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Sechsundvierzigstes KapitelCHAPTER XXXVII - THE FIRST QUARREL
In früher Morgenstunde empfing Lord Harry ein Telegramm des Doktors. Da Iris noch nicht aufgestanden war, ließ er Fanny Mere rufen und befahl ihr, das Fremdenzimmer zur Aufnahme eines Gastes bereit zu halten. EARLY in the morning of the next day, Lord Harry received the doctor's telegram. Iris not having risen at the time, he sent for Fanny Mere, and ordered her to get the spare room ready for a guest. The maid's busy suspicion tempted her to put a venturesome question. She asked if the person expected was a lady or a gentleman. "What business is it of yours who the visitor is?" her master asked sharply. Always easy and good-humoured with his inferiors in general, Lord Harry had taken a dislike to his wife's maid, from the moment when he had first seen her. His Irish feeling for beauty and brightness was especially offended by the unhealthy pallor of the woman's complexion, and the sullen self-suppression of her manner. All that his native ingenuity had been able to do was to make her a means of paying a compliment to his wife. "Your maid has one merit in my eyes," he said; "she is a living proof of the sweetness of your temper."
Iris selbst traf mit ihrem Gatten am Frühstückstisch zusammen. In ihrem Gesicht war eine gewisse Unruhe zu lesen. Iris joined her husband at the breakfast-table with an appearance of disturbance in her face, seldom seen, during the dull days of her life at Passy.
»Wie ich höre, kommt jemand zu Besuch«, sagte sie. »Ich hoffe mit Bestimmtheit, dass es nicht wieder Mr. Vimpany ist.« "I hear of somebody coming to stay with us," she said. "Not Mr. Vimpany again, I hope and trust?"
Lord Harry gab ihr den gewohnten Morgenkuss und sagte dann mit gewinnendem Lächeln: Lord Harry was careful to give his customary morning kiss, before he replied.
»Warum sollte denn mein treuer alter Freund nicht wieder hieher kommen und mich besuchen?« "Why shouldn't my faithful old friend come and see me again?" he asked, with his winning smile.
»Bitte«, antwortete sie, »sprich von diesem verhassten Menschen nicht in einer Weise, als ob er wirklich Dein Freund wäre. Mr. Vimpany ist ein schlechter Mensch. Er ist der schlimmste Freund, den Du um Dich haben konntest - und nun besonders noch zu einer Zeit, in der Du Deine ganze Kraft und Aufmerksamkeit nötigeren Dingen zuwenden solltest.« "Pray don't speak of that hateful man," she answered, "as your faithful old friend! He is nothing of the kind. What did you tell me when he took leave of us after his last visit, and I owned I was glad that he had gone? You said: 'Faith, my dear, I'm as glad as you are.'" Her good-natured husband laughed at this little picture of himself. "Ah, my darling, how many more times am I to make the same confession to my pretty priest? Try to remember, without more telling, that it's one of my misfortunes to be a man of many tempers. There are times when I get tired to death of Mr. Vimpany; and there are times when the cheery old devil exercises fascinations over me. I declare you're spoiling the eyebrows that I admire by letting them twist themselves into a frown! After the trouble I have taken to clear your mind of prejudice against an unfortunate man, it's disheartening to find you so hard on the poor fellow's faults and so blind to his virtues." The time had been when this remonstrance might have influenced his wife's opinion. She passed it over without notice now. "Does he come here by your invitation?" she asked. "How else should he come here, my dear?" She looked at her husband with doubt too plainly visible in her eyes. "I wonder what your motive is for sending for him," she said. He was just lifting his teacup to his lips--he put it down again when he heard those words. "Are you ill this morning?" he asked. "No." "Have I said anything that has offended you?" "Certainly not." "Then I must tell you this, Iris; I don't approve of what you have just said. It sounds, to my mind, unpleasantly like suspicion of me and suspicion of my friend. I see your face confessing it, my lady, at this moment." "You are half right, Harry, and no more. What you see in my face is suspicion of your friend." "Founded on what, if you please?" "Founded on what I have seen of him, and on what I know of him. When you tried to alter my opinion of Mr. Vimpany some time since, I did my best to make my view your view. I deceived myself, for your sake; I put the best construction on what he said and did, when he was staying here. It was well meant, but it was of no use. In a thousand different ways, while he was doing his best to win my favour, his true self was telling tales of him under the fair surface. Mr. Vimpany is a bad man. He is the very worst friend you could have about you at any time--and especially at a time when your patience is tried by needy circumstances."
»Ein Wort, Iris! Je beredter Du bist, um so mehr bewundere ich Dich. Nur erwähne nie wieder die, wie Du zu sagen beliebst, für mich nötigen Dinge!« "One word, Iris. The more eloquent you are, the more I admire you. Only, don't mention my needy circumstances again."
Sie ließ die Unterbrechung unbeachtet. She passed over the interruption as she had already passed over the remonstrance, without taking notice of it.
»Lieber Harry«, fuhr sie freundlich fort, »Du bist immer so gut mit mir. Bin ich daher im Unrecht, wenn ich glaube, dass mir die Liebe immer noch einigen Einfluss auf Dich gewährt? Frauen sind eitel, und ich bin nicht besser als alle übrigen. Schmeichle der Eitelkeit Deiner Frau, Harry, indem Du ihrer Meinung wenigstens einige Berechtigung zugestehst. Lass Mr. Vimpany, wenn er nun doch einmal unabänderlich hieherkommen soll, wenigstens nicht in unserem Hause wohnen! Ich werde schon irgendeine passende Entschuldigung finden und für ihn in der Nachbarschaft ein Unterkommen suchen, solange er hier zu bleiben hat. Es überläuft mich kalt, wenn ich daran denke, dass er mit uns unter ein und demselben Dache schlafen soll. Nur nicht zu uns, Harry, nur nicht zu uns!« "Dearest, you are always good to me," she continued gently. "Am I wrong in thinking that love gives me some little influence over you still? Women are vain--are they not?--and I am no better than the rest of them. Flatter your wife's vanity, Harry, by attaching some importance to her opinion. Is there time enough, yet, to telegraph to Mr. Vimpany? Quite out of the question, is it? Well, then, if he must come here, do--pray, pray do consider Me. Don't let him stay in the house! I'll find a good excuse, and take a bedroom for him in the neighbourhood. Anywhere else, so long as he is not here. He turns me cold when I think of him, sleeping under the same roof with ourselves. Not with us! oh, Harry, not with us!"
Ihre Augen suchten eifrig in dem Gesicht ihres Gatten zu lesen; sie wollte darin Nachgiebigkeit, sie wollte darin Überzeugtsein finden. Aber nichts dieser Art stand darin. Her eyes eagerly searched her husband's face; she looked there for indulgence, she looked for conviction. No! he was still admiring her.
»Auf mein Ehrenwort!« rief er laut aus. »Du bereitest mir eine ungeahnte Überraschung. Welch reiche Phantasie besitzest Du! Eines Tages werde ich noch viel stolzer auf Dich sein dürfen als bisher; ich werde Dich als eine berühmte Schriftstellerin begrüßen können.« "On my word of honour," he burst out, "you fascinate me. What an imagination you have got! One of these days, Iris, I shall be prouder of you than ever; I shall find you a famous literary character. I don't mean writing a novel; women who can't even hem a handkerchief can write a novel. It's poetry I'm thinking of. Irish melodies by Lady Harry that beat Tom Moore. What a gift! And there are fortunes made, as I have heard, by people who spoil fair white paper to some purpose. I wish I was one of them."
»Ist das alles, was Du mir zu erwidern hast?« fragte sie. "Have you no more to say to me?" she asked.
»Was soll ich denn anders sagen? Du wirst doch nicht etwa verlangen, dass ich das für ernst nehmen soll, was Du soeben über Vimpany gesagt hast?« "What more should there be? You wouldn't have me take you seriously, in what you have just said of Vimpany?"
»Und warum nicht?« "Why not?"
»Ach, geh doch, geh doch, mein Liebling! Überlege Dir's, bitte, nur einmal! Wir haben oben noch Zimmer leer stehen und auch hinreichend Dienerschaft, und da soll ich meinen alten Freund für die paar Nachtstunden zu fremden Leuten schicken? Ich möchte um alles in der Welt nicht unfreundlich gegen Dich sein, Iris, und ich leugne ja auch nicht, dass der lustige Doktor zuweilen etwas zu sehr sein Gläschen Grog liebt. Du wirst mir vielleicht sagen, dass er sich nicht gut gegen seine Frau benommen hat; ich gebe das auch zu. Aber es gibt eben nicht viel Menschen, die ein so schönes Beispiel einer musterhaften Ehe geben wie wir beide. Wenn Du mir aber entgegenhältst, dass Vimpany ein schlechter Mensch ist und der schlimmste Freund, den ich möglicherweise haben könnte und so weiter, was kann ich da anderes tun, als solche Reden für Erzeugnisse Deiner blühenden, regen Einbildungskraft ansehen! Nun, was ist denn? Du hast doch gewiss noch nicht gefrühstückt?« "Oh, come, come, my darling! Just consider. With a bedroom empty and waiting, upstairs, is my old Vimpany to be sent to quarters for the night among strangers? I wouldn't speak harshly to you, Iris, for the whole world; and I don't deny that the convivial doctor may be sometimes a little too fond of his drop of grog. You will tell me, maybe, that he hasn't got on nicely with his wife; and I grant it. There are not many people who set such a pretty example of matrimony as we do. Poor humanity--there's all that's to be said about it. But when you tell me that Vimpany is a bad man, and the worst friend I could possibly have, and so forth--what better can I do than set it down to your imagination? I've a pretty fancy, myself; and I think I see my angel inventing poetical characters, up among congenial clouds. What's the matter? Surely, you haven't done breakfast yet?"
»Doch.« "Yes."
»Willst Du mich denn allein lassen?« "Are you going to leave me?"
»Ich will auf mein Zimmer gehen.« "I am going to my room."
»Du hast ja gewaltige Eile, hinweg zu kommen. Ich wollte Dich ganz gewiss nicht kränken, Iris. Ich möchte wirklich wissen, was Du eigentlich auf Deinem Zimmer zu tun hast!« "You're in a mighty hurry to get away. I never meant to vex you, Iris. Ah, well, if you must leave the table, I'll have the honour of opening the door for you, at any rate. I wonder what you're going to do?"
»Meine Einbildungskraft zu pflegen und weiter auszubilden«, antwortete sie, zum erstenmale ihrer Bitterkeit Luft machend. "To cultivate my imagination," she answered, with the first outbreak of bitterness that had escaped her yet.
Sein Gesicht nahm einen finsteren und harten Ausdruck an. His face hardened.
»Das klingt ja gerade so, als ob darin etwas wie Groll läge? Das wäre ja das erstemal, dass Du mich ungnädig, feindselig behandelst! Wodurch habe ich das verdient?« "There seems to be something like bearing malice in this," he said. "Are you treating me, for the first time, to an exhibition of enmity? What am I to call it, if it's not that?"
»Nenne es einfach eine Verstimmung meinerseits«, versetzte sie ruhig und verließ das Zimmer. "Call it disappointment," she suggested quietly, and left him.
Lord Harry wandte sich seinem Frühstück wieder zu. Seine Eifersucht war von neuem wachgerufen. Lord Harry went back to his breakfast. His jealousy was up in arms again.
»Sie vergleicht mich mit ihrem abwesenden Freunde«, sagte er zu sich selbst, »und wünscht jedenfalls, sie hätte den liebenswürdigen Mountjoy anstatt mich geheiratet.« "She's comparing me with her absent friend," he said to himself, "and wishing she had married the amiable Mountjoy instead of me."
So endete der erste Zwist in dieser Ehe, und Mr. Vimpany war die Ursache desselben gewesen. So the first quarrel ended--and Mr. Vimpany had been the cause of it.


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