Stephen was not professedly a free-hand draughtsman,but he drew the human figure with correctness and skill.In its numerous repetitions on the sides and edges of the leaves,Knight began to notice a peculiarity.All the feminine saints had one type of feature.There were large nimbi and small nimbi about their drooping heads,but the face was always the same.That profile--how well Knight knew that profile!
Had there been but one specimen of the familiar countenance,he might have passed over the resemblance as accidental;but a repetition meant more.Knight thought anew of Smiths hasty words earlier in the day,and looked at the sketches again and again.
On the young mans entry,Knight said with palpable agitation--
Stephen,who are those intended for?
Stephen looked over the book with utter unconcern,Saints and angels,done in my leisure moments.They were intended as designs for the stained glass of an English church.
But whom do you idealize by that type of woman you always adopt for the Virgin?
Nobody.
And then a thought raced along Stephens mind and he looked up at his friend.
The truth is,Stephens introduction of Elfrides lineaments had been so unconscious that he had not at first understood his companions drift.The hand,like the tongue,easily acquires the trick of repetition by rote,without calling in the mind to assist at all;and this had been the case here.Young men who cannot write verses about their Loves generally take to portraying them,and in the early days of his attachment Smith had never been weary of outlining Elfride.The lay-figure of Stephens sketches now initiated an adjustment of many things.Knight had recognized her.The opportunity of comparing notes had come unsought.
Elfride Swancourt,to whom I was engaged,he said quietly.
Stephen!
I know what you mean by speaking like that.
Was it Elfride?YOU the man,Stephen?
Yes;and you are thinking why did I conceal the fact from you that time at Endelstow,are you not?
Yes,and more--more.
I did it for the best;blame me if you will;I did it for the best.And now say how could I be with you afterwards as I had been before?
I dont know at all;I cant say.
Knight remained fixed in thought,and once he murmured--
I had a suspicion this afternoon that there might be some such meaning in your words about my taking her away.But I dismissed it.How came you to know her?he presently asked,in almost a peremptory tone.
I went down about the church;years ago now.
When you were with Hewby,of course,of course.Well,I cant understand it.His tones rose.I dont know what to say,your hoodwinking me like this for so long!
I dont see that I have hoodwinked you at all.
Yes,yes,but----
Knight arose from his seat,and began pacing up and down the room.
His face was markedly pale,and his voice perturbed,as he said--
You did not act as I should have acted towards you under those circumstances.I feel it deeply;and I tell you plainly,I shall never forget it!
What?
Your behaviour at that meeting in the family vault,when I told you we were going to be married.Deception,dishonesty,everywhere;all the worlds of a piece!
Stephen did not much like this misconstruction of his motives,even though it was but the hasty conclusion of a friend disturbed by emotion.
I could do no otherwise than I did,with due regard to her,he said stiffly.
Indeed!said Knight,in the bitterest tone of reproach.Nor could you with due regard to her have married her,I suppose!I
have hoped--longed--that HE,who turns out to be YOU,would ultimately have done that.
I am much obliged to you for that hope.But you talk very mysteriously.I think I had about the best reason anybody could have had for not doing that.
Oh,what reason was it?
That I could not.
You ought to have made an opportunity;you ought to do so now,in bare justice to her,Stephen!cried Knight,carried beyond himself.That you know very well,and it hurts and wounds me more than you dream to find you never have tried to make any reparation to a woman of that kind--so trusting,so apt to be run away with by her feelings--poor little fool,so much the worse for her!
Why,you talk like a madman!You took her away from me,did you not?
Picking up what another throws down can scarcely be called "taking away."However,we shall not agree too well upon that subject,so we had better part.
But I am quite certain you misapprehend something most grievously,said Stephen,shaken to the bottom of his heart.
What have I done;tell me?I have lost Elfride,but is that such a sin?
Was it her doing,or yours?
Was what?
That you parted.
I will tell you honestly.It was hers entirely,entirely.
What was her reason?
I can hardly say.But Ill tell the story without reserve.
Stephen until to-day had unhesitatingly held that she grew tired of him and turned to Knight;but he did not like to advance the statement now,or even to think the thought.To fancy otherwise accorded better with the hope to which Knights estrangement had given birth:that love for his friend was not the direct cause,but a result of her suspension of love for himself.
Such a matter must not be allowed to breed discord between us,
Knight returned,relapsing into a manner which concealed all his true feeling,as if confidence now was intolerable.I do see that your reticence towards me in the vault may have been dictated by prudential considerations.He concluded artificially,It was a strange thing altogether;but not of much importance,I suppose,at this distance of time;and it does not concern me now,though I dont mind hearing your story.
These words from Knight,uttered with such an air of renunciation and apparent indifference,prompted Smith to speak on--perhaps with a little complacency--of his old secret engagement to Elfride.He told the details of its origin,and the peremptory words and actions of her father to extinguish their love.
