What Dreams May Come | Page 9

prove the rule."
Dartmouth saw his advantage at once. She was not merely disgusted;
she was angry; and in her anger she forgot herself and condescended to
sarcasm. There was one barrier the less to be broken down. "We are a
bad lot, I am afraid, Miss Penrhyn," he replied, quietly; "but keep your
illusions while you can. You are happier for them, and I would be the
last to dispel them."
"You are considerate," she retorted: "it is more than possible you will
not dispel my illusions; there will not be--"
"You mean to imply, delicately," he interrupted her, "that you do not
consider me worthy of being added to the list of your acquaintances?"
"I really have given the matter no thought, and I do not see what
advantage either side could derive from further acquaintance." But she
colored slightly as she spoke, and turned to him an angrily severe

profile.
"Don't you think," he said--and his calm, drawling tone formed a
contrast to her own lack of control which she could not fail to
appreciate--"don't you think that you judge me with exaggerated
harshness? Do you think the life of any one of these men who have
surrounded you to-night, and upon whom you certainly did not frown,
would bear inspection? It would almost appear as if I had personally
incurred your displeasure, you are so very hard upon me. You forget
that my offense could not have any individual application for you. Had
I known you, you might reasonably have been indignant had I gone
from you, a young girl, to things which you held to be wrong. But I did
not know you; you must remember that. And as for the wrong itself, I
hope the knowledge of greater wrong may never come to you. When
you have lived in the world a few years longer, I am very much afraid
you will look upon such things with an only too careless eye."
The cruel allusion to her youth told, and the girl's cheek flushed, as she
threw back her head with a spirited movement which delighted
Dartmouth, while the lanterns in her eyes leaped up afresh. Where had
he seen those eyes before?
"I don't know what your ideas of honor may be in regard to the young
ladies of your acquaintance," she said, with an additional dash of ice in
her voice, "but it seems to me a peculiar kind of honor which allows a
man to insult his hostess by making love to a married woman in her
house."
"Pret-ty good for a baby!" thought Dartmouth. "She could not have
done that better if she had been brought up Lady Langdon's daughter,
instead of having been under that general's tuition, and emancipated
from a life of seclusion, just about six months. Decidedly, she is worth
cultivating." He looked at her reflectively. That he was in utter disgrace
admitted of not a doubt. Women found little fault with him, as a rule.
They had shown themselves willing, with an aptitude which savored of
monotony, to take him on any terms; and to be sat in judgment upon by
a penniless girl with the face and air of an angry goddess, had a flavor
of novelty about it decidedly thrilling. He determined to conquer or die.
Clever as she was, she was still absolutely a child, and no match for
him. He placed his elbow on his knee and leaned his head on his hand.
"Your rebuke is a very just one," he said, sadly. "And I have only the

poor excuse to offer that in this wicked world of ours we grow very
callous, and forget those old codes of honor which men were once so
strict about, no matter what the irregularities of their lives might be. I
am afraid it is quite true that I am not fit to touch your hand; and
indeed," he added hastily, "it is a miserable business all round, and God
knows there is little enough in it."
She turned and regarded him with something less of anger, something
more of interest, in her eyes.
"Then why do not you reform?" she asked, in a matter-of fact tone.
"Why do you remain so bad, if you regret it?"
"There is nothing else to do," gloomily "Life is such a wretched bore
that the only thing to do is to seize what little spice there is in it, and the
spice, alas! will never bear analysis."
"Are you unhappy?" she demanded. Her eyes were still disapproving,
but her voice was a shade less cold.
He smiled, but at the same time he felt a little ashamed of himself, the
weapons were so trite, and it was so easy to manage an unworldly-wise
and romantic girl. There was nothing to