Simon Dale | Page 6

this: may a man who owns allegiance

to one lady justify by any train of reasoning his conduct in snatching a
kiss from another, this other being (for it is important to have the terms
right) not (so far as can be judged) unwilling? I maintained that he
might; to be sure, my position admitted of no other argument, and, for
the most part, it is a man's state which determines his arguments and
not his reasons that induce his state. Barbara declared that he could not;
though, to be sure, it was, as she added most promptly, no concern of
hers; for she cared not whether I were in love or not, nor how deeply,
nor with whom, nor, in a word, anything at all about the matter. It was
an abstract opinion she gave, so far as love, or what men chose to call
such, might be involved; as to seemliness, she must confess that she
had her view, with which, may be, Mr Dale was not in agreement. The
girl at the gardener's cottage must, she did not doubt, agree wholly with
Mr Dale; how otherwise would she have suffered the kiss in an open
space in the park, where anybody might pass--and where, in fact (by
the most perverse chance in the world), pretty Mistress Barbara herself
passed at the moment when the thing occurred? However, if the matter
could ever have had the smallest interest for her--save in so far as it
touched the reputation of the village and might afford an evil example
to the village maidens--it could have none at all now, seeing that she set
out the next day to London, to take her place as Maid of Honour to Her
Royal Highness the Duchess, and would have as little leisure as
inclination to think of Mr Simon Dale or of how he chose to amuse
himself when he believed that none was watching. Not that she had
watched: her presence was the purest and most unwelcome chance. Yet
she could not but be glad to hear that the girl was soon to go back
whence she came, to the great relief (she was sure) of Madame Dale
and of her dear friends Lucy and Mary; to her love for whom
nothing--no, nothing--should make any difference. For the girl herself
she wished no harm, but she conceived that her mother must be ill at
ease concerning her.
It will be allowed that Mistress Barbara had the most of the argument if
not the best. Indeed, I found little to say, except that the village would
be the worse by so much as the Duchess of York was the better for
Mistress Barbara's departure; the civility won me nothing but the
haughtiest curtsey and a taunt.

"Must you rehearse your pretty speeches on me before you venture
them on your friends, sir?" she asked.
"I am at your mercy, Mistress Barbara," I pleaded. "Are we to part
enemies?"
She made me no answer, but I seemed to see a softening in her face as
she turned away towards the window, whence were to be seen the
stretch of the lawn and the park-meadows beyond. I believe that with a
little more coaxing she would have pardoned me, but at the instant, by
another stroke of perversity, a small figure sauntered across the sunny
fields. The fairest sights may sometimes come amiss.
"Cydaria! A fine name!" said Barbara, with curling lip. "I'll wager she
has reasons for giving no other."
"Her mother gives another to the gardener," I reminded her meekly.
"Names are as easy given as--as kisses!" she retorted. "As for Cydaria,
my lord says it is a name out of a play."
All this while we had stood at the window, watching Cydaria's light
feet trip across the meadow, and her bonnet swing wantonly in her hand.
But now Cydaria disappeared among the trunks of the beech trees.
"See, she has gone," said I in a whisper. "She is gone, Mistress
Barbara."
Barbara understood what I would say, but she was resolved to show me
no gentleness. The soft tones of my voice had been for her, but she
would not accept their homage.
"You need not sigh for that before my face," said she. "And yet, sigh if
you will. What is it to me? But she is not gone far, and, doubtless, will
not run too fast when you pursue."
"When you are in London," said I, "you will think with remorse how ill
you used me."

"I shall never think of you at all. Do you forget that there are gentlemen
of wit and breeding at the Court?"
"The devil fly away with every one of them!" cried I suddenly, not
knowing then how well the better part of them would match