"What have they to do with Fred marrying?"

"A great deal. Fred has been so familiar and homely the last two or three weeks, that they have come to look upon him as a future member of the family. It has been 'Cousin Ethel' and 'Aunt Ruth' and even 'grandmother' and 'Cousin Fred,' and no objections have been made to the use of such personal terms. I think your father hopes for a closer tie between you and Fred Mostyn than cousinship."

"Whatever might have been is over. Do you imagine I could consent to be the secondary deity, to come after Dora--Dora of all the girls I have ever known? The idea is an insult to my heart and my intelligence.

Nothing on earth could make me submit to such an indignity."

"I do not suppose, Ethel, that any wife is the first object of her husband's love."

"At least they tell her she is so, swear it an inch deep; and no woman is fool enough to look beyond that oath, but when she is sure that she is a second best! AH! That is not a position I will ever take in any man's heart knowingly."

"Of course, Fred Mostyn will have to marry."

"Of course, he will make a duty of the event. The line of Mostyns must be continued. England might go to ruin if the Mostyns perished off the English earth; but, Aunt Ruth, I count myself worthy of a better fate than to become a mere branch in the genealogical tree of the Mostyns.

And that is all Fred Mostyn's wife will ever be to him, unless he marries Dora."

"But that very supposition implies tragedy, and it is most unlikely."

"Yes, for Dora is a good little thing. She has never been familiar with vice. She has even a horror of poor women divorced from impossible husbands. She believes her marriage will be watched by the angels, and recorded in heaven. Basil has instructed her to regard marriage as a holy sacrament, and I am sure he does the same."

"Then why should we forecast evil to their names? As for Cousin Fred, I dare say he is comfortably asleep."

"I am sure he is not. I believe he is smoking and calling himself names for not having come to New York last May, when father first invited him.

Had he done so things might have been different."

"Yes, they might. When Good Fortune calls, and the called 'will not when they may,' then, 'when they will' Good Fortune has become Misfortune.

Welcome a pleasure or a gain at once, or don't answer it at all. It was on this rock, Ethel, the bark that carried my love went to pieces. I know; yes, I know!"

"My dear aunt!"

"It is all right now, dear; but things might have been that are not. As to Dora, I think she may be trusted with Basil Stanhope. He is one of the best and handsomest men I ever saw, and he has now rights in Dora's love no one can tamper with. Mostyn is an honorable man."

"All right, but--

"Love will venture in, Where he daurna well be seen; O Love will venture in, Where Wisdom once has been--

and then, aunt, what then?"

PART SECOND -- PLAYING WITH FIRE

CHAPTER V

THE next day after lunch Ethel said she was going to walk down to Gramercy Park and spend an hour or two with her grandmother, and "Will you send the carriage for me at five o'clock?" she asked.

"Your father has ordered the carriage to be at the Holland House at five o'clock. It can call for you first, and then go to the Holland House.

But do not keep your father waiting. If he is not at the entrance give your card to the outside porter; he will have it sent up to Fred's apartments."

"Then father is calling on Fred? What for? Is he sick?"

"Oh, no, business of some kind. I hope you will have a pleasant walk."

"There is no doubt of it."

Indeed, she was radiant with its exhilaration when she reached Gramercy Park. As she ran up the steps of the big, old-fashioned house she saw Madam at the window picking up some dropped st.i.tches in her knitting.

Madam saw her at the same moment, and the old face and the young face both alike kindled with love, as well as with happy antic.i.p.ation of coveted intercourse.

"I am so glad to see you, darling Granny. I could not wait until to-morrow."

"And why should you, child? I have been watching for you all morning. I want to hear about the Denning dinner. I suppose you went?"

"Yes, we went; we had to. Dinners in strange houses are a common calamity; I can't expect to be spared what everyone has to endure."

"Don't be affected, Ethel. You like going out to dinner. Of course, you do! It is only natural, considering."

"I don't, Granny. I like dances and theaters and operas, but I don't like dinners. However, the Denning dinner was a grand exception. It gave me and the others a sensation."

"I expected that."

"It was beautifully ordered. Majordomo Parkinson saw to that. If he had arranged it for his late employer, the Duke of Richmond, it could not have been finer. There was not a break anywhere."

"How many were present?"

"Just a dozen."

"Mr. Denning and Bryce, of course. Who were the others?"

"Mr. Stanhope, of course. Granny, he wore his clerical dress. It made him look so remarkable."

"He did right. A clergyman ought to look different from other men. I do not believe Basil Stanhope, having a.s.sumed the dress of a servant of G.o.d, would put it off one hour for any social exigency. Why should he?

It is a grander attire than any military or naval uniform, and no court dress is comparable, for it is the court dress of the King of kings."

"All right, dear Granny; you always make things clear to me, yet I meet lots of clergymen in evening dress."

"Then they ought not to be clergymen. They ought not to wear coats in which they can hold any kind of opinions. Who was your companion?"

"Jamie Sayer."

"I never heard of the man."

"He is an artist, and is painting Dora's likeness. He is getting on now, but in the past, like all artists, he has suffered a deal."

"G.o.d's will be done. Let them suffer. It is good for genius to suffer.

Is he in love with you?"

"Gracious, Granny! His head is so full of pictures that no woman could find room there, and if one did, the next new picture would crowd her out."