The Reason Why eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 390 pages of information about The Reason Why.

The Reason Why eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 390 pages of information about The Reason Why.

“You think she would be cold-blooded, too?”

“Undoubtedly; but it is all perfectly preposterous.  I don’t believe you mean a word you are saying—­it is some kind of a joke.”

“Have you ever known me to make such jokes, Tancred?” Mr. Markrute asked calmly.

“No, I haven’t, and that is the odd part of it.  What the devil do you mean, really, Francis?”

“I mean what I say:  I will pay every debt you have, and give you a charming wife with a fortune.”

Lord Tancred got up and walked about the room.  He was a perfectly natural creature, stolid and calm as those of his race, disciplined and deliberate in moments of danger or difficulty; yet he never lived under self-conscious control as the financier did.  He was rather moved now, and so he walked about.  He was with a friend, and it was not the moment to have to bother over disguising his feelings.

“Oh, it is nonsense, Francis; I could not do it.  I have knocked about the world as you know, and, since you are aware of everything about me, you say, you have probably heard some of my likings—­and dislikings.  I never go after a woman unless she attracts me, and I would never marry one of them unless I were madly in love with her, whether she had money or no; though I believe I would hate a wife with money, in any case—­she’d be saying like the American lady of poor Darrowood:  ’It’s my motor and you can’t have it to-day.’”

“You would marry a woman then—­if you were in love, in spite of everything?” Francis Markrute asked.

“Probably, but I have never been really in love; have you?  It is all story-book stuff—­that almighty passion, I expect.  They none of them matter very much after a while, do they, old boy?”

“I have understood it is possible for a woman to matter,” the financier said and he drew in his lips.

“Well, up to now I have not,” Lord Tancred announced, “and may the day be far off when one does.  I feel pretty safe!”

A strange, mysterious smile crept over Mr. Markrute’s face.

“By the way, also, how do you know the lady would be willing to marry me, Francis?  You spoke as if I only had to be consulted in the affair.”

“So you have.  I can answer for my niece; she will do as I wish, and, as I said before, you are rather a perfect picture of an English nobleman, Tancred.  You have not found women recalcitrant, as a rule—­no?”

Lord Tancred was not inordinately vain, though a man, and he had a sense of humor—­so he laughed.

“’Pon my word it is amusing, your turning into a sort of matrimonial agent.  Can’t you see the fun of the thing yourself?”

“It seems quite natural to me.  You have every social advantage to offer a woman, and a presentable person; and my niece has youth, and some looks, and a large fortune.  But we will say no more about it.  I shall be glad to be of any service I can to you, anyway, in regard to your Canadian scheme.  Come and dine to-night; I happen to have asked a couple of railway magnates with interests out there, and you can get some information from them.”

Copyrights
Project Gutenberg
The Reason Why from Project Gutenberg. Public domain.