Phroso Part 51

'Allow me to congratulate you,' said Denny ironically.

Man is a curious creature. I (and other people) may have made that reflection before. I offer no apology for it. The more I see of myself and my friends the more convinced I grow of its truth. Here was the thing for which I had been hoping and praying, the one great gift that I asked of fate, the single boon which fortune enviously withheld.

Here was freedom--divine freedom! Yet what I actually said to Denny, in reply to his felicitations, was:

'Hang the girl! She's jilted me!' And I said it with considerable annoyance.

The captain, who studied English in his spare moments, here interposed, asking suavely:

'Pray, my dear Lord Wheatley, what is the meaning of that word--"jilted"?'

'The meaning of "jilted"?' said Denny. 'He wants to know the meaning of "jilted," Charley.'

I looked from one to the other of them; then I said:

'I think I'll go and ask,' and I started for the door. The captain's expression accused me of rudeness. Denny caught me by the arm.

'It's not decent yet,' said he, with a twinkle in his eye.

'It happened nearly a month ago,' I pleaded. 'I've had time to get over it, Denny; a man can't wear the willow all his life.'

'You old humbug!' said Denny, but let me go.

I was not long in going. I darted down the stairs. I suppose a man tricks his conscience and will find excuses for himself where others can find only matter for laughter, but I remember congratulating myself on not having spoken the decisive words to Phroso before Denny interrupted us. Well, I would speak them now. I was free to speak them now. Suddenly, in this thought, the vexation at being jilted vanished.

'It amounts,' said I to myself, as I reached the hall, 'to no more than a fortunate coincidence of opinion.' And I pa.s.sed through the door and turned sharp round to the left.

She was there waiting for me, and waiting eagerly, it seemed, for, before I could speak, she ran to me, holding out her hands, and she cried in a low urgent whisper, full of entreaty:

'My lord, I have thought. I have thought while you were in the house.

You must not do this, my lord. Yes, I know--now I know--that you love me, but you mustn't do this. My lord's honour shan't be stained for my sake.'

I could not resist it, and I cannot justify it. I a.s.sumed a terribly sad expression.

'You've really come to that conclusion, Phroso?' I asked.

'Yes. Ah, how difficult it is! But my lord's honour--ah, don't tempt me! You will take me to Athens, won't you? And then--'

'And then,' said I, 'you'll leave me?'

'Yes,' said Phroso, with a little catch in her voice.

'And what shall I do, left alone?'

'Go back,' murmured Phroso almost inaudibly.

'Go back--thinking of those wonderful eyes?'

'No, no. Thinking of--'

'The lady who waits for me over the sea?'

'Yes. And oh, my lord, I pray that you will find happiness!'

There was a moment's silence. Phroso did not look at me; but then I did look at Phroso.

'Then you refuse, Phroso, to have anything to say to me?'

No answer at all reached me; I came nearer, being afraid that I might not have heard her reply.

'What am I to do for a wife, Phroso?' I asked forlornly. 'Because, Phroso--'

'Ah, my lord, why do you take my hand again?'

'Did I, Phroso? Because, Phroso, the lady who waits over the sea--it's a charmingly poetic phrase, upon my word!'

'You laugh!' murmured Phroso, in aggrieved protest and wonder.

'Did I really laugh, Phroso? Well, I'm happy, so I may laugh.'

'Happy?' she whispered; then at last her eyes were drawn to mine in mingled hope and anguish of questioning.

'The lady who waited over the sea,' said I, 'waits no longer, Phroso.'

The wonderful eyes grew more wonderful in their amazed widening; and Phroso, laying a hand gently on my arm, said:

'She waits no longer? My lord, she is dead?'

This confident inference was extremely flattering. There was evidently but one thing which could end the patient waiting of the lady who waited.

'On the contrary she thinks that I am. Constantine spread news of my death.'

'Ah, yes!'

'He said that I died of fever.'

'And she believes it?'

'She does, Phroso; and she appears to be really very sorry.'

'Ah, but what joy will be hers when she learns--'

'But, Phroso, before she thought I was dead, she had made up her mind to wait no longer.'

'To wait no longer? What do you mean? Ah, my lord, tell me what you mean!'

'What has happened to me, here in Neopalia, Phroso?'

'Many strange things, my lord--some most terrible.'