Henry James: Complete Stories 1864-1874 (103 page)

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Authors: Henry James

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weather!in those of the South End) for games and exercises and music, to keep the poor unoccupied children out of the streets; then the revelation that it had suddenly been settled almost from one hour to the other that Grace should sail for Liverpool, Mr. Porterfield at last being ready. He was taking a little holiday; his mother was with him, they had come over from Paris to see some of the celebrated old buildings in England, and he had telegraphed to say that if Grace would start right off they would just finish it up and be married. It often happened that when things had dragged on that way for years they were all huddled up at the end. Of course in such a case she, Mrs. Mavis, had had to fly round. Her daughter's passage was taken, but it seemed too dreadful that she should make her journey all alone, the first time she had ever been at sea, without any companion or escort.
She
couldn't goMr. Mavis was too sick: she hadn't even been able to get him off to the seaside.
Well, Mrs. Nettlepoint is going in that ship, Mrs. Allen had said; and she had represented that nothing was simpler than to put the girl in her charge. When Mrs. Mavis had replied that that was all very well but that she didn't know the lady, Mrs. Allen had declared that that didn't make a speck of difference, for Mrs. Nettlepoint was kind enough for anything. It was easy enough to know her, if that was all the trouble. All Mrs. Mavis would have to do would be to go up to her the next morning when she took her daughter to the ship (she would see her there on the deck with her party) and tell her what she wanted. Mrs. Nettlepoint had daughters her-self and she would easily understand. Very likely she would even look after Grace a little on the other side, in such a queer situation, going out alone to the gentleman she was engaged to; she would just help her to turn round before she was married. Mr. Porterfield seemed to think they wouldn't wait long, once she was there: they would have it right over at the American consul's. Mrs. Allen had said it would perhaps be better still to go and see Mrs. Nettlepoint beforehand, that day, to tell her what they wanted: then they wouldn't seem to spring it on her just as she was leaving. She herself (Mrs. Allen) would call and say a word for them if she could save ten minutes before catching her train. If she hadn't come it was
 
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because she hadn't saved her ten minutes; but she had made them feel that they must come all the same. Mrs. Mavis liked that better, because on the ship in the morning there would be such a confusion. She didn't think her daughter would be any troubleconscientiously she didn't. It was just to have some one to speak to her and not sally forth like a servant-girl going to a situation.
I see, I am to act as a sort of bridesmaid and to give her away, said Mrs. Nettlepoint. She was in fact kind enough for anything and she showed on this occasion that it was easy enough to know her. There is nothing more tiresome than complications at sea, but she accepted without a protest the burden of the young lady's dependence and allowed her, as Mrs. Mavis said, to hook herself on. She evidently had the habit of patience, and her reception of her visitors' story reminded me afresh (I was reminded of it whenever I returned to my native land) that my dear compatriots are the people in the world who most freely take mutual accommodation for granted. They have always had to help themselves, and by a magnanimous extension they confound helping each other with that. In no country are there fewer forms and more reciprocities.
It was doubtless not singular that the ladies from Merrimac Avenue should not feel that they were importunate: what was striking was that Mrs. Nettlepoint did not appear to suspect it. However, she would in any case have thought it inhuman to show thatthough I could see that under the surface she was amused at everything the lady from the South End took for granted. I know not whether the attitude of the younger visitor added or not to the merit of her good-nature. Mr. Porterfield's intended took no part in her mother's appeal, scarcely spoke, sat looking at the Back Bay and the lights on the long bridge. She declined the lemonade and the other mixtures which, at Mrs. Nettlepoint's request, I offered her, while her mother partook freely of everything and I reflected (for I as freely consumed the reviving liquid) that Mr. Jasper had better hurry back if he wished to profit by the refreshment prepared for him.
Was the effect of the young woman's reserve ungracious, or was it only natural that in her particular situation she
 
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should not have a flow of compliment at her command? I noticed that Mrs. Nettlepoint looked at her often, and certainly though she was undemonstrative Miss Mavis was interesting. The candle-light enabled me to see that if she was not in the very first flower of her youth she was still a handsome girl. Her eyes and hair were dark, her face was pale and she held up her head as if, with its thick braids, it were an appurtenance she was not ashamed of. If her mother was excellent and common she was not common (not flagrantly so) and perhaps not excellent. At all events she would not be, in appearance at least, a dreary appendage, and (in the case of a person hooking on) that was always something gained. Is it because something of a romantic or pathetic interest usually attaches to a good creature who has been the victim of a long engagement that this young lady made an impression on me from the firstfavoured as I had been so quickly with this glimpse of her history? Certainly she made no positive appeal; she only held her tongue and smiled, and her smile corrected whatever suggestion might have forced itself upon me that the spirit was deadthe spirit of that promise of which she found herself doomed to carry out the letter.
What corrected it less, I must add, was an odd recollection whcih gathered vividness as I listened to ita mental association which the name of Mr. Porterfield had evoked. Surely I had a personal impression, over-smeared and confused, of the gentleman who was waiting at Liverpool, or who would be, for Mrs. Nettlepoint's
protégée.
I had met him, known him, some time, somewhere, somehow, in Europe. Was he not studying somethingvery hardsomewhere, probably in Paris, ten years before, and did he not make extraordinarily neat drawings, linear and architectural? Didn't he go to a
table d'hôte,
at two francs twenty-five, in the Rue Bonaparte, which I then frequented, and didn't he wear spectacles and a Scotch plaid arranged in a manner which seemed to say, I have trust worthy information that that is the way they do it in the Highlands? Was he not exemplary and very poor, so that I supposed he had no overcoat and his tartan was what he slept under at night? Was he not working very hard still, and wouldn't he be in the natural course, not yet satisfied that he knew enough to launch out? He would be a man of long
 
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preparationsMiss Mavis's white face seemed to speak to one of that. It appeared to me that if I had been in love with her I should not have needed to lay such a train to marry her. Architecture was his line and he was a pupil of the Ecole des Beaux Arts. This reminiscence grew so much more vivid with me that at the end of ten minutes I had a curious sense of knowingby implicationa good deal about the young lady.
Even after it was settled that Mrs. Nettlepoint would do everything for her that she could her mother sat a little, sipping her syrup and telling how low Mr. Mavis had been. At this period the girl's silence struck me as still more conscious, partly perhaps because she deprecated her mother's loquacity (she was enough of an improvement to measure that) and partly because she was too full of pain at the idea of leaving her infirm, her perhaps dying father. I divined that they were poor and that she would take out a very small purse for her trousseau. Moreover for Mr. Porterfield to make up the sum his own case would have had to change. If he had enriched himself by the successful practice of his profession I had not encountered the buildings he had rearedhis reputation had not come to my ears.
Mrs. Nettlepoint notified her new friends that she was a very inactive person at sea: she was prepared to suffer to the full with Miss Mavis, but she was not prepared to walk with her, to struggle with her, to accompany her to the table. To this the girl replied that she would trouble her little, she was sure: she had a belief that she should prove a wretched sailor and spend the voyage on her back. Her mother scoffed at this picture, prophesying perfect weather and a lovely time, and I said that if I might be trusted, as a tame old bachelor fairly sea-seasoned, I should be delighted to give the new member of our party an arm or any other countenance whenever she should require it. Both the ladies thanked me for this (taking my description only too literally), and the elder one declared that we were evidently going to be such a sociable group that it was too bad to have to stay at home. She inquired of Mrs. Nettlepoint if there were any one elseif she were to be accompanied by some of her family; and when our hostess mentioned her sonthere was a chance of his embarking but (wasn't it absurd?) he had not decided yet, she rejoined with
 
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extraordinary candourOh dear, I do hope he'll go: that would be so pleasant for Grace.
Somehow the words made me think of poor Mr. Porterfield's tartan, especially as Jasper Nettlepoint strolled in again at that moment. His mother instantly challenged him: it was ten o'clock; had he by chance made up his great mind? Apparently he failed to hear her, being in the first place surprised at the strange ladies and then struck with the fact that one of them was not strange. The young man, after a slight hesitation, greeted Miss Mavis with a handshake and an Oh, good evening, how do you do? He did not utter her name, and I could see that he had forgotten it; but she immediately pronounced his, availing herself of an American girl's discretion to introduce him to her mother.
Well, you might have told me you knew him all this time! Mrs. Mavis exclaimed. Then smiling at Mrs. Nettlepoint she added, It would have saved me a worry, an acquaintance already begun.
Ah, my son's acquaintances! Mrs. Nettlepoint murmured.
Yes, and my daughter's too! cried Mrs. Mavis, jovially. Mrs. Allen didn't tell us
you
were going, she continued, to the young man.
She would have been clever if she had been able to! Mrs. Nettlepoint ejaculated.
Dear mother, I have my telegram, Jasper remarked, looking at Grace Mavis.
I know you very little, the girl said, returning his observation.
I've danced with you at some ballfor some sufferers by something or other.
I think it was an inundation, she replied, smiling. But it was a long time agoand I haven't seen you since.
I have been in far countriesto my loss. I should have said it was for a big fire.
It was at the Horticultural Hall. I didn't remember your name, said Grace Mavis.
That is very unkind of you, when I recall vividly that you had a pink dress.
Oh, I remember that dressyou looked lovely in it! Mrs.
 
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Mavis broke out. You must get another just like iton the other side.
Yes, your daughter looked charming in it, said Jasper Nettlepoint. Then he added, to the girlYet you mentioned my name to your mother.
It came back to meseeing you here. I had no idea this was your home.
Well, I confess it isn't, much. Oh, there are some drinks! Jasper went on, approaching the tray and its glasses.
Indeed there are and quite delicious, Mrs. Mavis declared.
Won't you have another then?a pink one, like your daughter's gown.
With pleasure, sir. Oh, do see them over, Mrs. Mavis continued, accepting from the young man's hand a third tumbler.
My mother and that gentleman? Surely they can take care of themselves, said Jasper Nettlepoint.
But my daughtershe has a claim as an old friend.
Jasper, what does your telegram say? his mother interposed.
He gave no heed to her question: he stood there with his glass in his hand, looking from Mrs. Mavis to Miss Grace.
Ah, leave her to me, madam; I'm quite competent, I said to Mrs. Mavis.
Then the young man looked at me. The next minute he asked of the young ladyDo you mean you are going to Europe?
Yes, to-morrow; in the same ship as your mother.
That's what we've come here for, to see all about it, said Mrs. Mavis.
My son, take pity on me and tell me what light your telegram throws, Mrs. Nettlepoint went on.
I will, dearest, when I've quenched my thirst. And Jasper slowly drained his glass.
Well, you're worse than Gracie, Mrs. Mavis commented. She was first one thing and then the otherbut only about up to three o'clock yesterday.
Excuse mewon't you take something? Jasper inquired of Gracie; who however declined, as if to make up for her mother's copious
consommation.
I made privatley the reflection that the two ladies ought to take leave, the question of

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