Dalliance

“ Do you think, Captain Dillington, that I will continue to tolerate the conduct of this man, who left me on my wedding-day, and who kept you, a hated guest—yes, you are right, a hated, detested, loathed guest—in our house, when it should have been sacred to ourselves? Do you think that because I am young and ignorant—no, I am no longer ignorant—that I will bear with this? You know very little of women if you can suppose it. ”

“ Captain Dillington's presence in this house was an affront to me, and he knows it if you do not. I still say I admire friendship, but when it causes a man to treat his wife with complete indifference and as a necessary incumbrance in his house, I retract and declare that I despise it—despise it from the bottom of my heart. ”

“ You cannot mean what you say. You cannot, you would not do it?"
"I would," I exclaimed, furiously, "I would do it. You have tried my patience. I have no interest in you any more. I gave you all, and you have treated me with contempt. I will not live with you any longer. I will not—I could not. The thought of your infamy would rise up before me at all times. I will be free, and you shall, you must be free, too." ”

“ My husband had averted his face, and was looking at the wall with very great persistence. So far the field was my own. I had worked myself into a great passion, and these hits had not been premeditated.
"I will live no longer as I have been doing," I went on, "I have discovered enough. I have hoped against hope. I have dreaded this hour. But it has come, and I will not fear it. I have told you that I do not mind scandal, and I shall not hesitate to apply to the Divorce Court."
Captain Dillington pressed his hand to his heart. My husband came towards me, and took my hand. ”

“ What peculiar creatures men were, I thought. Their ideas were so absolutely opposed to ours that it was wonderful such a thing as a matrimonial partnership could ever exist for any length of time. Then I stopped in my mental deliberations to remember that I had left Arthur avowedly indisposed. How could I tell that he had not been taken worse during the evening? Surely it was my duty to ascertain the facts of the case. I felt a qualm of remorse as I saw how ready I was to place my husband in the wrong. ”

“ I had no more interest in my husband, I told myself.
"You are going, Mrs. Ravener?" queried Captain Dillington in a mocking tone, his jeering exuberance once more asserting itself.
"I am going," I said.
Arthur seized his hat, and sprang towards the door. "I will go with you, Elsie," he said in a pleading tone.
"You will not," I exclaimed. "You shall not enter the house—with me, at any rate."
"He has a perfect right to do so," remarked Captain Dillington. "It is his home; you are his wife." ”

“ Then, so ingenuously that it could hardly be considered rude, "I should like to hear all about Captain Dillington, and how you came to know him?"
"There surely can be nothing to tell," he said in strained tones. "What is the friendship between two young men that you should deem it worth discussing?" ”

“ I live in a land dear to me by associations of thought and feeling, surrounded by those of a condition like my own, and who love and regard me. I am not without my share of duties, too,—— your kindness would not wish more for me. Farewell, then, Sir Count. Your high-hearted nature has taught you to tread a lofty path in life, and strive—and with great success— for the great rewards of merit. It will be a pleasure to you yet to know that in this country of your adoption there are humble prizes for humble aspirants, and that one of these has fallen to the lot of “Nelly Dalton. ”

“ I bowed very low and raised my head with a cheerful and gay smile.
"Most willingly," I answered.
"And what of reservations, Mr. Dale?"
"May it please your Majesty, they do not hold across the water."
"Good. My brother is more fortunate than I. God be with you, Mr Dale."
At that I smiled again. And the King smiled. My errand was a strange one to earn a benediction.
"Be off with you," he said with an impatient laugh. "A man must pick his words in talking with you." ”

“ Captain Dillington recovered himself some what when he saw my tears. "Mrs. Ravener forgets that in a divorce suit a great many things must be proved. You say you have had us watched by detectives. May I ask if they have discovered the identity of the co-respondent?"
The coolness with which he spoke almost amused me. I laughed amidst my sobs. "I—I have all the evidence I need," I managed to say. "Suppose," with an attempt at mirth, "I—I should make you co-respondent, Captain Dillington?" ”

“ She saw we were engaged in discussion and I felt she was anxious to assist us.
"Arthur does not want to take a wedding trip, mother," I said, "and I was telling him that I had been reckoning upon one."
"It is out of fashion, Mrs. Bouverie," remarked Mr. Ravener, looking with appealing eyes at the arbitrator. "I am sure you will agree with me that it is. No one is better acquainted with the usages of society than you are" (deferentially) . ”

“ Delancy," said Rose, with great earnestness of manner, "Irene is in sore trouble. She has come to a great crisis in her life. You are older and wiser than she is, and must counsel and sustain her. Be calm, dear sir--calm, clear-seeing, wise and considerate, as you have always been."
"Calm--clear-seeing--wise." Mr. Delancy repeated the words, as if endeavoring to grasp the rein of thought and get possession of himself again.
"Wise to counsel and strong to sustain," said Rose. "You must not fail us now." ”

“ They no sooner perceived the same feelings in each other, than there arose in their hearts a gnawing jealousy, the bond of union was broken, and as, in general, three happy people can with difficulty reside under one roof, since union is the daughter of mutual necessity, so it fell out with the partnership, the three united inheritors for life separated, only promising to each other not to betray the secret. ”

“ Should I not be well"—with a great effort and a strained smile—"when you have just accepted my—my suit?"
Have you ever experienced the unpleasant sensation of knowing that somebody was staring at you, and been impelled to look in their direction? Of course you have. So you will not be surprised if I tell you that I turned from Arthur Ravener and glanced toward the door. Captain Dillington had been staring at me. ”

“ Then he blazed suddenly with one of his infrequent outbursts of passion, "Is it not enough to have Galituria laughing at a mad king whose claim to the throne by our laws may not be invalidated by his madness? A king so mad that the affairs of a nation must be administered by a prince regent—your father? ”

“ Darling's uncle, who was a sea-captain, had brought her from India, and that she "wouldn't have broken for worlds."
We common folk in common towns! What good times we do have, but how much greater would be our enjoyment did we not ape the apes of wealth. ”

“ AXEL. For that matter, what sort of an alliance have we gone into? Marriage should be built on common interests; ours is built on opposing interests.
BERTHA. You can work all that out by yourself; I'm going out for dinner now,—are you coming? ”

“ As Mr Dale here says—I have the honour of being acquainted with your name, sir—my basket is empty and no man will deal with me."
"There are women left you," said the King.
"It is more expense than profit," sighed the Earl. "Although indeed the kind creatures will most readily give for nothing what is worth as much."
[Pg 454]
"So that the sum of the matter," said the King, "is that he who refuses no bargain however iniquitous and performs none however binding——"
"Is a king among men, Sir," interposed Rochester with a low bow, "even as your Majesty is here in Whitehall." ”

“ His strong and pertinacious support of the alliance imposed it on my parents as a duty. He assured them that I myself would be grateful for having it enforced upon me. He said that my ignorance and inexperience were the only motives of my opposition. He talked to me, and as, after all, my objections were to the marriage and not to the bridegroom, it was not difficult to overrule them. I consented with some girlish reluctance and some girlish pleasure in the very natural gratification of giving pleasure to others. ”

“ Dale, severely, “I am surprised at your conduct; you have gone farther than a modest girl ought, with any man who is not to be her husband. Your reputation—if you do not now marry—is lost. You will acquire the name of flirt and jilt, and no honorable man will ever again look at you.” ”

“ With a companion whose views are so thoroughly in unison with his own, his domestic relations are prosperous and happy. Equally as zealous for the interest of her race, and self-sacrificing as himself, she encouraged and urged him on in his most doubtful moments,—for many they were while the political horizon was darkened by the thick clouds of slavery. ”

“ The King's face wore a smile and the smile broadened as he spoke to me.
"You're a wilful man, Mr Dale," said he, "but fortune is more wilful still. You would not woo her, therefore woman-like she loves you. You were stubborn, but she is resolute to overcome your stubbornness. But don't try her too far. She stands waiting for you open-armed. ”

“ DALILAH. You [233] have named me already, if I durst be so bold:
Your [234] sister Dalilah, that wretch I am;
My wanton nice toys ye knew of old.
Alas, brother, they have brought me to this shame.
When you went to school, my brother and I would play,
Swear, chide, and scold with man and woman;
To do shrewd turns our delight was alway,
Yet were we tiddled, and you beaten now and then.
Thus our parents let us do what we would,
And you by correction they kept thee under awe:
When we grew big, we were sturdy and bold;
By father and mother we set not a straw,
Small matter for me ”

“ But your folk they fear as warriors of the world, who have slain the Dusky Men in the Market-place of Silver-stead; and they are of alien blood to them, men who will do as their friend biddeth (think our folk) against them who are neither friends or foes. With such help I shall be well holpen.’
In such wise spake Dallach; and Face-of-god and the chiefs said that so it should be, if men could be found willing to abide in Rose-dale for a while. ”

“ I knew Captain Dallington, and I once saw you when you were a little child of three, and since then I have heard of you, and of the great host of Young Crusaders who, in all parts of the country, are learning to be good citizens because they are trying to be good Christians.
“I am sorry that I have come to the end of my life, because life was never so well worth living as now, when it is quite the fashion for a man to give what he has got for the good of his fellows. ”

“ She did not want him, and had flouted his proposals of peace a dozen times, but she was quite ready, for this consideration, to make herself useful. Briefly, that consideration was a free hand if she could get it, no cabals against her position, and an assignment, in case of Dalel's death, of a good slice of that state pension, which, in such case, would be given to the wife. If there were children, so much the better, since the pension would be larger. In addition, they had to remember that refusal would not amend the position, since Dalel would no doubt bribe her back in some other way. ”

“ I have often brought about alliances, which there was no room to think could ever be made; and I have been so fortunate, that all the couples whose marriages I have procured, have been prolific, and furnished our nation with supports, defenders, and subjects, to eternize our race, and to protect us from the insults of our enemies. These old firs, these antient spruce-trees, full of knots from the top to the root, whose bark is falling off with age, and who yet preserve their gum and powers of life, do not amiss resemble me. ”

“ "Accounts are not quite settled between us," said she, with a passion that equalled my own. "I can love, and I can hate. You had your choice. You chose to spurn the first; now you must test the other. ”

“ I will enter into no family in opposition to its wishes, I will consent to no alliance that may expose me to indignity. Nothing is so contagious as contempt!—The example of your friends might work powerfully upon yourself, and who shall dare assure me you would not catch the infection? ”

“ When the King stood in the doorway, I wished myself a thousand miles away.
The King was silent for several moments; he seemed to me to repress a passion which, let loose, might hurry him to violence. When he spoke, he was smiling ironically, and his voice was calm.
"How comes this gentleman here?" he asked.
The terror that Nell had so artfully assumed she appeared now, with equal art, to defy or conquer. She answered him with angry composure.
"Why shouldn't Mr. Dale be here, Sir?" she [Pg 443] asked. "Am I to see no friends? Am I to live all alone?" ”

“ DALILAH. Here is mine ear, knave; strike, and thou dare!
To suffer him thus ye be no man,
If ye will not revenge me, I will find one;
To set so little by me ye were not wont—
Well, it is no matter;
Though ye do, ceteri nolunt.
INIQUITY. Peace, Dalilah; speak ye Latin, poor fool?
DALILAH. No, no, but a proverb I learned at school—
ISMAEL. Yea, sister, you went to school, till ye were past grace;—
DALILAH. Yea, so didst thou, by thy knave's face!
INIQUITY. Well, no more a-do, let all this go,
We kinsfolk must be friends, it must be so. ”

“ But since ye have joined yourselves to us in battle, and have given us this Dale, our health and wealth, without price and without reward, we deem you our very brethren, and small shall be our hall-glee, and barren shall our Doom-ring seem to us, unless ye sit there beside us. Come then, that we may rejoice each other by the sight of face and sound of voice; that we may speak together of matters that concern our welfare; so that we three Kindreds may become one Folk. And if this seem good to you, know that we shall be in Shadowy Vale in a half-month’s wearing. ”