Odeyne's marriage

"And so this is really Desmond's wedding-day?" remarked the dainty invalid, as she donned a remarkably becoming cap, and settled herself comfortably upon her pillows. "Well, to be sure, it is natural enough, I suppose, but somehow he has always seemed such a boy. Really I find it difficult to realise him with a wife. I wonder how the poor girl will get on."

"The poor girl, mother; really I do not think she is to be pitied. I think she has done uncommonly well for herself--a country clergyman's daughter," answered Maud, with a lifting of the delicate dark brows that showed a trace of superciliousness.

"That is just the whole point of the matter, my dear. If he had selected a bride out of his own world she would have known exactly what to expect from her marriage--she would have understood the risk she ran with a youth of Desmond's temperament; but this rustic maiden probably knows nothing, and will not even be on her guard. It makes me anxious for them both."

Maud looked up quickly, knitting her brows somewhat.

"But, mother, Desmond is steady enough now. He has never been more than a little wild and extravagant at Oxford, and so many young men are that. I am sure the last year or two he has been a model of discretion, and his marriage will sober him down still more--at least that is generally supposed to be the effect it has."

"I hope it may--perhaps that is his best chance. Oh no, Maud, I am not running down your brother--you need not give me such black looks. But facts are stubborn things, and it is no use trying to blink them; and the fact remains that your beloved Desmond has never yet stood up with any success against temptation. When there is no special inducement to take him out of the beaten path, he keeps to it pretty steadily; but he cannot withstand temptation, and anyone can lead him, who goes to work the right way."

"You talk as if Desmond were a pitiably weak creature, and I am sure he is anything but that."

The mother smiled a little, and shrugged her shoulders with an almost imperceptible gesture.

"We will not discuss the matter further. Desmond is one of the most attractive men I have ever seen in my life, though I am his mother that say it. He is a great many charming things, as we all know. Let us endow him with all the cardinal virtues as well, if you will. I have no objection, certainly."

Maud made no immediate reply. It was no new thing that her mother's conversation irritated her a good deal more than she would ever have admitted. But the friction was too chronic to be much noticed, and it was not long before she spoke again.

"I almost wish I had gone, after all. I think you could have spared me for two days, mother."

"I am sure I could. I told you so all along, but I thought you rather wished for a valid excuse for staying away."

"Well, I believe I did then, and now I am rather sorry. It seemed as if Desmond were almost throwing himself away, to marry like that. He could have made a really good match if he had liked, and this girl has nothing, I suppose?"

"She has a good old name and a charmingly pretty face, if her photographs do not flatter her outrageously. Of course Desmond might have done better; but then, again, he might have done worse--got into some tiresome or dangerous entanglement, so we will not fall foul of his engagement to Miss Hamilton. Why, they will be positively getting married at this very moment--yes, I wish you had been there, Maud. You could have told me all about it afterwards--how the bride behaved, and what the dresses were like, though, to be sure, in a place like that they would be nothing much to look at. Why, whoever can that be, coming at this hour of the morning? Oh, very likely only a friend to ask at the door after me."