About four o'clock the same evening a group of people was gathered
round a young lady who sat on a magnificent and strong-looking horse,
standing with well-bred patience near the rails of the Mile.
The park was crammed, carriages, riders, and pedestrians all massed and
hot, in the lovely June air, which seemed laden with the scent of the
flowers, and heavy with the sound of wheels and voices.
The lady was young, but certainly not beautiful. That you decided at
once, immediately you saw her. After a time, when you got to know
her, your decision became somewhat shaken, and you would very likely
admit that if she were not beautiful, she was, well--taking. She was
not tall--short indeed, one of those small women who make us inclined
to believe that all women should be small; one of those little women
who twist great men--and great in all senses of the word--round their
very diminutive little fingers. She had a beautiful figure, _petite_,
fairy-like, lithesome and graceful, and it looked at its very best
in the brown habit of Redfern's make. Her hair was black, her eyes
gray, and her mouth--well, it was not small, but it was wonderfully
expressive.
She was the center of a group. There were other young ladies with her,
but she was distinctly the center, and the men who crowded round bent
their eyes upon her, addressed most of their remarks to her, and, in
fact, paid her the most attention: the other ladies did not seem to
complain even silently; they took it as a matter of course.
For this little lady, with the not small but expressive mouth, was Miss
Violet Graham, and she was, perhaps, the richest heiress in London.
There were several well-known men in the circle round her. There was
the young Marquis of Aldmere, with the pink eyes and the receding chin
of his race, his pink eyes fixed admiringly upon the small, alert face
as he fingered the beginning of a very pale mustache.
Next him, and leaning on the rails so that he nearly touched her skirt,
was Captain Floyd, otherwise the Mad Dragoon, as handsome as Apollo,
as reckless as only an Irish dragoon can be, and as cool as a cucumber
till the red pepper is applied.
Near to him was young Lord Chichester, who had just married a very
charming young woman, but who still found it impossible to pass any
group of which Violet Graham was the center. There was several
others--a Member of Parliament, a well-known barrister, and a curate
who happened just then to be the fashion--and, although there were a
great many of them "all at once," Violet Graham seemed quite able to
keep the whole team in hand. And while she talked, the small, keen eyes
were taking in the features of the procession which passed and repulsed
her.
"There goes the duchess," said Captain Floyd, raising his hat, as a
stout lady, in a handsome equipage, inclined her head toward them.
"Looks very jolly, considering that she has lost so much money, and
that the duke is supposed to have left her."
"She puts her gain against her loss, don't you see," said Violet Graham
quickly.
There was an applausive laugh, of course.
"And here comes the new bishop. Why do bishops always have such awfully
plain wives, Miss Graham?" murmured Lord Chichester.
"That they may not be too proud, like some of us," she said, promptly.
Charlie Chichester's wife was good looking. He blushed.
"You are harder than ever, this afternoon, Miss Graham," he said.
"Or is it that you are softer?" she retorted.
The ready laugh rang out.
"Tremendous lot of people," said the dragoon, languidly; "it makes one
long for a desert island all to one's self."
"Any island would be a desert which contained Captain Floyd," she said.
"I don't see the point," he said, looking up at her languidly.
"Because you would soon quarrel with and kill anyone else who happened
to be living there," she retorted.
"That's right, Miss Graham," exclaimed Lord Chichester, cheering up.
"Give him one or two lunges; he's far too conceited, and wants taking
down."
"I wonder where Blair is?" said the captain, and he looked at Miss
Violet, but whether intentionally or not could not be said. If there
was any significance in his glance she did not betray herself by the
movement of an eyelash.
"Oh, Blair?" said the marquis; "he's off into the country somewhere.
Come a dreadful cropper over Daylight, you know. Think he's gone to
raise the tin; don't know, of course."
"Of course!" assented Miss Graham, smiling down upon him.
He was known as "Sublime Ignorance."
"One for you, Aldy," chorused Chichester. "But, seriously, where is
Blair? He went off without a word, don't you know, let me see, two
days ago. Perhaps he's bolted! Shouldn't wonder! He has been going it
awfully rapidly lately, don't you know. Poor old Blair!"
For once Miss Graham seemed to have no repartee ready. She sat looking
straight between her horse's ears, her eyes still and placid, her lips
set.
Then she looked round them with a smile.
"Well, I can't stay chattering with you any longer."
"Oh, give us another minute," pleaded Lord Chichester. "It's too hot
for riding."
"And far too hot for talking," she put in. "I must be off! Are you
coming, girls?"
As she spoke the two girls who were with her, and who had been
talking with some of the men, obediently--everybody obeyed Violet
Graham--gathered up their reins, a horseman rode slowly up, and
bringing his horse to a stand close beside Violet Graham's, raised his
hat.
He was a tall, fine-looking man, thin and not badly made, but there
was something in his face which did not prepossess one. Perhaps it was
because the lips were too thin and under control, or the eyes too close
together, or perhaps it was the expression of steadfast determination
which lent a certain coldness and hardness to the clear-cut features.
"Ah, Austin, how do you do?" said Miss Graham, with the easy
carelessness of an intimate friend, but as she spoke her eyes seemed to
seek his face, and finding something there, dropped to her horse's ears.
He answered her salutation in a low, clear voice--almost too cold and
grave for so young and handsome a man, and exchanged greetings with the
rest. Then, without looking at her, he said:
"Are you riding on?"
"Yes," she said. "We were just starting. Good-bye!" and with a wave of
her hand to her circle of courtiers, she rode on, Austin Ambrose close
by her side.
"How I hate that fellow!" murmured the dragoon, languidly, looking
after them.
"Hear, hear," said Lord Chichester.
"And yet he isn't a bad fellow--what's the matter with him?" stammered
the marquis.
"Don't know," murmured Captain Floyd. "'I do not like thee, Dr. Fell,
the reason why I cannot tell----'"
"Who's Dr. Fell?" asked the marquis, with a bewildered stare.
A shout of laughter greeted his question.
"Look here, Sublime Ignorance," said the dragoon, with a wearied smile,
"you are too good for this world. Such a complete lack of brains and
ordinary intelligence are utterly wasted on this sublunary sphere."
"Oh, bother!" grunted the peer. "I never heard of any Dr. Fell, how
should I? But what's the matter with Ambrose?"
"I don't know," said Lord Chichester, thoughtfully. "I think it's that
smile of his, that superior smile, that makes you long to kick him; or
is it the way in which he looks just over the top of your head?"
"Or is it because Miss Graham is such a special friend of his that he
can take her away from all the rest of us put together?" murmured the
captain.
"Oh, there is nothing on there," said Lord Chichester. "My wife--and
she ought to know, don't you know--stoutly denies it."
"I didn't say there was anything between them. If there was, that would
be sufficient reason for all of us hating him--barring you, Charlie,
who are out of the hunt now."
"You don't hate Blair?" said Chichester, thoughtfully.
"Well, there is nothing between him and her; now, at any rate; and if
there were we shouldn't hate him."
"Fancy hating old Blair!" exclaimed the marquis.
There was a general smile of assent at the exclamation.
"Best fellow alive!" said Chichester. "Poor old chappie; he's
dreadfully down on his luck just at present."
"Oh, he'll come up to time all right!" broke in the dragoon. "You never
find Blair knocked under for long. He'll come up smiling presently.
Always falls on his legs, thank goodness. By the way," he said, more
thoughtfully than was his wont, "it's rather rum how he and that fellow
Ambrose get on so well together."
"Oh, Blair could get on with any one--Old Nick himself!" exclaimed
Chichester, and amidst the general laugh the group melted and passed on
with the crowd.
Miss Violet Graham rode on in silence for a moment or two, then she
said, in an undertone:
"Have you seen him? Where is he?"
Austin Ambrose cast a cold glance of warning toward the others, and
with a little gesture of impatience Violet Graham answered it.
"You are right. Come in to tea, will you?"
"Thanks," he said aloud. "I will leave you now," he added, as they
reached the gates; "I will be round as soon as I have put the horse in."
Violet Graham nodded, and immediately joined in conversation with the
people near her, and with her usual vivacity exchanged greetings and
rapid exclamations with the people who rode or drove by. It seemed as
if she knew and was known of everybody!
But presently she pulled up.
"Well, girls, I'm tired out. It really is too hot for any more of it.
Any of you come home to tea with me?"
They knew by the way the invitation was given that they were not
wanted, and of course declined, and Miss Graham, turning her horse,
rode pretty smartly, hot as it was, toward the gate.
In a few minutes she was in her house in Park Lane.
It was one of the largest houses in the lane, and the appointments were
of a magnificence suitable to the richest lady in London.
The hall she entered, though not so large as those in country mansions,
was superbly decorated and lined with choice exotics. Statuary, white
as the driven snow, gleamed against the mosaic walls. Plush had given
place to Indian muslin for the summer months, and the white place
looked like an Oriental or a Grecian dream.
"I am out to everyone but Mr. Ambrose," she said to the footman who
attended her, and passing by the drawing-room, she ascended the stairs
and entered a really beautiful apartment, which, as she reserved it for
herself, might be called her boudoir.
She shut the door and dropped on a couch, flinging her hat on a table
and feverishly tugging at her gauntlets. Then she rose and began pacing
the room. And all the time she looked as anxious as a woman could look.
Presently the door opened, and a servant announced Mr. Ambrose.
"Bring some tea," she said, "and show Mr. Ambrose in."
He came in, cool, self-possessed, bringing with him, as it seemed, a
breath of cold air.
Just glancing at her, he put down his hat and whip, and seating himself
in one of the delightfully easy chairs, leant back and looked at her
from under his lids.
It was a peculiar look, critical, analytical; it was the look a surgeon
bends on a patient who is a curious and, perhaps, difficult case.
"Well?" she said, sinking into a chair and fidgeting with the handle of
her whip.
The footman entered with the tea-tray, and Austin Ambrose, instead of
answering, said:
"No sugar in mine, please."
She poured him out a cup with not too carefully concealed impatience,
and as he rose and fetched it, taking it leisurely back to his chair,
she beat a tattoo on the ground with her small feet.
"How tiresomely slow you can be when you like," she said. "I believe
you do it to--to exasperate me."
"Why should I exasperate you?" he responded calmly, coolly. "Are you
angry with me because I would not speak before the women who were with
us in the park, or before the servant here; it is a question which of
them would chatter most."
"Oh, you are right, of course. You always are," she said. "That makes
it so annoying. But there are no women or servants here now, and you
can speak freely, and--and at once. Did you see Blair?"
"I had just left him when I met you," he answered.
"Well?" she said, and her eyes sought his face eagerly, impatiently.
"Where has he been?"
"To Leyton Court," he replied.
"To the earl's," she said. "I thought so."
"Yes," he said slowly; "he has been to the earl."
"Well, has he done anything for him?"
"No; nothing."
A look of relief shone in her eyes.
"I am glad, glad!" she murmured.
"He offered to lend him--or give him--the money he wanted, but Blair
refused."
"He refused? That was like him!" she said, with a touch of pride and
satisfaction. "Yes, that was just like him. They quarreled, of course?"
"Oh, yes, they quarreled!" assented Austin Ambrose quietly. "There
were the materials for a quarrel. It seems that, finding the journey
tedious, Blair enlivened it by fighting with one of the rustics."
She smiled, and a strange look came into her eyes.
"Yes, that is Blair all over! And the earl heard of it?"
"Yes," he said, slowly, "he heard of it; and, as the combat took place
just outside the Court gates, he was not altogether pleased. Blair's
account is amusing."
"He shall tell me! He shall tell me!" she said, looking into vacancy,
her cheeks mantling, her eyes glowing. "I--I have never seen him
fight----"
"I dare say he would gratify any desire you may have in that direction.
He is always ready to fight, and on the smallest provocation," remarked
Austin Ambrose, with icy coldness.
"No," she said, "he is not! He is not easily provoked, but when he
is--but what does it matter? We don't want to waste time quarreling
about him. I want to hear all--all that occurred!"
"I came to tell you," he said, slowly. "The earl, notwithstanding his
anger at the brawl outside the Court gates, offered to lend Blair the
money to help him out of this difficulty, but Blair refused."
"And--and Ketton must go?" she said, in a tone of satisfaction.
"Ketton must go the way of the rest," he assented.
She nodded, her small eyes shining brightly--too brightly.
"Ketton gone; there is not much left to fall back upon, is there?"
"No, not much," he replied.
"And--and he will not pull up; will not retrench? You will prevent
that?" and she looked at him anxiously.
He did not reply, but his silence was significant enough.
"And he thinks you his best friend, his Fides Achates. Poor Blair!" and
she laughed. "All his money gone, and his estates; Ketton is the last!
Yes, he cannot keep the pace much longer. He will be--what do you men
call it?--'stone broke,' and then--and then!" She drew a long breath,
and her lips closed and opened. "And then he will come to me! He _must_
come!" she exclaimed, her hand trembling. "He will come back to me,
and----" She stopped suddenly, arrested by a look in his cold secretive
eyes. "Is there anything else? Have you told me all?"
He was silent a moment, and she accosted him with an exclamation of
impatient impetuosity.
"What else is there? Why do you sit there silent, if there is anything
else to tell? Do you remember our bargain?"
"Yes, I remember it," he said, after a moment's pause, during which he
looked, not at her, but just over her head, in the manner which Captain
Floyd found so objectionable. "It is not so long ago that I should
forget it. It was made in this room. I had the presumption to offer
you----"
"Never mind that!" she broke in, but as if she had not spoken he went
on in his cold, impassive manner.
"I had the presumption to offer you my hand, to beg yours! I was fool
enough to imagine that your smiles and your sweet words were intended
to signify that such an offer would not meet with a refusal. It was a
mistake! I had forgotten that I was poor, and that you were rich. You
recalled me to my senses by a laugh, which I hear still----"
"What is the use----" she tried to break in with, but he went on.
"Most men, I believe, placed in a like position, that of a rejected
suitor, implore the lady who refuses them her love to grant them her
friendship. I did so. But while most men mean nothing by it, I meant a
great deal. If I could not have you for myself, I was ready to serve
you as a grand vizier serves his sultan, or a slave its master. You
accepted my offer. It was not I you wanted, but another man; that man
was Blair Leyton."
"You--you put it plainly," she murmured, biting her lip.
He looked over her head.
"Yes. Truth is natural, always," he said. "I undertook to help you
to gain him, asking for no definite reward, but trusting to your
generosity."
"You shall ask for what you like. I will grant it," she said, "you know
that."
"Yes," he said, "I know that," but his response was uttered with a
significance which she did not appreciate. "You and he were engaged,
the engagement is broken off; it is my task to see that it is renewed.
I am engaged in that task now. Between us, it is understood there
should be no concealment. Concealments would be fatal. You ask me to
tell you all concerning this visit of Blair to the Court. I intend
doing so. There is not much difficulty, for I have just left Blair, who
has found out his heart after his fashion."
"His heart! About what?" she demanded, taking up her tea cup.
"About a girl he met there," he said, quietly and coldly.
The fragile and priceless piece of porcelain fell crushed by her
fingers.
He rose courteously and picked up the fragments.
"It will spoil the set," he remarked, coolly.
"Girl--girl! What girl?" she demanded.
She was white to the lips, and her gray eyes seemed to have grown dark,
almost black.
"A girl whom he found staying in the house," he rejoined, with a cool
ease that maddened her. "I can describe her, for Blair was minute to
weariness. She is tall, graceful, has auburn hair, large and expressive
eyes, a small mouth, a clear, musical voice, an angelic smile----"
She put up her hand.
"Are--are you saying all this to--to play with me?" she said, and her
voice was almost hoarse.
He raised his brows and looked above her head with an air of surprise.
"No. They are his own words," he said.
"And--and you think he is in"--she paused; something seemed to stop her
utterance for a moment--"he is in love with this girl?"
He sat silent for a moment.
"If he is to be believed, he is most certainly," he responded, coldly;
"very much in love--head over heels! He raved about her for nearly an
hour by the clock; I timed him."
She sprung to her feet and moved to and fro, her tiny hand clutching
the riding-whip until the nails ran into her soft, pink palm. Then she
stopped suddenly and looked at him.
"And this--this girl?" she said. "Who is she?"
"The daughter--no, to be exact, the granddaughter of the earl's
housekeeper," he said slowly, as if he enjoyed it.
She panted and drew her breath heavily.
"A servant!" she exclaimed, and she laughed, a cruel unwomanly laugh.
"By no means," he said. "She is, according to Blair, and he is a fair
judge, a lady. She is an artist, and is copying the pictures in the
Court gallery."
Her face grew white and anxious again.
"What--what is her name?" she demanded, and her voice was hard and
hoarse.
He took an ivory tablet from his pocket and consulted it.
"Her name is Margaret--a pretty name; reminds one of Faust, doesn't it?
Margaret Hale."
"Margaret Hale," she repeated slowly; then she came and stood in front
of him, her gray eyes as hard as steel, her lips drawn across her
white, even teeth. "And he--you say--he is in love with her?"
He shrugged his shoulders.
"He says so," he said coldly.
"And--and he speaks of marrying her?"
"Apparently it is the one and absorbing desire of his life," he
responded in exactly the same manner.
She opened her lips as if about to speak again, then sank on to a couch
in silence.
He rose.
"I'll go," he said.
"Wait!" she said, and she stretched out her hand with the whip in it.
"Austin, this--this, must be stopped, prevented----" she spoke with a
panting breathlessness. "You--you understand. It _must_ be prevented,
at _all_ costs, at any risks! You will do it! Promise me! Remember our
bargain! Ask what you please, I will grant it. Half--every penny I
possess--anything! You will prevent it!"
He stood looking at her without an atom of expression on his clean-cut
face, which might have been a marble mask.
"I understand," he said, after the pause. "At any cost? You will not
upbraid, reproach me in the future, whatever may happen?"
"No. I shall not! At any cost!" she repeated, meeting his cold glance.
He stood regarding the wall above her head for a moment, then, without
a word, went out and left her.
Slowly, impassively, he paced down the stairs, his eyes fixed on the
open doorway and the street beyond, but reaching the hall, which
happened to be empty, he paused, and with his foot on the doorstep, he
turned round and smiled.
It was a peculiar smile and difficult to analyze, but supposing a man
had caught a wild animal in a trap and had left it hard and fast, to be
killed at his leisure, that man might smile as Austin Ambrose smiled as
he looked round the hall of Violet Graham's house in Park Lane.