_Sunday evening_
I begin to think I am what is called a psychical person, for I woke
this morning with a strong presentiment of things happening or about
to happen. The day did not seem to lend itself to events; it had
broken with rain lashing the window panes and a gale of wind blowing
through every crevice of the hotel. Mrs. MacGill did not feel able to
rise for breakfast. As a matter of fact she was more able to do so
than I was, but she didn't think so, which settled the matter.
Therefore I went down to the breakfast-room alone.
If the outer air was dreary, the scene indoors was very cheerful. A
large fire blazed in the grate, and in front of the rain-lashed
windows a table was laid for three. Virginia and Sir Archibald were
already seated at it, and he rose, as I came in, and showed me that my
place was with them.
'We felt sure that Mrs. MacGill would not appear this morning,' he
said, 'so we thought we might all breakfast together.'
What a gay little meal that was! Virginia was at her brightest; she
would have made an owl laugh. I found myself forgetting headache and
unhappiness, as I listened to her; and as for Sir Archibald, he seemed
another man altogether from the rigid young Scotchman of our first
acquaintance.
'Well, now, Sir Archibald,' said Virginia, as she rose from the table,
'the question is what a well-brought-up young man like you is going to
do with himself all this wet day. I know what we are to be about, Miss
Evesham and I,--we are going to look at all my new Paris gowns, and
try on all my best hats.'
'There's always the motor,' he said.
Virginia had none of that way of hanging about with young men that
English girls have. There could be no doubt that she was interested in
Sir Archibald, and wished him to be interested in her, but apparently
for that very reason she would not let him see too much of her that
morning. She carried me off to her room, and kept me there so long,
looking at her clothes, that Mrs. MacGill found sharp fault with me
when at last I returned to her. What had I been doing? I might have
known that she would want me, etc.; she had decided not to get up
until tea-time. 'It is impossible to go to church, and it is much
easier to employ one's time well in bed,' she said. So in bed she
remained, and I in attendance upon her until it was time for luncheon.
When I went downstairs, Virginia had also appeared again, and I saw
the wisdom and skill of her tactics; she was far more pleasing to the
young man now, because he had seen nothing of her all morning, and she
knew it. Sir Archibald, it appeared, had passed his time in the
motor-shed, presumably either examining the machinery of the motor or
polishing it up. Virginia seemed to have been writing letters; she
brought a bundle of them down with her, and laid one, address
uppermost, on the table beside her. It was addressed to 'Breckenridge
Calhoun, Esq., Richmond, Virginia, U.S.A.'
I saw Sir Archibald's eyes rest on it for a second, but the moment he
realised the name he almost consciously averted his glance from the
envelope for the remainder of the meal.
Virginia was very lively.
'Well, now, Sir Archibald, I'm going to hear your catechism after
lunch; it's a good occupation for Sunday afternoon,' she said. 'You'll
come right into the coffee-room, and recite it to me, and Miss Evesham
shall correct your mistakes.'
'I'll try to acquit myself well,' he answered, following her meekly
into the coffee-room.
'What is your name?' she began.
'Archibald George,' he replied, and Virginia went on:--
'I'll invent the rest of the questions, I think, so please answer
them well. How old are you?'
'Thirty-one years and two months.'
'Have you any profession?'
'None.'
'Pursuits?'
'Various.'
'Name these.'
'Motoring, bicycling, shooting, fishing.'
'That will do; you may sit down,' observed Virginia gravely, and then,
turning to me, 'I think the young man has acquitted himself very
creditably in this difficult exam. Miss Evesham, shall we give him a
certificate?'
'Yes,' I replied, laughing at her nonsense. Virginia wrote out on a
sheet of paper:--
This is to certify that Sir Archibald Maxwell Mackenzie
passed a creditable examination in Pedigree and Pursuits.
(Signed) VIRGINIA S. POMEROY.
'Here,' she said, folding it up and giving it to the young man, 'you
should keep this among the proudest archives of your house.'
Sir Archibald put it into his pocket with a funny little smile. 'It
shall have the greatest care always,' he assured her. 'And now, Miss
Pomeroy, won't you and Miss Evesham come and have a game of billiards
with me? I must relax my mind after all this effort.'
I knew that I should not consent to this proposition; Virginia knew
that she should not; we both hesitated for a moment, and then
Virginia, with a glance at the storm outside, made a compromise in
favour of decorum.
'Well, there doesn't seem to be much else to do this wet afternoon,'
she said. 'I don't care if I do come and see how well you play, Sir
Archibald, and perhaps Miss Evesham will come and applaud also.'
I didn't see much difference between playing ourselves and seeing him
play, but perhaps there was a little.
'I'll fetch my banjo,' proposed Virginia, 'and I can sing while you
have your game.'
So to the billiard-room we went, and Virginia perched herself in a
window niche. From this point of vantage she watched Sir Archibald's
strokes, while she strummed away on the instrument, and sang delicious
little songs in her clear, bird-like voice. I watched them both
closely. Sir Archibald was not attending to his play; I saw that he
was thinking far more about her.
'Won't you even chalk my cue for me?' he asked her, holding out the
chalk.
She received it daintily between her finger and thumb. He stood beside
us, looking down at her in the unmistakable way; he was falling in
love, but he scarcely knew it.
'There's your nasty chalk! See, I've whited all my sleeve,' she said,
making a distracting little grimace. She held out her sleeve for him
to see, and of course he brushed the chalk gently off it, and looked
into her eyes for a moment. I almost felt myself in the way, but I knew
that I was necessary to them just then. They had not advanced far
enough in their flirtation to be left alone yet, so I contented
myself. They both, I thought, were taking me into their confidence.
'You understand--you won't betray us--we mean no harm,' they seemed to
say to me; and I determined that this should be my attitude. I would
play gooseberry obligingly for just so long as I was wanted, and when
the right moment came, would equally obligingly leave them.
The afternoon went merrily on. Sir Archibald sent for a whisky and
soda, and Virginia fetched a huge box of French bonbons, and we
refreshed ourselves according to our tastes. Virginia had just slipped
a very large piece of nougat into her mouth, and I was just going to
put a bit into mine, but happily hadn't done so, when the door opened,
and Mrs. MacGill came walking in, with an air of angry bewilderment
on her face. A billiard cue to her means nothing but dissipation, a
whisky and soda nothing short of sodden drunkenness, so the whole
scene appeared to her a sort of wild orgy. If she had only known how
innocent it all was!
'Cecilia,' she exclaimed, 'the waiter told me that you were here, but
I could scarcely believe him!'