The Maiden CHAPTER 12.
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On leaving the house of Mrs. Lee, young Archer went directly to his friend and confidant, Mrs. Leslie.
"I called on Miss Lee, this evening," he said, abruptly, as soon as he met that lady.
"Ah! Well, what was the result?"
"The stupid girl wouldn't see me!"
"Hush, William! You mustn't speak in that way about young ladies."
"The girl, then — confound her!"
"What did she say?"
"I didn't tell my name to the servant, when I first went in, merely sending up word that a gentleman had called to see her. But I couldn't get to se her in this way. She must have my name. So I sent up my card. In three minutes the servant came down, and said, 'Miss Anna says she cannot see you.' Humph! Wasn't that telling me to go about my business in the rudest way imaginable? But I'll be revenged on her! I'll make her repent of this insult — see if I don't! and that before a dozen months are up!"
"William! I won't hear you talk so," interposed Mrs. Leslie. "You certainly are forgetting yourself. If Anna didn't wish to see you, she had a right to say so."
"Yes, but — "
"Remember, William," added Mrs. Leslie, "that I told you success was doubtful, if you presented your suit in that quarter. Anna Lee has already refused Gardiner, as you know; and, if I am not mistaken in her reasons, on account of lighter objections than lie at your door."
"Pah! A young man is liked all the better for being a little mirthful. It shows that there is some spirit in him."
"Your doctrine, however true in the main, won't hold good in this case."
"I don't care. I'll be revenged on her. I'll humble her yet. I'll show the world that she isn't the angel she pretends to be."
"I tell you, William, that I will not permit you to speak before me, in this way!" The base threat of the base-hearted young man, awoke even Mrs. Leslie's sluggish sense of delicacy and right.
"Well, well! never mind!" he replied, in a softened tone, conscious that he had said too much. "I'll try and keep cool."
"Which will be a much more sensible thing."
"But shall I give up the pursuit?"
"Yes, by all means. No man who has any independent feelings could know, or wish to know, the individual who had refused to see him. There is Florence Armitage, who is to be had, as I know, for the asking. Take her; she will suit you a great deal better. Her tastes are not so refined, nor her sense of propriety so squeamish as are those of Miss Lee. And then, you know, she will have something more solid into the bargain. Depend upon it, she will make you a much more agreeable wife."
"Perhaps so. But in a wife, even I would prefer the delicate reserve of Anna Lee — to the free, forward, kiss-me-if-you-dare manner of Florence Armitage."
"Would you, indeed! You are too picky in your distinctions."
"So I ought to be, when thinking of a wife. A man ought to reflect a little before he ties himself to a woman's apron string for life."
"You can't get Anna Lee, and you can get Florence Armitage; and you must, so you say, choose between them. What folly, then, to trifle about it! Go forward, like a man, and take the latter; my word for it, you will never repent having done so."
Urged by his friend, Mrs. Leslie, and by the indignation he felt at the refusal of Anna to see him, Archer, in a few days, determined the question in favor of Florence. With her, he had no difficulty. Matters were soon on the most favorable footing. In about six weeks he offered himself, and was accepted without hesitation by the maiden. Her parents were not so easily reconciled. But a covert intimation that, if consent were not given, an elopement would inevitably take place, brought them to terms. Had they known the real truth, that the young man had actually wasted, in dissipation and gaming, the whole of his property — they would, even then, not have yielded. But this they did not suspect.
After these preliminaries were settled, much to the delight of Florence, an early day was named for the marriage, and all the preparations for the happy event begun.
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