, to say that she is unhappy or disappointed, or that she has a
+sense of injury. All this is latent; meanwhile, what is obvious, is that
+she is bewildered,--she simply does n't understand; and her perplexity,
+to me, is unspeakably touching. She looks about her for some
+explanation, some light. She fixes her eyes on mine sometimes, and on
+those of other people, with a kind of searching dumbness, as if there
+were some chance that I--that they--may explain, may tell her what it is
+that has happened to her. I can explain very well, but not to her,--only
+to you!
+
+
+
+
+III.
+
+It was a brilliant match for Miss Bernardstone, who had no fortune at
+all, and all her friends were of the opinion that she had done very well
+After Easter she was in London with her people, and I saw a good deal
+of them, in fact, I rather cultivated them. They might perhaps even have
+thought me a little patronizing, if they had been given to thinking that
+sort of thing. But they were not; that is not in their line. English
+people are very apt to attribute motives,--some of them attribute much
+worse ones than we poor simpletons in America recognize, than we have
+even heard of! But that is only some of them; others don't, but
+take everything literally and genially. That was the case with the
+Bernardstones; you could be sure that on their way home, after dining
+with you, they would n't ask each other how in the world any one could
+call you pretty, or say that many people _did_ believe, all the same,
+that you had poisoned your grandfather.
+
+Lady Emily was exceedingly gratified at her daughter's engagement; of
+course she was very quiet about it, she did n't clap her hands or drag
+in Mr. Tester's name; but it was easy to see that she felt a kind of
+maternal peace, an abiding satisfaction. The young man behaved as well
+as possible, was constantly seen with Joscelind, and smiled down at her
+in the kindest, most protecting way. They looked beautiful together; you
+would have said it was a duty for people whose color matched so well to
+marry. Of course he was immensely taken up, and did n't come very often
+to see me; but he came sometimes, and when he sat there he had a look
+which I did n't understand at first. Presently I saw what it expressed;
+in my drawing-room he was off duty, he had no longer to sit up and play
+a part; he would lean back and rest and draw a long breath, and forget
+that the day of his execution was fixed. There was to be no indecent
+haste about the marriage; it was not to take place till after the
+session, at the end of August It puzzled me and rather distressed me.
+that his heart should n't be a little more in the matter; it seemed
+strange to be engaged to so charming a girl and yet go through with it
+as if it were simply a social duty. If one had n't been in love with her
+at first, one ought to have been at the end of a week or two. If Ambrose
+Tester was not (and to me he did n't pretend to be), he carried it off,
+as I have said, better than I should have expected. He was a gentleman,
+and he behaved like a gentleman, with the added punctilio, I think, of
+being sorry for his betrothed. But it was difficult to see what, in the
+long run, he could expect to make of such a position. If a man
+marries an ugly, unattractive woman for reasons of state, the thing is
+comparatively simple; it is understood between them, and he need have
+no remorse at not offering her a sentiment of which there has been
+no question. But when he picks out a charming creature to gratify his
+father and _les convenances_, it is not so easy to be happy in not
+being able to care for her. It seemed to me that it would have been much
+better for Ambrose Tester to bestow himself upon a girl who might have
+given him an excuse for tepidity. His wife should have been healthy but
+stupid, prolific but morose. Did he expect to continue not to be in
+love with Joscelind, or to conceal from her the mechanical nature of his
+attentions? It was difficult to see how he could wish to do the one or
+succeed in doing the other. Did he expect such a girl as that would be
+happy if he did n't love her? and did he think himself capable of being
+happy if it should turn out that she was miserable? If she should n't
+be miserable,--that is, if she should be indifferent, and, as they say,
+console herself, would he like that any better?
+
+I asked myself all these questions and I should have liked to ask them
+of Mr. Tester; but I did n't, for after all he could n't have answered
+them. Poor young man! he did n't pry into things as I do; he was not
+analytic, like us Americans, as they say in reviews. He thought he was
+behaving remarkably well, and so he was--for a man; that was the strange
+part of it. It had been proper that in spite of his reluctance he should
+take a wife, and he had dutifully set about it. As a good thing is
+better for being well done, he had taken the best one he could possibly
+find. He was enchanted with--with his young lady, you might ask? Not
+in the least; with himself; that is the sort of person a man is! Their
+virtues are more dangerous than their vices, and Heaven preserve you
+when they want to keep a promise! It is never a promise to _you_, you
+will notice. A man will sacrifice a woman to live as a gentleman should,
+and then ask for your sympathy--for _him_! And I don't speak of the bad
+ones, but of the good. They, after all, are the worst Ambrose Tester, as
+I say, did n't go into these details, but synthetic as he might be, was
+conscious that his position was false. He felt that sooner or later, and
+rather sooner than later, he would have to make it true,--a process that
+could n't possibly be agreeable. He would really have to make up his
+mind to care for his wife or not to care for her. What would Lady
+Vandeleur say to one alternative, and what would little Joscelind say to
+the other? That is what it was to have a pertinacious father and to
+be an accommodating son. With me, it was easy for Ambrose Tester to be
+superficial, for, as I tell you, if I did n't wish to engage him, I did
+n't wish to disengage him, and I did n't insist Lady Vandeleur insisted,
+I was afraid; to be with her was of course very complicated; even more
+than Miss Bernardstone she must have made him feel that his position was
+false. I must add that he once mentioned to me that she had told him
+he ought to marry. At any rate, it is an immense thing to be a pleasant
+fellow. Our young fellow was so universally pleasant that of course his
+_fianc�e_ came in for her share. So did Lady Emily, suffused with hope,
+which made her pinker than ever; she told me he sent flowers even to
+her. One day in the Park, I was riding early; the Row was almost empty.
+I came up behind a lady and gentleman who were walking their horses,
+close to each other, side by side In a moment I recognized her, but not
+before seeing that nothing could have been more benevolent than the way
+Ambrose Tester was bending over his future wife. If he struck me as a
+lover at that moment, of course he struck her so. But that is n't the
+way they ride to-day.
+
+
+
+
+IV.
+
+One day, about the end of June, he came in to see me when I had two
+or three other visitors; you know that even at that season I am almost
+always at home from six to seven. He had not been three minutes in the
+room before I saw that he was different,--different from what he
+had been the last time, and I guessed that something had happened in
+relation to his marriage. My visitors did n't, unfortunately, and they
+stayed and stayed until I was afraid he would have to go away without
+telling me what, I was sure, he had come for. But he sat them out; I
+think that by exception they did n't find him pleasant. After we were
+alone he abused them a little, and then he said, "Have you heard about
+Vandeleur? He 's very ill. She's awfully anxious." I had n't heard, and
+I told him so, asking a question or two; then my inquiries ceased,
+my breath almost failed me, for I had become aware of something very
+strange. The way he looked at me when he told me his news was a full
+confession,--a confession so full that I had needed a moment to take it
+in. He was not too strong a man to be taken by surprise,--not so strong
+but that in the presence of an unexpected occasion his first movement
+was to look about for a little help. I venture to call it help, the sort
+of thing he came to me for on that summer afternoon. It is always help
+when a woman who is not an idiot lets an embarrassed man take up her
+time. If he too is not an idiot, that does n't diminish the service; on
+the contrary his superiority to the average helps him to profit. Ambrose
+Tester had said to me more than once, in the past, that he was capable
+of telling me things, because I was an American, that he would n't
+confide to his own people. He had proved it before this, as I have
+hinted, and I must say that being an American, with him, was sometimes a
+questionable honor. I don't know whether he thinks us more discreet and
+more sympathetic (if he keeps up the system: he has abandoned it with
+me), or only more insensible, more proof against shocks; but it is
+certain that, like some other Englishmen I have known, he has appeared,
+in delicate cases, to think I would take a comprehensive view. When I
+have inquired into the grounds of this discrimination in our favor, he
+has contented himself with saying, in the British-cursory manner, "Oh,
+I don't know; you are different!" I remember he remarked once that our
+impressions were fresher. And I am sure that now it was because of my
+nationality, in addition to other merits, that he treated me to the
+confession I have just alluded to. At least I don't suppose he would
+have gone about saying to people in general, "Her husband will probably
+die, you know; then why should n't I marry Lady Vandeleur?"
+
+That was the question which his whole expression and manner asked of me,
+and of which, after a moment, I decided to take no notice. Why shouldn't
+he? There was an excellent reason why he should n't It would just kill
+Joscelind Bernardstone; that was why he should n't? The idea that he
+should be ready to do it frightened me, and independent as he might
+think my point of view, I had no desire to discuss such abominations. It
+struck me as an abomination at this very first moment, and I have never
+wavered in my judgment of it. I am always glad when I can take the
+measure of a thing as soon as I see it; it 's a blessing to _feel_ what
+we think, without balancing and comparing. It's a great rest, too, and
+a great luxury. That, as I say, was the case with the feeling excited in
+me by this happy idea of Ambrose Tester's. Cruel and wanton I thought it
+then, cruel and wanton I thought it later, when it was pressed upon me.
+I knew there were many other people that did n't agree with me, and I
+can only hope for them that their conviction was as quick and positive
+as mine; it all depends upon the way a thing strikes one. But I will add
+to this another remark. I thought I was right then, and I still think I
+was right; but it strikes me as a pity that I should have wished so
+much to be right Why could n't I be content to be wrong; to renounce my
+influence (since I appeared to possess the mystic article), and let my
+young friend do as he liked? As you observed the situation at Doubleton,
+should n't you say it was of a nature to make one wonder whether, after
+all, one did render a service to the younger lady?
+
+At all events, as I say, I gave no sign to Ambrose Tester that I
+understood him, that I guessed what he wished to come to. He got no
+satisfaction out of me that day; it is very true that he made up for it
+later. I expressed regret at Lord Vandeleur's illness, inquired into its
+nature and origin, hoped it would n't prove as grave as might be
+feared, said I would call at the house and ask about him, commiserated
+discreetly her ladyship, and in short gave my young man no chance
+whatever. He knew that I had guessed his _arri�re-pens�e_, but he let
+me off for the moment, for which I was thankful; either because he was
+still ashamed of it, or because he supposed I was reserving myself for
+the catastrophe,--should it occur. Well, my dear, it did occur, at the
+end of ten days. Mr. Tester came to see me twice in that interval, each
+time to tell me that poor Vandeleur was worse; he had some internal
+inflammation which, in nine cases out of ten, is fatal. His wife was
+all devotion; she was with him night and day. I had the news from other
+sources as well; I leave you to imagine whether in London, at the height
+of the season, such a situation could fail to be considerably discussed.
+To the discussion as yet, however, I contributed little, and with
+Ambrose Tester nothing at all. I was still on my guard. I never admitted
+for a moment that it was possible there should be any change in his
+plans. By this time, I think, he had quite ceased to be ashamed of his
+idea, he was in a state almost of exaltation about it; but he was very
+angry with me for not giving him an opening.
+
+As I look back upon the matter now, there is something almost amusing in
+the way we watched each other,--he thinking that I evaded his question
+only to torment him (he believed me, or pretended to believe me, capable
+of this sort of perversity), and I determined not to lose ground by
+betraying an insight into his state of mind which he might twist into an
+expression of sympathy. I wished to leave my sympathy where I had placed
+it, with Lady Emily and her daughter, of whom I continued, bumping
+against them at parties, to have some observation. They gave no signal
+of alarm; of course it would have been premature. The girl, I am sure,
+had no idea of the existence of a rival. How they had kept her in the
+dark I don't know; but it was easy to see she was too much in love to
+suspect or to criticise. With Lady Emily it was different; she was a
+woman of charity, but she touched the world at too many points not to
+feel its vibrations. However, the dear little woman planted herself
+firmly; to the eye she was still enough. It was not from Ambrose Tester
+that I first heard of Lord Vandeleur's death; it was announced, with a
+quarter of a column of "padding," in the _Times_. I have always known
+the _Times_ was a wonderful journal, but this never came home to me so
+much as when it produced a quarter of a column about Lord Vandeleur. It
+was a triumph of word-spinning. If he had carried out his vocation, if
+he had been a tailor or a hatter (that's how I see him), there might
+have been something to say about him. But he missed his vocation, he
+missed everything but posthumous honors. I was so sure Ambrose Tester
+would come in that afternoon, and so sure he knew I should expect him,
+that I threw over an engagement on purpose. But he didn't come in, nor
+the next day, nor the next. There were two possible explanations of
+his absence. One was that he was giving all his time to consoling Lady
+Vandeleur; the other was that he was giving it all, as a blind, to
+Joscelind Bernardstone. Both proved incorrect, for when he at last
+turned up he told me he had been for a week in the country, at his
+father's. Sir Edmund also had been unwell; but he had pulled through
+better than poor Lord Vandeleur. I wondered at first whether his son had
+been talking over with him the question of a change of base; but guessed
+in a moment that he had not suffered this alarm. I don't think that
+Ambrose would have spared him if he had thought it necessary to give him
+warning; but he probably held that his father would have no ground for
+complaint so long as he should marry some one; would have no right to
+remonstrate if he simply transferred his contract. Lady Vandeleur had
+had two children (whom she had lost), and might, therefore, have
+others whom she should n't lose; that would have been a reply to nice
+discriminations on Sir Edmund's part.
+
+
+
+
+V.
+
+In reality, what the young man had been doing was thinking it over
+beneath his ancestral oaks and beeches. His countenance showed
+this,--showed it more than Miss Bernardstone could have liked. He looked
+like a man who was crossed, not like a man who was happy, in love. I was
+no more disposed than before to help him out with his plot, but at the
+end of ten minutes we were articulately discussing it. When I say _we_
+were, I mean he was; for I sat before him quite mute, at first, and
+amazed at the clearness with which, before his conscience, he had
+argued his case. He had persuaded himself that it was quite a simple
+matter to throw over poor Joscelind and keep himself free for the
+expiration of Lady Vandeleur's term of mourning. The deliberations of
+an impulsive man sometimes land him in strange countries. Ambrose Tester
+confided his plan to me as a tremendous secret. He professed to wish
+immensely to know how it appeared to me, and whether my woman's
+wit could n't discover for him some loophole big enough round, some
+honorable way of not keeping faith. Yet at the same time he seemed
+not to foresee that I should, of necessity, be simply horrified.
+Disconcerted and perplexed (a little), that he was prepared to find me;
+but if I had refused, as yet, to come to his assistance, he appeared to
+suppose it was only because of the real difficulty of suggesting to him
+that perfect pretext of which he was in want. He evidently counted upon
+me, however, for some illuminating proposal, and I think he would have
+liked to say to me, "You have always pretended to be a great friend of
+mine,"--I hadn't; the pretension was all on his side,--"and now is
+your chance to show it. Go to Joscelind and make her feel (women have
+a hundred ways of doing that sort of thing), that through Vandeleur's
+death the change in my situation is complete. If she is the girl I take
+her for, she will know what to do in the premises."
+
+I was not prepared to oblige him to this degree, and I lost no time
+in telling him so, after my first surprise at seeing how definite his
+purpose had become. His contention, after all, was very simple. He had
+been in love with Lady Vandeleur for years, and was now more in love
+with her than ever. There had been no appearance of her being, within a
+calculable period, liberated by the death of her husband. This nobleman
+was--he didn't say what just then (it was too soon)--but he was only
+forty years old, and in such health and preservation as to make such a
+contingency infinitely remote. Under these circumstances, Ambrose had
+been driven, for the most worldly reasons--he was ashamed of them,
+pah!--into an engagement with a girl he did n't love, and did n't
+pretend to love. Suddenly the unexpected occurred; the woman he did
+love had become accessible to him, and all the relations of things were
+altered.
+
+Why should n't he alter, too? Why should n't Miss Bernardstone alter,
+Lady Emily alter, and every one alter? It would be _wrong_ in him to
+marry Joscelind in so changed a world;--a moment's consideration would
+certainly assure me of that. He could no longer carry out his part of
+the bargain, and the transaction must stop before it went any further.
+If Joscelind knew, she would be the first to recognize this, and the
+thing for her now was to know.
+
+"Go and tell her, then, if you are so sure of it," I said. "I wonder you
+have put it off so many days."
+
+He looked at me with a melancholy eye. "Of course I know it's beastly
+awkward."
+
+It was beastly awkward certainly; there I could quite agree with him,
+and this was the only sympathy he extracted from me. It was impossible
+to be less helpful, less merciful, to an embarrassed young man than
+I was on that occasion. But other occasions followed very quickly, on
+which Mr. Tester renewed his appeal with greater eloquence. He assured
+me that it was torture to be with his intended, and every hour that he
+did n't break off committed him more deeply and more fatally. I repeated
+only once my previous question,--asked him only once why then he did n't
+tell her he had changed his mind. The inquiry was idle, was even unkind,
+for my young man was in a very tight place. He did n't tell her, simply
+because he could n't, in spite of the anguish of feeling that his chance
+to right himself was rapidly passing away. When I asked him if Joscelind
+appeared to have guessed nothing, he broke out, "How in the world can
+she guess, when I am so kind to her? I am so sorry for her, poor little
+wretch, that I can't help being nice to her. And from the moment I am
+nice to her she thinks it's all right."
+
+I could see perfectly what he meant by that, and I liked him more for
+this little generosity than I disliked him for his nefarious scheme.
+In fact, I did n't dislike him at all when I saw what an influence my
+judgment would have on him. I very soon gave him the full benefit of
+it. I had thought over his case with all the advantages of his own
+presentation of it, and it was impossible for me to see how he could
+decently get rid of the girl. That, as I have said, had been my original
+opinion, and quickened reflection only confirmed it. As I have also
+said, I had n't in the least recommended him to become engaged; but once
+he had done so I recommended him to abide by it. It was all very well
+being in love with Lady Vandeleur; he might be in love with her, but he
+had n't promised to marry her. It was all very well not being in love
+with Miss Bernardstone; but, as it happened, he had promised to marry
+her, and in my country a gentleman was supposed to keep such promises.
+If it was a question of keeping them only so long as was convenient,
+where would any of us be? I assure you I became very eloquent and
+moral,--yes, moral, I maintain the word, in spite of your perhaps
+thinking (as you are very capable of doing) that I ought to have advised
+him in just the opposite sense. It was not a question of love, but
+of marriage, for he had never promised to love poor Joscelind. It was
+useless his saying it was dreadful to marry without love; he knew that
+he thought it, and the people he lived with thought it, nothing of the
+kind. Half his friends had married on those terms. "Yes, and a pretty
+sight their private life presented!" That might be, but it was the first
+time I had ever heard him say it. A fortnight before he had been quite
+ready to do like the others. I knew what I thought, and I suppose I
+expressed it with some clearness, for my arguments made him still more
+uncomfortable, unable as he was either to accept them or to act in
+contempt of them. Why he should have cared so much for my opinion is
+a mystery I can't elucidate; to understand my little story, you must
+simply swallow it. That he did care is proved by the exasperation with
+which he suddenly broke out, "Well, then, as I understand you, what you
+recommend me is to marry Miss Bernardstone, and carry on an intrigue
+with Lady Vandeleur!"
+
+He knew perfectly that I recommended nothing of the sort, and he must
+have been very angry to indulge in this _boutade_. He told me that other
+people did n't think as I did--that every one was of the opinion that
+between a woman he did n't love and a woman he had adored for years
+it was a plain moral duty not to hesitate. "Don't hesitate then!" I
+exclaimed; but I did n't get rid of him with this, for he returned to
+the charge more than once (he came to me so often that I thought he must
+neglect both his other alternatives), and let me know again that the
+voice of society was quite against my view. You will doubtless be
+surprised at such an intimation that he had taken "society" into his
+confidence, and wonder whether he went about asking people whether they
+thought he might back out. I can't tell you exactly, but I know that
+for some weeks his dilemma was a great deal talked about. His friends
+perceived he was at the parting of the roads, and many of them had no
+difficulty in saying which one _they_ would take. Some observers thought
+he ought to do nothing, to leave things as they were. Others took very
+high ground and discoursed upon the sanctity of love and the wickedness
+of really deceiving the girl, as that would be what it would amount to
+(if he should lead her to the altar). Some held that it was too late to
+escape, others maintained that it is never too late. Some thought Miss
+Bernardstone very much to be pitied; some reserved their compassion for
+Ambrose Tester; others, still, lavished it upon Lady Vandeleur.
+
+The prevailing opinion, I think, was that he ought to obey the
+promptings of his heart--London cares so much for the heart! Or is it
+that London is simply ferocious, and always prefers the spectacle that
+is more entertaining? As it would prolong the drama for the young man to
+throw over Miss Bernardstone, there was a considerable readiness to see
+the poor girl sacrificed. She was like a Christian maiden in the Roman
+arena. That is what Ambrose Tester meant by telling me that public
+opinion was on his side. I don't think he chattered about his quandary,
+but people, knowing his situation, guessed what was going on in his
+mind, and he on his side guessed what they said. London discussions
+might as well go on in the whispering-gallery of St. Paul's. I could of
+course do only one thing,--I could but reaffirm my conviction that the
+Roman attitude, as I may call it, was cruel, was falsely sentimental.
+This naturally did n't help him as he wished to be helped,--did n't
+remove the obstacle to his marrying in a year or two Lady Vandeleur. Yet
+he continued to look to me for inspiration,--I must say it at the cost
+of making him appear a very feeble-minded gentleman. There was a moment
+when I thought him capable of an oblique movement, of temporizing with a
+view to escape. If he succeeded in postponing his marriage long enough,
+the Bernardstones would throw _him_ over, and I suspect that for a day
+he entertained the idea of fixing this responsibility on them. But he
+was too honest and too generous to do so for longer, and his destiny was
+staring him in the face when an accident gave him a momentary relief.
+General Bernardstone died, after an illness as sudden and short as that
+which had carried off Lord Vandeleur; his wife and daughter were plunged
+into mourning and immediately retired into the country. A week later
+we heard that the girl's marriage would be put off for several
+months,--partly on account of her mourning, and partly because her
+mother, whose only companion she had now become, could not bear to part
+with her at the time originally fixed and actually so near. People of
+course looked at each other,--said it was the beginning of the end,
+a "dodge" of Ambrose Tester's. I wonder they did n't accuse him of
+poisoning the poor old general. I know to a certainty that he had
+nothing to do with the delay, that the proposal came from Lady Emily,
+who, in her bereavement, wished, very naturally, to keep a few months
+longer the child she was going to lose forever. It must be said, in
+justice to her prospective son-in-law, that he was capable either of
+resigning himself or of frankly (with however many blushes) telling
+Joscelind he could n't keep his agreement, but was not capable of trying
+to wriggle out of his difficulty. The plan of simply telling Joscelind
+he couldn't,--this was the one he had fixed upon as the best, and this
+was the one of which I remarked to him that it had a defect which should
+be counted against its advantages. The defect was that it would kill
+Joscelind on the spot.
+
+I think he believed me, and his believing me made this unexpected
+respite very welcome to him. There was no knowing what might happen in
+the interval, and he passed a large part of it in looking for an issue.
+And yet, at the same time, he kept up the usual forms with the girl whom
+in his heart he had renounced. I was told more than once (for I had lost
+sight of the pair during the summer and autumn) that these forms were at
+times very casual, that he neglected Miss Bernardstone most flagrantly,
+and had quite resumed his old intimacy with Lady Vandeleur. I don't
+exactly know what was meant by this, for she spent the first three
+months of her widowhood in complete seclusion, in her own old house
+in Norfolk, where he certainly was not staying with her. I believe he
+stayed some time, for the partridge shooting, at a place a few miles
+off. It came to my ears that if Miss Bernardstone did n't take the hint
+it was because she was determined to stick to him through thick and
+thin. She never offered to let him off, and I was sure she never would;
+but I was equally sure that, strange as it may appear, he had not ceased
+to be nice to her. I have never exactly understood why he didn't hate
+her, and I am convinced that he was not a comedian in his conduct to
+her,--he was only a good fellow. I have spoken of the satisfaction that
+Sir Edmund took in his daughter-in-law that was to be; he delighted in
+looking at her, longed for her when she was out of his sight, and
+had her, with her mother, staying with him in the country for weeks
+together. If Ambrose was not so constantly at her side as he might have
+been, this deficiency was covered by his father's devotion to her, by
+her appearance of being already one of the family. Mr. Tester was away
+as he might be away if they were already married.
+
+
+
+
+VI.
+
+In October I met him at Doubleton; we spent three days there together.
+He was enjoying his respite, as he didn't scruple to tell me; and he
+talked to me a great deal--as usual--about Lady Vandeleur. He did n't
+mention Joscelind's name, except by implication in this assurance of how
+much he valued his weeks of grace.
+
+"Do you mean to say that, under the circumstances, Lady Vandeleur is
+willing to marry you?"
+
+I made this inquiry more expressively, doubtless, than before; for when
+we had talked of the matter then he had naturally spoken of her consent
+as a simple contingency. It was contingent upon the lapse of the first
+months of her bereavement; it was not a question he could begin to press
+a few days after her husband's death.
+
+"Not immediately, of course; but if I wait, I think so." That, I
+remember, was his answer.
+
+"If you wait till you get rid of that poor girl, of course."
+
+"She knows nothing about that,--it's none of her business."
+
+"Do you mean to say she does n't know you are engaged?"
+
+"How should she know it, how should she believe it, when she sees how I
+love her?" the young man exclaimed; but he admitted afterwards that he
+had not deceived her, and that she rendered full justice to the motives
+that had determined him. He thought he could answer for it that she
+would marry him some day or other.
+
+"Then she is a very cruel woman," I said, "and I should like, if you
+please, to hear no more about her." He protested against this, and, a
+month later, brought her up again, for a purpose. The purpose, you will
+see, was a very strange one indeed. I had then come back to town; it
+was the early part of December. I supposed he was hunting, with his own
+hounds; but he appeared one afternoon in my drawing-room and told me I
+should do him a great favor if I would go and see Lady Vandeleur.
+
+"Go and see her? Where do you mean, in Norfolk?"
+
+"She has come up to London--did n't you know it? She has a lot of
+business. She will be kept here till Christmas; I wish you would go."
+
+"Why should I go?" I asked. "Won't you be kept here till Christmas too,
+and is n't that company enough for her?"
+
+"Upon my word, you are cruel," he said, "and it's a great shame of you,
+when a man is trying to do his duty and is behaving like a saint."
+
+"Is that what you call saintly, spending all your time with Lady
+Vandeleur? I will tell you whom I think a saint, if you would like to
+know."
+
+"You need n't tell me; I know it better than you. I haven't a word to
+say against her; only she is stupid and hasn't any perceptions. If I am
+stopping a bit in London you don't understand why; it's as if you had
+n't any perceptions either! If I am here for a few days, I know what I
+am about."
+
+"Why should I understand?" I asked,--not very candidly, because I should
+have been glad to. "It's your own affair; you know what you are about,
+as you say, and of course you have counted the cost."
+
+"What cost do you mean? It's a pretty cost, I can tell you." And then
+he tried to explain--if I would only enter into it, and not be so
+suspicious. He was in London for the express purpose of breaking off.
+
+"Breaking off what,--your engagement?"
+
+"No, no, damn my engagement,--the other thing. My acquaintance, my
+relations--"
+
+"Your intimacy with Lady Van--?" It was not very gentle, but I believe
+I burst out laughing. "If this is the way you break off, pray what would
+you do to keep up?"
+
+He flushed, and looked both foolish and angry, for of course it was not
+very difficult to see my point. But he was--in a very clumsy manner of
+his own--trying to cultivate a good conscience, and he was getting no
+credit for it. "I suppose I may be allowed to look at her! It's a matter
+we have to talk over. One does n't drop such a friend in half an hour."
+
+"One does n't drop her at all, unless one has the strength to make a
+sacrifice."
+
+"It's easy for you to talk of sacrifice. You don't know what she is!" my
+visitor cried.
+
+"I think I know what she is not. She is not a friend, as you call her,
+if she encourages you in the wrong, if she does n't help you. No, I have
+no patience with her," I declared; "I don't like her, and I won't go to
+see her!"
+
+Mr. Tester looked at me a moment, as if he were too vexed to trust
+himself to speak. He had to make an effort not to say something rude.
+That effort however, he was capable of making, and though he held his
+hat as if he were going to walk out of the house, he ended by staying,
+by putting it down again, by leaning his head, with his elbows on
+his knees, in his hands, and groaning out that he had never heard
+of anything so impossible, and that he was the most wretched man in
+England. I was very sorry for him, and of course I told him so; but
+privately I did n't think he stood up to his duty as he ought. I said to
+him, however, that if he would give me his word of honor that he would
+not abandon Miss Bernardstone, there was no trouble I would n't take
+to be of use to him. I did n't think Lady Vandeleur _was_ behaving well.
+He must allow me to repeat that; but if going to see her would give him
+any pleasure (of course there was no question of pleasure for _her_) I
+would go fifty times. I could n't imagine how it would help him, but I
+would do it as I would do anything else he asked me. He did n't give me
+his word of honor, but he said quietly, "_I_ shall go straight; you need
+n't be afraid;" and as he spoke there was honor enough in his face.
+This left an opening, of course, for another catastrophe. There might be
+further postponements, and poor Lady Emily, indignant for the first
+time in her life, might declare that her daughter's situation had become
+intolerable and that they withdrew from the engagement. But this was too
+odious a chance, and I accepted Mr. Tester's assurance. He told me that
+the good I could do by going to see Lady Vandeleur was that it would
+cheer her up, in that dreary, big house in Upper Brook Street, where
+she was absolutely alone, with horrible overalls on the furniture, and
+newspapers--actually newspapers--on the mirrors. She was seeing no one,
+there was no one to see; but he knew she would see me. I asked him if
+she knew, then, he was to speak to me of coming, and whether I might
+allude to him, whether it was not too delicate. I shall never forget his
+answer to this, nor the tone in which he made it, blushing a little, and
+looking away. "Allude to me? Rather!" It was not the most fatuous speech
+I had ever heard; it had the effect of being the most modest; and it
+gave me an odd idea, and especially a new one, of the condition in
+which, at any time, one might be destined to find Lady Vandeleur. If
+she, too, were engaged in a struggle with her conscience (in this light
+they were an edifying pair!) it had perhaps changed her considerably,
+made her more approachable; and I reflected, ingeniously, that it
+probably had a humanizing effect upon her. Ambrose Tester did n't go
+away after I had told him that I would comply with his request. He
+lingered, fidgeting with his stick and gloves, and I perceived that he
+had more to tell me, and that the real reason why he wished me to go and
+see Lady Vandeleur was not that she had newspapers on her mirrors. He
+came out with it at last, for that "Rather!" of his (with the way I took
+it) had broken the ice.
+
+"You say you don't think she behaved well" (he naturally wished to
+defend her). "But I dare say you don't understand her position. Perhaps
+you would n't behave any better in her place."
+
+"It's very good of you to imagine me there!" I remarked, laughing.
+
+"It's awkward for me to say. One doesn't want to dot one's i's to that
+extent."
+
+"She would be delighted to marry you. That's not such a mystery."
+
+"Well, she likes me awfully," Mr. Tester said, looking like a handsome
+child. "It's not all on one side; it's on both. That's the difficulty."
+
+"You mean she won't let you go?--she holds you fast?"
+
+But the poor fellow had, in delicacy, said enough, and at this he jumped
+up. He stood there a moment, smoothing his hat; then he broke out again:
+"Please do this. Let her know--make her feel. You can bring it in, you
+know." And here he paused, embarrassed.
+
+"What can I bring in, Mr. Tester? That's the difficulty, as you say."
+
+"What you told me the other day. You know. What you have told me
+before."
+
+"What I have told you--?"
+
+"That it would put an end to Joscelind! If you can't work round to it,
+what's the good of being--you?" And with this tribute to my powers he
+took his departure.
+
+
+
+
+VII.
+
+It was all very well of him to be so flattering, but I really did n't
+see myself talking in that manner to Lady Vandeleur. I wondered why he
+didn't give her this information himself, and what particular value it
+could have as coming from me. Then I said to myself that of course he
+_had_ mentioned to her the truth I had impressed upon him (and which by
+this time he had evidently taken home), but that to enable it to produce
+its full effect upon Lady Yandeleur the further testimony of a witness
+more independent was required. There was nothing for me but to go and
+see her, and I went the next day, fully conscious that to execute Mr.
+Tester's commission I should have either to find myself very brave or
+to find her strangely confidential; and fully prepared, also, not to be
+admitted. But she received me, and the house in Upper Brook Street was
+as dismal as Ambrose Tester had represented it. The December fog (the
+afternoon was very dusky) seemed to pervade the muffled rooms, and her
+ladyship's pink lamplight to waste itself in the brown atmosphere.
+He had mentioned to me that the heir to the title (a cousin of her
+husband), who had left her unmolested for several months, was now taking
+possession of everything, so that what kept her in town was the business
+of her "turning out," and certain formalities connected with her dower.
+This was very ample, and the large provision made for her included the
+London house. She was very gracious on this occasion, but she certainly
+had remarkably little to say. Still, she was different, or at any rate
+(having taken that hint), I saw her differently. I saw, indeed, that I
+had never quite done her justice, that I had exaggerated her stiffness,
+attributed to her a kind of conscious grandeur which was in reality much
+more an accident of her appearance, of her figure, than a quality of
+her character. Her appearance is as grand as you know, and on the day
+I speak of, in her simplified mourning, under those vaguely gleaming
+_lambris_, she looked as beautiful as a great white lily. She is very
+simple and good-natured; she will never make an advance, but she will
+always respond to one, and I saw, that evening, that the way to get on
+with her was to treat her as if she were not too imposing. I saw also
+that, with her nun-like robes and languid eyes, she was a woman who
+might be immensely in love. All the same, we hadn't much to say to
+each other. She remarked that it was very kind of me to come, that she
+wondered how I could endure London at that season, that she had taken a
+drive and found the Park too dreadful, that she would ring for some more
+tea if I did n't like what she had given me. Our conversation wandered,
+stumbling a little, among these platitudes, but no allusion was made
+on either side to Ambrose Tester. Nevertheless, as I have said, she was
+different, though it was not till I got home that I phrased to myself
+what I had detected.
+
+Then, recalling her white face, and the deeper, stranger expression
+of her beautiful eyes, I entertained myself with the idea that she was
+under the influence of "suppressed exaltation." The more I thought of
+her the more she appeared to me not natural; wound up, as it were, to
+a calmness beneath which there was a deal of agitation. This would have
+been nonsense if I had not, two days afterwards, received a note
+from her which struck me as an absolutely "exalted" production. Not
+superficially, of course; to the casual eye it would have been perfectly
+commonplace. But this was precisely its peculiarity, that Lady Vandeleur
+should have written me a note which had no apparent point save that
+she should like to see me again, a desire for which she did succeed in
+assigning a reason. She reminded me that she was paying no calls, and
+she hoped I wouldn't stand on ceremony, but come in very soon again, she
+had enjoyed my visit so much. We had not been on note-writing terms, and
+there was nothing in that visit to alter our relations; moreover, six
+months before, she would not have dreamed of addressing me in that
+way. I was doubly convinced, therefore, that she was passing through a
+crisis, that she was not in her normal state of nerves. Mr. Tester had
+not reappeared since the occasion I have described at length, and I
+thought it possible he had been capable of the bravery of leaving town.
+I had, however, no fear of meeting him in Upper Brook Street; for,
+according to my theory of his relations with Lady Vaudeleur, he
+regularly spent his evenings with her, it being clear to me that they
+must dine together. I could answer her note only by going to see her
+the next day, when I found abundant confirmation of that idea about
+the crisis. I must confess to you in advance that I have never really
+understood her behavior,--never understood why she should have taken
+me so suddenly--with whatever reserves, and however much by implication
+merely--into her confidence. All I can say is that this is an accident
+to which one is exposed with English people, who, in my opinion,
+and contrary to common report, are the most demonstrative, the most
+expansive, the most gushing in the world. I think she felt rather
+isolated at this moment, and she had never had many intimates of her own
+sex. That sex, as a general thing, disapproved of her proceedings during
+the last few months, held that she was making Joscelind Bernardstone
+suffer too cruelly. She possibly felt the weight of this censure, and at
+all events was not above wishing some one to know that whatever injury
+had fallen upon the girl to whom Mr. Tester had so stupidly engaged
+himself, had not, so far as she was concerned, been wantonly inflicted.
+I was there, I was more or less aware of her situation, and I would do
+as well as any one else.
+
+She seemed really glad to see me, but she was very nervous.
+Nevertheless, nearly half an hour elapsed, and I was still wondering
+whether she had sent for me only to discuss the question of how a London
+house whose appointments had the stamp of a debased period (it had been
+thought very handsome in 1850) could be "done up" without being made
+�sthetic. I forget what satisfaction I gave her on this point; I
+was asking myself how I could work round in the manner prescribed by
+Joscelind's intended. At the last, however, to my extreme surprise, Lady
+Vandeleur herself relieved me of this effort.
+
+"I think you know Mr. Tester rather well," she remarked, abruptly,
+irrelevantly, and with a face' more conscious of the bearings of
+things than any I had ever seen her wear. On my confessing to such an
+acquaintance, she mentioned that Mr. Tester (who had been in London a
+few days--perhaps I had seen him) had left town and would n't come back
+for several weeks. This, for the moment, seemed to be all she had to
+communicate; but she sat looking at me from the corner of her sofa as if
+she wished me to profit in some way by the opportunity she had given me.
+Did she want help from outside, this proud, inscrutable woman, and was
+she reduced to throwing out signals of distress? Did she wish to be
+protected against herself,--applauded for such efforts as she had
+already made? I didn't rush forward, I was not precipitate, for I felt
+that now, surely, I should be able at my convenience to execute my
+commission. What concerned me was not to prevent Lady Vandeleur's
+marrying Mr. Tester, but to prevent Mr. Tester's marrying her. In a few
+moments--with the same irrelevance--she announced to me that he wished
+to, and asked whether I didn't know it I saw that this was my chance,
+and instantly, with extreme energy, I exclaimed,--
+
+"Ah, for Heaven's sake don't listen to him! It would kill Miss
+Bernardstone!"
+
+The tone of my voice made her color a little, and she repeated, "Miss
+Bernardstone?"
+
+"The girl he is engaged to,--or has been,--don't you know? Excuse me, I
+thought every one knew."
+
+"Of course I know he is dreadfully entangled. He was fairly hunted
+down." Lady Vandeleur was silent a moment, and then she added, with a
+strange smile, "Fancy, in such a situation, his wanting to marry me!"
+
+"Fancy!" I replied. I was so struck with the oddity of her telling
+me her secrets that for the moment my indignation did not come to a
+head,--my indignation, I mean, at her accusing poor Lady Emily (and even
+the girl herself) of having "trapped" our friend. Later I said to myself
+that I supposed she was within her literal right in abusing her rival,
+if she was trying sincerely to give him up. "I don't know anything
+about his having been hunted down," I said; "but this I do know, Lady
+Vandeleur, I assure you, that if he should throw Joscelind over she
+would simply go out like that!" And I snapped my fingers.
+
+Lady Vandeleur listened to this serenely enough; she tried at least to
+take the air of a woman who has no need of new arguments. "Do you know
+her very well?" she asked, as if she had been struck by my calling Miss
+Bernardstone by her Christian name.
+
+"Well enough to like her very much." I was going to say "to pity her;"
+but I thought better of it.
+
+"She must be a person of very little spirit. If a man were to jilt me, I
+don't think I should go out!" cried her ladyship with a laugh.
+
+"Nothing is more probable than that she has not your courage or your
+wisdom. She may be weak, but she is passionately in love with him."
+
+I looked straight into Lady Vandeleur's eyes as I said this, and I was
+conscious that it was a tolerably good description of my hostess.
+
+"Do you think she would really die?" she asked in a moment.
+
+"Die as if one should stab her with a knife. Some people don't believe
+in broken hearts," I continued. "I did n't till I knew Joscelind
+Bernardstone; then I felt that she had one that would n't be proof."
+
+"One ought to live,--one ought always to live," said Lady Yandeleur;
+"and always to hold up one's head."
+
+"Ah, I suppose that one ought n't to feel at all, if one wishes to be a
+great success."
+
+"What do you call a great success?" she asked.
+
+"Never having occasion to be pitied."
+
+"Being pitied? That must be odious!" she said; and I saw that though she
+might wish for admiration, she would never wish for sympathy. Then, in
+a moment, she added that men, in her opinion, were very base,--a remark
+that was deep, but not, I think, very honest; that is, in so far as the
+purpose of it had been to give me the idea that Ambrose Tester had done
+nothing but press her, and she had done nothing but resist. They were
+very odd, the discrepancies in the statements of each of this pair; but
+it must be said for Lady Vandeleur that now that she had made up her
+mind (as I believed she had) to sacrifice herself, she really persuaded
+herself that she had not had a moment of weakness. She quite unbosomed
+herself, and I fairly assisted at her crisis. It appears that she had
+a conscience,--very much so, and even a high ideal of duty. She
+represented herself as moving heaven and earth to keep Ambrose Tester up
+to the mark, and you would never have guessed from what she told me that
+she had entertained ever so faintly the idea of marrying him. I am sure
+this was a dreadful perversion, but I forgave it on the score of that
+exaltation of which I have spoken. The things she said, and the way she
+said them, come back to me, and I thought that if she looked as handsome
+as that when she preached virtue to Mr. Tester, it was no wonder he
+liked the sermon to be going on perpetually.
+
+"I dare say you know what old friends we are; but that does n't make any
+difference, does it? Nothing would induce me to marry him,--I have n't
+the smallest intention of marrying again. It is not a time for me to
+think of marrying, before his lordship has been dead six months. The
+girl is nothing to me; I know nothing about her, and I don't wish to
+know; but I should be very, very sorry if she were unhappy. He is the
+best friend I ever had, but I don't see that that's any reason I should
+marry him, do you?" Lady Vaudeleur appealed to me, but without waiting
+for my answers, asking advice in spite of herself, and then remembering
+it was beneath her dignity to appear to be in need of it. "I have told
+him that if he does n't act properly I shall never speak to him again.
+She's a charming girl, every one says, and I have no doubt she will make
+him perfectly happy. Men don't feel things like women, I think, and if
+they are coddled and flattered they forget the rest. I have no doubt she
+is very sufficient for all that. For me, at any rate, once I see a
+thing in a certain way, I must abide by that I think people are so
+dreadful,--they do such horrible things. They don't seem to think what
+one's duty may be. I don't know whether you think much about that, but
+really one must at times, don't you think so? Every one is so selfish,
+and then, when they have never made an effort or a sacrifice themselves,
+they come to you and talk such a lot of hypocrisy. I know so much
+better than any one else whether I should marry or not. But I don't
+mind telling you that I don't see why I should. I am not in such a bad
+position,--with my liberty and a decent maintenance."
+
+In this manner she rambled on, gravely and communicatively,
+contradicting herself at times; not talking fast (she never did), but
+dropping one simple sentence, with an interval, after the other, with
+a certain richness of voice which always was part of the charm of her
+presence. She wished to be convinced against herself, and it was a
+comfort to her to hear herself argue. I was quite willing to be part
+of the audience, though I had to confine myself to very superficial
+remarks; for when I had said the event I feared would kill Miss
+Bernardstone I had said everything that was open to me. I had nothing
+to do with Lady Vandeleur's marrying, apart from that I probably
+disappointed her. She had caught a glimpse of the moral beauty of
+self-sacrifice, of a certain ideal of conduct (I imagine it was rather
+new to her), and would have been glad to elicit from me, as a person
+of some experience of life, an assurance that such joys are not
+insubstantial. I had no wish to wind her up to a spiritual ecstasy from
+which she would inevitably descend again, and I let her deliver herself
+according to her humor, without attempting to answer for it that she
+would find renunciation the road to bliss. I believed that if she should
+give up Mr. Tester she would suffer accordingly; but I did n't think
+that a reason for not giving him up. Before I left her she said to me
+that nothing would induce her to do anything that she did n't think
+right. "It would be no pleasure to me, don't you see? I should be always
+thinking that another way would have been better. Nothing would induce
+me,--nothing, nothing!"
+
+
+
+
+VIII.
+
+She protested too much, perhaps, but the event seemed to show that she
+was in earnest. I have described these two first visits of mine in some
+detail, but they were not the only ones I paid her. I saw her several
+times again, before she left town, and we became intimate, as London
+intimacies are measured. She ceased to protest (to my relief, for it
+made me nervous), she was very gentle, and gracious, and reasonable, and
+there was something in the way she looked and spoke that told me that
+for the present she found renunciation its own reward. So far, my
+scepticism was put to shame; her spiritual ecstasy maintained itself.
+If I could have foreseen then that it would maintain itself till the
+present hour I should have felt that Lady Vandeleur's moral nature is
+finer indeed than mine. I heard from her that Mr. Tester remained at his
+father's, and that Lady Emily and her daughter were also there. The day
+for the wedding had been fixed, and the preparations were going rapidly
+forward. Meanwhile--she didn't tell me, but I gathered it from things
+she dropped--she was in almost daily correspondence with the young man.
+I thought this a strange concomitant of his bridal arrangements; but
+apparently, henceforth, they were bent on convincing each other that
+the torch of virtue lighted their steps, and they couldn't convince
+each other too much. She intimated to me that she had now effectually
+persuaded him (always by letter), that he would fail terribly if he
+should try to found his happiness on an injury done to another, and that
+of course she could never be happy (in a union with him), with the
+sight of his wretchedness before her. That a good deal of correspondence
+should be required to elucidate this is perhaps after all not
+remarkable. One day, when I was sitting with her (it was just before she
+left town), she suddenly burst into tears. Before we parted I said to
+her that there were several women in London I liked very much,--that was
+common enough,--but for her I had a positive respect, and that was rare.
+My respect continues still, and it sometimes makes me furious.
+
+About the middle of January Ambrose Tester reappeared in town. He told
+me he came to bid me good-by. He was going to be beheaded. It was no
+use saying that old relations would be the same after a man was married;
+they would be different, everything would be different. I had wanted him
+to marry, and now I should see how I liked it He did n't mention that I
+had also wanted him not to marry, and I was sure that if Lady Vandeleur
+had become his wife, she would have been a much greater impediment to
+our harmless friendship than Joscelind Bernardstone would ever be. It
+took me but a short time to observe that he was in very much the same
+condition as Lady Vandeleur. He was finding how sweet it is to renounce,
+hand in hand with one we love. Upon him, too, the peace of the Lord had
+descended. He spoke of his father's delight at the nuptials being so
+near at hand; at the festivities that would take place in Dorsetshire
+when he should bring home his bride. The only allusion he made to what
+we had talked of the last time we were together was to exclaim suddenly,
+"How can I tell you how easy she has made it? She is so sweet, so
+noble. She really is a perfect creature!" I took for granted that he
+was talking of his future wife, but in a moment, as we were at
+cross-purposes, perceived that he meant Lady Vandeleur. This seemed to
+me really ominous. It stuck in my mind after he had left me. I was half
+tempted to write him a note, to say, "There is, after all, perhaps,
+something worse than your jilting Miss Bernardstone would be; and that
+is the danger that your rupture with Lady Vandeleur may become more of a
+bond than your marrying her would have been For Heaven's sake, let your
+sacrifice _be_ a sacrifice; keep it in its proper place!"
+
+Of course I did n't write; even the slight responsibility I had already
+incurred began to frighten me, and I never saw Mr. Tester again till he
+was the husband of Joscelind Bernardstone. They have now been married
+some four years; they have two children, the eldest of whom is, as he
+should be, a boy. Sir Edmund waited till his grandson had made good his
+place in the world, and then, feeling it was safe, he quietly, genially
+surrendered his trust. He died, holding the hand of his daughter-in-law,
+and giving it doubtless a pressure which was an injunction to be brave.
+I don't know what he thought of the success of his plan for his son;
+but perhaps, after all, he saw nothing amiss, for Joscelind is the last
+woman in the world to have troubled him with her sorrows. From him,
+no doubt, she successfully concealed that bewilderment on which I have
+touched. You see I speak of her sorrows as if they were a matter of
+common recognition; certain it is that any one who meets her must see
+that she does n't pass her life in joy. Lady Vandeleur, as you know, has
+never married again; she is still the most beautiful widow in England.
+She enjoys the esteem of every one, as well as the approbation of her
+conscience, for every one knows the sacrifice she made, knows that she
+was even more in love with Sir Ambrose than he was with her. She goes
+out again, of course, as of old, and she constantly meets the baronet
+and his wife. She is supposed to be even "very nice" to Lady Tester,
+and she certainly treats her with exceeding civility. But you know (or
+perhaps you don't know) all the deadly things that, in London, may lie
+beneath that method. I don't in the least mean that Lady Vandeleur has
+any deadly intentions; she is a very good woman, and I am sure that in
+her heart she thinks she lets poor Joscelind off very easily. But the
+result of the whole situation is that Joscelind is in dreadful fear of
+her, for how can she help seeing that she has a very peculiar power over
+her husband? There couldn't have been a better occasion for observing
+the three together (if together it may be called, when Lady Tester is so
+completely outside), than those two days of ours at Doubleton. That's
+a house where they have met more than once before; I think she and Sir
+Ambrose like it. By "she" I mean, as he used to mean, Lady Vandeleur.
+You saw how Lady Tester was absolutely white with uneasiness. What can
+she do when she meets everywhere the implication that if two people
+in our time have distinguished themselves for their virtue, it is her
+husband and Lady Vandeleur? It is my impression that this pair are
+exceedingly happy. His marriage _has_ made a difference, and I see him
+much less frequently and less intimately. But when I meet him I notice
+in him a kind of emanation of quiet bliss. Yes, they are certainly in
+felicity, they have trod the clouds together, they have soared into the
+blue, and they wear in their faces the glory of those altitudes. They
+encourage, they cheer, inspire, sustain, each other, remind each other
+that they have chosen the better part Of course they have to meet for
+this purpose, and their interviews are filled, I am sure, with its
+sanctity. He holds up his head, as a man may who on a very critical
+occasion behaved like a perfect gentleman. It is only poor Joscelind
+that droops. Have n't I explained to you now why she does n't
+understand?
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Path Of Duty, by Henry James
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+  <head>
+    <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=UTF-8" />
+    <title>
+      The Path of Duty, by Henry James
+    </title>
+    <style type="text/css" xml:space="preserve">
+
+    body { margin:5%; background:#faebd0; text-align:justify}
+    P { text-indent: 1em; margin-top: .25em; margin-bottom: .25em; }
+    H1,H2,H3,H4,H5,H6 { text-align: center; margin-left: 15%; margin-right: 15%; }
+    hr  { width: 50%; text-align: center;}
+    .foot { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; text-indent: -3em; font-size: 90%; }
+    blockquote {font-size: 97%; font-style: italic; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%;}
+    .mynote    {background-color: #DDE; color: #000; padding: .5em; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 95%;}
+    .toc       { margin-left: 10%; margin-bottom: .75em;}
+    .toc2      { margin-left: 20%;}
+    div.fig    { display:block; margin:0 auto; text-align:center; }
+    div.middle { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; }
+    .figleft   {float: left; margin-left: 0%; margin-right: 1%;}
+    .figright  {float: right; margin-right: 0%; margin-left: 1%;}
+    .pagenum   {display:inline; font-size: 70%; font-style:normal;
+               margin: 0; padding: 0; position: absolute; right: 1%;
+               text-align: right;}
+    pre        { font-style: italic; font-size: 90%; margin-left: 10%;}
+
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+  <body>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Path Of Duty, by Henry James
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Path Of Duty
+
+Author: Henry James
+
+Release Date: June 8, 2007 [EBook #21772]
+Last Updated: September 20, 2016
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: UTF-8
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE PATH OF DUTY ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by David Widger
+
+
+
+
+
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      <br /> <br />
+    </p>
+    <h1>
+      THE PATH OF DUTY.
+    </h1>
+    <h2>
+      By Henry James <br /> <br /> <br /> 1885
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      <br /> <br />
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      <br /> <br />
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I am glad I said to you the other night at Doubleton, inquiring&mdash;too
+      inquiring&mdash;compatriot, that I wouldn&rsquo;t undertake to tell you the
+      story (about Ambrose Tester), but would write it out for you; inasmuch as,
+      thinking it over since I came back to town, I see that it may really be
+      made interesting. It <i>is</i> a story, with a regular development, and
+      for telling it I have the advantage that I happened to know about it from
+      the first, and was more or less in the confidence of every one concerned.
+      Then it will amuse me to write it, and I shall do so as carefully and as
+      cleverly as possible The first winter days in London are not madly gay, so
+      that I have plenty of time; and if the fog is brown outside, the fire is
+      red within. I like the quiet of this season; the glowing chimney-corner,
+      in the midst of the December mirk, makes me think, as I sit by it, of all
+      sorts of things. The idea that is almost always uppermost is the bigness
+      and strangeness of this London world. Long as I have lived here,&mdash;the
+      sixteenth anniversary of my marriage is only ten days off,&mdash;there is
+      still a kind of novelty and excitement in it It is a great pull, as they
+      say here, to have remained sensitive,&mdash;to have kept one&rsquo;s own point
+      of view. I mean it&rsquo;s more entertaining,&mdash;it makes you see a thousand
+      things (not that they are all very charming). But the pleasure of
+      observation does not in the least depend on the beauty of what one
+      observes. You see innumerable little dramas; in fact, almost everything
+      has acts and scenes, like a comedy. Very often it is a comedy with tears.
+      There have been a good many of them, I am afraid, in the case I am
+      speaking of. It is because this history of Sir Ambrose Tester and Lady
+      Vandeleur struck me, when you asked me about the relations of the parties,
+      as having that kind of progression, that when I was on the point of
+      responding, I checked myself, thinking it a pity to tell you a little when
+      I might tell you all. I scarcely know what made you ask, inasmuch as I had
+      said nothing to excite your curiosity. Whatever you suspected, you
+      suspected on your own hook, as they say. You had simply noticed the pair
+      together that evening at Doubleton. If you suspected anything in
+      particular, it is a proof that you are rather sharp, because they are very
+      careful about the way they behave in public. At least they think they are.
+      The result, perhaps, doesn&rsquo;t necessarily follow. If I have been in their
+      confidence you may say that I make a strange use of my privilege in
+      serving them up to feed the prejudices of an opinionated American. You
+      think English society very wicked, and my little story will probably not
+      correct the impression. Though, after all, I don&rsquo;t see why it should
+      minister to it; for what I said to you (it was all I did say) remains the
+      truth. They are treading together the path of duty. You would be quite
+      right about its being base in me to betray them. It is very true that they
+      have ceased to confide in me; even Joscelind has said nothing to me for
+      more than a year. That is doubtless a sign that the situation is more
+      serious than before, all round,&mdash;too serious to be talked about. It
+      is also true that you are remarkably discreet, and that even if you were
+      not it would not make much difference, inasmuch as if you were to repeat
+      my revelations in America, no one would know whom you were talking about.
+      But all the same, I should be base; and, therefore, after I have written
+      out my reminiscences for your delectation, I shall simply keep them for my
+      own. You must content yourself with the explanation I have already given
+      you of Sir Ambrose Tester and Lady Vandeleur: they are following&mdash;hand
+      in hand, as it were&mdash;the path of duty. This will not prevent me from
+      telling everything; on the contrary, don&rsquo;t you see?
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <br /> <br />
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      <br /> <br />
+    </p>
+    <h2>
+      Contents
+    </h2>
+    <table summary="" style="margin-right: auto; margin-left: auto">
+      <tr>
+        <td>
+          <p class="toc">
+            <a href="#link2H_4_0001"> I. </a>
+          </p>
+          <p class="toc">
+            <a href="#link2H_4_0002"> II. </a>
+          </p>
+          <p class="toc">
+            <a href="#link2H_4_0003"> III. </a>
+          </p>
+          <p class="toc">
+            <a href="#link2H_4_0004"> IV. </a>
+          </p>
+          <p class="toc">
+            <a href="#link2H_4_0005"> V. </a>
+          </p>
+          <p class="toc">
+            <a href="#link2H_4_0006"> VI. </a>
+          </p>
+          <p class="toc">
+            <a href="#link2H_4_0007"> VII. </a>
+          </p>
+          <p class="toc">
+            <a href="#link2H_4_0008"> VIII. </a>
+          </p>
+        </td>
+      </tr>
+    </table>
+    <p>
+      <br /> <br />
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      <br /> <br /> <a name="link2H_4_0001" id="link2H_4_0001">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      I.
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      His brilliant prospects dated from the death of his brother, who had no
+      children, had indeed steadily refused to marry. When I say brilliant
+      prospects, I mean the vision of the baronetcy, one of the oldest in
+      England, of a charming seventeenth-century house, with its park, in
+      Dorsetshire, and a property worth some twenty thousand a year. Such a
+      collection of items is still dazzling to me, even after what you would
+      call, I suppose, a familiarity with British grandeur. My husband is n&rsquo;t a
+      baronet (or we probably should n&rsquo;t be in London in December), and he is
+      far, alas, from having twenty thousand a year. The full enjoyment of these
+      luxuries, on Ambrose Tester&rsquo;s part, was dependent naturally, on the death
+      of his father, who was still very much to the fore at the time I first
+      knew the young man. The proof of it is the way he kept nagging at his
+      sons, as the younger used to say, on the question of taking a wife. The
+      nagging had been of no avail, as I have mentioned, with regard to Francis,
+      the elder, whose affections were centred (his brother himself told me) on
+      the winecup and the faro-table. He was not an exemplary or edifying
+      character, and as the heir to an honorable name and a fine estate was very
+      unsatisfactory indeed. It had been possible in those days to put him into
+      the army, but it was not possible to keep him there; and he was still a
+      very young man when it became plain that any parental dream of a &ldquo;career&rdquo;
+       for Frank Tester was exceedingly vain. Old Sir Edmund had thought
+      matrimony would perhaps correct him, but a sterner process than this was
+      needed, and it came to him one day at Monaco&mdash;he was most of the time
+      abroad&mdash;after an illness so short that none of the family arrived in
+      time. He was reformed altogether, he was utterly abolished.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The second son, stepping into his shoes, was such an improvement that it
+      was impossible there should be much simulation of mourning. You have seen
+      him, you know what he is; there is very little mystery about him. As I am
+      not going to show this composition to you, there is no harm in my writing
+      here that he is&mdash;or at any rate he was&mdash;a remarkably attractive
+      man. I don&rsquo;t say this because he made love to me, but precisely because he
+      did n&rsquo;t. He was always in love with some one else,&mdash;generally with
+      Lady Vandeleur. You may say that in England that usually does n&rsquo;t prevent;
+      but Mr. Tester, though he had almost no intermissions, did n&rsquo;t, as a
+      general thing, have duplicates. He was not provided with a second loved
+      object, &ldquo;under-studying,&rdquo; as they say, the part. It was his practice to
+      keep me accurately informed of the state of his affections,&mdash;a matter
+      about which he was never in the least vague. When he was in love he knew
+      it and rejoiced in it, and when by a miracle he was not he greatly
+      regretted it. He expatiated to me on the charms of other persons, and this
+      interested me much more than if he had attempted to direct the
+      conversation to my own, as regards which I had no illusions. He has told
+      me some singular things, and I think I may say that for a considerable
+      period my most valued knowledge of English society was extracted from this
+      genial youth. I suppose he usually found me a woman of good counsel, for
+      certain it is that he has appealed to me for the light of wisdom in very
+      extraordinary predicaments. In his earlier years he was perpetually in hot
+      water; he tumbled into scrapes as children tumble into puddles. He invited
+      them, he invented them; and when he came to tell you how his trouble had
+      come about (and he always told the whole truth), it was difficult to
+      believe that a man should have been so idiotic.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      And yet he was not an idiot; he was supposed to be very clever, and
+      certainly is very quick and amusing. He was only reckless, and
+      extraordinarily natural, as natural as if he had been an Irishman. In
+      fact, of all the Englishmen that I have known he is the most Irish in
+      temperament (though he has got over it comparatively of late). I used to
+      tell him that it was a great inconvenience that he didn&rsquo;t speak with a
+      brogue, because then we should be forewarned, and know with whom we were
+      dealing. He replied that, by analogy, if he were Irish enough to have a
+      brogue he would probably be English, which seemed to me an answer
+      wonderfully in character. Like most young Britons of his class he went to
+      America, to see the great country, before he was twenty, and he took a
+      letter to my father, who had occasion, <i>à propos</i> of some pickle of
+      course, to render him a considerable service. This led to his coming to
+      see me&mdash;I had already been living here three or four years&mdash;on
+      his return; and that, in the course of time, led to our becoming fast
+      friends, without, as I tell you, the smallest philandering on either side.
+      But I must n&rsquo;t protest too much; I shall excite your suspicion. &ldquo;If he has
+      made love to so many women, why should n&rsquo;t he have made love to you?&rdquo;&mdash;some
+      inquiry of that sort you will be likely to make. I have answered it
+      already, &ldquo;Simply on account of those very engagements.&rdquo; He could n&rsquo;t make
+      love to every one, and with me it would n&rsquo;t have done him the least good.
+      It was a more amiable weakness than his brother&rsquo;s, and he has always
+      behaved very well. How well he behaved on a very important occasion is
+      precisely the subject of my story.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He was supposed to have embraced the diplomatic career; had been secretary
+      of legation at some German capital; but after his brother&rsquo;s death he came
+      home and looked out for a seat in Parliament. He found it with no great
+      trouble and has kept it ever since. No one would have the heart to turn
+      him out, he is so good-looking. It&rsquo;s a great thing to be represented by
+      one of the handsomest men in England, it creates such a favorable
+      association of ideas. Any one would be amazed to discover that the borough
+      he sits for, and the name of which I am always forgetting, is not a very
+      pretty place. I have never seen it, and have no idea that it is n&rsquo;t, and I
+      am sure he will survive every revolution. The people must feel that if
+      they should n&rsquo;t keep him some monster would be returned. You remember his
+      appearance,&mdash;how tall, and fair, and strong he is, and always
+      laughing, yet without looking silly. He is exactly the young man girls in
+      America figure to themselves&mdash;in the place of the hero&mdash;when
+      they read English novels, and wish to imagine something very aristocratic
+      and Saxon. A &ldquo;bright Bostonian&rdquo; who met him once at my house, exclaimed as
+      soon as he had gone out of the room, &ldquo;At last, at last, I behold it, the
+      mustache of Roland Tremayne!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Of Roland Tremayne!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Don&rsquo;t you remember in <i>A Lawless Love</i>, how often it&rsquo;s mentioned,
+      and how glorious and golden it was? Well, I have never seen it till now,
+      but now I <i>have</i> seen it!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      If you had n&rsquo;t seen Ambrose Tester, the best description I could give of
+      him would be to say that he looked like Roland Tremayne. I don&rsquo;t know
+      whether that hero was a &ldquo;strong Liberal,&rdquo; but this is what Sir Ambrose is
+      supposed to be. (He succeeded his father two years ago, but I shall come
+      to that.) He is not exactly what I should call thoughtful, but he is
+      interested, or thinks he is, in a lot of things that I don&rsquo;t understand,
+      and that one sees and skips in the newspapers,&mdash;volunteering, and
+      redistribution, and sanitation, and the representation of minors&mdash;minorities&mdash;what
+      is it? When I said just now that he is always laughing, I ought to have
+      explained that I did n&rsquo;t mean when he is talking to Lady Vandeleur. She
+      makes him serious, makes him almost solemn; by which I don&rsquo;t mean that she
+      bores him. Far from it; but when he is in her company he is thoughtful; he
+      pulls his golden mustache, and Roland Tremayne looks as if his vision were
+      turned in, and he were meditating on her words. He does n&rsquo;t say much
+      himself; it is she&mdash;she used to be so silent&mdash;who does the
+      talking. She has plenty to say to him; she describes to him the charms
+      that she discovers in the path of duty. He seldom speaks in the House, I
+      believe, but when he does it&rsquo;s offhand, and amusing, and sensible, and
+      every one likes it. He will never be a great statesman, but he will add to
+      the softness of Dorsetshire, and remain, in short, a very gallant,
+      pleasant, prosperous, typical English gentleman, with a name, a fortune, a
+      perfect appearance, a devoted, bewildered little wife, a great many
+      reminiscences, a great many friends (including Lady Vandeleur and myself),
+      and, strange to say, with all these advantages, something that faintly
+      resembles a conscience.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2H_4_0002" id="link2H_4_0002">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      II.
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      Five years ago he told me his father insisted on his marrying,&mdash;would
+      not hear of his putting it off any longer. Sir Edmund had been harping on
+      this string ever since he came back from Germany, had made it both a
+      general and a particular request, not only urging him to matrimony in the
+      abstract, but pushing him into the arms of every young woman in the
+      country. Ambrose had promised, procrastinated, temporized; but at last he
+      was at the end of his evasions, and his poor father had taken the tone of
+      supplication. &ldquo;He thinks immensely of the name, of the place and all that,
+      and he has got it into his head that if I don&rsquo;t marry before he dies, I
+      won&rsquo;t marry after.&rdquo; So much I remember Ambrose Tester said to me. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a
+      fixed idea; he has got it on the brain. He wants to see me married with
+      his eyes, and he wants to take his grandson in his arms. Not without that
+      will he be satisfied that the whole thing will go straight. He thinks he
+      is nearing his end, but he isn&rsquo;t,&mdash;he will live to see a hundred,
+      don&rsquo;t you think so?&mdash;and he has made me a solemn appeal to put an end
+      to what he calls his suspense. He has an idea some one will get hold of me&mdash;some
+      woman I can&rsquo;t marry. As if I were not old enough to take care of myself!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Perhaps he is afraid of me,&rdquo; I suggested, facetiously.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, it is n&rsquo;t you,&rdquo; said my visitor, betraying by his tone that it was
+      some one, though he didn&rsquo;t say whom. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s all rot, of course; one
+      marries sooner or later, and I shall do like every one else. If I marry
+      before I die, it&rsquo;s as good as if I marry before he dies, is n&rsquo;t it? I
+      should be delighted to have the governor at my wedding, but it is n&rsquo;t
+      necessary for the legality, is it?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      I asked him what he wished me to do, and how I could help him. He knew
+      already my peculiar views, that I was trying to get husbands for all the
+      girls of my acquaintance and to prevent the men from taking wives. The
+      sight of an ummarried woman afflicted me, and yet when my male friends
+      changed their state I took it as a personal offence. He let me know that
+      so far as he was concerned I must prepare myself for this injury, for he
+      had given his father his word that another twelvemonth should not see him
+      a bachelor. The old man had given him <i>carte blanche</i>; he made no
+      condition beyond exacting that the lady should have youth and health.
+      Ambrose Tester, at any rate, had taken a vow and now he was going
+      seriously to look about him. I said to him that what must be must be, and
+      that there were plenty of charming girls about the land, among whom he
+      could suit himself easily enough. There was no better match in England, I
+      said, and he would only have to make his choice. That however is not what
+      I thought, for my real reflections were summed up in the silent
+      exclamation, &ldquo;What a pity Lady Vandeleur isn&rsquo;t a widow!&rdquo; I hadn&rsquo;t the
+      smallest doubt that if she were he would marry her on the spot; and after
+      he had gone I wondered considerably what <i>she</i> thought of this turn
+      in his affairs. If it was disappointing to me, how little it must be to <i>her</i>
+      taste! Sir Edmund had not been so much out of the way in fearing there
+      might be obstacles to his son&rsquo;s taking the step he desired. Margaret
+      Vandeleur was an obstacle. I knew it as well as if Mr. Tester had told me.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I don&rsquo;t mean there was anything in their relation he might not freely have
+      alluded to, for Lady Vandeleur, in spite of her beauty and her tiresome
+      husband, was not a woman who could be accused of an indiscretion. Her
+      husband was a pedant about trifles,&mdash;the shape of his hatbrim, the <i>pose</i>
+      of his coachman, and cared for nothing else; but she was as nearly a saint
+      as one may be when one has rubbed shoulders for ten years with the best
+      society in Europe. It is a characteristic of that society that even its
+      saints are suspected, and I go too far in saying that little pinpricks
+      were not administered, in considerable numbers to her reputation. But she
+      did n&rsquo;t feel them, for still more than Ambrose Tester she was a person to
+      whose happiness a good conscience was necessary. I should almost say that
+      for her happiness it was sufficient, and, at any rate, it was only those
+      who didn&rsquo;t know her that pretended to speak of her lightly. If one had the
+      honor of her acquaintance one might have thought her rather shut up to her
+      beauty and her grandeur, but one could n&rsquo;t but feel there was something in
+      her composition that would keep her from vulgar aberrations. Her husband
+      was such a feeble type that she must have felt doubly she had been put
+      upon her honor. To deceive such a man as that was to make him more
+      ridiculous than he was already, and from such a result a woman bearing his
+      name may very well have shrunk. Perhaps it would have been worse for Lord
+      Vandeleur, who had every pretension of his order and none of its
+      amiability, if he had been a better, or at least, a cleverer man. When a
+      woman behaves so well she is not obliged to be careful, and there is no
+      need of consulting appearances when one is one&rsquo;s self an appearance. Lady
+      Vandeleur accepted Ambrose Tester&rsquo;s attentions, and Heaven knows they were
+      frequent; but she had such an air of perfect equilibrium that one could
+      n&rsquo;t see her, in imagination, bend responsive. Incense was incense, but one
+      saw her sitting quite serene among the fumes. That honor of her
+      acquaintance of which I just now spoke it had been given me to enjoy; that
+      is to say, I met her a dozen times in the season in a hot crowd, and we
+      smiled sweetly and murmured a vague question or two, without hearing, or
+      even trying to hear, each other&rsquo;s answer. If I knew that Ambrose Tester
+      was perpetually in and out of her house and always arranging with her that
+      they should go to the same places, I doubt whether she, on her side, knew
+      how often he came to see me. I don&rsquo;t think he would have let her know, and
+      am conscious, in saying this, that it indicated an advanced state of
+      intimacy (with her, I mean).
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I also doubt very much whether he asked her to look about, on his behalf,
+      for a future Lady Tester. This request he was so good as to make of me;
+      but I told him I would have nothing to do with the matter. If Joscelind is
+      unhappy, I am thankful to say the responsibility is not mine. I have found
+      English husbands for two or three American girls, but providing English
+      wives is a different affair. I know the sort of men that will suit women,
+      but one would have to be very clever to know the sort of women that will
+      suit men. I told Ambrose Tester that he must look out for himself, but, in
+      spite of his promise, I had very little belief that he would do anything
+      of the sort. I thought it probable that the old baronet would pass away
+      without seeing a new generation come in; though when I intimated as much
+      to Mr. Tester, he made answer in substance (it was not quite so crudely
+      said) that his father, old as he was, would hold on till his bidding was
+      done, and if it should not be done, he would hold on out of spite. &ldquo;Oh, he
+      will tire me out;&rdquo; that I remember Ambrose Tester did say. I had done him
+      injustice, for six months later he told me he was engaged. It had all come
+      about very suddenly. From one day to the other the right young woman had
+      been found. I forget who had found her; some aunt or cousin, I think; it
+      had not been the young man himself. But when she was found, he rose to the
+      occasion; he took her up seriously, he approved of her thoroughly, and I
+      am not sure that he didn&rsquo;t fall a little in love with her, ridiculous
+      (excuse my London tone) as this accident may appear. He told me that his
+      father was delighted, and I knew afterwards that he had good reason to be.
+      It was not till some weeks later that I saw the girl; but meanwhile I had
+      received the pleasantest impression of her, and this impression came&mdash;must
+      have come&mdash;mainly from what her intended told me. That proves that he
+      spoke with some positiveness, spoke as if he really believed he was doing
+      a good thing. I had it on my tongue&rsquo;s end to ask him how Lady Vandeleur
+      liked her, but I fortunately checked this vulgar inquiry. He liked her
+      evidently, as I say; every one liked her, and when I knew her I liked her
+      better even than the others. I like her to-day more than ever; it is fair
+      you should know that, in reading this account of her situation. It
+      doubtless colors my picture, gives a point to my sense of the strangeness
+      of my little story.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Joscelind Bernardstone came of a military race, and had been brought up in
+      camps,&mdash;by which I don&rsquo;t mean she was one of those objectionable
+      young women who are known as garrison hacks. She was in the flower of her
+      freshness, and had been kept in the tent, receiving, as an only daughter,
+      the most &ldquo;particular&rdquo; education from the excellent Lady Emily (General
+      Bernardstone married a daughter of Lord Clandufly), who looks like a
+      pink-faced rabbit, and is (after Joscelind) one of the nicest women I
+      know. When I met them in a country-house, a few weeks after the marriage
+      was &ldquo;arranged,&rdquo; as they say here, Joscelind won my affections by saying to
+      me, with her timid directness (the speech made me feel sixty years old),
+      that she must thank me for having been so kind to Mr. Tester. You saw her
+      at Doubleton, and you will remember that though she has no regular beauty,
+      many a prettier woman would be very glad to look like her. She is as fresh
+      as a new-laid egg, as light as a feather, as strong as a mail-phaeton. She
+      is perfectly mild, yet she is clever enough to be sharp if she would. I
+      don&rsquo;t know that clever women are necessarily thought ill-natured, but it
+      is usually taken for granted that amiable women are very limited. Lady
+      Tester is a refutation of the theory, which must have been invented by a
+      vixenish woman who was <i>not</i> clever. She has an adoration for her
+      husband, which absorbs her without in the least making her silly, unless
+      indeed it is silly to be modest, as in this brutal world I sometimes
+      believe. Her modesty is so great that being unhappy has hitherto presented
+      itself to her as a form of egotism,&mdash;that egotism which she has too
+      much delicacy to cultivate. She is by no means sure that if being married
+      to her beautiful baronet is not the ideal state she dreamed it, the weak
+      point of the affair is not simply in her own presumption. It does n&rsquo;t
+      express her condition, at present, to say that she is unhappy or
+      disappointed, or that she has a sense of injury. All this is latent;
+      meanwhile, what is obvious, is that she is bewildered,&mdash;she simply
+      does n&rsquo;t understand; and her perplexity, to me, is unspeakably touching.
+      She looks about her for some explanation, some light. She fixes her eyes
+      on mine sometimes, and on those of other people, with a kind of searching
+      dumbness, as if there were some chance that I&mdash;that they&mdash;may
+      explain, may tell her what it is that has happened to her. I can explain
+      very well, but not to her,&mdash;only to you!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2H_4_0003" id="link2H_4_0003">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      III.
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      It was a brilliant match for Miss Bernardstone, who had no fortune at all,
+      and all her friends were of the opinion that she had done very well After
+      Easter she was in London with her people, and I saw a good deal of them,
+      in fact, I rather cultivated them. They might perhaps even have thought me
+      a little patronizing, if they had been given to thinking that sort of
+      thing. But they were not; that is not in their line. English people are
+      very apt to attribute motives,&mdash;some of them attribute much worse
+      ones than we poor simpletons in America recognize, than we have even heard
+      of! But that is only some of them; others don&rsquo;t, but take everything
+      literally and genially. That was the case with the Bernardstones; you
+      could be sure that on their way home, after dining with you, they would
+      n&rsquo;t ask each other how in the world any one could call you pretty, or say
+      that many people <i>did</i> believe, all the same, that you had poisoned
+      your grandfather.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Lady Emily was exceedingly gratified at her daughter&rsquo;s engagement; of
+      course she was very quiet about it, she did n&rsquo;t clap her hands or drag in
+      Mr. Tester&rsquo;s name; but it was easy to see that she felt a kind of maternal
+      peace, an abiding satisfaction. The young man behaved as well as possible,
+      was constantly seen with Joscelind, and smiled down at her in the kindest,
+      most protecting way. They looked beautiful together; you would have said
+      it was a duty for people whose color matched so well to marry. Of course
+      he was immensely taken up, and did n&rsquo;t come very often to see me; but he
+      came sometimes, and when he sat there he had a look which I did n&rsquo;t
+      understand at first. Presently I saw what it expressed; in my drawing-room
+      he was off duty, he had no longer to sit up and play a part; he would lean
+      back and rest and draw a long breath, and forget that the day of his
+      execution was fixed. There was to be no indecent haste about the marriage;
+      it was not to take place till after the session, at the end of August It
+      puzzled me and rather distressed me. that his heart should n&rsquo;t be a little
+      more in the matter; it seemed strange to be engaged to so charming a girl
+      and yet go through with it as if it were simply a social duty. If one had
+      n&rsquo;t been in love with her at first, one ought to have been at the end of a
+      week or two. If Ambrose Tester was not (and to me he did n&rsquo;t pretend to
+      be), he carried it off, as I have said, better than I should have
+      expected. He was a gentleman, and he behaved like a gentleman, with the
+      added punctilio, I think, of being sorry for his betrothed. But it was
+      difficult to see what, in the long run, he could expect to make of such a
+      position. If a man marries an ugly, unattractive woman for reasons of
+      state, the thing is comparatively simple; it is understood between them,
+      and he need have no remorse at not offering her a sentiment of which there
+      has been no question. But when he picks out a charming creature to gratify
+      his father and <i>les convenances</i>, it is not so easy to be happy in
+      not being able to care for her. It seemed to me that it would have been
+      much better for Ambrose Tester to bestow himself upon a girl who might
+      have given him an excuse for tepidity. His wife should have been healthy
+      but stupid, prolific but morose. Did he expect to continue not to be in
+      love with Joscelind, or to conceal from her the mechanical nature of his
+      attentions? It was difficult to see how he could wish to do the one or
+      succeed in doing the other. Did he expect such a girl as that would be
+      happy if he did n&rsquo;t love her? and did he think himself capable of being
+      happy if it should turn out that she was miserable? If she should n&rsquo;t be
+      miserable,&mdash;that is, if she should be indifferent, and, as they say,
+      console herself, would he like that any better?
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I asked myself all these questions and I should have liked to ask them of
+      Mr. Tester; but I did n&rsquo;t, for after all he could n&rsquo;t have answered them.
+      Poor young man! he did n&rsquo;t pry into things as I do; he was not analytic,
+      like us Americans, as they say in reviews. He thought he was behaving
+      remarkably well, and so he was&mdash;for a man; that was the strange part
+      of it. It had been proper that in spite of his reluctance he should take a
+      wife, and he had dutifully set about it. As a good thing is better for
+      being well done, he had taken the best one he could possibly find. He was
+      enchanted with&mdash;with his young lady, you might ask? Not in the least;
+      with himself; that is the sort of person a man is! Their virtues are more
+      dangerous than their vices, and Heaven preserve you when they want to keep
+      a promise! It is never a promise to <i>you</i>, you will notice. A man
+      will sacrifice a woman to live as a gentleman should, and then ask for
+      your sympathy&mdash;for <i>him</i>! And I don&rsquo;t speak of the bad ones, but
+      of the good. They, after all, are the worst Ambrose Tester, as I say, did
+      n&rsquo;t go into these details, but synthetic as he might be, was conscious
+      that his position was false. He felt that sooner or later, and rather
+      sooner than later, he would have to make it true,&mdash;a process that
+      could n&rsquo;t possibly be agreeable. He would really have to make up his mind
+      to care for his wife or not to care for her. What would Lady Vandeleur say
+      to one alternative, and what would little Joscelind say to the other? That
+      is what it was to have a pertinacious father and to be an accommodating
+      son. With me, it was easy for Ambrose Tester to be superficial, for, as I
+      tell you, if I did n&rsquo;t wish to engage him, I did n&rsquo;t wish to disengage
+      him, and I did n&rsquo;t insist Lady Vandeleur insisted, I was afraid; to be
+      with her was of course very complicated; even more than Miss Bernardstone
+      she must have made him feel that his position was false. I must add that
+      he once mentioned to me that she had told him he ought to marry. At any
+      rate, it is an immense thing to be a pleasant fellow. Our young fellow was
+      so universally pleasant that of course his <i>fiancée</i> came in for her
+      share. So did Lady Emily, suffused with hope, which made her pinker than
+      ever; she told me he sent flowers even to her. One day in the Park, I was
+      riding early; the Row was almost empty. I came up behind a lady and
+      gentleman who were walking their horses, close to each other, side by side
+      In a moment I recognized her, but not before seeing that nothing could
+      have been more benevolent than the way Ambrose Tester was bending over his
+      future wife. If he struck me as a lover at that moment, of course he
+      struck her so. But that is n&rsquo;t the way they ride to-day.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2H_4_0004" id="link2H_4_0004">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      IV.
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      One day, about the end of June, he came in to see me when I had two or
+      three other visitors; you know that even at that season I am almost always
+      at home from six to seven. He had not been three minutes in the room
+      before I saw that he was different,&mdash;different from what he had been
+      the last time, and I guessed that something had happened in relation to
+      his marriage. My visitors did n&rsquo;t, unfortunately, and they stayed and
+      stayed until I was afraid he would have to go away without telling me
+      what, I was sure, he had come for. But he sat them out; I think that by
+      exception they did n&rsquo;t find him pleasant. After we were alone he abused
+      them a little, and then he said, &ldquo;Have you heard about Vandeleur? He &lsquo;s
+      very ill. She&rsquo;s awfully anxious.&rdquo; I had n&rsquo;t heard, and I told him so,
+      asking a question or two; then my inquiries ceased, my breath almost
+      failed me, for I had become aware of something very strange. The way he
+      looked at me when he told me his news was a full confession,&mdash;a
+      confession so full that I had needed a moment to take it in. He was not
+      too strong a man to be taken by surprise,&mdash;not so strong but that in
+      the presence of an unexpected occasion his first movement was to look
+      about for a little help. I venture to call it help, the sort of thing he
+      came to me for on that summer afternoon. It is always help when a woman
+      who is not an idiot lets an embarrassed man take up her time. If he too is
+      not an idiot, that does n&rsquo;t diminish the service; on the contrary his
+      superiority to the average helps him to profit. Ambrose Tester had said to
+      me more than once, in the past, that he was capable of telling me things,
+      because I was an American, that he would n&rsquo;t confide to his own people. He
+      had proved it before this, as I have hinted, and I must say that being an
+      American, with him, was sometimes a questionable honor. I don&rsquo;t know
+      whether he thinks us more discreet and more sympathetic (if he keeps up
+      the system: he has abandoned it with me), or only more insensible, more
+      proof against shocks; but it is certain that, like some other Englishmen I
+      have known, he has appeared, in delicate cases, to think I would take a
+      comprehensive view. When I have inquired into the grounds of this
+      discrimination in our favor, he has contented himself with saying, in the
+      British-cursory manner, &ldquo;Oh, I don&rsquo;t know; you are different!&rdquo; I remember
+      he remarked once that our impressions were fresher. And I am sure that now
+      it was because of my nationality, in addition to other merits, that he
+      treated me to the confession I have just alluded to. At least I don&rsquo;t
+      suppose he would have gone about saying to people in general, &ldquo;Her husband
+      will probably die, you know; then why should n&rsquo;t I marry Lady Vandeleur?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      That was the question which his whole expression and manner asked of me,
+      and of which, after a moment, I decided to take no notice. Why shouldn&rsquo;t
+      he? There was an excellent reason why he should n&rsquo;t It would just kill
+      Joscelind Bernardstone; that was why he should n&rsquo;t? The idea that he
+      should be ready to do it frightened me, and independent as he might think
+      my point of view, I had no desire to discuss such abominations. It struck
+      me as an abomination at this very first moment, and I have never wavered
+      in my judgment of it. I am always glad when I can take the measure of a
+      thing as soon as I see it; it &lsquo;s a blessing to <i>feel</i> what we think,
+      without balancing and comparing. It&rsquo;s a great rest, too, and a great
+      luxury. That, as I say, was the case with the feeling excited in me by
+      this happy idea of Ambrose Tester&rsquo;s. Cruel and wanton I thought it then,
+      cruel and wanton I thought it later, when it was pressed upon me. I knew
+      there were many other people that did n&rsquo;t agree with me, and I can only
+      hope for them that their conviction was as quick and positive as mine; it
+      all depends upon the way a thing strikes one. But I will add to this
+      another remark. I thought I was right then, and I still think I was right;
+      but it strikes me as a pity that I should have wished so much to be right
+      Why could n&rsquo;t I be content to be wrong; to renounce my influence (since I
+      appeared to possess the mystic article), and let my young friend do as he
+      liked? As you observed the situation at Doubleton, should n&rsquo;t you say it
+      was of a nature to make one wonder whether, after all, one did render a
+      service to the younger lady?
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At all events, as I say, I gave no sign to Ambrose Tester that I
+      understood him, that I guessed what he wished to come to. He got no
+      satisfaction out of me that day; it is very true that he made up for it
+      later. I expressed regret at Lord Vandeleur&rsquo;s illness, inquired into its
+      nature and origin, hoped it would n&rsquo;t prove as grave as might be feared,
+      said I would call at the house and ask about him, commiserated discreetly
+      her ladyship, and in short gave my young man no chance whatever. He knew
+      that I had guessed his <i>arrière-pensée</i>, but he let me off for the
+      moment, for which I was thankful; either because he was still ashamed of
+      it, or because he supposed I was reserving myself for the catastrophe,&mdash;should
+      it occur. Well, my dear, it did occur, at the end of ten days. Mr. Tester
+      came to see me twice in that interval, each time to tell me that poor
+      Vandeleur was worse; he had some internal inflammation which, in nine
+      cases out of ten, is fatal. His wife was all devotion; she was with him
+      night and day. I had the news from other sources as well; I leave you to
+      imagine whether in London, at the height of the season, such a situation
+      could fail to be considerably discussed. To the discussion as yet,
+      however, I contributed little, and with Ambrose Tester nothing at all. I
+      was still on my guard. I never admitted for a moment that it was possible
+      there should be any change in his plans. By this time, I think, he had
+      quite ceased to be ashamed of his idea, he was in a state almost of
+      exaltation about it; but he was very angry with me for not giving him an
+      opening.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      As I look back upon the matter now, there is something almost amusing in
+      the way we watched each other,&mdash;he thinking that I evaded his
+      question only to torment him (he believed me, or pretended to believe me,
+      capable of this sort of perversity), and I determined not to lose ground
+      by betraying an insight into his state of mind which he might twist into
+      an expression of sympathy. I wished to leave my sympathy where I had
+      placed it, with Lady Emily and her daughter, of whom I continued, bumping
+      against them at parties, to have some observation. They gave no signal of
+      alarm; of course it would have been premature. The girl, I am sure, had no
+      idea of the existence of a rival. How they had kept her in the dark I
+      don&rsquo;t know; but it was easy to see she was too much in love to suspect or
+      to criticise. With Lady Emily it was different; she was a woman of
+      charity, but she touched the world at too many points not to feel its
+      vibrations. However, the dear little woman planted herself firmly; to the
+      eye she was still enough. It was not from Ambrose Tester that I first
+      heard of Lord Vandeleur&rsquo;s death; it was announced, with a quarter of a
+      column of &ldquo;padding,&rdquo; in the <i>Times</i>. I have always known the <i>Times</i>
+      was a wonderful journal, but this never came home to me so much as when it
+      produced a quarter of a column about Lord Vandeleur. It was a triumph of
+      word-spinning. If he had carried out his vocation, if he had been a tailor
+      or a hatter (that&rsquo;s how I see him), there might have been something to say
+      about him. But he missed his vocation, he missed everything but posthumous
+      honors. I was so sure Ambrose Tester would come in that afternoon, and so
+      sure he knew I should expect him, that I threw over an engagement on
+      purpose. But he didn&rsquo;t come in, nor the next day, nor the next. There were
+      two possible explanations of his absence. One was that he was giving all
+      his time to consoling Lady Vandeleur; the other was that he was giving it
+      all, as a blind, to Joscelind Bernardstone. Both proved incorrect, for
+      when he at last turned up he told me he had been for a week in the
+      country, at his father&rsquo;s. Sir Edmund also had been unwell; but he had
+      pulled through better than poor Lord Vandeleur. I wondered at first
+      whether his son had been talking over with him the question of a change of
+      base; but guessed in a moment that he had not suffered this alarm. I don&rsquo;t
+      think that Ambrose would have spared him if he had thought it necessary to
+      give him warning; but he probably held that his father would have no
+      ground for complaint so long as he should marry some one; would have no
+      right to remonstrate if he simply transferred his contract. Lady Vandeleur
+      had had two children (whom she had lost), and might, therefore, have
+      others whom she should n&rsquo;t lose; that would have been a reply to nice
+      discriminations on Sir Edmund&rsquo;s part.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2H_4_0005" id="link2H_4_0005">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      V.
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      In reality, what the young man had been doing was thinking it over beneath
+      his ancestral oaks and beeches. His countenance showed this,&mdash;showed
+      it more than Miss Bernardstone could have liked. He looked like a man who
+      was crossed, not like a man who was happy, in love. I was no more disposed
+      than before to help him out with his plot, but at the end of ten minutes
+      we were articulately discussing it. When I say <i>we</i> were, I mean he
+      was; for I sat before him quite mute, at first, and amazed at the
+      clearness with which, before his conscience, he had argued his case. He
+      had persuaded himself that it was quite a simple matter to throw over poor
+      Joscelind and keep himself free for the expiration of Lady Vandeleur&rsquo;s
+      term of mourning. The deliberations of an impulsive man sometimes land him
+      in strange countries. Ambrose Tester confided his plan to me as a
+      tremendous secret. He professed to wish immensely to know how it appeared
+      to me, and whether my woman&rsquo;s wit could n&rsquo;t discover for him some loophole
+      big enough round, some honorable way of not keeping faith. Yet at the same
+      time he seemed not to foresee that I should, of necessity, be simply
+      horrified. Disconcerted and perplexed (a little), that he was prepared to
+      find me; but if I had refused, as yet, to come to his assistance, he
+      appeared to suppose it was only because of the real difficulty of
+      suggesting to him that perfect pretext of which he was in want. He
+      evidently counted upon me, however, for some illuminating proposal, and I
+      think he would have liked to say to me, &ldquo;You have always pretended to be a
+      great friend of mine,&rdquo;&mdash;I hadn&rsquo;t; the pretension was all on his side,&mdash;&ldquo;and
+      now is your chance to show it. Go to Joscelind and make her feel (women
+      have a hundred ways of doing that sort of thing), that through Vandeleur&rsquo;s
+      death the change in my situation is complete. If she is the girl I take
+      her for, she will know what to do in the premises.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      I was not prepared to oblige him to this degree, and I lost no time in
+      telling him so, after my first surprise at seeing how definite his purpose
+      had become. His contention, after all, was very simple. He had been in
+      love with Lady Vandeleur for years, and was now more in love with her than
+      ever. There had been no appearance of her being, within a calculable
+      period, liberated by the death of her husband. This nobleman was&mdash;he
+      didn&rsquo;t say what just then (it was too soon)&mdash;but he was only forty
+      years old, and in such health and preservation as to make such a
+      contingency infinitely remote. Under these circumstances, Ambrose had been
+      driven, for the most worldly reasons&mdash;he was ashamed of them, pah!&mdash;into
+      an engagement with a girl he did n&rsquo;t love, and did n&rsquo;t pretend to love.
+      Suddenly the unexpected occurred; the woman he did love had become
+      accessible to him, and all the relations of things were altered.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Why should n&rsquo;t he alter, too? Why should n&rsquo;t Miss Bernardstone alter, Lady
+      Emily alter, and every one alter? It would be <i>wrong</i> in him to marry
+      Joscelind in so changed a world;&mdash;a moment&rsquo;s consideration would
+      certainly assure me of that. He could no longer carry out his part of the
+      bargain, and the transaction must stop before it went any further. If
+      Joscelind knew, she would be the first to recognize this, and the thing
+      for her now was to know.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Go and tell her, then, if you are so sure of it,&rdquo; I said. &ldquo;I wonder you
+      have put it off so many days.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He looked at me with a melancholy eye. &ldquo;Of course I know it&rsquo;s beastly
+      awkward.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      It was beastly awkward certainly; there I could quite agree with him, and
+      this was the only sympathy he extracted from me. It was impossible to be
+      less helpful, less merciful, to an embarrassed young man than I was on
+      that occasion. But other occasions followed very quickly, on which Mr.
+      Tester renewed his appeal with greater eloquence. He assured me that it
+      was torture to be with his intended, and every hour that he did n&rsquo;t break
+      off committed him more deeply and more fatally. I repeated only once my
+      previous question,&mdash;asked him only once why then he did n&rsquo;t tell her
+      he had changed his mind. The inquiry was idle, was even unkind, for my
+      young man was in a very tight place. He did n&rsquo;t tell her, simply because
+      he could n&rsquo;t, in spite of the anguish of feeling that his chance to right
+      himself was rapidly passing away. When I asked him if Joscelind appeared
+      to have guessed nothing, he broke out, &ldquo;How in the world can she guess,
+      when I am so kind to her? I am so sorry for her, poor little wretch, that
+      I can&rsquo;t help being nice to her. And from the moment I am nice to her she
+      thinks it&rsquo;s all right.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      I could see perfectly what he meant by that, and I liked him more for this
+      little generosity than I disliked him for his nefarious scheme. In fact, I
+      did n&rsquo;t dislike him at all when I saw what an influence my judgment would
+      have on him. I very soon gave him the full benefit of it. I had thought
+      over his case with all the advantages of his own presentation of it, and
+      it was impossible for me to see how he could decently get rid of the girl.
+      That, as I have said, had been my original opinion, and quickened
+      reflection only confirmed it. As I have also said, I had n&rsquo;t in the least
+      recommended him to become engaged; but once he had done so I recommended
+      him to abide by it. It was all very well being in love with Lady
+      Vandeleur; he might be in love with her, but he had n&rsquo;t promised to marry
+      her. It was all very well not being in love with Miss Bernardstone; but,
+      as it happened, he had promised to marry her, and in my country a
+      gentleman was supposed to keep such promises. If it was a question of
+      keeping them only so long as was convenient, where would any of us be? I
+      assure you I became very eloquent and moral,&mdash;yes, moral, I maintain
+      the word, in spite of your perhaps thinking (as you are very capable of
+      doing) that I ought to have advised him in just the opposite sense. It was
+      not a question of love, but of marriage, for he had never promised to love
+      poor Joscelind. It was useless his saying it was dreadful to marry without
+      love; he knew that he thought it, and the people he lived with thought it,
+      nothing of the kind. Half his friends had married on those terms. &ldquo;Yes,
+      and a pretty sight their private life presented!&rdquo; That might be, but it
+      was the first time I had ever heard him say it. A fortnight before he had
+      been quite ready to do like the others. I knew what I thought, and I
+      suppose I expressed it with some clearness, for my arguments made him
+      still more uncomfortable, unable as he was either to accept them or to act
+      in contempt of them. Why he should have cared so much for my opinion is a
+      mystery I can&rsquo;t elucidate; to understand my little story, you must simply
+      swallow it. That he did care is proved by the exasperation with which he
+      suddenly broke out, &ldquo;Well, then, as I understand you, what you recommend
+      me is to marry Miss Bernardstone, and carry on an intrigue with Lady
+      Vandeleur!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He knew perfectly that I recommended nothing of the sort, and he must have
+      been very angry to indulge in this <i>boutade</i>. He told me that other
+      people did n&rsquo;t think as I did&mdash;that every one was of the opinion that
+      between a woman he did n&rsquo;t love and a woman he had adored for years it was
+      a plain moral duty not to hesitate. &ldquo;Don&rsquo;t hesitate then!&rdquo; I exclaimed;
+      but I did n&rsquo;t get rid of him with this, for he returned to the charge more
+      than once (he came to me so often that I thought he must neglect both his
+      other alternatives), and let me know again that the voice of society was
+      quite against my view. You will doubtless be surprised at such an
+      intimation that he had taken &ldquo;society&rdquo; into his confidence, and wonder
+      whether he went about asking people whether they thought he might back
+      out. I can&rsquo;t tell you exactly, but I know that for some weeks his dilemma
+      was a great deal talked about. His friends perceived he was at the parting
+      of the roads, and many of them had no difficulty in saying which one <i>they</i>
+      would take. Some observers thought he ought to do nothing, to leave things
+      as they were. Others took very high ground and discoursed upon the
+      sanctity of love and the wickedness of really deceiving the girl, as that
+      would be what it would amount to (if he should lead her to the altar).
+      Some held that it was too late to escape, others maintained that it is
+      never too late. Some thought Miss Bernardstone very much to be pitied;
+      some reserved their compassion for Ambrose Tester; others, still, lavished
+      it upon Lady Vandeleur.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The prevailing opinion, I think, was that he ought to obey the promptings
+      of his heart&mdash;London cares so much for the heart! Or is it that
+      London is simply ferocious, and always prefers the spectacle that is more
+      entertaining? As it would prolong the drama for the young man to throw
+      over Miss Bernardstone, there was a considerable readiness to see the poor
+      girl sacrificed. She was like a Christian maiden in the Roman arena. That
+      is what Ambrose Tester meant by telling me that public opinion was on his
+      side. I don&rsquo;t think he chattered about his quandary, but people, knowing
+      his situation, guessed what was going on in his mind, and he on his side
+      guessed what they said. London discussions might as well go on in the
+      whispering-gallery of St. Paul&rsquo;s. I could of course do only one thing,&mdash;I
+      could but reaffirm my conviction that the Roman attitude, as I may call
+      it, was cruel, was falsely sentimental. This naturally did n&rsquo;t help him as
+      he wished to be helped,&mdash;did n&rsquo;t remove the obstacle to his marrying
+      in a year or two Lady Vandeleur. Yet he continued to look to me for
+      inspiration,&mdash;I must say it at the cost of making him appear a very
+      feeble-minded gentleman. There was a moment when I thought him capable of
+      an oblique movement, of temporizing with a view to escape. If he succeeded
+      in postponing his marriage long enough, the Bernardstones would throw <i>him</i>
+      over, and I suspect that for a day he entertained the idea of fixing this
+      responsibility on them. But he was too honest and too generous to do so
+      for longer, and his destiny was staring him in the face when an accident
+      gave him a momentary relief. General Bernardstone died, after an illness
+      as sudden and short as that which had carried off Lord Vandeleur; his wife
+      and daughter were plunged into mourning and immediately retired into the
+      country. A week later we heard that the girl&rsquo;s marriage would be put off
+      for several months,&mdash;partly on account of her mourning, and partly
+      because her mother, whose only companion she had now become, could not
+      bear to part with her at the time originally fixed and actually so near.
+      People of course looked at each other,&mdash;said it was the beginning of
+      the end, a &ldquo;dodge&rdquo; of Ambrose Tester&rsquo;s. I wonder they did n&rsquo;t accuse him
+      of poisoning the poor old general. I know to a certainty that he had
+      nothing to do with the delay, that the proposal came from Lady Emily, who,
+      in her bereavement, wished, very naturally, to keep a few months longer
+      the child she was going to lose forever. It must be said, in justice to
+      her prospective son-in-law, that he was capable either of resigning
+      himself or of frankly (with however many blushes) telling Joscelind he
+      could n&rsquo;t keep his agreement, but was not capable of trying to wriggle out
+      of his difficulty. The plan of simply telling Joscelind he couldn&rsquo;t,&mdash;this
+      was the one he had fixed upon as the best, and this was the one of which I
+      remarked to him that it had a defect which should be counted against its
+      advantages. The defect was that it would kill Joscelind on the spot.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I think he believed me, and his believing me made this unexpected respite
+      very welcome to him. There was no knowing what might happen in the
+      interval, and he passed a large part of it in looking for an issue. And
+      yet, at the same time, he kept up the usual forms with the girl whom in
+      his heart he had renounced. I was told more than once (for I had lost
+      sight of the pair during the summer and autumn) that these forms were at
+      times very casual, that he neglected Miss Bernardstone most flagrantly,
+      and had quite resumed his old intimacy with Lady Vandeleur. I don&rsquo;t
+      exactly know what was meant by this, for she spent the first three months
+      of her widowhood in complete seclusion, in her own old house in Norfolk,
+      where he certainly was not staying with her. I believe he stayed some
+      time, for the partridge shooting, at a place a few miles off. It came to
+      my ears that if Miss Bernardstone did n&rsquo;t take the hint it was because she
+      was determined to stick to him through thick and thin. She never offered
+      to let him off, and I was sure she never would; but I was equally sure
+      that, strange as it may appear, he had not ceased to be nice to her. I
+      have never exactly understood why he didn&rsquo;t hate her, and I am convinced
+      that he was not a comedian in his conduct to her,&mdash;he was only a good
+      fellow. I have spoken of the satisfaction that Sir Edmund took in his
+      daughter-in-law that was to be; he delighted in looking at her, longed for
+      her when she was out of his sight, and had her, with her mother, staying
+      with him in the country for weeks together. If Ambrose was not so
+      constantly at her side as he might have been, this deficiency was covered
+      by his father&rsquo;s devotion to her, by her appearance of being already one of
+      the family. Mr. Tester was away as he might be away if they were already
+      married.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2H_4_0006" id="link2H_4_0006">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      VI.
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      In October I met him at Doubleton; we spent three days there together. He
+      was enjoying his respite, as he didn&rsquo;t scruple to tell me; and he talked
+      to me a great deal&mdash;as usual&mdash;about Lady Vandeleur. He did n&rsquo;t
+      mention Joscelind&rsquo;s name, except by implication in this assurance of how
+      much he valued his weeks of grace.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Do you mean to say that, under the circumstances, Lady Vandeleur is
+      willing to marry you?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      I made this inquiry more expressively, doubtless, than before; for when we
+      had talked of the matter then he had naturally spoken of her consent as a
+      simple contingency. It was contingent upon the lapse of the first months
+      of her bereavement; it was not a question he could begin to press a few
+      days after her husband&rsquo;s death.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Not immediately, of course; but if I wait, I think so.&rdquo; That, I remember,
+      was his answer.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;If you wait till you get rid of that poor girl, of course.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;She knows nothing about that,&mdash;it&rsquo;s none of her business.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Do you mean to say she does n&rsquo;t know you are engaged?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;How should she know it, how should she believe it, when she sees how I
+      love her?&rdquo; the young man exclaimed; but he admitted afterwards that he had
+      not deceived her, and that she rendered full justice to the motives that
+      had determined him. He thought he could answer for it that she would marry
+      him some day or other.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Then she is a very cruel woman,&rdquo; I said, &ldquo;and I should like, if you
+      please, to hear no more about her.&rdquo; He protested against this, and, a
+      month later, brought her up again, for a purpose. The purpose, you will
+      see, was a very strange one indeed. I had then come back to town; it was
+      the early part of December. I supposed he was hunting, with his own
+      hounds; but he appeared one afternoon in my drawing-room and told me I
+      should do him a great favor if I would go and see Lady Vandeleur.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Go and see her? Where do you mean, in Norfolk?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;She has come up to London&mdash;did n&rsquo;t you know it? She has a lot of
+      business. She will be kept here till Christmas; I wish you would go.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why should I go?&rdquo; I asked. &ldquo;Won&rsquo;t you be kept here till Christmas too,
+      and is n&rsquo;t that company enough for her?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Upon my word, you are cruel,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;and it&rsquo;s a great shame of you,
+      when a man is trying to do his duty and is behaving like a saint.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Is that what you call saintly, spending all your time with Lady
+      Vandeleur? I will tell you whom I think a saint, if you would like to
+      know.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You need n&rsquo;t tell me; I know it better than you. I haven&rsquo;t a word to say
+      against her; only she is stupid and hasn&rsquo;t any perceptions. If I am
+      stopping a bit in London you don&rsquo;t understand why; it&rsquo;s as if you had n&rsquo;t
+      any perceptions either! If I am here for a few days, I know what I am
+      about.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why should I understand?&rdquo; I asked,&mdash;not very candidly, because I
+      should have been glad to. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s your own affair; you know what you are
+      about, as you say, and of course you have counted the cost.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What cost do you mean? It&rsquo;s a pretty cost, I can tell you.&rdquo; And then he
+      tried to explain&mdash;if I would only enter into it, and not be so
+      suspicious. He was in London for the express purpose of breaking off.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Breaking off what,&mdash;your engagement?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, no, damn my engagement,&mdash;the other thing. My acquaintance, my
+      relations&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Your intimacy with Lady Van&mdash;?&rdquo; It was not very gentle, but I
+      believe I burst out laughing. &ldquo;If this is the way you break off, pray what
+      would you do to keep up?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He flushed, and looked both foolish and angry, for of course it was not
+      very difficult to see my point. But he was&mdash;in a very clumsy manner
+      of his own&mdash;trying to cultivate a good conscience, and he was getting
+      no credit for it. &ldquo;I suppose I may be allowed to look at her! It&rsquo;s a
+      matter we have to talk over. One does n&rsquo;t drop such a friend in half an
+      hour.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;One does n&rsquo;t drop her at all, unless one has the strength to make a
+      sacrifice.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It&rsquo;s easy for you to talk of sacrifice. You don&rsquo;t know what she is!&rdquo; my
+      visitor cried.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I think I know what she is not. She is not a friend, as you call her, if
+      she encourages you in the wrong, if she does n&rsquo;t help you. No, I have no
+      patience with her,&rdquo; I declared; &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t like her, and I won&rsquo;t go to see
+      her!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Mr. Tester looked at me a moment, as if he were too vexed to trust himself
+      to speak. He had to make an effort not to say something rude. That effort
+      however, he was capable of making, and though he held his hat as if he
+      were going to walk out of the house, he ended by staying, by putting it
+      down again, by leaning his head, with his elbows on his knees, in his
+      hands, and groaning out that he had never heard of anything so impossible,
+      and that he was the most wretched man in England. I was very sorry for
+      him, and of course I told him so; but privately I did n&rsquo;t think he stood
+      up to his duty as he ought. I said to him, however, that if he would give
+      me his word of honor that he would not abandon Miss Bernardstone, there
+      was no trouble I would n&rsquo;t take to be of use to him. I did n&rsquo;t think Lady
+      Vandeleur <i>was</i> behaving well. He must allow me to repeat that; but
+      if going to see her would give him any pleasure (of course there was no
+      question of pleasure for <i>her</i>) I would go fifty times. I could n&rsquo;t
+      imagine how it would help him, but I would do it as I would do anything
+      else he asked me. He did n&rsquo;t give me his word of honor, but he said
+      quietly, &ldquo;<i>I</i> shall go straight; you need n&rsquo;t be afraid;&rdquo; and as he
+      spoke there was honor enough in his face. This left an opening, of course,
+      for another catastrophe. There might be further postponements, and poor
+      Lady Emily, indignant for the first time in her life, might declare that
+      her daughter&rsquo;s situation had become intolerable and that they withdrew
+      from the engagement. But this was too odious a chance, and I accepted Mr.
+      Tester&rsquo;s assurance. He told me that the good I could do by going to see
+      Lady Vandeleur was that it would cheer her up, in that dreary, big house
+      in Upper Brook Street, where she was absolutely alone, with horrible
+      overalls on the furniture, and newspapers&mdash;actually newspapers&mdash;on
+      the mirrors. She was seeing no one, there was no one to see; but he knew
+      she would see me. I asked him if she knew, then, he was to speak to me of
+      coming, and whether I might allude to him, whether it was not too
+      delicate. I shall never forget his answer to this, nor the tone in which
+      he made it, blushing a little, and looking away. &ldquo;Allude to me? Rather!&rdquo;
+       It was not the most fatuous speech I had ever heard; it had the effect of
+      being the most modest; and it gave me an odd idea, and especially a new
+      one, of the condition in which, at any time, one might be destined to find
+      Lady Vandeleur. If she, too, were engaged in a struggle with her
+      conscience (in this light they were an edifying pair!) it had perhaps
+      changed her considerably, made her more approachable; and I reflected,
+      ingeniously, that it probably had a humanizing effect upon her. Ambrose
+      Tester did n&rsquo;t go away after I had told him that I would comply with his
+      request. He lingered, fidgeting with his stick and gloves, and I perceived
+      that he had more to tell me, and that the real reason why he wished me to
+      go and see Lady Vandeleur was not that she had newspapers on her mirrors.
+      He came out with it at last, for that &ldquo;Rather!&rdquo; of his (with the way I
+      took it) had broken the ice.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You say you don&rsquo;t think she behaved well&rdquo; (he naturally wished to defend
+      her). &ldquo;But I dare say you don&rsquo;t understand her position. Perhaps you would
+      n&rsquo;t behave any better in her place.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It&rsquo;s very good of you to imagine me there!&rdquo; I remarked, laughing.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It&rsquo;s awkward for me to say. One doesn&rsquo;t want to dot one&rsquo;s i&rsquo;s to that
+      extent.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;She would be delighted to marry you. That&rsquo;s not such a mystery.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, she likes me awfully,&rdquo; Mr. Tester said, looking like a handsome
+      child. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s not all on one side; it&rsquo;s on both. That&rsquo;s the difficulty.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You mean she won&rsquo;t let you go?&mdash;she holds you fast?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      But the poor fellow had, in delicacy, said enough, and at this he jumped
+      up. He stood there a moment, smoothing his hat; then he broke out again:
+      &ldquo;Please do this. Let her know&mdash;make her feel. You can bring it in,
+      you know.&rdquo; And here he paused, embarrassed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What can I bring in, Mr. Tester? That&rsquo;s the difficulty, as you say.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What you told me the other day. You know. What you have told me before.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What I have told you&mdash;?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That it would put an end to Joscelind! If you can&rsquo;t work round to it,
+      what&rsquo;s the good of being&mdash;you?&rdquo; And with this tribute to my powers he
+      took his departure.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2H_4_0007" id="link2H_4_0007">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      VII.
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      It was all very well of him to be so flattering, but I really did n&rsquo;t see
+      myself talking in that manner to Lady Vandeleur. I wondered why he didn&rsquo;t
+      give her this information himself, and what particular value it could have
+      as coming from me. Then I said to myself that of course he <i>had</i>
+      mentioned to her the truth I had impressed upon him (and which by this
+      time he had evidently taken home), but that to enable it to produce its
+      full effect upon Lady Yandeleur the further testimony of a witness more
+      independent was required. There was nothing for me but to go and see her,
+      and I went the next day, fully conscious that to execute Mr. Tester&rsquo;s
+      commission I should have either to find myself very brave or to find her
+      strangely confidential; and fully prepared, also, not to be admitted. But
+      she received me, and the house in Upper Brook Street was as dismal as
+      Ambrose Tester had represented it. The December fog (the afternoon was
+      very dusky) seemed to pervade the muffled rooms, and her ladyship&rsquo;s pink
+      lamplight to waste itself in the brown atmosphere. He had mentioned to me
+      that the heir to the title (a cousin of her husband), who had left her
+      unmolested for several months, was now taking possession of everything, so
+      that what kept her in town was the business of her &ldquo;turning out,&rdquo; and
+      certain formalities connected with her dower. This was very ample, and the
+      large provision made for her included the London house. She was very
+      gracious on this occasion, but she certainly had remarkably little to say.
+      Still, she was different, or at any rate (having taken that hint), I saw
+      her differently. I saw, indeed, that I had never quite done her justice,
+      that I had exaggerated her stiffness, attributed to her a kind of
+      conscious grandeur which was in reality much more an accident of her
+      appearance, of her figure, than a quality of her character. Her appearance
+      is as grand as you know, and on the day I speak of, in her simplified
+      mourning, under those vaguely gleaming <i>lambris</i>, she looked as
+      beautiful as a great white lily. She is very simple and good-natured; she
+      will never make an advance, but she will always respond to one, and I saw,
+      that evening, that the way to get on with her was to treat her as if she
+      were not too imposing. I saw also that, with her nun-like robes and
+      languid eyes, she was a woman who might be immensely in love. All the
+      same, we hadn&rsquo;t much to say to each other. She remarked that it was very
+      kind of me to come, that she wondered how I could endure London at that
+      season, that she had taken a drive and found the Park too dreadful, that
+      she would ring for some more tea if I did n&rsquo;t like what she had given me.
+      Our conversation wandered, stumbling a little, among these platitudes, but
+      no allusion was made on either side to Ambrose Tester. Nevertheless, as I
+      have said, she was different, though it was not till I got home that I
+      phrased to myself what I had detected.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Then, recalling her white face, and the deeper, stranger expression of her
+      beautiful eyes, I entertained myself with the idea that she was under the
+      influence of &ldquo;suppressed exaltation.&rdquo; The more I thought of her the more
+      she appeared to me not natural; wound up, as it were, to a calmness
+      beneath which there was a deal of agitation. This would have been nonsense
+      if I had not, two days afterwards, received a note from her which struck
+      me as an absolutely &ldquo;exalted&rdquo; production. Not superficially, of course; to
+      the casual eye it would have been perfectly commonplace. But this was
+      precisely its peculiarity, that Lady Vandeleur should have written me a
+      note which had no apparent point save that she should like to see me
+      again, a desire for which she did succeed in assigning a reason. She
+      reminded me that she was paying no calls, and she hoped I wouldn&rsquo;t stand
+      on ceremony, but come in very soon again, she had enjoyed my visit so
+      much. We had not been on note-writing terms, and there was nothing in that
+      visit to alter our relations; moreover, six months before, she would not
+      have dreamed of addressing me in that way. I was doubly convinced,
+      therefore, that she was passing through a crisis, that she was not in her
+      normal state of nerves. Mr. Tester had not reappeared since the occasion I
+      have described at length, and I thought it possible he had been capable of
+      the bravery of leaving town. I had, however, no fear of meeting him in
+      Upper Brook Street; for, according to my theory of his relations with Lady
+      Vaudeleur, he regularly spent his evenings with her, it being clear to me
+      that they must dine together. I could answer her note only by going to see
+      her the next day, when I found abundant confirmation of that idea about
+      the crisis. I must confess to you in advance that I have never really
+      understood her behavior,&mdash;never understood why she should have taken
+      me so suddenly&mdash;with whatever reserves, and however much by
+      implication merely&mdash;into her confidence. All I can say is that this
+      is an accident to which one is exposed with English people, who, in my
+      opinion, and contrary to common report, are the most demonstrative, the
+      most expansive, the most gushing in the world. I think she felt rather
+      isolated at this moment, and she had never had many intimates of her own
+      sex. That sex, as a general thing, disapproved of her proceedings during
+      the last few months, held that she was making Joscelind Bernardstone
+      suffer too cruelly. She possibly felt the weight of this censure, and at
+      all events was not above wishing some one to know that whatever injury had
+      fallen upon the girl to whom Mr. Tester had so stupidly engaged himself,
+      had not, so far as she was concerned, been wantonly inflicted. I was
+      there, I was more or less aware of her situation, and I would do as well
+      as any one else.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She seemed really glad to see me, but she was very nervous. Nevertheless,
+      nearly half an hour elapsed, and I was still wondering whether she had
+      sent for me only to discuss the question of how a London house whose
+      appointments had the stamp of a debased period (it had been thought very
+      handsome in 1850) could be &ldquo;done up&rdquo; without being made æsthetic. I forget
+      what satisfaction I gave her on this point; I was asking myself how I
+      could work round in the manner prescribed by Joscelind&rsquo;s intended. At the
+      last, however, to my extreme surprise, Lady Vandeleur herself relieved me
+      of this effort.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I think you know Mr. Tester rather well,&rdquo; she remarked, abruptly,
+      irrelevantly, and with a face&rsquo; more conscious of the bearings of things
+      than any I had ever seen her wear. On my confessing to such an
+      acquaintance, she mentioned that Mr. Tester (who had been in London a few
+      days&mdash;perhaps I had seen him) had left town and would n&rsquo;t come back
+      for several weeks. This, for the moment, seemed to be all she had to
+      communicate; but she sat looking at me from the corner of her sofa as if
+      she wished me to profit in some way by the opportunity she had given me.
+      Did she want help from outside, this proud, inscrutable woman, and was she
+      reduced to throwing out signals of distress? Did she wish to be protected
+      against herself,&mdash;applauded for such efforts as she had already made?
+      I didn&rsquo;t rush forward, I was not precipitate, for I felt that now, surely,
+      I should be able at my convenience to execute my commission. What
+      concerned me was not to prevent Lady Vandeleur&rsquo;s marrying Mr. Tester, but
+      to prevent Mr. Tester&rsquo;s marrying her. In a few moments&mdash;with the same
+      irrelevance&mdash;she announced to me that he wished to, and asked whether
+      I didn&rsquo;t know it I saw that this was my chance, and instantly, with
+      extreme energy, I exclaimed,&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah, for Heaven&rsquo;s sake don&rsquo;t listen to him! It would kill Miss
+      Bernardstone!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The tone of my voice made her color a little, and she repeated, &ldquo;Miss
+      Bernardstone?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The girl he is engaged to,&mdash;or has been,&mdash;don&rsquo;t you know?
+      Excuse me, I thought every one knew.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Of course I know he is dreadfully entangled. He was fairly hunted down.&rdquo;
+       Lady Vandeleur was silent a moment, and then she added, with a strange
+      smile, &ldquo;Fancy, in such a situation, his wanting to marry me!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Fancy!&rdquo; I replied. I was so struck with the oddity of her telling me her
+      secrets that for the moment my indignation did not come to a head,&mdash;my
+      indignation, I mean, at her accusing poor Lady Emily (and even the girl
+      herself) of having &ldquo;trapped&rdquo; our friend. Later I said to myself that I
+      supposed she was within her literal right in abusing her rival, if she was
+      trying sincerely to give him up. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know anything about his having
+      been hunted down,&rdquo; I said; &ldquo;but this I do know, Lady Vandeleur, I assure
+      you, that if he should throw Joscelind over she would simply go out like
+      that!&rdquo; And I snapped my fingers.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Lady Vandeleur listened to this serenely enough; she tried at least to
+      take the air of a woman who has no need of new arguments. &ldquo;Do you know her
+      very well?&rdquo; she asked, as if she had been struck by my calling Miss
+      Bernardstone by her Christian name.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well enough to like her very much.&rdquo; I was going to say &ldquo;to pity her;&rdquo; but
+      I thought better of it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;She must be a person of very little spirit. If a man were to jilt me, I
+      don&rsquo;t think I should go out!&rdquo; cried her ladyship with a laugh.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Nothing is more probable than that she has not your courage or your
+      wisdom. She may be weak, but she is passionately in love with him.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      I looked straight into Lady Vandeleur&rsquo;s eyes as I said this, and I was
+      conscious that it was a tolerably good description of my hostess.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Do you think she would really die?&rdquo; she asked in a moment.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Die as if one should stab her with a knife. Some people don&rsquo;t believe in
+      broken hearts,&rdquo; I continued. &ldquo;I did n&rsquo;t till I knew Joscelind
+      Bernardstone; then I felt that she had one that would n&rsquo;t be proof.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;One ought to live,&mdash;one ought always to live,&rdquo; said Lady Yandeleur;
+      &ldquo;and always to hold up one&rsquo;s head.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah, I suppose that one ought n&rsquo;t to feel at all, if one wishes to be a
+      great success.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What do you call a great success?&rdquo; she asked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Never having occasion to be pitied.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Being pitied? That must be odious!&rdquo; she said; and I saw that though she
+      might wish for admiration, she would never wish for sympathy. Then, in a
+      moment, she added that men, in her opinion, were very base,&mdash;a remark
+      that was deep, but not, I think, very honest; that is, in so far as the
+      purpose of it had been to give me the idea that Ambrose Tester had done
+      nothing but press her, and she had done nothing but resist. They were very
+      odd, the discrepancies in the statements of each of this pair; but it must
+      be said for Lady Vandeleur that now that she had made up her mind (as I
+      believed she had) to sacrifice herself, she really persuaded herself that
+      she had not had a moment of weakness. She quite unbosomed herself, and I
+      fairly assisted at her crisis. It appears that she had a conscience,&mdash;very
+      much so, and even a high ideal of duty. She represented herself as moving
+      heaven and earth to keep Ambrose Tester up to the mark, and you would
+      never have guessed from what she told me that she had entertained ever so
+      faintly the idea of marrying him. I am sure this was a dreadful
+      perversion, but I forgave it on the score of that exaltation of which I
+      have spoken. The things she said, and the way she said them, come back to
+      me, and I thought that if she looked as handsome as that when she preached
+      virtue to Mr. Tester, it was no wonder he liked the sermon to be going on
+      perpetually.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I dare say you know what old friends we are; but that does n&rsquo;t make any
+      difference, does it? Nothing would induce me to marry him,&mdash;I have
+      n&rsquo;t the smallest intention of marrying again. It is not a time for me to
+      think of marrying, before his lordship has been dead six months. The girl
+      is nothing to me; I know nothing about her, and I don&rsquo;t wish to know; but
+      I should be very, very sorry if she were unhappy. He is the best friend I
+      ever had, but I don&rsquo;t see that that&rsquo;s any reason I should marry him, do
+      you?&rdquo; Lady Vaudeleur appealed to me, but without waiting for my answers,
+      asking advice in spite of herself, and then remembering it was beneath her
+      dignity to appear to be in need of it. &ldquo;I have told him that if he does
+      n&rsquo;t act properly I shall never speak to him again. She&rsquo;s a charming girl,
+      every one says, and I have no doubt she will make him perfectly happy. Men
+      don&rsquo;t feel things like women, I think, and if they are coddled and
+      flattered they forget the rest. I have no doubt she is very sufficient for
+      all that. For me, at any rate, once I see a thing in a certain way, I must
+      abide by that I think people are so dreadful,&mdash;they do such horrible
+      things. They don&rsquo;t seem to think what one&rsquo;s duty may be. I don&rsquo;t know
+      whether you think much about that, but really one must at times, don&rsquo;t you
+      think so? Every one is so selfish, and then, when they have never made an
+      effort or a sacrifice themselves, they come to you and talk such a lot of
+      hypocrisy. I know so much better than any one else whether I should marry
+      or not. But I don&rsquo;t mind telling you that I don&rsquo;t see why I should. I am
+      not in such a bad position,&mdash;with my liberty and a decent
+      maintenance.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      In this manner she rambled on, gravely and communicatively, contradicting
+      herself at times; not talking fast (she never did), but dropping one
+      simple sentence, with an interval, after the other, with a certain
+      richness of voice which always was part of the charm of her presence. She
+      wished to be convinced against herself, and it was a comfort to her to
+      hear herself argue. I was quite willing to be part of the audience, though
+      I had to confine myself to very superficial remarks; for when I had said
+      the event I feared would kill Miss Bernardstone I had said everything that
+      was open to me. I had nothing to do with Lady Vandeleur&rsquo;s marrying, apart
+      from that I probably disappointed her. She had caught a glimpse of the
+      moral beauty of self-sacrifice, of a certain ideal of conduct (I imagine
+      it was rather new to her), and would have been glad to elicit from me, as
+      a person of some experience of life, an assurance that such joys are not
+      insubstantial. I had no wish to wind her up to a spiritual ecstasy from
+      which she would inevitably descend again, and I let her deliver herself
+      according to her humor, without attempting to answer for it that she would
+      find renunciation the road to bliss. I believed that if she should give up
+      Mr. Tester she would suffer accordingly; but I did n&rsquo;t think that a reason
+      for not giving him up. Before I left her she said to me that nothing would
+      induce her to do anything that she did n&rsquo;t think right. &ldquo;It would be no
+      pleasure to me, don&rsquo;t you see? I should be always thinking that another
+      way would have been better. Nothing would induce me,&mdash;nothing,
+      nothing!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2H_4_0008" id="link2H_4_0008">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      VIII.
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      She protested too much, perhaps, but the event seemed to show that she was
+      in earnest. I have described these two first visits of mine in some
+      detail, but they were not the only ones I paid her. I saw her several
+      times again, before she left town, and we became intimate, as London
+      intimacies are measured. She ceased to protest (to my relief, for it made
+      me nervous), she was very gentle, and gracious, and reasonable, and there
+      was something in the way she looked and spoke that told me that for the
+      present she found renunciation its own reward. So far, my scepticism was
+      put to shame; her spiritual ecstasy maintained itself. If I could have
+      foreseen then that it would maintain itself till the present hour I should
+      have felt that Lady Vandeleur&rsquo;s moral nature is finer indeed than mine. I
+      heard from her that Mr. Tester remained at his father&rsquo;s, and that Lady
+      Emily and her daughter were also there. The day for the wedding had been
+      fixed, and the preparations were going rapidly forward. Meanwhile&mdash;she
+      didn&rsquo;t tell me, but I gathered it from things she dropped&mdash;she was in
+      almost daily correspondence with the young man. I thought this a strange
+      concomitant of his bridal arrangements; but apparently, henceforth, they
+      were bent on convincing each other that the torch of virtue lighted their
+      steps, and they couldn&rsquo;t convince each other too much. She intimated to me
+      that she had now effectually persuaded him (always by letter), that he
+      would fail terribly if he should try to found his happiness on an injury
+      done to another, and that of course she could never be happy (in a union
+      with him), with the sight of his wretchedness before her. That a good deal
+      of correspondence should be required to elucidate this is perhaps after
+      all not remarkable. One day, when I was sitting with her (it was just
+      before she left town), she suddenly burst into tears. Before we parted I
+      said to her that there were several women in London I liked very much,&mdash;that
+      was common enough,&mdash;but for her I had a positive respect, and that
+      was rare. My respect continues still, and it sometimes makes me furious.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      About the middle of January Ambrose Tester reappeared in town. He told me
+      he came to bid me good-by. He was going to be beheaded. It was no use
+      saying that old relations would be the same after a man was married; they
+      would be different, everything would be different. I had wanted him to
+      marry, and now I should see how I liked it He did n&rsquo;t mention that I had
+      also wanted him not to marry, and I was sure that if Lady Vandeleur had
+      become his wife, she would have been a much greater impediment to our
+      harmless friendship than Joscelind Bernardstone would ever be. It took me
+      but a short time to observe that he was in very much the same condition as
+      Lady Vandeleur. He was finding how sweet it is to renounce, hand in hand
+      with one we love. Upon him, too, the peace of the Lord had descended. He
+      spoke of his father&rsquo;s delight at the nuptials being so near at hand; at
+      the festivities that would take place in Dorsetshire when he should bring
+      home his bride. The only allusion he made to what we had talked of the
+      last time we were together was to exclaim suddenly, &ldquo;How can I tell you
+      how easy she has made it? She is so sweet, so noble. She really is a
+      perfect creature!&rdquo; I took for granted that he was talking of his future
+      wife, but in a moment, as we were at cross-purposes, perceived that he
+      meant Lady Vandeleur. This seemed to me really ominous. It stuck in my
+      mind after he had left me. I was half tempted to write him a note, to say,
+      &ldquo;There is, after all, perhaps, something worse than your jilting Miss
+      Bernardstone would be; and that is the danger that your rupture with Lady
+      Vandeleur may become more of a bond than your marrying her would have been
+      For Heaven&rsquo;s sake, let your sacrifice <i>be</i> a sacrifice; keep it in
+      its proper place!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Of course I did n&rsquo;t write; even the slight responsibility I had already
+      incurred began to frighten me, and I never saw Mr. Tester again till he
+      was the husband of Joscelind Bernardstone. They have now been married some
+      four years; they have two children, the eldest of whom is, as he should
+      be, a boy. Sir Edmund waited till his grandson had made good his place in
+      the world, and then, feeling it was safe, he quietly, genially surrendered
+      his trust. He died, holding the hand of his daughter-in-law, and giving it
+      doubtless a pressure which was an injunction to be brave. I don&rsquo;t know
+      what he thought of the success of his plan for his son; but perhaps, after
+      all, he saw nothing amiss, for Joscelind is the last woman in the world to
+      have troubled him with her sorrows. From him, no doubt, she successfully
+      concealed that bewilderment on which I have touched. You see I speak of
+      her sorrows as if they were a matter of common recognition; certain it is
+      that any one who meets her must see that she does n&rsquo;t pass her life in
+      joy. Lady Vandeleur, as you know, has never married again; she is still
+      the most beautiful widow in England. She enjoys the esteem of every one,
+      as well as the approbation of her conscience, for every one knows the
+      sacrifice she made, knows that she was even more in love with Sir Ambrose
+      than he was with her. She goes out again, of course, as of old, and she
+      constantly meets the baronet and his wife. She is supposed to be even
+      &ldquo;very nice&rdquo; to Lady Tester, and she certainly treats her with exceeding
+      civility. But you know (or perhaps you don&rsquo;t know) all the deadly things
+      that, in London, may lie beneath that method. I don&rsquo;t in the least mean
+      that Lady Vandeleur has any deadly intentions; she is a very good woman,
+      and I am sure that in her heart she thinks she lets poor Joscelind off
+      very easily. But the result of the whole situation is that Joscelind is in
+      dreadful fear of her, for how can she help seeing that she has a very
+      peculiar power over her husband? There couldn&rsquo;t have been a better
+      occasion for observing the three together (if together it may be called,
+      when Lady Tester is so completely outside), than those two days of ours at
+      Doubleton. That&rsquo;s a house where they have met more than once before; I
+      think she and Sir Ambrose like it. By &ldquo;she&rdquo; I mean, as he used to mean,
+      Lady Vandeleur. You saw how Lady Tester was absolutely white with
+      uneasiness. What can she do when she meets everywhere the implication that
+      if two people in our time have distinguished themselves for their virtue,
+      it is her husband and Lady Vandeleur? It is my impression that this pair
+      are exceedingly happy. His marriage <i>has</i> made a difference, and I
+      see him much less frequently and less intimately. But when I meet him I
+      notice in him a kind of emanation of quiet bliss. Yes, they are certainly
+      in felicity, they have trod the clouds together, they have soared into the
+      blue, and they wear in their faces the glory of those altitudes. They
+      encourage, they cheer, inspire, sustain, each other, remind each other
+      that they have chosen the better part Of course they have to meet for this
+      purpose, and their interviews are filled, I am sure, with its sanctity. He
+      holds up his head, as a man may who on a very critical occasion behaved
+      like a perfect gentleman. It is only poor Joscelind that droops. Have n&rsquo;t
+      I explained to you now why she does n&rsquo;t understand?
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <br /> <br />
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+
+
+
+
+
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+  </body>
+</html>
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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Path Of Duty, by Henry James
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Path Of Duty
+
+Author: Henry James
+
+Release Date: June 8, 2007 [EBook #21772]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE PATH OF DUTY ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by David Widger
+
+
+
+
+
+THE PATH OF DUTY.
+
+By Henry James
+
+1885
+
+
+I am glad I said to you the other night at Doubleton, inquiring--too
+inquiring--compatriot, that I wouldn't undertake to tell you the story
+(about Ambrose Tester), but would write it out for you; inasmuch as,
+thinking it over since I came back to town, I see that it may really be
+made interesting. It _is_ a story, with a regular development, and for
+telling it I have the advantage that I happened to know about it
+from the first, and was more or less in the confidence of every one
+concerned. Then it will amuse me to write it, and I shall do so as
+carefully and as cleverly as possible The first winter days in London
+are not madly gay, so that I have plenty of time; and if the fog is
+brown outside, the fire is red within. I like the quiet of this season;
+the glowing chimney-corner, in the midst of the December mirk, makes me
+think, as I sit by it, of all sorts of things. The idea that is almost
+always uppermost is the bigness and strangeness of this London world.
+Long as I have lived here,--the sixteenth anniversary of my marriage is
+only ten days off,--there is still a kind of novelty and excitement in
+it It is a great pull, as they say here, to have remained sensitive,--to
+have kept one's own point of view. I mean it's more entertaining,--it
+makes you see a thousand things (not that they are all very charming).
+But the pleasure of observation does not in the least depend on the
+beauty of what one observes. You see innumerable little dramas; in fact,
+almost everything has acts and scenes, like a comedy. Very often it is a
+comedy with tears. There have been a good many of them, I am afraid,
+in the case I am speaking of. It is because this history of Sir Ambrose
+Tester and Lady Vandeleur struck me, when you asked me about the
+relations of the parties, as having that kind of progression, that when
+I was on the point of responding, I checked myself, thinking it a pity
+to tell you a little when I might tell you all. I scarcely know what
+made you ask, inasmuch as I had said nothing to excite your curiosity.
+Whatever you suspected, you suspected on your own hook, as they say. You
+had simply noticed the pair together that evening at Doubleton. If you
+suspected anything in particular, it is a proof that you are rather
+sharp, because they are very careful about the way they behave in
+public. At least they think they are. The result, perhaps, doesn't
+necessarily follow. If I have been in their confidence you may say that
+I make a strange use of my privilege in serving them up to feed the
+prejudices of an opinionated American. You think English society very
+wicked, and my little story will probably not correct the impression.
+Though, after all, I don't see why it should minister to it; for what I
+said to you (it was all I did say) remains the truth. They are treading
+together the path of duty. You would be quite right about its being base
+in me to betray them. It is very true that they have ceased to confide
+in me; even Joscelind has said nothing to me for more than a year. That
+is doubtless a sign that the situation is more serious than before, all
+round,--too serious to be talked about. It is also true that you are
+remarkably discreet, and that even if you were not it would not make
+much difference, inasmuch as if you were to repeat my revelations in
+America, no one would know whom you were talking about. But all the
+same, I should be base; and, therefore, after I have written out my
+reminiscences for your delectation, I shall simply keep them for my own.
+You must content yourself with the explanation I have already given you
+of Sir Ambrose Tester and Lady Vandeleur: they are following--hand
+in hand, as it were--the path of duty. This will not prevent me from
+telling everything; on the contrary, don't you see?
+
+
+
+
+I.
+
+His brilliant prospects dated from the death of his brother, who had
+no children, had indeed steadily refused to marry. When I say brilliant
+prospects, I mean the vision of the baronetcy, one of the oldest in
+England, of a charming seventeenth-century house, with its park, in
+Dorsetshire, and a property worth some twenty thousand a year. Such a
+collection of items is still dazzling to me, even after what you would
+call, I suppose, a familiarity with British grandeur. My husband is n't
+a baronet (or we probably should n't be in London in December), and he
+is far, alas, from having twenty thousand a year. The full enjoyment of
+these luxuries, on Ambrose Tester's part, was dependent naturally, on
+the death of his father, who was still very much to the fore at the time
+I first knew the young man. The proof of it is the way he kept nagging
+at his sons, as the younger used to say, on the question of taking a
+wife. The nagging had been of no avail, as I have mentioned, with
+regard to Francis, the elder, whose affections were centred (his brother
+himself told me) on the winecup and the faro-table. He was not an
+exemplary or edifying character, and as the heir to an honorable name
+and a fine estate was very unsatisfactory indeed. It had been possible
+in those days to put him into the army, but it was not possible to keep
+him there; and he was still a very young man when it became plain that
+any parental dream of a "career" for Frank Tester was exceedingly vain.
+Old Sir Edmund had thought matrimony would perhaps correct him, but
+a sterner process than this was needed, and it came to him one day at
+Monaco--he was most of the time abroad--after an illness so short that
+none of the family arrived in time. He was reformed altogether, he was
+utterly abolished.
+
+The second son, stepping into his shoes, was such an improvement that
+it was impossible there should be much simulation of mourning. You have
+seen him, you know what he is; there is very little mystery about him.
+As I am not going to show this composition to you, there is no harm
+in my writing here that he is--or at any rate he was--a remarkably
+attractive man. I don't say this because he made love to me, but
+precisely because he did n't. He was always in love with some one
+else,--generally with Lady Vandeleur. You may say that in England
+that usually does n't prevent; but Mr. Tester, though he had almost no
+intermissions, did n't, as a general thing, have duplicates. He was not
+provided with a second loved object, "under-studying," as they say, the
+part. It was his practice to keep me accurately informed of the state of
+his affections,--a matter about which he was never in the least vague.
+When he was in love he knew it and rejoiced in it, and when by a miracle
+he was not he greatly regretted it. He expatiated to me on the charms of
+other persons, and this interested me much more than if he had attempted
+to direct the conversation to my own, as regards which I had no
+illusions. He has told me some singular things, and I think I may say
+that for a considerable period my most valued knowledge of English
+society was extracted from this genial youth. I suppose he usually found
+me a woman of good counsel, for certain it is that he has appealed to
+me for the light of wisdom in very extraordinary predicaments. In his
+earlier years he was perpetually in hot water; he tumbled into scrapes
+as children tumble into puddles. He invited them, he invented them; and
+when he came to tell you how his trouble had come about (and he always
+told the whole truth), it was difficult to believe that a man should
+have been so idiotic.
+
+And yet he was not an idiot; he was supposed to be very clever,
+and certainly is very quick and amusing. He was only reckless, and
+extraordinarily natural, as natural as if he had been an Irishman. In
+fact, of all the Englishmen that I have known he is the most Irish in
+temperament (though he has got over it comparatively of late). I used to
+tell him that it was a great inconvenience that he didn't speak with a
+brogue, because then we should be forewarned, and know with whom we were
+dealing. He replied that, by analogy, if he were Irish enough to have
+a brogue he would probably be English, which seemed to me an answer
+wonderfully in character. Like most young Britons of his class he went
+to America, to see the great country, before he was twenty, and he took
+a letter to my father, who had occasion, _a propos_ of some pickle of
+course, to render him a considerable service. This led to his coming
+to see me--I had already been living here three or four years--on
+his return; and that, in the course of time, led to our becoming fast
+friends, without, as I tell you, the smallest philandering on either
+side. But I must n't protest too much; I shall excite your suspicion.
+"If he has made love to so many women, why should n't he have made love
+to you?"--some inquiry of that sort you will be likely to make. I have
+answered it already, "Simply on account of those very engagements." He
+could n't make love to every one, and with me it would n't have done him
+the least good. It was a more amiable weakness than his brother's, and
+he has always behaved very well. How well he behaved on a very important
+occasion is precisely the subject of my story.
+
+He was supposed to have embraced the diplomatic career; had been
+secretary of legation at some German capital; but after his brother's
+death he came home and looked out for a seat in Parliament. He found it
+with no great trouble and has kept it ever since. No one would have the
+heart to turn him out, he is so good-looking. It's a great thing to be
+represented by one of the handsomest men in England, it creates such a
+favorable association of ideas. Any one would be amazed to discover that
+the borough he sits for, and the name of which I am always forgetting,
+is not a very pretty place. I have never seen it, and have no idea that
+it is n't, and I am sure he will survive every revolution. The people
+must feel that if they should n't keep him some monster would be
+returned. You remember his appearance,--how tall, and fair, and strong
+he is, and always laughing, yet without looking silly. He is exactly
+the young man girls in America figure to themselves--in the place of the
+hero--when they read English novels, and wish to imagine something very
+aristocratic and Saxon. A "bright Bostonian" who met him once at my
+house, exclaimed as soon as he had gone out of the room, "At last, at
+last, I behold it, the mustache of Roland Tremayne!"
+
+"Of Roland Tremayne!"
+
+"Don't you remember in _A Lawless Love_, how often it's mentioned, and
+how glorious and golden it was? Well, I have never seen it till now, but
+now I _have_ seen it!"
+
+If you had n't seen Ambrose Tester, the best description I could give
+of him would be to say that he looked like Roland Tremayne. I don't know
+whether that hero was a "strong Liberal," but this is what Sir Ambrose
+is supposed to be. (He succeeded his father two years ago, but I shall
+come to that.) He is not exactly what I should call thoughtful,
+but he is interested, or thinks he is, in a lot of things
+that I don't understand, and that one sees and skips in the
+newspapers,--volunteering, and redistribution, and sanitation, and the
+representation of minors--minorities--what is it? When I said just now
+that he is always laughing, I ought to have explained that I did n't
+mean when he is talking to Lady Vandeleur. She makes him serious, makes
+him almost solemn; by which I don't mean that she bores him. Far from
+it; but when he is in her company he is thoughtful; he pulls his golden
+mustache, and Roland Tremayne looks as if his vision were turned in,
+and he were meditating on her words. He does n't say much himself; it is
+she--she used to be so silent--who does the talking. She has plenty to
+say to him; she describes to him the charms that she discovers in the
+path of duty. He seldom speaks in the House, I believe, but when he does
+it's offhand, and amusing, and sensible, and every one likes it. He
+will never be a great statesman, but he will add to the softness of
+Dorsetshire, and remain, in short, a very gallant, pleasant, prosperous,
+typical English gentleman, with a name, a fortune, a perfect appearance,
+a devoted, bewildered little wife, a great many reminiscences, a great
+many friends (including Lady Vandeleur and myself), and, strange to
+say, with all these advantages, something that faintly resembles a
+conscience.
+
+
+
+
+II.
+
+Five years ago he told me his father insisted on his marrying,--would
+not hear of his putting it off any longer. Sir Edmund had been harping
+on this string ever since he came back from Germany, had made it both
+a general and a particular request, not only urging him to matrimony in
+the abstract, but pushing him into the arms of every young woman in the
+country. Ambrose had promised, procrastinated, temporized; but at last
+he was at the end of his evasions, and his poor father had taken the
+tone of supplication. "He thinks immensely of the name, of the place and
+all that, and he has got it into his head that if I don't marry before
+he dies, I won't marry after." So much I remember Ambrose Tester said to
+me. "It's a fixed idea; he has got it on the brain. He wants to see me
+married with his eyes, and he wants to take his grandson in his arms.
+Not without that will he be satisfied that the whole thing will go
+straight. He thinks he is nearing his end, but he isn't,--he will live
+to see a hundred, don't you think so?--and he has made me a solemn
+appeal to put an end to what he calls his suspense. He has an idea some
+one will get hold of me--some woman I can't marry. As if I were not old
+enough to take care of myself!"
+
+"Perhaps he is afraid of me," I suggested, facetiously.
+
+"No, it is n't you," said my visitor, betraying by his tone that it was
+some one, though he didn't say whom. "That's all rot, of course; one
+marries sooner or later, and I shall do like every one else. If I marry
+before I die, it's as good as if I marry before he dies, is n't it? I
+should be delighted to have the governor at my wedding, but it is n't
+necessary for the legality, is it?"
+
+I asked him what he wished me to do, and how I could help him. He knew
+already my peculiar views, that I was trying to get husbands for all the
+girls of my acquaintance and to prevent the men from taking wives. The
+sight of an ummarried woman afflicted me, and yet when my male friends
+changed their state I took it as a personal offence. He let me know that
+so far as he was concerned I must prepare myself for this injury, for
+he had given his father his word that another twelvemonth should not see
+him a bachelor. The old man had given him _carte blanche_; he made no
+condition beyond exacting that the lady should have youth and health.
+Ambrose Tester, at any rate, had taken a vow and now he was going
+seriously to look about him. I said to him that what must be must be,
+and that there were plenty of charming girls about the land, among
+whom he could suit himself easily enough. There was no better match in
+England, I said, and he would only have to make his choice. That however
+is not what I thought, for my real reflections were summed up in the
+silent exclamation, "What a pity Lady Vandeleur isn't a widow!" I hadn't
+the smallest doubt that if she were he would marry her on the spot; and
+after he had gone I wondered considerably what _she_ thought of this
+turn in his affairs. If it was disappointing to me, how little it must
+be to _her_ taste! Sir Edmund had not been so much out of the way
+in fearing there might be obstacles to his son's taking the step he
+desired. Margaret Vandeleur was an obstacle. I knew it as well as if Mr.
+Tester had told me.
+
+I don't mean there was anything in their relation he might not freely
+have alluded to, for Lady Vandeleur, in spite of her beauty and
+her tiresome husband, was not a woman who could be accused of an
+indiscretion. Her husband was a pedant about trifles,--the shape of his
+hatbrim, the _pose_ of his coachman, and cared for nothing else; but
+she was as nearly a saint as one may be when one has rubbed shoulders
+for ten years with the best society in Europe. It is a characteristic
+of that society that even its saints are suspected, and I go too far
+in saying that little pinpricks were not administered, in considerable
+numbers to her reputation. But she did n't feel them, for still
+more than Ambrose Tester she was a person to whose happiness a good
+conscience was necessary. I should almost say that for her happiness it
+was sufficient, and, at any rate, it was only those who didn't know
+her that pretended to speak of her lightly. If one had the honor of her
+acquaintance one might have thought her rather shut up to her beauty
+and her grandeur, but one could n't but feel there was something in her
+composition that would keep her from vulgar aberrations. Her husband was
+such a feeble type that she must have felt doubly she had been put upon
+her honor. To deceive such a man as that was to make him more ridiculous
+than he was already, and from such a result a woman bearing his name
+may very well have shrunk. Perhaps it would have been worse for Lord
+Vandeleur, who had every pretension of his order and none of its
+amiability, if he had been a better, or at least, a cleverer man. When a
+woman behaves so well she is not obliged to be careful, and there is
+no need of consulting appearances when one is one's self an appearance.
+Lady Vandeleur accepted Ambrose Tester's attentions, and Heaven knows
+they were frequent; but she had such an air of perfect equilibrium that
+one could n't see her, in imagination, bend responsive. Incense was
+incense, but one saw her sitting quite serene among the fumes. That
+honor of her acquaintance of which I just now spoke it had been given me
+to enjoy; that is to say, I met her a dozen times in the season in a
+hot crowd, and we smiled sweetly and murmured a vague question or two,
+without hearing, or even trying to hear, each other's answer. If I knew
+that Ambrose Tester was perpetually in and out of her house and always
+arranging with her that they should go to the same places, I doubt
+whether she, on her side, knew how often he came to see me. I don't
+think he would have let her know, and am conscious, in saying this, that
+it indicated an advanced state of intimacy (with her, I mean).
+
+I also doubt very much whether he asked her to look about, on his
+behalf, for a future Lady Tester. This request he was so good as to make
+of me; but I told him I would have nothing to do with the matter. If
+Joscelind is unhappy, I am thankful to say the responsibility is not
+mine. I have found English husbands for two or three American girls, but
+providing English wives is a different affair. I know the sort of men
+that will suit women, but one would have to be very clever to know the
+sort of women that will suit men. I told Ambrose Tester that he must
+look out for himself, but, in spite of his promise, I had very little
+belief that he would do anything of the sort. I thought it probable that
+the old baronet would pass away without seeing a new generation come
+in; though when I intimated as much to Mr. Tester, he made answer in
+substance (it was not quite so crudely said) that his father, old as he
+was, would hold on till his bidding was done, and if it should not be
+done, he would hold on out of spite. "Oh, he will tire me out;" that
+I remember Ambrose Tester did say. I had done him injustice, for six
+months later he told me he was engaged. It had all come about very
+suddenly. From one day to the other the right young woman had been
+found. I forget who had found her; some aunt or cousin, I think; it had
+not been the young man himself. But when she was found, he rose to the
+occasion; he took her up seriously, he approved of her thoroughly, and
+I am not sure that he didn't fall a little in love with her, ridiculous
+(excuse my London tone) as this accident may appear. He told me that his
+father was delighted, and I knew afterwards that he had good reason to
+be. It was not till some weeks later that I saw the girl; but meanwhile
+I had received the pleasantest impression of her, and this impression
+came--must have come--mainly from what her intended told me. That proves
+that he spoke with some positiveness, spoke as if he really believed he
+was doing a good thing. I had it on my tongue's end to ask him how Lady
+Vandeleur liked her, but I fortunately checked this vulgar inquiry. He
+liked her evidently, as I say; every one liked her, and when I knew her
+I liked her better even than the others. I like her to-day more than
+ever; it is fair you should know that, in reading this account of her
+situation. It doubtless colors my picture, gives a point to my sense of
+the strangeness of my little story.
+
+Joscelind Bernardstone came of a military race, and had been brought
+up in camps,--by which I don't mean she was one of those objectionable
+young women who are known as garrison hacks. She was in the flower of
+her freshness, and had been kept in the tent, receiving, as an only
+daughter, the most "particular" education from the excellent Lady Emily
+(General Bernardstone married a daughter of Lord Clandufly), who looks
+like a pink-faced rabbit, and is (after Joscelind) one of the nicest
+women I know. When I met them in a country-house, a few weeks after the
+marriage was "arranged," as they say here, Joscelind won my affections
+by saying to me, with her timid directness (the speech made me feel
+sixty years old), that she must thank me for having been so kind to Mr.
+Tester. You saw her at Doubleton, and you will remember that though she
+has no regular beauty, many a prettier woman would be very glad to look
+like her. She is as fresh as a new-laid egg, as light as a feather,
+as strong as a mail-phaeton. She is perfectly mild, yet she is clever
+enough to be sharp if she would. I don't know that clever women are
+necessarily thought ill-natured, but it is usually taken for granted
+that amiable women are very limited. Lady Tester is a refutation of the
+theory, which must have been invented by a vixenish woman who was _not_
+clever. She has an adoration for her husband, which absorbs her without
+in the least making her silly, unless indeed it is silly to be modest,
+as in this brutal world I sometimes believe. Her modesty is so great
+that being unhappy has hitherto presented itself to her as a form of
+egotism,--that egotism which she has too much delicacy to cultivate. She
+is by no means sure that if being married to her beautiful baronet is
+not the ideal state she dreamed it, the weak point of the affair is not
+simply in her own presumption. It does n't express her condition, at
+present, to say that she is unhappy or disappointed, or that she has a
+sense of injury. All this is latent; meanwhile, what is obvious, is that
+she is bewildered,--she simply does n't understand; and her perplexity,
+to me, is unspeakably touching. She looks about her for some
+explanation, some light. She fixes her eyes on mine sometimes, and on
+those of other people, with a kind of searching dumbness, as if there
+were some chance that I--that they--may explain, may tell her what it is
+that has happened to her. I can explain very well, but not to her,--only
+to you!
+
+
+
+
+III.
+
+It was a brilliant match for Miss Bernardstone, who had no fortune at
+all, and all her friends were of the opinion that she had done very well
+After Easter she was in London with her people, and I saw a good deal
+of them, in fact, I rather cultivated them. They might perhaps even have
+thought me a little patronizing, if they had been given to thinking that
+sort of thing. But they were not; that is not in their line. English
+people are very apt to attribute motives,--some of them attribute much
+worse ones than we poor simpletons in America recognize, than we have
+even heard of! But that is only some of them; others don't, but
+take everything literally and genially. That was the case with the
+Bernardstones; you could be sure that on their way home, after dining
+with you, they would n't ask each other how in the world any one could
+call you pretty, or say that many people _did_ believe, all the same,
+that you had poisoned your grandfather.
+
+Lady Emily was exceedingly gratified at her daughter's engagement; of
+course she was very quiet about it, she did n't clap her hands or drag
+in Mr. Tester's name; but it was easy to see that she felt a kind of
+maternal peace, an abiding satisfaction. The young man behaved as well
+as possible, was constantly seen with Joscelind, and smiled down at her
+in the kindest, most protecting way. They looked beautiful together; you
+would have said it was a duty for people whose color matched so well to
+marry. Of course he was immensely taken up, and did n't come very often
+to see me; but he came sometimes, and when he sat there he had a look
+which I did n't understand at first. Presently I saw what it expressed;
+in my drawing-room he was off duty, he had no longer to sit up and play
+a part; he would lean back and rest and draw a long breath, and forget
+that the day of his execution was fixed. There was to be no indecent
+haste about the marriage; it was not to take place till after the
+session, at the end of August It puzzled me and rather distressed me.
+that his heart should n't be a little more in the matter; it seemed
+strange to be engaged to so charming a girl and yet go through with it
+as if it were simply a social duty. If one had n't been in love with her
+at first, one ought to have been at the end of a week or two. If Ambrose
+Tester was not (and to me he did n't pretend to be), he carried it off,
+as I have said, better than I should have expected. He was a gentleman,
+and he behaved like a gentleman, with the added punctilio, I think, of
+being sorry for his betrothed. But it was difficult to see what, in the
+long run, he could expect to make of such a position. If a man
+marries an ugly, unattractive woman for reasons of state, the thing is
+comparatively simple; it is understood between them, and he need have
+no remorse at not offering her a sentiment of which there has been
+no question. But when he picks out a charming creature to gratify his
+father and _les convenances_, it is not so easy to be happy in not
+being able to care for her. It seemed to me that it would have been much
+better for Ambrose Tester to bestow himself upon a girl who might have
+given him an excuse for tepidity. His wife should have been healthy but
+stupid, prolific but morose. Did he expect to continue not to be in
+love with Joscelind, or to conceal from her the mechanical nature of his
+attentions? It was difficult to see how he could wish to do the one or
+succeed in doing the other. Did he expect such a girl as that would be
+happy if he did n't love her? and did he think himself capable of being
+happy if it should turn out that she was miserable? If she should n't
+be miserable,--that is, if she should be indifferent, and, as they say,
+console herself, would he like that any better?
+
+I asked myself all these questions and I should have liked to ask them
+of Mr. Tester; but I did n't, for after all he could n't have answered
+them. Poor young man! he did n't pry into things as I do; he was not
+analytic, like us Americans, as they say in reviews. He thought he was
+behaving remarkably well, and so he was--for a man; that was the strange
+part of it. It had been proper that in spite of his reluctance he should
+take a wife, and he had dutifully set about it. As a good thing is
+better for being well done, he had taken the best one he could possibly
+find. He was enchanted with--with his young lady, you might ask? Not
+in the least; with himself; that is the sort of person a man is! Their
+virtues are more dangerous than their vices, and Heaven preserve you
+when they want to keep a promise! It is never a promise to _you_, you
+will notice. A man will sacrifice a woman to live as a gentleman should,
+and then ask for your sympathy--for _him_! And I don't speak of the bad
+ones, but of the good. They, after all, are the worst Ambrose Tester, as
+I say, did n't go into these details, but synthetic as he might be, was
+conscious that his position was false. He felt that sooner or later, and
+rather sooner than later, he would have to make it true,--a process that
+could n't possibly be agreeable. He would really have to make up his
+mind to care for his wife or not to care for her. What would Lady
+Vandeleur say to one alternative, and what would little Joscelind say to
+the other? That is what it was to have a pertinacious father and to
+be an accommodating son. With me, it was easy for Ambrose Tester to be
+superficial, for, as I tell you, if I did n't wish to engage him, I did
+n't wish to disengage him, and I did n't insist Lady Vandeleur insisted,
+I was afraid; to be with her was of course very complicated; even more
+than Miss Bernardstone she must have made him feel that his position was
+false. I must add that he once mentioned to me that she had told him
+he ought to marry. At any rate, it is an immense thing to be a pleasant
+fellow. Our young fellow was so universally pleasant that of course his
+_fiancee_ came in for her share. So did Lady Emily, suffused with hope,
+which made her pinker than ever; she told me he sent flowers even to
+her. One day in the Park, I was riding early; the Row was almost empty.
+I came up behind a lady and gentleman who were walking their horses,
+close to each other, side by side In a moment I recognized her, but not
+before seeing that nothing could have been more benevolent than the way
+Ambrose Tester was bending over his future wife. If he struck me as a
+lover at that moment, of course he struck her so. But that is n't the
+way they ride to-day.
+
+
+
+
+IV.
+
+One day, about the end of June, he came in to see me when I had two
+or three other visitors; you know that even at that season I am almost
+always at home from six to seven. He had not been three minutes in the
+room before I saw that he was different,--different from what he
+had been the last time, and I guessed that something had happened in
+relation to his marriage. My visitors did n't, unfortunately, and they
+stayed and stayed until I was afraid he would have to go away without
+telling me what, I was sure, he had come for. But he sat them out; I
+think that by exception they did n't find him pleasant. After we were
+alone he abused them a little, and then he said, "Have you heard about
+Vandeleur? He 's very ill. She's awfully anxious." I had n't heard, and
+I told him so, asking a question or two; then my inquiries ceased,
+my breath almost failed me, for I had become aware of something very
+strange. The way he looked at me when he told me his news was a full
+confession,--a confession so full that I had needed a moment to take it
+in. He was not too strong a man to be taken by surprise,--not so strong
+but that in the presence of an unexpected occasion his first movement
+was to look about for a little help. I venture to call it help, the sort
+of thing he came to me for on that summer afternoon. It is always help
+when a woman who is not an idiot lets an embarrassed man take up her
+time. If he too is not an idiot, that does n't diminish the service; on
+the contrary his superiority to the average helps him to profit. Ambrose
+Tester had said to me more than once, in the past, that he was capable
+of telling me things, because I was an American, that he would n't
+confide to his own people. He had proved it before this, as I have
+hinted, and I must say that being an American, with him, was sometimes a
+questionable honor. I don't know whether he thinks us more discreet and
+more sympathetic (if he keeps up the system: he has abandoned it with
+me), or only more insensible, more proof against shocks; but it is
+certain that, like some other Englishmen I have known, he has appeared,
+in delicate cases, to think I would take a comprehensive view. When I
+have inquired into the grounds of this discrimination in our favor, he
+has contented himself with saying, in the British-cursory manner, "Oh,
+I don't know; you are different!" I remember he remarked once that our
+impressions were fresher. And I am sure that now it was because of my
+nationality, in addition to other merits, that he treated me to the
+confession I have just alluded to. At least I don't suppose he would
+have gone about saying to people in general, "Her husband will probably
+die, you know; then why should n't I marry Lady Vandeleur?"
+
+That was the question which his whole expression and manner asked of me,
+and of which, after a moment, I decided to take no notice. Why shouldn't
+he? There was an excellent reason why he should n't It would just kill
+Joscelind Bernardstone; that was why he should n't? The idea that he
+should be ready to do it frightened me, and independent as he might
+think my point of view, I had no desire to discuss such abominations. It
+struck me as an abomination at this very first moment, and I have never
+wavered in my judgment of it. I am always glad when I can take the
+measure of a thing as soon as I see it; it 's a blessing to _feel_ what
+we think, without balancing and comparing. It's a great rest, too, and
+a great luxury. That, as I say, was the case with the feeling excited in
+me by this happy idea of Ambrose Tester's. Cruel and wanton I thought it
+then, cruel and wanton I thought it later, when it was pressed upon me.
+I knew there were many other people that did n't agree with me, and I
+can only hope for them that their conviction was as quick and positive
+as mine; it all depends upon the way a thing strikes one. But I will add
+to this another remark. I thought I was right then, and I still think I
+was right; but it strikes me as a pity that I should have wished so
+much to be right Why could n't I be content to be wrong; to renounce my
+influence (since I appeared to possess the mystic article), and let my
+young friend do as he liked? As you observed the situation at Doubleton,
+should n't you say it was of a nature to make one wonder whether, after
+all, one did render a service to the younger lady?
+
+At all events, as I say, I gave no sign to Ambrose Tester that I
+understood him, that I guessed what he wished to come to. He got no
+satisfaction out of me that day; it is very true that he made up for it
+later. I expressed regret at Lord Vandeleur's illness, inquired into its
+nature and origin, hoped it would n't prove as grave as might be
+feared, said I would call at the house and ask about him, commiserated
+discreetly her ladyship, and in short gave my young man no chance
+whatever. He knew that I had guessed his _arriere-pensee_, but he let
+me off for the moment, for which I was thankful; either because he was
+still ashamed of it, or because he supposed I was reserving myself for
+the catastrophe,--should it occur. Well, my dear, it did occur, at the
+end of ten days. Mr. Tester came to see me twice in that interval, each
+time to tell me that poor Vandeleur was worse; he had some internal
+inflammation which, in nine cases out of ten, is fatal. His wife was
+all devotion; she was with him night and day. I had the news from other
+sources as well; I leave you to imagine whether in London, at the height
+of the season, such a situation could fail to be considerably discussed.
+To the discussion as yet, however, I contributed little, and with
+Ambrose Tester nothing at all. I was still on my guard. I never admitted
+for a moment that it was possible there should be any change in his
+plans. By this time, I think, he had quite ceased to be ashamed of his
+idea, he was in a state almost of exaltation about it; but he was very
+angry with me for not giving him an opening.
+
+As I look back upon the matter now, there is something almost amusing in
+the way we watched each other,--he thinking that I evaded his question
+only to torment him (he believed me, or pretended to believe me, capable
+of this sort of perversity), and I determined not to lose ground by
+betraying an insight into his state of mind which he might twist into an
+expression of sympathy. I wished to leave my sympathy where I had placed
+it, with Lady Emily and her daughter, of whom I continued, bumping
+against them at parties, to have some observation. They gave no signal
+of alarm; of course it would have been premature. The girl, I am sure,
+had no idea of the existence of a rival. How they had kept her in the
+dark I don't know; but it was easy to see she was too much in love to
+suspect or to criticise. With Lady Emily it was different; she was a
+woman of charity, but she touched the world at too many points not to
+feel its vibrations. However, the dear little woman planted herself
+firmly; to the eye she was still enough. It was not from Ambrose Tester
+that I first heard of Lord Vandeleur's death; it was announced, with a
+quarter of a column of "padding," in the _Times_. I have always known
+the _Times_ was a wonderful journal, but this never came home to me so
+much as when it produced a quarter of a column about Lord Vandeleur. It
+was a triumph of word-spinning. If he had carried out his vocation, if
+he had been a tailor or a hatter (that's how I see him), there might
+have been something to say about him. But he missed his vocation, he
+missed everything but posthumous honors. I was so sure Ambrose Tester
+would come in that afternoon, and so sure he knew I should expect him,
+that I threw over an engagement on purpose. But he didn't come in, nor
+the next day, nor the next. There were two possible explanations of
+his absence. One was that he was giving all his time to consoling Lady
+Vandeleur; the other was that he was giving it all, as a blind, to
+Joscelind Bernardstone. Both proved incorrect, for when he at last
+turned up he told me he had been for a week in the country, at his
+father's. Sir Edmund also had been unwell; but he had pulled through
+better than poor Lord Vandeleur. I wondered at first whether his son had
+been talking over with him the question of a change of base; but guessed
+in a moment that he had not suffered this alarm. I don't think that
+Ambrose would have spared him if he had thought it necessary to give him
+warning; but he probably held that his father would have no ground for
+complaint so long as he should marry some one; would have no right to
+remonstrate if he simply transferred his contract. Lady Vandeleur had
+had two children (whom she had lost), and might, therefore, have
+others whom she should n't lose; that would have been a reply to nice
+discriminations on Sir Edmund's part.
+
+
+
+
+V.
+
+In reality, what the young man had been doing was thinking it over
+beneath his ancestral oaks and beeches. His countenance showed
+this,--showed it more than Miss Bernardstone could have liked. He looked
+like a man who was crossed, not like a man who was happy, in love. I was
+no more disposed than before to help him out with his plot, but at the
+end of ten minutes we were articulately discussing it. When I say _we_
+were, I mean he was; for I sat before him quite mute, at first, and
+amazed at the clearness with which, before his conscience, he had
+argued his case. He had persuaded himself that it was quite a simple
+matter to throw over poor Joscelind and keep himself free for the
+expiration of Lady Vandeleur's term of mourning. The deliberations of
+an impulsive man sometimes land him in strange countries. Ambrose Tester
+confided his plan to me as a tremendous secret. He professed to wish
+immensely to know how it appeared to me, and whether my woman's
+wit could n't discover for him some loophole big enough round, some
+honorable way of not keeping faith. Yet at the same time he seemed
+not to foresee that I should, of necessity, be simply horrified.
+Disconcerted and perplexed (a little), that he was prepared to find me;
+but if I had refused, as yet, to come to his assistance, he appeared to
+suppose it was only because of the real difficulty of suggesting to him
+that perfect pretext of which he was in want. He evidently counted upon
+me, however, for some illuminating proposal, and I think he would have
+liked to say to me, "You have always pretended to be a great friend of
+mine,"--I hadn't; the pretension was all on his side,--"and now is
+your chance to show it. Go to Joscelind and make her feel (women have
+a hundred ways of doing that sort of thing), that through Vandeleur's
+death the change in my situation is complete. If she is the girl I take
+her for, she will know what to do in the premises."
+
+I was not prepared to oblige him to this degree, and I lost no time
+in telling him so, after my first surprise at seeing how definite his
+purpose had become. His contention, after all, was very simple. He had
+been in love with Lady Vandeleur for years, and was now more in love
+with her than ever. There had been no appearance of her being, within a
+calculable period, liberated by the death of her husband. This nobleman
+was--he didn't say what just then (it was too soon)--but he was only
+forty years old, and in such health and preservation as to make such a
+contingency infinitely remote. Under these circumstances, Ambrose had
+been driven, for the most worldly reasons--he was ashamed of them,
+pah!--into an engagement with a girl he did n't love, and did n't
+pretend to love. Suddenly the unexpected occurred; the woman he did
+love had become accessible to him, and all the relations of things were
+altered.
+
+Why should n't he alter, too? Why should n't Miss Bernardstone alter,
+Lady Emily alter, and every one alter? It would be _wrong_ in him to
+marry Joscelind in so changed a world;--a moment's consideration would
+certainly assure me of that. He could no longer carry out his part of
+the bargain, and the transaction must stop before it went any further.
+If Joscelind knew, she would be the first to recognize this, and the
+thing for her now was to know.
+
+"Go and tell her, then, if you are so sure of it," I said. "I wonder you
+have put it off so many days."
+
+He looked at me with a melancholy eye. "Of course I know it's beastly
+awkward."
+
+It was beastly awkward certainly; there I could quite agree with him,
+and this was the only sympathy he extracted from me. It was impossible
+to be less helpful, less merciful, to an embarrassed young man than
+I was on that occasion. But other occasions followed very quickly, on
+which Mr. Tester renewed his appeal with greater eloquence. He assured
+me that it was torture to be with his intended, and every hour that he
+did n't break off committed him more deeply and more fatally. I repeated
+only once my previous question,--asked him only once why then he did n't
+tell her he had changed his mind. The inquiry was idle, was even unkind,
+for my young man was in a very tight place. He did n't tell her, simply
+because he could n't, in spite of the anguish of feeling that his chance
+to right himself was rapidly passing away. When I asked him if Joscelind
+appeared to have guessed nothing, he broke out, "How in the world can
+she guess, when I am so kind to her? I am so sorry for her, poor little
+wretch, that I can't help being nice to her. And from the moment I am
+nice to her she thinks it's all right."
+
+I could see perfectly what he meant by that, and I liked him more for
+this little generosity than I disliked him for his nefarious scheme.
+In fact, I did n't dislike him at all when I saw what an influence my
+judgment would have on him. I very soon gave him the full benefit of
+it. I had thought over his case with all the advantages of his own
+presentation of it, and it was impossible for me to see how he could
+decently get rid of the girl. That, as I have said, had been my original
+opinion, and quickened reflection only confirmed it. As I have also
+said, I had n't in the least recommended him to become engaged; but once
+he had done so I recommended him to abide by it. It was all very well
+being in love with Lady Vandeleur; he might be in love with her, but he
+had n't promised to marry her. It was all very well not being in love
+with Miss Bernardstone; but, as it happened, he had promised to marry
+her, and in my country a gentleman was supposed to keep such promises.
+If it was a question of keeping them only so long as was convenient,
+where would any of us be? I assure you I became very eloquent and
+moral,--yes, moral, I maintain the word, in spite of your perhaps
+thinking (as you are very capable of doing) that I ought to have advised
+him in just the opposite sense. It was not a question of love, but
+of marriage, for he had never promised to love poor Joscelind. It was
+useless his saying it was dreadful to marry without love; he knew that
+he thought it, and the people he lived with thought it, nothing of the
+kind. Half his friends had married on those terms. "Yes, and a pretty
+sight their private life presented!" That might be, but it was the first
+time I had ever heard him say it. A fortnight before he had been quite
+ready to do like the others. I knew what I thought, and I suppose I
+expressed it with some clearness, for my arguments made him still more
+uncomfortable, unable as he was either to accept them or to act in
+contempt of them. Why he should have cared so much for my opinion is
+a mystery I can't elucidate; to understand my little story, you must
+simply swallow it. That he did care is proved by the exasperation with
+which he suddenly broke out, "Well, then, as I understand you, what you
+recommend me is to marry Miss Bernardstone, and carry on an intrigue
+with Lady Vandeleur!"
+
+He knew perfectly that I recommended nothing of the sort, and he must
+have been very angry to indulge in this _boutade_. He told me that other
+people did n't think as I did--that every one was of the opinion that
+between a woman he did n't love and a woman he had adored for years
+it was a plain moral duty not to hesitate. "Don't hesitate then!" I
+exclaimed; but I did n't get rid of him with this, for he returned to
+the charge more than once (he came to me so often that I thought he must
+neglect both his other alternatives), and let me know again that the
+voice of society was quite against my view. You will doubtless be
+surprised at such an intimation that he had taken "society" into his
+confidence, and wonder whether he went about asking people whether they
+thought he might back out. I can't tell you exactly, but I know that
+for some weeks his dilemma was a great deal talked about. His friends
+perceived he was at the parting of the roads, and many of them had no
+difficulty in saying which one _they_ would take. Some observers thought
+he ought to do nothing, to leave things as they were. Others took very
+high ground and discoursed upon the sanctity of love and the wickedness
+of really deceiving the girl, as that would be what it would amount to
+(if he should lead her to the altar). Some held that it was too late to
+escape, others maintained that it is never too late. Some thought Miss
+Bernardstone very much to be pitied; some reserved their compassion for
+Ambrose Tester; others, still, lavished it upon Lady Vandeleur.
+
+The prevailing opinion, I think, was that he ought to obey the
+promptings of his heart--London cares so much for the heart! Or is it
+that London is simply ferocious, and always prefers the spectacle that
+is more entertaining? As it would prolong the drama for the young man to
+throw over Miss Bernardstone, there was a considerable readiness to see
+the poor girl sacrificed. She was like a Christian maiden in the Roman
+arena. That is what Ambrose Tester meant by telling me that public
+opinion was on his side. I don't think he chattered about his quandary,
+but people, knowing his situation, guessed what was going on in his
+mind, and he on his side guessed what they said. London discussions
+might as well go on in the whispering-gallery of St. Paul's. I could of
+course do only one thing,--I could but reaffirm my conviction that the
+Roman attitude, as I may call it, was cruel, was falsely sentimental.
+This naturally did n't help him as he wished to be helped,--did n't
+remove the obstacle to his marrying in a year or two Lady Vandeleur. Yet
+he continued to look to me for inspiration,--I must say it at the cost
+of making him appear a very feeble-minded gentleman. There was a moment
+when I thought him capable of an oblique movement, of temporizing with a
+view to escape. If he succeeded in postponing his marriage long enough,
+the Bernardstones would throw _him_ over, and I suspect that for a day
+he entertained the idea of fixing this responsibility on them. But he
+was too honest and too generous to do so for longer, and his destiny was
+staring him in the face when an accident gave him a momentary relief.
+General Bernardstone died, after an illness as sudden and short as that
+which had carried off Lord Vandeleur; his wife and daughter were plunged
+into mourning and immediately retired into the country. A week later
+we heard that the girl's marriage would be put off for several
+months,--partly on account of her mourning, and partly because her
+mother, whose only companion she had now become, could not bear to part
+with her at the time originally fixed and actually so near. People of
+course looked at each other,--said it was the beginning of the end,
+a "dodge" of Ambrose Tester's. I wonder they did n't accuse him of
+poisoning the poor old general. I know to a certainty that he had
+nothing to do with the delay, that the proposal came from Lady Emily,
+who, in her bereavement, wished, very naturally, to keep a few months
+longer the child she was going to lose forever. It must be said, in
+justice to her prospective son-in-law, that he was capable either of
+resigning himself or of frankly (with however many blushes) telling
+Joscelind he could n't keep his agreement, but was not capable of trying
+to wriggle out of his difficulty. The plan of simply telling Joscelind
+he couldn't,--this was the one he had fixed upon as the best, and this
+was the one of which I remarked to him that it had a defect which should
+be counted against its advantages. The defect was that it would kill
+Joscelind on the spot.
+
+I think he believed me, and his believing me made this unexpected
+respite very welcome to him. There was no knowing what might happen in
+the interval, and he passed a large part of it in looking for an issue.
+And yet, at the same time, he kept up the usual forms with the girl whom
+in his heart he had renounced. I was told more than once (for I had lost
+sight of the pair during the summer and autumn) that these forms were at
+times very casual, that he neglected Miss Bernardstone most flagrantly,
+and had quite resumed his old intimacy with Lady Vandeleur. I don't
+exactly know what was meant by this, for she spent the first three
+months of her widowhood in complete seclusion, in her own old house
+in Norfolk, where he certainly was not staying with her. I believe he
+stayed some time, for the partridge shooting, at a place a few miles
+off. It came to my ears that if Miss Bernardstone did n't take the hint
+it was because she was determined to stick to him through thick and
+thin. She never offered to let him off, and I was sure she never would;
+but I was equally sure that, strange as it may appear, he had not ceased
+to be nice to her. I have never exactly understood why he didn't hate
+her, and I am convinced that he was not a comedian in his conduct to
+her,--he was only a good fellow. I have spoken of the satisfaction that
+Sir Edmund took in his daughter-in-law that was to be; he delighted in
+looking at her, longed for her when she was out of his sight, and
+had her, with her mother, staying with him in the country for weeks
+together. If Ambrose was not so constantly at her side as he might have
+been, this deficiency was covered by his father's devotion to her, by
+her appearance of being already one of the family. Mr. Tester was away
+as he might be away if they were already married.
+
+
+
+
+VI.
+
+In October I met him at Doubleton; we spent three days there together.
+He was enjoying his respite, as he didn't scruple to tell me; and he
+talked to me a great deal--as usual--about Lady Vandeleur. He did n't
+mention Joscelind's name, except by implication in this assurance of how
+much he valued his weeks of grace.
+
+"Do you mean to say that, under the circumstances, Lady Vandeleur is
+willing to marry you?"
+
+I made this inquiry more expressively, doubtless, than before; for when
+we had talked of the matter then he had naturally spoken of her consent
+as a simple contingency. It was contingent upon the lapse of the first
+months of her bereavement; it was not a question he could begin to press
+a few days after her husband's death.
+
+"Not immediately, of course; but if I wait, I think so." That, I
+remember, was his answer.
+
+"If you wait till you get rid of that poor girl, of course."
+
+"She knows nothing about that,--it's none of her business."
+
+"Do you mean to say she does n't know you are engaged?"
+
+"How should she know it, how should she believe it, when she sees how I
+love her?" the young man exclaimed; but he admitted afterwards that he
+had not deceived her, and that she rendered full justice to the motives
+that had determined him. He thought he could answer for it that she
+would marry him some day or other.
+
+"Then she is a very cruel woman," I said, "and I should like, if you
+please, to hear no more about her." He protested against this, and, a
+month later, brought her up again, for a purpose. The purpose, you will
+see, was a very strange one indeed. I had then come back to town; it
+was the early part of December. I supposed he was hunting, with his own
+hounds; but he appeared one afternoon in my drawing-room and told me I
+should do him a great favor if I would go and see Lady Vandeleur.
+
+"Go and see her? Where do you mean, in Norfolk?"
+
+"She has come up to London--did n't you know it? She has a lot of
+business. She will be kept here till Christmas; I wish you would go."
+
+"Why should I go?" I asked. "Won't you be kept here till Christmas too,
+and is n't that company enough for her?"
+
+"Upon my word, you are cruel," he said, "and it's a great shame of you,
+when a man is trying to do his duty and is behaving like a saint."
+
+"Is that what you call saintly, spending all your time with Lady
+Vandeleur? I will tell you whom I think a saint, if you would like to
+know."
+
+"You need n't tell me; I know it better than you. I haven't a word to
+say against her; only she is stupid and hasn't any perceptions. If I am
+stopping a bit in London you don't understand why; it's as if you had
+n't any perceptions either! If I am here for a few days, I know what I
+am about."
+
+"Why should I understand?" I asked,--not very candidly, because I should
+have been glad to. "It's your own affair; you know what you are about,
+as you say, and of course you have counted the cost."
+
+"What cost do you mean? It's a pretty cost, I can tell you." And then
+he tried to explain--if I would only enter into it, and not be so
+suspicious. He was in London for the express purpose of breaking off.
+
+"Breaking off what,--your engagement?"
+
+"No, no, damn my engagement,--the other thing. My acquaintance, my
+relations--"
+
+"Your intimacy with Lady Van--?" It was not very gentle, but I believe
+I burst out laughing. "If this is the way you break off, pray what would
+you do to keep up?"
+
+He flushed, and looked both foolish and angry, for of course it was not
+very difficult to see my point. But he was--in a very clumsy manner of
+his own--trying to cultivate a good conscience, and he was getting no
+credit for it. "I suppose I may be allowed to look at her! It's a matter
+we have to talk over. One does n't drop such a friend in half an hour."
+
+"One does n't drop her at all, unless one has the strength to make a
+sacrifice."
+
+"It's easy for you to talk of sacrifice. You don't know what she is!" my
+visitor cried.
+
+"I think I know what she is not. She is not a friend, as you call her,
+if she encourages you in the wrong, if she does n't help you. No, I have
+no patience with her," I declared; "I don't like her, and I won't go to
+see her!"
+
+Mr. Tester looked at me a moment, as if he were too vexed to trust
+himself to speak. He had to make an effort not to say something rude.
+That effort however, he was capable of making, and though he held his
+hat as if he were going to walk out of the house, he ended by staying,
+by putting it down again, by leaning his head, with his elbows on
+his knees, in his hands, and groaning out that he had never heard
+of anything so impossible, and that he was the most wretched man in
+England. I was very sorry for him, and of course I told him so; but
+privately I did n't think he stood up to his duty as he ought. I said to
+him, however, that if he would give me his word of honor that he would
+not abandon Miss Bernardstone, there was no trouble I would n't take
+to be of use to him. I did n't think Lady Vandeleur _was_ behaving well.
+He must allow me to repeat that; but if going to see her would give him
+any pleasure (of course there was no question of pleasure for _her_) I
+would go fifty times. I could n't imagine how it would help him, but I
+would do it as I would do anything else he asked me. He did n't give me
+his word of honor, but he said quietly, "_I_ shall go straight; you need
+n't be afraid;" and as he spoke there was honor enough in his face.
+This left an opening, of course, for another catastrophe. There might be
+further postponements, and poor Lady Emily, indignant for the first
+time in her life, might declare that her daughter's situation had become
+intolerable and that they withdrew from the engagement. But this was too
+odious a chance, and I accepted Mr. Tester's assurance. He told me that
+the good I could do by going to see Lady Vandeleur was that it would
+cheer her up, in that dreary, big house in Upper Brook Street, where
+she was absolutely alone, with horrible overalls on the furniture, and
+newspapers--actually newspapers--on the mirrors. She was seeing no one,
+there was no one to see; but he knew she would see me. I asked him if
+she knew, then, he was to speak to me of coming, and whether I might
+allude to him, whether it was not too delicate. I shall never forget his
+answer to this, nor the tone in which he made it, blushing a little, and
+looking away. "Allude to me? Rather!" It was not the most fatuous speech
+I had ever heard; it had the effect of being the most modest; and it
+gave me an odd idea, and especially a new one, of the condition in
+which, at any time, one might be destined to find Lady Vandeleur. If
+she, too, were engaged in a struggle with her conscience (in this light
+they were an edifying pair!) it had perhaps changed her considerably,
+made her more approachable; and I reflected, ingeniously, that it
+probably had a humanizing effect upon her. Ambrose Tester did n't go
+away after I had told him that I would comply with his request. He
+lingered, fidgeting with his stick and gloves, and I perceived that he
+had more to tell me, and that the real reason why he wished me to go and
+see Lady Vandeleur was not that she had newspapers on her mirrors. He
+came out with it at last, for that "Rather!" of his (with the way I took
+it) had broken the ice.
+
+"You say you don't think she behaved well" (he naturally wished to
+defend her). "But I dare say you don't understand her position. Perhaps
+you would n't behave any better in her place."
+
+"It's very good of you to imagine me there!" I remarked, laughing.
+
+"It's awkward for me to say. One doesn't want to dot one's i's to that
+extent."
+
+"She would be delighted to marry you. That's not such a mystery."
+
+"Well, she likes me awfully," Mr. Tester said, looking like a handsome
+child. "It's not all on one side; it's on both. That's the difficulty."
+
+"You mean she won't let you go?--she holds you fast?"
+
+But the poor fellow had, in delicacy, said enough, and at this he jumped
+up. He stood there a moment, smoothing his hat; then he broke out again:
+"Please do this. Let her know--make her feel. You can bring it in, you
+know." And here he paused, embarrassed.
+
+"What can I bring in, Mr. Tester? That's the difficulty, as you say."
+
+"What you told me the other day. You know. What you have told me
+before."
+
+"What I have told you--?"
+
+"That it would put an end to Joscelind! If you can't work round to it,
+what's the good of being--you?" And with this tribute to my powers he
+took his departure.
+
+
+
+
+VII.
+
+It was all very well of him to be so flattering, but I really did n't
+see myself talking in that manner to Lady Vandeleur. I wondered why he
+didn't give her this information himself, and what particular value it
+could have as coming from me. Then I said to myself that of course he
+_had_ mentioned to her the truth I had impressed upon him (and which by
+this time he had evidently taken home), but that to enable it to produce
+its full effect upon Lady Yandeleur the further testimony of a witness
+more independent was required. There was nothing for me but to go and
+see her, and I went the next day, fully conscious that to execute Mr.
+Tester's commission I should have either to find myself very brave or
+to find her strangely confidential; and fully prepared, also, not to be
+admitted. But she received me, and the house in Upper Brook Street was
+as dismal as Ambrose Tester had represented it. The December fog (the
+afternoon was very dusky) seemed to pervade the muffled rooms, and her
+ladyship's pink lamplight to waste itself in the brown atmosphere.
+He had mentioned to me that the heir to the title (a cousin of her
+husband), who had left her unmolested for several months, was now taking
+possession of everything, so that what kept her in town was the business
+of her "turning out," and certain formalities connected with her dower.
+This was very ample, and the large provision made for her included the
+London house. She was very gracious on this occasion, but she certainly
+had remarkably little to say. Still, she was different, or at any rate
+(having taken that hint), I saw her differently. I saw, indeed, that I
+had never quite done her justice, that I had exaggerated her stiffness,
+attributed to her a kind of conscious grandeur which was in reality much
+more an accident of her appearance, of her figure, than a quality of
+her character. Her appearance is as grand as you know, and on the day
+I speak of, in her simplified mourning, under those vaguely gleaming
+_lambris_, she looked as beautiful as a great white lily. She is very
+simple and good-natured; she will never make an advance, but she will
+always respond to one, and I saw, that evening, that the way to get on
+with her was to treat her as if she were not too imposing. I saw also
+that, with her nun-like robes and languid eyes, she was a woman who
+might be immensely in love. All the same, we hadn't much to say to
+each other. She remarked that it was very kind of me to come, that she
+wondered how I could endure London at that season, that she had taken a
+drive and found the Park too dreadful, that she would ring for some more
+tea if I did n't like what she had given me. Our conversation wandered,
+stumbling a little, among these platitudes, but no allusion was made
+on either side to Ambrose Tester. Nevertheless, as I have said, she was
+different, though it was not till I got home that I phrased to myself
+what I had detected.
+
+Then, recalling her white face, and the deeper, stranger expression
+of her beautiful eyes, I entertained myself with the idea that she was
+under the influence of "suppressed exaltation." The more I thought of
+her the more she appeared to me not natural; wound up, as it were, to
+a calmness beneath which there was a deal of agitation. This would have
+been nonsense if I had not, two days afterwards, received a note
+from her which struck me as an absolutely "exalted" production. Not
+superficially, of course; to the casual eye it would have been perfectly
+commonplace. But this was precisely its peculiarity, that Lady Vandeleur
+should have written me a note which had no apparent point save that
+she should like to see me again, a desire for which she did succeed in
+assigning a reason. She reminded me that she was paying no calls, and
+she hoped I wouldn't stand on ceremony, but come in very soon again, she
+had enjoyed my visit so much. We had not been on note-writing terms, and
+there was nothing in that visit to alter our relations; moreover, six
+months before, she would not have dreamed of addressing me in that
+way. I was doubly convinced, therefore, that she was passing through a
+crisis, that she was not in her normal state of nerves. Mr. Tester had
+not reappeared since the occasion I have described at length, and I
+thought it possible he had been capable of the bravery of leaving town.
+I had, however, no fear of meeting him in Upper Brook Street; for,
+according to my theory of his relations with Lady Vaudeleur, he
+regularly spent his evenings with her, it being clear to me that they
+must dine together. I could answer her note only by going to see her
+the next day, when I found abundant confirmation of that idea about
+the crisis. I must confess to you in advance that I have never really
+understood her behavior,--never understood why she should have taken
+me so suddenly--with whatever reserves, and however much by implication
+merely--into her confidence. All I can say is that this is an accident
+to which one is exposed with English people, who, in my opinion,
+and contrary to common report, are the most demonstrative, the most
+expansive, the most gushing in the world. I think she felt rather
+isolated at this moment, and she had never had many intimates of her own
+sex. That sex, as a general thing, disapproved of her proceedings during
+the last few months, held that she was making Joscelind Bernardstone
+suffer too cruelly. She possibly felt the weight of this censure, and at
+all events was not above wishing some one to know that whatever injury
+had fallen upon the girl to whom Mr. Tester had so stupidly engaged
+himself, had not, so far as she was concerned, been wantonly inflicted.
+I was there, I was more or less aware of her situation, and I would do
+as well as any one else.
+
+She seemed really glad to see me, but she was very nervous.
+Nevertheless, nearly half an hour elapsed, and I was still wondering
+whether she had sent for me only to discuss the question of how a London
+house whose appointments had the stamp of a debased period (it had been
+thought very handsome in 1850) could be "done up" without being made
+aesthetic. I forget what satisfaction I gave her on this point; I
+was asking myself how I could work round in the manner prescribed by
+Joscelind's intended. At the last, however, to my extreme surprise, Lady
+Vandeleur herself relieved me of this effort.
+
+"I think you know Mr. Tester rather well," she remarked, abruptly,
+irrelevantly, and with a face' more conscious of the bearings of
+things than any I had ever seen her wear. On my confessing to such an
+acquaintance, she mentioned that Mr. Tester (who had been in London a
+few days--perhaps I had seen him) had left town and would n't come back
+for several weeks. This, for the moment, seemed to be all she had to
+communicate; but she sat looking at me from the corner of her sofa as if
+she wished me to profit in some way by the opportunity she had given me.
+Did she want help from outside, this proud, inscrutable woman, and was
+she reduced to throwing out signals of distress? Did she wish to be
+protected against herself,--applauded for such efforts as she had
+already made? I didn't rush forward, I was not precipitate, for I felt
+that now, surely, I should be able at my convenience to execute my
+commission. What concerned me was not to prevent Lady Vandeleur's
+marrying Mr. Tester, but to prevent Mr. Tester's marrying her. In a few
+moments--with the same irrelevance--she announced to me that he wished
+to, and asked whether I didn't know it I saw that this was my chance,
+and instantly, with extreme energy, I exclaimed,--
+
+"Ah, for Heaven's sake don't listen to him! It would kill Miss
+Bernardstone!"
+
+The tone of my voice made her color a little, and she repeated, "Miss
+Bernardstone?"
+
+"The girl he is engaged to,--or has been,--don't you know? Excuse me, I
+thought every one knew."
+
+"Of course I know he is dreadfully entangled. He was fairly hunted
+down." Lady Vandeleur was silent a moment, and then she added, with a
+strange smile, "Fancy, in such a situation, his wanting to marry me!"
+
+"Fancy!" I replied. I was so struck with the oddity of her telling
+me her secrets that for the moment my indignation did not come to a
+head,--my indignation, I mean, at her accusing poor Lady Emily (and even
+the girl herself) of having "trapped" our friend. Later I said to myself
+that I supposed she was within her literal right in abusing her rival,
+if she was trying sincerely to give him up. "I don't know anything
+about his having been hunted down," I said; "but this I do know, Lady
+Vandeleur, I assure you, that if he should throw Joscelind over she
+would simply go out like that!" And I snapped my fingers.
+
+Lady Vandeleur listened to this serenely enough; she tried at least to
+take the air of a woman who has no need of new arguments. "Do you know
+her very well?" she asked, as if she had been struck by my calling Miss
+Bernardstone by her Christian name.
+
+"Well enough to like her very much." I was going to say "to pity her;"
+but I thought better of it.
+
+"She must be a person of very little spirit. If a man were to jilt me, I
+don't think I should go out!" cried her ladyship with a laugh.
+
+"Nothing is more probable than that she has not your courage or your
+wisdom. She may be weak, but she is passionately in love with him."
+
+I looked straight into Lady Vandeleur's eyes as I said this, and I was
+conscious that it was a tolerably good description of my hostess.
+
+"Do you think she would really die?" she asked in a moment.
+
+"Die as if one should stab her with a knife. Some people don't believe
+in broken hearts," I continued. "I did n't till I knew Joscelind
+Bernardstone; then I felt that she had one that would n't be proof."
+
+"One ought to live,--one ought always to live," said Lady Yandeleur;
+"and always to hold up one's head."
+
+"Ah, I suppose that one ought n't to feel at all, if one wishes to be a
+great success."
+
+"What do you call a great success?" she asked.
+
+"Never having occasion to be pitied."
+
+"Being pitied? That must be odious!" she said; and I saw that though she
+might wish for admiration, she would never wish for sympathy. Then, in
+a moment, she added that men, in her opinion, were very base,--a remark
+that was deep, but not, I think, very honest; that is, in so far as the
+purpose of it had been to give me the idea that Ambrose Tester had done
+nothing but press her, and she had done nothing but resist. They were
+very odd, the discrepancies in the statements of each of this pair; but
+it must be said for Lady Vandeleur that now that she had made up her
+mind (as I believed she had) to sacrifice herself, she really persuaded
+herself that she had not had a moment of weakness. She quite unbosomed
+herself, and I fairly assisted at her crisis. It appears that she had
+a conscience,--very much so, and even a high ideal of duty. She
+represented herself as moving heaven and earth to keep Ambrose Tester up
+to the mark, and you would never have guessed from what she told me that
+she had entertained ever so faintly the idea of marrying him. I am sure
+this was a dreadful perversion, but I forgave it on the score of that
+exaltation of which I have spoken. The things she said, and the way she
+said them, come back to me, and I thought that if she looked as handsome
+as that when she preached virtue to Mr. Tester, it was no wonder he
+liked the sermon to be going on perpetually.
+
+"I dare say you know what old friends we are; but that does n't make any
+difference, does it? Nothing would induce me to marry him,--I have n't
+the smallest intention of marrying again. It is not a time for me to
+think of marrying, before his lordship has been dead six months. The
+girl is nothing to me; I know nothing about her, and I don't wish to
+know; but I should be very, very sorry if she were unhappy. He is the
+best friend I ever had, but I don't see that that's any reason I should
+marry him, do you?" Lady Vaudeleur appealed to me, but without waiting
+for my answers, asking advice in spite of herself, and then remembering
+it was beneath her dignity to appear to be in need of it. "I have told
+him that if he does n't act properly I shall never speak to him again.
+She's a charming girl, every one says, and I have no doubt she will make
+him perfectly happy. Men don't feel things like women, I think, and if
+they are coddled and flattered they forget the rest. I have no doubt she
+is very sufficient for all that. For me, at any rate, once I see a
+thing in a certain way, I must abide by that I think people are so
+dreadful,--they do such horrible things. They don't seem to think what
+one's duty may be. I don't know whether you think much about that, but
+really one must at times, don't you think so? Every one is so selfish,
+and then, when they have never made an effort or a sacrifice themselves,
+they come to you and talk such a lot of hypocrisy. I know so much
+better than any one else whether I should marry or not. But I don't
+mind telling you that I don't see why I should. I am not in such a bad
+position,--with my liberty and a decent maintenance."
+
+In this manner she rambled on, gravely and communicatively,
+contradicting herself at times; not talking fast (she never did), but
+dropping one simple sentence, with an interval, after the other, with
+a certain richness of voice which always was part of the charm of her
+presence. She wished to be convinced against herself, and it was a
+comfort to her to hear herself argue. I was quite willing to be part
+of the audience, though I had to confine myself to very superficial
+remarks; for when I had said the event I feared would kill Miss
+Bernardstone I had said everything that was open to me. I had nothing
+to do with Lady Vandeleur's marrying, apart from that I probably
+disappointed her. She had caught a glimpse of the moral beauty of
+self-sacrifice, of a certain ideal of conduct (I imagine it was rather
+new to her), and would have been glad to elicit from me, as a person
+of some experience of life, an assurance that such joys are not
+insubstantial. I had no wish to wind her up to a spiritual ecstasy from
+which she would inevitably descend again, and I let her deliver herself
+according to her humor, without attempting to answer for it that she
+would find renunciation the road to bliss. I believed that if she should
+give up Mr. Tester she would suffer accordingly; but I did n't think
+that a reason for not giving him up. Before I left her she said to me
+that nothing would induce her to do anything that she did n't think
+right. "It would be no pleasure to me, don't you see? I should be always
+thinking that another way would have been better. Nothing would induce
+me,--nothing, nothing!"
+
+
+
+
+VIII.
+
+She protested too much, perhaps, but the event seemed to show that she
+was in earnest. I have described these two first visits of mine in some
+detail, but they were not the only ones I paid her. I saw her several
+times again, before she left town, and we became intimate, as London
+intimacies are measured. She ceased to protest (to my relief, for it
+made me nervous), she was very gentle, and gracious, and reasonable, and
+there was something in the way she looked and spoke that told me that
+for the present she found renunciation its own reward. So far, my
+scepticism was put to shame; her spiritual ecstasy maintained itself.
+If I could have foreseen then that it would maintain itself till the
+present hour I should have felt that Lady Vandeleur's moral nature is
+finer indeed than mine. I heard from her that Mr. Tester remained at his
+father's, and that Lady Emily and her daughter were also there. The day
+for the wedding had been fixed, and the preparations were going rapidly
+forward. Meanwhile--she didn't tell me, but I gathered it from things
+she dropped--she was in almost daily correspondence with the young man.
+I thought this a strange concomitant of his bridal arrangements; but
+apparently, henceforth, they were bent on convincing each other that
+the torch of virtue lighted their steps, and they couldn't convince
+each other too much. She intimated to me that she had now effectually
+persuaded him (always by letter), that he would fail terribly if he
+should try to found his happiness on an injury done to another, and that
+of course she could never be happy (in a union with him), with the
+sight of his wretchedness before her. That a good deal of correspondence
+should be required to elucidate this is perhaps after all not
+remarkable. One day, when I was sitting with her (it was just before she
+left town), she suddenly burst into tears. Before we parted I said to
+her that there were several women in London I liked very much,--that was
+common enough,--but for her I had a positive respect, and that was rare.
+My respect continues still, and it sometimes makes me furious.
+
+About the middle of January Ambrose Tester reappeared in town. He told
+me he came to bid me good-by. He was going to be beheaded. It was no
+use saying that old relations would be the same after a man was married;
+they would be different, everything would be different. I had wanted him
+to marry, and now I should see how I liked it He did n't mention that I
+had also wanted him not to marry, and I was sure that if Lady Vandeleur
+had become his wife, she would have been a much greater impediment to
+our harmless friendship than Joscelind Bernardstone would ever be. It
+took me but a short time to observe that he was in very much the same
+condition as Lady Vandeleur. He was finding how sweet it is to renounce,
+hand in hand with one we love. Upon him, too, the peace of the Lord had
+descended. He spoke of his father's delight at the nuptials being so
+near at hand; at the festivities that would take place in Dorsetshire
+when he should bring home his bride. The only allusion he made to what
+we had talked of the last time we were together was to exclaim suddenly,
+"How can I tell you how easy she has made it? She is so sweet, so
+noble. She really is a perfect creature!" I took for granted that he
+was talking of his future wife, but in a moment, as we were at
+cross-purposes, perceived that he meant Lady Vandeleur. This seemed to
+me really ominous. It stuck in my mind after he had left me. I was half
+tempted to write him a note, to say, "There is, after all, perhaps,
+something worse than your jilting Miss Bernardstone would be; and that
+is the danger that your rupture with Lady Vandeleur may become more of a
+bond than your marrying her would have been For Heaven's sake, let your
+sacrifice _be_ a sacrifice; keep it in its proper place!"
+
+Of course I did n't write; even the slight responsibility I had already
+incurred began to frighten me, and I never saw Mr. Tester again till he
+was the husband of Joscelind Bernardstone. They have now been married
+some four years; they have two children, the eldest of whom is, as he
+should be, a boy. Sir Edmund waited till his grandson had made good his
+place in the world, and then, feeling it was safe, he quietly, genially
+surrendered his trust. He died, holding the hand of his daughter-in-law,
+and giving it doubtless a pressure which was an injunction to be brave.
+I don't know what he thought of the success of his plan for his son;
+but perhaps, after all, he saw nothing amiss, for Joscelind is the last
+woman in the world to have troubled him with her sorrows. From him,
+no doubt, she successfully concealed that bewilderment on which I have
+touched. You see I speak of her sorrows as if they were a matter of
+common recognition; certain it is that any one who meets her must see
+that she does n't pass her life in joy. Lady Vandeleur, as you know, has
+never married again; she is still the most beautiful widow in England.
+She enjoys the esteem of every one, as well as the approbation of her
+conscience, for every one knows the sacrifice she made, knows that she
+was even more in love with Sir Ambrose than he was with her. She goes
+out again, of course, as of old, and she constantly meets the baronet
+and his wife. She is supposed to be even "very nice" to Lady Tester,
+and she certainly treats her with exceeding civility. But you know (or
+perhaps you don't know) all the deadly things that, in London, may lie
+beneath that method. I don't in the least mean that Lady Vandeleur has
+any deadly intentions; she is a very good woman, and I am sure that in
+her heart she thinks she lets poor Joscelind off very easily. But the
+result of the whole situation is that Joscelind is in dreadful fear of
+her, for how can she help seeing that she has a very peculiar power over
+her husband? There couldn't have been a better occasion for observing
+the three together (if together it may be called, when Lady Tester is so
+completely outside), than those two days of ours at Doubleton. That's
+a house where they have met more than once before; I think she and Sir
+Ambrose like it. By "she" I mean, as he used to mean, Lady Vandeleur.
+You saw how Lady Tester was absolutely white with uneasiness. What can
+she do when she meets everywhere the implication that if two people
+in our time have distinguished themselves for their virtue, it is her
+husband and Lady Vandeleur? It is my impression that this pair are
+exceedingly happy. His marriage _has_ made a difference, and I see him
+much less frequently and less intimately. But when I meet him I notice
+in him a kind of emanation of quiet bliss. Yes, they are certainly in
+felicity, they have trod the clouds together, they have soared into the
+blue, and they wear in their faces the glory of those altitudes. They
+encourage, they cheer, inspire, sustain, each other, remind each other
+that they have chosen the better part Of course they have to meet for
+this purpose, and their interviews are filled, I am sure, with its
+sanctity. He holds up his head, as a man may who on a very critical
+occasion behaved like a perfect gentleman. It is only poor Joscelind
+that droops. Have n't I explained to you now why she does n't
+understand?
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Path Of Duty, by Henry James
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diff --git a/21772.zip b/21772.zip
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+Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for
+eBook #21772 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/21772)
diff --git a/old/21772-h.htm.2021-01-25 b/old/21772-h.htm.2021-01-25
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+<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
+
+<!DOCTYPE html
+   PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN"
+   "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd" >
+
+<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" lang="en">
+  <head>
+    <title>
+      The Path of Duty, by Henry James
+    </title>
+    <style type="text/css" xml:space="preserve">
+
+    body { margin:5%; background:#faebd0; text-align:justify}
+    P { text-indent: 1em; margin-top: .25em; margin-bottom: .25em; }
+    H1,H2,H3,H4,H5,H6 { text-align: center; margin-left: 15%; margin-right: 15%; }
+    hr  { width: 50%; text-align: center;}
+    .foot { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; text-indent: -3em; font-size: 90%; }
+    blockquote {font-size: 97%; font-style: italic; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%;}
+    .mynote    {background-color: #DDE; color: #000; padding: .5em; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 95%;}
+    .toc       { margin-left: 10%; margin-bottom: .75em;}
+    .toc2      { margin-left: 20%;}
+    div.fig    { display:block; margin:0 auto; text-align:center; }
+    div.middle { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; }
+    .figleft   {float: left; margin-left: 0%; margin-right: 1%;}
+    .figright  {float: right; margin-right: 0%; margin-left: 1%;}
+    .pagenum   {display:inline; font-size: 70%; font-style:normal;
+               margin: 0; padding: 0; position: absolute; right: 1%;
+               text-align: right;}
+    pre        { font-style: italic; font-size: 90%; margin-left: 10%;}
+
+</style>
+  </head>
+  <body>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Path Of Duty, by Henry James
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Path Of Duty
+
+Author: Henry James
+
+Release Date: June 8, 2007 [EBook #21772]
+Last Updated: September 20, 2016
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: UTF-8
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE PATH OF DUTY ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by David Widger
+
+
+
+
+
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      <br /> <br />
+    </p>
+    <h1>
+      THE PATH OF DUTY.
+    </h1>
+    <h2>
+      By Henry James <br /> <br /> <br /> 1885
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      <br /> <br />
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      <br /> <br />
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I am glad I said to you the other night at Doubleton, inquiring&mdash;too
+      inquiring&mdash;compatriot, that I wouldn&rsquo;t undertake to tell you the
+      story (about Ambrose Tester), but would write it out for you; inasmuch as,
+      thinking it over since I came back to town, I see that it may really be
+      made interesting. It <i>is</i> a story, with a regular development, and
+      for telling it I have the advantage that I happened to know about it from
+      the first, and was more or less in the confidence of every one concerned.
+      Then it will amuse me to write it, and I shall do so as carefully and as
+      cleverly as possible The first winter days in London are not madly gay, so
+      that I have plenty of time; and if the fog is brown outside, the fire is
+      red within. I like the quiet of this season; the glowing chimney-corner,
+      in the midst of the December mirk, makes me think, as I sit by it, of all
+      sorts of things. The idea that is almost always uppermost is the bigness
+      and strangeness of this London world. Long as I have lived here,&mdash;the
+      sixteenth anniversary of my marriage is only ten days off,&mdash;there is
+      still a kind of novelty and excitement in it It is a great pull, as they
+      say here, to have remained sensitive,&mdash;to have kept one&rsquo;s own point
+      of view. I mean it&rsquo;s more entertaining,&mdash;it makes you see a thousand
+      things (not that they are all very charming). But the pleasure of
+      observation does not in the least depend on the beauty of what one
+      observes. You see innumerable little dramas; in fact, almost everything
+      has acts and scenes, like a comedy. Very often it is a comedy with tears.
+      There have been a good many of them, I am afraid, in the case I am
+      speaking of. It is because this history of Sir Ambrose Tester and Lady
+      Vandeleur struck me, when you asked me about the relations of the parties,
+      as having that kind of progression, that when I was on the point of
+      responding, I checked myself, thinking it a pity to tell you a little when
+      I might tell you all. I scarcely know what made you ask, inasmuch as I had
+      said nothing to excite your curiosity. Whatever you suspected, you
+      suspected on your own hook, as they say. You had simply noticed the pair
+      together that evening at Doubleton. If you suspected anything in
+      particular, it is a proof that you are rather sharp, because they are very
+      careful about the way they behave in public. At least they think they are.
+      The result, perhaps, doesn&rsquo;t necessarily follow. If I have been in their
+      confidence you may say that I make a strange use of my privilege in
+      serving them up to feed the prejudices of an opinionated American. You
+      think English society very wicked, and my little story will probably not
+      correct the impression. Though, after all, I don&rsquo;t see why it should
+      minister to it; for what I said to you (it was all I did say) remains the
+      truth. They are treading together the path of duty. You would be quite
+      right about its being base in me to betray them. It is very true that they
+      have ceased to confide in me; even Joscelind has said nothing to me for
+      more than a year. That is doubtless a sign that the situation is more
+      serious than before, all round,&mdash;too serious to be talked about. It
+      is also true that you are remarkably discreet, and that even if you were
+      not it would not make much difference, inasmuch as if you were to repeat
+      my revelations in America, no one would know whom you were talking about.
+      But all the same, I should be base; and, therefore, after I have written
+      out my reminiscences for your delectation, I shall simply keep them for my
+      own. You must content yourself with the explanation I have already given
+      you of Sir Ambrose Tester and Lady Vandeleur: they are following&mdash;hand
+      in hand, as it were&mdash;the path of duty. This will not prevent me from
+      telling everything; on the contrary, don&rsquo;t you see?
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <br /> <br />
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      <br /> <br />
+    </p>
+    <h2>
+      Contents
+    </h2>
+    <table summary="" style="margin-right: auto; margin-left: auto">
+      <tr>
+        <td>
+          <p class="toc">
+            <a href="#link2H_4_0001"> I. </a>
+          </p>
+          <p class="toc">
+            <a href="#link2H_4_0002"> II. </a>
+          </p>
+          <p class="toc">
+            <a href="#link2H_4_0003"> III. </a>
+          </p>
+          <p class="toc">
+            <a href="#link2H_4_0004"> IV. </a>
+          </p>
+          <p class="toc">
+            <a href="#link2H_4_0005"> V. </a>
+          </p>
+          <p class="toc">
+            <a href="#link2H_4_0006"> VI. </a>
+          </p>
+          <p class="toc">
+            <a href="#link2H_4_0007"> VII. </a>
+          </p>
+          <p class="toc">
+            <a href="#link2H_4_0008"> VIII. </a>
+          </p>
+        </td>
+      </tr>
+    </table>
+    <p>
+      <br /> <br />
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      <br /> <br /> <a name="link2H_4_0001" id="link2H_4_0001">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      I.
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      His brilliant prospects dated from the death of his brother, who had no
+      children, had indeed steadily refused to marry. When I say brilliant
+      prospects, I mean the vision of the baronetcy, one of the oldest in
+      England, of a charming seventeenth-century house, with its park, in
+      Dorsetshire, and a property worth some twenty thousand a year. Such a
+      collection of items is still dazzling to me, even after what you would
+      call, I suppose, a familiarity with British grandeur. My husband is n&rsquo;t a
+      baronet (or we probably should n&rsquo;t be in London in December), and he is
+      far, alas, from having twenty thousand a year. The full enjoyment of these
+      luxuries, on Ambrose Tester&rsquo;s part, was dependent naturally, on the death
+      of his father, who was still very much to the fore at the time I first
+      knew the young man. The proof of it is the way he kept nagging at his
+      sons, as the younger used to say, on the question of taking a wife. The
+      nagging had been of no avail, as I have mentioned, with regard to Francis,
+      the elder, whose affections were centred (his brother himself told me) on
+      the winecup and the faro-table. He was not an exemplary or edifying
+      character, and as the heir to an honorable name and a fine estate was very
+      unsatisfactory indeed. It had been possible in those days to put him into
+      the army, but it was not possible to keep him there; and he was still a
+      very young man when it became plain that any parental dream of a &ldquo;career&rdquo;
+       for Frank Tester was exceedingly vain. Old Sir Edmund had thought
+      matrimony would perhaps correct him, but a sterner process than this was
+      needed, and it came to him one day at Monaco&mdash;he was most of the time
+      abroad&mdash;after an illness so short that none of the family arrived in
+      time. He was reformed altogether, he was utterly abolished.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The second son, stepping into his shoes, was such an improvement that it
+      was impossible there should be much simulation of mourning. You have seen
+      him, you know what he is; there is very little mystery about him. As I am
+      not going to show this composition to you, there is no harm in my writing
+      here that he is&mdash;or at any rate he was&mdash;a remarkably attractive
+      man. I don&rsquo;t say this because he made love to me, but precisely because he
+      did n&rsquo;t. He was always in love with some one else,&mdash;generally with
+      Lady Vandeleur. You may say that in England that usually does n&rsquo;t prevent;
+      but Mr. Tester, though he had almost no intermissions, did n&rsquo;t, as a
+      general thing, have duplicates. He was not provided with a second loved
+      object, &ldquo;under-studying,&rdquo; as they say, the part. It was his practice to
+      keep me accurately informed of the state of his affections,&mdash;a matter
+      about which he was never in the least vague. When he was in love he knew
+      it and rejoiced in it, and when by a miracle he was not he greatly
+      regretted it. He expatiated to me on the charms of other persons, and this
+      interested me much more than if he had attempted to direct the
+      conversation to my own, as regards which I had no illusions. He has told
+      me some singular things, and I think I may say that for a considerable
+      period my most valued knowledge of English society was extracted from this
+      genial youth. I suppose he usually found me a woman of good counsel, for
+      certain it is that he has appealed to me for the light of wisdom in very
+      extraordinary predicaments. In his earlier years he was perpetually in hot
+      water; he tumbled into scrapes as children tumble into puddles. He invited
+      them, he invented them; and when he came to tell you how his trouble had
+      come about (and he always told the whole truth), it was difficult to
+      believe that a man should have been so idiotic.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      And yet he was not an idiot; he was supposed to be very clever, and
+      certainly is very quick and amusing. He was only reckless, and
+      extraordinarily natural, as natural as if he had been an Irishman. In
+      fact, of all the Englishmen that I have known he is the most Irish in
+      temperament (though he has got over it comparatively of late). I used to
+      tell him that it was a great inconvenience that he didn&rsquo;t speak with a
+      brogue, because then we should be forewarned, and know with whom we were
+      dealing. He replied that, by analogy, if he were Irish enough to have a
+      brogue he would probably be English, which seemed to me an answer
+      wonderfully in character. Like most young Britons of his class he went to
+      America, to see the great country, before he was twenty, and he took a
+      letter to my father, who had occasion, <i>à propos</i> of some pickle of
+      course, to render him a considerable service. This led to his coming to
+      see me&mdash;I had already been living here three or four years&mdash;on
+      his return; and that, in the course of time, led to our becoming fast
+      friends, without, as I tell you, the smallest philandering on either side.
+      But I must n&rsquo;t protest too much; I shall excite your suspicion. &ldquo;If he has
+      made love to so many women, why should n&rsquo;t he have made love to you?&rdquo;&mdash;some
+      inquiry of that sort you will be likely to make. I have answered it
+      already, &ldquo;Simply on account of those very engagements.&rdquo; He could n&rsquo;t make
+      love to every one, and with me it would n&rsquo;t have done him the least good.
+      It was a more amiable weakness than his brother&rsquo;s, and he has always
+      behaved very well. How well he behaved on a very important occasion is
+      precisely the subject of my story.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He was supposed to have embraced the diplomatic career; had been secretary
+      of legation at some German capital; but after his brother&rsquo;s death he came
+      home and looked out for a seat in Parliament. He found it with no great
+      trouble and has kept it ever since. No one would have the heart to turn
+      him out, he is so good-looking. It&rsquo;s a great thing to be represented by
+      one of the handsomest men in England, it creates such a favorable
+      association of ideas. Any one would be amazed to discover that the borough
+      he sits for, and the name of which I am always forgetting, is not a very
+      pretty place. I have never seen it, and have no idea that it is n&rsquo;t, and I
+      am sure he will survive every revolution. The people must feel that if
+      they should n&rsquo;t keep him some monster would be returned. You remember his
+      appearance,&mdash;how tall, and fair, and strong he is, and always
+      laughing, yet without looking silly. He is exactly the young man girls in
+      America figure to themselves&mdash;in the place of the hero&mdash;when
+      they read English novels, and wish to imagine something very aristocratic
+      and Saxon. A &ldquo;bright Bostonian&rdquo; who met him once at my house, exclaimed as
+      soon as he had gone out of the room, &ldquo;At last, at last, I behold it, the
+      mustache of Roland Tremayne!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Of Roland Tremayne!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Don&rsquo;t you remember in <i>A Lawless Love</i>, how often it&rsquo;s mentioned,
+      and how glorious and golden it was? Well, I have never seen it till now,
+      but now I <i>have</i> seen it!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      If you had n&rsquo;t seen Ambrose Tester, the best description I could give of
+      him would be to say that he looked like Roland Tremayne. I don&rsquo;t know
+      whether that hero was a &ldquo;strong Liberal,&rdquo; but this is what Sir Ambrose is
+      supposed to be. (He succeeded his father two years ago, but I shall come
+      to that.) He is not exactly what I should call thoughtful, but he is
+      interested, or thinks he is, in a lot of things that I don&rsquo;t understand,
+      and that one sees and skips in the newspapers,&mdash;volunteering, and
+      redistribution, and sanitation, and the representation of minors&mdash;minorities&mdash;what
+      is it? When I said just now that he is always laughing, I ought to have
+      explained that I did n&rsquo;t mean when he is talking to Lady Vandeleur. She
+      makes him serious, makes him almost solemn; by which I don&rsquo;t mean that she
+      bores him. Far from it; but when he is in her company he is thoughtful; he
+      pulls his golden mustache, and Roland Tremayne looks as if his vision were
+      turned in, and he were meditating on her words. He does n&rsquo;t say much
+      himself; it is she&mdash;she used to be so silent&mdash;who does the
+      talking. She has plenty to say to him; she describes to him the charms
+      that she discovers in the path of duty. He seldom speaks in the House, I
+      believe, but when he does it&rsquo;s offhand, and amusing, and sensible, and
+      every one likes it. He will never be a great statesman, but he will add to
+      the softness of Dorsetshire, and remain, in short, a very gallant,
+      pleasant, prosperous, typical English gentleman, with a name, a fortune, a
+      perfect appearance, a devoted, bewildered little wife, a great many
+      reminiscences, a great many friends (including Lady Vandeleur and myself),
+      and, strange to say, with all these advantages, something that faintly
+      resembles a conscience.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2H_4_0002" id="link2H_4_0002">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      II.
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      Five years ago he told me his father insisted on his marrying,&mdash;would
+      not hear of his putting it off any longer. Sir Edmund had been harping on
+      this string ever since he came back from Germany, had made it both a
+      general and a particular request, not only urging him to matrimony in the
+      abstract, but pushing him into the arms of every young woman in the
+      country. Ambrose had promised, procrastinated, temporized; but at last he
+      was at the end of his evasions, and his poor father had taken the tone of
+      supplication. &ldquo;He thinks immensely of the name, of the place and all that,
+      and he has got it into his head that if I don&rsquo;t marry before he dies, I
+      won&rsquo;t marry after.&rdquo; So much I remember Ambrose Tester said to me. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a
+      fixed idea; he has got it on the brain. He wants to see me married with
+      his eyes, and he wants to take his grandson in his arms. Not without that
+      will he be satisfied that the whole thing will go straight. He thinks he
+      is nearing his end, but he isn&rsquo;t,&mdash;he will live to see a hundred,
+      don&rsquo;t you think so?&mdash;and he has made me a solemn appeal to put an end
+      to what he calls his suspense. He has an idea some one will get hold of me&mdash;some
+      woman I can&rsquo;t marry. As if I were not old enough to take care of myself!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Perhaps he is afraid of me,&rdquo; I suggested, facetiously.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, it is n&rsquo;t you,&rdquo; said my visitor, betraying by his tone that it was
+      some one, though he didn&rsquo;t say whom. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s all rot, of course; one
+      marries sooner or later, and I shall do like every one else. If I marry
+      before I die, it&rsquo;s as good as if I marry before he dies, is n&rsquo;t it? I
+      should be delighted to have the governor at my wedding, but it is n&rsquo;t
+      necessary for the legality, is it?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      I asked him what he wished me to do, and how I could help him. He knew
+      already my peculiar views, that I was trying to get husbands for all the
+      girls of my acquaintance and to prevent the men from taking wives. The
+      sight of an ummarried woman afflicted me, and yet when my male friends
+      changed their state I took it as a personal offence. He let me know that
+      so far as he was concerned I must prepare myself for this injury, for he
+      had given his father his word that another twelvemonth should not see him
+      a bachelor. The old man had given him <i>carte blanche</i>; he made no
+      condition beyond exacting that the lady should have youth and health.
+      Ambrose Tester, at any rate, had taken a vow and now he was going
+      seriously to look about him. I said to him that what must be must be, and
+      that there were plenty of charming girls about the land, among whom he
+      could suit himself easily enough. There was no better match in England, I
+      said, and he would only have to make his choice. That however is not what
+      I thought, for my real reflections were summed up in the silent
+      exclamation, &ldquo;What a pity Lady Vandeleur isn&rsquo;t a widow!&rdquo; I hadn&rsquo;t the
+      smallest doubt that if she were he would marry her on the spot; and after
+      he had gone I wondered considerably what <i>she</i> thought of this turn
+      in his affairs. If it was disappointing to me, how little it must be to <i>her</i>
+      taste! Sir Edmund had not been so much out of the way in fearing there
+      might be obstacles to his son&rsquo;s taking the step he desired. Margaret
+      Vandeleur was an obstacle. I knew it as well as if Mr. Tester had told me.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I don&rsquo;t mean there was anything in their relation he might not freely have
+      alluded to, for Lady Vandeleur, in spite of her beauty and her tiresome
+      husband, was not a woman who could be accused of an indiscretion. Her
+      husband was a pedant about trifles,&mdash;the shape of his hatbrim, the <i>pose</i>
+      of his coachman, and cared for nothing else; but she was as nearly a saint
+      as one may be when one has rubbed shoulders for ten years with the best
+      society in Europe. It is a characteristic of that society that even its
+      saints are suspected, and I go too far in saying that little pinpricks
+      were not administered, in considerable numbers to her reputation. But she
+      did n&rsquo;t feel them, for still more than Ambrose Tester she was a person to
+      whose happiness a good conscience was necessary. I should almost say that
+      for her happiness it was sufficient, and, at any rate, it was only those
+      who didn&rsquo;t know her that pretended to speak of her lightly. If one had the
+      honor of her acquaintance one might have thought her rather shut up to her
+      beauty and her grandeur, but one could n&rsquo;t but feel there was something in
+      her composition that would keep her from vulgar aberrations. Her husband
+      was such a feeble type that she must have felt doubly she had been put
+      upon her honor. To deceive such a man as that was to make him more
+      ridiculous than he was already, and from such a result a woman bearing his
+      name may very well have shrunk. Perhaps it would have been worse for Lord
+      Vandeleur, who had every pretension of his order and none of its
+      amiability, if he had been a better, or at least, a cleverer man. When a
+      woman behaves so well she is not obliged to be careful, and there is no
+      need of consulting appearances when one is one&rsquo;s self an appearance. Lady
+      Vandeleur accepted Ambrose Tester&rsquo;s attentions, and Heaven knows they were
+      frequent; but she had such an air of perfect equilibrium that one could
+      n&rsquo;t see her, in imagination, bend responsive. Incense was incense, but one
+      saw her sitting quite serene among the fumes. That honor of her
+      acquaintance of which I just now spoke it had been given me to enjoy; that
+      is to say, I met her a dozen times in the season in a hot crowd, and we
+      smiled sweetly and murmured a vague question or two, without hearing, or
+      even trying to hear, each other&rsquo;s answer. If I knew that Ambrose Tester
+      was perpetually in and out of her house and always arranging with her that
+      they should go to the same places, I doubt whether she, on her side, knew
+      how often he came to see me. I don&rsquo;t think he would have let her know, and
+      am conscious, in saying this, that it indicated an advanced state of
+      intimacy (with her, I mean).
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I also doubt very much whether he asked her to look about, on his behalf,
+      for a future Lady Tester. This request he was so good as to make of me;
+      but I told him I would have nothing to do with the matter. If Joscelind is
+      unhappy, I am thankful to say the responsibility is not mine. I have found
+      English husbands for two or three American girls, but providing English
+      wives is a different affair. I know the sort of men that will suit women,
+      but one would have to be very clever to know the sort of women that will
+      suit men. I told Ambrose Tester that he must look out for himself, but, in
+      spite of his promise, I had very little belief that he would do anything
+      of the sort. I thought it probable that the old baronet would pass away
+      without seeing a new generation come in; though when I intimated as much
+      to Mr. Tester, he made answer in substance (it was not quite so crudely
+      said) that his father, old as he was, would hold on till his bidding was
+      done, and if it should not be done, he would hold on out of spite. &ldquo;Oh, he
+      will tire me out;&rdquo; that I remember Ambrose Tester did say. I had done him
+      injustice, for six months later he told me he was engaged. It had all come
+      about very suddenly. From one day to the other the right young woman had
+      been found. I forget who had found her; some aunt or cousin, I think; it
+      had not been the young man himself. But when she was found, he rose to the
+      occasion; he took her up seriously, he approved of her thoroughly, and I
+      am not sure that he didn&rsquo;t fall a little in love with her, ridiculous
+      (excuse my London tone) as this accident may appear. He told me that his
+      father was delighted, and I knew afterwards that he had good reason to be.
+      It was not till some weeks later that I saw the girl; but meanwhile I had
+      received the pleasantest impression of her, and this impression came&mdash;must
+      have come&mdash;mainly from what her intended told me. That proves that he
+      spoke with some positiveness, spoke as if he really believed he was doing
+      a good thing. I had it on my tongue&rsquo;s end to ask him how Lady Vandeleur
+      liked her, but I fortunately checked this vulgar inquiry. He liked her
+      evidently, as I say; every one liked her, and when I knew her I liked her
+      better even than the others. I like her to-day more than ever; it is fair
+      you should know that, in reading this account of her situation. It
+      doubtless colors my picture, gives a point to my sense of the strangeness
+      of my little story.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Joscelind Bernardstone came of a military race, and had been brought up in
+      camps,&mdash;by which I don&rsquo;t mean she was one of those objectionable
+      young women who are known as garrison hacks. She was in the flower of her
+      freshness, and had been kept in the tent, receiving, as an only daughter,
+      the most &ldquo;particular&rdquo; education from the excellent Lady Emily (General
+      Bernardstone married a daughter of Lord Clandufly), who looks like a
+      pink-faced rabbit, and is (after Joscelind) one of the nicest women I
+      know. When I met them in a country-house, a few weeks after the marriage
+      was &ldquo;arranged,&rdquo; as they say here, Joscelind won my affections by saying to
+      me, with her timid directness (the speech made me feel sixty years old),
+      that she must thank me for having been so kind to Mr. Tester. You saw her
+      at Doubleton, and you will remember that though she has no regular beauty,
+      many a prettier woman would be very glad to look like her. She is as fresh
+      as a new-laid egg, as light as a feather, as strong as a mail-phaeton. She
+      is perfectly mild, yet she is clever enough to be sharp if she would. I
+      don&rsquo;t know that clever women are necessarily thought ill-natured, but it
+      is usually taken for granted that amiable women are very limited. Lady
+      Tester is a refutation of the theory, which must have been invented by a
+      vixenish woman who was <i>not</i> clever. She has an adoration for her
+      husband, which absorbs her without in the least making her silly, unless
+      indeed it is silly to be modest, as in this brutal world I sometimes
+      believe. Her modesty is so great that being unhappy has hitherto presented
+      itself to her as a form of egotism,&mdash;that egotism which she has too
+      much delicacy to cultivate. She is by no means sure that if being married
+      to her beautiful baronet is not the ideal state she dreamed it, the weak
+      point of the affair is not simply in her own presumption. It does n&rsquo;t
+      express her condition, at present, to say that she is unhappy or
+      disappointed, or that she has a sense of injury. All this is latent;
+      meanwhile, what is obvious, is that she is bewildered,&mdash;she simply
+      does n&rsquo;t understand; and her perplexity, to me, is unspeakably touching.
+      She looks about her for some explanation, some light. She fixes her eyes
+      on mine sometimes, and on those of other people, with a kind of searching
+      dumbness, as if there were some chance that I&mdash;that they&mdash;may
+      explain, may tell her what it is that has happened to her. I can explain
+      very well, but not to her,&mdash;only to you!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2H_4_0003" id="link2H_4_0003">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      III.
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      It was a brilliant match for Miss Bernardstone, who had no fortune at all,
+      and all her friends were of the opinion that she had done very well After
+      Easter she was in London with her people, and I saw a good deal of them,
+      in fact, I rather cultivated them. They might perhaps even have thought me
+      a little patronizing, if they had been given to thinking that sort of
+      thing. But they were not; that is not in their line. English people are
+      very apt to attribute motives,&mdash;some of them attribute much worse
+      ones than we poor simpletons in America recognize, than we have even heard
+      of! But that is only some of them; others don&rsquo;t, but take everything
+      literally and genially. That was the case with the Bernardstones; you
+      could be sure that on their way home, after dining with you, they would
+      n&rsquo;t ask each other how in the world any one could call you pretty, or say
+      that many people <i>did</i> believe, all the same, that you had poisoned
+      your grandfather.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Lady Emily was exceedingly gratified at her daughter&rsquo;s engagement; of
+      course she was very quiet about it, she did n&rsquo;t clap her hands or drag in
+      Mr. Tester&rsquo;s name; but it was easy to see that she felt a kind of maternal
+      peace, an abiding satisfaction. The young man behaved as well as possible,
+      was constantly seen with Joscelind, and smiled down at her in the kindest,
+      most protecting way. They looked beautiful together; you would have said
+      it was a duty for people whose color matched so well to marry. Of course
+      he was immensely taken up, and did n&rsquo;t come very often to see me; but he
+      came sometimes, and when he sat there he had a look which I did n&rsquo;t
+      understand at first. Presently I saw what it expressed; in my drawing-room
+      he was off duty, he had no longer to sit up and play a part; he would lean
+      back and rest and draw a long breath, and forget that the day of his
+      execution was fixed. There was to be no indecent haste about the marriage;
+      it was not to take place till after the session, at the end of August It
+      puzzled me and rather distressed me. that his heart should n&rsquo;t be a little
+      more in the matter; it seemed strange to be engaged to so charming a girl
+      and yet go through with it as if it were simply a social duty. If one had
+      n&rsquo;t been in love with her at first, one ought to have been at the end of a
+      week or two. If Ambrose Tester was not (and to me he did n&rsquo;t pretend to
+      be), he carried it off, as I have said, better than I should have
+      expected. He was a gentleman, and he behaved like a gentleman, with the
+      added punctilio, I think, of being sorry for his betrothed. But it was
+      difficult to see what, in the long run, he could expect to make of such a
+      position. If a man marries an ugly, unattractive woman for reasons of
+      state, the thing is comparatively simple; it is understood between them,
+      and he need have no remorse at not offering her a sentiment of which there
+      has been no question. But when he picks out a charming creature to gratify
+      his father and <i>les convenances</i>, it is not so easy to be happy in
+      not being able to care for her. It seemed to me that it would have been
+      much better for Ambrose Tester to bestow himself upon a girl who might
+      have given him an excuse for tepidity. His wife should have been healthy
+      but stupid, prolific but morose. Did he expect to continue not to be in
+      love with Joscelind, or to conceal from her the mechanical nature of his
+      attentions? It was difficult to see how he could wish to do the one or
+      succeed in doing the other. Did he expect such a girl as that would be
+      happy if he did n&rsquo;t love her? and did he think himself capable of being
+      happy if it should turn out that she was miserable? If she should n&rsquo;t be
+      miserable,&mdash;that is, if she should be indifferent, and, as they say,
+      console herself, would he like that any better?
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I asked myself all these questions and I should have liked to ask them of
+      Mr. Tester; but I did n&rsquo;t, for after all he could n&rsquo;t have answered them.
+      Poor young man! he did n&rsquo;t pry into things as I do; he was not analytic,
+      like us Americans, as they say in reviews. He thought he was behaving
+      remarkably well, and so he was&mdash;for a man; that was the strange part
+      of it. It had been proper that in spite of his reluctance he should take a
+      wife, and he had dutifully set about it. As a good thing is better for
+      being well done, he had taken the best one he could possibly find. He was
+      enchanted with&mdash;with his young lady, you might ask? Not in the least;
+      with himself; that is the sort of person a man is! Their virtues are more
+      dangerous than their vices, and Heaven preserve you when they want to keep
+      a promise! It is never a promise to <i>you</i>, you will notice. A man
+      will sacrifice a woman to live as a gentleman should, and then ask for
+      your sympathy&mdash;for <i>him</i>! And I don&rsquo;t speak of the bad ones, but
+      of the good. They, after all, are the worst Ambrose Tester, as I say, did
+      n&rsquo;t go into these details, but synthetic as he might be, was conscious
+      that his position was false. He felt that sooner or later, and rather
+      sooner than later, he would have to make it true,&mdash;a process that
+      could n&rsquo;t possibly be agreeable. He would really have to make up his mind
+      to care for his wife or not to care for her. What would Lady Vandeleur say
+      to one alternative, and what would little Joscelind say to the other? That
+      is what it was to have a pertinacious father and to be an accommodating
+      son. With me, it was easy for Ambrose Tester to be superficial, for, as I
+      tell you, if I did n&rsquo;t wish to engage him, I did n&rsquo;t wish to disengage
+      him, and I did n&rsquo;t insist Lady Vandeleur insisted, I was afraid; to be
+      with her was of course very complicated; even more than Miss Bernardstone
+      she must have made him feel that his position was false. I must add that
+      he once mentioned to me that she had told him he ought to marry. At any
+      rate, it is an immense thing to be a pleasant fellow. Our young fellow was
+      so universally pleasant that of course his <i>fiancée</i> came in for her
+      share. So did Lady Emily, suffused with hope, which made her pinker than
+      ever; she told me he sent flowers even to her. One day in the Park, I was
+      riding early; the Row was almost empty. I came up behind a lady and
+      gentleman who were walking their horses, close to each other, side by side
+      In a moment I recognized her, but not before seeing that nothing could
+      have been more benevolent than the way Ambrose Tester was bending over his
+      future wife. If he struck me as a lover at that moment, of course he
+      struck her so. But that is n&rsquo;t the way they ride to-day.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2H_4_0004" id="link2H_4_0004">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      IV.
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      One day, about the end of June, he came in to see me when I had two or
+      three other visitors; you know that even at that season I am almost always
+      at home from six to seven. He had not been three minutes in the room
+      before I saw that he was different,&mdash;different from what he had been
+      the last time, and I guessed that something had happened in relation to
+      his marriage. My visitors did n&rsquo;t, unfortunately, and they stayed and
+      stayed until I was afraid he would have to go away without telling me
+      what, I was sure, he had come for. But he sat them out; I think that by
+      exception they did n&rsquo;t find him pleasant. After we were alone he abused
+      them a little, and then he said, &ldquo;Have you heard about Vandeleur? He &lsquo;s
+      very ill. She&rsquo;s awfully anxious.&rdquo; I had n&rsquo;t heard, and I told him so,
+      asking a question or two; then my inquiries ceased, my breath almost
+      failed me, for I had become aware of something very strange. The way he
+      looked at me when he told me his news was a full confession,&mdash;a
+      confession so full that I had needed a moment to take it in. He was not
+      too strong a man to be taken by surprise,&mdash;not so strong but that in
+      the presence of an unexpected occasion his first movement was to look
+      about for a little help. I venture to call it help, the sort of thing he
+      came to me for on that summer afternoon. It is always help when a woman
+      who is not an idiot lets an embarrassed man take up her time. If he too is
+      not an idiot, that does n&rsquo;t diminish the service; on the contrary his
+      superiority to the average helps him to profit. Ambrose Tester had said to
+      me more than once, in the past, that he was capable of telling me things,
+      because I was an American, that he would n&rsquo;t confide to his own people. He
+      had proved it before this, as I have hinted, and I must say that being an
+      American, with him, was sometimes a questionable honor. I don&rsquo;t know
+      whether he thinks us more discreet and more sympathetic (if he keeps up
+      the system: he has abandoned it with me), or only more insensible, more
+      proof against shocks; but it is certain that, like some other Englishmen I
+      have known, he has appeared, in delicate cases, to think I would take a
+      comprehensive view. When I have inquired into the grounds of this
+      discrimination in our favor, he has contented himself with saying, in the
+      British-cursory manner, &ldquo;Oh, I don&rsquo;t know; you are different!&rdquo; I remember
+      he remarked once that our impressions were fresher. And I am sure that now
+      it was because of my nationality, in addition to other merits, that he
+      treated me to the confession I have just alluded to. At least I don&rsquo;t
+      suppose he would have gone about saying to people in general, &ldquo;Her husband
+      will probably die, you know; then why should n&rsquo;t I marry Lady Vandeleur?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      That was the question which his whole expression and manner asked of me,
+      and of which, after a moment, I decided to take no notice. Why shouldn&rsquo;t
+      he? There was an excellent reason why he should n&rsquo;t It would just kill
+      Joscelind Bernardstone; that was why he should n&rsquo;t? The idea that he
+      should be ready to do it frightened me, and independent as he might think
+      my point of view, I had no desire to discuss such abominations. It struck
+      me as an abomination at this very first moment, and I have never wavered
+      in my judgment of it. I am always glad when I can take the measure of a
+      thing as soon as I see it; it &lsquo;s a blessing to <i>feel</i> what we think,
+      without balancing and comparing. It&rsquo;s a great rest, too, and a great
+      luxury. That, as I say, was the case with the feeling excited in me by
+      this happy idea of Ambrose Tester&rsquo;s. Cruel and wanton I thought it then,
+      cruel and wanton I thought it later, when it was pressed upon me. I knew
+      there were many other people that did n&rsquo;t agree with me, and I can only
+      hope for them that their conviction was as quick and positive as mine; it
+      all depends upon the way a thing strikes one. But I will add to this
+      another remark. I thought I was right then, and I still think I was right;
+      but it strikes me as a pity that I should have wished so much to be right
+      Why could n&rsquo;t I be content to be wrong; to renounce my influence (since I
+      appeared to possess the mystic article), and let my young friend do as he
+      liked? As you observed the situation at Doubleton, should n&rsquo;t you say it
+      was of a nature to make one wonder whether, after all, one did render a
+      service to the younger lady?
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At all events, as I say, I gave no sign to Ambrose Tester that I
+      understood him, that I guessed what he wished to come to. He got no
+      satisfaction out of me that day; it is very true that he made up for it
+      later. I expressed regret at Lord Vandeleur&rsquo;s illness, inquired into its
+      nature and origin, hoped it would n&rsquo;t prove as grave as might be feared,
+      said I would call at the house and ask about him, commiserated discreetly
+      her ladyship, and in short gave my young man no chance whatever. He knew
+      that I had guessed his <i>arrière-pensée</i>, but he let me off for the
+      moment, for which I was thankful; either because he was still ashamed of
+      it, or because he supposed I was reserving myself for the catastrophe,&mdash;should
+      it occur. Well, my dear, it did occur, at the end of ten days. Mr. Tester
+      came to see me twice in that interval, each time to tell me that poor
+      Vandeleur was worse; he had some internal inflammation which, in nine
+      cases out of ten, is fatal. His wife was all devotion; she was with him
+      night and day. I had the news from other sources as well; I leave you to
+      imagine whether in London, at the height of the season, such a situation
+      could fail to be considerably discussed. To the discussion as yet,
+      however, I contributed little, and with Ambrose Tester nothing at all. I
+      was still on my guard. I never admitted for a moment that it was possible
+      there should be any change in his plans. By this time, I think, he had
+      quite ceased to be ashamed of his idea, he was in a state almost of
+      exaltation about it; but he was very angry with me for not giving him an
+      opening.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      As I look back upon the matter now, there is something almost amusing in
+      the way we watched each other,&mdash;he thinking that I evaded his
+      question only to torment him (he believed me, or pretended to believe me,
+      capable of this sort of perversity), and I determined not to lose ground
+      by betraying an insight into his state of mind which he might twist into
+      an expression of sympathy. I wished to leave my sympathy where I had
+      placed it, with Lady Emily and her daughter, of whom I continued, bumping
+      against them at parties, to have some observation. They gave no signal of
+      alarm; of course it would have been premature. The girl, I am sure, had no
+      idea of the existence of a rival. How they had kept her in the dark I
+      don&rsquo;t know; but it was easy to see she was too much in love to suspect or
+      to criticise. With Lady Emily it was different; she was a woman of
+      charity, but she touched the world at too many points not to feel its
+      vibrations. However, the dear little woman planted herself firmly; to the
+      eye she was still enough. It was not from Ambrose Tester that I first
+      heard of Lord Vandeleur&rsquo;s death; it was announced, with a quarter of a
+      column of &ldquo;padding,&rdquo; in the <i>Times</i>. I have always known the <i>Times</i>
+      was a wonderful journal, but this never came home to me so much as when it
+      produced a quarter of a column about Lord Vandeleur. It was a triumph of
+      word-spinning. If he had carried out his vocation, if he had been a tailor
+      or a hatter (that&rsquo;s how I see him), there might have been something to say
+      about him. But he missed his vocation, he missed everything but posthumous
+      honors. I was so sure Ambrose Tester would come in that afternoon, and so
+      sure he knew I should expect him, that I threw over an engagement on
+      purpose. But he didn&rsquo;t come in, nor the next day, nor the next. There were
+      two possible explanations of his absence. One was that he was giving all
+      his time to consoling Lady Vandeleur; the other was that he was giving it
+      all, as a blind, to Joscelind Bernardstone. Both proved incorrect, for
+      when he at last turned up he told me he had been for a week in the
+      country, at his father&rsquo;s. Sir Edmund also had been unwell; but he had
+      pulled through better than poor Lord Vandeleur. I wondered at first
+      whether his son had been talking over with him the question of a change of
+      base; but guessed in a moment that he had not suffered this alarm. I don&rsquo;t
+      think that Ambrose would have spared him if he had thought it necessary to
+      give him warning; but he probably held that his father would have no
+      ground for complaint so long as he should marry some one; would have no
+      right to remonstrate if he simply transferred his contract. Lady Vandeleur
+      had had two children (whom she had lost), and might, therefore, have
+      others whom she should n&rsquo;t lose; that would have been a reply to nice
+      discriminations on Sir Edmund&rsquo;s part.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2H_4_0005" id="link2H_4_0005">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      V.
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      In reality, what the young man had been doing was thinking it over beneath
+      his ancestral oaks and beeches. His countenance showed this,&mdash;showed
+      it more than Miss Bernardstone could have liked. He looked like a man who
+      was crossed, not like a man who was happy, in love. I was no more disposed
+      than before to help him out with his plot, but at the end of ten minutes
+      we were articulately discussing it. When I say <i>we</i> were, I mean he
+      was; for I sat before him quite mute, at first, and amazed at the
+      clearness with which, before his conscience, he had argued his case. He
+      had persuaded himself that it was quite a simple matter to throw over poor
+      Joscelind and keep himself free for the expiration of Lady Vandeleur&rsquo;s
+      term of mourning. The deliberations of an impulsive man sometimes land him
+      in strange countries. Ambrose Tester confided his plan to me as a
+      tremendous secret. He professed to wish immensely to know how it appeared
+      to me, and whether my woman&rsquo;s wit could n&rsquo;t discover for him some loophole
+      big enough round, some honorable way of not keeping faith. Yet at the same
+      time he seemed not to foresee that I should, of necessity, be simply
+      horrified. Disconcerted and perplexed (a little), that he was prepared to
+      find me; but if I had refused, as yet, to come to his assistance, he
+      appeared to suppose it was only because of the real difficulty of
+      suggesting to him that perfect pretext of which he was in want. He
+      evidently counted upon me, however, for some illuminating proposal, and I
+      think he would have liked to say to me, &ldquo;You have always pretended to be a
+      great friend of mine,&rdquo;&mdash;I hadn&rsquo;t; the pretension was all on his side,&mdash;&ldquo;and
+      now is your chance to show it. Go to Joscelind and make her feel (women
+      have a hundred ways of doing that sort of thing), that through Vandeleur&rsquo;s
+      death the change in my situation is complete. If she is the girl I take
+      her for, she will know what to do in the premises.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      I was not prepared to oblige him to this degree, and I lost no time in
+      telling him so, after my first surprise at seeing how definite his purpose
+      had become. His contention, after all, was very simple. He had been in
+      love with Lady Vandeleur for years, and was now more in love with her than
+      ever. There had been no appearance of her being, within a calculable
+      period, liberated by the death of her husband. This nobleman was&mdash;he
+      didn&rsquo;t say what just then (it was too soon)&mdash;but he was only forty
+      years old, and in such health and preservation as to make such a
+      contingency infinitely remote. Under these circumstances, Ambrose had been
+      driven, for the most worldly reasons&mdash;he was ashamed of them, pah!&mdash;into
+      an engagement with a girl he did n&rsquo;t love, and did n&rsquo;t pretend to love.
+      Suddenly the unexpected occurred; the woman he did love had become
+      accessible to him, and all the relations of things were altered.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Why should n&rsquo;t he alter, too? Why should n&rsquo;t Miss Bernardstone alter, Lady
+      Emily alter, and every one alter? It would be <i>wrong</i> in him to marry
+      Joscelind in so changed a world;&mdash;a moment&rsquo;s consideration would
+      certainly assure me of that. He could no longer carry out his part of the
+      bargain, and the transaction must stop before it went any further. If
+      Joscelind knew, she would be the first to recognize this, and the thing
+      for her now was to know.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Go and tell her, then, if you are so sure of it,&rdquo; I said. &ldquo;I wonder you
+      have put it off so many days.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He looked at me with a melancholy eye. &ldquo;Of course I know it&rsquo;s beastly
+      awkward.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      It was beastly awkward certainly; there I could quite agree with him, and
+      this was the only sympathy he extracted from me. It was impossible to be
+      less helpful, less merciful, to an embarrassed young man than I was on
+      that occasion. But other occasions followed very quickly, on which Mr.
+      Tester renewed his appeal with greater eloquence. He assured me that it
+      was torture to be with his intended, and every hour that he did n&rsquo;t break
+      off committed him more deeply and more fatally. I repeated only once my
+      previous question,&mdash;asked him only once why then he did n&rsquo;t tell her
+      he had changed his mind. The inquiry was idle, was even unkind, for my
+      young man was in a very tight place. He did n&rsquo;t tell her, simply because
+      he could n&rsquo;t, in spite of the anguish of feeling that his chance to right
+      himself was rapidly passing away. When I asked him if Joscelind appeared
+      to have guessed nothing, he broke out, &ldquo;How in the world can she guess,
+      when I am so kind to her? I am so sorry for her, poor little wretch, that
+      I can&rsquo;t help being nice to her. And from the moment I am nice to her she
+      thinks it&rsquo;s all right.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      I could see perfectly what he meant by that, and I liked him more for this
+      little generosity than I disliked him for his nefarious scheme. In fact, I
+      did n&rsquo;t dislike him at all when I saw what an influence my judgment would
+      have on him. I very soon gave him the full benefit of it. I had thought
+      over his case with all the advantages of his own presentation of it, and
+      it was impossible for me to see how he could decently get rid of the girl.
+      That, as I have said, had been my original opinion, and quickened
+      reflection only confirmed it. As I have also said, I had n&rsquo;t in the least
+      recommended him to become engaged; but once he had done so I recommended
+      him to abide by it. It was all very well being in love with Lady
+      Vandeleur; he might be in love with her, but he had n&rsquo;t promised to marry
+      her. It was all very well not being in love with Miss Bernardstone; but,
+      as it happened, he had promised to marry her, and in my country a
+      gentleman was supposed to keep such promises. If it was a question of
+      keeping them only so long as was convenient, where would any of us be? I
+      assure you I became very eloquent and moral,&mdash;yes, moral, I maintain
+      the word, in spite of your perhaps thinking (as you are very capable of
+      doing) that I ought to have advised him in just the opposite sense. It was
+      not a question of love, but of marriage, for he had never promised to love
+      poor Joscelind. It was useless his saying it was dreadful to marry without
+      love; he knew that he thought it, and the people he lived with thought it,
+      nothing of the kind. Half his friends had married on those terms. &ldquo;Yes,
+      and a pretty sight their private life presented!&rdquo; That might be, but it
+      was the first time I had ever heard him say it. A fortnight before he had
+      been quite ready to do like the others. I knew what I thought, and I
+      suppose I expressed it with some clearness, for my arguments made him
+      still more uncomfortable, unable as he was either to accept them or to act
+      in contempt of them. Why he should have cared so much for my opinion is a
+      mystery I can&rsquo;t elucidate; to understand my little story, you must simply
+      swallow it. That he did care is proved by the exasperation with which he
+      suddenly broke out, &ldquo;Well, then, as I understand you, what you recommend
+      me is to marry Miss Bernardstone, and carry on an intrigue with Lady
+      Vandeleur!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He knew perfectly that I recommended nothing of the sort, and he must have
+      been very angry to indulge in this <i>boutade</i>. He told me that other
+      people did n&rsquo;t think as I did&mdash;that every one was of the opinion that
+      between a woman he did n&rsquo;t love and a woman he had adored for years it was
+      a plain moral duty not to hesitate. &ldquo;Don&rsquo;t hesitate then!&rdquo; I exclaimed;
+      but I did n&rsquo;t get rid of him with this, for he returned to the charge more
+      than once (he came to me so often that I thought he must neglect both his
+      other alternatives), and let me know again that the voice of society was
+      quite against my view. You will doubtless be surprised at such an
+      intimation that he had taken &ldquo;society&rdquo; into his confidence, and wonder
+      whether he went about asking people whether they thought he might back
+      out. I can&rsquo;t tell you exactly, but I know that for some weeks his dilemma
+      was a great deal talked about. His friends perceived he was at the parting
+      of the roads, and many of them had no difficulty in saying which one <i>they</i>
+      would take. Some observers thought he ought to do nothing, to leave things
+      as they were. Others took very high ground and discoursed upon the
+      sanctity of love and the wickedness of really deceiving the girl, as that
+      would be what it would amount to (if he should lead her to the altar).
+      Some held that it was too late to escape, others maintained that it is
+      never too late. Some thought Miss Bernardstone very much to be pitied;
+      some reserved their compassion for Ambrose Tester; others, still, lavished
+      it upon Lady Vandeleur.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The prevailing opinion, I think, was that he ought to obey the promptings
+      of his heart&mdash;London cares so much for the heart! Or is it that
+      London is simply ferocious, and always prefers the spectacle that is more
+      entertaining? As it would prolong the drama for the young man to throw
+      over Miss Bernardstone, there was a considerable readiness to see the poor
+      girl sacrificed. She was like a Christian maiden in the Roman arena. That
+      is what Ambrose Tester meant by telling me that public opinion was on his
+      side. I don&rsquo;t think he chattered about his quandary, but people, knowing
+      his situation, guessed what was going on in his mind, and he on his side
+      guessed what they said. London discussions might as well go on in the
+      whispering-gallery of St. Paul&rsquo;s. I could of course do only one thing,&mdash;I
+      could but reaffirm my conviction that the Roman attitude, as I may call
+      it, was cruel, was falsely sentimental. This naturally did n&rsquo;t help him as
+      he wished to be helped,&mdash;did n&rsquo;t remove the obstacle to his marrying
+      in a year or two Lady Vandeleur. Yet he continued to look to me for
+      inspiration,&mdash;I must say it at the cost of making him appear a very
+      feeble-minded gentleman. There was a moment when I thought him capable of
+      an oblique movement, of temporizing with a view to escape. If he succeeded
+      in postponing his marriage long enough, the Bernardstones would throw <i>him</i>
+      over, and I suspect that for a day he entertained the idea of fixing this
+      responsibility on them. But he was too honest and too generous to do so
+      for longer, and his destiny was staring him in the face when an accident
+      gave him a momentary relief. General Bernardstone died, after an illness
+      as sudden and short as that which had carried off Lord Vandeleur; his wife
+      and daughter were plunged into mourning and immediately retired into the
+      country. A week later we heard that the girl&rsquo;s marriage would be put off
+      for several months,&mdash;partly on account of her mourning, and partly
+      because her mother, whose only companion she had now become, could not
+      bear to part with her at the time originally fixed and actually so near.
+      People of course looked at each other,&mdash;said it was the beginning of
+      the end, a &ldquo;dodge&rdquo; of Ambrose Tester&rsquo;s. I wonder they did n&rsquo;t accuse him
+      of poisoning the poor old general. I know to a certainty that he had
+      nothing to do with the delay, that the proposal came from Lady Emily, who,
+      in her bereavement, wished, very naturally, to keep a few months longer
+      the child she was going to lose forever. It must be said, in justice to
+      her prospective son-in-law, that he was capable either of resigning
+      himself or of frankly (with however many blushes) telling Joscelind he
+      could n&rsquo;t keep his agreement, but was not capable of trying to wriggle out
+      of his difficulty. The plan of simply telling Joscelind he couldn&rsquo;t,&mdash;this
+      was the one he had fixed upon as the best, and this was the one of which I
+      remarked to him that it had a defect which should be counted against its
+      advantages. The defect was that it would kill Joscelind on the spot.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I think he believed me, and his believing me made this unexpected respite
+      very welcome to him. There was no knowing what might happen in the
+      interval, and he passed a large part of it in looking for an issue. And
+      yet, at the same time, he kept up the usual forms with the girl whom in
+      his heart he had renounced. I was told more than once (for I had lost
+      sight of the pair during the summer and autumn) that these forms were at
+      times very casual, that he neglected Miss Bernardstone most flagrantly,
+      and had quite resumed his old intimacy with Lady Vandeleur. I don&rsquo;t
+      exactly know what was meant by this, for she spent the first three months
+      of her widowhood in complete seclusion, in her own old house in Norfolk,
+      where he certainly was not staying with her. I believe he stayed some
+      time, for the partridge shooting, at a place a few miles off. It came to
+      my ears that if Miss Bernardstone did n&rsquo;t take the hint it was because she
+      was determined to stick to him through thick and thin. She never offered
+      to let him off, and I was sure she never would; but I was equally sure
+      that, strange as it may appear, he had not ceased to be nice to her. I
+      have never exactly understood why he didn&rsquo;t hate her, and I am convinced
+      that he was not a comedian in his conduct to her,&mdash;he was only a good
+      fellow. I have spoken of the satisfaction that Sir Edmund took in his
+      daughter-in-law that was to be; he delighted in looking at her, longed for
+      her when she was out of his sight, and had her, with her mother, staying
+      with him in the country for weeks together. If Ambrose was not so
+      constantly at her side as he might have been, this deficiency was covered
+      by his father&rsquo;s devotion to her, by her appearance of being already one of
+      the family. Mr. Tester was away as he might be away if they were already
+      married.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2H_4_0006" id="link2H_4_0006">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      VI.
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      In October I met him at Doubleton; we spent three days there together. He
+      was enjoying his respite, as he didn&rsquo;t scruple to tell me; and he talked
+      to me a great deal&mdash;as usual&mdash;about Lady Vandeleur. He did n&rsquo;t
+      mention Joscelind&rsquo;s name, except by implication in this assurance of how
+      much he valued his weeks of grace.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Do you mean to say that, under the circumstances, Lady Vandeleur is
+      willing to marry you?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      I made this inquiry more expressively, doubtless, than before; for when we
+      had talked of the matter then he had naturally spoken of her consent as a
+      simple contingency. It was contingent upon the lapse of the first months
+      of her bereavement; it was not a question he could begin to press a few
+      days after her husband&rsquo;s death.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Not immediately, of course; but if I wait, I think so.&rdquo; That, I remember,
+      was his answer.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;If you wait till you get rid of that poor girl, of course.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;She knows nothing about that,&mdash;it&rsquo;s none of her business.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Do you mean to say she does n&rsquo;t know you are engaged?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;How should she know it, how should she believe it, when she sees how I
+      love her?&rdquo; the young man exclaimed; but he admitted afterwards that he had
+      not deceived her, and that she rendered full justice to the motives that
+      had determined him. He thought he could answer for it that she would marry
+      him some day or other.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Then she is a very cruel woman,&rdquo; I said, &ldquo;and I should like, if you
+      please, to hear no more about her.&rdquo; He protested against this, and, a
+      month later, brought her up again, for a purpose. The purpose, you will
+      see, was a very strange one indeed. I had then come back to town; it was
+      the early part of December. I supposed he was hunting, with his own
+      hounds; but he appeared one afternoon in my drawing-room and told me I
+      should do him a great favor if I would go and see Lady Vandeleur.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Go and see her? Where do you mean, in Norfolk?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;She has come up to London&mdash;did n&rsquo;t you know it? She has a lot of
+      business. She will be kept here till Christmas; I wish you would go.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why should I go?&rdquo; I asked. &ldquo;Won&rsquo;t you be kept here till Christmas too,
+      and is n&rsquo;t that company enough for her?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Upon my word, you are cruel,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;and it&rsquo;s a great shame of you,
+      when a man is trying to do his duty and is behaving like a saint.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Is that what you call saintly, spending all your time with Lady
+      Vandeleur? I will tell you whom I think a saint, if you would like to
+      know.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You need n&rsquo;t tell me; I know it better than you. I haven&rsquo;t a word to say
+      against her; only she is stupid and hasn&rsquo;t any perceptions. If I am
+      stopping a bit in London you don&rsquo;t understand why; it&rsquo;s as if you had n&rsquo;t
+      any perceptions either! If I am here for a few days, I know what I am
+      about.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why should I understand?&rdquo; I asked,&mdash;not very candidly, because I
+      should have been glad to. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s your own affair; you know what you are
+      about, as you say, and of course you have counted the cost.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What cost do you mean? It&rsquo;s a pretty cost, I can tell you.&rdquo; And then he
+      tried to explain&mdash;if I would only enter into it, and not be so
+      suspicious. He was in London for the express purpose of breaking off.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Breaking off what,&mdash;your engagement?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, no, damn my engagement,&mdash;the other thing. My acquaintance, my
+      relations&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Your intimacy with Lady Van&mdash;?&rdquo; It was not very gentle, but I
+      believe I burst out laughing. &ldquo;If this is the way you break off, pray what
+      would you do to keep up?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He flushed, and looked both foolish and angry, for of course it was not
+      very difficult to see my point. But he was&mdash;in a very clumsy manner
+      of his own&mdash;trying to cultivate a good conscience, and he was getting
+      no credit for it. &ldquo;I suppose I may be allowed to look at her! It&rsquo;s a
+      matter we have to talk over. One does n&rsquo;t drop such a friend in half an
+      hour.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;One does n&rsquo;t drop her at all, unless one has the strength to make a
+      sacrifice.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It&rsquo;s easy for you to talk of sacrifice. You don&rsquo;t know what she is!&rdquo; my
+      visitor cried.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I think I know what she is not. She is not a friend, as you call her, if
+      she encourages you in the wrong, if she does n&rsquo;t help you. No, I have no
+      patience with her,&rdquo; I declared; &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t like her, and I won&rsquo;t go to see
+      her!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Mr. Tester looked at me a moment, as if he were too vexed to trust himself
+      to speak. He had to make an effort not to say something rude. That effort
+      however, he was capable of making, and though he held his hat as if he
+      were going to walk out of the house, he ended by staying, by putting it
+      down again, by leaning his head, with his elbows on his knees, in his
+      hands, and groaning out that he had never heard of anything so impossible,
+      and that he was the most wretched man in England. I was very sorry for
+      him, and of course I told him so; but privately I did n&rsquo;t think he stood
+      up to his duty as he ought. I said to him, however, that if he would give
+      me his word of honor that he would not abandon Miss Bernardstone, there
+      was no trouble I would n&rsquo;t take to be of use to him. I did n&rsquo;t think Lady
+      Vandeleur <i>was</i> behaving well. He must allow me to repeat that; but
+      if going to see her would give him any pleasure (of course there was no
+      question of pleasure for <i>her</i>) I would go fifty times. I could n&rsquo;t
+      imagine how it would help him, but I would do it as I would do anything
+      else he asked me. He did n&rsquo;t give me his word of honor, but he said
+      quietly, &ldquo;<i>I</i> shall go straight; you need n&rsquo;t be afraid;&rdquo; and as he
+      spoke there was honor enough in his face. This left an opening, of course,
+      for another catastrophe. There might be further postponements, and poor
+      Lady Emily, indignant for the first time in her life, might declare that
+      her daughter&rsquo;s situation had become intolerable and that they withdrew
+      from the engagement. But this was too odious a chance, and I accepted Mr.
+      Tester&rsquo;s assurance. He told me that the good I could do by going to see
+      Lady Vandeleur was that it would cheer her up, in that dreary, big house
+      in Upper Brook Street, where she was absolutely alone, with horrible
+      overalls on the furniture, and newspapers&mdash;actually newspapers&mdash;on
+      the mirrors. She was seeing no one, there was no one to see; but he knew
+      she would see me. I asked him if she knew, then, he was to speak to me of
+      coming, and whether I might allude to him, whether it was not too
+      delicate. I shall never forget his answer to this, nor the tone in which
+      he made it, blushing a little, and looking away. &ldquo;Allude to me? Rather!&rdquo;
+       It was not the most fatuous speech I had ever heard; it had the effect of
+      being the most modest; and it gave me an odd idea, and especially a new
+      one, of the condition in which, at any time, one might be destined to find
+      Lady Vandeleur. If she, too, were engaged in a struggle with her
+      conscience (in this light they were an edifying pair!) it had perhaps
+      changed her considerably, made her more approachable; and I reflected,
+      ingeniously, that it probably had a humanizing effect upon her. Ambrose
+      Tester did n&rsquo;t go away after I had told him that I would comply with his
+      request. He lingered, fidgeting with his stick and gloves, and I perceived
+      that he had more to tell me, and that the real reason why he wished me to
+      go and see Lady Vandeleur was not that she had newspapers on her mirrors.
+      He came out with it at last, for that &ldquo;Rather!&rdquo; of his (with the way I
+      took it) had broken the ice.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You say you don&rsquo;t think she behaved well&rdquo; (he naturally wished to defend
+      her). &ldquo;But I dare say you don&rsquo;t understand her position. Perhaps you would
+      n&rsquo;t behave any better in her place.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It&rsquo;s very good of you to imagine me there!&rdquo; I remarked, laughing.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It&rsquo;s awkward for me to say. One doesn&rsquo;t want to dot one&rsquo;s i&rsquo;s to that
+      extent.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;She would be delighted to marry you. That&rsquo;s not such a mystery.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, she likes me awfully,&rdquo; Mr. Tester said, looking like a handsome
+      child. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s not all on one side; it&rsquo;s on both. That&rsquo;s the difficulty.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You mean she won&rsquo;t let you go?&mdash;she holds you fast?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      But the poor fellow had, in delicacy, said enough, and at this he jumped
+      up. He stood there a moment, smoothing his hat; then he broke out again:
+      &ldquo;Please do this. Let her know&mdash;make her feel. You can bring it in,
+      you know.&rdquo; And here he paused, embarrassed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What can I bring in, Mr. Tester? That&rsquo;s the difficulty, as you say.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What you told me the other day. You know. What you have told me before.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What I have told you&mdash;?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That it would put an end to Joscelind! If you can&rsquo;t work round to it,
+      what&rsquo;s the good of being&mdash;you?&rdquo; And with this tribute to my powers he
+      took his departure.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2H_4_0007" id="link2H_4_0007">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      VII.
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      It was all very well of him to be so flattering, but I really did n&rsquo;t see
+      myself talking in that manner to Lady Vandeleur. I wondered why he didn&rsquo;t
+      give her this information himself, and what particular value it could have
+      as coming from me. Then I said to myself that of course he <i>had</i>
+      mentioned to her the truth I had impressed upon him (and which by this
+      time he had evidently taken home), but that to enable it to produce its
+      full effect upon Lady Yandeleur the further testimony of a witness more
+      independent was required. There was nothing for me but to go and see her,
+      and I went the next day, fully conscious that to execute Mr. Tester&rsquo;s
+      commission I should have either to find myself very brave or to find her
+      strangely confidential; and fully prepared, also, not to be admitted. But
+      she received me, and the house in Upper Brook Street was as dismal as
+      Ambrose Tester had represented it. The December fog (the afternoon was
+      very dusky) seemed to pervade the muffled rooms, and her ladyship&rsquo;s pink
+      lamplight to waste itself in the brown atmosphere. He had mentioned to me
+      that the heir to the title (a cousin of her husband), who had left her
+      unmolested for several months, was now taking possession of everything, so
+      that what kept her in town was the business of her &ldquo;turning out,&rdquo; and
+      certain formalities connected with her dower. This was very ample, and the
+      large provision made for her included the London house. She was very
+      gracious on this occasion, but she certainly had remarkably little to say.
+      Still, she was different, or at any rate (having taken that hint), I saw
+      her differently. I saw, indeed, that I had never quite done her justice,
+      that I had exaggerated her stiffness, attributed to her a kind of
+      conscious grandeur which was in reality much more an accident of her
+      appearance, of her figure, than a quality of her character. Her appearance
+      is as grand as you know, and on the day I speak of, in her simplified
+      mourning, under those vaguely gleaming <i>lambris</i>, she looked as
+      beautiful as a great white lily. She is very simple and good-natured; she
+      will never make an advance, but she will always respond to one, and I saw,
+      that evening, that the way to get on with her was to treat her as if she
+      were not too imposing. I saw also that, with her nun-like robes and
+      languid eyes, she was a woman who might be immensely in love. All the
+      same, we hadn&rsquo;t much to say to each other. She remarked that it was very
+      kind of me to come, that she wondered how I could endure London at that
+      season, that she had taken a drive and found the Park too dreadful, that
+      she would ring for some more tea if I did n&rsquo;t like what she had given me.
+      Our conversation wandered, stumbling a little, among these platitudes, but
+      no allusion was made on either side to Ambrose Tester. Nevertheless, as I
+      have said, she was different, though it was not till I got home that I
+      phrased to myself what I had detected.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Then, recalling her white face, and the deeper, stranger expression of her
+      beautiful eyes, I entertained myself with the idea that she was under the
+      influence of &ldquo;suppressed exaltation.&rdquo; The more I thought of her the more
+      she appeared to me not natural; wound up, as it were, to a calmness
+      beneath which there was a deal of agitation. This would have been nonsense
+      if I had not, two days afterwards, received a note from her which struck
+      me as an absolutely &ldquo;exalted&rdquo; production. Not superficially, of course; to
+      the casual eye it would have been perfectly commonplace. But this was
+      precisely its peculiarity, that Lady Vandeleur should have written me a
+      note which had no apparent point save that she should like to see me
+      again, a desire for which she did succeed in assigning a reason. She
+      reminded me that she was paying no calls, and she hoped I wouldn&rsquo;t stand
+      on ceremony, but come in very soon again, she had enjoyed my visit so
+      much. We had not been on note-writing terms, and there was nothing in that
+      visit to alter our relations; moreover, six months before, she would not
+      have dreamed of addressing me in that way. I was doubly convinced,
+      therefore, that she was passing through a crisis, that she was not in her
+      normal state of nerves. Mr. Tester had not reappeared since the occasion I
+      have described at length, and I thought it possible he had been capable of
+      the bravery of leaving town. I had, however, no fear of meeting him in
+      Upper Brook Street; for, according to my theory of his relations with Lady
+      Vaudeleur, he regularly spent his evenings with her, it being clear to me
+      that they must dine together. I could answer her note only by going to see
+      her the next day, when I found abundant confirmation of that idea about
+      the crisis. I must confess to you in advance that I have never really
+      understood her behavior,&mdash;never understood why she should have taken
+      me so suddenly&mdash;with whatever reserves, and however much by
+      implication merely&mdash;into her confidence. All I can say is that this
+      is an accident to which one is exposed with English people, who, in my
+      opinion, and contrary to common report, are the most demonstrative, the
+      most expansive, the most gushing in the world. I think she felt rather
+      isolated at this moment, and she had never had many intimates of her own
+      sex. That sex, as a general thing, disapproved of her proceedings during
+      the last few months, held that she was making Joscelind Bernardstone
+      suffer too cruelly. She possibly felt the weight of this censure, and at
+      all events was not above wishing some one to know that whatever injury had
+      fallen upon the girl to whom Mr. Tester had so stupidly engaged himself,
+      had not, so far as she was concerned, been wantonly inflicted. I was
+      there, I was more or less aware of her situation, and I would do as well
+      as any one else.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She seemed really glad to see me, but she was very nervous. Nevertheless,
+      nearly half an hour elapsed, and I was still wondering whether she had
+      sent for me only to discuss the question of how a London house whose
+      appointments had the stamp of a debased period (it had been thought very
+      handsome in 1850) could be &ldquo;done up&rdquo; without being made æsthetic. I forget
+      what satisfaction I gave her on this point; I was asking myself how I
+      could work round in the manner prescribed by Joscelind&rsquo;s intended. At the
+      last, however, to my extreme surprise, Lady Vandeleur herself relieved me
+      of this effort.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I think you know Mr. Tester rather well,&rdquo; she remarked, abruptly,
+      irrelevantly, and with a face&rsquo; more conscious of the bearings of things
+      than any I had ever seen her wear. On my confessing to such an
+      acquaintance, she mentioned that Mr. Tester (who had been in London a few
+      days&mdash;perhaps I had seen him) had left town and would n&rsquo;t come back
+      for several weeks. This, for the moment, seemed to be all she had to
+      communicate; but she sat looking at me from the corner of her sofa as if
+      she wished me to profit in some way by the opportunity she had given me.
+      Did she want help from outside, this proud, inscrutable woman, and was she
+      reduced to throwing out signals of distress? Did she wish to be protected
+      against herself,&mdash;applauded for such efforts as she had already made?
+      I didn&rsquo;t rush forward, I was not precipitate, for I felt that now, surely,
+      I should be able at my convenience to execute my commission. What
+      concerned me was not to prevent Lady Vandeleur&rsquo;s marrying Mr. Tester, but
+      to prevent Mr. Tester&rsquo;s marrying her. In a few moments&mdash;with the same
+      irrelevance&mdash;she announced to me that he wished to, and asked whether
+      I didn&rsquo;t know it I saw that this was my chance, and instantly, with
+      extreme energy, I exclaimed,&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah, for Heaven&rsquo;s sake don&rsquo;t listen to him! It would kill Miss
+      Bernardstone!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The tone of my voice made her color a little, and she repeated, &ldquo;Miss
+      Bernardstone?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The girl he is engaged to,&mdash;or has been,&mdash;don&rsquo;t you know?
+      Excuse me, I thought every one knew.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Of course I know he is dreadfully entangled. He was fairly hunted down.&rdquo;
+       Lady Vandeleur was silent a moment, and then she added, with a strange
+      smile, &ldquo;Fancy, in such a situation, his wanting to marry me!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Fancy!&rdquo; I replied. I was so struck with the oddity of her telling me her
+      secrets that for the moment my indignation did not come to a head,&mdash;my
+      indignation, I mean, at her accusing poor Lady Emily (and even the girl
+      herself) of having &ldquo;trapped&rdquo; our friend. Later I said to myself that I
+      supposed she was within her literal right in abusing her rival, if she was
+      trying sincerely to give him up. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know anything about his having
+      been hunted down,&rdquo; I said; &ldquo;but this I do know, Lady Vandeleur, I assure
+      you, that if he should throw Joscelind over she would simply go out like
+      that!&rdquo; And I snapped my fingers.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Lady Vandeleur listened to this serenely enough; she tried at least to
+      take the air of a woman who has no need of new arguments. &ldquo;Do you know her
+      very well?&rdquo; she asked, as if she had been struck by my calling Miss
+      Bernardstone by her Christian name.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well enough to like her very much.&rdquo; I was going to say &ldquo;to pity her;&rdquo; but
+      I thought better of it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;She must be a person of very little spirit. If a man were to jilt me, I
+      don&rsquo;t think I should go out!&rdquo; cried her ladyship with a laugh.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Nothing is more probable than that she has not your courage or your
+      wisdom. She may be weak, but she is passionately in love with him.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      I looked straight into Lady Vandeleur&rsquo;s eyes as I said this, and I was
+      conscious that it was a tolerably good description of my hostess.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Do you think she would really die?&rdquo; she asked in a moment.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Die as if one should stab her with a knife. Some people don&rsquo;t believe in
+      broken hearts,&rdquo; I continued. &ldquo;I did n&rsquo;t till I knew Joscelind
+      Bernardstone; then I felt that she had one that would n&rsquo;t be proof.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;One ought to live,&mdash;one ought always to live,&rdquo; said Lady Yandeleur;
+      &ldquo;and always to hold up one&rsquo;s head.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah, I suppose that one ought n&rsquo;t to feel at all, if one wishes to be a
+      great success.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What do you call a great success?&rdquo; she asked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Never having occasion to be pitied.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Being pitied? That must be odious!&rdquo; she said; and I saw that though she
+      might wish for admiration, she would never wish for sympathy. Then, in a
+      moment, she added that men, in her opinion, were very base,&mdash;a remark
+      that was deep, but not, I think, very honest; that is, in so far as the
+      purpose of it had been to give me the idea that Ambrose Tester had done
+      nothing but press her, and she had done nothing but resist. They were very
+      odd, the discrepancies in the statements of each of this pair; but it must
+      be said for Lady Vandeleur that now that she had made up her mind (as I
+      believed she had) to sacrifice herself, she really persuaded herself that
+      she had not had a moment of weakness. She quite unbosomed herself, and I
+      fairly assisted at her crisis. It appears that she had a conscience,&mdash;very
+      much so, and even a high ideal of duty. She represented herself as moving
+      heaven and earth to keep Ambrose Tester up to the mark, and you would
+      never have guessed from what she told me that she had entertained ever so
+      faintly the idea of marrying him. I am sure this was a dreadful
+      perversion, but I forgave it on the score of that exaltation of which I
+      have spoken. The things she said, and the way she said them, come back to
+      me, and I thought that if she looked as handsome as that when she preached
+      virtue to Mr. Tester, it was no wonder he liked the sermon to be going on
+      perpetually.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I dare say you know what old friends we are; but that does n&rsquo;t make any
+      difference, does it? Nothing would induce me to marry him,&mdash;I have
+      n&rsquo;t the smallest intention of marrying again. It is not a time for me to
+      think of marrying, before his lordship has been dead six months. The girl
+      is nothing to me; I know nothing about her, and I don&rsquo;t wish to know; but
+      I should be very, very sorry if she were unhappy. He is the best friend I
+      ever had, but I don&rsquo;t see that that&rsquo;s any reason I should marry him, do
+      you?&rdquo; Lady Vaudeleur appealed to me, but without waiting for my answers,
+      asking advice in spite of herself, and then remembering it was beneath her
+      dignity to appear to be in need of it. &ldquo;I have told him that if he does
+      n&rsquo;t act properly I shall never speak to him again. She&rsquo;s a charming girl,
+      every one says, and I have no doubt she will make him perfectly happy. Men
+      don&rsquo;t feel things like women, I think, and if they are coddled and
+      flattered they forget the rest. I have no doubt she is very sufficient for
+      all that. For me, at any rate, once I see a thing in a certain way, I must
+      abide by that I think people are so dreadful,&mdash;they do such horrible
+      things. They don&rsquo;t seem to think what one&rsquo;s duty may be. I don&rsquo;t know
+      whether you think much about that, but really one must at times, don&rsquo;t you
+      think so? Every one is so selfish, and then, when they have never made an
+      effort or a sacrifice themselves, they come to you and talk such a lot of
+      hypocrisy. I know so much better than any one else whether I should marry
+      or not. But I don&rsquo;t mind telling you that I don&rsquo;t see why I should. I am
+      not in such a bad position,&mdash;with my liberty and a decent
+      maintenance.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      In this manner she rambled on, gravely and communicatively, contradicting
+      herself at times; not talking fast (she never did), but dropping one
+      simple sentence, with an interval, after the other, with a certain
+      richness of voice which always was part of the charm of her presence. She
+      wished to be convinced against herself, and it was a comfort to her to
+      hear herself argue. I was quite willing to be part of the audience, though
+      I had to confine myself to very superficial remarks; for when I had said
+      the event I feared would kill Miss Bernardstone I had said everything that
+      was open to me. I had nothing to do with Lady Vandeleur&rsquo;s marrying, apart
+      from that I probably disappointed her. She had caught a glimpse of the
+      moral beauty of self-sacrifice, of a certain ideal of conduct (I imagine
+      it was rather new to her), and would have been glad to elicit from me, as
+      a person of some experience of life, an assurance that such joys are not
+      insubstantial. I had no wish to wind her up to a spiritual ecstasy from
+      which she would inevitably descend again, and I let her deliver herself
+      according to her humor, without attempting to answer for it that she would
+      find renunciation the road to bliss. I believed that if she should give up
+      Mr. Tester she would suffer accordingly; but I did n&rsquo;t think that a reason
+      for not giving him up. Before I left her she said to me that nothing would
+      induce her to do anything that she did n&rsquo;t think right. &ldquo;It would be no
+      pleasure to me, don&rsquo;t you see? I should be always thinking that another
+      way would have been better. Nothing would induce me,&mdash;nothing,
+      nothing!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2H_4_0008" id="link2H_4_0008">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      VIII.
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      She protested too much, perhaps, but the event seemed to show that she was
+      in earnest. I have described these two first visits of mine in some
+      detail, but they were not the only ones I paid her. I saw her several
+      times again, before she left town, and we became intimate, as London
+      intimacies are measured. She ceased to protest (to my relief, for it made
+      me nervous), she was very gentle, and gracious, and reasonable, and there
+      was something in the way she looked and spoke that told me that for the
+      present she found renunciation its own reward. So far, my scepticism was
+      put to shame; her spiritual ecstasy maintained itself. If I could have
+      foreseen then that it would maintain itself till the present hour I should
+      have felt that Lady Vandeleur&rsquo;s moral nature is finer indeed than mine. I
+      heard from her that Mr. Tester remained at his father&rsquo;s, and that Lady
+      Emily and her daughter were also there. The day for the wedding had been
+      fixed, and the preparations were going rapidly forward. Meanwhile&mdash;she
+      didn&rsquo;t tell me, but I gathered it from things she dropped&mdash;she was in
+      almost daily correspondence with the young man. I thought this a strange
+      concomitant of his bridal arrangements; but apparently, henceforth, they
+      were bent on convincing each other that the torch of virtue lighted their
+      steps, and they couldn&rsquo;t convince each other too much. She intimated to me
+      that she had now effectually persuaded him (always by letter), that he
+      would fail terribly if he should try to found his happiness on an injury
+      done to another, and that of course she could never be happy (in a union
+      with him), with the sight of his wretchedness before her. That a good deal
+      of correspondence should be required to elucidate this is perhaps after
+      all not remarkable. One day, when I was sitting with her (it was just
+      before she left town), she suddenly burst into tears. Before we parted I
+      said to her that there were several women in London I liked very much,&mdash;that
+      was common enough,&mdash;but for her I had a positive respect, and that
+      was rare. My respect continues still, and it sometimes makes me furious.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      About the middle of January Ambrose Tester reappeared in town. He told me
+      he came to bid me good-by. He was going to be beheaded. It was no use
+      saying that old relations would be the same after a man was married; they
+      would be different, everything would be different. I had wanted him to
+      marry, and now I should see how I liked it He did n&rsquo;t mention that I had
+      also wanted him not to marry, and I was sure that if Lady Vandeleur had
+      become his wife, she would have been a much greater impediment to our
+      harmless friendship than Joscelind Bernardstone would ever be. It took me
+      but a short time to observe that he was in very much the same condition as
+      Lady Vandeleur. He was finding how sweet it is to renounce, hand in hand
+      with one we love. Upon him, too, the peace of the Lord had descended. He
+      spoke of his father&rsquo;s delight at the nuptials being so near at hand; at
+      the festivities that would take place in Dorsetshire when he should bring
+      home his bride. The only allusion he made to what we had talked of the
+      last time we were together was to exclaim suddenly, &ldquo;How can I tell you
+      how easy she has made it? She is so sweet, so noble. She really is a
+      perfect creature!&rdquo; I took for granted that he was talking of his future
+      wife, but in a moment, as we were at cross-purposes, perceived that he
+      meant Lady Vandeleur. This seemed to me really ominous. It stuck in my
+      mind after he had left me. I was half tempted to write him a note, to say,
+      &ldquo;There is, after all, perhaps, something worse than your jilting Miss
+      Bernardstone would be; and that is the danger that your rupture with Lady
+      Vandeleur may become more of a bond than your marrying her would have been
+      For Heaven&rsquo;s sake, let your sacrifice <i>be</i> a sacrifice; keep it in
+      its proper place!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Of course I did n&rsquo;t write; even the slight responsibility I had already
+      incurred began to frighten me, and I never saw Mr. Tester again till he
+      was the husband of Joscelind Bernardstone. They have now been married some
+      four years; they have two children, the eldest of whom is, as he should
+      be, a boy. Sir Edmund waited till his grandson had made good his place in
+      the world, and then, feeling it was safe, he quietly, genially surrendered
+      his trust. He died, holding the hand of his daughter-in-law, and giving it
+      doubtless a pressure which was an injunction to be brave. I don&rsquo;t know
+      what he thought of the success of his plan for his son; but perhaps, after
+      all, he saw nothing amiss, for Joscelind is the last woman in the world to
+      have troubled him with her sorrows. From him, no doubt, she successfully
+      concealed that bewilderment on which I have touched. You see I speak of
+      her sorrows as if they were a matter of common recognition; certain it is
+      that any one who meets her must see that she does n&rsquo;t pass her life in
+      joy. Lady Vandeleur, as you know, has never married again; she is still
+      the most beautiful widow in England. She enjoys the esteem of every one,
+      as well as the approbation of her conscience, for every one knows the
+      sacrifice she made, knows that she was even more in love with Sir Ambrose
+      than he was with her. She goes out again, of course, as of old, and she
+      constantly meets the baronet and his wife. She is supposed to be even
+      &ldquo;very nice&rdquo; to Lady Tester, and she certainly treats her with exceeding
+      civility. But you know (or perhaps you don&rsquo;t know) all the deadly things
+      that, in London, may lie beneath that method. I don&rsquo;t in the least mean
+      that Lady Vandeleur has any deadly intentions; she is a very good woman,
+      and I am sure that in her heart she thinks she lets poor Joscelind off
+      very easily. But the result of the whole situation is that Joscelind is in
+      dreadful fear of her, for how can she help seeing that she has a very
+      peculiar power over her husband? There couldn&rsquo;t have been a better
+      occasion for observing the three together (if together it may be called,
+      when Lady Tester is so completely outside), than those two days of ours at
+      Doubleton. That&rsquo;s a house where they have met more than once before; I
+      think she and Sir Ambrose like it. By &ldquo;she&rdquo; I mean, as he used to mean,
+      Lady Vandeleur. You saw how Lady Tester was absolutely white with
+      uneasiness. What can she do when she meets everywhere the implication that
+      if two people in our time have distinguished themselves for their virtue,
+      it is her husband and Lady Vandeleur? It is my impression that this pair
+      are exceedingly happy. His marriage <i>has</i> made a difference, and I
+      see him much less frequently and less intimately. But when I meet him I
+      notice in him a kind of emanation of quiet bliss. Yes, they are certainly
+      in felicity, they have trod the clouds together, they have soared into the
+      blue, and they wear in their faces the glory of those altitudes. They
+      encourage, they cheer, inspire, sustain, each other, remind each other
+      that they have chosen the better part Of course they have to meet for this
+      purpose, and their interviews are filled, I am sure, with its sanctity. He
+      holds up his head, as a man may who on a very critical occasion behaved
+      like a perfect gentleman. It is only poor Joscelind that droops. Have n&rsquo;t
+      I explained to you now why she does n&rsquo;t understand?
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <br /> <br />
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+
+
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