"NOW, YORKE!"
The carefully brushed, exquisitely shining, and glossy hat--the city
man's god, as it has been called--fell from his hands, and he flushed
and then turned pale; but that, perhaps, was at his clumsiness. At any
rate, whatever the cause, he was able to look Lady Eleanor steadily in
the face when he recovered his hat.
"Portmaris?" he said, smoothing it with his sleeve. "Yes, I know it. It
is a small fishing village on the west coast. Why do you ask?" and his
keen eyes grew to her face.
"Oh, I only heard of it the other day," she said.
"A friend of mine, the Duke of Rothbury, has gone down there, and----,"
she paused a moment--"and Lord Auchester has been there."
"Lord Auchester?" he said, and his brows knit thoughtfully. "It is a
strange place for a man about town, like Lord Auchester, to stay at."
"He has been fishing."
"There is no fishing there," he remarked, and he put one glove on, and
took it off again, the frown still on his face.
"He has been to see the duke. You may know that the duke and he are
great friends. They are cousins."
He shook his head, with an impatience strange and unusual with him--the
cool, self-possessed, city man.
"I know very little about such persons, Lady Eleanor," he said,
gravely. "Your father, the late earl, was the only nobleman I ever
knew, and--I don't mean to be offensive--I ever wanted to know."
Lady Eleanor looked at him with faint, well-bred surprise; then she
smiled.
"If reports speak truly, you are likely to be a nobleman yourself some
day, Mr. Duncombe. You have only to enter Parliament----."
He shook his head by way of stopping her.
"I have no ambition in that direction, Lady Eleanor," he said, almost
gloomily. "I am a man of business, and care nothing for titles. I was
going to say and for little else; but I suppose that wouldn't be true.
I do care for money; I've been bred to that. Is there anything else you
would like to say to me?" he broke off abruptly.
His manner was so singular, so unlike his usual one, that Lady Eleanor
was startled.
"Thank you, no," she said; "except--except that I should be glad if you
could get any other bills or debts of Lord Auchester's."
He nodded.
"Certainly." He brushed his hat slowly, then added, "Excuse me, Lady
Eleanor, but will you allow me to ask why you are purchasing--and at a
heavy price--Lord Auchester's liabilities? I am aware that I have no
right to ask you the question----."
"Yes, you have," she said, quickly, and struggling with the color that
would mount to her face. "You were my father's friend, and have been
and are mine; and you have every right to ask such questions. But I
find it difficult to answer. Well, Lord Auchester is a friend of mine,
and I would rather that he owed me the money than a lot of Jews and
people of that kind."
Ralph Duncombe inclined his head with an air of, "You know your own
business better than any one else."
"Good-morning, Lady Eleanor," he said; "I will do as you wish. And
please, say nothing about this mining scheme of ours."
He got outside the house, and drew a long breath.
The mere mention of the word "Portmaris" had stirred his heart to its
depths, and recalled Leslie and his parting scene with her.
He might aspire to nobility, might he? What would be the good of a
title to him, when the only title he longed for was that of Leslie
Lisle's husband? And so this Lord Auchester had been at Portmaris. Had
he seen Leslie? Had he spoken to her? It was not unlikely! Such men as
this Lord Yorke Auchester would be sure to discover a beautiful girl
like Leslie, and make acquaintance with her.
Ralph Duncombe spent a very bad half-hour on the Underground on his way
back to the city; very bad!
Five minutes after the man of business had left Palace Gardens, Yorke,
the man of pleasure, arrived there, and was welcomed as if he were the
great Lama of Thibet.
"I haven't had time to change my habit, Yorke," said Lady Eleanor.
"You couldn't put on anything prettier," he said, with that fatal
facility of his, and he looked at her admiringly.
Lady Eleanor never appeared to greater advantage than in the dark green
habit, upon which Redfern had bestowed his most finished art.
"Come in to luncheon at once," she said; "it is the only way of
stopping your compliments. Here is Aunt Denby in a complete quandary as
to whether there is anything fit to eat. You know we women don't care
what we get, but it is different with you men."
But the luncheon was perfect in its way. Clear soup, a fish pie, salmi
of fowl, and--oh, wonderful cook! lobster cutlets; and the famous '73
claret.
Yorke did full justice to the good fare, and rattled away for the
amusement of the two women. He talked of the opera, of the next meeting
at Sandown, of anything and everything which would interest two women
moving in the ultra-fashionable circles, and made himself so pleasant
that Lady Denby--who always suspected, while she liked him--relaxed
into a smile, and Lady Eleanor was beaming.
"Never get cutlets like these anywhere else," he said, helping himself
to a second serve with a contented sigh.
"Not at Portmaris?" asked Lady Eleanor.
He held his fork aloft, and looked at her with sudden gravity.
"Eh! Oh, Portmaris. No. No lobster cutlets down there. I rather think
they eat the lobsters raw."
"What an outlandish place it must be!" said Lady Eleanor. "I wonder how
you could stay there, you and Dolph."
"Oh, anything for a change," he said, carelessly, but with his mind
apparently fixed on his plate, at the bottom of which he could see
Leslie's face as plainly as if she were standing before him.
The lunch was over at last. It had seemed interminable to Lady Eleanor,
and Lady Denby had, with a half-audible murmur of an afternoon drive,
taken herself away and left the coast clear.
"You want to smoke?" said Lady Eleanor. "Come into the conservatory.
Aunt doesn't mind it there, as it kills the insects."
He lit a cigar, and lounged against the doorway, and she sank into a
seat and absently picked the blossoms nearest to her.
"Now is the time," he thought, "to tell her everything," but at the
moment he remembered the bracelet which the duke had given him for her,
and he put his hand in his pocket and drew it out.
"By the way, Eleanor," he said, carelessly, "you had a birthday the
other day."
"Yes, I think I had," she said, smiling up at him. "Do you remember it?"
"Well, I shouldn't, if it hadn't been for Dolph," he said, honestly.
"Dolph always remembers, you know."
"Yes, I know."
"And so--so----." He took the morocco case from his pocket and opened
it. "And so--well, I know it isn't worth your acceptance, but if you
care to take it, here's a trifle--Dolph gave me," he added, honestly
and he held out the bracelet.
She took it, and her face brightened, brightened with a soft glow which
made it look inexpressibly tender and grateful.
"How good of you! How pretty it is! And it is just the size, see," and
she unbuttoned the habit sleeve and slipped the bracelet on. "How does
it fasten?"
"Eh?" he said. "Oh, like this, I expect," and he closed the spring and
fastened it over her slender, milk-white wrist, and the touch of his
hand sent a thrill through her, though he performed the operation in a
most business-like way.
"How very good of you!"
"Say, rather of Dolph," he said. "It was he who gave it to me for you."
"But it was you who gave it to me," she said, in a low voice.
"I told him you wouldn't care for it," he said. "You who have no end of
presents."
"But none I value more than this," she said, her voice singing, so to
speak. "I will always wear it."
"Don't," he said. "Better wear the bracelet that goes with your diamond
set. That's more suitable to a rich person than this--though that's
hard on Dolph, who chose it and paid for it, isn't it?"
She was silent a moment, then she said:
"That reminds me, Yorke. Do you know that I am likely to be richer even
than you think?"
"Oh? Well, I'm very glad," he said, with friendly interest and
pleasure. "What will you do with so much coin; roll in it?"
She sighed softly, and lifted her eyes to his for a moment, with a look
that said, "I would like to give it to you, and you can roll in it, or
fling it in the Thames, or play ducks and drakes with it, or anything."
But he was not looking at her, and did not see the appeal of the soft
brown eyes.
"There is one thing I can do with it," she said. "I can buy your horse,
if you really mean selling it, Yorke. But you don't?"
"But I do," he said, quickly, and with a touch of red showing
through his tan. "I'm going to cut down my establishment--big word
'establishment,' isn't it?--as low as it can be cut, and the horse has
got to go."
"Then I will buy it," she said, her face flushing, and then going pale.
Why was he selling it? What was he going to do? Surely nothing rash;
he was not going to marry. No! she drew a long breath--that was
impossible. He couldn't marry with those debts hanging round his neck,
and those awful bills which she held, unless he married an heiress, and
in that case he would not want to sell his horse, an old and loving
favorite.
"You?" he said. "Why should you buy it? You've got enough already.
Besides, he's not altogether safe."
"Thank you," she said, laughing a little tremulously. "It is the first
time my horsemanship has been called in question. I'm not afraid of
Peter. Besides, I--I should like to have him."
"To put under a glass case?"
"Yes, that I might look at him and recall the many jolly rides we have
had together. No, no one shall have Peter but me. You can't prevent my
buying him, you know!"
"No," he said. "And I'd rather you had him than any one else. I should
see him occasionally, and I think I could make him quiet enough
for you. Perhaps," he laughed, "you might feel good-natured enough
sometimes to lend him to a poor chap who can't afford a nag of his own."
"Yes," she said. "I could do that. Is there anything I wouldn't lend or
give you, Yorke?" and her voice was almost inaudible.
He started and looked at his watch. How was he to tell this beautiful
woman, whose eyes were melting with love, whose voice rang with it,
that he had no love to return, that he had indeed given his whole heart
to another woman? And yet, that was what he meant doing this morning!
"I--I must be off," he said, almost nervously.
She rose, and as she did so the bracelet, which he must have fastened
insecurely, fell to the ground. He stooped and picked it up, and she
held out her arm.
"That's a bad omen, isn't it?" she said, with a wistful smile.
"Oh, no," he replied, as lightly as he could. "That kind of thing only
applies to rings; wedding ones in particular. Let's see, how does this
clasp go, once more?"
She put her disengaged hand to show him, and their fingers met, touched
and got entangled, and he laughed; but the laugh died away as he saw
her lips quiver as if with pain, and her soft eyes fill with tears.
He got outside and took off his hat, and drew a long breath.
"I could as soon have struck her as told her," he muttered.
And that was how he was 'off with the old love' No. 1.
He went down to the club, and sauntered from reading-room to
reception-room, and at last consented to play a game at billiards with
a man with whom he had often played, and always at an advantage.
Yorke was good at most games of strength or skill, and the men, hearing
that he was playing, dropped in and sat round to while away the tedious
hour before dinner.
But that afternoon Yorke could not play a bit.
"Completely off color," remarked a young fellow, in tones of almost
personal resentment. "Never saw such a thing, don't-yer-know. There!
That's the second easy hazard he's missed, and bang goes my sovereign."
"And why on earth does he keep on smoking like that?" inquired another
in an undertone. "Looks as if he were mooning about something. He can't
be--be----."
The first young fellow shook his head.
"No, Yorke Auchester doesn't drink, if that's what you mean; it isn't
that, but hang me if I know what it is. Yorke!" he called out, "you
can't play."
Yorke gave a little start in the middle of one of the reflective smiles.
"Eh? No. I'm making a fool of myself, I know."
"You must have been to bed early wherever you've been for the last
week," suggested one of the men, and they were all surprised to see
him flush, "like a great girl, by Jingo!"
"Yes, I have, and it hasn't agreed with me in a billiard sense," he
said, good temperedly, as he put on his coat and sauntered out. He went
to his chambers and dressed, and the faithful Fleming also noticed the
singular fit of abstraction which had fallen upon his beloved master.
"Seems to have something on his mind," was his mental reflection. "And
it doesn't look as if it was bills or anything unpleasant of that kind."
"Shall I wait up to-night, my lord?" he asked, as he put on the
perfectly cut dress overcoat, and handed the speckless, flawless hat.
He had to put the question twice, and even then Yorke did not seem to
catch the sense of it immediately.
"Eh? No, don't sit up; I may be late. And, by the way, I may be off to
the country to-morrow morning, so have some things packed."
"Something up at that outlandish place he's been staying at," was
Fleming's mental comment, and he watched his master go slowly down the
stairs with the faint flicker of a smile on his handsome face.
Yorke dined at the club and for once seemed quite indifferent as to
what he ate, and when the footman brought the wrong claret, took it
without a word of reproach. Some of his friends watched him from an
adjacent table, and shook their heads.
"Somebody's gone and died and left him a hatful of coin, or else he's
won a big wager. Never saw Yorke Auchester go dreaming over his dinner
in his life before," was the remark.
About nine o'clock he lit a cigar, and walked down to the Diadem.
The attendants, box-keepers, even the men in the orchestra knew him,
and people pointed him out to each other as his stalwart figure made
its way to his stall; and when Finetta sprang onto the stage in her
dainty page's dress of scarlet and black satin, the man who always
"knows everything" about the actors and actresses whispered to a
country cousin, "That's Finetta. Look! You'll see her glance toward him
and perhaps give a little nod. They say he's spent every penny of an
enormous fortune in diamonds for her; got some of 'em on to-night," etc.
As a matter of fact, Finetta saw him without any direct glance, and saw
nothing else.
It was said that she danced her best that night, and the house stamped
and cheered with delight.
But as Yorke looked at her, and clapped, he thought:
"Poor Fin. It won't be hard to leave her."
And the remembrance of the laugh he had heard at St. Martin's Tower
rose, and made him shudder. He lit a cigar after the theater, and set
out to walk to St. John's Wood.
As the page opened the door--Finetta had two men-servants, both as well
appointed and trained as any of Lady Eleanor's--Yorke heard the sound
of laughter and music in the dining-room; and above it all, Finetta's
laugh; it made him shudder once more.
Supper was nearly over--a dainty supper with ice puddings and the best
brands of champagne and some one at the piano was dashing out with the
true artistic touch, the popular song from the late comic opera, and
some of the guests were singing it.
There were three or four men--Lord Vinson was among them and--and
as many ladies. At the head of the table sat Finetta. She was
magnificently dressed in a cream silk, soft and undulating.
A crimson rose was her only ornament, and that worn in the thick,
glossy hair; she knew Yorke's taste too well to smother herself in
diamonds, and she knew also that the soft cream and the rich red rose
showed up her dark, Spanish complexion as no other colors could do.
Her eyes lit up as he entered, and she signed to him to take a chair
next her.
"I knew you'd come," she said, in a low voice. "You never break a
promise. Polly, give Lord Auchester some gelatine--or what will you
have?"
He took a biscuit and a glass of wine, and joined in with the talk.
It was not very witty, but it was not dull. The men talked of the
theater, the turf, and talked a great deal better and more fluently
than they did at "respectable" dinner parties, and every now and then
one of them was asked to sing, and did so cheerfully and willingly, and
as a rule sang well, and the rest made a chorus if it was needed.
With the exception that no one looked or was bored, and all tried to
make themselves pleasant and agreeable, it differed very little from
the dinners and suppers which we, the most respectable of readers, so
often yawn over.
Finetta said but little, sang one song only, and was so silent and
quiet and subdued, that Lord Vinson, as he rose to take his leave,
whispered to Yorke on passing:
"Look out for squalls, old fellow! She's most dangerous when she's like
this, don't you know."
When they had all gone but Yorke, and Polly had retired to a corner
of the inner room, and taken out some lace of her sister's to mend,
Finetta lit a cigarette for Yorke, and then, going to the piano, began
to play--she had learned to play a little--the air to which she danced
her great dance. Then she moved way and as if she were thinking of
anything but the silent young man with the far-away look on his face,
and humming the air musically enough, glided into the dance itself.
Surely since Taglioni there has been no more graceful dancer than
Finetta, and even Yorke, with his heart soaring miles away to the
flower-faced girl who owned it, could not but look and admire.
"Bravo, Fin," he said, almost involuntarily. "No wonder they encore
that every night! Don't leave off," for she had stopped suddenly right
in front of him, her dark eyes flashing into his, her lips apart.
"Yes," she said. "I am not going to dance any more to-night. I am going
to sit here and listen while you tell me everything! Now Yorke!"