The Magician | Page 8

was hoping--I might
ask you to marry me some day.'
Margaret laughed charmingly as she held out her hands.
'You must know that I've been wanting you to do that ever since I was
ten.'
She was quite willing to give up her idea of Paris and be married
without delay, but Arthur pressed her not to change her plans. At first
Margaret vowed it was impossible to go, for she knew now that she had
no money, and she could not let her lover pay.
'But what does it matter?' he said. 'It'll give me such pleasure to go on
with the small allowance I've been making you. After all, I'm pretty
well-to-do. My father left me a moderate income, and I'm making a
good deal already by operating.'

'Yes, but it's different now. I didn't know before. I thought I was
spending my own money.'
'If I died tomorrow, every penny I have would be yours. We shall be
married in two years, and we've known one another much too long to
change our minds. I think that our lives are quite irrevocably united.'
Margaret wished very much to spend this time in Paris, and Arthur had
made up his mind that in fairness to her they could not marry till she
was nineteen. She consulted Susie Boyd, whose common sense
prevented her from paying much heed to romantic notions of false
delicacy.
'My dear, you'd take his money without scruple if you'd signed your
names in a church vestry, and as there's not the least doubt that you'll
marry, I don't see why you shouldn't now. Besides, you've got nothing
whatever to live on, and you're equally unfitted to be a governess or a
typewriter. So it's Hobson's choice, and you'd better put your exquisite
sentiments in your pocket.'
Miss Boyd, by one accident after another, had never seen Arthur, but
she had heard so much that she looked upon him already as an old
friend. She admired him for his talent and strength of character as much
as for his loving tenderness to Margaret. She had seen portraits of him,
but Margaret said he did not photograph well. She had asked if he was
good-looking.
'No, I don't think he is,' answered Margaret, 'but he's very paintable.'
'That is an answer which has the advantage of sounding well and
meaning nothing,' smiled Susie.
She believed privately that Margaret's passion for the arts was a not
unamiable pose which would disappear when she was happily married.
To have half a dozen children was in her mind much more important
than to paint pictures. Margaret's gift was by no means despicable, but
Susie was not convinced that callous masters would have been so
enthusiastic if Margaret had been as plain and old as herself.

Miss Boyd was thirty. Her busy life had not caused the years to pass
easily, and she looked older. But she was one of those plain women
whose plainness does not matter. A gallant Frenchman had to her face
called her a belle laide, and, far from denying the justness of his
observation, she had been almost flattered. Her mouth was large, and
she had little round bright eyes. Her skin was colourless and much
disfigured by freckles. Her nose was long and thin. But her face was so
kindly, her vivacity so attractive, that no one after ten minutes thought
of her ugliness. You noticed then that her hair, though sprinkled with
white, was pretty, and that her figure was exceedingly neat. She had
good hands, very white and admirably formed, which she waved
continually in the fervour of her gesticulation. Now that her means
were adequate she took great pains with her dress, and her clothes,
though they cost much more than she could afford, were always
beautiful. Her taste was so great, her tact so sure, that she was able to
make the most of herself. She was determined that if people called her
ugly they should be forced in the same breath to confess that she was
perfectly gowned. Susie's talent for dress was remarkable, and it was
due to her influence that Margaret was arrayed always in the latest
mode. The girl's taste inclined to be artistic, and her sense of colour
was apt to run away with her discretion. Except for the display of
Susie's firmness, she would scarcely have resisted her desire to wear
nondescript garments of violent hue. But the older woman expressed
herself with decision.
'My dear, you won't draw any the worse for wearing a well-made corset,
and to surround your body with bands of grey flannel will certainly not
increase your talent.'
'But the fashion is so hideous,' smiled Margaret.
'Fiddlesticks! The fashion is always beautiful. Last year it was beautiful
to wear a hat