it was some time before mary spoke again. ralph wondered if she had any inkling of the real truth. he had perhaps said a little too much, and perhaps, on the other hand, he had not said quite enough. suppose that mary jumped to the immediate conclusion that he was the heir. what then? she would ask him the question point blank, and he would be compelled to speak the truth.
but mary's perception was at fault for once. as her eyes sought ralph's face it was evident that she had not the remotest idea who he was. and this was just as it should be, from ralph's point of view.
for he was doing what the world would call a foolish and quixotic thing. he loved this girl with his whole heart and soul; he knew that she was the one woman for him. but not yet; until that sinful pride was humbled in the dust there would be no happiness for mary. her character would have to be cleansed and purified in the fire of adversity first. ralph knew quite well what noble qualities lay under that mask of pride and ice.
he could have called the girl his; he knew it. he had only to proclaim his identity, and mary dashwood would have asked no better fate than to become the wife of the head of the family; she might have given her heart into the bargain.
but ralph would have none of it that way. mary should come to him and sue for pardon; she should proclaim in all sincerity that love was best of all. she should feel that there was something far better than being mistress of dashwood hall. then the truth might be told and the old order of things re-established.
all this ralph had worked out in his mind as a novelist works out a plot. and fate had played into his hands. a stern, hard time was coming for mary, but it would be the making of her in the end. ralph could see it all in his mind's eye as he stood by mary's side and looked into her troubled eyes.
"i don't understand," she said slowly. "i am afraid that i am not so hard and resolute as i believed myself to be. and things have moved so rapidly lately, that i am dazed. first comes the knowledge that my father is--is----"
the girl hesitated and broke down. ralph completed her sentence for her. it sounded harsh and unkind, but the lesson had to be learned.
"is not the man you took him for," ralph said. "his family pride is not a durable article. to play his part properly he should have coldly and politely told mayfield to do his worst, and ordered him out of the house. that is the course one has a right to expect from the head of the house of dashwood. but, alas, for the weakness of poor human nature! your father knows mayfield to be an abandoned scoundrel, and yet he makes a compact with him. a bargain is arranged between them, and you are the price to be paid, mary. and, upon my word, your pride seems to me to be as hollow a thing as that of your father."
"that is false," mary cried passionately. "i am sacrificing everything for the honour of the house."
"not from my point of view. as i said before, you are committing a great and deadly sin with your eyes open. at the altar you are prepared to soil your lips with a horrible perjury. you are going to promise to love, honour, and obey the man whose very presence makes you shudder. but, fortunately, there is no need for that. to all practical purposes you have ceased to be mistress of dashwood, and when mayfield knows this, he will dismiss you as a mere incident in his career. the new heir will take possession of the title and the property."
"i am glad we have got back to him again," mary said coldly. "your personal remarks are exceedingly distasteful to me. who is the man you speak of?"
"vincent dashwood. did you not guess it before? has it never occurred to you that he had some powerful motive that kept him here all this time? you must be aware how lady dashwood dislikes him----"
"oh, yes, yes. several times lately i have asked who the man was, but i could not succeed in getting a satisfactory reply. i knew that lady dashwood was afraid of the man. he is not a bit like a gentleman, but seeing that he was a dashwood, i have always been more or less civil to him."
"he does not think so," ralph said with a smile. "in fact, he thinks that you have treated him very distantly and haughtily. he hinted to me that he was going to make you pay for it later. still, a most objectionable creature."
"i seem to be surrounded with them lately," mary said bitterly. "but why all this mystery and secrecy? if the man is the person he claims to be, why did he not make his identity known long ago? oh, he is an impostor, defrauding lady dashwood. so long as he can get money out of her he will do nothing."
"perhaps lady dashwood will enlighten us on that point," ralph said. "i may say that in california i knew the late ralph dashwood very well. had i not done so, i should not have been here on private business today----"
"then you know if the late heir to the property had a son?" mary interrupted.
"certainly he did. and vincent dashwood claims to be ralph's son. if he can prove this, then he takes the estates and the title. i have talked the matter over with him, and i gather that he is waiting for one particular document before claiming the property. the document is his mother's marriage certificate. you may say that that is easy to obtain. not so in california, where records of that class are not kept so rigidly as they are here. lady dashwood will tell you that the young man came with the strongest proofs of his identity, letters that she had written to her son, and other papers of that kind. he knows all the secrets of the house. lady dashwood never catches him tripping."
"very strange!" mary said. "and yet he makes no claim!"
"for the reason that i told you. he led me to understand that he is loth to disturb existing arrangements during the lifetime of her ladyship. on the whole, i regard this as an exceedingly fortunate business for you!"
"fortunate?" mary exclaimed. "an incident that renders my father and myself penniless!"
"yes. it prevents you becoming the wife of horace mayfield. directly he hears of this thing he will turn his back on you for ever. he is too much a man of the world to waste time in idle regrets; he will look out for another to take your place. on the whole, it seems to me that fate has been very kind to you."
"indeed." mary's voice was very cold, her face colder still. "you seem to be glad."
"i am glad. i am rejoiced to find that providence is not going to allow you to wreck your happiness and imperil your future in this way. nothing could please me better than to see you dependent upon your own exertions for a living. you will be all the better for it; it will cleanse and purify you. and then you will discover that the best thing in the world for a good woman is a good man's love. it is my love for you, mary, that makes me take this view of things, that impels me to rejoice in the fact that you are nearer to me tonight than you have ever been before. and some day you will own it."
"never!" mary cried passionately. "oh, you make me hate you, you make me forget how much i owe you. i could never become your wife."
ralph smiled. there was something very soothing in the sweetness of the night. many a time afterward that scene rose up before his mind.
"you shall be my wife," he said in tones of quiet power. "the scales will fall from your eyes and you will ask me to forgive you. oh, my dear, i know the beauty of your true nature better than you know it yourself. i can see it all before me as clearly as if i were endowed with the gift of prophecy. we all have our lesson to learn, and it is no fault of yours that the lesson has come so late. and when my confession has followed yours, we shall know the meaning of true happiness, but not before."
as if he had said the final word, ralph turned in the direction of the house. a world of passionate scorn, defiance, anger trembled on mary's parted lips. how dare this man, how dare any man, talk to her like this? and yet at the same time the girl was fully aware of the power and masterful purpose behind ralph's words. she was glad in her inmost heart to know that he cared for her so much. after all, mary had her dreams of love and romance like other girls. she was dimly conscious of the sweet and tender womanhood that underlay her pride and ice. and she knew that no scorn or invective could turn ralph from his purpose.
"very well," she said resignedly. "you are a strong man, and i am a weak woman. i daresay you imagine yourself to be paying me a compliment. but i should put that dream aside if i were you, for it is never likely to come true."
"it is no dream," ralph smiled. "nor is the happiness so very far off. now let me take you back to the house again, for it is getting late."
as mary slipped her hand under the proffered arm, a gentle sigh escaped her. she wondered why she could not be angry with this man, why every word of his thrilled her and filled her with such happiness as could not be expressed in words.
