"I should hope not that, Walter."
"I kept my hands off him; but when a man has ruined you as he has me, it doesn't much matter who he is. Your father and any other man are much the same to you then. He was worn, and old, and pale, or I should have felled him to the ground."
"And what will you do now?"
"Just go to that hell upon earth on the other side of the globe.
There's nothing else to be done. I've applied for extension of leave, and told them why."
Nothing more was said that night between the uncle and nephew, and no word had been spoken about Mary Lowther. On the next morning the breakfast at the parsonage passed by in silence. Parson John had been thinking a good deal of Mary, but had resolved that it was best that he should hold his tongue for the present. From the moment in which he had first heard of the engagement, he had made up his mind that his nephew and Mary Lowther would never be married. Seeing what his nephew was--or rather seeing that which he fancied his nephew to be,--he was sure that he would not sacrifice himself by such a marriage. There was always a way out of things, and Walter Marrable would be sure to find it. The way out of it had been found now with a vengeance. Immediately after breakfast the Captain took his hat without a word, and walked steadily up the hill to Uphill Lane. As he passed the door of the Bull he saw, but took no notice of, a gentleman who was standing under the covered entrance to the inn, and who had watched him coming out from the parsonage gate; but Gilmore, the moment that his eyes fell upon the Captain, declared to himself that that was his rival. Captain Marrable walked straight up the hill and knocked at Miss Marrable's door. Was Miss Lowther at home?
Of course Miss Lowther was at home at such an hour. The girl said that Miss Mary was alone in the breakfast parlour. Miss Marrable had already gone down to the kitchen. Without waiting for another word, he walked into the little back room, and there he found his love.
"Walter," she said, jumping up and running to him; "how good of you to come so soon! We didn't expect you these two days." She had thrown herself into his arms, but, though he embraced her, he did not kiss her. "There is something the matter!" she said. "What is it?" As she spoke she drew away from him and looked up into his face. He smiled and shook his head, still holding her by the waist. "Tell me, Walter; I know there is something wrong."
"It is only that dirty money. My father has succeeded in getting it all."
"All, Walter?" said she, again drawing herself away.
"Every shilling," said he, dropping his arm.
"That will be very bad."
"Not a doubt of it. I felt it just as you do."
"And all our pretty plans are gone."
"Yes;--all our pretty plans."
"And what shall you do now?"
"There is only one thing. I shall go to India again. Of course it is just the same to me as though I were told that sentence of death had gone against me;--only it will not be so soon over."
"Don't say that, Walter."
"Why not say it, my dear, when I feel it?"
"But you don't feel it. I know it must be bad for you, but it is not quite that. I will not think that you have nothing left worth living for."
"I can't ask you to go with me to that happy Paradise."
"But I can ask you to take me," she said;--"though perhaps it will be better that I should not."
"My darling!--my own darling!" Then she came back to him and laid her head upon his shoulders, and lifted his hand till it came again round her waist. And he kissed her forehead, and smoothed her hair. "Swear to me," she said, "that whatever happens you will not put me away from you."
"Put you away, dearest! A man doesn't put away the only morsel he has to keep him from starving. But yet as I came up here this morning I resolved that I would put you away."
"Walter!"
"And even now I know that they will tell me that I should do so. How can I take you out there to such a life as that without having the means of keeping a house over your head?"
"Officers do marry without fortunes."
"Yes;--and what sort of a time do their wives have? Oh, Mary, my own, my own, my own!--it is very bad! You cannot understand it all at once, but it is very bad."
"If it be better for you, Walter,--" she said, again drawing herself away.
"It is not that, and do not say that it is. Let us at any rate trust each other."
She gave herself a little shake before she answered him. "I will trust you in everything;--as God is my judge, in everything. What you tell me to do, I will do. But, Walter, I will say one thing first.
I can look forward to nothing but absolute misery in any life that will separate me from you. I know the difference between comfort and discomfort in money matters, but all that is as a feather in the balance. You are my god upon earth, and to you I must cling. Whether you be away from me or with me, I must cling to you the same. If I am to be separated from you for a time, I can do it with hope. If I am to be separated from you for ever, I shall still do so,--with despair. And now I will trust you, and I will do whatever you tell me. If you forbid me to call you mine any longer,--I will obey, and will never reproach you."
"I will always be yours," he said, taking her again to his heart.
"Then, dearest, you shall not find me wanting for anything you may ask of me. Of course you can't decide at present."
"I have decided that I must go to India. I have asked for the exchange."
"Yes;--I understand; but about our marriage. It may be that you should go out first. I would not be unmaidenly, Walter; but remember this--the sooner the better, if I can be a comfort to you;--but I can bear any delay rather than be a clog upon you."
Marrable, as he had walked up the hill,--and during all his thoughts, indeed, since he had been convinced that the money was gone from him,--had been disposed to think that his duty to Mary required him to give her up. He had asked her to be his wife when he believed his circumstances to be other than they were; and now he knew that the life he had to offer to her was one of extreme discomfort. He had endeavoured to shake off any idea that as he must go back to India it would be more comfortable for himself to return without than with a wife. He wanted to make the sacrifice of himself, and had determined that he would do so. Now, at any rate for the moment, all his resolves were thrown to the wind. His own love was so strong and was so gratified by her love, that half his misery was carried away in an enthusiasm of romantic devotion. Let the worst come to the worst, the man that was so loved by such a woman could not be of all men the most miserable.
He left the house, giving to her the charge of telling the bad news to Miss Marrable; and as he went he saw in the street before the house the man whom he had seen standing an hour before under the gateway of the inn. And Gilmore saw him too, and well knew where he had been.
CHAPTER XXX.
THE AUNT AND THE UNCLE.
Miss Marrable heard the story of the Captain's loss in perfect silence. Mary told it craftily, with a smile on her face, as though she were but slightly affected by it, and did not think very much on the change it might effect in her plans and those of her lover. "He has been ill-treated; has he not?" she said.
"Very badly treated. I can't understand it, but it seems to me that he has been most shamefully treated."
"He tried to explain it all to me; but I don't know that he succeeded."
"Why did the lawyers deceive him?"
"I think he was a little rash there. He took what they told him for more than it was worth. There was some woman who said that she would resign her claim; but when they came to look into it, she too had signed some papers and the money was all gone. He could recover it from his father by law, only that his father has got nothing."
"And that is to be the end of it."
"That is the end of our five thousand pounds," said Mary, forcing a little laugh. Miss Marrable for a few moments made no reply. She sat fidgety in her seat, feeling that it was her duty to explain to Mary what must, in her opinion, be the inevitable result of this misfortune, and yet not knowing how to begin her task. Mary was partly aware of what was coming, and had fortified herself to reject all advice, to assert her right to do as she pleased with herself, and to protest that she cared nothing for the prudent views of worldly-minded people. But she was afraid of what was coming. She knew that arguments would be used which she would find it very difficult to answer; and, although she had settled upon certain strong words which she would speak, she felt that she would be driven at last to quarrel with her aunt. On one thing she was quite resolved. Nothing should induce her to give up her engagement,--short of the expression of a wish to that effect from Walter Marrable himself.
"How will this affect you, dear?" said Miss Marrable at last.
"I should have been a poor man's wife any how. Now I shall be the wife of a very poor man. I suppose that will be the effect."
"What will he do?"