Bird of Paradise Part 41

"Yes; you must if you want it to be all right. What man wants to be deluged with tears and complaints? Dear Mrs. Hillier, I'm speaking as a genuine friend. I'm speaking frankly. I'm advising you as I would my own sister. Write to him cheerily, and take an interest in his doings, but not _too_ great. Show less curiosity. Above all, no jealousy, no suspicions. It's the worst thing in the world."

"Is it? Go on, dear Mrs. Kellynch. Tell me more."

"Talk of the children--show interest in them--make him proud of them.

There you have an advantage no other woman has. You're the mother of his children."

"Does he care for that?"

"Of course he does--and he will more, if you do. Show an interest and a pride in it, and you will be what no one else can be to him."

Mary thought, and seemed to see it. "Go on, go on!" she said, putting out her hand.

"Dear Mrs. Hillier, I have envied you so for that! All these years, I've never had that great happiness. At last"--she paused--"I'll tell you, if you care to know--at last, after ten years, I am going to have my wish."

"Really! And you are pleased?"

"I'm divinely happy, delighted!"

"Then I'm very glad for you, Mrs. Kellynch. But can't you imagine--you're so pretty and charming and good-tempered and clever. I'm none of all these things. I'm not pretty, and I'm very bad-tempered and terribly jealous by nature and not clever."

"You are his wife and he chose you. And he is a charming, pleasant man.

You ought to be very happy together."

"To tell the truth--I don't mind what I tell you--I feel you're kind and good and sincere--I have always had a horrible feeling that he married me--because--because he was hard up. And I had money! And yet----"

"Oh, Mrs. Hillier, don't talk nonsense! It's dreadful of you to say so.

You ought to be very glad to be able to have everything you want, without having to consider for your children. It's a great thing, I a.s.sure you, to have no money troubles. It's another very big reason for you and Nigel to be happy. You don't know what it is. It's agony! I do, because before I was married I was one of a very large family, and my father was a very popular preacher and all that, but it was a terrible struggle. To send the boys to public schools and Oxford, the girls had to be really dreadfully pinched! And always worries about bills! I was brought up in that atmosphere, and I know that to be entirely free from it is a most enormous relief and comfort. You will probably never know how fortunate you are."

"You are right. Of course Nigel is not the man to endure money troubles well."

"Exactly. Well, now, can't you see that you've every possible chance of happiness together?"

"May I call you Bertha?" answered Mary. "You've been a real angel to me, I might have expected you to refuse to see me, or at least to be cold and unkind--and instead you're as sorry as you can be for me and want to see me happy! You are sweet."

"Of course I'd like to see you happy," said Bertha. "You understand now that I also care for my husband? You're not the only one in the world, though I admit we're rather exceptions nowadays!"

"Yes; and I thought because you were so pretty and sweet that you _must_ be a flirt--at the very least."

"I don't say I'm not, all the same. But I would never wish to interfere with other people's happiness."

"I sometimes think it might be better if I were a little of a flirt,"

sighed Mary. "But I can't--it's not my nature--or, rather, I'm too busy always looking after Nigel!"

"Well, don't do that so much and he'll look after you all the more. Show interest in your appearance and society--let him be proud of you--and _don't_ be afraid of being fond of the children!"

"I'm really tremendously fond of them," said Mary. "Only I was always so afraid he would think they would do instead of him! I have such a horror of his sending me off with them and thinking they will fill up all my life, while he was living like a gay bachelor! And when he was very sweet to them I really was jealous of them!"

"But all this is absurd. If you show your affection for them he will love you far more, and when _he_ is devoted to them it shows he's devoted to you. Don't be foolish, Mrs. Hillier, you have had a sort of crisis. Do let it end there. Let things be different. He will be delighted to see you cheerful and jolly again. It's all in your own hands, really."

"Thank you. It was a shame to bother you."

She got up to go.

"May I tell you, later on ... how things are? I shall follow your advice _exactly_!"

Mary was looking at her now in a kind of wors.h.i.+pping grat.i.tude and trust.

"Yes, do. But I know it will be all right. Only be a little patient just now. ... He will miss you awfully, I know," said Bertha, smiling.

"Oh! Will he _really_? How _sweet_ of you to say that! Good-bye, Bertha.

Dear Bertha, you have been kind. I'm _so_ sorry." Tears came to her eyes again, but as she pa.s.sed the little mirror she began to laugh. "To think I should have come to see you for the first time got up like a dame in a pantomime. How grotesque!"

They both laughed. Laughter altered and improved Mary wonderfully. It was a faculty she never exercised. She was always much too serious.

"Do you know, I haven't one woman friend," said Mary.

"Yes, you have, _now_." Bertha pressed her hand.

"Good-bye! ... Oh, Bertha, do you _really_ think he'll miss me?"

"Of course he will! Awfully!"

"Thanks. Good-bye!"

"Poor girl!" Bertha said to herself as Mary left the house.

CHAPTER x.x.xVI

PLAIN SAILING

Whether or not it was through meeting Nigel, at any rate, Rupert became exceedingly anxious to see Madeline again. It would have happened anyhow, but perhaps a little more slowly, since Nigel's rapid views may have had some influence on that more deliberate young man.

However that may be, in the early autumn Madeline, almost overcome with joy, was married to her adored and cultured instructor. She always remained his painstaking pupil; and he seemed highly gratified with her general progress; while she continued to be equally pleased with his mode of instruction and anxious not to neglect her education in any way.

When Nigel joined his wife he found her decidedly improved. Perhaps he really had missed the fact that he was of far more importance to her than to anyone else in the world. She never conquered her jealousy; but she learnt to conceal it, and thus to keep the peace; the children became gradually a source of mutual interest that was a real tie between them; in fact it grew in time into a positive hobby and a cause of so much pride and satisfaction as to be rather a bore to many of their friends.

I find I am finis.h.i.+ng my story in a manner no less strange than unconventional nowadays: I am leaving no less than three almost perfectly happy couples! If this is a strain on the imagination of the reader, let it be remembered that they had all had their troubles and storms before they reached this point of smooth water.