half an hour later, when betty escorted the general to the door, he paused in the hall to lay his hand on her arm, and inquire in a voice unusually tremulous—
“you have often spoken to me about your ‘govies,’ as you call them. was—was she one of the number?”
betty murmured an assent, guiltily conscious of the criticisms which had accompanied the references. was he about to take her to task for all the scathing remarks she had made on the subject of his old love? but no—the grip tightened on her arm, and he said gently—
“god bless you, my dear, for all your kindness! may it be meted out to you a hundred times over in your hour of need. a governesses’ home—alice beveridge! and terence digby living in the lap of luxury! well, well! twenty years, my dear, since we last met—i was over forty, but she was a mere girl. a beautiful girl,—i never saw her equal, and the years have not touched her. i should have known her anywhere. she is marvellously unchanged!”
betty gazed at him dumbly, and there came to her at that moment, for the first time in her life, a realisation of the deep, abiding love which sees beneath the surface, and knows neither change nor time. she had no inclination to laugh at the old man’s blindness; rather she felt towards him reverence and admiration. happy miss beveridge! to one loyal heart at least she would remain always young, always beautiful. happy terence digby, who had kept his ideal untouched!
when betty retraced her steps to the drawing-room a few minutes later, another surprise was in waiting, for behold, miss beveridge sobbing, with her hands over her face, while mrs trevor patted her tenderly on the shoulder. she looked across the room and shook her head at her young daughter.
“go away, betty dear, please! leave us alone,” she said gently, and betty tottered across the hall and collapsed in a heap on the nearest chair, positively faint with excitement. the first real romance with which she had come in contact,—and behold! the leading characters were general digby and miss beveridge! wonders would never cease!
the next afternoon the general appeared once more, and had a long tête-à-tête with mrs trevor.
“i am sorry to be such a trouble to you, madam, but you have no one to blame but yourself, for you have been so patient and forbearing with me during the last six months, that i feel as if there were no limits to your kindness. i went to that governesses’ home to-day—for that matter i passed it half a dozen times, but i could not screw up my courage to do any more. the look of the place daunted me, to begin with. to think of alice beveridge shut up there! besides, i’m a soldier; my life has been spent among men; i haven’t the pluck to face a houseful of women. be a good angel, and let us meet here once more! i was too much overcome yesterday to know what i was saying, but something must be done, and done quickly. i can’t go on living as i am, and think of her working for her living. of course, you know what it all means. you are a woman, and women are quick enough at guessing these things. i never cared for another woman. i was a middle-aged man when we met, and it went very hard with me when she said number 1 was not a boy, to forget at the sight of the next pretty face. i have tried to make the best of things, but it’s been lonely work. i went abroad immediately after she refused me, and heard no more about her. she was visiting a common friend when we met. i knew nothing of her family, so we simply passed out of each other’s lives. i always thought of her as happily married years ago; it never dawned upon me that there could have been any misunderstanding, but yesterday when we met there was something in her face, her manner— she seemed almost as much agitated as i was myself. i may be a conceited old idiot, but it seemed to me as if she had cared after all,—as if there had been some mistake! women talk to each other more openly than we do. if she told you anything about it, i think you ought to let me know. i have waited a long time!”
there was a pathos in the sound of those last few words which went straight to mrs trevor’s heart, and she answered as frankly as he had spoken.
“yes, indeed, it has been a hard time for you both. miss beveridge quite broke down after you left last night, and i gathered from what she said that at the time of your proposal she was taken by surprise, and felt nervous and uncertain of herself, as girls often do. it was only after you had sailed, and she was at home again, that she realised what a blank your absence made, and knew that she had loved you all the time. she hoped you might write, or see her on your return.”
“but she had not the courage to write herself, and acknowledge her mistake? well, well! women have their own code of honour, i suppose, but it would have been a gracious act. i remembered her always, but it did not seem to me the straight thing to force myself on a girl half my age, who had already refused me once, and so we have gone on misunderstanding all these years. then i suppose trouble began? her people were not rich, but she had a comfortable home, so far as i knew.”
“the parents died, and she was obliged to earn her own living. she has been teaching music in london for the last fifteen years.”
the general groaned.
“i know! i know! dragging about in all weathers, to earn a few shillings for hearing wretched brats strumming five-finger exercises. beg pardon, ma’am—i should not have said that to you! you have children of your own.”
“but i do not in the least envy their music-mistress!” cried mrs trevor, smiling. “it is a hard, hard life, especially when it is a case of going back to an institution instead of a home. it is young mrs vanburgh, betty’s friend, to whom you are really indebted for this meeting. it was her idea to welcome lonely gentlewomen to her home, and miss beveridge happened to be her first visitor.”
“god bless her!” said the general reverently. he sat in silence for some minutes, gazing dreamily before him, a puzzled look on the red face. at last—“now there’s the question of the future to consider!” he said anxiously. “i’m getting old—sixty-four next birthday, precious near the allotted span of life, but she is twenty years younger—she may have a long life before her still. it would break my heart to let her go on working, but she’d be too proud to take money from me, unless— unless— mrs trevor, you are a sensible woman! i can trust you to give me a candid answer. would you consider me a madman if i asked the girl a second time to marry me, old as i am, gouty as i am? is it too late, or can you imagine it possible that she might still care to take me in hand?”
he looked across the room as he spoke with a pathetic eagerness in his glance, and mrs trevor’s answering smile was full of tenderness.
“indeed i can! i should not think you a madman at all, general, for i am old enough to know that the heart does not age with the body, and that the happiness which comes late in life is sometimes the sweetest of all. you are a hale man still, in spite of your gout, and with a wife to care for you, you might renew your youth. i hope and believe that all will go well this time, but let me advise you not to be in too great a hurry. twenty years is a long time, and you and miss beveridge have led such very different lives that you may find that there is little sympathy left between you. it is only a ‘may,’ but i do think you would do well to see more of each other before speaking of anything so serious as marriage. you shall have plenty of opportunity of seeing each other, i promise you that! i will invite miss beveridge to spend as much of her time with us as is possible, and you shall be left alone to renew your acquaintance, and learn to know each other afresh. that will be the wisest plan, will it not?”
“um—um!” grunted the general vaguely. he frowned and looked crestfallen, for he retained enough of his youthful impetuosity to make anything like delay distinctly a trial. “perhaps you are right, though i cannot believe that any number of years could change my feelings. alice is—alice! the one woman in the world i ever loved. that’s the beginning and the end of the matter, but perhaps for her sake i should not be hasty. mustn’t frighten her again, poor girl! that’s arranged, then, ma’am—you let us meet in your house, and if we live, we’ll try to pay you back for your goodness, and i’ll wait—two or three weeks. you wouldn’t wish me to wait longer than two or three weeks?” he put up his hand and raked his grey locks into a fierce, upstanding crest, while a curious embarrassment flashed across his face. “a married man? terence digby married! there’s only one thing i’m afraid of—johnson! what will johnson say to a woman in possession?”
mrs trevor laughed, but could give no reply, and presently the general took himself off, and left her to write an invitation for the next week-end to his old love, which was accepted in a grateful little note by return of post.
for three nights running did the general dine at dr trevor’s table, while miss beveridge sat beside him, with pathetic little bows of lace pinned in the front of her shabby black silk, which somehow looked shabbier than ever for the attempt at decoration. at the beginning of the meal she was just miss beveridge, stiff, silent, colourless; but as time passed by and she talked to the general, and the general talked to her, attending to her little wants as if they were of all things in the world the most important, fussing about a draught that might possibly distress her, and violently kicking his opposite neighbour in his endeavours to provide her with a footstool, gradually, gradually the miss beveridge of the music-lessons and the governesses’ home disappeared from sight, and there appeared in her place an absolutely different woman, with a sweet smiling face, out of which the lines seemed to have been miraculously smoothed away, while a delicate colour in her cheeks gave to the once grey face something of the fragile beauty of an old pastel.
for fifteen years she had fought a hand-to-hand battle with want; a lonely battle, with no one to care or to comfort, and now it was meat, and drink, and health, and sunshine, to find herself of a sudden the most precious object on earth to one faithful heart! although the general had given a promise not to be too precipitate in his wooing, it was easy to prophesy how things would end; but before the “two or three weeks” had come to an end, another event happened of such supreme importance to the trevor household as to put in the background every other subject, interesting and romantic though it might be.