Volume Ii Part 17 (1/2)
”Yes, sir,” said Agnes, still weeping; for his accusation of her having another love, continued to ring in her ears, and make her heart swell almost to bursting.
”Speak not in anger, Agnes!...” said he mildly. ”What I have felt for you does not deserve such a return.”
”I know it, I know it,” replied Agnes, weeping more violently still, ”and I am very wrong, as well as very unhappy. Pray, Mr. Stephenson, forgive me,” and she held out her hand to him.
He took it, and held it for a moment between both his. ”Unhappy, Agnes?...” he said, ”why should you be unhappy? Oh! if my love, my devotion, could render you otherwise!... But you will not trust me?...
You will not let me pa.s.s my life in labouring to make yours happy?”
”Nothing can make me happy, Mr. Stephenson; pray do not talk any more about it, for indeed, indeed, I cannot be your wife.”
He abruptly raised her hand to his lips, and then let it fall. ”May Heaven bless and make you happy in your own way, whatever that may be!”
he cried, and turning from her, reached the verge of the declivity that overhung the river, then plunging down it with very heedless haste, he was out of sight immediately.
This was a catastrophe wholly unexpected by Miss Peters, who now hastened to meet the disconsolate-looking Agnes. ”What in the world can you have said to him, my dear, to send him off in that style? I trust that you have not quarrelled.”
Most unfeignedly distressed and embarra.s.sed was Agnes at this appeal, and the more so because her friend Mary was not alone.... To her perhaps she might have been able to tell the terrible adventure which had befallen her, but before Elizabeth it was impossible; and, pressing Mary's arm, she said in a whisper, ”Ask me no questions, dearest Mary, now, for I cannot answer them ... wait only till we get home.”
But to wait in a state of such tormenting uncertainty was beyond the philosophy of Mary, so she suddenly stopped, saying, ”Elizabeth! walk on slowly for a few minutes, will you?... I have something that I particularly wish to say to Agnes.”... And the good-natured Elizabeth walked on, without ever turning her head to look back at them.
”What has happened?... what has he said to you?... and what have you said to him?” hastily inquired the impatient friend.
”Oh, Mary!... he has made me so very unhappy ... and the whole thing is so extremely strange.... I cannot hide anything from you, Mary, ... but it will kill me should you let my aunt hear of it.... He has made me an offer, Mary!”
”Of course, Agnes, I know he has.... But how does that account for his running off in that strange wild way? and how does it account for your crying and looking so miserable? Why did he run away as if he were afraid to see us, Agnes? and when are you going to see him again?”
”I shall never see him again, Mary,” said Agnes gravely.
”Then you _have_ quarrelled!... Good Heaven, what folly! I suppose he said something about your aunt that you fancied was not civil; ... but all things considered, Agnes, ought you not to have forgiven it?”
”Indeed, Mary, he said nothing that was rude about my aunt, and I am sure he did not mean to be uncivil in any way ... though certainly he hurt and offended me very much ... but perhaps he did not intend it.”
”Hurt and offended you, Agnes?... Let me beg you to tell me at once what it was he did say to you.”
”I will tell you everything but one, and that I own to you I had rather not repeat ... and it does not signify, for that was not the reason he ran off so.”
”And what was the reason?”
”A very foolish one indeed, and I am sure you will laugh at it ... it was only because I said I could not marry him.”
”You said that, Agnes?... You said you could not marry him?”
”Yes, I did! I do not wish to marry him; indeed, I would not marry him for the world.”
”And this is the end of it all!” exclaimed Miss Peters with much vexation. ”I have much mistaken you, Agnes.... I thought you were suffering greatly from being dependent on your aunt Barnaby.”
”And do you doubt it now, Mary?”
”How can I continue to think this, when you have just refused an offer of marriage from a young man, well born, n.o.bly allied, with a splendid fortune, extremely handsome, and possessed, as I truly believe, of more excellent and amiable qualities than often fall to the share of any mortal. How can I believe after this that you really feel unhappy from the circ.u.mstances of your present situation?”