CHAPTER FIVE.
TRUE LOVE RUNS ANYTHING BUT SMOOTH--BEING A MELANCHOLY SUBJECT, I CUT ITSHORT.
The day after my return I met Harry Loring. Alas, how changed was theonce joyous expression of his countenance!
"My dear fellow, what is the matter?" I asked.
"What, don't you know?" he exclaimed. "I thought all the world did, andlaughed at me. False, fickle, heartless flirting!"
"What is all this about?" I asked. "I deeply regret, I feel--"
"Oh, of course you do," he replied, interrupting me petulantly. "I'lltell you how it was. She had accepted me, as you may have guessed, andI made sure that there would be no difficulties, as she has plenty ofmoney, though I have little enough; but when there is sufficient on oneside, what more can be required? At last one day she said, `I wish, MrLoring, you would speak to mamma' (she had always called me Harrybefore). `Of course I will,' said I, thinking it was a hint to fix theday; but after I left her, my mind misgave me. Well, my dear fellow, asI dare say you know, that same having to speak to papa or mamma is themost confoundedly disagreeable thing of all the disagreeables in life,when one hasn't got a good rent-roll to show. At least, after all thebilling and cooing, and the romance and sentiment of love, it is such aworldly, matter-of-fact, pounds-shillings-and-pence affair, that it isenough to disgust a fellow. However, I nerved myself up for theencounter, and was ushered into the presence of the old dragon."
"You shouldn't speak of your intended mother-in-law in that way," Iobserved, interrupting him.
"My intended--; but you shall hear," he continued. "`Well, sir, Iunderstand that you have favoured my daughter with an offer,' she began.I didn't like the tone of her voice nor the look of her green eye,--they meant mischief. `I have had the happiness of being acceptedby'--`Stay, stay!' she exclaimed, interrupting me. `My daughter wouldnot think of accepting you without asking my leave; and I, as a mother,must first know what fortune you can settle on her.' `Every thing shehas got or ever will have,' I replied, as fast as I could utter thewords. `My father and mother are excellent people, and they have kindlyoffered us a house, and'--`is that it, Mr Loring? And you havenothing--absolutely nothing?' shrieked out the old woman. Oh, how Ihated her! `Then, sir, I beg you will clearly understand, that fromthis moment all communication between you and my daughter ceases forever. I could not have believed that any gentleman would have beenguilty of such impertinence. What! a man without a penny to think ofmarrying my daughter, with her beauty and her fortune! There, sir, youhave got my answer; I hope you understand it. Go, sir; go!' I did go,without uttering another word, though I gave her a look which ought tohave confounded her; and here you see me a miserable, heartbroken man.I have been in vain trying to get a glimpse of Jane, to ask her if itwas by her will that I am thus discarded, and if so, to whistle her downthe wind; but I have dreadful suspicions that it was a plot between themto get rid of me, and if so, I have had a happy escape."
I have an idea that his last suspicion was right. Poor fellow, I pitiedhim. It struck me as a piece of arrant folly on the part of the mother,that a nice, gentlemanly, good-looking fellow should be sent to theright-about simply because he was poor, when the young lady had amplefortune for them both.
"Look here!" exclaimed Loring, bitterly; "is it not enough to make a manturn sick with grief and pain as he looks round and sees those he onceknew as blooming, nice girls growing into crusty old maids, becausetheir parents chose to insist on an establishment and settlement forthem equal to what they themselves enjoy, instead of remembering thealtered circumstances of the times? Not one man in ten has a fortune;and if the talents and energy of the rising generation are not to beconsidered as such, Hymen may blow out his torch and cut his stick, andthe fair maidens of England will have to sing for ever and a day,`Nobody coming to marry me, nobody coming to woo.'"
I laughed, though I felt the truth of what he said. "But are youcertain that you are disinterested? Were you in no way biassed in yourlove by her supposed-fortune?" I asked.
"On my word, I was not. I never thought of the tin," was the answer.
"Then," I replied, "I must say that you are a very ill-used gentleman."
The Cruise of the Frolic Page 5