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Page 39
Canon Ebley tried to unclasp her arms from round his neck. He was
terribly upset. To be sure, the girl was very dear to him, and had
always been so sweet a niece, a truthful, obedient child from
early infancy. Caroline had perhaps been a little hard--he had
better hear the facts.
"Dear me, dear me," he blurted out. "Well, well, tell me
everything about the case, and, though I cannot consent to
anything, I must do you the justice of hearing your side."
"Won't you sit down here, sir?" Princess Urazov said, "and let my
brother and your niece tell you their story. Mr. Deanwood, we met
at Buda-Pesth two years ago--" and she turned to the young man and
indicated that he should join her in the far window embrasure,
which he did with alacrity, and from there they heard,
interpolated in their personal conversation, scraps of the
arguments going on between the three.
Stella, assisted by her lover, told of her first talk and her
drive, and their rapidly ripening affection for each other, and
the girl looked so happy and so pleading. Then Count Roumovski
took up the thread. He explained his position, and how his view of
life had always been direct in its endeavor to see the truth and
the meaning of things, and how to him love was the only possible
reason in ethical morality for any marriage between two people.
"It is merely a great degradation, otherwise, sir," he said
earnestly.
But here Canon Ebley was heard to protest that he could not
understand a love which had sprung into being with such violence
in the space of three days, and he felt very suspicious of its
durability.
"Oh, Uncle Erasmus, how can you say that!" Stella interrupted him.
"Why, you have often said that you yourself fell in love with Aunt
Caroline from the moment your eye lighted upon her in church--in
church, remember, you old darling!" and she nestled up against his
shoulder again. Caresses like these she was always obliged to
suppress in her austere aunt's presence; they were only to be
indulged in upon great occasions, and to gain an important end,
she knew! So the rogue smiled archly as she went on. "You could
hardly wait until you were introduced at the garden party the next
day, and Aunt Caroline said you proposed to her before the end of
the week!"
"Come, come," the cornered uncle growled, bridling, but a smile
grew in his kindly eyes.
"There!" exclaimed Miss Rawson, triumphantly. "You cannot have
another thing to say, except that you consent and wish us
happiness."
"It is true you are of age, Stella," Canon Ebley allowed, "and if
you like to take the law into your own hands, we cannot legally
prevent you, as I have tried to explain this morning to your aunt
and Eustace, but it is all very shocking and unusual, and very
disturbing. You must remember, Count Roumovski is a foreigner,
and we English people are prejudiced. I--fear for your happiness,
my dear child!"
"You do not pay me a high compliment, sir," Count Roumovski said,
but without resentment. "Time, however, will prove whether I can
take care of your niece or no. Do you feel any fear for yourself,
Stella?"
"Not in the least," Miss Rawson said, and they clasped fond hands.
"I would go away with you, Sasha, to the ends of the earth now at
once, and never ask you a single question. And I should certainly
die if I were forced to go back to Eustace Medlicott."
"Then I suppose there is nothing more to be said," Canon Ebley
stammered, upon which Stella again flung herself into his arms.
"Indeed, sir--I give you my word that you will not regret this
decision," Count Roumovski said gravely. "I believe your niece and
I were made for one another."
"We will hope so," returned Canon Ebley, who could no longer keep
up a stern resistance in the face of perfectly logical arguments
and a witch of a girl purring over him and patting his cheek. He
would have given in with a fair grace but for the awful knowledge
that his stern spouse and the irate late fiance would arrive at
any moment, and reproach him for his want of strength.
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