OF OTHER GUESTS AND THEIR TALK. OF A SOFA-HAVEN AND HOW MISS ARKROYD
PERCEIVED THAT MR. CHALLIS COULD WRITE A TRAGEDY. BEAUTY A MATTER OF
OPINION
The party that assembled that evening to dinner at Royd was smaller
than usual, owing to the absence of the motorists, who had not
returned. Some of the chits, too--who were never counted; they were
always "those girls" or "those young people"--had vanished also, taking
with them an exactly equal number of male parallel cases; for they were
flirting fair--there was to be no cheating! Thus it came about that the
ladies' procession to the drawing-room did not make up to half-a-dozen,
and the men they left behind to smoke only just did so. But then, it
was easier to talk, because there was less noise.
Scarcely had the last inch of the last lady, regarded as a total
with all components included, disappeared through the door, when Mr.
Challis's two friends of the morning made a simultaneous rush for a
chair on either side of him. He succumbed, having no alternative,
but resolved to pay absolutely no attention to anything they said.
He would throw his whole soul into the enjoyment of the cigar he
foresaw. There it was--in a box of ivory and _madreperla_ which Sibyl
had somehow countenanced into existence, without doing anything to it
herself--being brought along in a tray, abetted by cigarettes. But
he would light it when he had drunk his coffee, thank you! The fact
was, Mr. Challis was acquiring presence of mind, and did not spoil his
opportunities now as he used to do formerly when the world of toffs was
new.
Mr. Brownrigg the Grauboschite would not detain Mr. Challis more than
one moment from Mr. Wraxall, the Universal Insurer; no more, in fact,
than was necessary for him to emphasize a consideration he had alluded
to in the morning. But he might take this opportunity of pointing out
one or two inevitable inferences from that consideration which might
not have occurred to his hearer.
He was better than his word, for he pointed out half-a-dozen at least.
He then went on to say that it was only fair on his part to admit the
plausibility of three or four exceptions that he was well aware had
been taken to those inferences. But he was prepared to demonstrate the
fallacy of each of these on many different grounds, the least of which
would be fatal to the pretensions of his opponents' arguments in more
than one particular.
If he had stopped there, Mr. Triptolemus Wraxall would have gone in and
scored; and, indeed, double-wicket would have been quite possible if
Mr. Brownrigg would have played according to rule. But he wouldn't. Mr.
Wraxall struggled to get a hit and a run, but scarcely succeeded.
As, with the exception of Challis and one or two others who listened
and looked superior, everyone at the table became a contributor of
a vigorous analysis, an irrefutable demonstration, an exhaustive
enumeration, a thoughtful review, an indignant protest or a brief
summary of essential facts, or was laying stress upon an important
point that might easily be lost sight of, there was a great deal of
noise. Challis nearly succeeded, by a powerful effort, in abstracting
his mind from it and enjoying his cigar. He was able to believe
that he only resorted to a speculation as to what was going on in
the drawing-room as an assistance against all this chatter. That
speculation had certainly nothing to do with any particular young lady
whatever.
But a drowsy semi-abstraction was only achievable when the components
of the Chaos were so numerous as to neutralize each other, becoming a
sustained inarticulate roar. The moment a single speaker, or even two,
became audible in an oasis of silence, Challis's attention was caught
by his words, and divided fairly between them and what was left of
the reveries they intruded on. Such an oasis was reached, as far as
Challis's immediate neighbours were concerned, about half-way through
his cigar, just as regret began to set in that he had smoked so much of
it.
Now it happened that Mr. Ramsey Tomes, who was quite unexhausted,
though he had talked all day, and who was seated on the other side
of the table, had at that moment just sketched the extinction of the
British Empire in consequence of its ill-advised persistence in all
the _dementiæ_ of all the States that _Deus_ ever _voluit perdere_.
He had used up his Latin quotations, including the one we have taken
a liberty with, and had finished with a beautiful picture of the New
Zealander, our old friend, gazing across the site of vanished London
from Jack Straw's Castle, and murmuring to himself, "Perierunt etiam
ruinæ." Happy in his peroration, the orator sat sustaining a fat right
foot on a fat left knee with a fat left hand. His fat right thumb and
forefinger held a permanent glass of port; they seemed to be waiting
for it to evaporate. His attitude was unfavourable to his figure, as
it laid too much stress on a corporate capacity which might have been
described as pendant. But the _ensemble_ was majestic, as he fixed his
small but piercing eye on the cornice of the room opposite, grasping
the eyeglass that accompanied it with what almost seemed a materialized
allusion to his own powerful grasp of political issues. So sitting, his
appearance was that of a Mind, giving attentive consideration to most
things.
"The disciple of Socrates," said he, with a decision and suddenness
that compelled respectful attention, "turns with satisfaction from the
contemplation of a spectacle that might well arrest the orgies of an
Epicurus, or soften the cynicism of a Diogenes, to the fields in which
Speculation, untrammelled by official responsibility, deposits--if I
may be permitted the simile--the eggs from which will emerge (like
Minerva from the brain of Jove) the fully-fledged Politician of the
future."
Here an expression of discontent from a young Lieutenant, whose chit
was in the drawing-room awaiting his release, distracted Challis's
attention for the moment. A word of sympathy elicited from this youth
that he had a private grievance against Mr. Tomes. "_You_ wouldn't
like it any more than I do, if he had trod on _your_ pup. Poor little
beggar's only a month old!" He brooded over this injury in silence, and
the orator again became audible. He seemed to have been digressing.
"I will pursue this aspect of the case no further, but will return to
the subject in hand. It is not, I hope, necessary for me to say, at
this table, that I am not one of that group of indiscriminate Thinkers
who are prepared to welcome the germination of the Political Idea in
the crude brain of every Sciolist. The outcome of such a surrounding
is but too apt to out-Herod Herod. The _medio tutissimus ibis_, the
_procellas cautus horrescis_ that we may suppose to have guided Cæsar's
wife, should also serve as a beacon to those whose ambition it is to
deserve the gratitude of posterity." Challis was enjoying the cigar too
much to ask--"Why Cæsar's wife?"
Mr. Tomes's assumption of his right to the rostrum was so forcible as
scarcely to allow of usurpation while he was visibly bolting an _ad
interim_ glass of port with a view to going on again. Mr. Brownrigg
chafed, and Mr. Wraxall stood himself over in despair. The young
Lieutenant murmured a prayer to any Providence that would shape the
end of Mr. Tomes's speech, and help him on to it. There seemed no
hope. So he thought of the chit's teeth and chin in self-defence. Mr.
Tomes swallowed his glass of port with a clear conscience about its
non-evaporation--had he not given it every opportunity?--and resumed:
"I must not, however, allow myself to be led away...." But he had
to pause a few seconds, to remember something to have been led away
by. Feeling uncertain, he repeated: "I must not allow myself to
be led away by a side-topic, however fascinating. The maturity of
Political Thought claims our attention. Whether we contemplate the
vast areas of controversy laid bare to the scalpel of the Political
Analyst in connection with the aspirations of the Socialist pure
and simple, the Anarchist pure and simple, or the Nihilist pure and
simple, or differentiate by a closer scrutiny the theories of the
Socialist-Anarchist, the Socialist-Nihilist, or the Nihilist-Anarchist,
we are driven irresistibly to the same conclusion--that Omniscience is
still in its infancy. There is one element which all schemes for the
Readjustment of the Universe have in common--namely, that each differs
on some vital point from the whole of its neighbours. Do not let us
be discouraged by this. Let us rather be content to infer from it the
dangers that await those who advocate rash departures from the existing
order of things, and to recognize, in the discrepancies attendant on
the consolidations of Political Opinion in the thousand and one groups
into which it crystallizes, the indisputable fact that the Index-finger
of the Political Horizon is the maintenance of the _status quo_. I
trust I make myself clearly understood."
Mr. Tomes did not mean to stop for some time yet, but breath was
necessary to him, as to others, and he had got blown over those
groups that crystallized. He knew that his last words would make all
his hearers speak at once, and they did. In the Chaos of their joint
remark was concealed a statement apiece that Mr. Tomes had most lucidly
expounded the one great object of each one's several scheme, and that
the existing order of things would remain thereby much more truly the
same--would have a much more heart-felt identity than any mere banal
and Philistine letting-alone could confer upon it. The choral character
of the performance made the warning check of Mr. Tomes's outspread hand
plausible.
"Pardon me one moment," said he, with recovered breath. "The point I
wish to lay stress upon is this: While the compass of the Political
Mariner points incontestably to the dangers of quitting a safe
anchorage, the Voice of Enlightenment enjoins that all new schemes
of a subversive nature should be looked at on their merits, and
rejected on their merits. This is what I understand by an Enlightened
Conservatism. Rejection without examination is the programme of the
Mere Bigot. I am sure Sir Murgatroyd will appreciate my meaning."
Sir Murgatroyd, thus appealed to, seized his opportunity, and
dexterously annexed the rostrum. He contrived to embark on a trip
through the pamphlet he had written, which claimed for William the
Conqueror the position of the earliest pioneer of Socialism.
Just as he was within a measurable distance of his demonstration that
the Feudal System contained in itself solutions of all difficulties
such as the present age meets by propounding a huge variety of remedies
and calling them all Socialism, noises of arrival interrupted him, and
were followed by an incursion of the motorists, very tired and greedy,
after a delay due to civilization, which prescribes soap and water
before meals, and a curb on one's impatience till the said meals can
be laid on the table. The absence of snorts without occasioned remark,
and compelled a grudging disclosure that the last time the motor broke
down nothing could bring it to the scratch again; and it had been
left behind ten miles off, the party having come home on a mean hired
vehicle. Their faith that this breakdown was abnormal and exceptional,
and a typical example of the sort of thing that never occurs again, was
touching and beautiful.
Mr. Triptolemus Wraxall was glad of the interruption. He had not
asserted himself, and felt that he was a mistake, in that society. His
forms of thought were more studious and reflective--sounder altogether!
One feels this when one has not asserted oneself, and bounced.
Mr. Brownrigg was sorry. He had made up his mind to point out
something, but had not quite made up his mind what it was to be; merely
that it would redound to the credit of Graubosch. Why should not he
point out, and venture to call your attention to, like other people?
However, the others were the losers.
Mr. Challis and the young Lieutenant were both very glad, but with a
difference. The former thought fit, for some reason, to represent to
his conscience that his gladness was due to a release from intolerable
boredom, and certainly had nothing to do with any young woman in the
drawing-room. The latter made no bones about it, but simply ran, the
moment the excuse came. Even so would the little beggar Mr. Tomes trod
on have gone for a saucer of milk.
* * * * *
Challis passed the young soldier on the landing, he having found his
chit on the bottom stair of the next flight, devoting herself to the
little beggar, who had not been welcomed in the drawing-room, owing
to human prejudices. The chit had been so bored in the absence of her
counterchit, as the Lieutenant might be called, that she had found it
necessary to send for Cerberus. That was the little beggar's baptismal
name. Challis passed on into the drawing-room, breathing a prayer that
all would be well. What his foreboding was we do not know.
He thought it necessary to deny his own accusation against himself
that he had been pleased at the Lieutenant running on in front of him
to join the ladies first, that he might thereby seem even-minded on
the question of his own anxiety to do so. He denied it, and to satisfy
himself of the strength of his position, walked in indifferently. He
emphasized his denial by spending no more than a remark or two on Lady
Arkroyd, who, he thought, showed a lack of her usual cordiality, as
though she had read a disparaging review. He inquired a little whether
she found the ride to Thanes pleasant, and so on; and then went at once
to the other end of her daughter's sofa--not a very long one. Indeed
he could hardly do otherwise, as Judith certainly transferred her fine
eyes from him to its vacant corner-cushion. He was a little nettled at
finding he wanted an excuse for his alacrity.
We have read in some novel that the reason women are so fond of
unprincipled men is that they know the latter can and will enjoy their
society thoroughly, and never vex their souls with any questions as to
what that society may mean or lead to for either of them. They, the
women, will do the drawing the line, and that sort of thing. Why be
prigs? Now Challis was scarcely a prig, and he was certainly not an
unprincipled man. If he had been the one, he would have thought much
more talk necessary with the mother before monopolizing the daughter;
if the other, his choice of a satisfaction would have been as candid
as his young soldier's had been--as the little beggar's always was.
Whether the authoress of this novel was talking wisely or not, who
shall say? Broadly speaking, profligates are better company than prigs.
_Coeteris paribus_, mind you!
This is all by the way; will very likely be deleted before this
present writing goes to press. Miss Arkroyd was certainly not under
any necessity to speculate on the matter. _She_ knew perfectly well
that Mr. Challis, married man or no, was going to anchor at the far
end of her sofa as soon as he had got through that silly pretence of
chatting with her mother. And she had retired from a colloquy with this
same mother--whose influence was not strong over her, and with whom
something had disagreed, she thought--with that end in view. Sibyl
wasn't here, with her nonsense, and she should do as she liked. Nay,
more!--she would at once say something to show her independence of
Sibyl's nonsense.
"We thought you were never coming up." She decided to make it _we_,
not _I_, on the whole. Challis's vanity suspected the substitution,
recognizing in it a maiden-of-the-world's prudence, and applauded it.
But a recollection of what a letter he was going to write to Marianne
prompted a protest. He couldn't afford to enjoy his position too much,
without loss of self-respect. How important one's self-respect is!
"We were having some very interesting talk about Politics. Your brother
and sister and Lord Felixthorpe came back and interrupted it." There
was great detachment in this, but it was overdone; too much like
"pointing out" to a polypus that his tentacles were slipping.
Ought her response, thought Judith, to show pique at her quarry's
independence--at his contentment to be away from her society? Much
too soon!--was her verdict, passed, but not formulated. It would be
just like a girl in her first season. And she had not known this man
much above forty-eight hours. She was not going to behave like that
child in the passage, whose pretty sing-song voice chimed with her
young soldier's outside when Challis opened the door to come in just
now. Judith felt certain what she was saying was "I was so saw-ry for
you having to talk Pawlitics when you might have been up here with me
and this dahling pup." Her imagination committed itself to the words,
musical drawl and all; but negatived this sort of thing in her own case.
"I should like to have been there to hear it," she said. "What were
they talking about? The usual thing, I suppose?"
Challis felt she was an honourable polypus, in whose tentacles he could
trust himself. "I can't say," said he. "I'm too recent to know what is
or isn't usual. You'll hear the supplement immediately. There they are,
coming upstairs!"
The lady remained silent, listening handsomely. The thought in
Challis's mind--to the effect that she was the antipodes of Marianne,
in looks--was so irrelevant and inappropriate that he gave it notice
to quit, incontinently. But he could not serve the notice without
admitting possession. He could, though, as a _per contra_, do a little
mechanical forecasting of his letter to Marianne. Yes--his course was
clear; he would tell his wife how absurdly unlike her in all respects
this queenly young woman was; might even go the length of wondering how
the partner of _her_ joys and sorrows would be able to live with so
much dignity always taking place in his neighbourhood. Would that be
like reminding Marianne of her homeliness, though? Oh no!--_he_ would
take care of that. Still, if Marianne had been just one shade less
homely, it would have been easier. Never mind!
The voices on the stairs gathered audibility. Oh yes!--there was papa
and the Feudal System. Judith could hear that, plain enough. How sick
she was of William the Conqueror! And Mr. Tomes, of course, just as
usual! But we mustn't speak too loud, or Mrs. Tomes would hear. What a
fool that woman was! But Mr. Challis didn't know her. He must do so,
in the interests of his next book. All which, in a voice dropped to
confidence-point, tended to engage Mr. Challis's cogs--the simile is an
engineering one--in Miss Arkroyd's wheel.
What was that Mr. Tomes was saying? Something or other was to be
relegated to the Limbo of departed something-elses. If only those young
people wouldn't make such a noise with the puppy, we should hear! Why
were things always relegated to Limbos, and why was nothing ever sent
to Limbos except by relegation? The question was Challis's. But he was
talking at random, for reasons. So was Judith, perhaps, when she said
absently: "I have noticed that, too." She was listening carefully to
hear if her sister and her co-motorists were following. "I suppose they
all came in famished," she added.
"Didn't you see them when they came in?"
"I heard them."
"Didn't they sound famished?"
"Not especially. I didn't pay much attention. As long as no bones are
broken.... They won't be coming up for some time yet." There was in her
voice a very clear implication of relief. The inference was that we,
in this sofa-haven, should not be disturbed. Its correctness was soon
manifest. No two oratorically-disposed gentlemen, well wound up, ever
disturb a chat in a corner, further than mere shouting goes. And Sir
Murgatroyd and the sitting member for Grime were wound up to a high
pitch of agreement about what constituted an Enlightened Conservatism,
and each was anxious to supply the next link in the chain of Syllogism,
and get the credit of it. So they shouted against each other all the
way upstairs, and only lulled very slightly when they reached the
drawing-room.
Mr. Brownrigg and Mr. Wraxall, on the other hand, were _aux grands
éprises_ on a vital question--never mind what; nobody knew or
cared!--which underlay the whole of their argument. Mr. Wraxall
had been unable to permit an inference of Mr. Brownrigg's to pass
unchallenged, and Mr. Brownrigg had impugned the data on which Mr.
Wraxall's objections were founded. Mr. Wraxall had replied that
something or other had been clearly laid down as a safe principle by
Baker, and Mr. Brownrigg had pointed out that the fallacy of Baker's
assumptions had been exhaustively dealt with by Smith. Mr. Wraxall had
counter-pointed out that Smith's penetrating insight into everything
else had led him into error in this one particular; and had laid
stress upon the fact that Hopkins, the weight of whose opinion it was
impossible to deny, had endorsed the opinions of Baker. Mr. Brownrigg
had then become patronizing, and went so far as to warn Mr. Wraxall
not to be led away by the plausibility of Hopkins. Who then, being
a weak controversialist, had rashly appealed to Mr. Ramsey Tomes to
countenance the authority of Hopkins. But that gentleman only gave a
weighty shake to a judicial head, claiming at once profound thought
in the past, and forecasting just censure to come. He feared that the
insidious ratiocinations of Hopkins were a rock we all split upon in
the forest of youth, and an _ignis fatuus_ to mislead the mariner in
the ocean of dialectical difficulty that chequered our steps in later
life.
The controversy, of which the foregoing is a condensation, had passed
the quarrelsome point when the disputants arrived in the drawing-room,
shutting out the melodious trill of the chit, the squeaks of the
little beggar, and the lieutenant's bass voice, saying, "He and the
kitten were having a high old time with my boots early this morning."
The argument was in the mutual-amends stage, and Mr. Brownrigg
was enlarging on the enthralling and irresistible fascination of
Hopkins's style, while Mr. Wraxall was equally eloquent on the almost
Nicholsonian vigour and expansiveness of Smith's. They were then
separated, and presently the insurer was audible afar, enlarging to
Lady Arkroyd on a scheme for insuring against damage at the Wash, in
which she was much interested; while the Grauboschite was mentioning
some further details of that great man's system to Mrs. Ramsey Tomes.
Who, however, only said: "I think my husband would like to hear
that," or "Have you mentioned that to Mr. Tomes?" but gave no sign of
receiving, or of ever having in her life received, an idea on her own
account. The Baronet and the M.P. simply went on, like the water coming
in when the ball-cock has stuck, and nobody will be at work till Monday.
All this is only to impress on the story the quiet of that sofa-haven,
and to justify Judith for feeling practically out of reach of
interruption if she should be inclined to carry on the skein-twisting
a little prematurely--that is, without waiting for a visiting
acquaintance with the probably plebeian wife, to put her friendship
with the husband on an ascertained footing. Now Judith was not without
a well-defined motive for the skein-twisting, as was hinted at the end
of our last chapter. We rather think that if she had not been she would
have suspected something abnormal in Challis's matrimonies from his
manner when he said "Craik." Women are as sharp as all that--oh dear,
yes!
After a little discursive chat to make sure that no floating
interruption would desert the other group-units and bear down on their
haven, Judith was seized with a sudden intense apprehension that Mr.
Challis could write a tragedy. She can have had very slight grounds
for this conclusion; she had almost no knowledge of that author's
work, as we have seen. But she relied on his vanity to make him take
an easy-going view of any claims she had to pronounce him Shakespeare.
Pleasing verdicts soothe the cavils of incredulous modesty, and suggest
unsuspected data in the bush. But he was bound to make some sort of
protest. It would never do to say he rather thought he could.
"What makes you think that?" he said.
"I can't say. It has nothing to do with anything I have read of yours.
I think it is something in yourself makes me think so." It was as
well to head off any discussion of what she had read; and an ounce of
personality is worth a ton of mere evasion. The fine eyes examined Mr.
Challis's intelligent brow carefully to see what it was in himself that
made their owner think so. His own watched them as though expecting
their conclusion would be registered shortly.
"I have written a couple of comedies," said he, to help. "But no
tragedy, so far." And from thence a certain reality crept into the
conversation, which up to that moment had been rather words for words'
sake, or, perhaps it should be said, for their speaker's sake. For
so much talk that sets up to be interchange of ideas is uttered to
convince the speakers they are conversing, and to make them plausible
to themselves and each other.
"You _have_ written for the stage, then. That is what I meant. Have you
had anything performed yet? Forgive my not knowing."
"There is nothing to know that you could have known. One of the
comedies, 'Aminta Torrington,' is to come out after Christmas. The
other, 'Widow's Island,' is on the shelf. Nobody appreciates it."
"Do you see a great deal of theatrical people?" Now, Challis had wanted
the eyes to be interested about his plays--to abet the speaker in a
curiosity she ought to have felt. But no matter: that would wait.
"I see a great many. What makes you ask in such an interested way?"
"Because I want to know. I have a reason. I'll tell you sometime."
Whereat the mercury in the thermometer of this lady and gentleman's
intimacy went up a degree distinctly. So much was implied in the word
"sometime." Not very easy to summarize, certainly--but _there_, all the
same! It ratified anticipation of future intercommunications, on the
surface of it. Also, it hinted at confidences to come. But let us be
just to Judith here. She never meant it as another wind of the skein.
She was honestly unconscious this time, thinking frankly of an interest
of her own. She continued: "Tell me a good deal about them. Why doesn't
one know more of them?"
"I didn't know one didn't. That's nonsense, or sounds very like it.
But we know what we mean. I'll state it clearly, to save trouble. The
question is, 'Why do swell young women that are presented at Court,
and go to balls in the season, and sit in carriages at Ascot, and see
polo-matches at Hurlingham, and get married at St. George's, Hanover
Square' ... is that right so far?..."
"That will do very well, at any rate." Judith said this without a
laugh, where there might have been one. "Go on, Mr. Challis."
"Why does this sort of young woman not meet more actresses and actors
in the society she lives in? Well, I can tell you the answer--at least,
I can tell you my opinion, if you ask it."
"Yes, I do. What is it?"
"They are always at the play, the actors and actresses, either on the
stage or in the boxes. Or the pit. Or the gallery. I can't answer for
the whole profession. But that's my experience."
"I have always been told they were so disreputable. Are they?"
"My dear Miss Arkroyd, what a very old-fashioned idea!" Challis laughed
outright. "No!--they are just like everybody else as to manners and
morals, and that sort of thing. They are not monks and nuns, certainly.
But such a many folk are not that."
Judith looked at him doubtfully. Was not that rather the way men
sometimes talk, throwing dust in the eyes that want to distinguish
right from wrong? Monks and nuns, as we all know, are people that want
to deprive you and me of cakes and ale. But what is meant by cakes
and ale? She would push a test question home. If Mr. Challis had a
grown-up daughter, she asked, would he let her go on the stage, if she
wished it very much, and had a turn for it? Of course he would, was his
answer, without hesitation. Why should he not? This seemed to decide
Judith on an extension of confidence.
"I will tell you why I am asking. I know a girl ... well! I should say
_woman_ ... who wants to go on the stage. But it seems impossible. What
her capabilities would be I cannot say. But it seems hard that she
should be unable to give them a trial."
"Why cannot she?"
"Her family oppose it; or rather, she knows they would oppose it if the
proposal took form. At present she only knows that they treat the idea
with derision--as something hardly worth ridicule."
"But why?--if she has it at heart."
"Respectability. Position. Balls in the season. Carriages at Ascot. St.
George's, Hanover Square. Family, in short!"
"Tell me more about this friend. _Why_ does she suppose she has
qualifications? She must have had _some_ experience to convince her?"
Judith stopped to consider a few seconds. "Yes, I can tell you that,"
she said. "She played in the 'Antigone' a couple of years ago. You
know my brother and his friends played it in London, and got the
female parts played by women. Of course, at Cambridge it was the boys
themselves."
"Did you think her performance good?"
Judith sticks a little over her answer, but it comes. "Not perfectly
satisfactory--not to me, at least. But everyone else spoke so well of
it that I may have been mistaken."
"Yet you would encourage her to make a very hazardous experiment, and
to incur the displeasure of her family, on the strength of no more than
what you now tell me. Do allow me to say that your friend ought to have
more experience...."
"She ought to keep out of the water till she can swim," Judith struck
in. "I know the sort of thing. What people always say! But can you
wonder that she thinks it hard that she isn't allowed to go in at the
shallow end of a swimming-bath; and all because of the merest Mrs.
Grundy?"
"Not quite the merest Mrs. Grundy. Moderately mere, suppose we say! The
actress who fails is in a sorry plight...."
"She _wouldn't_ fail." Judith interrupted again, a little impatiently.
"At least--I mean--she wouldn't fail altogether. But, of course, she
would take her chance of that. Why should she not try, if she chooses
to run the risk?"
Challis was watching her image in a mirror as she said this, and
thought he saw a blush-rose tinge creeping over the cheek. Surely she
was taking this friend's case very much to heart. An idea crossed his
mind, and he schemed a test of its truth--a question he would ask.
"Is she beautiful? That would help matters."
The eyes in the mirror turned, and Challis had to withdraw his own
suddenly. You know how one feels _caught_, when a reflection in a glass
suddenly transfixes one? It is like conviction of treachery--quite
unlike the direct transaction analogous to it. But he need not have
been so conscious; as he saw, when a furtive glance back showed him
that the reflection was not looking at _him_, but at Miss Arkroyd, at
her corner of the sofa.
"Beauty is so much a matter of opinion," said she. "No doubt she
herself is convinced her allowance of it is enough for working
purposes." She stopped a moment, listening to sounds approaching--the
motor-party audible on the stairs. Then, as she began to get up from
the sofa, she said quickly, "If you think you can be of any use
to her--with introductions and so on--I will tell you who she is.
Sometime; not now. There they are!" The interview was at an end,
and Challis prepared to merge in a world he was sure would be less
interesting. However, he felt some curiosity to hear the tale of the
motor disaster.