Mr. Vane

“ Vane was rather ashamed to own to himself that he was displeased at the acquaintance that seemed to have existed between Miss Thomas and his late companions. Little as he cared for Miss Thomas, there was certainly a world-wide difference between her and Miss Morse, Mr. Thomson and Mr. Dibble; and yet he could not bring himself to admit that he was snobbish or prejudiced. It was simply that the wealth and education of these young ladies had outstripped their breeding, while the young men were still seeking for the first. ”

“ Vane was not going to let his daughter’s friend off so easily. He produced his card-case, murmured more pompous assurances of his gratitude, and tendered further offers of patronage to the quiet traveller, who found something rather oppressive in Mr. Vane’s civility. But it was all over at last, and the old man led his daughter off to look for the trunk which contained all her worldly possessions.
The stranger looked wistfully after the father and child.
“I hope she may have a happy future,” he thought, rather despondingly; “the old man is poor and pompous. ”

“ Vane wrote a telegram advising his partner to demand half a million for their interest in the Bellefontaine Pacific; and then he opened Miss Thomas’s letter. Cinerea Lake, June 25, 187-, it was dated. Now, where and what, thought Vane, is Cinerea?
“My dear Mr. Vane,” it ran on, “I think of you all the day, and often cannot sleep at night. What can you think of me? ”

“ Vane looked up and saw a man apparently a year or two older than himself, about the same height and build, but harder and stronger, and possessing that peculiar erectness of carriage and alertness of movement that is owned only by those who have worked or fought, or done both, in the outlands of [Pg 229] the earth. But a glance at his face confirmed Vane in the opinion he had formed when he heard his voice; he was undeniably both a gentleman and a man. He held out his hand and said:
"Good evening, Mr. Rayburn. Of course a friend of my father's has to be my friend also." ”

“ But a penniless scribbler has no choice if he has to live—that is if life be worth living, which I sometimes doubt."
"You shouldn't think like that. It's cowardly. A man should fight his way through the world. Now a woman...."
"She's armed better than a man. Her charm—her beauty—her wit. Nature bestows on her all conquering weapons."
"Which she as often as not misuses and turns against herself. But Mr. Vane," the note of bitterness had vanished; her voice was now earnest, almost grave, "you weren't despondent when you were facing an angry mob after doing me a service I shall never forget. ”

“ Every one would be there.
“Then I fear I am no one,” said Vane. “I am not even invited.” He was sorry to fancy that her interest in him flagged a little after this. She had met him at a good house, but, after all, he might be a mere protégé of John Haviland’s. Mr. Haviland was always picking up queer people. A moment after this Vane took his leave. ”

“ Oh, what clever men there are in the world—in London, at least! He is a play-writer, too. I wonder my husband comes not. Does Mr. Vane—does Mr. Vane admire this actress?” said she, suddenly.
“Mr. Vane, madam, is a gentleman of taste,” said he, pompously.
“Well, sir,” said the lady, languidly, “she is not here.” Triplet took the hint and rose. “Good-by,” said she, sweetly; and thank you kindly for your company.
“Triplet, madam—James Triplet, of 10, Hercules Buildings, Lambeth. ”

“ Mrs. Haviland and Miss Thomas——” Vane could not repress a slight movement. “Do you know them?” said the young lady with some interest.
“Miss Winifred Thomas?”
“This was Miss Baby——”
“It is the same person,” said Vane, with decision.
“Is she not just too lovely?” broke in again Miss Westerhouse, with enthusiasm. Vane could not but concur in this sentiment. Miss Morse’s interest in him seemed revived.
“I suppose we must go back to dinner now,” said she. “By the way, we are going to have a straw-ride this afternoon. Would you not like to come, Mr. Vane? The gentlemen are getting it up. Mr. ”

“ Vane watched them carefully; and by judicious management and successful sales, he was able, on the first of August, eighteen hundred and seventy-six, the end of the three years allowed him, to pay his father’s creditors their claims in full—four hundred and forty-seven thousand dollars, with interest for three years at six per cent. And over and above this, after paying Mr. Peyton, he had sixteen thousand dollars, which he might call his own. Early in August he sailed for Brittany, and spent a week with Dr. Kérouec at Rennes. ”

“ He peered round earnestly at the door, to make sure Joan had not returned. "Baxter—the man she's going to marry—is a perfect martyr to indigestion. It is the one thorn in the rose. A most suitable match in every other way, but he lives"—and the old gentleman tapped Vane on the shoulder to emphasise this hideous thing—"he lives on rusks and soda-water."
Vane threw the end of his cigarette in the fire and laughed. "There's always a catch somewhere, isn't there, Mr. Sutton? ”

“ Then changing his manner, he laid his hand upon Vane’s shoulder.
“You are quite right, Vane, lad. Let them call you Weathercock if they like, but you do always point to fair weather, my boy, and turn your back on foul. No: there must be no police business. The young scoundrels have had their punishment—the right sort; and Mr Distin has got his in a way such a proud, sensitive fellow will never forget.”
“But ought not Vane to have beaten him, too?” said Aunt Hannah, naïvely.
“What!” cried the doctor, in mock horror. “Woman! You are a very glutton at revenge. Three in one afternoon? ”

“ He might now call himself very rich. He was an infinitely better match than Ten Eyck. She must have loved him all along—from the very beginning, thought he. He was very indignant with her. But in the afternoon, even this feeling seemed to grow less strong. She was a woman, after all. He could not blame her. He had been angry last night, but now he felt that he could understand her. He almost liked her the better for it. She had been true to herself and her first love. He might have wished the same thing himself. Vane almost felt a pride in his discovery of her nature. ”

“ The leaves are turning red, and brown, and yellow, the petals are falling from the flowers. Not that Vane takes note of this. One flower that faded in the summer gone, is worth all the world to him. For a time ambition, energy, hope, seem to forsake him. Always before his eyes floats a vision of a fair, dead face with waving tresses, tangled with seaweed; always against his breast he feels the pressure of small hands pressing against him, pushing him from her in the mad resolve to die in his stead. For in his heart Vane feels that it was not alone for Maud's sake she died. ”

“ He knew to a unit how many poor people had consumed the society’s soup, for each of the past forty years, in Rennes, and seemed to derive much satisfaction from these figures and their annual increase. He never spoke again to Vane of the young lady with the dot, and it turned out that she had married M. le Vicomte’s son.
Meantime Vane wandered through the rosy lanes, and the country came to him with a sense of rest. Life’s silent woods are so near its highways, after all! And Vane had been a boy in this country, and it had a glamour for him; and, truly, it is a sweet corner in the world. ”

“ Vane fancied that there might be follies that had something in them of divine and much good sense that smacked only of the world and the flesh. One got plenty of good sense in New York.
When he left Lourdes he went eastward, through Gascony and Languedoc. The sweet contentment of the harvest was over the country, the healthy happiness of nature’s reproduction, of fruitage and of growing seed. All earth and nature is happy where it is not conscious. ”

“ At this time Vane was a handsome, erect fellow, with a large aquiline nose, and heavy eyebrows shading quiet eyes. Most of the people knew him well as the doctor’s protégé. One day the good old doctor came to him with an air of much mysterious importance. He passed Vane’s arm through his, and led him to his favorite walk up and down the garden. “My son,” he began, tapping him on the shoulder, and beginning in a way he evidently thought to be diplomatic, “you are growing older, and it is not good for you to be alone. Listen! it is time you should marry.” ”

“ American women rarely do, I can assure you. Their natures are like a New England spring—the sun must do a devilish deal of wooing before even so much as a green tendril is visible.” And Haviland, who was just then devoted to the young lady of Puritan descent whom he has since married, fetched a deep sigh.
Vane began to laugh again.
“Well, well. In time, I, too, shall become a New Yorker. And by the way, John, speaking of that—is it customary here to invite a young lady to go to walk with you?”
“Why, certainly, if you like. Miss Thomas has gone many a time, I fancy.” ”

“ He walked back through the cross-street, to get the railway on Sixth Avenue, and still thinking how Miss Thomas was probably crying over his rudeness, locked in her own room. How could he have done it! As he approached her house, he felt almost tempted to go in again; but the front door opened slowly, and, after a momentary pause, he saw Ten Eyck come out, walk down the steps and rapidly away. Vane grew very angry with himself and her; until he reflected that she could not possibly have known that Ten Eyck was coming that afternoon. ”

“ Wemyss’s sleigh. It was so unfortunate, and she was so much disappointed! Vane, however, decided to postpone his proposal of marriage to some other occasion; so he drove out sedately with the young and beautiful chaperone. With her he made no sufficient effort at flirtation, and Mrs. Gower never forgave him the omission.
The ice was very good; and Vane was disporting himself meditatively in one corner of the pond when Miss Thomas whirled by him on the “outer edge.” Miss Thomas was a beautiful skater; and, as she passed, she stretched out a crooked cane as if inviting him to join her. ”

“ Somewhat fatuously, perhaps, he fancied no woman under thirty could either understand him, or arouse his own interest. And most of the women over thirty were married. He understood that in America any intimacy with married women was out of the question; married women were quite given up to domestic duties, and kept out of society.
But Vane had certain theories of his own as to social observances, and he thought it his duty, after taking Miss Thomas in to dinner, to call upon her. He performed this duty (which afterwards became a pleasure) upon the following afternoon. ”

“ And yet in certain ways I care for you so much. It seems sometimes to me that I have no heart. I don’t think I am worthy of you.” She took the handkerchief and put it in her pocket.
XXIV. THEY walked back together. Vane felt a year removed from the happenings of the last week, from Miss Morse, from all the others. It seemed as if the painted hotel were to vanish, like a stage-setting, and he were back in Carcassonne or Monserrat, back with her. All the genuine life that he had missed so long was his: the earnestness, the simplicity of olden times. ”

“ Four years ago, in Brittany, Vane had felt himself an old man; but now it seemed that he was “ower young to marry yet.” These thoughts gave him much trouble; and in the meantime he abstained from further complication by not calling on Miss Thomas, and, at the same time, subjected himself to much self-analysis. Could he honestly be content to go through life with this girl by his side? He knew enough of life to know that it mattered very little how often a man made a fool of himself, if he did not do so on the day when he got married. ”

“ You first associate my name with several most unpleasant terms of reproach, and then proceed to drag the combination before the public, and say, ‘Here is the intimate companion of the man I love!’ What does that mean? The man you love — you! What a happy revelation for the friends and family of Andrew Vane, who has been dawdling in your arms, while another woman as much as held his plighted word! ”

“ Miss Morse brought her volume of Mérimée along and read it to her young man in the woods. Her young man for the afternoon, that is; she had no special young man. The chaperone was the beautiful Mrs. Miles Breeze, of Baltimore; she arrived suddenly, in the nick of time to go; and Vane could see that Miss Morse was much elated at being under the wing of so real a social personage. Ned Eddy was with her. When the company paired off and scattered in the woods, Vane fell to the lot of a Miss Gibbs, of Philadelphia, a still newer acquaintance to whom Miss Storrs had introduced him. ”

“ It came into being, my dear Vane, in a stuffy, overfurnished little apartment in one of the suburbs, as a patron of questionable merit by a charming creature with more ideas than reputation, and was first worn at the little Mathurins — or here — by Ninon Gyrianne: at a theatre where my lady would not be seen, by a woman whom she would not receive! ”

“ All the more, he sought to wind his affections around their object; he would not admit to himself that there was something wanting even in her. But the winter was nearly over before he resolved to take any decisive step; and Miss Thomas had been growing prettier every day. Mrs. Levison Gower was to give a sleigh-ride. They were to drive in a procession of single sleighs, and stop at some one’s country house for an hour’s skating. This opportunity would be most propitious; and Vane decided that Miss Baby Thomas should be his companion. ”