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AYALA’S ANGEL
troubles?” And it was the less possible because this man whom
she had rejected was so anxious to do everything for her happiness. Lady Albury had told her that he was a hero, — that
he was perfect in honour, honesty, and gallantry; and she felt
inclined to own that Lady Albury was almost right. Yet, — yet
how far was he from that image of manly perfection which
her daily thoughts had created for her! Could she have found
an appropriate word with which to thank him she would
have done so; but there was no such word, and Larry Twentyman was now with them, taking off his hat and overflowing
with compliments. “Oh, Miss Dormer, I am so delighted to see
you out again.”
“How is the baby, Mr. Twentyman?”
“Brisk as a bee, and hungry as a hunter.”
“And how is Mrs. Twentyman?”
“Brisker and hungrier than the baby. What do you think of
the day, Colonel?”
“A very good sort of day, Twentyman, if we were anywhere
out of these big woods.” Larry shook his head solemnly. The
Mudcombe Woods in which they were now at work had been
known to occupy Tony Tappett and his whole pack from eleven o’clock till the dusk of evening. “We’ve got to draw them, of
course,” continued the Colonel. Then Mr. Twentyman discoursed at some length on the excellence of Mudcombe Woods.
What would any county be without a nursery for young foxes?
Gorse-coverts, hedge-rows, and little spinneys would be of no
avail unless there were some grandly wild domain in which
maternal and paternal foxes could roam in comparative security. All this was just as Ayala would have it, because it enabled
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ANTHONY TROLLOPE
her to ask questions, and saved her from subjects which might
be painful to her.
The day, in truth, was not propitious to hunting even.
Foxes were found in plenty, and two of them were killed within the recesses of the wood; but on no occasion did they run
a mile into the open. For Ayala it was very well, because she
was galloping hither and thither, and because before the day
was over she found herself able to talk to the Colonel in her
wonted manner; but there was no great glory for her as had
been the glory of Little Cranbury Brook.
On the next morning she was taken back to London and
handed over to her aunt in Kingsbury Crescent without another word having been spoken by Colonel Stubbs in reference to his love.
CHAPTER XXVII
LADY ALBURY’S LETTER
“I have had a letter from Lady Albury,” said Aunt Margaret,
almost as soon as Ayala had taken off her hat and cloak.
“Yes, I know, Aunt Margaret. She wrote to ask that I might
stay for four more days. I hope it was not wrong.”
“I have had another letter since that, on Monday, about it;
I have determined to show it you. There it is. You had better
read it by yourself, and I will come to you again in half an hour.”
Then, very solemnly, but with no trace of ill-humour, Mrs.
Dosett left the room. There was something in her tone and
gait so exceedingly solemn that Ayala was almost frightened.
Of course, the letter must be about Colonel Stubbs, and, of
course, the writer of it would find fault with her. She was conscious that she was adding one to her terribly long list of sins in
not consenting to marry Colonel Stubbs. It was her misfortune that all her friends found fault with everything that she
did. Among them there was not one, not even Nina, who fully
sympathised with her. Not even to Lucy could she expatiate
with a certainty of sympathy in regard to the Angel of Light.
And now, though her aunt was apparently not angry, — only
solemn, — she felt already sure that she was to be told that it
53
ANTHONY TROLLOPE
was her duty to marry Colonel Stubbs. It was only the other
day that her aunt was preaching to her as to the propriety of
marrying her cousin Tom. It seemed, she said to herself, that
people thought that a girl was bound to marry any man who
could provide a house for her, and bread to eat, and clothes to
wear. All this passed through her mind as she slowly drew
Lady Albury’s letter from the envelope and prepared to read it.
The letter was as follows: —
Stalham, Monday, 18th November, 18 — .
'ൾൺඋ0ൺൽൺආ,
Your niece will return to you, as you request, on Thursday, but before she reaches you I think it my duty to inform
you of a little circumstance which has occurred here. My
cousin, Colonel Jonathan Stubbs, who is also the nephew of
the Marchesa Baldoni, has made Miss Dormer an offer. I am
bound to add that I did not think it improbable that it would
be so, when I called on your husband, and begged him to allow
your niece to come to us. I did not then know my cousin’s intention as a fact. I doubt whether he knew it himself; but from
what I had heard I thought it probable, and, as I conceive that
any young lady would be fortunate in becoming my cousin’s
wife, I had no scruple.
He has proposed to her, and she has rejected him. He has
set his heart upon the matter, and I am most anxious that he
should succeed, because I know him to be a man who will not
easily brook disappointment where he has set his heart. Of all
men I know he is the most steadfast in his purpose.
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AYALA’S ANGEL
I took the liberty of speaking to your niece on the subject, and am disposed to think that she is deferred by some
feeling of foolish romance, partly because she does not like
the name, partly because my cousin is not a handsome man in
a girl’s eyes; — more probably, however, she has built up to
herself some poetic fiction, and dreams of she knows not what.
If it be so, it is a pity that she should lose an opportunity of settling herself well and happily in life. She gave as a reason that
she did not love him. My experience is not so long as yours,
perhaps, but such as I have has taught me to think that a wife
will love her husband when she finds herself used well at all
points. Mercenary marriages are, of course, bad: but it is a pity,
I think, that a girl, such as your niece, should lose the chance of
so much happiness by a freak of romance.
Colonel Stubbs, who is only twenty-eight years of age, has
a staff appointment at Aldershot. He has private means of his
own, on which alone he would be justified in marrying. On
the death of his uncle, General Stubbs, he will inherit a considerable accession of fortune. He is not, of course, a rich man;
but he has ample for the wants of a family. In all other good
gifts, temper, manliness, truth, and tenderness, I know no
one to excel him. I should trust any young friend of my own
into his hands with perfect safety.
I have thought it right to tell you this. You will use your
own judgment in saying what you think fit to your niece.
Should she be made to understand that her own immediate
friends approve of the offer, she would probably be induced to
accept it. I have not heard my cousin say what may be his future plans. I think it possible that, as he is quite in earnest, he
55
ANTHONY TROLLOPE
will not take one repulse. Should he ask again, I hope that your
niece may receive him with altered views.
Pray believe me to be, my dear Madam,
Yours sincerely,
5ඈඌൺඅංඇൾ$අൻඎඋඒ.
Ayala read the letter twice over before her aunt returned to
her, and, as she read it, felt something of a feeling of renewed
kindness come upon her in reference to the writer of it; — not
that she was in the least changed in her own resolution, but
that she liked Lady Albury for wishing to change her. The
reasons given, however, were altogether impotent with her.
Colonel Stubbs had the means of keeping a wife! If that were
a reason then also ought she to marry her cousin, Tom Tringle. Colonel Stubbs was good and true; but so also very probably was Tom Tringle. She would not compare the two men.
She knew that her cousin Tom was altogether distasteful to
her, while she took delight in the companionship of the Colonel. But the reasons for marrying one were to her thinking as
strong as for marrying the other. There could be only one valid
excuse for marriage, — that of adoring the man; — and she was
quite sure that she did not adore Colonel Jonathan Stubbs.
Lady Albury had said in her letter, that a girl would be sure to
love a man who treated her well after marriage; but that would
not suffice for her. Were she to marry at all, it would be necessary that she should love the man before her marriage.
“Have you read the letter, my dear?” said Mrs. Dosett, as
she entered the room and closed the door carefully behind
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AYALA’S ANGEL
her. She spoke almost in a whisper, and seemed to be altogether changed by the magnitude of the occasion.
“Yes, Aunt Margaret, I have read it.”
“I suppose it is true?”
“True! It is true in part.”
“You did meet this Colonel Stubbs?”
“Oh, yes; I met him.”
“And you had met him before?”
“Yes, Aunt Margaret. He used to come to Brook Street.
He is the Marchesa’s nephew.”
“Did he — “ This question Aunt Margaret asked in a very
low whisper, and her most solemn voice. “Did he make love to
you in Brook Street?”
“No,” said Ayala, sharply.
“Not at all?”
“Not at all. I never thought of such a thing. I never
dreamed of such a thing when he began talking to me out in
the woods at Stalham on Saturday.”
“Had you been — been on friendly terms with him?”
“Very friendly terms. We were quite friends, and used to
talk about all manner of things. I was very fond of him, and
never afraid of anything that he said to me. He was Nina’s
cousin and seemed almost to be my cousin too.”
“Then you do like him?”
“Of course I do. Everybody must like him. But that is no
reason why I should want to marry him.”
Upon this Mrs. Dosett sat silent for awhile turning the great
matter over in her thoughts. It was quite clear to her that every
word which Ayala had spoken was true; and probable also that
57
ANTHONY TROLLOPE
Lady Albury’s words were true. In her inmost thoughts she
regarded Ayala as a fool. Here was a girl who had not a shilling of her own, who was simply a burden on relatives whom
she did not especially love, who was doomed to a life which
was essentially distasteful to her, — for all this in respect to
herself and her house Mrs. Dosett had sense enough to acknowledge, — who seemed devoted to the society of rich and
gay people, and yet would not take the opportunities that
were offered her of escaping what she disliked and going to
that which she loved! Two offers had now been made to her,
both of them thoroughly eligible, to neither of which would
objection have been made by any of the persons concerned.
Sir Thomas had shown himself to be absolutely anxious for
the success of his son. And now it seemed that the grand relations of this Colonel Stubbs were in favour of the match. What
it was in Ayala that entitled her to such promotion Mrs. Dosett
did not quite perceive. To her eyes her niece was a fantastic
girl, pretty indeed, but not endowed with that regular tranquil
beauty which she thought to be of all feminine graces the most
attractive. Why Tom Tringle should have been so deeply smitten with Ayala had been a marvel to her; and now this story of
Colonel Stubbs was a greater marvel. “Ayala,” she said, “you
ought to think better of it.”
“Think better of what, Aunt Margaret?”
“You have seen what this Lady Albury says about her cousin, Colonel Stubbs.”
“What has that to do with it?”
“You believe what she says? If so why should you not
accept him?”
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AYALA’S ANGEL
“Because I can’t,” said Ayala.
“Have you any idea what is to become of your future life?”
said Mrs. Dosett, very gravely.
“Not in the least,” said Ayala. But that was a fib, because
she had an idea that in the fullness of time it would be her
heavenly fate to put her hand into that of the Angel of Light.
“Gentlemen won’t come running after you always, my
dear.”
This was almost as bad as being told by her Aunt Emmeline
that she had encouraged her cousin Tom. “It’s a great shame to
say that. I don’t want anybody to run after me. I never did.”
“No, my dear; no. I don’t think that you ever did.” Mrs.
Dosett, who was justice itself, did acknowledge to herself
that of any such fault as that suggested, Ayala was innocent.
Her fault was quite in the other direction, and consisted of
an unwillingness to settle herself and to free her relations of
the burden of maintaining her when proper opportunities
arose for doing so. “I only want to explain to you that people
must, — must, — must make their hay while the sun shines.
You are young now.”
“I am not one-and-twenty yet,” said Ayala, proudly.
“One-and-twenty is a very good time for a girl to marry, — that is to say if a proper sort of gentleman asks her.”
“I don’t think I ought to be scolded because they don’t
seem to me to be the proper sort. I don’t want anybody to come.
Nobody ought to be talked to about it at all. If I cared about
any one that you or Uncle Reginald did not approve, then you
might talk to me. But I don’t think that anything ought to be
said about anybody unless I like him myself.” So the conversa-
59
ANTHONY TROLLOPE
tion was over, and Mrs. Dosett felt that she had been entirely
vanquished.
Lady Albury’s letter was shown to Mr. Dosett, but he refused to say a word to his niece on the subject. In the argument
which followed between him and his wife he took his niece’s
part, opposing altogether that idea that hay should be made
while the sun shines. “It simply means selling herself,” said
Mr. Dosett.
“That is nonsense, Reginald. Of course such a girl as Ayala
has to do the best she can with her good looks. What else has
she to depend upon?”
“My brother-in-law will do something for her.”
“I hope he will, — though I do not think that a very safe
reed to depend upon as she has twice offended him. But of
course a girl thinks of marrying. Ayala would be very much
disgusted if she were told that she was to be an old maid,
and live upon £100 a year supplied by Sir Thomas’s bounty.
It might have been that she would have to do it; — but now
that chances are open she ought to take them. She should
choose between her cousin Tom and this Colonel Stubbs; and
you should tell her that, if she will not, you will no longer be
responsible for her.”
To this Mr. Dosett turned altogether a deaf ear. He was
quite sure that his responsibility must be continued till Ayala
should marry, or till he should die, and he would not make
a threat which he would certainly be unable to carry out.
He would be very glad if Ayala could bring herself to marry either of the young men. It was a pity that she should feel herself
compelled to refuse offers so excellent. But it was a matter for
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