“It is a rule that women should not appear on similar occasions in the same clothes,” said Miss Luke, coming downstairs dressed for the wedding. “Well, someone must play the part of the exception that proves it.”
“I have a varied wardrobe,” said Miss Munday.
“Well, I have been brought nearer to that state than for some time,” said Josephine. “I am not forgetting my last faux pas in the matter of wedding garments.”
“It is a pleasure to see you out of your widow’s dress, Mrs. Napier,” said Mrs. Chattaway.
“Then I am glad I am out of it on this occasion; though it will be a pleasure to me, or a relief rather, to be back in the habiliments in which I am at peace with myself, in so far as a sense of what I am wearing has any effect upon me.”
“You are not going back to them?” said Mrs. Chattaway.
“My poor, suitable, useful garments! What a tone to take! I am living in other people’s lives to-day, and not in my own. As I said, I have had a lesson on indifference to the bridal mood of others.”
“You are that rare thing, Mrs. Napier, a truly considerate person,” said Miss Luke.222
“Yes, I am completely considerate, in this one small matter, on this one small occasion; great occasion rather, as it is great to other people. That is not much to do for my friends. And as I am to give the bride away—Sir Felix was clear that that was my prerogative; he seemed to think the position nearly as important as her own—I want to look as fully in sympathy with the moment as I shall be feeling. No doubt I made that demand on others when I was a bride.”
“It is something to have been less exacting in one’s life,” said Miss Luke.
“I think that romance must have passed me over,” said Miss Munday.
“It is sad that Miss Keats has no parents,” said Mrs. Chattaway.
“Now that was not at all the speech to make at that juncture,” said Josephine. “Yes, I have felt it sad; but I think less so on this occasion than on others.”
“Do you think that the pair are suited to each other?” said Mrs. Chattaway.
“I trust so; indeed I trust so. I don’t know why I should use such vehemence, except that my connection with the occasion hardly requires the enhancement of remorse.”
“Ah, it was you who brought about the marriage?” said Miss Luke.
“I wonder if we have prompted things as often as we think we have,” said Josephine, almost in soliloquy. “It may be that we are carried with them. Well, these things are as they are.”
“They no doubt have the impression that they have been independent agents.”
“Yes, yes, surely,” said Josephine, putting a touch of anxiety into her tone.
“The wedding will bring back the other wedding to us all.”223
“Now,” said Josephine, “you must not let it. You must yield yourself to the moment. Believe me, I shall not find that effort harder, that I have friends making it with me.”
“Mrs. Giffard and Gabriel are in the heroic place,” said Miss Luke; “play the heroic part.”
“Mrs. Giffard is not playing any part at all; I thought it better that she should not. Especially when I found that Gabriel was willing to attend the wedding; glad indeed to do his duty by his friend, but glad also, poor boy, of the break for himself. That perception might have given her an heroic part; but I thought of it in time for her.”
“Ah, we must not forget the difference between maturity and youth,” said Miss Luke.
“Well, I think my friend must, on this occasion. I hope I have contrived that she will. And here is our bride, coming downstairs with Miss Rosetti! I wonder which of them looks nicer in her way, and which way is the better? She does Miss Rosetti great credit! I see I was wise in not offering my own help. I admit I felt rather maternal and interfering, but I controlled my impulses. Well, my dear, this is the first and last time in your life that you will look like that. And I have an odd confession to make, one that will seem to you very odd. You bring back to me my own wedding day and wedding dress, though I was much older than you when I became involved in such things. That must be my excuse for the insistence of the memory.”
“I have never imagined myself a bride,” said Miss Munday.
“Oh, I have; oh yes,” said Miss Luke, looking straight about her. “It took me some time to set into myself. Mrs. Chattaway did not leave the matter to imagination. So, Miss Rosetti, we have only to await your confession.”
“I have never imagined myself a bride. I tried to, and found that I could not. Your carriage is waiting, Mrs. Napier.”224
“Now, my dear,” said Josephine to Helen, in an almost regretful voice. “It is time for you to offer yourself up as a sacrifice. Yes, there must be something of that in it for the woman; but we do not regret it; no, we do not. No, you lead the way, and I follow: I am in the man’s place, and must not fail in chivalry. And I don’t think any feeling is more suitable”—Josephine looked back to the other women—“in an elderly woman toward a young bride.”
“No, it is not, it is not,” said Miss Luke, looking after Helen. “Well, we must soon be following. We are able for the part of spectators.”
“Of course, Mrs. Napier is not elderly,” said Mrs. Chattaway; “but she does look older than usual, which is odd, as she is in lighter clothes. No doubt the other wedding is in her mind.”
“The other weddings, yes,” said Miss Luke.
“The gift from the girls has come after all,” said Miss Munday. “Perhaps it can be presented after the service.”
In the course of the reception in the concert hall, this token was carried by the youngest girl to the bridal pair.
“Is this for my wife and me?” said Felix. “We really feel it is too much, but, of course, we can do nothing but simply accept it. I will make the speech of thanks myself, because I feel I shall make it better, and not because I think the man should take the lead.
“We are the more delighted with the gift and the inscription, that we were beginning to be afraid we should not have them. We knew that you would not offer us wishes by themselves, would not ask us to accept only empty words, would not say that it was feeling that counted, and not material things. It would be absurd to say that a thing like this does not count. We are only sorry that we almost misjudged you; we feel we should have known you better, and now, of course, we do.225
“And am I to make the mistresses a separate speech, or have they joined in the same gift? I knew there was some explanation of its being so good; I saw at once that it was no ordinary gift; that is why I was curious about it.
“Now I know that my worldly goods belong to my wife, but surely this does not belong only to her. A thing with this inscription cannot possibly be called worldly; and I will keep my share for myself.
“We have both been very happy amongst you, doing our daily work for the best kind of reward; not that we mean any disparagement of the gift. And I hope that you will never forget your old drawing master, and that when a different one comes, you will never feel he is the same.
“You know you have taken us quite by surprise, and so you have proof that I speak on the spur of the moment; and I feel that is a good thing, as it does need proof.”
As applause ensued, and Felix left his place, Miss Luke ran up to him.
“There is a small token coming from us by ourselves, Mr. Bacon. You need not fear we have forgotten you.”
“I did not really fear it. I should not be clever at others’ expense, especially at yours. I have only been clever at expense to myself.”
“We are sorry that our small remembrance is so late.”
“I hope it was not an afterthought?”
“No, no. We claim for it all the value that comes from thought and feeling; though not much of any other kind.”
“We will try not to mind,” said Felix.
“May I congratulate you on a charming speech?” said Josephine.
“I was af raid you were going to congratulate me on my marriage, and opinions differ so much more on speeches. I am 226sorry for the hint of effort about mine; I had no time to make it spontaneous.”
“Do you know, I find it odd to think of you as a family man?”
“I don’t think the words quite give me.”
“You came to the family state yourself, Mrs. Napier,” said Miss Luke.
“Yes, I did. I have admitted to-day that the occasion has stirred my own memories.”
“Are you dressed like this in sympathy with them, or with us?” said Felix.
“With you. In sympathy with them, I dress as I generally do. I fear it shows that we live for ourselves more than for other people.”
“I don’t think that needs showing,” said Felix.
“Well, anyhow, you will not see me in these clothes again.”
“Why not?” said Gabriel. “They will surely wear for longer than Felix’s wedding day.”
“They will wear for several years, as the best garments of the woman to whom I propose to send them. At least I am afraid they will.”
“What will you wear when you come to visit Helen and me?” said Felix.
“The things you generally see me in, or replicas of them.”
“Oh, I am sure they would be replicas. But it is getting out of sympathy with us very soon.”
“Well, I cannot live always in other people’s lives. I shall not expect you to live in mine, and assume a sable array.”
“Well, you are safely married, Miss Keats, I should say Lady Bacon,” said Fane. “No one can take that from you now.”
“Do you believe in one standard for the man and another for the woman?” said Felix.227
“No, no. But it is the lady we think of on these occasions. There are more on which the men have to be reckoned with.”
“That is so untrue,” said Felix.
“Yes, I think that on the whole women are accorded the human interest,” said Josephine.
“Now I wonder if there is a difference,” said Miss Luke.
“I have been wondering why people are supposed not to enjoy their wedding day,” said Felix.
“I was very happy on mine,” said Josephine.
“Yes, yes, I think it would be a happy day,” said Miss Luke.
“Well, I daresay you chose your life of your own free will, Miss Luke,” said Fane.
“I was helped a little towards it by poverty,” said Miss Luke, giving no further account.
“Well, that is not so much of an admission,” said Fane.
“I am enjoying my wedding day more than I thought,” said Felix.
“Well, Miss Rosetti, we can give you congratulations of your own kind,” said Fane. “The partnership is what has come to be important to you. And it is important in itself. Oh, yes it is.”
“Now, if you want to catch your train,” said Josephine, in a mellow tone.
“Good-bye; good luck; long life; health, happiness!” said Fane.
“All those things and more,” said Miss Luke.
“Good-bye,” said Miss Munday.
“We are glad that you are not as sorry to go, as we are to lose you,” said Mrs. Chattaway.
“I think they are a little sorry to go,” said Josephine, looking gently from Felix to Helen. “I mean in the midst of their other feelings.”
“It is not in the midst of them,” said Felix. “It has ousted them: I am afraid it will overcome us.”228
“Then we will not prolong the moment. Good-bye, my dear; I am not going to say anything of all that goes without saying. But as I have been in the position I have, you will treat me accordingly and let me hear.”
“We will write to-night, Mrs. Napier.”
“Oh, no, you will not: I have no intention of being such a burden. If you write in a week, that will be about what I ask. I am not anxious about you in safe hands.”
“Well, we have had our vicarious glimpse of romance,” said Miss Luke.
“Yes, we have lived through it, Josephine,” said Jonathan. “Ah, I do many things for my friend. You have not had to put the force upon yourself that I have. Well, I shall soon be coming to your house to die.”
“No, I have been able to give myself a free rein, certainly. But the pleasant occasion will be spoiled, if you choose it for talk of that kind. And we have not been so entirely out of sympathy with you; we have our own little regrets.”
“Yes. Things will never be so amusing again,” said Mrs. Chattaway.
“No, I do not think they will. Not just that,” said Josephine.
“Well, I suppose the next thing will be the christening,” said Mrs. Chattaway.
“Well, I hope not quite the next thing,” said Josephine, with a laugh. “And I am always a little sorry when the first deflection of feeling comes.”
“Poor child, she has all the future before her,” said Miss Luke.
“She would pity us for having so much less of it,” said Miss Rosetti.
“Yes, yes, but I know,” said Josephine to Miss Luke, “the compassion of maturity for youth.”229
“It is quite nice to hear your cynical view, Miss Rosetti,” said Mrs. Chattaway. “You have been silent to-day.”
“A wedding strikes no chords in my heart.”
“Oh, it does in mine. Oh, yes, it does,” said Miss Luke.
“I cannot think of a pair more suited to each other,” said Mrs. Chattaway.
“No, neither can I,” said Josephine, “in the sense of striking, as it were, the same note. We certainly must not pin our faith to the attraction of opposites.”
“I can just imagine their conversation,” said Mrs. Chattaway.
“Now I don’t know,” said Miss Luke, with her head slightly on one side. “Does Mr. Bacon like an audience?”
“He will have the audience he likes best,” said Mrs. Chattaway.
“Now that is too pretty to dispute,” said Miss Luke.
“Which of the two do you regard as the more attractive, Mrs. Napier?” said Mrs. Chattaway.
“Well, on a wedding day the bride surely carries all before her.”
“You are looking tired, Mrs. Napier,” said Miss Rosetti. “You have been filling too many characters, even for you.”
“I am ashamed to say that I have been filling one character, and that my own. I have already made the admission that the day’s proceedings have raked up my own past. Well, I will go and divest myself of these trappings, that no doubt do make an odd set-off to my experienced phiz. You are accustomed to seeing me attired in harmony with it. I promise you that when we next meet, it will not suffer from the force of the contrast. Well, it has been my sacrifice to the occasion.”
“It had not struck me,” said Miss Luke; “had it struck any of you—that Mrs. Napier is a tragic figure?”
“Yes, it had struck me,” said Miss Rosetti, idly.230
“She would be, if she were not so strong and masculine,” said Mrs. Chattaway.
“I should not call her masculine,” said Miss Rosetti.
“No, perhaps she is too maternal,” said Mrs. Chattaway. “But the feminine type is often quite as strong.”
“Yes,” said Miss Rosetti.
“I think we might call you masculine, Miss Rosetti,” said Mrs. Chattaway.
Miss Rosetti was silent.
“Miss Munday and I can only claim to be neuter,” said Miss Luke.