It was harder to decide whether or not Charis felt a stronger partiality for Endymion than for any other of her suitors. She seemed to look upon them all with kindness; and if her eyes held warm admiration when they rested on him there was nothing to be surprised at in that: a very handsome fellow, Endymion.
As for Frederica’s paragon, his lordship, who was impatient of melancholy romantics, thought him very milky indeed, with no more intention of offering for Charis’s hand than if she had been a statue. He made no attempt to engage her attention, but seemed to be content to sit dreamily regarding her, a faint smile, which his lordship thought singularly fatuous, lingering about his mouth. He excused himself from joining the party bent on Speculation, and was still sitting rapt in contemplation when Alverstoke, taking leave of Miss Winsham, strolled over to him, and said, in a drawl that held a hint of derision: “Lost in admiration of my ward, Lyneham?”
Sir Mark started, and looked up; and, seeing who had roused him from his reverie, rose to his feet, and bowed, saying simply: “Yes, my lord. She is a Botticelli, is she not? One is tempted to fancy that in another incarnation she must have sat for him when he painted his Birth of Venus. Alas, that one cannot set her in a frame, to be a constant refreshment to one’s eyes! One would wish that countenance to remain for ever as it is today, pure and perfect!” He sighed. “It cannot be, of course. The lovely innocence we see now, as she stands at the dawn of womanhood, will vanish all too soon; age and experience will set their stamp upon her, carving furrows in her beauty; and — ”
“And her chin will be doubled!” interpolated his lordship, who had no taste for whimsy.
He left Sir Mark abruptly, and went to take his leave of Frederica. She was distributing fishes and counters amongst the players seated round the card-table, but when she saw him coming towards her she gave the box into her sister’s hands, and went with him to the head of the stairs. “I shan’t beg you not to go away so soon,” she said. “I am persuaded you were never more bored. But I do trust you are satisfied that we are not got into the wrong company?”
“Oh, yes! Quite innocuous!” he returned. “None more so than your paragon, whose only desire appears to be to set your sister in a frame, and hang her on the wall to provide his eyes with eternal refreshment.”
She exclaimed incredulously: “Set her in a frame? He can never have said so!”
“Ask him!”
She looked disgusted. “Well, what a wet-goose! I never thought he could be so spiritless!”
“No, no, a romantic, with the soul of a poet, and a high appreciation of the beautiful!”
“I see nothing romantic in wishing to turn Charis into a picture! In fact, I am much inclined to think that you were right when you told me that he was a dull dog,” she said, with her usual candour.
He laughed. “Why, yes! — but deeply reverential, I assure you! He considers Charis’s beauty to be pure and perfect, and wishes it might remain so.”
She stared at him for a frowning moment, and then said decidedly: “That proves he hasn’t the smallest tendre for her! How very vexatious! You know, he did seem to me to be so promising!”
His eyes gleamed, but he responded with perfect gravity: “You will be obliged to look about for another eligible parti. Can I be of assistance? I recall that you have come to the conclusion that a young man won’t do for Charis, and it occurs to me — Tell me, would you object to a widower?”
“Yes, I should!” said Frederica. “Furthermore, cousin, I beg you won’t concern yourself in our affairs! I never asked more of you than an introduction to the ton, and you gave us that — for which I am excessively grateful! — and I don’t expect, or wish, you to trouble yourself further! Indeed, there is not the least need!”
“Oh, no, don’t stir coals!” he protested. “Just when you’ve provided me with an interest, too!”
“Finding widowers for Charis!”
“That was a joke,” he explained. “Not a funny one!” she said severely. “I beg a thousand pardons! I won’t introduce my widower to your sister’s notice, but you may believe me when I say that you may command my services, or my advice, at any time.”
She was surprised, and for a moment suspected him of mockery. But the familiar glint was absent from his eyes; and, as she met their steady regard, he laid his hand over hers, which was resting on the banister, and clasped it strongly, saying: “Is it agreed? You don’t want for sense, or force of mind, but you’re not yet up to snuff, my child.”
“No — no, I kn-know I’m not,” she said, stammering a little. “Thank you! you are very good! Indeed, I can’t think whom else I could turn to, if I needed guidance — or got into a scrape! But I don’t mean to embroil you in any more scrapes, I promise you!”
She would have drawn her hand away as she spoke, but he prevented her, lifting it from the banister, and lightly kissing it. She had the oddest sensation of having suffered an electric shock; she even felt a trifle dizzy; and it was several moments after he had left her before she went back into the drawing-room. It was no longer customary for gentlemen to kiss hands; and although oldfashioned persons frequently kissed the hands of married ladies, his lordship was not oldfashioned, and she was not married. She wondered what he meant by it, and was obliged to give herself a mental shake. Probably he meant nothing at all, or was trying to get up a flirtation. By all accounts that was the sort of thing he might do, for idle amusement, because she had unwisely told him she had never been in love. This was a lowering thought — not that it signified, except that she had come to look upon him as a safe friend, and it would be very uncomfortable if she could no longer do so. If he thought she was going to figure as his latest flirt he was sadly mistaken: for one thing she had no taste for flirtation; and for another no ambition to join the ranks of his discarded flirts.
However, when she met him, three days later, in Bond Street, he showed no sign of gallantry, but greeted her with a frown, and a demand to know why she was unaccompanied. “I was under the impression that I warned you that in London country ways will not do, Frederica!”