The Way We Live Now Anthony Trollope (classic books for 11 year olds .txt) đ
- Author: Anthony Trollope
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âI have got excellent berths,â Fisker said to her one morning at Hampstead. At these interviews, which were devoted first to business and then to love, Madame Melmotte was never allowed to be present.
âI am to be alone?â
âOh, yes. There is a cabin for Madame Melmotte and the maid, and a cabin for you. Everything will be comfortable. And there is another lady goingâ âMrs. Hurtleâ âwhom I think you will like.â
âHas she a husband?â
âNot going with us,â said Mr. Fisker evasively.
âBut she has one?â
âWell, yes;â âbut you had better not mention him. He is not exactly all that a husband should be.â
âDid she not come over here to marry someone else?ââ âFor Marie in the days of her sweet intimacy with Sir Felix Carbury had heard something of Mrs. Hurtleâs story.
âThere is a story, and I dare say I shall tell you all about it some day. But you may be sure I should not ask you to associate with anyone you ought not to know.â
âOhâ âI can take care of myself.â
âNo doubt, Miss Melmotteâ âno doubt. I feel that quite strongly. But what I meant to observe was thisâ âthat I certainly should not introduce a lady whom I aspire to make my own lady to any lady whom a lady oughtnât to know. I hope I make myself understood, Miss Melmotte.â
âOh, quite.â
âAnd perhaps I may go on to say that if I could go on board that ship as your accepted lover, I could do a deal more to make you comfortable, particularly when you land, than just as a mere friend, Miss Melmotte. You canât doubt my heart.â
âI donât see why I shouldnât. Gentlemenâs hearts are things very much to be doubted as far as Iâve seen âem. I donât think many of âem have âem at all.â
âMiss Melmotte, you do not know the glorious west. Your past experiences have been drawn from this effete and stone-cold country in which passion is no longer allowed to sway. On those golden shores which the Pacific washes man is still trueâ âand woman is still tender.â
âPerhaps Iâd better wait and see, Mr. Fisker.â
But this was not Mr. Fiskerâs view of the case. There might be other men desirous of being true on those golden shores. âAnd then,â said he, pleading his cause not without skill, âthe laws regulating womanâs property there are just the reverse of those which the greediness of man has established here. The wife there can claim her share of her husbandâs property, but hers is exclusively her own. America is certainly the country for womenâ âand especially California.â
âAh;â âI shall find out all about it, I suppose, when Iâve been there a few months.â
âBut you would enter San Francisco, Miss Melmotte, under such much better auspicesâ âif I may be allowed to say soâ âas a married lady or as a lady just going to be married.â
âAinât single ladies much thought of in California?â
âIt isnât that. Come, Miss Melmotte, you know what I mean.â
âYes, I do.â
âLet us go in for life together. Weâve both done uncommon well. Iâm spending 30,000 dollars a yearâ âat that rateâ âin my own house. Youâll see it all. If we put them both togetherâ âwhatâs yours and whatâs mineâ âwe can put our foot out as far as about anyone there, I guess.â
âI donât know that I care about putting my foot out. Iâve seen something of that already, Mr. Fisker. You shouldnât put your foot out farther than you can draw it in again.â
âYou neednât fear me as to that, Miss Melmotte. I shouldnât be able to touch a dollar of your money. It would be such a triumph to go into Francisco as man and wife.â
âI shouldnât think of being married till I had been there a while and looked about me.â
âAnd seen the house! Well;â âthereâs something in that. The house is all there, I can tell you. Iâm not a bit afraid but what youâll like the house. But if we were engaged, I could do everything for you. Where would you be, going into San Francisco all alone? Oh, Miss Melmotte, I do admire you so much!â
I doubt whether this last assurance had much efficacy. But the arguments with which it was introduced did prevail to a certain extent. âIâll tell you how it must be then,â she said.
âHow shall it be?â and as he asked the question he jumped up and put his arm round her waist.
âNot like that, Mr. Fisker,â she said, withdrawing herself. âIt shall be in this way. You may consider yourself engaged to me.â
âIâm the happiest man on this continent,â he said, forgetting in his ecstasy that he was not in the United States.
âBut if I find when I get
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