For some moments Isabel said nothing; then at last, ‘Do you know how often he had seen me?’ she enquired. ‘Five or six times.’
‘That’s to your glory.’
‘It’s not for that I say it.’
‘What then do you say it for? Not to prove that poor Warburton’s state of mind’s superficial, because I’m pretty sure you don’t think that.’
Isabel certainly was unable to say she thought it; but presently she said something else. ‘If you’ve not been requested by Lord Warburton to argue with me, then you’re doing it disinterestedly—or for the love of argument.’
‘I’ve no wish to argue with you at all. I only wish to leave you alone. I’m simply greatly interested in your own sentiments.’
‘I’m greatly obliged to you!’ cried Isabel with a slightly nervous laugh.
‘Of course you mean that I’m meddling in what doesn’t concern me. But why shouldn’t I speak to you of this matter without annoying you or embarrassing myself? What’s the use of being your cousin if I can’t have a few privileges? What’s the use of adoring you without hope of a reward if I can’t have a few compensations? What’s the use of being ill and disabled and restricted to mere spectatorship at the game of life if I really can’t see the show when I’ve paid so much for my ticket? Tell me this,’ Ralph went on while she listened to him with quickened attention. ‘What had you in mind when you refused Lord Warburton?’
‘What had I in mind?’
‘What was the logic—the view of your situation—that dictated so remarkable an act?’
‘I didn’t wish to marry him—if that’s logic.’
‘No, that’s not logic—and I knew that before. It’s really nothing, you know. What was it you said to yourself? You certainly said more than that.’
Isabel reflected a moment, then answered with a question of her own. ‘Why do you call it a remarkable act? That’s what your mother thinks too.’
‘Warburton’s such a thorough good sort; as a man, I consider he has hardly a fault. And then he’s what they call here no end of a swell. He has immense possessions, and his wife would be thought a superior being. He unites the intrinsic and the extrinsic advantages.’
Isabel watched her cousin as to see how far he would go. ‘I refused him because he was too perfect then. I’m not perfect myself, and he’s too good for me. Besides, his perfection would irritate me.’
‘That’s ingenious rather than candid,’ said Ralph. ‘As a fact you think nothing in the world too perfect for you.’
‘Do you think I’m so good?’
‘No, but you’re exacting, all the same, without the excuse of thinking yourself good. Nineteen women out of twenty, however, even of the most exacting sort, would have managed to do with Warburton. Perhaps you don’t know how he has been stalked.’