The Essential Henry James Collection. Генри Джеймс

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СКАЧАТЬ from Mrs. Touchett. There are more different from her than there are like her." Ralph still said nothing; and after a pause his father resumed softly: "What do you think of your cousin?"

      At this Ralph started, meeting the question with a strained smile. "Do I understand you to propose that I should marry Isabel?"

      "Well, that's what it comes to in the end. Don't you like Isabel?"

      "Yes, very much." And Ralph got up from his chair and wandered over to the fire. He stood before it an instant and then he stooped and stirred it mechanically. "I like Isabel very much," he repeated.

      "Well," said his father, "I know she likes you. She has told me how much she likes you."

      "Did she remark that she would like to marry me?"

      "No, but she can't have anything against you. And she's the most charming young lady I've ever seen. And she would be good to you. I have thought a great deal about it."

      "So have I," said Ralph, coming back to the bedside again. "I don't mind telling you that."

      "You ARE in love with her then? I should think you would be. It's as if she came over on purpose."

      "No, I'm not in love with her; but I should be if--if certain things were different."

      "Ah, things are always different from what they might be," said the old man. "If you wait for them to change you'll never do anything. I don't know whether you know," he went on; "but I suppose there's no harm in my alluding to it at such an hour as this: there was some one wanted to marry Isabel the other day, and she wouldn't have him."

      "I know she refused Warburton: he told me himself."

      "Well, that proves there's a chance for somebody else."

      "Somebody else took his chance the other day in London--and got nothing by it."

      "Was it you?" Mr. Touchett eagerly asked.

      "No, it was an older friend; a poor gentleman who came over from America to see about it."

      "Well, I'm sorry for him, whoever he was. But it only proves what I say--that the way's open to you."

      "If it is, dear father, it's all the greater pity that I'm unable to tread it. I haven't many convictions; but I have three or four that I hold strongly. One is that people, on the whole, had better not marry their cousins. Another is that people in an advanced stage of pulmonary disorder had better not marry at all."

      The old man raised his weak hand and moved it to and fro before his face. "What do you mean by that? You look at things in a way that would make everything wrong. What sort of a cousin is a cousin that you had never seen for more than twenty years of her life? We're all each other's cousins, and if we stopped at that the human race would die out. It's just the same with your bad lung. You're a great deal better than you used to be. All you want is to lead a natural life. It is a great deal more natural to marry a pretty young lady that you're in love with than it is to remain single on false principles."

      "I'm not in love with Isabel," said Ralph.

      "You said just now that you would be if you didn't think it wrong. I want to prove to you that it isn't wrong."

      "It will only tire you, dear daddy," said Ralph, who marvelled at his father's tenacity and at his finding strength to insist. "Then where shall we all be?"

      "Where shall you be if I don't provide for you? You won't have anything to do with the bank, and you won't have me to take care of. You say you've so many interests; but I can't make them out."

      Ralph leaned back in his chair with folded arms; his eyes were fixed for some time in meditation. At last, with the air of a man fairly mustering courage, "I take a great interest in my cousin," he said, "but not the sort of interest you desire. I shall not live many years; but I hope I shall live long enough to see what she does with herself. She's entirely independent of me; I can exercise very little influence upon her life. But I should like to do something for her."

      "What should you like to do?"

      "I should like to put a little wind in her sails."

      "What do you mean by that?"

      "I should like to put it into her power to do some of the things she wants. She wants to see the world for instance. I should like to put money in her purse."

      "Ah, I'm glad you've thought of that," said the old man. "But I've thought of it too. I've left her a legacy--five thousand pounds."

      "That's capital; it's very kind of you. But I should like to do a little more."

      Something of that veiled acuteness with which it had been on Daniel Touchett's part the habit of a lifetime to listen to a financial proposition still lingered in the face in which the invalid had not obliterated the man of business. "I shall be happy to consider it," he said softly.

      "Isabel's poor then. My mother tells me that she has but a few hundred dollars a year. I should like to make her rich."

      "What do you mean by rich?"

      "I call people rich when they're able to meet the requirements of their imagination. Isabel has a great deal of imagination."

      "So have you, my son," said Mr. Touchett, listening very attentively but a little confusedly.

      "You tell me I shall have money enough for two. What I want is that you should kindly relieve me of my superfluity and make it over to Isabel. Divide my inheritance into two equal halves and give her the second."

      "To do what she likes with?"

      "Absolutely what she likes."

      "And without an equivalent?"

      "What equivalent could there be?"

      "The one I've already mentioned."

      "Her marrying--some one or other? It's just to do away with anything of that sort that I make my suggestion. If she has an easy income she'll never have to marry for a support. That's what I want cannily to prevent. She wishes to be free, and your bequest will make her free."

      "Well, you seem to have thought it out," said Mr. Touchett. "But I don't see why you appeal to me. The money will be yours, and you can easily give it to her yourself."

      Ralph openly stared. "Ah, dear father, I can't offer Isabel money!"

      The old man gave a groan. "Don't tell me you're not in love with her! Do you want me to have the credit of it?"

      "Entirely. I should like it simply to be a clause in your will, without the slightest reference to me."

      "Do you want me to make a new will then?"

      "A few words will do it; you can attend to it the next time you feel a little lively."

      "You must telegraph to Mr. Hilary then. I'll do nothing without my solicitor."

      "You СКАЧАТЬ