The ladies--sixteen in number--streamed forlornly into the
drawing-room, where they broke up into groups--like gravitating to
like. The General's wife and Mrs. Tallboys embarked on congenial
topics, local charities, and an imminent bazaar; the wearer of the
jaunty green feather was captured by Mrs. Fiske, eager to hear the
latest news of Barbie's prospects. Barbie and Miss Sim, drawn to one
another by mutual sympathy, left the room together, to seek a secluded
corner of the verandah, and popular Nancy Brander on her way to a
beckoning friend was waylaid by her recent neighbour.
"Do stop and talk to _me_ for a moment!" urged Mrs. Villars, leading
her aside. "I want to ask your opinion of my new frock?"
"_Ravissante! Ravissante!_" pronounced Nancy, throwing up her hands.
After a pause she added: "I must confess that my chief sentiment is
_envy_!"
"It arrived to-day from Mervéille--there is nothing," complacently
viewing herself in a long mirror, "like a well-cut new gown for giving
a woman an air of superiority--is there?"
"Do you feel so superior?" enquired Mrs. Brander in a bantering voice.
"No doubt there _is_ something in what you say. I certainly feel twice
as important in a pair of Morkoph's smart shoes as I do in my wobbly
goloshes!"
"Good gracious, fancy wearing them!"
"Fancy _not_ wearing them in the rains," rejoined Nancy. "I expect your
superior gown cost a pretty penny."
"No; they let me have two for ninety."
"Rupees or guineas?"
"Nan, you are really _too_ bad! I call this cheap for fifty--look at
the embroidery, all hand-made--real Mechlin lace--and then the cut!"
"It is not my idea of economy. I never give more than fifteen--and
times are so bad."
"But if people only buy frumpish gowns that cost a few pounds--what
_is_ to become of the poor tradespeople?"
"Perhaps they may be better off--and have less bad debts," suggested
Nancy.
Mrs. Villars coloured guiltily, but instantly recovering her aplomb,
said: "I declare your black gown has quite a French effect--where did
it come from?"
"My verandah."
"_Dirzee_ made! Never! I simply refuse to believe you. Nan, this is one
of your jokes?"
"A joke I cut out with my own hands. I'm full of ideas, and my man is
an artist. I have good models, too--Fanny's best; and now and then I
get a box out from home."
"But why this miserable economy? your husband's pay, your own
fortune----"
"Yes, yes," interrupted Mrs. Brander, "but there are plenty of calls on
one's purse, besides spending money on chiffons."
"Are there? I don't think a woman can invest her coin to better
advantage than in making herself a pleasure to behold."
"And you would still be that, even if you wore nothing but a blanket
and a string of beads."
This verdict was all the more flattering because unwillingly bestowed.
"Really, Nancy," and the beauty laughed, "I hope I may not be reduced
to a single garment!--but one never can tell. I am over head and ears
in debt."
"And yet you spend ninety guineas at one swoop!"
"Yes, my dear,--debt is like drink. You go on, and on, and on. The more
you spend--the more you drink--the tighter the thing takes hold of you!
By the way, I was really forgetting something I wanted to ask. What do
you think of him?"
"Him?" repeated Mrs. Brander, "which him? We have so many hims this
evening, hims ancient and modern!"
"Don't be silly. I mean the nice boy that sat between us at dinner, and
by the way, darling, you poached shamelessly!"
"Oh, you mean Captain Mallender. I like him."
"What were you so busy talking about?"
"Let me see," putting her hand to her forehead, "the climate, the
ancient Britons, and the Zoo."
"You are always so blue and cultured," declared Mrs. Villars. "I think
Captain Mallender very good-looking: such a cheery manner, such gay
dark eyes, and a boyish smile; he parts his hair just as I like it! Fan
asked me to take charge of him, and be extra nice."
"And so you were! You are always nice--to men," corrected Nancy, with a
disarming smile. "You know he is Fred's cousin, out from home."
"And where _is_ his home? What is it like?"
"The photo is in Fred's sanctum, a lovely old Jacobean place standing
in a great park."
"So this good-looking boy is rich!"
Nancy nodded.
"And how long is he going to stay?"
"Oh, the usual time--as long as ever he likes."
"I wonder what has brought him out? Says he does not shoot, what can it
be?"
"Perhaps to search for a wife?" gaily suggested Mrs. Brander.
"As if a man in _his_ position would look at an Indian spin!" rejoined
Mrs. Villars with withering scorn.
"He might do worse," argued the other briskly. "We have a large
assortment of really pretty girls, quite fresh and dainty--nothing shop
soiled!"
"Really, Nancy, what dreadful things you do say! and if you call any
girl in Madras pretty--_I_ don't." As Mrs. Villars concluded, she
turned and surveyed herself in the glass, and Nancy Brander thus
released effected her escape.
Lena Villars was a shallow, more or less amiable woman, endowed by
nature with a lovely face, perfect health, and perennial youth--but
stinted in the matter of heart and brain, and with a moral outlook that
was somewhat oblique.
She appreciated luxury, had a consuming passion for clothes, and was
absolutely devoid of the money sense. Her chief interest in life was
the attitude of men towards herself, and she cherished an inexorable
resolution to be first, or nowhere.
After gazing exhaustively at her own charming reflection, the beauty
stole away to her room, there to repair some little flaws in her toilet
previous to the great business of the evening.
Meanwhile, in a remote corner of the verandah, the two girl friends
were exchanging miserable confidences in low voices.
"Mother has taken _two_ passages in the Bibby Line for the first
week in April," said Barbie Miller. "There is no money to pay for
mine--if there were, it would make no difference. She says it's
providential that Colonel Harris wishes to marry me, and considers me
extraordinarily lucky."
"And what do you say, Barbie?"
"You know very well, Ada. I am still holding out, though the
announcement of my engagement has been sent home. I'm afraid Colonel
Harris has offered to pay for my trousseau, and I know that he has
'settled' quite a lot of things, including one or two big bills, and
given mother a lovely diamond ring. Really, he is most generous; and if
he did not want to _marry_ me, I'd like him well enough! I overheard
mother telling Mrs. Fiske that the wedding is to take place in the
Cathedral early one morning, and we are to start immediately afterwards
for the Shevaroy Hills. Honestly, I could not feel more wretched if I
were going to be hanged--indeed, I don't think I'd mind!"
"I only wish I had your chance," declared her companion with energy,
"I'd marry Colonel Harris like a shot!"
"Oh, _Ada_!" and Barbie stared incredulously.
"Yes, you don't know what it is to be alone in the world, and
penniless," declared her friend forcibly; "he, at least, could give me
a roof over my head, and a home. Your case is nothing as compared to
mine; I am really in despair. I've not enough money to pay the dhoby,
or put in the collection plate, or buy stamps. My clothes are so mended
and so shabby I am ashamed to be seen. All the same, I don't think
anyone but Mrs. Brander guesses that I am so absolutely destitute. Last
time she was here she insisted on lending me a hundred rupees--such a
boon!--she said she knew what little odds and ends a girl on her own
wanted, and I was to pay her any time; and she gave me a lovely hat,
because it did not suit her, and several pairs of gloves, because they
were too small, and an evening-gown, because her husband could not bear
it! For all her funny talk, she is a darling--just like Mrs. Tallboys."
"Does _she_ not know that you are so hard up, Ada?"
"No, and I try to keep it from her. She has been only too kind; she
paid my railway ticket down to Calicut, and sent an ayah with me. This
is my second visit here, she invited me for a month, and I've stayed
two. I feel such a worm, and so deadly ashamed. Mrs. Fiske enquired if
I was living here altogether, and said 'this house should be called
Hooper's Hotel.'"
"How horrid--and how like her!"
"I know that my room is wanted for Captain Mallender," continued Ada,
"the ayah told me so. I've asked the Bells at Coimbatore to take
me in, but they made an excuse. Now I've written to the Carsons at
Trichy--they are my very _last_ hope. I've no money, and nothing to
sell. I sold the pretty frock Nancy Brander gave me--a sergeant's wife
offered twenty-five rupees for it; the ayah took ten for commission,
and I've told such stories about the gown to Nancy! But poor people
_have_ to lie! All I have left are three rupees. I'm so unhappy, so
worn out with anxiety and shame, that I wish I were dead! I'd drown
myself, only there is no place to do it in--the Cooum is filthy, and
off the pier there are sharks!"
"Dear, dear, old Ada," said her companion, stroking her arm, "if I
could only bring myself to marry Colonel Harris, you should come and
live with _me_. I am as poor as a church mouse, but I can easily let
you have ten rupees--and you must, and shall take it! It will at least
pay for wires, and stamps, and be a little help in putting you in
communication with friends, who might invite you."
"Friends," echoed Ada, "I've none; those I had are thoroughly sick of
me, and no wonder. I'm not pretty, or amusing, or accomplished, I don't
play bridge for money, I'm not even good-tempered. Just a plain, stupid
bore. They say that the poor always help the poor--and it's true--but I
won't take your ten rupees, Barbie."
Seeing that Barbie was about to protest, she hurried on:
"Do explain one thing, which puzzles me. Why is Colonel Harris so
anxious to marry you, when he, and all the world, must see how you hang
back?"
"Why?--because of the hanging back! Mother tells him I'm so shy
and timid, such a mere shrinking child, afraid to show my _real_
feelings--and he believes her. I won't call him James, and I won't
allow kissing, nor will I accept presents. I beg him to give them to
me--afterwards."
"Do you think there will be an afterwards?"
"Ada," she drew a long sigh, "I hope not, but you know I am no match
for mother; she is so fiercely determined, so cruel, and so strong. Now
listen to me, I'm going to say something dreadful--I almost wish I had
been born an orphan, and if mother does go home, and leaves me behind,
I hope I may never, never, see her again. Oh," springing up, "she is
calling me--the men have come in, and I must fly!"
Presently there were sounds of music in the drawing-room, and if Ada
Sim had accompanied her companion--instead of sitting sobbing in a
corner of the verandah--she would have heard Mrs. Brander give a
superb rendering of Chopin. Subsequently poor Barbie was driven to the
Grand Schiedmayer, where with cold and trembling fingers she proceeded
to murder Schumann--fortunately not a soul was listening; almost
everyone's attention was riveted on the bridge tables so seductively
set forth; with their adequate complement of chairs and cards they
seemed to summon the company to "come and play."
Mrs. Villars beckoned airily to her new friend, and said:
"I hear from Captain Byng that he has roped you in for polo, he is _so_
pleased."
"I am afraid his pleasure is a bit premature!" rejoined Mallender.
"I am out of practice, and I believe some of the competing teams are
first-rate."
"You mean the Marauders. Colonel Molyneux's lot?"
"Yes, and the Motagherry Planters; though only two or three pony men
play a very hot game, so do the Bluebottles."
"I shall come and look on at the practice, and wave my sunshade and
scream '_Shabash!_' only they don't say that down here. Ah, they are
moving at last! Do let us cut in, with the General and Nancy Brander."
The General's weather-beaten countenance was a study in satisfaction,
when Mrs. Brander fell to his lot as a partner, for her play was
famous. Here was a lady who made no mistakes, never lost her head, and
knew the history of every card. Their opponents were Captain Mallender,
and Mrs. Villars,--who made a delightful picture, as she dealt out
the pack with flying jewelled fingers. At first, all the best of the
red suits seemed to fall to her and her partner. By and by, the luck
turned, the fortunate couple were slammed once and again; the lady made
reckless declarations in the true gambler's spirit, ever hoping to
retrieve her luck--and lost the rubber, and fifty rupees.
Occasionally Mallender, when "dummy," rose and strolled about the
room, exchanging remarks and experiences with his fellow-dummies, and
glancing at various other tables. At one of these sat Mrs. Fiske,
grumbling incessantly, and bewailing her ill-luck in a manner that was
maddening to her companions.
"Never had such luck--this isn't a hand--it's a foot! Don't know what
it is to hold a card--nothing but Yarboughs, and Chicane--perfectly
_sickening_!"
The serious, stern, and business-like bridgers, such as the future
great General, Freddy Tallboys, and Mrs. Damer, played "auction"
with grim concentration; here was no whining, no court-martial on
indifferent partners. Nothing, nothing, but what Sarah Battle loved,
"the rigour of the game." At another table sat Sir William Bream, Mrs.
Tallboys, Colonel Harris and Miss Miller. Unhappy girl! her present
(and future) partner, found it impossible to conceal his emotion when
she trumped his best diamond, and led straight away into the enemy's
suit! It is conceded that cards develop one's real disposition,
and expose our worst failings; such as envy, jealousy, tyranny,
ingratitude, meanness, avarice, and cowardice. Mallender glanced
over at Colonel Harris. His face was a deep plum--quite dangerously
inflamed; how his great thick neck seemed to swell and bulge over the
stiff staff collar! Then the looker-on moved round and stood behind
Miss Barbie; he noted her flickering colour, and tremulous lips, as she
fumbled with her cards--uncertain what to play. He longed to give her
a quiet hint, as she hesitated between a king and a nine; meanwhile
her _vis-à-vis_ shuffled his feet impatiently, and her adversaries
exchanged significant smiles. As Mallender watched the irresolute
girl, he noticed her wealth of beautiful hair, her slender, graceful
neck, cheap white frock, and thin silver bangles. Her small childish
hands were ringless--apparently, as yet, there was no engagement. He
moved away to his own place, just in time to escape the explosion of
wrath which burst over the head of little Miss Miller. Of course, as
he anticipated, she had played the wrong card, and lost both game and
rubber. Bridge continued with unabated zeal till nearly one o'clock,
when the General, remembering an early inspection, rose a well-pleased
guest--and winner. Mallender and Mrs. Villars had lost ninety rupees,
and as the latter gathered up her wisp of a lace handkerchief and
little chain purse she said with a smile:
"Let us hope for better luck to-morrow, Captain Mallender! If you will
pay the General,--I will settle with Mrs. Brander."
He noticed Mrs. Brander's amused and somewhat inscrutable expression as
she collected her gloves and nodded a careless assent.
When the last guest had departed, the last motor hummed away,
Mallender, as he followed Anthony and a lantern to his outdoor
quarters, realised that this had indeed been an evening of many
impressions! A little later, when Colonel Tallboys had locked up the
cigars, he came bustling into his wife's room, and found her locking up
her diamonds.
"Your usual success, Fan! The dinner was A1, the mutton hung to a
second, and that new champagne is very sound."
"That is your department, my dear. Yes, I think everything went off
well, and people enjoyed themselves."
"All except that unfortunate Miss Sim, who looked like a death's
head--but then, she doesn't play bridge. I say, what about Geoffrey,
eh? He got along all right. I'm glad to see that shyness is not one of
his difficulties. Molyneux was much taken with him, but these Cavalry
chaps always hang on to one another. After you left, he was a help,
talking away to the General, and that shikari man; by the way, you've
not said a word to anyone about the reason of his trip?"
"My dear Fred, need you ask?" and Mrs. Tallboys confronted him
gravely. "I don't want people to suppose that there is insanity in
your family!--not that Geoffrey is insane--he is merely obsessed with
an idea. The poor romantic boy was too long alone at Mallender; his
father's illness and death got on his nerves. He is naturally cheery,
and the change out here, with lots of lively company, will effect
a cure; he is a dear fellow, with such nice unaffected, courteous
manners, and a bright open face."
"Oh!--I see he has been admiring your _china_!" declared Colonel
Tallboys with a grin of comprehension.
"No; but I may tell you that I, like Colonel Molyneux, am 'much taken
with him.'"
"And he with Mrs. Villars?"
"Yes, you noticed that, in spite of William's smothered wrath, I sent
him in to dinner with Lena."
"A capital move. Though I thought William looked pretty sick! So you
are bent upon strong measures?"
"I don't know what you call strong measures, but I had a little talk
with Geoffrey. I realise that he is completely overmastered by one
idea, and I am determined to do all I can to prevent his risking his
whole fortune on a wild-goose chase."
"I understand. Between polo, and the beauty, you hope to get the better
of this obsession, and to head him off from his crazy enterprise.
Well, Fan, you and I will do our best; and as, of course, you have
allowed Mary Ayah to retire to her go-down, I suppose I must put on my
spectacles, and unlace your dress?"