Produced by Suzanne Shell, David Kline, and Project
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The End of Her Honeymoon
By
Mrs. Belloc Lowndes
Author of "The Uttermost Farthing," "The Chink in the Armour," etc., etc.
1913
CHAPTER I
"Cocher? l'Hôtel Saint Ange, Rue Saint Ange!"
The voice of John Dampier, Nancy's three-weeks bridegroom, rang out
strongly, joyously, on this the last evening of their honeymoon. And before
the lightly hung open carriage had time to move, Dampier added something
quickly, at which both he and the driver laughed in unison.
Nancy crept nearer to her husband. It was tiresome that she knew so little
French.
"I'm telling the man we're not in any hurry, and that he can take us round
by the Boulevards. I won't have you seeing Paris from an ugly angle the
first time--darling!"
"But Jack? It's nearly midnight! Surely there'll be nothing to see on the
Boulevards now?"
"Won't there? You wait and see--Paris never goes to sleep!"
And then--Nancy remembered it long, long afterwards--something very odd and
disconcerting happened in the big station yard of the Gare de Lyon. The
horse stopped--stopped dead. If it hadn't been that the bridegroom's arm
enclosed her slender, rounded waist, the bride might have been thrown out.
The cabman stood up in his seat and gave his horse a vicious blow across
the back.
"Oh, Jack!" Nancy shrank and hid her face in her husband's arm. "Don't let
him do that! I can't bear it!"
Dampier shouted out something roughly, angrily, and the man jumped off the
box, and taking hold of the rein gave it a sharp pull. He led his unwilling
horse through the big iron gates, and then the little open carriage rolled
on smoothly.
How enchanting to be driving under the stars in the city which hails in
every artist--Jack Dampier was an artist--a beloved son!
In the clear June atmosphere, under the great arc-lamps which seemed
suspended in the mild lambent air, the branches of the trees lining the
Boulevards showed brightly, delicately green; and the tints of the dresses
worn by the women walking up and down outside the cafés and still
brilliantly lighted shops mingled luminously, as on a magic palette.
Nancy withdrew herself gently from her husband's arm. It seemed to her that
every one in that merry, slowly moving crowd on either side must see that
he was holding her to him. She was a shy, sensitive little creature, this
three-weeks-old bride, whose honeymoon was now about to merge into happy
every-day life.
Dampier divined something of what she was feeling. He put out his hand and
clasped hers. "Silly sweetheart," he whispered. "All these merry,
chattering people are far too full of themselves to be thinking of us!"
As she made no answer, bewildered, a little oppressed by the brilliance,
the strangeness of everything about them, he added a little anxiously,
"Darling, are you tired? Would you rather go straight to the hotel?"
But pressing closer to him, Nancy shook her head. "No, no, Jack! I'm not a
bit tired. It was you who were tired to-day, not I!"
"I didn't feel well in the train, 'tis true. But now that I'm in Paris I
could stay out all night! I suppose you've never read George Moore's
description of this very drive we're taking, little girl?"
And again Nancy shook her head, and smiled in the darkness. In the world
where she had lived her short life, in the comfortable, unimaginative world
in which Nancy Tremain, the delightfully pretty, fairly well-dowered,
orphan, had drifted about since she had been "grown-up," no one had ever
heard of George Moore.
Strange, even in some ways amazing, their marriage--hers and Jack
Dampier's--had been! He, the clever, devil-may-care artist, unconventional
in all his ways, very much a Bohemian, knowing little of his native
country, England, for he had lived all his youth and working life in
France--and she, in everything, save an instinctive love of beauty, which,
oddly yet naturally enough, only betrayed itself in her dress, the
exact opposite!
A commission from an English country gentleman who had fancied a portrait
shown by Dampier in the Salon, had brought the artist, rather reluctantly,
across the Channel, and an accident--sometimes it made them both shiver to
realise how slight an accident--had led to their first and
decisive meeting.
Nancy Tremain had been brought over to tea, one cold, snowy afternoon, at
the house where Dampier was painting. She had been dressed all in grey, and
the graceful velvet gown and furry cap-like toque had made her look, in his
eyes, like an exquisite Eighteenth Century pastel.
One glance--so Dampier had often since assured her and she never grew tired
of hearing it--had been enough. They had scarcely spoken the one to the
other, but he had found out her name, and, writing, cajoled her into seeing
him again. Very soon he had captured her in the good old way, as women--or
so men like to think--prefer to be wooed, by right of conquest.
There had been no one to say them nay, no one to comment unkindly over so
strange and sudden a betrothal. On the contrary, Nancy's considerable
circle of acquaintances had smilingly approved.
All the world loves a masterful lover, and Nancy Tremain was far too
pretty, far too singular and charming, to become engaged in the course of
nature to some commonplace young man. This big, ugly, clever, amusing
artist was just the contrast which was needed for romance.
And he seemed by his own account to be making a very good income, too! Yet,
artists being such eccentric, extravagant fellows, doubtless Nancy's modest
little fortune would come in useful--so those about them argued carelessly.
Then one of her acquaintances, a thought more good-natured than the rest,
arranged that lovely, happy Nancy should be married from a pleasant country
house, in a dear little country church. Braving superstition, the wedding
took place in the last week of May, and bride and bridegroom had gone to
Italy--though, to be sure, it was rather late for Italy--for three
happy weeks.
Now they were about to settle down in Dampier's Paris studio.
Unluckily it was an Exhibition Year, one of those years, that is, which,
hateful as they may be to your true Parisian, pour steady streams of gold
into the pockets of fortunate hotel and shop keepers, and which bring a
great many foreigners to Paris who otherwise might never have come. Quite a
number of such comfortable English folk were now looking forward to going
and seeing Nancy Dampier in her new home--of which the very address was
quaint and unusual, for Dampier's studio was situated Impasse des Nonnes.
They were now speeding under and across the vast embracing shadow of the
Opera House. And again Dampier slipped his arm round his young wife. It
seemed to this happy man as if Paris to-night had put on her gala dress to
welcome him, devout lover and maker of beauty, back to her bosom.
"Isn't it pleasant to think," he whispered, "that Paris is the more
beautiful because you now are in it and of it, Nancy?"
And Nancy smiled, well pleased at the fantastic compliment.
She pressed more closely to him.
"I wish--I wish--" and then she stopped, for she was unselfish, shy of
expressing her wishes, but that made Dampier ever the more eager to hear,
and, if possible, to gratify them.
"What is it that you wish, dear heart?" he asked.
"I wish, Jack, that we were going straight home to the studio now--instead
of to an hotel."
"We'll get in very soon," he answered quickly. "Believe me, darling, you
wouldn't like going in before everything is ready for you. Mère Bideau has
her good points, but she could never make the place look as I want it to
look when you first see it. I'll get up early to-morrow morning and go and
see to it all. I wouldn't for the world you saw our home as it must look
now--the poor little living rooms dusty and shabby, and our boxes sitting
sadly in the middle of the studio itself!"
They had sent their heavy luggage on from England, and for the honeymoon
Nancy had contented herself with one modest little trunk, while Dampier had
taken the large portmanteau which had been the useful wedding present of
the new friend and patron in whose house he had first seen his wife.
Swiftly they shot through the triple arch which leads from the Rue de
Rivoli to the Carousel. How splendid and solitary was the vast dimly-lit
space. "I like this," whispered Nancy dreamily, gazing up at the dark,
star-powdered sky.
And then Dampier turned and caught her, this time unresisting, yielding
joyfully, to his breast. "Nancy?" he murmured thickly. "Nancy? I'm afraid!"
"Afraid?" she repeated wonderingly.
"Yes, horribly afraid! Pray, my pure angel, pray that the gods may indulge
their cruel sport elsewhere. I haven't always been happy, Nancy."
And she clung to him, full of vague, unsubstantial fears. "Don't talk like
that," she murmured. "It--it isn't right to make fun of such things."
"Make fun? Good God!" was all he said.
And then his mood changed. They were now being shaken across the huge,
uneven paving stones of the quays, and so on to a bridge. "I never really
feel at home in Paris till I've crossed the Seine," he cried joyously.
"Cheer up, darling, we shall soon be at the Hôtel Saint Ange!"
"Have you ever stayed in the Hôtel Saint Ange?" she said, with a touch of
curiosity in her voice.
"I used to know a fellow who lived there," he said carelessly. "But what
made me pick it out was the fact that it's such a queer, beautiful old
house, and with a delightful garden. Also we shall meet no English there."
"Don't you like English people?" she asked, a little protestingly.
And Dampier laughed. "I like them everywhere but in Paris," he said: and
then, "But you won't be quite lonely, little lady, for a good many
Americans go to the Hôtel Saint Ange. And for such a funny reason--"
"What reason?"
"It was there that Edgar Allan Poe stayed when he was in Paris."
Their carriage was now engaged in threading narrow, shadowed thoroughfares
which wound through what might have been a city of the dead. From midnight
till cock-crow old-world Paris sleeps, and the windows of the high houses
on either side of the deserted streets through which they were now driving
were all closely shuttered.
"Here we have the ceremonious, the well-bred, the tactful Paris of other
days," exclaimed Dampier whimsically. "This Paris understands without any
words that what we now want is to be quiet, and by ourselves, little girl!"
A gas lamp, burning feebly in a corner wine shop, lit up his exultant face
for a flashing moment.
"You don't look well, Jack," Nancy said suddenly. "It was awfully hot in
Lyons this morning--"
"We stayed just a thought too long in that carpet warehouse," he said
gaily,--"And then--and then that prayer carpet, which might have belonged
to Ali Baba of Ispahan, has made me feel ill with envy ever since! But joy!
Here we are at last!"
After emerging into a square of which one side was formed by an old Gothic
church, they had engaged in a dark and narrow street the further end of
which was bastioned by one of the flying buttresses of the church they had
just passed.
The cab drew up with a jerk. "C'est ici, monsieur."
The man had drawn up before a broad oak porte cochère which, sunk far back
into a thick wall, was now inhospitably shut.
"They go to bed betimes this side of the river!" exclaimed Dampier
ruefully.
Nancy felt a little troubled. The hotel people knew they were coming, for
Jack had written from Marseilles: it was odd no one had sat up for them.
But their driver gave the wrought-iron bell-handle a mighty pull, and after
what seemed to the two travellers a very long pause the great doors swung
slowly back on their hinges, while a hearty voice called out, "C'est vous,
Monsieur Gerald? C'est vous, mademoiselle?"
And Dampier shouted back in French, "It's Mr. and Mrs. Dampier. Surely you
expect us? I wrote from Marseilles three days ago!"
He helped his wife out of the cab, and they passed through into the broad,
vaulted passage which connected the street with the courtyard of the hotel.
By the dim light afforded by an old-fashioned hanging lamp Nancy Dampier
saw that three people had answered the bell; they were a middle-aged man
(evidently mine host), his stout better half, and a youth who rubbed his
eyes as if sleepy, and who stared at the newcomers with a dull,
ruminating stare.
As is generally the case in a French hotel, it was Madame who took command.
She poured forth a torrent of eager, excited words, and at last Dampier
turned to his wife:--"They got my letter, but of course had no address to
which they could answer, and--and it's rather a bore, darling--but they
don't seem to have any rooms vacant."
But even as he spoke the fat, cheerful-looking Frenchwoman put her hand on
the young Englishman's arm. She had seen the smart-looking box of the
bride, the handsome crocodile skin bag of the bridegroom, and again she
burst forth, uttering again and again the word "arranger."
Dampier turned once more, this time much relieved, to his wife: "Madame
Poulain (that's her name, it seems) thinks she can manage to put us up all
right to-night, if we don't mind two very small rooms--unluckily not on the
same floor. But some people are going away to-morrow and then she'll have
free some charming rooms overlooking the garden."
He took a ten-franc piece out of his pocket as he spoke, and handed it to
the gratified cabman:--"It doesn't seem too much for a drive through
fairyland"--he said aside to his wife.
And Nancy nodded contentedly. It pleased her that her Jack should be
generous--the more that she had found out in the last three weeks that if
generous, he was by no means a spendthrift. He had longed to buy a couple
of Persian prayer carpets in that queer little warehouse where a French
friend of his had taken them in Lyons, but he had resisted the
temptation--nobly.
Meanwhile Madame Poulain was talking, talking, talking--emphasising all she
said with quick, eager gestures.
"They are going to put you in their own daughter's room, darling. She's
luckily away just now. So I think you will be all right. I, it seems, must
put up with a garret!"
"Oh, must you be far away from me?" she asked a little plaintively.
"Only for to-night, only till to-morrow, sweetheart."
And then they all began going up a winding staircase which started flush
from the wall to the left.
First came Madame Poulain, carrying a candle, then Monsieur Poulain with
his new English clients, and, last of all, the loutish lad carrying Nancy's
trunk. They had but a little way to go up the shallow slippery stairs, for
when they reached the first tiny landing Madame Poulain opened a curious,
narrow slit of a door which seemed, when shut, to be actually part of the
finely panelled walls.
"Here's my daughter's room," said the landlady proudly. "It is very
comfortable and charming."
"What an extraordinary little room!" whispered Nancy.
And Dampier, looking round him with a good deal of curiosity, agreed.
In the days when the Hôtel Saint Ange belonged to the great soldier whose
name it still bears, this strange little apartment had surely been, so the
English artist told himself, a powdering closet. Even now the only outside
light and air came from a small square window which had evidently only
recently been cut through the thick wall. In front of this aperture
fluttered a bright pink curtain.
Covering three of the walls as well as the low ceiling, was a paper
simulating white satin powdered with rose-buds, and the bed, draped with
virginal muslin curtains, was a child's rather than a woman's bed.
"What's that?" asked Dampier suddenly. "A cupboard?"
He had noticed that wide double doors, painted in the pale brownish grey
called grisaille, formed the further side of the tiny apartment.
Madame Poulain, turning a key, revealed a large roomy space now fitted up
as a cupboard. "It's a way through into our bedroom, monsieur," she said
smiling. "We could not of course allow our daughter to be far from
ourselves."
And Dampier nodded. He knew the ways of French people and sympathised with
those ways.
He stepped up into the cupboard, curious to see if this too had been a
powdering closet, and if that were so if the old panelling and
ornamentation had remained in their original condition.
Thus for a moment was Dampier concealed from those in the room. And during
that moment there came the sound of footsteps on the staircase, followed by
the sudden appearance on the landing outside the open door of the curious
little apartment of two tall figures--a girl in a lace opera cloak, and a
young man in evening dress.
Nancy Dampier, gazing at them, a little surprised at the abrupt apparition,
told herself that they must be brother and sister, so striking was their
resemblance to one another.
"We found the porte cochère open, Madame Poulain, so we just came straight
in. Good night!"
The young lady spoke excellent French, but as she swept on up the staircase
out of sight there came a quick low interchange of English words between
herself and the man with her.
"Daisy? Did you notice that beautiful young woman? A regular stunner! She
must be that daughter the Poulains are always talking about."
And then "Daisy's" answer floated down. "Yes, I noticed her--she is
certainly very pretty. But do be careful, Gerald, I expect she knows a
little English--"
Dampier stepped down out of the cupboard.
"That American cub ought to be put in his place!" he muttered heatedly.
Nancy turned her face away to hide a little smile. Jack was so funny! He
delighted in her beauty--he was always telling her so, and yet it annoyed
him if other people thought her pretty too. This young American had looked
at her quite pleasantly, quite respectfully; he hadn't meant to be
offensive--of that Nancy felt sure.
"I suppose you have a good many Americans this year?" went on Dampier in
French, turning to Monsieur Poulain.
"No, monsieur, no. Our clientèle is mostly French. We have only this young
lady, her brother, and their father, monsieur. The father is a Senator in
his own country--Senator Burton. They are very charming people, and have
stayed with us often before. All our other guests are French. We have never
had such a splendid season: and all because of the Exhibition!"
"I'm glad you are doing well," said Dampier courteously. "But for my
part"--he shrugged his shoulders--"I'm too much of a Parisian to like the
Exhibition."
Then he turned to Nancy: "Well, you'll be quite safe, my darling. Monsieur
and Madame Poulain are only just through here, so you needn't feel lonely."
And then there came a chorus of bonsoirs from host, from hostess, and from
the lad who now stood waiting with the Englishman's large portmanteau
hitched up on his shoulder.
Dampier bent and kissed his wife very tenderly: then he followed Monsieur
Poulain and the latter's nephew up the stairs, while Madame Poulain stayed
behind and helped Mrs. Dampier to unpack the few things she required for
the night.
And Nancy, though she felt just a little bewildered to find herself alone
in this strange house, was yet amused and cheered by the older woman's
lively chatter, and that although she only understood one word in ten.
Madame Poulain talked of her daughter, Virginie, now in the country well
away from the holiday crowds brought by the Exhibition, and also of her
nephew, Jules, the lad who had carried up the luggage, and who knew--so
Madame Poulain went to some pains to make Nancy understand--a
little English.
Late though it was, the worthy woman did not seem in any hurry to go away,
but at last came the kindly words which even Nancy, slight as was her
knowledge of French, understood: "Bonsoir, madame. Dormez bien."