Next morning Edith, who always came down to breakfast, though somewhat
late, found on her plate a letter from Lady Conroy, that most vague and
forgetful of all charming Irishwomen. It said:
'My DEAR MRS OTTLEY,
Do excuse my troubling you, but could you give me a little information?
Someone has asked me about Madame Frabelle. I know that she is a friend
of yours, and is staying with you, and I said so; also I have a sort of
idea that she was, in some way, connected with you by marriage or
relationship, but of that I was not quite sure. I fancy that it is due
to you that I have the pleasure of knowing her, anyhow.
'Could you tell me who she was before she married? What her husband was,
and anything else about her? That she is most charming and a very clever
woman I know, of course, already. To say she is a friend of yours is
enough to say that, but the rest I forget.
'Hoping you will forgive my troubling you, and that you are all very
well, I remain, yours most sincerely.
'KATHLEEN CONROY
'P.S.--I began to take some lessons in nursing when I came across a most
charming and delightful girl, called Dulcie Clay. Do you happen to know
her at all? Her father married again and she was not happy at home, and,
having no money, she went in for nursing, seriously (not as I did), but
I'm afraid she is not strong enough for the profession. Remember me to
Madame Frabelle.'
Edith passed the letter to Bruce.
'Isn't this too delightful?' she said; 'and exactly like her? She sends
Madame Frabelle to me with a letter of introduction, and then asks me
who she is!'
'Well,' said Bruce, who saw nothing of the absurdity of the situation,
'Lady Conroy is a most charming person. It looks almost as if she wanted
to decline responsibility. I wouldn't annoy her for the world. You must
give her all the information she wants, of course.'
'But all I know I only know from her.'
'Exactly. Well, tell her what she told you. Madame Frabelle told us
candidly she made her acquaintance at the hotel! But it's absurd to tell
Lady Conroy that back! We can't!'
Edith found the original letter of introduction, after some searching,
and wrote to Lady Conroy to say that she understood Madame Frabelle, who
was no connection of hers, was a clever, interesting woman, who wished
to study English life in her native land. She was '_of good family; she
had been a Miss Eglantine Pollard, and was the widow of a well-to-do
French wine merchant_.' (This was word for word what Lady Conroy had
told her.) She went on to say that she '_believed Madame Frabelle had
several friends and connections in London_.'
'The Mitchells, for instance,' suggested Bruce.
'Yes, that's a good idea. "_She knows the Mitchells very well_,"' Edith
went on writing. '"_I think you know them also; they are very great
friends of ours. Mr Mitchell is in the Foreign Office_."'
'And the Conistons?' suggested Bruce.
'Yes. "_She knows the Conistons; the nice young brother and sister we
are so fond of. She has other friends in London, I believe, but she has
not troubled to look them up. The more one sees of her the more one
likes her. She is most charming and amiable and makes friends wherever
she goes. I don't think I know anything more than this, dear Lady
Conroy. Yours very sincerely, Edith Ottley. P.S.--I have not met Miss
Dulcie Clay_."'
Bruce was satisfied with this letter. Edith herself thought it the most
amusing letter she had ever written.
'The clergyman whom she met at lunch yesterday, by the way,' said Bruce,
'wouldn't it sound well to mention him?'
Edith good-naturedly laughed, and added to the letter: '"_The Rev. Byrne
Fraser knows our friend also, and seems to like her_."'
'The only thing is,' said Bruce, after a moment's pause, 'perhaps that
might do her harm with Lady Conroy, although he's a clergyman. There
have been some funny stories about the Rev. Byrne Fraser.'
'He certainly liked her,' said Edith. 'He wrote her a long letter last
night, after meeting her at lunch, to go on with their argument, or
conversation, or whatever it was, and she's going to hear him preach
on Sunday.'
'Do you feel she would wish Lady Conroy to know that she's a friend of
the Rev. Byrne Fraser?' asked Bruce.
'Oh, I think so; or I wouldn't have said it.'
Edith was really growing more and more loyal in her friendship. There
certainly was something about Madame Frabelle that everybody, clever and
stupid alike, seemed to be attracted by.
Later Edith received a telephone call from Landi. He told her that he
had seen Aylmer, who was going on well, that he had begged to see her,
and had been allowed by his doctor and nurse to receive a visit from her
on Saturday next. He said that Aylmer had been agitated because his boy
was going almost immediately to the front. He seemed very pleased at the
idea of seeing her again.
Edith looked forward with a certain excitement to Saturday.
* * * * *
A day or two later Edith received a letter from Lady Conroy, saying:
'MY DEAR EDITH,
Thank you so much for your nice letter. I remember now, of course,
Madame Frabelle was a friend of the Mitchells, whom I know so well, and
like so much. What dears they are! Please remember me to them. I knew
that she had a friend who was a clergyman, but I wasn't quite sure who
it was. I suppose it must have been this Mr Fraser. She was a Miss
Pollard, you know, a very good family, and, as I always understood, the
more one knows of her the better one likes her.
'Thanks again for your note. I am longing to see you, and shall call
directly I come to London. Ever yours,
'KATHLEEN CONROY
'P.S.--Madame F's husband was a French wine merchant, and a very
charming man, I believe. By the way, also, she knows the Conistons, I
believe, and no doubt several people we both know. Miss Clay has gone to
London with one of her patients.'
Bruce didn't understand why Edith was so much amused by this letter, nor
why she said that she should soon write and ask Lady Conroy who Madame
Frabelle was, and that she would probably answer that she was a great
friend of Edith's and of the Mitchells, and the Rev. Byrne Fraser.
'She seems a little doubtful about Fraser, doesn't she?' Bruce said.
'I mean Lady Conroy. Certainly she's got rather a funny memory; she
doesn't seem to have the slightest idea that she sent her to you with a
letter of introduction. Now we've taken all the responsibility on
ourselves.'
'Well, really I don't mind,' said Edith. 'What does it matter? There's
obviously no harm in Madame Frabelle, and never could have been.'
'She's a very clever woman,' said Bruce. 'I'm always interested when I
hear what she has to say about people. I don't mind telling you that I'm
nearly always guided by it.'
'So am I,' said Edith.
Indeed Edith did sincerely regard her opinion as very valuable. She
found her so invariably wrong that she was quite a useful guide. She was
never quite sure of her own judgement until Madame Frabelle had
contradicted it.
* * * * *
When Edith went to call on Aylmer in the little brown house in Jermyn
Street, she was shown first into the dining-room.
In a few minutes a young girl dressed as a nurse came in to speak to
her.
She seemed very shy and spoke in a soft voice.
'I'm Miss Clay,' she said. 'I've been nursing for the last six months,
but I'm not very strong and was afraid I would have to give it up when I
met Mr Ross at Boulogne. He was getting on so well that I came back to
look after him and I shall stay until he is quite well, I think.'
Evidently this was the Dulcie Clay Lady Conroy had mentioned. Edith was
much struck by her. She was a really beautiful girl, with but one slight
defect, which some people perhaps, would have rather admired--her skin
was rather too dark, and a curious contrast to her beautiful blue eyes.
As a rule the combination of blue eyes and dark hair goes with a fair
complexion. Dulcie Clay had a brown skin, clear and pale, such as
usually goes with the Spanish type of brunette. But for this curious
darkness, which showed up her dazzling white teeth, she was quite
lovely. It was a sweet, sensitive face, and her blue eyes, with long
eyelashes like little feathers, were charming in their soft expression.
Her smile was very sweet, though she had a look of melancholy. There was
something touching about her.
She was below the usual height, slight and graceful. Her hair, parted in
the middle, was arranged in the Madonna style in two thick natural waves
each side of her face.
She had none of the bustling self-confidence of the lady nurse, but was
very gentle and diffident. Surely Aylmer must be in love with her,
thought Edith.
Then Miss Clay said, in her low voice:
'You are Mrs Ottley, aren't you? I knew you at once.'
'Did you? How was that?'
A little colour came into the pale, dark face.
'Mr Ross has a little photograph of you,' she said, 'and once when he
was very ill he gave me your name and address and asked me to send it to
you if anything happened.'
As she said that her eyes filled with tears.
'Oh, but he'll be all right now, won't he?' asked Edith, with a feeling
of sympathy for Miss Clay, and a desire to cheer the girl.
'Yes, I think he'll be all right now,' she said. 'Do come up.'