The Parlor Car | Page 7

at Mr. Richards, and drops her head. "There was a young lady on board, who had seen the whole thing--a very charming young lady indeed, with pale blond hair growing very thick over her forehead, and dark eyelashes to the sweetest blue eyes in the world. Well, this young lady's papa was amongst those who came up to say civil things to the young fellow when he got aboard again, and to ask the honor--he said the HONOR--of his acquaintance. And when he came out of his stateroom in dry clothes, this infatuated old gentleman was waiting for him, and took him and introduced him to his wife and daughter; and the daughter said, with tears in her eyes, and a perfectly intoxicating impulsiveness, that it was the grandest and the most heroic and the noblest thing that she had ever seen, and she should always be a better girl for having seen it. Excuse me, Miss Galbraith, for troubling you with these facts of a personal history, which, as you say, is a matter of perfect indifference to you. The young fellow didn't think at the time he had done anything extraordinary; but I don't suppose he DID expect to live to have the same girl tell him he was no gentleman."
MISS GALBRAITH, wildly: "O Allen, Allen! You KNOW I think you are a gentleman, and I always did!"
MR. RICHARDS, languidly: "Oh, I merely had your word for it, just now, that you didn't." Tenderly, "Will you hear me, Lucy?"
MISS GALBRAITH, faintly: "Yes."
MR. RICHARDS: "Well, what is it I've done? Will you tell me if I guess right?"
MISS GALBRAITH, with dignity: "I am in no humor for jesting, Allen. And I can assure you that though I consent to hear what you have to say, or ask, NOTHING will change my determination. All is over between us."
MR. RICHARDS: "Yes, I understand that, perfectly. I am now asking merely for general information. I do not expect you to relent, and, in fact, I should consider it rather frivolous if you did. No. What I have always admired in your character, Lucy, is a firm, logical consistency; a clearness of mental vision that leaves no side of a subject unsearched; and an unwavering constancy of purpose. You may say that these traits are characteristic of ALL women; but they are pre-eminently characteristic of you, Lucy." Miss Galbraith looks askance at him, to make out whether he is in earnest or not; he continues, with a perfectly serious air. "And I know now that if you're offended with me, it's for no trivial cause." She stirs uncomfortably in her chair. What I have done I can't imagine, but it must be something monstrous, since it has made life with me appear so impossible that you are ready to fling away your own happiness-- for I know you DID love me, Lucy--and destroy mine. I will begin with the worst thing I can think of. Was it because I danced so much with Fanny Watervliet?"
MISS GALBRAITH, indignantly: "How can you insult me by supposing that I could be jealous of such a perfect little goose as that? No, Allen! Whatever I think of you, I still respect you too much for that."
MR. RICHARDS: "I'm glad to hear that there are yet depths to which you think me incapable of descending, and that Miss Watervliet is one of them. I will now take a little higher ground. Perhaps you think I flirted with Mrs. Dawes. I thought, myself, that the thing might begin to have that appearance, but I give you my word of honor that as soon as the idea occurred to me, I dropped her--rather rudely, too. The trouble was, don't you know, that I felt so perfectly safe with a MARRIED friend of yours. I couldn't be hanging about you all the time, and I was afraid I might vex you if I went with the other girls; and I didn't know what to do."
MISS GALBRAITH: "I think you behaved rather silly, giggling so much with her. But" -
MR. RICHARDS: "I own it, I know it was silly. But" -
MISS GALBRAITH: "It wasn't that; it wasn't that!"
MR. RICHARDS: "Was it my forgetting to bring you those things from your mother?"
MISS GALBRAITH: "No!"
MR. RICHARDS: "Was it because I hadn't given up smoking yet?"
MISS GALBRAITH: "You KNOW I never asked you to give up smoking. It was entirely your own proposition."
MR. RICHARDS: "That's true. That's what made me so easy about it. I knew I could leave it off ANY time. Well, I will not disturb you any longer, Miss Galbraith." He throws his overcoat across his arm, and takes up his travelling-bag. "I have failed to guess your fatal- -conundrum; and I have no longer any excuse for remaining. I am going