MRS. ROVER'S MASKED BALL.
"It is a long lane that has no turning!" Lord Prelice began to believe
that there might be some truth in the proverb, for the lengthy lane of
idleness, down which he had sauntered for many years, seemed to be
rounding the corner to open out into the road of industry. The chance
observation of Lady Sophia, which had sent him to the New Bailey, had
become a sign-post, as it were, showing him which way he was to go. In
other words, he was now involved in Shepworth's troubles, out of sheer
friendship. Ned had confessed that he required assistance, and had
turned to his old school-chum for the same. Prelice was naturally
willing to do what he could towards aiding Ned in extricating Miss
Chent from her perilous position, and so found work for his idle brain
to do. Of course, as he tried to believe, he could resume his former
life when the service was duly rendered. The wedding-bells which rang
for Mr. and Mrs. Shepworth would dismiss their best man once more to
his sauntering.
But this, as Prelice began to think, was easier said than done, mainly
owing to the looks of Miss Chent. He had not spoken to the girl, and
knew her character solely through the evidence of the Grange servants,
who had been placed in the witness-box. Also Ned, as he remembered,
had said very little about his affianced wife, and Prelice knew none
whom he could question as to the prisoner's qualities. Yet, for all
his scanty knowledge, he felt strangely drawn towards the unhappy
woman, and confessed inwardly that he would feel a pang on seeing her
become Mrs. Shepworth. Without doubt Prelice was in love, although not
head over ears, and he swore at himself for being so disloyal to his
friend. Mona--the name slipped quite naturally into his mind--Mona
would assuredly be acquitted, unless the missing Agstone appeared,
which was extremely unlikely, and then she would as assuredly marry
Ned, who had so manfully stood by her in this grave trouble. Therefore
it behooved Prelice, as an honourable gentleman--and he was all
that--to put her out of his mind, if he wished to continue meeting
Shepworth's gaze squarely. And, after all, a peer worth twenty
thousand a year could pick and choose almost any woman for his wife;
it was hard on Ned that such a peer should play the part of David in
the parable, and select the less fortunate commoner's one ewe-lamb.
The struggle between more than a liking for Mona, and a feeling of
genuine friendship for Ned, made Prelice waver in determining his
future behaviour. His first inclination, when aware of his feeling,
was to cross the Channel for a prolonged stay abroad, and leave
Shepworth to his own devices. Then it occurred to him that this course
would be cowardly, and he resolved to remain and help. Nothing that
the world could cavil at could ever take place, since Prelice, with
his high sense of honour, never dreamed of paying marked attentions to
Miss Chent. All the same, if he came often into Mona's company--and
that seemed inevitable should he remain--his life's happiness would
certainly be at stake. He would have his feelings to smother, and
therefore--as he plainly saw--would be most unhappy. Prelice at this
early stage of infatuation termed his feeling towards the girl
"affection," but he knew very well that, given time and opportunity,
affection of this sudden kind might easily increase to love. In that
case, seeing how Miss Chent was engaged to be married, he would be
vainly crying for the honeymoon.
His lordship, then, felt less happy in the evening than he had done in
the morning. Then he had been heart-whole; now the sight of a
beautiful woman in peril had aroused the deepest and most chivalrous
feelings of which his nature was capable. Placed thus between the
devil and the deep sea, Prelice compromised dangerously with his
conscience. He resolved to crush down his newly born desire for Mona,
and to help Ned as best he could. In this way did the young man mix
fire and snow, in the vain hope that such hostile elements would
blend. Common-sense should have told him otherwise.
Having so decided--although not over-pleased with his decision, and
with good reason--Prelice dressed for dinner. He remembered that he
had promised to partake of this agreeable meal at his aunt's. A
solitary chop at his club would have been preferable, as he was
disinclined for company. But, aware from experience that Lady Sophia
would strongly object to an excusing telegram, Prelice smothered his
unwillingness, and reached the abode of his relative shortly before
eight o'clock.
Lady Sophia lived magnificently in Brummel Square. The fourth daughter
of a pauper Duke, she had married a wealthy city man--that is, she had
entered into a social partnership, as there was little genuine marital
feeling about the union. Simon Haken was a dried-up, active atom of
humanity with a bald head, a pair of piercing dark eyes, and an
exasperating chuckle, which he used when getting the better of anyone.
As he usually scored over less clever financiers, he chuckled very
often, and this sardonic merriment imparted a somewhat cynical
expression to his withered face.
His wife, large, and expansive, and fresh-coloured, looked like an
elephant beside a grasshopper, when the two went into Society, and
they were generally known as the Mountain and the Mouse. But Haken
cared as little for the jest as did Lady Sophia. As husband and wife
in its strictest sense they were failures, being two and not one; as
partners they were admirably matched. Having no children, and plenty
of money and excellent health, and no strong emotions, the two enjoyed
life immensely. Possessed of a complacent husband, of a good position,
ample cash, and absolute freedom, Lady Sophia even forgot to sigh for
the delights of the Stone Age when she reflected upon the position in
life to which it had pleased Providence to call her.
On this occasion Mr. Haken, as usual, had wired detention in the
city on business, so Lady Sophia received her nephew in a solitary
drawing-room, as handsomely furnished as she was dressed. "You are
just in time for dinner," said she with emphasis, implying thereby
that Prelice was usually late.
"I always am in time," answered the guest, smiling but preoccupied.
"Dinner is a sacred feast which cannot be trifled with. I would as
soon insult the King as the Cook." Then he sat and stared at the
points of his patent-leather boots with the air of a misanthrope.
"You are out of spirits," declared Lady Sophia, rapping his knuckles
with her lorgnette. "I prescribe a round of pleasure. To-night you
shall escort me to two dances and four musical parties."
"But I haven't done anything to deserve such punishment."
"How absurdly you talk. These festivals----"
"I agree with the man who said that life would be endurable were it
not for its festivals."
"Nonsense. He could not have been in Society."
"He just was, and so made a profoundly true observation. I renounce
Society and all its play. Besides," added Prelice inconsequently, "I
am going to a masked ball to-night at Mrs. Dolly Rover's."
"That woman!" cried Lady Sophia, with disdain.
Prelice looked up, surprised. "I thought you liked her?"
"As Constance Newton, not as Mrs. Rover," she informed him swiftly.
"They are one and the same," he urged.
"Not at all. Marriage changes a woman into something entirely
different. Constance was a charming girl; Mrs. Rover is a flirting,
fast-living, heartless, spendthrift, Society doll."
"Society Doll--y Rover," murmured Prelice, noting his aunt's usual
waste of adjectives. "Will you come to this ball?"
"What!" Lady Sophia almost screamed, "a masked ball, and at my age?
Oh, how can you be so ridiculous, Prelice? And at Mrs. Rover's too; a
woman who neglects her husband, and squanders his money, and whips him
like a poodle, I believe."
"He is something of a poodle, isn't he?"
"That is no reason why he should be whipped," she snapped heatedly;
"and if you knew how she had treated your friend Mr. Shepworth, you
would not go near her disreputable ball."
Prelice pricked up his ears, remembering the unnecessary blush of the
barrister at midday. "How did she treat Shepworth?" he asked.
"How? Can you ask?"
"Of course, seeing that, as a newly returned traveller, I know
nothing."
"Well then, she was almost engaged to him, and he was very much in
love with her. She threw him over in a cold-blooded way, because Dolly
Rover came along with a better-filled purse. He's a horrid little
cad," added Lady Sophia candidly, "and his father was a chemist, or a
draper--I forget which. All the same, he is too good for a jilt, who
played blind hooky--don't raise your eyebrows, Prelice; it's vulgar,
but expressive, and I shall use it--who played blind hooky with poor
Mr. Shepworth."
"But are you sure, aunt? Ned is engaged to Miss Chent."
"Out of pique--out of pique," she assured him. "Mona is a nice girl,
poor darling, even though she did murder her uncle, not that I believe
she did. But Constance is the one love of Mr. Shepworth's life, and
fifty Monas won't make up for the loss. Mona, if ever she does become
Mrs. Shepworth, which I very much doubt, will only be a make-shift."
"Oh!" Prelice was almost too indignant to speak. That so peerless a
girl should be talked of as a "make-shift" seemed positively wicked.
"You must be mistaken. Ned would not behave so badly."
"Ask him then."
"I shall do this very night."
"Then you will go to that woman's?"
"Yes. I accepted, as I always liked Constance. Besides, I have to see
Ned, who lives in these same mansions----"
"I know he does," burst out Lady Sophia; "quite indecent I call it."
"Oh, hang it, aunt, a man must live somewhere."
"Not next door to a woman who has jilted him."
"He doesn't live next door, but on the floor below."
"It would be more creditable if he lived in Timbuctoo. I believe that
he loves her still, and she's quite capable of loving him back in
spite of the marriage service, which I don't believe she listened to.
As for her husband----" Lady Sophia was about to give her opinion of
Mr. Dolly Rover, when the butler threw open the door, and announced
dinner. At once she took her nephew's arm, and changed the
conversation. "Tell me about the case," she chattered as they passed
to the dining-room. "Have they hanged that poor girl?"
"Who? Miss Chent? No, and I don't believe they will."
"Ah!" Lady Sophia pulled off her gloves. "I always said that she was
innocent."
"Of course, if Agstone turns up, she may be convicted."
"Agstone--oh yes; the man who declares that he saw her kill Sir
Oliver."
Prelice corrected her, while taking his soup. "He only saw her bending
over the fire with a knife in her hand."
"Burning the will after killing her uncle. What a horrid girl!"
"Aunt Sophia, will you tell me plainly if you believe Miss Chent to be
innocent or guilty?"
"How can I judge when I haven't heard the evidence? You talk as though
I were on the jury. I like Mona, and I'm sure she didn't kill him; but
if she did, he deserved it, as he was a nasty old bully."
Prelice desisted in despair, and helped himself to fish. Lady Sophia
seemed to change her mind every half minute, and never considered
facts when she wanted to deliver an opinion. Besides, she preferred
fiction, as it was less trouble to invent than to remember. All the
same, her sympathies appeared to be with Mona, and Prelice felt
pleased that it should be so. Should the girl be acquitted, her
position would be extremely difficult, and she would require a staunch
friend of her own sex. Why should not that friend be Lady Sophia,
whose support could do much to efface the stain of a Criminal Court?
But until the case was decided, Prelice did not dare to hint that such
an idea had crossed his mind. As the servants were hovering round the
table he could not talk confidentially to his aunt, so drifted into
general conversation about mutual friends. He thus became posted up in
the latest Mayfair gossip, and so was brought up to date in necessary
knowledge. And Lady Sophia knew as much about London as Asmodeus did
about Madrid, and like that delightful demon, she could unroof houses
to some purpose. Luckily for the men and women about whom she talked,
the presence of the butler and two footmen prevented entire candour.
As the food was excellent and the conversation interesting, not to say
necessary--for Prelice as a newly returned traveller required much
posting-up in recent scandals--nephew and aunt lingered for a
considerable time at table. When the meal was ended Prelice preferred
to accompany Lady Sophia to the drawing-room, instead of remaining
solitary over Haken's famous port. They had half-an-hour left for
coffee, and then Lady Sophia would have to start out on her round of
festivals.
"You ought to come with me, Prelice," she said later, as he helped her
on with her cloak; "everyone thinks that you are dead."
"Well, aunt, you would not have much pleasure in taking a corpse about
with you. Besides, I promised to look up Ned this evening."
"No doubt, and he'll be at that woman's ball. Most indecent, seeing
that poor Mona is in gaol."
"Ned isn't such a blighter," cried Prelice crossly.
"I never called him a blighter, whatever that may mean," retorted Lady
Sophia with great dignity. "Mr. Shepworth is an estimable young man,
whom you would do well to imitate."
"I intend to. He and I are going to save Miss Chent."
"How horrid; you'll be a kind of detective."
Prelice nodded. "It's something to do."
"As if you required anything to do with your rank and money."
"But I say, aunt, you advised me this morning----"
"Oh, I never remember anything I say in the morning," said Lady Sophia
airily. "You are so stupid, Prelice, you always take one at the foot
of the letter. You won't come with me. Oh, very well. Help me into the
brougham, you horrid boy. I believe you'll fall in love with Mona, and
give me a criminal for a niece."
This was Lady Sophia's parting shot, and when her motor-brougham spun
towards the first turning out of the square, Prelice laughed long and
loudly. His aunt was nearer the truth than she had been the whole
evening, although she was far from suspecting it. It never entered her
elderly head that a man of the world, such as her nephew certainly
was, would fall in love on the spur of the moment. "And I should not
have suspected myself of such lunacy either," thought his lordship as
he turned in the direction of Half-Moon Street to procure domino and
mask for the ball.
The street before Alexander Mansions was filled with carriages and
motors and four-wheelers and hansoms, together with a crowd of
onlookers, who passed remarks, complimentary and otherwise, on the
many guests of Mrs. Rover. The mansions themselves were palatial and
splendid, with a royal flight of broad marble steps to the main
entrance. Prelice, shuffling on his domino and assuming his mask,
climbed these, to find himself with other revellers in a vast hall,
with two staircases ascending on either side at the farther end, and
between them two lifts, the cages of which soared and sank with
parties of pleasure-seekers. Prelice delivered his rainbow-hued ticket
of invitation to a gorgeously uniformed commissionaire, and took his
time in climbing the long stairs. Many other people did the same,
instead of waiting for the lifts, but, as all were masked and cloaked,
the young man could recognise no one.
As Shepworth had stated, Mr. and Mrs. Dolly Rover occupied the whole
of the third floor--that is, they tenanted two flats which faced each
other, and the outer doors of these, opening on to a spacious landing,
had been removed from their hinges. Thus the guests could pass easily
from one flat to the other, and the landing between was a nest of
greenery and roses, like the hanging gardens of Babylon. The flats
themselves had wide corridors, spacious rooms, and lofty ceilings, so
they were capable of receiving a large number of guests. On this
occasion they were crowded, and it would seem as though Mrs. Rover had
invited everyone on her visiting-list. And there may have been others,
not set down on that list, since the masks and dominos prevented
recognition.
Prelice looked about for his hostess, but found himself received by a
tiny, pale-faced man with large, plaintive blue eyes set in a white
expanse of absolutely colourless skin. He wore a domino over his smart
evening-dress, but no mask, and was so clipped and curled, and brushed
and washed, that Prelice easily guessed him to be the poodle mentioned
by Lady Sophia. Pushing out a small tightly gloved hand, he murmured a
nervous greeting to each new arrival; but after this ceremony was
ended no one seemed to take any notice of him.
As all who came were masked, Prelice wondered how Mr. Rover could
possibly know whom he was greeting. Of course, there was the
rainbow-hued ticket given to the commissionaire below, which would
guarantee the respectability of the presenter. But tickets of this
sort could be stolen and forged, and as no further supervision was
exercised to ensure the identity of the guests, Prelice considered
that such a procedure was somewhat rash. His thoughts were confirmed
by a dried-up little man who appeared without a mask, and who was
rebuked by Mr. Rover for his originality.
"You shouldn't, you know," expostulated the host in a penny whistle
kind of voice; "no one is to know anyone until the clock strikes
twelve, when we all unmask for supper. Why, even my wife insisted that
I should receive in her place. She would be spotted, you know, if she
stopped here to shake hands, and she doesn't want to be found out
until midnight. The whole fun of a masquerade lies in secrecy, so obey
the rules, Haken, and put on your mask."
Prelice started when he heard the name, and twisted his neck to see if
the new-comer really was his uncle-by-marriage. It was Simon Haken
sure enough, for no one could mistake his looks let alone his
celebrated chuckle. The young man laughed, and wondered what Haken--by
no means a Society butterfly--was doing at the ball of a lady whom his
wife openly disliked. And then he remembered that lying telegram from
the city. Mr. Haken had his little secrets it would seem, and was more
human, under the rose, than when posing as a money-making machine. His
dutiful nephew determined, before the evening was out, to let his sly
uncle know that his misdoings were discovered.
Meanwhile the little millionaire was chuckling and masking. "It is a
risk, you know, Rover," he observed dryly. "You don't know who is
here. Half the swell mobsmen of London may have come after diamonds."
"Oh, dear me, how can you talk so, Haken?" said the host fretfully;
"the man below examines the tickets."
"As if anyone could not forge or steal one," retorted Haken, voicing
his nephew's thoughts. "Well, in to-morrow's papers I shall look for a
criminal scandal." And with his odious chuckle Haken brushed past
Prelice towards the ballroom of the left-hand flat.
His lordship, tired of watching new arrivals, thought that he also
would go and view the revellers. But he had hardly moved half-a-dozen
paces when he unexpectedly began to think of Easter Island. A sweet,
heavy perfume, as of tuberoses, was wafted in his nostrils. But why
should such a familiar fragrance recall that desolate land, environed
by leagues of ocean?