DOI Artikel:
Harland, Henry: Flower o' the Clove
DOI Seite / Zitierlink:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.25498#0099
By Henry Harland 95
“ I want to know. A man has the hardihood to inform me to
my face that he’d spurn my hand, even if I offered it to him. I
insist upon knowing why.”
“You know why. And you know that ‘spurn’ is very far
from the right word.”
“ I don’t know why. I insist upon your telling me.”
“You know that you’re Sir William Silver’s heiress, I sup-
pose.”
“ Oh, come ! that’s not my fault. How could that matter ? ”
“ Look here, I’m not going to make an ass of myself by
explaining the obvious.”
“ I daresay I’m very stupid, but it isn’t obvious to me.”
“Well, then, let’s drop the subject,” he suggested.
“ I’ll not drop the subject till you’ve elucidated it. If you
were in love with me, Will, and I were in love with you, how on
earth could it matter, my being Sir William Silver’s heiress ? ”
“Wouldn’t I seem a bit mercenary if I asked you to marry
me ? ”
“Oh, Will!” she cried. “Don’t tell me you’re such a prig
as that. What ! if you loved me, if I loved you, you’d give me
up, you’d break my heart, just for fear lest idiotic people, whose
opinions don’t matter any more than the opinions of so many
deep-sea fish, might think you mercenary ! When you and I both
knew in our own two souls that you really weren’t mercenary in
the least ! You’d pay me a poor compliment, Will. Isn’t it
conceivable that a man might love me for myself ? ”
“You state the case too simply. You make no allowances for
the shades and complexities of a man’s feelings.”
“ Bother shades and complexities. Love burns them up.
Your shades and complexities are nothing but priggishness and
vanity. But there ! I’m actually getting angry over a purely
supposititious
“ I want to know. A man has the hardihood to inform me to
my face that he’d spurn my hand, even if I offered it to him. I
insist upon knowing why.”
“You know why. And you know that ‘spurn’ is very far
from the right word.”
“ I don’t know why. I insist upon your telling me.”
“You know that you’re Sir William Silver’s heiress, I sup-
pose.”
“ Oh, come ! that’s not my fault. How could that matter ? ”
“ Look here, I’m not going to make an ass of myself by
explaining the obvious.”
“ I daresay I’m very stupid, but it isn’t obvious to me.”
“Well, then, let’s drop the subject,” he suggested.
“ I’ll not drop the subject till you’ve elucidated it. If you
were in love with me, Will, and I were in love with you, how on
earth could it matter, my being Sir William Silver’s heiress ? ”
“Wouldn’t I seem a bit mercenary if I asked you to marry
me ? ”
“Oh, Will!” she cried. “Don’t tell me you’re such a prig
as that. What ! if you loved me, if I loved you, you’d give me
up, you’d break my heart, just for fear lest idiotic people, whose
opinions don’t matter any more than the opinions of so many
deep-sea fish, might think you mercenary ! When you and I both
knew in our own two souls that you really weren’t mercenary in
the least ! You’d pay me a poor compliment, Will. Isn’t it
conceivable that a man might love me for myself ? ”
“You state the case too simply. You make no allowances for
the shades and complexities of a man’s feelings.”
“ Bother shades and complexities. Love burns them up.
Your shades and complexities are nothing but priggishness and
vanity. But there ! I’m actually getting angry over a purely
supposititious