One of Our Conquerors - World eBook Library

One of Our Conquerors
conceal for fear that everybody will laugh at its face.’
She resumed her seriousness: ‘I find it so hard to be vexed
with him and really really like him. For he is a good man;
but he will not let one shake him off. He distresses: because
we can’t quite meet as we did. Last Wednesday Concert
evening, he kept away; and I am annoyed that I was glad.’
‘Moths have to pass through showers, and keep their pretty
patterns from damage as best they can,’ said mademoiselle.
Nesta transformed herself into a disciple of Philosophy on
the spot. ‘Yes, all these feelings of ours are moth-dust! One
feels them. I suppose they pass. They must. But tell me,
Louise, dear soul, was your poor dear good little afflicted
suitor—was he kindly pitied?’
‘Conformably with the regulations prescribed to young
damsels who are in request to surrender the custody of their
hands. It is easy to commit a dangerous excess in the dispensing
of that article they call pity of them.’
‘And he—did he?—vowed to you he could not take No
for an answer?’
At this ingenuous question, woefully uttered, mademoiselle
was pricked, to smile pointedly. Nesta had a tooth on
her under-lip. Then, shaking vapours to the winds, she said:
‘It is an honour, to be asked; and we cannot be expected to
consent. So I shall wear through it.—Only I do wish that
Mr. Fenellan would not call him The Inchcape Bell!’ She
murmured this to herself.
Mr. Barmby was absent for two weeks. ‘Can anything have
offended him?’ Victor inquired, in some consternation, appreciating
the man’s worth, and the grand basso he was; together
with the need for him at the Lakelands Concert in
August.
Nataly wrote Mr. Barmby a direct invitation. She had no
reply. Her speculations were cut short by Victor, who handed
her a brief note addressed to him and signed by the Rev.
Septimus, petitioning for a private interview.
The formality of the request incensed Victor. ‘Now, dear
love, you see Colney’s meaning, when he says, there are people
who have no intimacy in them. Here’s a man who visits me
regularly once a week or more, has been familiar for years—
four, at least; and he wants to speak to me, and must obtain
the “privilege” by special appointment! What can be the
meaning of it?’
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