She was listening now as Clavering told her of his adventurous meeting
with Madame Zattiany, of their subsequent conversations, and of his
doubts.
"Are you sure she is not playing a part deliberately?" she asked.
"Having her little fun after those horrible years? She looks quite
equal to it, and a personal drama would have its attractions after an
experience during which a nurse felt about as personal as an amputated
limb. And while one is still young and beautiful--what a lark!"
"No. I don't believe anything of the sort. I fancy that if she didn't
happen to be so fond of the theatre she'd have come and gone and none
of us been the wiser. Her secret is _sui generis_, whatever it is.
I've racked my mind in vain. I don't believe she is the Countess
Zattiany's daughter, nor a third cousin, nor the Countess Josef
Zattiany. I've tried to recall every mystery story I ever read that
would bear on the case, but I'm as much in the dark as ever."
"And you've thought of nothing else. Your column has fallen off."
"Do you think that?" He sat up. "I've not been too satisfied myself."
"You've been filling up with letters from your correspondents after the
fashion of more jaded columnists. Even your comments on them have been
flat. And as for your description of that prize fight last night, it
was about as thrilling as an account of a flower show."
He laughed and dropped back. "You are as refreshing as a cold shower,
Gora. But, after all, even a poor colyumist must be allowed to slump
occasionally. However, I'll turn her off hereafter when I sit down to
my typewriter. Lord knows a typewriter is no Wagnerian orchestra and
should be warranted to banish sentiment. . . . Sentiment is not the
word, though. It is plain raging curiosity."
"Oh, no, it is not," said Miss Dwight coolly, lighting another
cigarette, which she carefully fitted into a pair of small gold tongs:
neither ink nor nicotine was ever seen on those long aristocratic
fingers. "You are in love with her, my child."
"I am not!"
"Oh, yes, you are. I've never been misled for a moment by your other
brief rhapsodies--the classic Anne--the demoniac Marian--but you're
landed high and dry this time. The mystery may have something to do
with it, but the woman has far more. She is the most beautiful
creature I ever beheld and she looks intelligent and keen in spite of
that monumental repose. And what a great lady!" Gora sighed. How she
once had longed to be a great lady! She no longer cared a fig about
it, and would not have changed her present state for that of a princess
in a stable world. But old dreams die hard. There was no one of
Madame Zattiany's abundant manifestations of high fortune that she
admired more. "Go in and win, Clavey--and without too much loss of
time. She'll be drawn into her own world here sooner or later. She
confesses to being a widow, so you needn't get tangled up in an
intrigue."
"You forget she is also a very rich woman. I'd look like a fortune
hunter----"
"How old-fashioned of you! And you'd feel like nothing of the sort.
The only thing that worries you at present is that you are trying to
hide from yourself that you are in love with her."
"I wonder! I don't feel any raging desire for her--that I can swear."
"You simply haven't got that far. The mystery has possessed your mind
and your doubts have acted as a censor. But once let yourself go . . ."
"And suppose she turned me down--which, no doubt, she would do. I'm
not hunting for tragedy."
"I've an idea she won't. While you've been talking I've written out
the whole story in my mind. For that matter, I began it last Monday
night when I saw you two whispering together. I was in the box just
above--if you noticed! And I watched her face. It was something more
than politely interested."
"Oh, she looked the same when she was talking to Din and Osborne that
night at dinner. She is merely a woman of the world who has had scores
of men in love with her and is young enough to be interested in any
young man who doesn't bore her. To say nothing of keeping her hand
in. . . . But there is something else." He moved restlessly. "She
seems to me to be compounded of strength, force, power. She emanates,
exudes it. I'm afraid of being afraid of her. I prefer to be stronger
than my wife."
"Don't flatter yourself. Women are always stronger than their
husbands, unless they are the complete idiot or man-crazy. Neither
type would appeal to you. The average woman--all the millions of
her--has a moral force and strength of character and certain shrewd
mental qualities, however unintellectual, that dominate a man every
time. This woman has all that and more--a thousand times more. A
mighty good thing if she would take you in hand. She'd be the making
of you, for you'd learn things about men and women and life--and
yourself--that you've never so much as guessed. And then you'd write a
play that would set the town on fire. That's all you need. Even if
she treated you badly the result would be the same. Life has been much
too kind to you, Clavey, and your little disappointments have been so
purely romantic that only your facile emotions have played about like
amiable puppies on the roof of your passions. It's time the lava began
to boil and the lid blew off. Your creative tract would get a
ploughing up and a fertilizing as a natural sequence. Your plays would
no longer be mere models of architecture. I am not an amiable
altruist. I don't long to see you happy. I'm rather inclined to hate
this woman who will end by infatuating you, for of course that would be
the last I'd ever see of you. But I'm an artist and I believe that art
is really all that is worth living for. I want you to do great work,
and I want you to be a really great figure in New York instead of a
merely notable one."
"You've both taken the conceit out of me and bucked me up. . . . But I
want you to meet her, and I don't know how to bring it about. I have
an idea that your instinct would get somewhere near the truth."
"Suppose I give a party, and, a day or two before, you ask her casually
if she would like to come--or put it to her in any way you think best.
Nobody calls these days, but I have an idea she would. People of that
type rarely renounce the formalities. Then, if I'm really clever, I'll
make her think she'd like to see me again and she will be at home when
I return her call. Do you think you could work it?"
"It's possible. I've roused her curiosity about our crowd and I'll
plant a few more seeds. Yes, I think she'll come. When will you have
it?"
"A week from Saturday."
"Good. You're a brick, Gora. And don't imagine you'll ever get rid of
me. If she is unique, so are you. This fireside will always be a
magnet."
Miss Dwight merely smiled.