A Mad Marriage by May Agnes Fleming (best ebook reader android .TXT) đ
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âThereâs nothing mysterious about it,â responded Terry Dennison with a
suppressed yawn; âshe is France Forrester, as I say, only child and
heiress of the late General Forrester, distant connection of Lady
Dynely, and adopted daughter and heiress of Mrs. Caryll, of Caryllynne.
âTo her that hath shall be given.â I have spoken!â
âLike an oracle. Go onâtell us more.â
âThereâs no more. Her mother a French Canadian, from whom mademoiselle
inherits her gypsy skin and beaux yeux, died when she was six. Her
father placed her in a Montreal convent, and there she lived until she
was fifteen. Then he died, left her a fortune, and made Mrs. Caryll
her guardian. That was three years ago; and if your limited knowledge of
arithmetic will permit you to add three to fifteen you will come at Miss
Forresterâs age. Mrs. Caryll, then and at present in Rome, had her ward
conveyed to the Eternal City. Until two months ago she moved and had
her being thereânow she has come over, to come out under the auspices
of Lady Dynely. I wish you fellows wouldnât make me talk so much,â says
Terry, with a sudden sense of injury, âthe thermometer is high, and I
ainât used to it.â
Then Mr. Dennison strolls away, and the four men from the F. O. stand
and gaze with languid interest at the Canadian-Roman beauty and heiress.
âSafe to make a hit,â one said; âhavenât seen anything so thoroughbred
for three seasons. What with mademoiselleâs beauty and grace, and that
poise of the head, and two fortunes tacked to her train, and her twenty
quarterings (theyâre an awfully old family, the Forresters), she ought
to make a brilliant match before the season ends.â
âAh! I donât know,â another responded, âit doesnât always follow. The
favorite doesnât always win the Derby. Mrs. Caryllâs heiressâhim-m! I
say, Castlemain! You ought to knowâwasnât there a son in that family
once?â
âGordon Caryllâvery fine fellowâknew him at Oxford,â Castlemain
answered, âcommission in the Riflesâold story thatâsixteen years
agoâall over and forgotten for centuries.â
âDead?â
âDonât knowâall the sameâextinct. Made a horrible mesalliance out
there in Canadaâscandalâdivorceâexchangedâwent to Indiaânever heard
of more. Sic transitâfate of all of us by and by. Deuced slow this,â
struggling with a yawn; âI sayâletâs hook it.â
The quartette move on, others take their place, and the men, one and
all, turn for a second look at the fair, proud-looking beauty. With Lady
Dynely, she still stands where Mr. Dennison has left them, gazing at the
picture that has made the hit of the year. It is by an artist unknown to
fame and Trafalgar Squareâit is marked in the catalogue âNo. 556â_How
The Night Fell_.â
It is not an English scene. Tall, dark hills in the background lift
pine-crowned heads to the sky, clumps of cedar, and tamarac, and spruce,
painted with pre-Raphaelite fidelity, dot these dark hillsides. A broad
river, with the last red light of dying day glinting along the water,
and over hillside and tree-top and flowing river, the gray darkness of
coming night shutting down. On the riverside two figures stand, a man
and a woman. One red gleam from the western sky falls full upon the
womanâs face, a face darkly beautiful, but all white and drawn with
womanâs utmost woe. Passionate despair looks out of her wild eyes at the
man who stands before her. Her hands are outstretched in agonized
appeal. For the man, he stands and looks at her, one hand slightly
upraised as if waving her off. His face is partly averted, but you can
guess the hatred that face shows. You see that her doom is sealed beyond
redemption. Over all, the creeping night is darkening land, and river,
and sky.
The two ladies gaze in silence for a timeâLady Dynely looking weary and
rather boredâMiss Forresterâs fine eyes bright with admiration. She is
new to general society as yet, and when eye, or ear, or heart are
delighted, the expressive face shows it.
âIt is beautiful,â she says in a low voice; âthere is nothing like it in
the rooms. Look at that wonderful effect of light on the womanâs face,
and slanting along the river, and the gray darkness that you can almost
feel there beyond. Those trees are tamaracâcan it be a Canadian
scene. âHow The Night Fell,ââ she reads from her catalogue. âLady
Dynely, I must know the painter of that picture.â
âMy dear France!â
ââG. Locksley.â H-m-mâa new candidate, probably. Certainly I must know
him. In Rome, weâMrs. Caryll and Iâmade a point of taking up every
young artist who appeared. She was known as the patroness of art. Our
rooms on our art-reception nights used to be crowded. The man who
painted that is a genius.â
âMrs. Caryll was the patroness of struggling artists for this reason, I
fancyâher son was a devotee of art once himself, and studied for a year
in Rome before entering the army.â
âHer son,â Miss Forrester repeated dreamily, âGordon Caryll. Perhaps so,
she very seldom spoke of him, poor fellow. What a very striking scene it
is!â looking again at the picture through her closed hand; âthere is a
fascination for me in the anguish and despair of that womanâs face. A
beautiful face, too. I wonder if the artist painted his picture from
life?â
âMy dear France, no. They are all imaginary, are they notâsuggested by
books, or something of that kind?â
âAh, I donât know. Artists, and poets, and novelists, all turn their
sorrows to account in these latter days,â says Miss Forrester cynically;
âthey paint their woes in oil and water colors, write them in
hexameters, and make money of them. Like Lord Byron, if they weep in
private, they certainly wipe their eyes on the public.â
âMy dear child,â says Lady Dynely, looking shocked, âwhere have you
learned your cynicisms so young?â
Miss Forrester laughed.
âI am but a debutante,â she answered gayly, ânot come out yet before the
footlights; but I have seen a deal of life, I assure you, behind the
scenes. Here comes Terry.â She glances over her shoulder. âIf the artist
of âHow the Night Fell,â be present, Terry shall fetch him up and
introduce him.â
âBut, Franceââ
Miss Forrester laughs againâa very sweet, low laugh. She is unlike most
English girlsâin fact, she is not an English girl. She has her French
motherâs blood and vivacity, as well as her dark complexion, and dark
eyes, with something of the frank-spirited independence of an American
girl. With these and her late Roman experiences, she is a bundle of
contradictions, and a bewilderingly charming whole.
âBut, Lady Dynely,â she repeats, âI warned you fairly in Rome what you
might expect when you consented to become a martyr, and bring me out. I
have had my own way ever since I was born, and always mean toâif I can.
I have lived in a perpetual atmosphere of artists for the past three
yearsâthe long-haired Brotherhood of the Brush have been âthe playmates
of my youthâthe friends of my bosom.ââ Here, catching sight of Lady
Dynelyâs horrified face, Miss Forrester breaks off and laughs again, the
sweetest, frankest, merriest laugh, that ever came from rosy lips.
âWhatâs the joke?â asks Mr. Dennison, sauntering up; âI donât see
anything in that black, glowering man, and that woman of the woeful
countenance to excite your ill-timed merriment, Miss Forrester.â
âTerry,â says Miss Forrester, âdo you know the artist?â
âMiss Forrester, it is the proud boast of my life that I know every one.
Locksley? Yes, I know himâheâs in the rooms now, by the same token.
Look yonderâtalking to Sir Hugh Lankraik, the great academicianâvery
tall, very fair man. Crops his hair, and doesnât look like an
artistâmore of the heavy-dragoon cut than anything else. See him?â
âYes,â the young lady answered. She saw, as Terry Dennison said, a very
tall, very fair man, with blonde hair and beard, a complexion fair once,
tanned to golden brown, two grave, gray eyes, and a thoughtful, rather
worn, faceâa man looking every day of his seven-and-thirty years. Not a
particularly handsome face, perhaps, but a face most women liked.
Whether Miss Forrester liked it or not, who was to tell?
âNot bad looking?â commented Terry interrogatively. Mr. Dennison
belonged to that large nil admirari class to whom the acme of all
praise of mortal beauty is ânot bad looking.â
âWomen admire him, I believe,â pursues Dennison, âbut he rather cuts the
sex. I give you my word, he might be the pet of the petticoats all this
season after that picture, but he wonât. Lives for his artâcapital
fellow, you know, but doesnât care for women.â
âInteresting misogynist! Bring him up here, Terry, and introduce him.â
âFrance!â
âIs your hearing deficient, Mr. Dennison? I said, bring him up here and
introduce him.â
âNow, France, what has that poor fellow ever done to you? He cuts the
fair sex, and is a happy and successful man! Do let him be. I know the
havoc you made among those painting fellows in Rome, but you canât
expect to do in London as the Romans do. She made it a pointâI give
you my word, Lady Dynelyâof breaking the heart of every young artist in
the Eternal City, and now she wants to add poor Locksley, as harmless a
fellow as ever breathed, to her ânoble army of martyrs!ââ
âLittle Terry Dennison! will you hold your tongue and fetch Mr. Locksley
here?â
Miss Forrester lifts her gold-mounted eye-glass and looks at him. Miss
Forresterâs brilliant, hazel eyes are not, in the slightest degree,
short-sighted; she merely wears this eye-glass as a warrior his sword.
When she particularly wishes to annihilate any one, she lifts it, stares
speechlessly for five seconds, and the deed is done. Mr. Dennison knows
the gesture of old, and shows the white feather at once.
âMr. Locksleyâs picture pleases me. I wish to know Mr. Locksley.â
âYesâm, pleaseâm,â says Terry, meekly; âhanything else?â
âMr. Locksley has ceased talking to Sir Hugh. Lady Dynely admires âHow
The Night Fell,â and does him the honor of permitting him to be
presented. You understand, little Terry?â
Terry Dennison, from the altitude of his six feet, looks down upon his
dashing little superior officer, with a comical light in his blue eyes,
laughs under his orange beard, and turns to obey.
âAs the queen wills,â he says; âbut, alas! poor Yorick! He never did me
any harmâLocksley, I mean, not Yorick. It is rather hard I should be
chosen, as the enemy to lead him to his doom.â He makes his way to where
the painter of the popular picture stands, and taps him on the shoulder.
âIf you are not done to death with congratulations already, Mr.
Locksley, permit me to add mine. There is nothing else on the walls
half-a-quarter so good. Lady Dynely is positively entranced, has been
standing there for the last half hour. Will you do her the pleasure of
coming and being presented?â
âLady Dynely!â The artist paused for a moment with an irresolute look,
and glanced doubtfully to where her ladyship stood.
âMy dear fellow,â Terry cut in in some alarm, âdonât refuse. I know you
give âem all the cold shoulder, but you will really be conferring a
favor in this instance. SheâLady Dynely I mean of courseâis quite wild
on the subject of art and artists. Never heard her so exercised as on
the subject of that picture of yours.â
âLady Dynely does me too much honor,â said the artist smiling gravely,
and Dennison linked his arm in his own, and
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