I dont believe, said Mrs. Tristram, that you are never angry. A man ought to be angry sometimes, and you are neither good enough nor bad enough always to keep your temper.
I lose it perhaps once in five years.
The time is coming round, then, said his hostess. Before I have known you six months I shall see you in a fine fury.
Do you mean to put me into one?
I should not be sorry. You take things too coolly. It exasperates me. And then you are too happy. You have what must be the most agreeable thing in the world, the consciousness of having bought your pleasure beforehand and paid for it. You have not a day of reckoning staring you in the face. Your reckonings are over.
Well, I suppose I am happy, said Newman, meditatively.
You have been odiously successful.
Successful in copper, said Newman, only so-so in railroads, and a hopeless fizzle in oil.
It is very disagreeable to know how Americans have made their money. Now you have the world before you. You have only to enjoy.
Oh, I suppose I am very well off, said Newman. Only I am tired of having it thrown up at me. Besides, there are several drawbacks. I am not intellectual.
One doesnt expect it of you, Mrs. Tristram answered. Then in a moment, Besides, you are!
Well, I mean to have a good time, whether or no, said Newman. I am not cultivated, I am not even educated; I know nothing about history, or art, or foreign tongues, or any other learned matters. But I am not a fool, either, and I shall undertake to know something about Europe by the time I have done with it. I feel something under my ribs here, he added in a moment, that I cant explaina sort of a mighty hankering, a desire to stretch out and haul in.
Bravo! said Mrs. Tristram, that is very fine. You are the great Western Barbarian, stepping forth in his innocence and might, gazing a while at this poor effete Old World and then swooping down on it.
Oh, come, said Newman. I am not a barbarian, by a good deal. I am very much the reverse. I have seen barbarians; I know what they are.
I dont mean that you are a Comanche chief, or that you wear a blanket and feathers. There are different shades.
I am a highly civilized man, said Newman. I stick to that. If you dont believe it, I should like to prove it to you.
Mrs. Tristram was silent a while. I should like to make you prove it, she said, at last. I should like to put you in a difficult place.
Pray do, said Newman.
That has a little conceited sound! his companion rejoined.
Oh, said Newman, I have a very good opinion of myself.
I wish I could put it to the test. Give me time and I will. And Mrs. Tristram remained silent for some time afterwards, as if she was trying to keep her pledge. It did not appear that evening that she succeeded; but as he was rising to take his leave she passed suddenly, as she was very apt to do, from the tone of unsparing persiflage to that of almost tremulous sympathy. Speaking seriously, she said, I believe in you, Mr. Newman. You flatter my patriotism.
Your patriotism? Christopher demanded.
Even so. It would take too long to explain, and you probably would not understand. Besides, you might take itreally, you might take it for a declaration. But it has nothing to do with you personally; its what you represent. Fortunately you dont know all that, or your conceit would increase insufferably.
Newman stood staring and wondering what under the sun he represented.
Forgive all my meddlesome chatter and forget my advice. It is very silly in me to undertake to tell you what to do. When you are embarrassed, do as you think best, and you will do very well. When you are in a difficulty, judge for yourself.
I shall remember everything you have told me, said Newman. There are so many forms and ceremonies over here
Forms and ceremonies are what I mean, of course.
Ah, but I want to observe them, said Newman. Havent I as good a right as another? They dont scare me, and you neednt give me leave to violate them. I wont take it.
That is not what I mean. I mean, observe them in your own way. Settle nice questions for yourself. Cut the knot or untie it, as you choose.
Oh, I am sure I shall never fumble over it! said Newman.
The next time that he dined in the Avenue dIéna was a Sunday, a day on which Mr. Tristram left the cards unshuffled, so that there was a trio in the evening on the balcony. The talk was of many things, and at last Mrs. Tristram suddenly observed to Christopher Newman that it was high time he should take a wife.
Listen to her; she has the audacity! said Tristram, who on Sunday evenings was always rather acrimonious.
I dont suppose you have made up your mind not to marry? Mrs. Tristram continued.
Heaven forbid! cried Newman. I am sternly resolved on it.
Its very easy, said Tristram; fatally easy!
Well, then, I suppose you do not mean to wait till you are fifty.
On the contrary, I am in a great hurry.
One would never suppose it. Do you expect a lady to come and propose to you?
No; I am willing to propose. I think a great deal about it.
Tell me some of your thoughts.
Well, said Newman, slowly, I want to marry very well.
Marry a woman of sixty, then, said Tristram.
Well in what sense?
In every sense. I shall be hard to please.
You must remember that, as the French proverb says, the most beautiful girl in the world can give but what she has.
Since you ask me, said Newman, I will say frankly that I want extremely to marry. It is time, to begin with: before I know it I shall be forty. And then Im lonely and helpless and dull. But if I marry now, so long as I didnt do it in hot haste when I was twenty, I must do it with my eyes open. I want to do the thing in handsome style. I do not only want to make no mistakes, but I want to make a great hit. I want to take my pick. My wife must be a magnificent woman.
Voilà ce qui sappelle parler! cried Mrs. Tristram.
Oh, I have thought an immense deal about it.
Perhaps you think too much. The best thing is simply to fall in love.
When I find the woman who pleases me, I shall love her enough. My wife shall be very comfortable.
You are superb! Theres a chance for the magnificent women.
You are not fair. Newman rejoined. You draw a fellow out and put him off guard, and then you laugh at him.
I assure you, said Mrs. Tristram, that I am very serious. To prove it, I will make you a proposal. Should you like me, as they say here, to marry you?
To hunt up a wife for me?
She is already found. I will bring you together.
Oh, come, said Tristram, we dont keep a matrimonial bureau. He will think you want your commission.
Present me to a woman who comes up to my notions, said Newman, and I will marry her tomorrow.
You have a strange tone about it, and I dont quite understand you. I didnt suppose you would be so coldblooded and calculating.
Newman was silent a while. Well, he said, at last, I want a great woman. I stick to that. Thats one thing I can treat myself to, and if it is to be had I mean to have it. What else have I toiled and struggled for, all these years? I have succeeded, and now what am I to do with my success? To make it perfect, as I see it, there must be a beautiful woman perched on the pile, like a statue on a monument. She must be as good as she is beautiful, and as clever as she is good. I can give my wife a good deal, so I am not afraid to ask a good deal myself. She shall have everything a woman can desire; I shall not even object to her being too good for me; she may be cleverer and wiser than I can understand, and I shall only be the better pleased. I want to possess, in a word, the best article in the market.