Barry Pain

“ It never occurred to Margaret Fayre that Stanley Welborough would only wish to marry her for her money. She hardly ever thought about money at all; and that was as well, for whenever she did think about money she made gross and unbusinesslike mistakes. Nor did it ever occur to her that Stanley was, according to his lights, in love with Kitty Carton-Wright. Whenever she found Stanley talking to Kitty, in a very few minutes Stanley deserted Kitty to talk to Margaret. Kitty did not mind in the least—she knew that she was very pretty, and that Margaret could not be her rival. ”

“ She would give no cause for suspicion. No one could suppose that she would select a big hotel at Brighton wherein to break her heart. Indeed, to the world the selection would deny the breakage. For herself it was not suitable: it was not a romantic solitude; it was not even quiet. It had but one attraction—it was not London. She was some distance away from the deep recess at the farther end of the balcony. She would run but little chance of meeting Stanley or Kitty. And she would have time to think the thing out.
For she was terribly puzzled. Stanley loved Kitty. ”

“ He took his journalism very seriously—felt a heavy sense of responsibility about his London Letter.
He was of no particular age. His face was thin and ascetic, with a heavy grey moustache; his figure was tall and soldierly. Simple, poor, sweet-natured people generally have blue eyes; Sir Charles had blue eyes—rather a light blue.
"He will be in heaven to-night," said Mrs. Dirk. "He loves the opera, and he never gets here unless somebody takes him. I wonder whom he's with. It's a remarkably handsome boy, anyhow."
"Yes," said Margaret, "he is very beautiful." ”

“ But she was not thirsty unto death yet—not dying of thirst—for she had not yet fallen in love. So it was very seldom that she cried. And very often she smiled, and said silly things with a charm in them, that people liked and laughed at.
Edith Dirk liked and respected Margaret Fayre for herself and also for her great kindness to Edith Dirk. She owned that she was a brougham-parasite, and it seemed so good of Margaret to have Lady Tenways for her aunt and share her a little. ”

“ She could wait two years. She could be patient. "But it will be terribly lonely, for no one loves you," said her poor aching heart, crying out to be loved.
In the afternoon, a few days later, a visiting-card went from the hall porter to a page, and from a page to Miss Fayre's maid, and from the maid to Margaret herself. Margaret looked at it intently, but the hand that held it never shook. She read the name, "Mr. Stanley Welborough." Her first thought was that it was queer that he should have used one of his old cards. It bore the Aldley address, and not that of his London chambers. ”

“ Sir Charles let himself be persuaded, and enjoyed himself immensely.
Stanley Welborough had fallen into the selfish habit of taking a lot of trouble to please people. The habit might, of course, be unselfish, but it was not so with Stanley. It flattered his vanity that people should have a high opinion of him. That high opinion was the easiest to create with people who would only see him for a very short time. ”

“ Brighton was her ultimate choice. She left the devoted Mrs. Holly behind, and took only her maid with her. And the maid packed the wonderful dresses, and was particularly careful not to let Miss Fayre's dressing-bag out of her sight, for there were two thousand pounds' worth of pearls in that bag: Margaret had begun to wear her pearls lately.
It is indecent for a woman to break her heart except for the loss by death of a near relative, and Margaret did not mean to be accused of such indecency. ”

“ He was so pleased that he said that things did occasionally happen to lead him to believe that the whole world was not absolutely rotten—as, for instance, that Stanley Welborough had been jilted by Kitty and refused by Margaret, and that Margaret was going to marry a good, straight man. ”

“ There was a group of clever men round her most of the time at Lady Tenways' house. Margaret said once that young men regarded her as a sister, and she liked it, but she wished that old men did not regard her as a mother. ”

“ Sammy, I do like Margaret Fayre immensely."
"I wish you'd get her married to somebody. Sentimentalists with money ought not to be left lying about. She's too good to be victimised. She wants looking after."
"It's not so easy to marry people to people satisfactorily." ”

“ He had seen other cities than London, and in beginning London he wished people to speak well of him. He had done his best to please Sir Charles, and he also did his best to please Margaret Fayre. He vaguely recalled a flaming review (the enthusiast had been responsible) ; Sir Charles let fall the title; tact did the rest. It was worth doing, for she went about a good deal, and she was Lady Tenways' niece, and she was apparently something of an aristocratic lioness. Now, the aristocratic lioness is the rarest kind of lioness; it will neither growl nor look the part. ”

“ Yes, Margaret Fayre was thinking about falling in love. On the night of the 17th she actually did fall in love. So also did Stanley Welborough. But then Margaret fell in love with Stanley, and Stanley fell in love with Catherine ("Kitty") , second daughter of Charles Carton-Wright, E.A.
'Tis not uncommon in love—A loves B, and B loves C. Doubtless, here and there in real life, one might trace out such a progression which would exhaust the alphabet, with the numerals added. ”

“ Grice, rather flustered, was saying, "My dear lady, do put that cheque-book up; we don't do business like that. Whether you read it or whether you did not, we have signed the agreement, and we intend to abide by it. If you did not think that 'risk' meant money risk, what did you think it meant?"
"The risk of publishing a book which the critics did not like."
Mr. Grice smiled. "To that, Miss Fayre, we are accustomed. It does not affect us. ”

“ You don't really want to be like me."
"I'm quite sure you don't want to be like me."
"One doesn't want to sit on the moon and drink boiling ices out of a gasometer. That is to say, one doesn't want the impossible. But if I had the management of things, you and I would have exchanged souls, my dear."
Later, Sir Charles craved and obtained permission to introduce a very great admirer of Margaret's book and the son of an old friend of Lady Tenways, Stanley Welborough, just returned from ten years' residence abroad. He was very handsome-in an imperial, clean-shaven, strong-chinned way. ”

“ A nice, comfortable, good-tempered, big, male sort of man like you can always get married. But the big plain woman—ah, it's just as well that Margaret's a genius (I suppose she is a genius, though she often talks like a mad baby) , for now she's got something else to think about."
"My dear," said Samuel, "nobody's ever got anything else to think about." And with this grossly inaccurate generalisation he sent Edith upstairs to bed.
Chapter IV. Stanley Welborough's father had been the rector of Aldley, Lady Tenways' country-place, but had since retired. His mother was dead. ”

“ Her hair was done differently and beautifully, and the post of maid to Margaret Fayre ceased to be a sinecure. Her complexion improved, but she would not paint. ("I do sometimes, a very little," Edith Dirk had confessed.) A clever and fashionable doctor stopped day after day at Margaret's house; then her lameness became less noticeable; finally, she gave up her strong stick altogether, and one could hardly see that she was lame at all. "She's not beautiful," said an observer to Sir Charles Storre, "not by a very long way. ”

“ Well, you can't marry on four hundred a year, and you'll have no more from me till I die, and you can't reasonably expect me to die until I've finished my history of the county. Besides, you're getting on now—already you're too old for a good many things. ”

“ Consequently, Stanley had made the stern resolve that he would never thereafter allow his father to come into any evidence that Stanley's expenditure was in excess of his allowance. In his present difficulties, marriage was the only solution. No profession was open to him by which he could make much money in a very little time. Besides, no profession was in the least degree congenial to him. He was going to marry Margaret Fayre ”

“ The difficulty is to put one's hand on anything that's really congenial."
The end of it was that he came up to London. He took chambers in Duke Street, and a hansom for the season, and engaged a servant. That was in the morning. In the afternoon he found Sir Charles in the Park. Sir Charles was surreptitiously taking notes on his shirt-cuff of the colour-scheme and arrangement of the flower-beds for the purposes of his London Letter. Stanley recognised Sir Charles, and introduced himself afresh, for they had not met since Stanley was a boy. ”

“ On that night in New York a man died, who had quarrelled with the father of Sir Charles Storre, and left by will to Sir Charles an annual income of five thousand pounds. And on the same night Lady Tenways gave a dance. Stanley was there, and Margaret and Kitty. ”