The Greater Inclination Part 16

_Warland_. I wish I had a rich aunt who had fits.

_Isabel_. If I were wis.h.i.+ng I should choose heart-disease.

_Warland_. There's no doing anything without money or influence.

_Isabel (picking up her book)_. Have you heard from Was.h.i.+ngton?

_Warland_. Yes. That's what I was going to speak of when I asked for Mrs. Raynor. I wanted to bid her good-bye.

_Isabel_. You're going?

_Warland_. By the five train. f.a.gott has just wired me that the Amba.s.sador will be in Was.h.i.+ngton on Monday. He hasn't named his secretaries yet, but there isn't much hope for me. He has a nephew--

_Isabel_. They always have. Like the Popes.

_Warland_. Well, I'm going all the same. You'll explain to Mrs. Raynor if she gets back before I do? Are there to be people at dinner? I don't suppose it matters. You can always pick up an extra man on a Sat.u.r.day.

_Isabel_. By the way, that reminds me that Marian left me a list of the people who are arriving this afternoon. My novel is so absorbing that I forgot to look at it. Where can it be? Ah, here--Let me see: the Jack Merringtons, Adelaide Clinton, Ned Lender--all from New York, by seven P.M. train. Lewis Darley to-night, by Fall River boat. John Oberville, from Boston at five P.M. Why, I didn't know--

_Warland (excitedly)_. John Oberville? John Oberville? Here? To-day at five o'clock? Let me see--let me look at the list. Are you sure you're not mistaken? Why, she never said a word! Why the deuce didn't you tell me?

_Isabel_. I didn't know.

_Warland_. Oberville--Oberville--!

_Isabel_. Why, what difference does it make?

_Warland_. What difference? What difference? Don't look at me as if you didn't understand Englis.h.!.+ Why, if Oberville's coming--(a pause) Look here, Isabel, didn't you know him very well at one time?

_Isabel_. Very well--yes.

_Warland_. I thought so--of course--I remember now; I heard all about it before I met you. Let me see--didn't you and your mother spend a winter in Was.h.i.+ngton when he was Under-secretary of State?

_Isabel_. That was before the deluge.

_Warland_. I remember--it all comes back to me. I used to hear it said that he admired you tremendously; there was a report that you were engaged. Don't you remember? Why, it was in all the papers. By Jove, Isabel, what a match that would have been!

_Isabel_. You _are_ disinterested!

_Warland_. Well, I can't help thinking--

_Isabel_. That I paid you a handsome compliment?

_Warland (preoccupied)_. Eh?--Ah, yes--exactly. What was I saying?

Oh--about the report of your engagement. _(Playfully.)_ He was awfully gone on you, wasn't he?

_Isabel_. It's not for me to diminish your triumph.

_Warland_. By Jove, I can't think why Mrs. Raynor didn't tell me he was coming. A man like that--one doesn't take him for granted, like the piano-tuner! I wonder I didn't see it in the papers.

_Isabel_. Is he grown such a great man?

_Warland_. Oberville? Great? John Oberville? I'll tell you what he is--the power behind the throne, the black Pope, the King-maker and all the rest of it. Don't you read the papers? Of course I'll never get on if you won't interest yourself in politics. And to think you might have married that man!

_Isabel_. And got you your secretarys.h.i.+p!

_Warland_. Oberville has them all in the hollow of his hand.

_Isabel_. Well, you'll see him at five o'clock.

_Warland_. I don't suppose he's ever heard of _me_, worse luck! (_A silence_.) Isabel, look here. I never ask questions, do I? But it was so long ago--and Oberville almost belongs to history--he will one of these days at any rate. Just tell me--did he want to marry you?

_Isabel_. Since you answer for his immortality--(_after a pause_) I was very much in love with him.

_Warland_. Then of course he did. (_Another pause_.) But what in the world--

_Isabel (musing)_. As you say, it was so long ago; I don't see why I shouldn't tell you. There was a married woman who had--what is the correct expression?--made sacrifices for him. There was only one sacrifice she objected to making--and he didn't consider himself free.

It sounds rather _rococo_, doesn't it? It was odd that she died the year after we were married.

_Warland_. Whew!

_Isabel (following her own thoughts)_. I've never seen him since; it must be ten years ago. I'm certainly thirty-two, and I was just twenty-two then. It's curious to talk of it. I had put it away so carefully. How it smells of camphor! And what an old-fas.h.i.+oned cut it has! _(Rising.)_ Where's the list, Lucius? You wanted to know if there were to be people at dinner tonight--

_Warland_. Here it is--but never mind. Isabel--(_silence_) Isabel--

_Isabel_. Well?

_Warland_. It's odd he never married.

_Isabel_. The comparison is to my disadvantage. But then I met you.

_Warland_. Don't be so confoundedly sarcastic. I wonder how he'll feel about seeing you. Oh, I don't mean any sentimental rot, of course... but you're an uncommonly agreeable woman. I daresay he'll be pleased to see you again; you're fifty times more attractive than when I married you.

_Isabel_. I wish your other investments had appreciated at the same rate. Unfortunately my charms won't pay the butcher.

_Warland_. d.a.m.n the butcher!

_Isabel_. I happened to mention him because he's just written again; but I might as well have said the baker or the candlestick-maker. The candlestick-maker--I wonder what he is, by the way? He must have more faith in human nature than the others, for I haven't heard from him yet.

I wonder if there is a Creditor's Polite Letter-writer which they all consult; their style is so exactly alike. I advise you to pa.s.s through New York incognito on your way to Was.h.i.+ngton; their attentions might be oppressive.

_Warland_. Confoundedly oppressive. What a dog's life it is! My poor Isabel--

_Isabel_. Don't pity me. I didn't marry you for a home.

_Warland (after a pause_). What _did_ you marry me for, if you cared for Oberville? _(Another pause_.) Eh?

_Isabel_, Don't make me regret my confidence.