Alice Duer Miller

“ But life won't give you time to grow up. You will think you are in love with the first man who asks you to be——”
Jacqueline interrupted.
“And is not Dormier a fortune hunter and an adventurer?” she asked.
“No,” said the other, “Dormier is simply a young man in a position to ask that his wife should have everything—beauty, virtue, character and money. A dukedom is like a kingdom; the heir has an obligation to it as well as to himself. Dormier must marry a girl with money. There are plenty of them in England. ”

“ He became eloquent.
“By heaven,” he cried, bringing his fist down on the table, “it's hard on a man! I work all my life for you, my only child; I have no other thought or care; and now you talk as if I were trying to get you into something that would ruin your life, as if I did not know what was for your good! If I'd been an unsuccessful man, an indifferent father, you couldn't disregard my wishes and opinion more completely!” ”

“ She knew that she was an heiress, but she had not learned to think of herself as one. Yet if she had not wanted to believe he loved her, there had been plenty of signs—those vast trunks of clothes—trousseau, of course—and Miss Salisbury's manner—there had been a subtle change. It was a terribly humiliating experience—to have shown so clearly that she supposed herself loved for herself. But humiliation was one of the minor agonies. She loved him so very much, and yet she never doubted for a moment that she must at once put a stop to the marriage. ”

“ The slender, dark, impenetrable head waiter knew perfectly who they were, for it was his profession to know; but he was far too polite to let them know he knew, and called them monsieur, madame.
They were the only occupants of the great, quiet, shaded room at that hour of the morning. Yet even so, they were directed to a table in the center of the room, and Dormier said “Certainly not,” and walked to one in the corner where they could both sit on cushioned sofas against the wall.
The head waiter hovered with his pencil and the menu. ”

“ As he and Heccles walked down the platform—Heccles bearing two of those bags which have made the name of a great statesman famous—Dormier felt himself touched on the arm. He recognized the young man's profession—those quick penetrating eyes, that brisk confident manner which says that hundreds of thousands of readers are waiting for your report.
“Oh, no, my dear fellow,” said the duke. “Your sleeping cars are bad enough without superimposing your press. On, Heccles, on! I'm not going to be interviewed before I have a decent cup of tea. Anglo-American relations can go hang.” ”

“ He looked up, and being, like most people, wise enough when his attention was fully roused, he made a gesture to Williams to go.
“What's the matter, Jacqueline?” he said. “What do you mean?”
“What I said—that you seem to be paying Dormier a lot to marry me.”
“I don't like talk of that kind,” said McMannis. “It's not suitable; it's not ladylike; it's not pretty in a girl of your age.”
“No; it's just true.”
“It is not true,” answered her father. “If you mean that Dormier has been grasping—greedy—quite the contrary. He has been singularly generous—right feeling about settlements. ”

“ Winters,” said Traver sulkily.
“I repeat—a lout!” replied Winters; “yes, a lout!”
“There are things a man puts before his own wishes—honor—a man must think of how the world will interpret his conduct,” said Traver.
“A prig must,” answered the older man. “Ah, that was what I meant! I withdraw 'lout' and substitute 'prig.'”
“Would you be so good as to tell me what all this is about?” said Dormier. No one answered him, and he walked over to Jacqueline and took her hand. ”

“ You won't escape being bored and disenchanted whatever you do. But in a marriage like this, when the disenchantment comes, you will have something left—a great position, an interesting outside life, rather important duties, a part in an old and respected institution—the British Empire. And if in after life you and Dormier decide to go your different ways, there is no country in the world where a woman can be so free as among the upper classes in England. ”

“ Winters laughed.
“Ah,” he said, “that's the very best way in the world of finding out what a person means to do—advise them the other way.” He stooped toward her. “May I kiss your duchess?”
“I let her settle that sort of thing for herself,” answered the duke, “at least as far as other people are concerned; but I may tell you I mean to do it myself.”
And they did—in the order named.
“You see,” said Dormier to Winters, “all the trouble has come from my trying to be too noble. Frightful mistake to be too noble, as that pers—that young—that chap Jacqueline called Paul has so clearly shown us. ”

“ Winters,” she said then; “he doesn't really want to marry me, and he thought it made it a little easier for me if he pretended it was on account of money. It was my fault.” She sighed. “I don't seem to be a very good judge of people's feelings.”
Winters' heart went out to her in pity, but Dormier's face betrayed nothing but determination.
“Now, Jacqueline,” he said, “as between you and me. Here it is: I do need money. I could not—or, if you prefer it, I will not marry a girl without it. My mother has had a dozen ideas and suggestions. I couldn't go any of them. Mrs. Mac is a very wise woman. ”

“ Winters intervened.
“If a charwoman is all you've been waiting for, Paul, I dare say you'd find a lot of them about the building at this very moment.”
“Have you turned against me, sir?” said Traver.
“Paul, my boy,” said Mr. Winters, putting his hand on his clerk's shoulder, “to be honest, I was never exactly for you. I gave you a chance, that's all. To tell the truth, your outlook has always been a little too elderly to suit a man of seventy-one. I like a man who has some what we used to call at home get-up-and-git about him. ”

“ Free choice on your part would be disaster. You would either be married by some adventurer for your money, or you would yourself choose to marry some utterly insignificant boy—because he was poor; this young Traver, for instance, with whom I think you were inclined to fancy yourself in love.”
“You knew about——”
“It wasn't very difficult to guess.”
“Paul is wonderful,” said Jacqueline. Her heart went out to Paul.
“Exactly,” answered her stepmother. “He is honest and hard-working and very egotistical, but you don't know the dangers of that. ”

“ McMannis said:
“Jacqueline, you have always thought that I did not love you. I am not very emotional by nature. I only know one way of expressing affection—many people seem to find it an unsatisfactory way. I try to arrange the lives of those I love to their advantage; to the best of my ability, to their advantage. I assure you—and I say this without egotism—that I have not very often been mistaken. In arranging this marriage for you—and I take the full responsibility for arranging it ”

“ You made us wait forty minutes for dinner the other evening, and yet I'm glad to see you, although,” he added—and Dormier observed that each time he himself was ready to speak the older man's sentence got into action again—“although a lawyer never knows how glad he ought to be to see his friends, for it usually means they are in some sort of trouble from which they need to be rescued; not that a young man as fortunately situated as you are——”
“I have come to ask, sir——” said the duke.
“Old men don't like to be interrupted,” said Mr. Winters, smiling a fine meaningless smile at the duke. ”

“ They were now all three moving briskly along the platform, the young man on one side of the duke and Heccles, sallower than ever, on the other.
“I'm doing you a favor,” said the reporter; “only, of course, you can never get anyone to believe the papers ever do anyone a favor—because I know something you'd want to know. A young lady came into the office about three-quarters of an hour ago, alleging that she was Miss McMannis and that she had come to tell us that the engagement was off.”
“Really?” said Dormier, without the slightest interest. ”

“ He sent Heccles home with his bags and he himself made his way to the Subway.
Everybody, in moments of excitement, forms mental pictures instead of thinking. Dormier had been downtown often enough to know that a number in Nassau Street would be the number of a large office building containing the population of a village, or even of a small town. ”