"Yes; that's all very fine. But they're very good ways, Peter. They've
got to keep the honor of the Service up to a very high standard. Their
ways are all right. But that doesn't keep them from being terrible
forces to come up against, especially for a proud thing like her. And
now that the postponing of the wedding has got into the papers--"
"Yes; I've seen 'em. Got it pretty straight, too, all things
considered."
"And that sort of thing simply flies. It will be in the New York papers
to-morrow, and in the London ones the day after. We always get those
things cabled over there. We know about the elopements and the queer
things that happen in America when we don't hear of anything else.
Within forty-eight hours they'll be talking of it at the Rangers' dépôt
in Sussex--and at Heneage--and all through his county--and at the Horse
Guards. You see if they aren't! You've no idea how people have their eye
on him. And when they hear the wedding has been put off for a scandal
they'll have at their heels all the men who've hated him--and all the
women who've envied her--"
He leaned his shoulders against the mantelpiece, his hands behind his
back. "Pooh! That sort of dog can only bark."
"No; that's where you're wrong, Peter. In England it can bite. It can
raise a to-do around their name that will put a dead stop to his
promotion--that is, the best kind of promotion, such as he's on the way
to."
"The deuce take his promotion! Let's think of--_her_."
"That's just what I thought you'd do, Peter; and with all your
advantages--"
"Drop that, Drusilla," he commanded. "You know you don't mean it. You
know as well as I do that I haven't a chance--even if I wanted
one--which I don't. You're not thinking of me--or of her. You're
thinking of him--and how to get him out of a match that won't tend to
his advancement."
"I'm thinking of every one, Peter--of every one but myself, that is. I'm
thinking of him, and her, and you--"
"Then you'll do me a favor if you leave me out."
She sprang to her feet, her little figure looking slim and girlish.
"I can't leave you out, Peter, when you're the Hamlet of the piece.
That's nonsense. I'm not plotting or planning on any one's behalf. It
isn't my temperament. I only say that if this--this affair--didn't come
off--though I suppose it will--I feel sure it will--yet if it
didn't--then, with all your advantages--and after what you've done for
her--"
He strode forward, almost upsetting the tea-table beside which she
stood. "Look here, Drusilla. You may as well understand me once for all.
I wouldn't marry a girl who took me because of what I'd done for her,
not if she was the last woman in the world."
"But you would if she was the first, Peter. And I'm convinced that for
you she _is_ the first--"
"Now, now!" he warned her, "that'll do! I've been generous enough not
to say anything as to who's first with you, though you don't take much
pains to hide it. Why not--?"
"You're all first with me," she protested. "I don't know which of you
I'm the most sorry for."
"Don't waste your pity on me. I'm perfectly happy. There's only one of
the lot who needs any consideration whatever. And, by God! if he's not
true to her, I'll--"
"Your intervention won't be called for, Peter," she assured him, making
her way toward the door. "You're greatly mistaken if you think I've
asked for it."
"Then for Heaven's sake what _have_ you asked for? _I_ don't see."
She was in the hall, but she turned and spoke through the doorway. "I've
only asked you not to be an idiot. I merely beg, for all our sakes, that
if something precious is flung down at your feet you'll have the common
sense to stoop and pick it up."
"I'll consider that," he called after her, as she sped up the stairs,
"when I see it lying there."