An Unknown Lover by Mrs George de Horne Vaizey (hardest books to read TXT) đ
- Author: Mrs George de Horne Vaizey
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For a moment Katrine was silent. Then she bent her tall head and kissed Grizel on the cheek.
âYes,â she said sweetly, âIâm pleased. Martin will be happy.â
âHe is,â Grizel held on to her hand. âIncredibly happy! And so am I. Iâve loved him a long time, Katrine. I want you to know. There has never been any one else. Thank you, dear, for taking care of him for me so well.â
Katrine was silent. That acknowledgment had a sting, sweet as it was, since it seemed to point out the finality of her own office. Martin needed her no longer. Grizel would take care of him now. She moved away, and sat down in a chair.
âI didnât know. I should have suspected, I suppose, but you have known each other so long, and Martin showed no sign.âI thought you were just good friends.â
A gleam shone into Grizelâs eyes; an impish gleam. Her red lips curled.
âMartin would have jumped at me, any time during the last five years! I had only to lift a finger; but it suited me to wait. I had my old Buddy, and I knew he would be there, waiting for me, whenever I was ready.â
Katrineâs glance was full of wounded dignity.
âYou may be right. Probably you are. I begin to think I am very dense, but I donât think, Grizel, you ought to have said so!â
âOh, be hanged to it, no! of course I shouldnât, but it was your fault! You insinuated that he didnât care, and I wonât be insinuated! He didâhe doesâhe will, he always shall!â cried Grizel belabouring the table with a startling vigour. âAnd Iâll kill you dead this moment if you dare to doubt it! For pityâs sake, Katrine, be nice!â
âI am nice, and Iâm sorry. I was jealous, and just for the moment I snapped, but I wonât do it again. I did suspect during that last visit, and I know he cares, but I was afraid that Lady Griseldaâs will might come between you. Itâs a difficult position for Martin.â
âItâs difficult for Me, butââ Grizel shrugged, âwhat canât be cured must be endured! Iâm bound to have Martin, so I shall have to put up with being poor, but I am not coming to this house, Katrine. Itâs too dull and dark, and full of sad old thoughts. Martin will have to find a new one for me. It will be a good thing. Keep him quiet while he is waiting.â
Katrine stared blankly. The news of the new home hit her like a fresh blow, removing as it did another landmark in the familiar life. Despite all her efforts to rejoice unselfishly, a feeling of unutterable loneliness possessed her.
âAnd when will you beâ?â
âMarried? In three or four months, I suppose; probably January. I am leaving the town house at once, and going on a round of visits; Martin will join me sometimes, and be introduced to my friends. Then thereâll be the trousseau! Wonât it be great, Katrine, choosing oneâs trousseau for such a scrumptious man?â
It was all settled! Grizel had dictated, and Martin had agreed. That one eventful interview had settled it all. Nothing remained to be arranged but that one insignificant problem, her own future. Katrine tasted the bitterness of loneliness; her strained glance met Grizelâs, soft with understanding love.
âI know!â she said quickly. âItâs hard on you. Martin will tell you that it will make no difference, but it will, and you and I wonât pretend. It can never be easy to step down and take a second place where one has been first, and a sister fares poorly when thereâs a wife in possession! But Martin is not like other men; he is big, big enough to love us both. He wants you to live with us; it was one of the first things he said. He thought of you in theâmidst! And he meant it, Katrine!â
âIt was good of him. I know he meant it, but I could never consent. That is the last thing I could do. Honestly, Grizel, do you think it is possible?â
Grizel pondered thoughtfully.
âIt would be difficult! Worse for you than for me. Youâd be in my wayâsometimes, Iâd be in yoursâalways! And if I were cross, Iâd snap, and grumble to Martin, and you, poor lamb! would shut it all up in your heart. I think, dear, we wonât discuss it to-day. Thereâs plenty of time, and Iâm not in the mood to come down to bare, bald facts.âIâm horribly happy, Katrine, but you must be happy too! It will spoil it all if you are mumpy. Think what you want most, and Iâll get it for you, if the skies fall!â
That was kind and sweet, and wise into the bargain, but Katrine did not know what she wanted; for all her resolution she could not banish the haunting fear of the future. She dreaded the first meeting with Martin; knew in her heart that the dread would be mutual. When they did meet an hour later she was amazed at the change on his face. He looked pale and shaken; oppressed, rather than exultant; but it was the extraordinary revival of youth which struck her dumb. The heavy lines seemed wiped away, the eyes looked at her, glad and shy; the eyes of a boy.
Katrine held out her hands, but he took her into his arms, and pressed his lips to her forehead.
âGrizel has told you!âI canât realise it yet. It is too wonderful. You will be glad for me, dear, for you knew what has gone before. I can never thank you enough for all you have done for me, these eight years. And I have been so dull and impatient. This will make no difference between us. You know that, Katrine!â
Katrine smiled. It would make just all the difference in the world, but she could not be ungenerous enough to damp his joy. It was something that Grizel understood!
âI am glad that you are happy, dear boy. I do congratulate you. Grizel will be an inspiring wife. No one could live with her and find life boring.â
âIsnât she wonderful? So beautiful, so fascinating, soâsimple! I am overwhelmed that she should give up so much. Thatâs the only fly in the ointment. I canât feel that it is justified. You must help me to look out for a house for her, Katrineâa bright, sunny place, which wonât be too painful a contrast. I can afford a higher rent nowadays, and she must have all that she wants. She said to meââWherever we go there will always be a Katrineâs room, a place for Katrine.â That was one of the first things she said!â
âSweet of her!â said Katrine, smiling bravely once again. âI shall be delighted to come as a visitor sometimes, but not to live! Newly married couples are best alone. I must move my camp.â
Martin looked troubled and anxious.
âFor a time perhaps; just for a time. What about that visit to Dorothea? Wouldnât it be a good chance to fit that in?â
The blood rushed over Katrineâs face.
âNo!â she said sharply. âNo!â and there was such unflinching decision in her voice that Martin dared not pursue the subject. Was there after all some foundation for Grizelâs romance about a mysterious lover in India? It seemed like it, since no human girl would blush like that at the mention of a female friend. And yet, if there were a lover, why this emphatic refusal?
Martin gave it up, too engrossed in his own beatitude to feel much interest in the problem.
âWell! we neednât discuss things to-day, dear. Thereâs plenty of time,â he said, using Grizelâs own words. âOnly remember thisâwe shanât be satisfied, either of us, unless you are happy!â He kissed her again, and passed on to his study. From the central place on the mantelpiece the portrait of his dead wife gazed at him with innocent young eyes as it had gazed every day of the last eight long years. He stood before it, gazing back, his face working with emotion.
There had been a time when to return that gaze had been his first impulse upon entering the room, days when he had sat for hours holding the photograph in his hand, had risen from his work to bend over it once and again; times again when work, and success, and the trend of life had brought a passing forgetfulness, followed by periods of passionate longing and despair. He had even thought of ending life itself for the sake of that smiling face. Now for months past it had counted for little more than the ornaments by which it was surrounded...
âJuliet!â he murmured beneath his breath. âJuliet!â It was a summoning cry, as if he would call the dead girlâs spirit from the unseen world. He stretched out his hand as a prisoner at the bar. âLittle girl! Little girl! I was faithful to you. I gave you all that was mine to give...â
The wide eyes stared on. The lips smiled; a blank, unanswering smile.
âCumly, September 30, 19â.
âDear Captain Blair,
âMartin is engaged to Grizel Dundas. She is giving up thirty thousand a year to marry him, and he is going to let her do it. I sent Dorothea a cutting from the newspaper, which no doubt you have seen, so I need not enlarge upon the details of a âmillionaireâs extraordinary will,â and the subsequent âRomantic engagement. Millionaireâs heiress gives up her fortune to marry well-known novelist.â (See Morning Post.)
âThe marriage is to be in January, and we are house-hunting, answering letters of congratulation, looking at patterns, discussing dresses and wallpapers, and hats, and carpets, and what to do with drawing-room walls, and where to find new places for such trifles as sideboards, and buffets, and bookcases, and maiden sisters... Theyâll fit in somewhere, I suppose, and look fairly comfortable and at home in their new positions, but it will take a little settling down! The sideboard was made especially to fit a niche here; the maiden sister thought she was, too, but theyâve both got to move, and look distrustfully upon new corners.
âGrizel spent a week with us, then went off on a round of visits. She has left the old house and given up her claim to the money at once, so as to avoid all appearance of âmaking a purseâ for Martinâs benefit. They are preposterously happy, and have each explained to me most carefully that the other is so anxious for me to live with them, and confessed that from their own standpoint it might perhaps be betterâfor a time at least ... and I have relieved their feelings, poor dears, by proclaiming at once that nothing could bribe me, either sooner or later.
âNow, Lonely Man, go down on your knees and thank Providence, fasting, that you are not a woman! Youâve done it heaps of times before, but do it once again. No man in the world could find himself in such a position as I am in at this moment, at twenty-six, past, after doing my duty in my appointed place for a painstaking eight years. For what have I gainedâin what single way have I prepared myself for the journey ahead? I can keep house satisfactorily on a satisfactory income, but I shall have no house to keep; I can train servants, but I shall have no servants to train. In any case I could have learned as much in one year, and Iâve wasted eight! Not wasted, youâll say, as it was an obvious duty to look after Martinâs home, but the fact remains that the years have gone by, and left me at the end, adrift, with the alternative of living on charity, or working for
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