Again the Duchessa mused for a while in silence, opening and
shutting her fan, and gazing into its opals.
"I am thinking of it from the woman's point of view," she said,
by and by. "To have played such a part in a man's life--and
never to have dreamed it! Never even, very likely, to have
dreamed that such a man existed--for it's entirely possible she
didn't notice him, on those occasions when he saw her. And to
have been the subject of such a novel--and never to have
dreamed that, either! To have read the novel perhaps--without
dreaming for an instant that there was any sort of connection
between Pauline and herself! Or else--what would almost be
stranger still--not to have read the novel, not to have heard
of it! To have inspired such a book, such a beautiful book
--yet to remain in sheer unconscious ignorance that there was
such a book! Oh, I think it is even more extraordinary from
the woman's point of view than from the man's. There is
something almost terrifying about it. To have had such an
influence on the destiny of someone you've never heard of!
There's a kind of intangible sense of a responsibility."
"There is also, perhaps," laughed Peter, "a kind of intangible
sense of a liberty taken. I'm bound to say I think Wildmay was
decidedly at his ease. To appropriate in that cool fashion the
personality of a total stranger! But artists are the most
unprincipled folk unhung. Ils prennent leur bien la, ou ils le
trouvent."
"Oh, no," said the Duchessa, "I think she was fair game. One
can carry delicacy too far. He was entitled to the benefits of
his discovery--for, after all, it was a discovery, was n't it?
You have said yourself how indispensable the eye of the
beholder is--'the seeing eye.' I think, indeed, the whole
affair speaks extremely well for Mr. Wildmay. It is not every
man who would be capable of so purely intellectual a passion.
I suppose one must call his feeling for her a passion? It
indicates a distinction in his nature. He can hardly be a mere
materialist. But--but I think it's heart-rending that he never
met her."
"Oh, but that's the continuation of the story," said Peter.
"He did meet her in the end, you know."
"He did meet her!" cried the Duchessa, starting up, with a
sudden access of interest, whilst her eyes lightened. "He did
meet her? Oh, you must tell me about that."