PAGE 8
A Knight
by
IV
“Time went on. There was no swordsman, or pistol-shot like me in London, they said. We had as many pupils as we liked–it was the only part of my life when I have been able to save money. I had no chance to spend it. We gave lessons all day, and in the evening were too tired to go out. That year I had the misfortune to lose my dear mother. I became a rich man–yes, sir, at that time I must have had not less than six hundred a year.
“It was a long time before I saw Eilie again. She went abroad to Dresden with her father’s sister to learn French and German. It was in the autumn of 1875 when she came back to us. She was seventeen then–a beautiful young creature.” He paused, as if to gather his forces for description, and went on.
“Tall, as a young tree, with eyes like the sky. I would not say she was perfect, but her imperfections were beautiful to me. What is it makes you love–ah! sir, that is very hidden and mysterious. She had never lost the trick of closing her lips tightly when she remembered her uneven tooth. You may say that was vanity, but in a young girl–and which of us is not vain, eh? ‘Old men and maidens, young men and children!’
“As I said, she came back to London to her little room, and in the evenings was always ready with our tea. You mustn’t suppose she was housewifely; there is something in me that never admired housewifeliness–a fine quality, no doubt, still–” He sighed.
“No,” he resumed, “Eilie was not like that, for she was never quite the same two days together. I told you her eyes were like the sky–that was true of all of her. In one thing, however, at that time, she always seemed the same–in love for her father. For me! I don’t know what I should have expected; but my presence seemed to have the effect of making her dumb; I would catch her looking at me with a frown, and then, as if to make up to her own nature–and a more loving nature never came into this world, that I shall maintain to my dying day–she would go to her father and kiss him. When I talked with him she pretended not to notice, but I could see her face grow cold and stubborn. I am not quick; and it was a long time before I understood that she was jealous, she wanted him all to herself. I’ve often wondered how she could be his daughter, for he was the very soul of justice and a slow man too–and she was as quick as a bird. For a long time after I saw her dislike of me, I refused to believe it–if one does not want to believe a thing there are always reasons why it should not seem true, at least so it is with me, and I suppose with all selfish men.
“I spent evening after evening there, when, if I had not thought only of myself, I should have kept away. But one day I could no longer be blind.
“It was a Sunday in February. I always had an invitation on Sundays to dine with them in the middle of the day. There was no one in the sitting-room; but the door of Eilie’s bedroom was open. I heard her voice: ‘That man, always that man!’ It was enough for me, I went down again without coming in, and walked about all day.
“For three weeks I kept away. To the school of course I came as usual, but not upstairs. I don’t know what I told Dalton–it did not signify what you told him, he always had a theory of his own, and was persuaded of its truth–a very single-minded man, sir.
“But now I come to the most wonderful days of my life. It was an early spring that year. I had fallen away already from my resolution, and used to slink up–seldom, it’s true–and spend the evening with them as before. One afternoon I came up to the sitting-room; the light was failing–it was warm, and the windows were open. In the air was that feeling which comes to you once a year, in the spring, no matter where you may be, in a crowded street, or alone in a forest; only once–a feeling like–but I cannot describe it.