It was Sunday evening, and the lawn at Riversdale was brilliantly
crowded. The last returns had come in the day before, and the
Conservatives had even increased their already immense majority. Every
one in the set that congregated to Mildred's house was delighted, and
there was a general sense of relaxation abroad, which might have
degenerated into flatness, had there not been so many other amusing
things to think about. The season was practically at an end, and, like a
flock of birds who have denuded some pasture of its wire-worms, every
one was preparing, that feeding-ground finished with, to break up into
smaller patches and fly to the various quarters of the globe. Guardina
and Pagani had both of them, oddly enough, developed signs--not
serious--of an identical species of gouty rheumatism, and had been
ordered to Homburg for a fortnight by the same doctor, who was a man
not without shrewdness. The Breretons were going a round of Scotch
visits in the middle of the month, Jack Alston and his wife were doing
the same, and Lady Devereux was consulting Arthur Naseby as to the
possibility of being at Cowes and Bayreuth for the same days in the same
week. They thought it could be done. Lady Ardingly alone was going to
fly nowhere. She proposed to take a rest-cure at her country house for a
fortnight, and, with a view to securing herself from all worry and
ennui, had engaged four strong people to play Bridge continually, and
was on the look-out for a fifth table, who would make her party
complete. Amid all these plans for the future there was but little time
to look backwards, and all the events of the last month, the last week,
the last day even, were stale. The opera was over, and Guardina, instead
of living her triumphs o'er again, was only thinking about Homburg, and
the various delightful ways in which she could spend the very
considerable sum of money she had earned. She was almost as good at
spending as she was at earning, and she promised herself an agreeable
autumn. The election, similarly, was a stale subject; every one who
mattered at all had got his seat, including Jim Spencer, and the only
thing connected with Parliament which was of any interest was Jack's
seat in the Cabinet. Only yesterday he had been semi-officially asked
whether he would take the War Office, and he had replied that he had not
the slightest objection. He, too, felt agreeably relaxed, and disposed
to take things easily. He had slaved at the work and been rewarded; his
tendency was to eat, drink, and be merry. Another chain of circumstances
also conduced to the propriety of this. He had made a second attempt to
enter into more tender relations with his wife, and again she had
visibly shrunk from him. And with the bitterness of that, and the
relaxation which followed his success, there had come mingled the
suggestion of consoling himself.
The day had been very hot, and Marie, between the heat and the struggle
that was going on within her about Jack, had suffered all the afternoon
from a rather severe headache, and had retired to her room about six
with the idea of sleeping it off if possible, and being able to put in
her appearance again at dinner. But sleep had not come; her headache,
instead of getting better, got distinctly worse, and when her maid came
to her at dressing-time, she sent word to Mildred, with a thousand
regrets, that she really did not feel equal to appearing. Subsequently,
just before dinner, Mildred herself had come to see her, rustling and
particularly resplendent, with sympathy and salts and recommendations of
antipyrin, a light dinner and bed.
Marie had all the dislike of a very healthy person for medicines, but
the pain was almost unendurable, and before long she took the dose
recommended. Soon after came her maid with some soup and light foods,
and she roused herself to eat a little, conscious of a certain relief
already. Her dinner finished, she lay down again, and in a few minutes
was fast asleep.
She woke feeling immensely refreshed, her headache already
insignificant, and with a strong desire for the cool, fresh air of the
night. Her room, baked all day by the sun, was very hot, and the sight
of the dim shrubberies outside, and beyond them the misty moonlit field
that bordered the Thames, tempted her to go out. She had already told
her maid not to sit up, and, turning up her electric light, saw that it
was nearly midnight, and that she must have slept close on three hours.
She leaned for a few moments out of her open window, but only the
faintest breeze was stirring the tree-tops, and here the air was heavy
and motionless. A half-moon, a little smeared with mist, rode high in
the southern heavens, making the redder lights from the rows of lanterns
on the lawn look tawdry and vulgar. The tents were brilliantly lit, and
she could see cards going on in one, while in another the servants were
laying out supper for those who would sit late over their Bridge or
conversation. Even at this distance she could distinguish Arthur
Naseby's shrill tones, and laughter punctuated his sentences. He was
evidently having a great success. Up and down the middle of the lawn
itself, where moonlight struggled with the lanterns, she could see
little groups standing talking, and in the foreground was Mildred saying
good-bye to some who were going. "It is so early," Marie could hear her
say; "it can hardly be Monday yet." Jack was standing by her.
Marie turned back into the room and put out the electric light, then
went across to the window again. Much as she would have liked a stroll
in the cool darkness of the shrubberies, she in no way wished to mingle
with the group on the lawn, and receive sympathy for her indisposition
and felicitations on her recovery; still less did she desire what
Mildred would call a "quiet chat," before going to bed, which in other
words meant to be one of a bevy of people all talking loud and listening
to nobody. But by degrees the leave-takers went, and those who remained
drifted back to the tents and the lights. It would be easily possible,
she thought, to slip out, leaving the lawn on her left, and stroll
through the trees down towards the river, where she would get the breeze
without the fatigues of conversation.
She slipped a gray dust-cloak over her dress and went quietly
down-stairs. The drawing-room was empty, and she passed out of the
French-window on to the gravel path. In ten paces more she had gained
the shelter of the long shrubbery that ran parallel to the lawn, and was
screened by it from all observation. She threw the hood of her cloak
back from her head. A breeze, as she had hoped, came wandering and
winding up the dusky alleys from the river, laden with the thousand warm
and fragrant smells of the summer, and with open mouth and ruffled hair
she drank it greedily in. Her headache had ceased, and the deep,
tranquillized mood of pain removed occupied her senses. The bushes on
each side were gently stirred by the wind, and now a waft of the heavy
odour of syringa, or the more subtly compounded impression from the
garden beds, saluted her as she passed. She had left the path, and felt
with a thrill of refreshment the coolness of dew-laden grass touch her
feet. Above her head the leaves of the tree-tops, in the full luxuriance
of their summer foliage, let through but little light, but in certain
interspaces of leaf she could see from time to time a segment of the
crescent riding dimly in the heat-hazed sky, or a more prominent star
would now and then look down on her. Then, as she left the garden
behind, a fragrance more to her mind came to her--the fragrance not of
garden-beds and cultivation, but the finer and more delicate odours of
July field-flowers, floating, as it were, on the utterly undefinable
smell of running water from the Thames.
Thus, having passed the lawn and its occupants, she turned through into
the more open spaces by a lilac-bush that stood near the path,
remembering, so she thought, that there was a seat here, and a hammock
much frequented by Maud. She had, it seemed, recollected the position
of this to a nicety, for on rounding the lilac-bush she came straight on
to the hammock, and gave a little cry of surprise to find it tenanted.
"Maud, is it you?" she asked gently.
The girl sprang up.
"How you startled me!" she cried, "Why, it is you, Lady Alston."
"Yes, dear. I slept, and my headache was really gone when I awoke, so I
determined to have a stroll before going to bed. And you, too, have come
away, it seems."
The girl got up.
"And you were looking for my hammock, were you not, to lie down in! Do
get in. There is a seat here for me, too. Or shall I go away, if you
want to be alone?"
"By no manner of means," said Marie. "Stay with me a quarter of an hour
or so, and then I shall go back to bed."
"But you are really better?" asked Maud.
"I am really all right; there is no excuse for me at all stealing away
like this. I ought to have gone out and talked to people; but I felt
lazy and rather tired, and only just came out for a breath of air. It is
cooler here; but how hot for midnight! 'In the darkness thick and
hot,'" she said half to herself.
Marie lay down in the hammock the girl had vacated, and there was a few
moments' silence. Then, "Would it tire you to talk a little, Lady
Alston?" she said. "About--you know what about."
"No, dear," said Marie. "And one can always talk best about intimate
things in the dark. If one is only a voice one's self, and the other
person is only a voice, one can say things more easily. Is it not so?"
Maud drew her chair a little closer to the head of the hammock, so that
both were in the dense shade of the lilac-bush. Immediately outside the
shadow of the bush beneath which they sat was the pearly grayness of the
third of the lawns, on which the moon shone full.
"Yes, it is about him," said Maud. "I think--I think I have changed. No,
it is not because my mother or anybody has been pressing me; in fact, I
think it is a good deal because they have not. I saw him here once a
fortnight ago, and I liked him. I did not do that before, you know."
"Did you tell him so?" asked the other voice.
"Yes; in so many words. He asked me to put out of my mind all the
prejudice which had been created in it by his being, so he said, thrown
at my head. I promised him to try. And I have tried. It makes a great
difference," she said gravely.
"And you have seen him once since," said Marie, with a sudden intuition.
"How did you know?" asked Maud.
"You told me--your tone told me. And what then, dear?"
"I liked him better when I saw him than I did when I remembered him. Is
that nonsense?" she asked quickly.
"I feel pretty certain it is not," said Marie.
"I am glad, for it seemed to me a very--how shall I say it!--a very
certain sensation. And I want to see him again--oh, I want very much to
see him again! It is all changed--all changed," she repeated softly.
"And do you feel happy?" asked Marie, not without purpose.
"Yes, or miserable; I don't know which."
Marie took the soft hand that leaned on the edge of her hammock and
stroked it gently.
"Dear Maud," she said, "I am very glad. It is a great privilege"--and
her heart spoke--"to be able to fall in love."
"Is it that?" asked Maud, leaning her face against the other's hand.
"Yes, dear, I expect it is that," said Marie.
They sat thus for some while in silence, for there was no more to be
said, yet each--Maud for her own sake, Marie for Maud's and for her own
as well--wished to halt, to rest for a little on the oars. Marie was
lying back in the hammock, wrapped in it like a chrysalis; the other sat
crouched and leaning forward by her side, her hands interlaced with the
other's. The wind whispered gently, the stencilled shadows of leaves
moved on the grass, and outside on the open was an ever-brightening
space of moonshine, for the cool night air was dissolving the last webs
of the heat haze. Then suddenly, without warning, came a voice from near
at hand.
"I have told you the truth," it said. "I did attempt the renewal. But
she does not care for me. I come back to you, if you will take me."
"I take you?" said a woman's voice. "Oh, Jack! Jack!"
The words were quickly spoken, and on the moment two figures came round
the lilac-bush and out into the full blaze of the moonlight. There they
stopped, and the woman threw her arms round the man's neck and kissed
him.
The thing had happened so quickly that Marie could not have got out of
the hammock or betrayed her presence before it was over. But she had
just turned her head, half raising it, and saw. And Maud saw too.
Next moment the others had passed behind an intervening bush, and once
again there was silence but for the gentle whispering of the wind, and
stillness but for the play of stencilled shadows on the grass. Marie
still held Maud's hand; she still lay in the hammock, only her head was
a little raised.
A minute perhaps passed thus, and neither moved. Then Marie raised
herself and sat on the side of the hammock. Her hand still held that of
the other.
"You saw?" she said quietly to Maud.
"Yes, my mother!"
Marie unclasped her hand.
"Maud, dear, go indoors and go to bed," she said.
"No, no!" whispered the girl. "What am I-- Oh--oh!" and a long sobbing
sigh rose in her throat.
Marie got up.
"Come, then, we will go together," she said, in a voice which she heard
to be perfectly calm and hard.
"What are you going to do?" asked Maud.
"If I knew I would tell you," said Marie.
The lights were still brilliant on the lawn, and as they passed behind
the screen of bushes Arthur Naseby's voice was still shrill. Marie found
herself noticing and remembering details with the most accurate
observation; it was here, at this bend in the path, that there would be
a smell of syringa, and a little further on a dim scent of roses. Close
to the house a cedar cast a curious pattern of shade; a square of bright
light fell on the gravel path from the open drawing-room windows. It was
no wonder she remembered, for a very short time had passed since she had
been here. But everything not trivial was changed.
In a very few minutes' space they were together in Marie's bedroom. As
she went to the window to draw the blinds, she looked out for a moment.
The tents were lit; there was Bridge in one, in another the servants
had nearly finished laying supper. And looking, she made up her mind as
to what she should do in the immediate future. She turned back into the
room.
"I shall drive up to London to-night," she said, "if I can get a
carriage. Is that possible?"
"Please let me come with you," said Maud.
Marie thought a moment.
"I do not think that is wise," she said, as if discussing some detail of
business.
"It does not matter much what is wise and what is not," said the girl.
"If I may not come with you, I shall go by myself. I could not stop! Oh,
could you, if you were me?"
Marie's face did not soften.
"Very well," she said. "It is better you should come with me than go
alone. You will come to my house, of course. Please see if you can get a
carriage to the station; there is a train, I know, about one o'clock. My
maid shall follow in the morning. Meanwhile I must leave a note for her,
and one-- Go at once, dear," she said to Maud.
Marie wrote to her maid, telling her to follow in the morning, then drew
another sheet from the writing-case, and paused. Finally; she wrote:
"I saw by accident and unavoidably a private scene between you and
your mistress. I have gone back to town. I shall do nothing
whatever till I have seen you. I am going because I am not prepared
to see you at once. Maud is with me."
She folded and directed this to her husband, leaving it in a prominent
place on her writing-table. Then she took it up and went with it to his
dressing-room next door. Afterwards, returning, she began packing a
small bag. In the midst of this Maud came back.
"There is a carriage ready," she said. "I saw one myself just outside,
and told it to wait. I shall be ready in ten minutes."
Outside supper had begun, and the servants were occupied. The hall was
deserted when they came down, and, passing through, the two went out.
* * * * *
Meantime the evening progressed on the garden side of the house with
ever-increasing gaiety. Everybody's characteristics, as happens so
often at supper-parties which are sundered from the previous dinner only
by a short interval of whiskies-and-sodas, became rather more
accentuated than before; every one was at philharmonic pitch, at their
best, or, at any rate, at their worst.
Lady Ardingly was slightly drier and more staccato than usual, her
husband sleepier; Arthur Naseby was shriller, Jack rather more
impressively reticent; Andrew Brereton heavier, and his wife louder,
larger, and coarser. She was flushed with triumph and other causes less
metaphysical; to-night she seemed to herself at a bound to have vaulted
again into the saddle of that willing animal the world, and a glorious
gallop was assuredly hers. And Jack, who was certainly the man of the
moment, was again in a comfortable little pannier on the off-side. At
length Lady Ardingly rose.
"I should like to stop here till morning," she said, "and play Bridge.
But it is already two, and we must get up to London. To whom can I give
a lift? You are staying, I think, Jack. Who else?"
Lady Devereux and Arthur Naseby, it appeared, had already arranged to
drive up together in her motor-brougham; the others were all staying in
the house. Gradually they drifted there, and on the lawn the lights were
extinguished. "Giving the moon a chance at last," as Arthur Naseby
observed. As they crossed the lawn Jack saw that Marie's room was still
lit. Then the non-residents took their carriages, and the residents
their bed-candles. Mildred and Jack were the last to go upstairs.
"There is still a light in Marie's room," he said. "I will just go in
and see how she is."
Mildred lingered outside, and he tapped gently, then entered. The
draught between door and window blew the flame of the candle about. But
inside the electric light burned steadily, only there was no one there.
He came out again.
"She is not there," he said; "nor has she been to bed."
Mildred frowned.
"She, perhaps, is with Maud," she said. "I have not seen Maud all the
evening."
The others had dispersed to their rooms, and while Mildred rustled down
the passage to go to Maud, Jack remained where he was, in the doorway of
Marie's room, which communicated with his. Suddenly in the hall below
he saw a light, and to his annoyance observed Mildred's husband
shuffling along in his slippers. He came to the bottom of the stairs,
and slowly began to ascend. Simultaneously he heard the rustle of
Mildred's dress returning. He beckoned her silently into Marie's room,
and closed the door softly.
"Well?" he said.
"Maud is not there, either," she whispered.
"Are they out, do you think, in the garden?" said he. "Wait; she may be
in my room."
He went to the door communicating and opened it. On the table was lying
a note addressed to him; he took it up and read it. "Mildred!" he called
out, and she appeared in the doorway. "I have found this," he said, and
handed it to her.
Then whatever there was of good in the strong and brutal part of the
woman came out. She read it without a tremor, and faced him again.
"That is the worst of having scenes out of doors," she said. "What next,
Jack?"
He put down his candle; his hand was not so steady as hers.
"What next?" he cried. "It is gone; everything is gone, except you and
I."
He took two rapid steps towards her, when both paused. Some one had
tapped at his door, and, without speaking, he pointed to the half-open
door into Marie's room. Then he flung off his coat and waistcoat. Just
then the tap was repeated.
"Come in," he said.
Lord Brereton entered.
"So sorry to disturb you," he said, "but I must tell them what time you
want breakfast. You merely said you wished to go early."
"Oh, half-past eight will do for me," said Jack. "I can get up to town
by ten, which is all I want."
Lord Brereton advanced very slowly and methodically across to the table.
"My wife's fan," he said, taking it up.
"She is with Marie," said the other, not pausing, "who I am afraid is
very unwell. Mildred came in here just now to speak to me; I did not see
she had forgotten it."
Even as he spoke he realized the utter futility of lying, when there was
in the world the woman who had written that note which he held crumpled
up in his hand. But his instinct was merely to gain time, just as a
condemned criminal might wish his execution postponed.
"I am sorry to hear that," said Andrew. "I will leave the fan in my
wife's dressing-room. Good-night."
He went softly out, and Jack opened the other door. The sweat poured
from his forehead, and a deadly sickness came over him. He put his
bed-candle into Mildred's hand.
"No, nothing has happened yet," he said. "I told him you were with
Marie. You with Marie--there's a grim humour about that, though I didn't
see it at the time. My God! we'll have a fight for it yet!"
Mildred looked at him.
"Jack, you are ill; you look frightful," she said.
"Very possibly." He paused a moment. "Mildred, you woman, you
devil!--which are you?" he whispered. "My God! you have courage. Here am
I, trembling; you are as steady as if you were talking to a stranger in
a drawing-room full of people!"
She laughed silently, with a horrible gusto of enjoyment, the sense of
danger quickening, intoxicating her.
"What does it matter?" she whispered. "What does anything matter?"