Bessie: I wonder if you sent me these fl...

Bessie: I wonder if you sent me these flowers, Lord Bleane?

Bleane: I did. I thought you wouldn’t mind. But that’s the only topic that occurs to me.

Bessie: There’s always the weather in England.

Bleane: You see, I’m off tomorrow.

Bessie: I never saw anyone so obstinate.

Bleane: I shan’t see you again for nearly a month. We haven’t known one another very long, and if I hadn’t been going away I expect I’d have thought it better to wait a bit.

Bessie: Lord Bleane, don’t propose to me.

Bleane: Why not?

Bessie: Because I shall refuse you.

Bleane: Oh!

Bessie: Tell me about the part of the country you live in. I don’t know Kent at all. Is it pretty?

Bleane: I don’t know. It’s home.

Bessie: I love those old Elizabethan houses that you have in England with all their chimneys.

Bleane: Oh, ours isn’t a show place, you know. It’s just a rather ugly yellow brick house that looks like a box and it’s got a great big stucco portico in front of it. I think the garden’s rather jolly.

Bessie: Pearl hates Abbots Kenton. She’d sell it if George would. She’s only really happy in London.

Bleane: I don’t know that I was so particularly struck on Bleane till I was over in France. When I was in hospital at Boulogne there didn’t seem much to do but to think about things…it didn’t seem as if I could get well. I knew I should if you’d only let me come home, but they wouldn’t; they said I couldn’t be moved…it’s rather bleak in our part of the country. We’ve got an east wind that people find a bit trying, but if you’ve been used to it all your life it bucks you up wonderful. In summer it can be awfully hot down there, but there’s always something fresh and salt in the air. You see, we’re so near the marshes…it was only just across the water, and it seemed such an awful long way off. I ain’t boring you, am I?

Bessie: No. I want you to tell me.

Bleane: It’s a funny sort of country. There are a lot of green fields and elm trees, and the roads wind about — it’s rotten for motoring; and then you have the marshes, with dykes in them — we used to jump them when we were boys, and fall in mostly; and then there’s the sea. It doesn’t sound much, but I felt it was the most ripping thing I knew. And then there are hopfields — I forgot them — and the oast-houses. They’re rather picturesque, I suppose. I expect it’s like the lavender to you. To me it’s just England. What are you thinking about?

Bessie: It must be very wonderful to feel like that about one’s home. I’ve never known anything but a red stone house in Nineteenth Street. As soon as dad can get a decent offer for it we’re going to move further up town. Mother has a fancy for Seventy-Second Street, I don’t know why.

Bleane: Of course, I know it couldn’t mean the same to a girl that it means to me. I shouldn’t expect anyone to live there always. I can be quite happy in London.

Bessie: You’re determined to do it?

Bleane: If you could bring yourself to marry me, I’d try and give you a good time.

Bessie: Well, I suppose that’s a proposal.

Bleane: I’ve never made one before, and it makes me a bit nervous.

Bessie: You haven’t said anything that I can answer yes or no to.

Bleane: I don’t want to say anything that you can answer no to.

Bessie: Let me say that I’ll think it over, may I?

Bleane: I’m going away tomorrow.

Bessie: I’ll give you an answer when you come back.

Bleane: But that won’t be for four weeks.

Bessie: It’ll give us both a chance to make up our minds. After all, it is rather a serious step. You may come to the conclusion that you don’t really want to marry me.

Bleane: There’s no fear of that.

Bessie: You’re coming down to Kenton for the week-end after you get back. If you change your mind send Pearl a wire putting yourself off. I shall understand, and I shan’t be in the least hurt or offended.

Bleane: Then it’s good-bye till then.

Bessie: Yes. And…thank you very much for wishing to marry me.

Bleane: Thank you very much for not refusing me outright.

Citation: W. Somerset Maugham, Our Betters, William Heinemann LTD, 1924, pp. 50-57.

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