Some morsel of that revenge came to him now. Lily almost hated her cousin for what he said; but she took his arm, and walked with him from the room. It must be acknowledged in excuse for Bernard Dale, and as an apology for the apparent indiscretion of his words, that all the circumstances of the meeting had become apparent to everyone there. The misfortune of the encounter had become too plain to admit of its being hidden under any of the ordinary veils of society. Crosbie's salutation had been made before the eyes of them all, and in the midst of absolute silence, and Lily had risen with so queen-like a demeanour, and had moved with so stately a step, that it was impossible that anyone concerned should pretend to ignore the facts of the scene that had occurred. Crosbie was still standing close to Mrs Harold Smith, Mrs Thorne had risen from her seat, and the words which Bernard Dale had uttered were still sounding in the ears of them all. 'Shall I see after the carriage?' said Siph Dunn. 'Do,' said Mrs Thorne; 'or, stay a moment; the carriage will of course be there, and we will go together.
Good-morning, Mr Pratt. I expect that, at any rate, you will send me your card by post.' Then they all passed on, and Crosbie and Fowler Pratt were left among the pictures.
'I think you will agree with me now that you had better give her up,' said Fowler Pratt.
'I will never give her up,' said Crosbie, 'till I hear that she has married someone else.'
'You may take my word for it, that she will never marry you after what has just occurred.'
'Very likely not; but still the attempt, even the idea of the attempt will be a comfort to me. I shall be endeavouring to do that which Iought to have done.'
'What you have got to think of, I should suppose, is her comfort --not your own.'
Crosbie stood for a while silent, looking at a portrait which was hung just within the doorway of a smaller room into which they had passed, as though his attention were entirely rivetted by the picture. But he was thinking of the picture not at all, and did not even know what kind of painting was on the canvas before him.
'Pratt,' he said at last, 'you are always hard to me.'
'I will say nothing more to you on the subject, if you wish me to be silent.'
'I do wish you to be silent about that.'
'That shall be enough,' said Pratt.
'You do not quite understand me. You do not know how thoroughly I have repented of the evil that I have done, or how far I would go to make retribution, if retribution were possible.'
Fowler Pratt having been told to hold his tongue as regarded that subject, made no reply to this, and began to talk about the pictures.
Lily, leaning on her cousin's arm, was out in the courtyard in front of the house before Mrs Thorne and Siph Dunn. It was but for a minute, but still there was a minute in which Bernard felt that he ought to say a word to her.
'I hope you are not angry with me, Lily, for having spoken.'
'I wish, of course, that you had not spoken; but I am not angry. I have no right to be angry. I made the misfortune for myself. Do not say anything more about it, dear Bernard;--that is all.'
They had walked to the picture-gallery; but, by agreement, two carriages had come to take them away--Mrs Thorne's and Mrs Harold Smith's. Mrs Thorne easily managed to send Emily Dunstable and Bernard away with her friend, and to tell Siph Dunn that he must manage for himself. In this way it was contrived that no one but Mrs Thorne should be with Lily Dale.
'My dear,' said Mrs Thorne, 'it seemed to me that you were a little put out, and so I thought it best to send them all away.'
'It was very kind.'
'He ought to have passed on and not to have stood an instant when he saw you,' said Mrs Thorne, with indignation. 'There are moments when it is a man's duty simply to vanish, to melt into the air, or to sink into the ground--in which he is bound to overcome the difficulties of such sudden self-removal, or must ever after be accounted poor and mean.'
'I did not want him to vanish;--if only he had not spoken to me.'
'He should have vanished. A man is sometimes bound in honour to do so, even when he himself has done nothing wrong;--when the sin has been all with the woman. Her femininity has still a right to expect that so much shall be done in its behalf. But when the sin has been all his own, as it was in this case--and such damning sin too--'
'Pray do not go on, Mrs Thorne.'
'He ought to go out and hang himself simply for having allowed himself to be seen. I thought Bernard behaved very well, and I shall tell him so.'
'I wish you could manage to forget it all, and say no word more about it.'
'I won't trouble you with it, my dear; I will promise you that. But, Lily, I can hardly understand you. This man who must have been and must ever be a brute--'
'Mrs Thorne, you promised me this instant that you would not talk of him.'
'After this I will not; but you must let me have my way now for one moment. I have so often longed to speak to you, but have not done so from fear of offending you. Now the matter has come up by chance, and it was impossible that what has occurred should pass by without a word. Icannot conceive why the memory of that bad man should be allowed to destroy your whole life.'
'My life is not destroyed. My life is anything but destroyed. It is a very happy life.'