It was to come soon enough by the quite unforced operation of chance, the young mans opportunity to ask her the question suggested by Mrs. Assingham shortly before her entrance. The license, had he chosen to embrace it, was within a few minutes all therethe license given him literally to inquire of this young lady how long she was likely to be with them. For a matter of the mere domestic order had quickly determined, on Mrs. Assinghams part, a withdrawal, of a few moments, which had the effect of leaving her visitors free. Mrs. Bettermans there? she had said to Charlotte in allusion to some member of the household who was to have received her and seen her belongings settled; to which Charlotte had replied that she had encountered only the butler, who had been quite charming. She had deprecated any action taken on behalf of her effects; but her hostess, rebounding from accumulated cushions, evidently saw more in Mrs. Bettermans non-appearance than could meet the casual eye. What she saw, in short, demanded her intervention, in spite of an earnest Let ME go! from the girl, and a prolonged smiling wail over the trouble she was giving. The Prince was quite aware, at this moment, that departure, for himself, was indicated; the question of Miss Stants installation didnt demand his presence; it was a case for one to go awayif one hadnt a reason for staying. He had a reason, howeverof that he was equally aware; and he had not for a good while done anything more conscious and intentional than not, quickly, to take leave. His visible insistencefor it came to thateven demanded of him a certain disagreeable effort, the sort of effort he had mostly associated with acting for an idea. His idea was there, his idea was to find out something, something he wanted much to know, and to find it out not tomorrow, not at some future time, not in short with waiting and wondering, but if possible before quitting the place. This particular curiosity, moreover, confounded itself a little with the occasion offered him to satisfy Mrs. Assinghams own; he wouldnt have admitted that he was staying to ask a rude questionthere was distinctly nothing rude in his having his reasons. It would be rude, for that matter, to turn ones back, without a word or two, on an old friend.
Well, as it came to pass, he got the word or two, for Mrs. Assinghams preoccupation was practically simplifying. The little crisis was of shorter duration than our account of it; duration, naturally, would have forced him to take up his hat. He was somehow glad, on finding himself alone with Charlotte, that he had not been guilty of that inconsequence. Not to be flurried was the kind of consistency he wanted, just as consistency was the kind of dignity. And why couldnt he have dignity when he had so much of the good conscience, as it were, on which such advantages rested? He had done nothing he oughtnthe had in fact done nothing at all. Once more, as a man conscious of having known many women, he could assist, as he would have called it, at the recurrent, the predestined phenomenon, the thing always as certain as sunrise or the coming round of Saints days, the doing by the woman of the thing that gave her away. She did it, ever, inevitably, infalliblyshe couldnt possibly not do it. It was her nature, it was her life, and the man could always expect it without lifting a finger. This was HIS, the mans, any mans, position and strengththat he had necessarily the advantage, that he only had to wait, with a decent patience, to be placed, in spite of himself, it might really be said, in the right. Just so the punctuality of performance on the part of the other creature was her weakness and her deep misfortunenot less, no doubt, than her beauty. It produced for the man that extraordinary mixture of pity and profit in which his relation with her, when he was not a mere brute, mainly consisted; and gave him in fact his most pertinent ground of being always nice to her, nice about her, nice FOR her. She always dressed her act up, of course, she muffled and disguised and arranged it, showing in fact in these dissimulations a cleverness equal to but one thing in the world, equal to her abjection: she would let it be known for anything, for everything, but the truth of which it was made. That was what, precisely, Charlotte Stant would be doing now; that was the present motive and support, to a certainty, of each of her looks and motions. She was the twentieth woman, she was possessed by her doom, but her doom was also to arrange appearances, and what now concerned him was to learn how she proposed. He would help her, would arrange WITH her to any point in reason; the only thing was to know what appearance could best be produced and best be preserved. Produced and preserved on her part of course; since on his own there had been luckily no folly to cover up, nothing but a perfect accord between conduct and obligation.
They stood there together, at all events, when the door had closed behind their friend, with a conscious, strained smile and very much as if each waited for the other to strike the note or give the pitch. The young man held himself, in his silent suspenseonly not more afraid because he felt her own fear. She was afraid of herself, however; whereas, to his gain of lucidity, he was afraid only of her. Would she throw herself into his arms, or would she be otherwise wonderful? She would see what he would doso their queer minute without words told him; and she would act accordingly. But what could he do but just let her see that he would make anything, everything, for her, as honourably easy as possible? Even if she should throw herself into his arms he would make that easyeasy, that is, to overlook, to ignore, not to remember, and not, by the same token, either, to regret. This was not what in fact happened, though it was also not at a single touch, but by the finest gradations, that his tension subsided. Its too delightful to be back! she said at last; and it was all she definitely gave himbeing moreover nothing but what anyone else might have said. Yet with two or three other things that, on his response, followed it, it quite pointed the path, while the tone of it, and her whole attitude, were as far removed as need have been from the truth of her situation. The abjection that was present to him as of the essence quite failed to peep out, and he soon enough saw that if she was arranging she could be trusted to arrange. Goodit was all he asked; and all the more that he could admire and like her for it.
The particular appearance she would, as they said, go in for was that of having no account whatever to give himit would be in fact that of having none to give anybodyof reasons or of motives, of comings or of goings. She was a charming young woman who had met him before, but she was also a charming young woman with a life of her own. She would take it highup, up, up, ever so high. Well then, he would do the same; no height would be too great for them, not even the dizziest conceivable to a young person so subtle. The dizziest seemed indeed attained when, after another moment, she came as near as she was to come to an apology for her abruptness.
Ive been thinking of Maggie, and at last I yearned for her. I wanted to see her happyand it doesnt strike me I find you too shy to tell me I SHALL.
Of course shes happy, thank God! Only its almost terrible, you know, the happiness of young, good, generous creatures. It rather frightens one. But the Blessed Virgin and all the Saints, said the Prince, have her in their keeping.
Certainly they have. Shes the dearest of the dear. But I neednt tell you, the girl added.
Ah, he returned with gravity, I feel that Ive still much to learn about her. To which he subjoined Shell rejoice awfully in your being with us.