He talked familiarly of the family, and when he spoke of Gabriel there was an anxious note in his voice. I knew what that meant and I wanted to speak to him about Gabriel’s health, but I refrained from doing so.
Later, I promised myself. He would be easy to talk to.
He told me that he had been invited to dine at the house on Saturday.
” My daughter and I,” he added.
I was astonished that he should have a daughter old enough to be invited to a dinner party. He saw my surprise and I liked him no less because he appeared to be pleased by it. I had thought he was somewhere in his mid-thirties, but decided he must be older than that.
” I have a seventeen-year-old daughter,” he said. ” She enjoys parties. My wife is not well enough to attend them, so she and I go together.”
” I shall look forward to meeting her.”
” Damaris is looking forward to meeting you.” He smiled.
” Damaris! That is an unusual name.”
” You like it? It’s from the Bible. Just a brief mention … but it’s here.”
I remembered what Luke had said about biblical names, and I wondered if it was a custom in this part of the world to take names from the Bible.
I was about to mention this ; then I remembered that Madame la Directrice had said that my impetuosity often verged on bad manners, so I restrained myself.
We went into the Revels together. The doctor sent one of the servants to tell Ruth he had arrived; and I went up to my room.
-I wore a white gown on the night of the dinner party. It was the only real evening ore that if entertaining at the Re scale. I should have some white chiffon and lace, very si:
I had no qualms about it bee I had were perfectly cut an company. I did my hair in liked so much; and I was < dress, for time was passing.
As he did not come, I we and I went on to the balcony He was nowhere in sight, b coming from the porch.
I was about to call out an’ ” I heard a deep masculine You have not taken to our little. I drew back, feeling the li I knew that listeners are said i Fanny had told me that oft el when you overhear yourself ingly, to refrain from listen ” It’s early yet,” answered There was a laugh. ” I’ve easy prey. “
I did not hear Ruth’s reply ” Why did you let him stray so to find some little fortune-hu I was furiously angry. I v and tell whoever was speakin, him ; I wanted to tell him that position when I had married. I stood still, my eyes blazi; a little, and by leaning over I was light brown and he see mi a resemblance to the Rockw stepped forward suddenly into I hated him, whoever he was I was trembling as I went was already there. He was on hurrying.
” I forgot the time,” he said. Where have you been? Why It was on the tip of my heard, but I changed my mil was breathless now. No, I would fight my own battles; I should have to teach this relative, whoever he was, a lesson. So I helped Gabriel dress and when we went down I met my enemy.
He was Simon Redvers, the cousin; he looked less broad when seen on the level. He was very tall, a fact I had not fully realised looking down at him.
Gabriel introduced me, and when he took my hand those cynical eyes looked straight into mine and I knew exactly what he was thinking. His eyes were light brown and his skin deeply bronzed; his mouth was smiling slightly but his eyes were not. I knew my own were flashing with anger, for I had never found it easy to restrain my feelings and I could not get the sound of his words out of my ears.
” How do you do?” he said.
” I am well, thank you,” I answered.
” I suppose I should congratulate you.”
” Pray do not, unless you wish to.”
He was faintly amused, and I could not resist saying: “I believe we have met before.”
” I am certain we have not.”
” You may not have been aware of the meeting.”
” If it had taken place, I am convinced, I should remember.”
I matched my smile with his. He was puzzled and he said:
“It is the Rockwell resemblance, no doubt. You’ll find it again and again in these parts.”
I guessed he was referring to the amorous proclivities of his ancestors, and I thought this indelicate so I turned away.
There was, fortunately, a diversion created by the arrival of Dr.
Smith and his daughter.
The doctor was already a friend. He came over to me and greeted me warmly. I was pleased to give my attention to him, but the girl who accompanied him immediately claimed it, and, I imagine, that of everyone in the room.
Damaris Smith was one of the loveliest creatures I had ever seen. She was of medium height and very dark her hair smooth and silky with that blackness which has a sheen of blue in it, like a bird’s wing. Here eyes were black, long and languorous, her skin olive; and the shape of her face was a perfect oval; her lips were delicately formed yet sensuous; her teeth white; her nose almost aquiline, giving dignity as well as beauty. But it was not merely her face which caught and held the attention. It was her slim, lissome body also ; all her movements were full of grace. She was a joy to look at. Dressed in white, as I was, she wore a gold belt about her tiny waist and in her ears were gold Creole earrings.
There was silence as she entered—the silence which was homage to her beauty.
I asked myself: Why did Gabriel marry me when there was such a goddess on his very doorstep?
The effect she had on everyone was apparent. Her father obviously adored her, for his eyes rarely left her; Luke, I imagined, was less nonchalant than usual; Simon Redvers seemed to watch her almost speculatively. Already I disliked him intensely, seeing in him a type I could never tolerate. He would be a man to scorn sentiment; he would be practical in the extreme; he would be unimaginative, believing everyone else looked at life with the same calculating gaze; there was great virility there. His personality was overpowering so that it dominated the company in its masculine way as Damaris’s beauty did in the feminine. Sir Matthew’s admiration was apparent; but then he admired all women, it seemed ; and during the dinner party he divided his attention between myself and Damaris.
Damaris herself I did not fully understand; she was a quiet person who had a smile for everyone and did not seek in the least to call attention to herself, which was, of course, unnecessary. The first impression she gave was that she was merely an innocent girl; I don’t know what made me feel that that smooth, rather expressionless perfection was a mask.
The dinner was in honour of Gabriel and myself, and our health was drunk. Apart from the family there were the Smiths, Simon Redvers, the vicar and his wife and two other local people, neighbours, I gathered, rather than great friends.
I was asked what I thought of the house and the countryside, and Simon Redvers wanted to know how it compared with that part from which I had come. I answered that when not at school I had lived as close to the moor as they did, so that the change was not very great. I believe a note of asperity came into my voice when I addressed the man, that he noticed it and it amused him.
He, who was sitting next to me at dinner, leaned to me and said: ” You must have your portrait painted so that it can be added to those in the gallery.”
” Is that necessary?”
” Indeed, yes. Have you not seen the gallery? All the masters of Kirkland Revels are painted and hung with their wives beside them.”
” There’s plenty of time for that.”
” You’ll make a good subject.”
” Thank you.”
” Proud … strong … determined.”
” So you read character?”
” When it is there for me to see.”
” I had no idea that I had such a legible face.”
He laughed. ” It’s unusual in one so young. Don’t you agree that as one grows older fate … life … whatever you call it … is like a mischievous artist, gradually etching the lines of betrayal?” He gazed along the table; I refused to follow his gaze, but looked down at my plate. I though his manners too candid, and I wanted him to know this.