Evan Harrington, Complete

G >> George Meredith >> Evan Harrington, Complete

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The tears streamed down her cheeks, and in her lovely humility he saw the
baseness of that pride of his which had hitherto held him up.

'Now that you are in this house where I was born and am to live, can you
regret what has come between us, Rose?'

Her lips quivered in pain.

'Can I do anything else but regret it all my life, Evan?'

How was it possible for him to keep his strength?

'Rose!' he spoke with a passion that made her shrink, 'are you bound to
this man?' and to the drooping of her eyes, 'No. Impossible, for you do
not love him. Break it. Break the engagement you cannot fulfil. Break it
and belong to me. It sounds ill for me to say that in such a place. But
Rose, I will leave it. I will accept any assistance that your
father--that any man will give me. Beloved--noble girl! I see my
falseness to you, though I little thought it at the time--fool that I
was! Be my help, my guide-as the soul of my body! Be mine!'

'Oh, Evan!' she clasped her hands in terror at the change in him, that
was hurrying her she knew not whither, and trembling, held them
supplicatingly.

'Yes, Rose: you have taught me what love can be. You cannot marry that
man.'

'But, my honour, Evan! No. I do not love him; for I can love but one. He
has my pledge. Can I break it?'

The stress on the question choked him, just as his heart sprang to her.

'Can you face the world with me, Rose?'

'Oh, Evan! is there an escape for me? Think Decide!--No--no! there is
not. My mother, I know, looks on it so. Why did she trust me to be with
you here, but that she thinks me engaged to him, and has such faith in
me? Oh, help me!--be my guide. Think whether you would trust me
hereafter! I should despise myself.'

Not if you marry him!' said Evan, bitterly. And then thinking as men will
think when they look on the figure of a fair girl marching serenely to a
sacrifice, the horrors of which they insist that she ought to know:
half-hating her for her calmness--adoring her for her innocence: he said:
'It rests with you, Rose. The world will approve you, and if your
conscience does, why--farewell, and may heaven be your help.'

She murmured, 'Farewell.'

Did she expect more to be said by him? What did she want or hope for now?
And yet a light of hunger grew in her eyes, brighter and brighter, as it
were on a wave of yearning.

'Take my hand once,' she faltered.

Her hand and her whole shape he took, and she with closed eyes let him
strain her to his breast.

Their swoon was broken by the opening of the door, where Old Tom
Cogglesby and Lady Jocelyn appeared.

'Gad! he seems to have got his recompense--eh, my lady?' cried Old Tom.
However satisfactorily they might have explained the case, it certainly
did seem so.

Lady Jocelyn looked not absolutely displeased. Old Tom was chuckling at
her elbow. The two principal actors remained dumb.

'I suppose, if we leave young people to settle a thing, this is how they
do it,' her ladyship remarked.

'Gad, and they do it well!' cried Old Tom.

Rose, with a deep blush on her cheeks, stepped from Evan to her mother.
Not in effrontery, but earnestly, and as the only way of escaping from
the position, she said: 'I have succeeded, Mama. He will take what I
offer.'

'And what's that, now?' Old Tom inquired.

Rose turned to Evan. He bent and kissed her hand.

'Call it "recompense" for the nonce,' said Lady Jocelyn. 'Do you still
hold to your original proposition, Tom?'

'Every penny, my lady. I like the young fellow, and she's a jolly little
lass--if she means it:--she's a woman.'

'True,' said Lady Jocelyn. 'Considering that fact, you will oblige me by
keeping the matter quiet.'

'Does she want to try whether the tailor's a gentleman still, my
lady-eh?'

'No. I fancy she will have to see whether a certain nobleman may be one.'

The Countess now joined them. Sir Franks had informed her of her
brother's last fine performance. After a short, uneasy pause, she said,
glancing at Evan:--

'You know his romantic nature. I can assure you he was sincere; and even
if you could not accept, at least--'

'But we have accepted, Countess,' said Rose.

'The estate!'

'The estate, Countess. And what is more, to increase the effect of his
generosity, he has consented to take a recompense.'

'Indeed!' exclaimed the Countess, directing a stony look at her brother.

'May I presume to ask what recompense?'

Rose shook her head. 'Such a very poor one, Countess! He has no idea of
relative value.'

The Countess's great mind was just then running hot on estates, and
thousands, or she would not have played goose to them, you may be sure.
She believed that Evan had been wheedled by Rose into the acceptance of a
small sum of money, in return for his egregious gift.

With an internal groan, the outward aspect of which she had vast
difficulty in masking, she said: 'You are right--he has no head. Easily
cajoled!'

Old Tom sat down in a chair, and laughed outright. Lady Jocelyn, in pity
for the poor lady, who always amused her, thought it time to put an end
to the scene.

'I hope your brother will come to us in about a week,' she said. 'May I
expect the favour of your company as well?'

The Countess felt her dignity to be far superior as she responded: 'Lady
Jocelyn, when next I enjoy the gratification of a visit to your
hospitable mansion, I must know that I am not at a disadvantage. I cannot
consent to be twice pulled down to my brother's level.'

Evan's heart was too full of its dim young happiness to speak, or care
for words. The cold elegance of the Countess's curtsey to Lady Jocelyn:
her ladyship's kindly pressure of his hand: Rose's stedfast look into his
eyes: Old Tom's smothered exclamation that he was not such a fool as he
seemed: all passed dream-like, and when he was left to the fury of the
Countess, he did not ask her to spare him, nor did he defend himself. She
bade adieu to him and their mutual relationship that very day. But her
star had not forsaken her yet. Chancing to peep into the shop, to intrust
a commission to Mr. John Raikes, who was there doing penance for his
career as a gentleman, she heard Old Tom and Andrew laughing, utterly
unlike bankrupts.

'Who 'd have thought the women such fools! and the Countess, too!'

This was Andrew's voice. He chuckled as one emancipated. The Countess had
a short interview with him (before she took her departure to join her
husband, under the roof of the Honourable Herbert Duffian), and Andrew
chuckled no more.

CHAPTER XLVII

A YEAR LATER, THE COUNTESS DE SALDAR DE SANCORVO TO HER SISTER CAROLINE

'Rome.
'Let the post-mark be my reply to your letter received through the
Consulate, and most courteously delivered with the Consul's compliments.
We shall yet have an ambassador at Rome--mark your Louisa's words. Yes,
dearest! I am here, body and spirit! I have at last found a haven, a
refuge, and let those who condemn me compare the peace of their spirits
with mine. You think that you have quite conquered the dreadfulness of
our origin. My love, I smile at you! I know it to be impossible for the
Protestant heresy to offer a shade of consolation. Earthly-born, it
rather encourages earthly distinctions. It is the sweet sovereign
Pontiff alone who gathers all in his arms, not excepting tailors. Here,
if they could know it, is their blessed comfort!

'Thank Harriet for her message. She need say nothing. By refusing me her
hospitality, when she must have known that the house was as free of
creditors as any foreigner under the rank of Count is of soap, she drove
me to Mr. Duflian. Oh! how I rejoice at her exceeding unkindness! How
warmly I forgive her the unsisterly--to say the least--vindictiveness of
her unaccountable conduct! Her sufferings will one day be terrible. Good
little Andrew supplies her place to me. Why do you refuse his easily
afforded bounty? No one need know of it. I tell you candidly, I take
double, and the small good punch of a body is only too delighted. But
then, I can be discreet.

'Oh! the gentlemanliness of these infinitely maligned Jesuits! They
remind me immensely of Sir Charles Grandison, and those frontispiece
pictures to the novels we read when girls--I mean in manners and the
ideas they impose--not in dress or length of leg, of course. The same
winning softness; the same irresistible ascendancy over the female mind!
They require virtue for two, I assure you, and so I told Silva, who
laughed.

'But the charms of confession, my dear! I will talk of Evan first. I have
totally forgiven him. Attache to the Naples embassy, sounds tol-lol. In
such a position I can rejoice to see him, for it permits me to
acknowledge him. I am not sure that, spiritually, Rose will be his most
fitting helpmate. However, it is done, and I did it, and there is no more
to be said. The behaviour of Lord Laxley in refusing to surrender a young
lady who declared that her heart was with another, exceeds all I could
have supposed. One of the noble peers among his ancestors must have been
a pig! Oh! the Roman nobility! Grace, refinement, intrigue, perfect
comprehension of your ideas, wishes--the meanest trifles! Here you have
every worldly charm, and all crowned by Religion! This is my true
delight. I feel at last that whatsoever I do, I cannot go far wrong while
I am within hail of my gentle priest. I never could feel so before.

'The idea of Mr. Parsley proposing for the beautiful widow Strike! It was
indecent to do so so soon--widowed under such circumstances! But I dare
say he was as disinterested as a Protestant curate ever can be. Beauty is
a good dowry to bring a poor, lean, worldly curate of your Church, and he
knows that. Your bishops and arches are quite susceptible to beautiful
petitioners, and we know here how your livings and benefices are
dispensed. What do you intend to do? Come to me; come to the bosom of the
old and the only true Church, and I engage to marry you to a Roman prince
the very next morning or two. That is, if you have no ideas about
prosecuting a certain enterprise which I should not abandon. In that
case, stay. As Duchess of B., Mr. Duffian says you would be cordially
welcome to his Holiness, who may see women. That absurd report is all
nonsense. We do not kiss his toe, certainly, but we have privileges
equally enviable. Herbert is all charm. I confess he is a little
wearisome with his old ruins, and his Dante, the poet. He is quite of my
opinion, that Evan will never wash out the trade stain on him until he
comes over to the Church of Rome. I adjure you, Caroline, to lay this
clearly before our dear brother. In fact, while he continues a
Protestant, to me he is a tailor. But here Rose is the impediment. I know
her to be just one of those little dogged minds that are incapable of
receiving new impressions. Was it not evident in the way she stuck to
Evan after I had once brought them together? I am not at all astonished
that Mr. Raikes should have married her maid. It is a case of natural
selection. But it is amusing to think of him carrying on the old business
in 193, and with credit! I suppose his parents are to be pitied; but what
better is the creature fit for? Mama displeases me in consenting to act
as housekeeper to old Grumpus. I do not object to the fact, for it is
prospective; but she should have insisted on another place of resort than
Fallow field. I do not agree with you in thinking her right in refusing a
second marriage. Her age does not shelter her from scandal in your
Protestant communities.

'I am every day expecting Harry Jocelyn to turn up.

He was rightly sent away, for to think of the folly Evan put into his
empty head! No; he shall have another wife, and Protestantism shall be
his forsaken mistress!

'See how your Louy has given up the world and its vanities! You expected
me to creep up to you contrite and whimpering? On the contrary, I never
felt prouder. And I am not going to live a lazy life, I can assure you.
The Church hath need of me! If only for the peace it hath given me on one
point, I am eternally bound to serve it.

'Postscript: I am persuaded of this; that it is utterly impossible for a
man to be a true gentleman who is not of the true Church. What it is I
cannot say; but it is as a convert that I appreciate my husband. Love is
made to me, dear, for Catholics are human. The other day it was a
question whether a lady or a gentleman should be compromised. It required
the grossest fib. The gentleman did not hesitate. And why? His priest was
handy. Fancy Lord Laxley in such a case. I shudder. This shows that your
religion precludes any possibility of the being the real gentleman, and
whatever Evan may think of himself, or Rose think of him, I KNOW THE
THING.'

ETEXT EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS

A woman rises to her husband. But a man is what he is
A share of pity for the objects she despised
A sixpence kindly meant is worth any crown-piece that's grudged
A youth who is engaged in the occupation of eating his heart
A man who rejected medicine in extremity
A lover must have his delusions, just as a man must have a skin
A madman gets madder when you talk reason to him
A man to be trusted with the keys of anything
Abject sense of the lack of a circumference
Accustomed to be paid for by his country
Adept in the lie implied
Admirable scruples of an inveterate borrower
After a big blow, a very little one scarcely counts
Ah! how sweet to waltz through life with the right partner
Amiable mirror as being wilfully ruffled to confuse
An obedient creature enough where he must be
And not any of your grand ladies can match my wife at home
Any man is in love with any woman
Because you loved something better than me
Because men can't abide praise of another man
Because he stood so high with her now he feared the fall
Believed in her love, and judged it by the strength of his own
Bitten hard at experience, and know the value of a tooth
Bound to assure everybody at table he was perfectly happy
Brief negatives are not re-assuring to a lover's uneasy mind
British hunger for news; second only to that for beef
Brotherhood among the select who wear masks instead of faces
But a woman must now and then ingratiate herself
By forbearance, put it in the wrong
Can you not be told you are perfect without seeking to improve
Cheerful martyr
Command of countenance the Countess possessed
Commencement of a speech proves that you have made the plunge
Common voice of praise in the mouths of his creditors
Confident serenity inspired by evil prognostications
Damsel who has lost the third volume of an exciting novel
Eating, like scratching, only wants a beginning
Embarrassments of an uncongenial employment
Empty stomachs are foul counsellors
Enamoured young men have these notions
English maids are domesticated savage animals
Equally acceptable salted when it cannot be had fresh
Every woman that's married isn't in love with her husband
Eyes of a lover are not his own; but his hands and lips are
Far higher quality is the will that can subdue itself to wait
Feel no shame that I do not feel!
Feel they are not up to the people they are mixing with
Few feelings are single on this globe
Forty seconds too fast, as if it were a capital offence
Found it difficult to forgive her his own folly
Friend he would not shake off, but could not well link with
From head to foot nothing better than a moan made visible
Gentlefolks like straight-forwardness in their inferiors
Glimpse of her whole life in the horrid tomb of his embrace
Good nature, and means no more harm than he can help
Good and evil work together in this world
Gossip always has some solid foundation, however small
Graduated naturally enough the finer stages of self-deception
Gratuitous insult
Habit, what a sacred and admirable thing it is
Hated one thing alone--which was 'bother'
Have her profile very frequently while I am conversing with her
He has been tolerably honest, Tom, for a man and a lover
He grunted that a lying clock was hateful to him
He was in love, and subtle love will not be shamed and smothered
He kept saying to himself, 'to-morrow I will tell'
He had his character to maintain
He squandered the guineas, she patiently picked up the pence
His wife alone, had, as they termed it, kept him together
Hope which lies in giving men a dose of hysterics
How many degrees from love gratitude may be
I 'm a bachelor, and a person--you're married, and an object
I cannot live a life of deceit. A life of misery--not deceit
I take off my hat, Nan, when I see a cobbler's stall
I always wait for a thing to happen first
I never see anything, my dear
I did, replied Evan. 'I told a lie.'
I'll come as straight as I can
If we are to please you rightly, always allow us to play First
If I love you, need you care what anybody else thinks
In truth she sighed to feel as he did, above everybody
Incapable of putting the screw upon weak excited nature
Informed him that he never played jokes with money, or on men
Is he jealous? 'Only when I make him, he is.'
It 's us hard ones that get on best in the world
It is better for us both, of course
It was in a time before our joyful era of universal equality
It is no insignificant contest when love has to crush self-love
It's no use trying to be a gentleman if you can't pay for it
It's a fool that hopes for peace anywhere
Lay no petty traps for opportunity
Listened to one another, and blinded the world
Looked as proud as if he had just clapped down the full amount
Love is a contagious disease
Make no effort to amuse him. He is always occupied
Man without a penny in his pocket, and a gizzard full of pride
Married a wealthy manufacturer--bartered her blood for his money
Maxims of her own on the subject of rising and getting the worm
Men they regard as their natural prey
Men do not play truant from home at sixty years of age
Most youths are like Pope's women; they have no character
My belief is, you do it on purpose. Can't be such rank idiots
Never intended that we should play with flesh and blood
Never to despise the good opinion of the nonentities
No great harm done when you're silent
No conversation coming of it, her curiosity was violent
Notoriously been above the honours of grammar
Occasional instalments--just to freshen the account
Oh! I can't bear that class of people
One fool makes many, and so, no doubt, does one goose
One seed of a piece of folly will lurk and sprout to confound us
Our comedies are frequently youth's tragedies
Partake of a morning draught
Patronizing woman
Play second fiddle without looking foolish
Pride is the God of Pagans
Propitiate common sense on behalf of what seems tolerably absurd
Rare as epic song is the man who is thorough in what he does
Read one another perfectly in their mutual hypocrisies
Rebukes which give immeasurable rebounds
Recalling her to the subject-matter with all the patience
Refuge in the Castle of Negation against the whole army of facts
Remarked that the young men must fight it out together
Requiring natural services from her in the button department
Rose was much behind her age
Rose! what have I done? 'Nothing at all,' she said
Said she was what she would have given her hand not to be
Says you're so clever you ought to be a man
Second fiddle; he could only mean what she meant
Secrets throw on the outsiders the onus of raising a scandal
Sense, even if they can't understand it, flatters them so
She did not detest the Countess because she could not like her
She was unworthy to be the wife of a tailor
She, not disinclined to dilute her grief
She believed friendship practicable between men and women
She was at liberty to weep if she pleased
Sincere as far as she knew: as far as one who loves may be
Small beginnings, which are in reality the mighty barriers
Speech is poor where emotion is extreme
Speech that has to be hauled from the depths usually betrays
Spiritualism, and on the balm that it was
Such a man was banned by the world, which was to be despised?
Taking oath, as it were, by their lower nature
Tears that dried as soon as they had served their end
Tenderness which Mrs. Mel permitted rather than encouraged
That plain confession of a lack of wit; he offered combat
That beautiful trust which habit gives
The ass eats at my table, and treats me with contempt
The Countess dieted the vanity according to the nationality
The letter had a smack of crabbed age hardly counterfeit
The commonest things are the worst done
The thrust sinned in its shrewdness
The power to give and take flattery to any amount
The grey furniture of Time for his natural wear
Those numerous women who always know themselves to be right
Thus does Love avenge himself on the unsatisfactory Past
To be both generally blamed, and generally liked
To let people speak was a maxim of Mrs. Mel's, and a wise one
Took care to be late, so that all eyes beheld her
Touching a nerve
Toyed with little flowers of palest memory
Tradesman, and he never was known to have sent in a bill
Tried to be honest, and was as much so as his disease permitted
True enjoyment of the princely disposition
Two people love, there is no such thing as owing between them
Unfeminine of any woman to speak continuously anywhere
Virtuously zealous in an instant on behalf of the lovely dame
Vulgarity in others evoked vulgarity in her
Waited serenely for the certain disasters to enthrone her
We deprive all renegades of their spiritual titles
What a stock of axioms young people have handy
What will be thought of me? not a small matter to any of us
What he did, she took among other inevitable matters
What's an eccentric? a child grown grey!
When testy old gentlemen could commit slaughter with ecstasy
When you run away, you don't live to fight another day
When Love is hurt, it is self-love that requires the opiate
Whose bounty was worse to him than his abuse
Why, he'll snap your head off for a word
With good wine to wash it down, one can swallow anything
With a proud humility
Wrapped in the comfort of his cowardice
You do want polish
You talk your mother with a vengeance
You accuse or you exonerate--Nobody can be half guilty
You rides when you can, and you walks when you must
You're the puppet of your women!
Youth is not alarmed by the sound of big sums

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