A MYSTERY AND A BARGAIN
Lady Gardiner stood at Virginia's door, remained for a moment undecided,
then tapped gently. The girl's voice answered "Come in!" and Kate obeyed.
Virginia sat at a small writing-table in a window reading a book; but at
sight of Lady Gardiner she snatched up a paper and hastily laid it over
the volume. "Oh, I thought it was George," she exclaimed, blushing
brilliantly. "He has asked me to take a walk."
"Now," thought Kate, "what has that book she's hiding from me to do with
the mystery that's been going on for the past three days?" but aloud, she
said, without appearing to notice the hurried movement or the tell-tale
blush: "I came to ask if you would go down to town with me for a little
shopping."
"I'm afraid I can't," Virginia answered. "You see--er--I promised
George."
"Perhaps he wouldn't mind if we arranged for him to meet us in about an
hour; and we might all three have tea together at Rumpelmayer's."
Virginia looked embarrassed, which was unusual for her. "We didn't think
of going into Mentone," she said. "We shall just stroll about, for the
fact is, we've business to talk over."
"You seem to have had a great deal of business to talk over these last
few days, you and Mr. Trent and Sir Roger. Would it be indiscreet to ask,
dear child, if there has been any hitch about the purchase of your new
toy? Oh, don't look vexed--your château, then?"
"No, there's been no hitch. What made you think that?"
"Well, business talks are so new for you. A little while ago you fled
from the first hint of business. But now--you are very much changed these
last few days, since we went to the château, Virginia. I've been wanting
to speak to you about it. However, you are going out to walk, and I must
wait."
Virginia met her eyes firmly; yet the violet gaze was not quite as
frankly open and childlike as it used to be. "You needn't wait, if your
shopping can," she said. "Do sit down. I dare say it may be twenty
minutes before George comes for me. He's with Roger--somewhere."
"Yes, I saw them. Virginia, do you know, I've been rather unhappy for
several days?"
"I didn't know. I'm very sorry. Is it anything I've done?"
"Yes and no." Kate did not sit down, but perched on the arm of a big
cushioned chair between the writing-desk and the dressing-table. "You
see, dear," she went on in her softest voice, to which she could give a
pretty, tearful _tremolo_ at will, "I'm in rather a peculiar position.
You have been so sweet all this year and more that we've been together,
that I suppose you've spoilt me. I've forgotten often that I'm only a
paid chaperon, and have felt like a friend and confidante."
"Why, so you are," returned Virginia.
"Wait, dear; let me finish. I've told you my various troubles, and you've
told me things, too. Now, suddenly, everything is changed. Why, you even
sit in your bedroom, instead of in our sitting-room, or on the balcony
with me, as you used. You don't seem to want my society; you make excuses
if I suggest going anywhere. You and your brother and cousin are
continually getting away by yourselves and talking in whispers. Oh, I'm
not hurt. It isn't that. I'm not so thin-skinned and stupid. But I've
been thinking that perhaps I'd offended you, or you were simply tired of
me, and, being kind-hearted, didn't like to send me about my business.
You know, dear, if you would rather have any one else----"
"Oh, Kate, you _are_ stupid!" cried Virginia. "Of course I'm not tired of
you. We really have had business--not about the château. I--didn't mean
to tell you until things were more settled, but since you've been talking
like this, I will. I've discovered lately that I'm tired of the Riviera,
heavenly as it is here. We've been a month now----"
"I always told you that Monte Carlo was more amusing, while as for
Cannes----"
"But I've seen enough of the Riviera for a while."
"What about your château, then--your château in the olive woods that you
so adore?"
"That won't be ready until next winter. There's lots to be done.
And--I've set my heart on a yachting trip."
Kate Gardiner's face fell. She was a wretched sailor, and Virginia knew
it. Even the crossing from Dover to Calais was torture to her on a calm
day.
"A _long_ yachting trip?" she asked, controlling her voice.
"I don't quite know yet. Some weeks, perhaps. The only difficulty is
about you."
Kate did not answer for a moment. _Was_ this an excuse to get rid of her,
and if so, why? Could it be that Roger Broom had been warning Virginia
that her half-brother was in danger of making a fool of himself about a
woman many years his senior? A short time ago she might have believed
that this was the explanation, for Roger Broom knew a good deal about
Lady Gardiner. He was aware that her dead husband was but a city man,
knighted when he was sheriff; that she had been governess to the gruff
old widower's one daughter; that she had married him for his money, and
spent it freely until what remained was lost in a great financial panic;
that since then she had lived as she could, trading upon her own
aristocratic connections to chaperon girls, chiefly Americans, who wished
to see "English society from the inside." Roger knew her real age, or
something near it; he knew that she had been in debt when she had got
this chance with Virginia, to whom she had been recommended by an
American duchess; and as there was nothing against her character, he had
been too good-natured--as she would have expressed it--to "put a spoke in
her wheel." However, if he suspected designs upon George, he might not
have continued to be as discreet; but during these last three days of
mysterious confabs, George Trent had appeared as much changed toward her
as his half-sister had, so that Roger need have had no new fears for him.
George had never ceased to be courteous, but there was a subtle
difference in his manner, in his way of looking at her. He appeared
preoccupied; he no longer sought her out. And this alteration had only
come about since the day when they had visited the Château de la Roche.
Perhaps, then, it was George who was tired of her. He had never been the
same since he had seen that girl in black, with the tragic eyes and the
dead-white face, with no more life in it than a marble statue. Maybe he
was planning to attach that girl to the party in some way, and would find
the society of the woman with whom he had flirted a constraint.
At this thought Kate Gardiner felt her blood grow hot. It was unbearable
that she should be sent out of George Trent's life to make room for a
younger woman. She would not have it--she would not! If it killed her to
go on this hateful yachting trip she would go; she would not be whistled
down the wind.
"Oh, if the difficulty is only about me," she said sweetly, "it needn't
be a difficulty at all. I dare say I shall be ill for a few days, but it
can't last forever. I shall simply stop in my stateroom until I am fit
to lie in a deck-chair and be a more or less interesting invalid."
As she spoke she watched Virginia's face through half-lowered lashes, and
was certain that it changed. There could no longer be any doubt on that
subject. For some reason Virginia did not want her on the yacht.
"I should hate you to be a martyr," said the girl uncomfortably. "Roger
and I have been thinking it over, and I was wondering, in case we went
(nothing is actually decided yet), whether you would like to wait here. I
would keep on your room and the sitting-room, and the victoria, and you
should have my maid and your own horse. Your income would be the same as
always, of course; and you have a lot of friends here, so you wouldn't be
lonely."
"How sweet and thoughtful you are, dearest child!" exclaimed Kate
gratefully; while within she was saying, "Oh, so this is the game, is it?
Come now; at least you're showing your hand. Roger and you have been
'talking things over?' You seem to have thought out the details pretty
well; and I'm to be bribed. But it won't work, my love, it won't work."
She rose, and going to Virginia, took her hand, looking affectionately
down at the beautiful face. "You are always ready to sacrifice yourself
for me. But what would you do for a chaperon if I stopped behind?"
"Oh, you see, George and Roger and I would be all the party on board.
Surely George is chaperon enough?"
"Poor Marchese!" murmured Kate. "I'm afraid he also is suffering from an
eclipse."
"I don't know what you mean," said Virginia, her colour deepening. "Why
should he expect an invitation to go with us?"
"Ah! why? Unless, indeed, he had hopes that he was soon to be given some
rights over you. Only the other day I used to fancy that you and he were
half engaged."
"We never were. I--I found him rather interesting. But I don't think I
have behaved very badly. I really meant--oh, I don't know _what_ I meant
then; but I know I don't mean it now. The Marchese Loria is the _last_
person I should wish to have go on this yachting trip, and as it's only
us three, we'll chaperon each other."
"Can it be that she means to marry Roger Broom after all?" Kate Gardiner
asked herself. "To my certain knowledge, she's refused him. I heard him
reminding her of it the other night. But one never knows how many times a
girl may change her mind. The more I think of it the more determined I am
to be of the party on that yacht."
"Unless I should be one too many, I'd really love to go," said she aloud.
"I must get over my horror of the sea. Mayn't I be with you, dear, if you
have really made up your mind? I've grown so fond of you. I should feel
deserted here."
"Even for a few weeks?"
"Even for a few weeks. When you marry, or go home to the States, I must
lose you, but do let me be with you as long as I can."
"You shall go if you really wish to so much," said Virginia, trying in
vain not to appear constrained. "Only I warn you, you may find that
you've made a mistake."
"Why, how seriously you speak. One would think you meditated a voyage to
the North Pole. Probably, though, you'll simply linger about in the
Mediterranean; go to Naples, Greece, perhaps, and Egypt?"
"Something of the sort, I suppose," Virginia answered, dropping her eyes
and playing with the paper she had used to conceal her book. "It's rather
vague at present. Roger and George are looking for a yacht. We'll talk of
it again later. I only mentioned it now to show you that we've really had
business. And by the way, Kate, I'd rather you didn't say anything about
it yet to people outside. It seems like making it of so much importance
and I'd hate being asked three times a day: 'Well, when do you start on
that yachting trip?'"
"I shall be discreet, never fear," replied Kate, more sure than ever that
some mystery which she could not fathom hid itself under this new plan of
Virginia's. "And now for something else I wanted to ask you. Do, like a
dear, good girl, lend me ten pounds. You know how stupidly hard up I
always am. I'll pay it back in a few days."
Virginia was on her feet in an instant and at the dressing-table,
rummaging among scented laces and pretty odds and ends for the
gold-netted purse with "V. B." on it in brilliants. For a moment her back
was turned, and during that moment Kate Gardiner, standing close to the
desk which the girl had left noiselessly, raised a corner of the paper
and peeped underneath. The book which Virginia had been reading lay open.
It was French, and at the top of the page Kate saw the word "Noumea." She
dared look no longer, but let the paper drop, and had wheeled round with
her back to the desk just as Virginia found the purse.
"Thank you _so_ much," purred Lady Gardiner, who knew from experience
that Virginia would beg her not to give back the money, and that, with a
grateful kiss, and perhaps a tear or two, she would allow herself to be
persuaded.
At this instant there came a knock at the door leading into the
sitting-room, which Kate had left half-open on entering, and George Trent
appeared, looking excited and eager. His eyes fell upon Virginia, and he
began to speak before he had seen Lady Gardiner, standing at a little
distance and out of his view at the door.
"I say, Virgie," he exclaimed, "the most ripping piece of luck. We can
get hold of a steam yacht with four cannon--toys, but fit for work--only
you'll have to buy, not hire----"
He stopped short, a look passing between him and Virginia, quick as a
flash of light, yet not too quick to be seen by Kate.
"Good!" said the girl. "Well, we'll talk about it as we walk. Kate's
going shopping." Evidently she intended to change the subject, but Lady
Gardiner was not ready for another.
"Mercy! Are you fitting out as pirates?" she demanded, laughing.
George Trent flushed with annoyance under her unsparing eyes, but he
smiled carelessly and shrugged his shoulders.
"Oh, you mean the cannon? They happen to be there. It wouldn't be worth
while to have the yacht dismantled. I think myself they'd give
distinction. It isn't everybody who goes yachting in such conditions."
"Indeed, no. I only wish we may have a chance to use them. Perhaps we
may, if we can get far enough up the Nile. You see, Virginia has told me
of the trip and promised that I may go. I hope you don't mind."
Of course George said that it would be charming to have her on board, and
he opened the sitting-room door when she went out, making the necessary
agreeable remarks about her shopping expedition. But when the door had
closed after Lady Gardiner, and Virginia had joined him in the
sitting-room, he was no longer smiling.
"So we're to have another passenger, are we?" he said in a low voice.
"She _says_ she wants to go, but she may change her mind. You know what a
wretched sailor she is. Perhaps even after starting she'll think better
of it and beg to be put off at the nearest port. I had to tell her about
the yacht, for she was so inquisitive concerning the business that has
occupied you and Roger and me for the past three days. But she has
promised not to say anything outside till she has permission."
"How much does she know?"
"Nothing at all, except that I'm tired of the Riviera and want to go
yachting somewhere--almost anywhere."
"Sure she doesn't suspect?"
"How could she?"
"Well, I suppose she couldn't. And as far as I'm concerned, I don't see
why we shouldn't trust her as if she were one of ourselves; a nice, jolly
little woman, with no harm in her. What motive could she possibly have
for blocking our game?"
"What, indeed? But you know I said so to Roger, and he vowed he'd have
nothing to do with it if any one knew except you and Madeleine Dalahaide
and me. He wouldn't hear of poor Kate's being told, though I assured him
one might trust her. It was all I could do to get him to promise us,
anyway."
"How _did_ you get him to, by the by? He poured whole cataracts of
ice-water on the scheme at first."
"I--I--suppose I wheedled."
"Virgie! I'll bet you said you'd marry him if he'd go in with us!"
"I didn't--exactly say I _wouldn't_."
"Poor old Roger! Shall you be cad enough to chuck him afterward?"
"Oh, I couldn't do that. I shall be so grateful to him for this, that I
shall feel no reward could be too great for him--that is, if we
_succeed_. He is a dear, kind fellow, and I have often made him unhappy.
I've always thought, somehow, that I should end by marrying him."
"Yet you've refused him three times."
"That was to put off the evil day."
"And you came jolly near accepting Loria."
"Did I really, do you think? It seems so long ago, I can hardly remember.
Anyway, everything is different now."
"I'm with you there. By Jove, what a funny world it is! What will Roger
say when he hears that Kate Gardiner is bent on going? If he consents to
her being on board, I don't see why he should go on refusing to take Miss
Dalahaide."
"That's not the same thing at all. One can never do things quite
secretly. They always leak out. Already it has got into the papers
somehow--I suppose through that stupid agent--that I have bought the
Château de la Roche, and interest has been revived in the Dalahaide
story. It's so unfortunate that people should begin to talk again just
now! And then if, on top of all this, should come the news that we'd
taken Madeleine Dalahaide off with us on a mysterious yachting
expedition, what would be said? Roger is quite right."
"It seems cruel that she should be left out of it."
"It would be more cruel to have her in, and perhaps ruin everything. She
feels that herself though, of course, it's hard. Still, think how awful
for her if--we _failed_! But I will not think of that. There's no such
word as fail!"
"According to Roger, there's no such word as success. He's absolutely
hopeless, and is only going into the adventure to please you--to _win_
you, perhaps. And, by Jove, it _will_ be an adventure!"
"Tell me about the yacht you've heard of."
They went out together, walking among the pine trees surrounding the
hotel; and meanwhile Kate Gardiner had driven into the bright little
town of Mentone, with its background of mountains, its foreground of
blue-green sea. In the neighbourhood of the shops, she sent away her
victoria, which was to pick her up at Rumpelmayer's at five o'clock. She
was charmingly dressed, and had secured ten pounds with which to buy an
exquisite antique Italian watch which had taken her fancy a day or two
before; never had there been so little need to worry about the future
from a pecuniary point of view; still, Kate was not happy. She had lost
interest in the watch, lost interest in her shopping expedition
altogether, and was lingering outside the jeweler's wondering whether she
should spend the ten pounds as she had planned or not, when a man's voice
at her shoulder made her turn. It was the Marchese Loria; and Lady
Gardiner noticed, as the sun streamed full into his face when he took his
off hat, that he looked sallow and haggard.
He was staying at the Cap Martin also, but they had not seen each other
that day, and now it struck Kate that he was surprisingly changed since
the afternoon when they had so gaily ridden off to find the Valley of the
Shadow. She was certain that, for some reason which puzzled her sorely,
Loria had completely lost his chance with Virginia, and because his
interests no longer threatened her own, she felt more friendly toward
him. They both seemed to be rather left out in the cold, and she found
herself suddenly sympathizing with the Italian.
He was quick to note the unusual cordiality of her smile, and was curious
as to its motive, for Loria knew that Lady Gardiner was one of the few
women who never act without one; and he had been fully aware that she did
not favour his cause with Virginia Beverly.
"Has something in this window caught your fancy?" he inquired, stopping
and joining her.
Kate pointed to a serpent belt, crusted with diamond scales,
emerald-eyed, and having its open mouth lined with rubies. "Isn't that
lovely?" she asked. "An antique, of course; everything is in this window.
I daren't look at it. It's far beyond my means."
"I'm thinking of buying it myself," said Loria calmly. "I mean to give it
to a woman I know, as a little souvenir of my gratitude for very great
kindness."
"Lucky woman!" exclaimed Kate enviously, for she really wanted the
diamond snake. "She must have done you some tremendous favour to have
earned that."
"She hasn't done anything yet. But I hope she will. I hope very much that
she will tell me certain things I'm anxious to know, and afterward help
me, if necessary, to make use of the knowledge. I wonder if she will do
it?"
There was now a meaning in his voice which could not be mistaken. Kate
looked up quickly and met his eyes. For, a long instant they gazed at
each other, then she said: "I think the woman would be foolish if she
didn't."
"Will you come with me when I buy the thing?" asked Loria.
Kate smiled and flushed faintly through the white rose balm which gave an
illusion of youth. They went in, and Loria asked to be shown the serpent
belt from the window.
A very old man, an Italian, brought the glittering thing and laid it on a
piece of black velvet, which he spread as a background on the counter.
"It is only two thousand francs," he announced, "and it has a history.
Perhaps I am indiscreet to mention it, but it may add to the interest,
and I see that the illustrious Signor is a countryman of my own. This
jewel was an heirloom in a very ancient family; but great misfortunes
overtook them some years ago. The heir was accused of crime, and banished
for life to Noumea. They were forced to sell everything of value."
Loria was ghastly. With an instinctive gesture of horror, he pushed the
velvet away, not touching the serpent and averting his eyes.
"Let us choose something else," he said hoarsely to Lady Gardiner. But
she was merciless. He had as much as offered her the belt, and she would
not give it up easily.
"There is nothing else half as pretty or quaint," she said. "I think this
bit of history makes it all the more interesting."
Loria did not look again at the serpent glittering on its black velvet
cushion, but, having hesitated for a barely perceptible space, he
abruptly ordered the jeweler to send the belt to his hotel, where it
would be paid for on delivery. Kate decided that, as she was in such a
vein of luck, she would have the watch she fancied, and keep the Marchese
while she made the purchase. Half maliciously she said to the shopkeeper:
"I suppose this pretty thing has no such story as the other?"
"Rather strangely, madame has chosen another heirloom disposed of by the
same family," returned the man, as he placed the old blue-enameled watch
in a box filled with pink cotton. It seemed as if Fate persisted in
linking them with these Dalahaides!
Loria did not speak, but Kate's observant eyes saw that the gloved hand
nearest her closed tightly on the stick it held. A moment later she had
paid for her purchase, and they were out in the street again.
"You look very down," she remarked. "I believe you must have been losing
a lot at Monte, and that a little sympathy and good advice would do you
good. I meant to go to Rumpelmayer's presently, but suppose we go now and
have tea together?"
Neither he nor she had said in so many words that there was to be a
bargain between them; but Loria understood what the suggestion of a
tête-à-tête at Rumpelmayer's meant, and augured well of Kate's genuine
good-will, by her readiness to give the opportunity he wanted.
She was curious, he labouring under suppressed excitement, and they did
not speak much as they walked. At the confectioner's Loria chose a table
in a corner, far from the few early customers who had already arrived. It
was not yet four o'clock, and the rooms would not begin to be crowded for
half an hour. In that time much could be said, much, perhaps, planned for
the future.