CROSSING THE RIVER
Max waited for me to speak, but I had no words ready
for the occasion. My silence seemed to perplex
him.
‘You have heard everything now, Ursula.’
’Yes, I suppose so. I am very sorry for
you, Max; you have suffered cruelly. And this
only happened last year?’
‘Last February.’
’It is very strange,—very mysterious.
I do not seem to understand it. I cannot find
the clue to all this.’
‘There is no clue needed,’ he returned
impatiently. ’Miss Hamilton is in love
with her cousin, and is sorry for my disappointment.’
‘I do not believe it,’ I replied bluntly.
And yet, as I said this, Gladys’s conduct seemed
to me perfectly inexplicable. It was just possible
that Max’s statement, after all, might be correct,—that
she did not love him well enough to marry him:
and this would account for her nervousness and constraint
in his presence: a sensitive girl like Gladys
would never be at her ease under such circumstances.
But she had promised not to withdraw her friendship:
why had she then given up her work and made herself
a stranger to his dearest interest? I had seen
her struggle with herself when he had begged her to
resume her class. A brightness had come to her
eyes, her manner had become warm and animated, as though
the stirring of new life were in her veins, and then
she had refused him very gently, and a certain dimness
and blight had crept over her. I had wondered
then at her.
No, I could not bring myself to believe that she was
indifferent to Max. He was so good, so worthy
of her. And yet—and yet, do we women
always choose the best? Perhaps, as Max said,
she knew him too well for him to influence her fancy.
Captain Hamilton’s scars and medals might cast
a glamour over her. Gladys was very impulsive
and enthusiastic; perhaps Max was too quiet and gentle
to take her heart by storm.
I had plenty of time for these reflections, for Max
sat moodily silent after my blunt remark, but at last
he said,—
’I am afraid I believe it, Ursula, and that
is more to the purpose. Miss Darrell has dispelled
my last hope.’
‘You mean that Captain Hamilton’s return
speaks badly for your chances?’
‘I have no chances,’ very gloomily.
’I am out of the running. Miss Hamilton’s
message—for I suppose it was a message—was
my final answer. She did not wish me to speak
to her again.’
‘Are you sure that she sent that message?’
‘Am I sure that I am sitting here?’ he
answered, rather irritably. ’What have
you got in your head, Ursula, my dear? You must
not let personal dislike influence your better judgment.
Perhaps Miss Darrell is not to my taste; I think her
sometimes officious and wanting in delicacy; but I
do not doubt her for a moment.’
‘That is a pity,’ I returned drily, ’for
she is certainly not true; but all you men swear by
her.’ For I felt—heaven forgive
me!—almost a hatred of this woman, unreasonable
as it seemed; but women have these instincts sometimes,
and Max had warned me against Miss Darrell from the
first.
