“I shall probably remain in the village till the first of September.”
Probably she expects an application to keep the fall term of school,” thought Mr. Chester. “I am glad to hear you say so, Miss Frost,” he added aloud. “We could hardly spare you.”
“Thank you, Mr. Chester. I am afraid you have learned to flatter.”
“Indeed I have not, Miss Frost,” said Mr. Chester, earnestly. “I may add that I, perhaps, should miss you most of all.”
Mabel looked at his face quickly. She suspected what was coming.
“I am certainly obliged to you for your appreciation, Mr. Chester,” she returned, without betraying any maidenly confusion.
“It is something more than that,” said the bachelor quickly, feeling that the moment had come. “Miss Frost — Mabel — I have learned to love you. I place my hand and fortune at your feet.”
“You are very kind, Mr. Chester, and I am deeply indebted to you for the compliment you have paid me; but I cannot marry without love, and I do not love you.”
“It will come in time,” urged Mr. Chester. “All I ask is that you marry me, and I will take the risk of that.”
“But I cannot,” said Mabel. “We should find too late that we had made a mistake.”
In spite of his love, Randolph Chester felt a little irritated at Mabel’s indifference to her own interests.
“I am afraid, Miss Frost,” he said, you don’t understand how much I offer you. I possess independent means. I can release you from the slavery of the schoolroom, and provide for you a life of ease. We will live in the city during the greater part of the year, and in the summer come to Granville, or any other place you would prefer. It is not an unpleasant life I offer you.”
“I don’t think we take the same view of marriage, Mr. Chester,” said Mabel. “I should not be willing to marry in order to live at ease, or to escape the `slavery of the schoolroom,’ which I have found pleasant. I thank you for the compliment you have paid me, but it is impossible.”
She spoke decisively, and Mr. Chester could not escape the conviction that his answer was final. He was not overwhelmed with grief, but he was bitterly angry.
“Of course you can do as you please, Miss Frost,” he said sharply. “I hope you won’t find out your mistake when it is too late. If you think of marrying that artist fellow, Thorpe, I may as well tell you that he can hardly support himself, much less a wife.”
This was more than Mabel could bear. She rose to her feet, and her eyes flashed fire.
“You have no right to say this,” she exclaimed. “Mr. Thorpe has never spoken to me of love. As for his circumstances, I have never considered them. I only know that he is a gentleman.”
She swept out of the room indignantly, leaving Mr. Chester rather bewildered. He took his hat and left the house, sorely disappointed, and still more angry. His vanity had received a severe wound, which would take a longer time to heal than his heart, which had not been so seriously affected.
As he walked towards the hotel he felt very bitter towards Mabel, and scowled fiercely at Allan Thorpe, whom he happened to meet on the way, though, as it was dark, the artist was happily unconscious of it. He thirsted for revenge. He wished to show Mabel that he was not inconsolable. Unhappily for the bachelor, he was in this mood when he reached the hotel and met Miss Clementina Raymond. He did not care a particle for her, but spite against Miss Frost hurried him on to the avowal of a passion that he did not feel. His offer was rather a cool, business-like proposal than an impulsive declaration of affection. But Clementina made up for his lack of sentiment by a bashful confusion, which was very well assumed.
“I am so surprised, and so embarrassed, Mr. Chester,” she said. “How could I dream that you were kind enough to regard me with such sentiments? I ought, perhaps, to consult mamma.”