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Zuleika Dobson; Or, An Oxford Love Story
·
Sir Max Beerbohm
106
Unable
to
avenge
himself,
Greddon
had
looked
to
the
Duke
to
act
for
him.
When
he
saw
that
this
young
man
did
but
smile
at
Oover
and
make
a
vague
deprecatory
gesture,
he
again,
in
his
wrath,
forgot
his
disabilities.
Drawing
himself
to
his
full
height,
he
took
with
great
deliberation
a
pinch
of
snuff,
and,
bowing
low
to
the
Duke,
said
“I
am
vastly
obleeged
to
your
Grace
for
the
fine
high
Courage
you
have
exhibited
in
the
behalf
of
your
most
Admiring,
most
Humble
Servant.”
Then,
having
brushed
away
a
speck
of
snuff
from
his
jabot,
he
turned
on
his
heel;
and
only
in
the
doorway,
where
one
of
the
club
servants,
carrying
a
decanter
in
each
hand,
walked
straight
through
him,
did
he
realise
that
he
had
not
spoilt
the
Duke’s
evening.
With
a
volley
of
the
most
appalling
eighteenth-century
oaths,
he
passed
back
into
the
nether
world.
To
the
Duke,
Nellie
O’Mora
had
never
been
a
very
vital
figure.
He
had
often
repeated
the
legend
of
her.
But,
having
never
known
what
love
was,
he
could
not
imagine
her
rapture
or
her
anguish.
Himself
the
quarry
of
all
Mayfair’s
wise
virgins,
he
had
always--so
far
as
he
thought
of
the
matter
at
all--suspected
that
Nellie’s
death
was
due
to
thwarted
ambition.
But
to-night,
while
he
told
Oover
about
her,
he
could
see
into
her
soul.
Nor
did
he
pity
her.
She
had
loved.
She
had
known
the
one
thing
worth
living
for--and
dying
for.
She,
as
she
went
down
to
the
mill-pond,
had
felt
just
that
ecstasy
of
self-sacrifice
which
he
himself
had
felt
to-day
and
would
feel
to-morrow.
And
for
a
while,
too--for
a
full
year--she
had
known
the
joy
of
being
loved,
had
been
for
Greddon
“the
fairest
witch
that
ever
was
or
will
be.”
He
could
not
agree
with
Oover’s
long
disquisition
on
her
sufferings.
And,
glancing
at
her
well-remembered
miniature,
he
wondered
just
what
it
was
in
her
that
had
captivated
Greddon.
He
was
in
that
blest
state
when
a
man
cannot
believe
the
earth
has
been
trodden
by
any
really
beautiful
or
desirable
lady
save
the
lady
of
his
own
heart.
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