"I shall think it very childish of you."
With a petulance which I had never seen in her she tossed her head.
"I don't care, at present I will not."
I frowned but did not speak. This will be discussed between us later.
My fighting spirit is up, she _shall_ obey me!
"Did you order the clothes yesterday?"
"Yes."
"Enough, I hope."
"Yes."
"Well, now, I have a suggestion to make which I am sure will please you,
and that is that you will appoint some meeting place with Mr. Nelson for
Tuesday morning, since you do not trust my good taste far enough even to
let me know your home address. Perhaps at the Hotel de Courville, if the
Duchesse will permit, and that then we do not meet until the seventh of
November at the ceremony. Mr. Nelson will arrange with you all the law
of the thing and what witnesses you must have, and everything, and this
will save these useless discussions, and give you a little breathing
space."
This seemed to subdue her, and she agreed less defiantly.
"And now I will not detain you longer," I said stiffly. "_Au revoir_
until the seventh of November at whatever hour is arranged, or if we
must meet before at the signing of the contract," and I bowed.
She bowed also, and walked haughtily to the door, and left.
And greatly exhilarated, I decided to go and lunch with Maurice at the
Ritz.
As I came from the lift, Madame Bizot's daughter came out of the
concierge's lodge with her baby, and it was making its same little
cooing, gurgling noises that caused me so to feel that time when Alathea
first began to interest me. I stopped and spoke to the mother, a comely
young woman, and the little creature put out its tiny hand and clasped
one of my fingers, and over me there came a weird thrill. Shall I ever
hear noises like that, and have a son of Alathea's and mine to take my
hand. Well the game of her subjection is interesting enough anyway, and
rather ashamed of my emotion, I went on into the Victoria and was
crawled to the Ritz.
Here I ran into a fellow in the Flying Corps, who told me that Nina's
boy, Johnnie, had been killed the night before, in his first fight with
a Boche plane. I do not know that any of the tragedies of the war have
affected me more. My poor Nina! She really loved her son. I telegraphed
to her at once my fondest sympathies, and the thought of her grief would
not leave me all the way, war-hardened as I am.
I did not tell Maurice of my approaching wedding. I have a plan that he
shall only know when I ask him to come to the Hotel de Courville to be
presented to my wife.
The Fluffies have returned from Deauville, and Coralie and Alice joined
us at luncheon. They have the most exquisite new garments, and were full
of sparkle and gaiety. Alice's wedding, to the rich neutral, seems
really to be coming off. Her air was one of subdued modesty and
gentleness, and when I congratulated her she made the tenderest
acceptance of it, which would have done justice to a young virgin of
the _ancien regime_! Coralie met my eye with her shrewd small ones, and
we looked away! After lunch we sat in the hall for a little, Maurice
taking Alice to try on her clothes, so Coralie and I were left alone.
"You are looking quite well now Nicholas," she whispered, "Why don't you
ask me to come and dine with you, at your adorable flat,--alone?"
"You would be bored with me before the evening was over."
"Arrange it, and try! Always there are the others, except that night at
Versailles. There is an air with you Nicholas,--one has forgotten all
about your eye. I have thought and thought of you.--You have interfered
with all my pleasures in life!"
"I am going back to England quite soon, Coralie, won't you come now to
the _rue de la Paix_ and let me buy you a little souvenir of all the
lovely times we have had together in the last year?"
So she came, and selected a gem of an opera glass. An opera glass is
discreet, it can be accepted by anyone; even a woman determined to
impress my mind with her dignity and charm, as Coralie was attempting to
do, upon our expedition. She had made up her mind that I should no
longer be just a benefit to the three of them, but her own especial
property, and she is clever enough to see that I am in a mood to admire
dignity and discretion! I spent a most amusing hour with her, enjoying
myself in the spirit of watching a good play at the _Comedie Français_.
At about four o'clock, when we returned to the Ritz, Coralie was
baffled. I could see that she was keener than ever, and beginning to be
a little worried and unsure of herself!
As I drove back to my flat, taking a roundabout way through the Bois, I
mused and analysed things. And what is the psychological reason for some
presents being quite correct to give and some not? It all goes back to
the re-creative instinct and through what this manifests itself. Gifts
which have any relation to the body, to give it pleasure, or to decorate
it, are the expressions of the sex relationship, and so presumably the
subconscious mind, which only sees the truth in everything, only feels
harmonious when these gifts are given by either parents or relations, as
a dower, so to speak, or the husband or prospective husband. Hence
through the ages, the unconscious relegation of certain presents as
acceptable only from certain people. Any present which gives pleasure to
the mind alone is the tribute of friendship, but those to touch the body
are presumably not. I could give Coralie an opera glass as a mark of my
esteem, but a bracelet which she would wear on her arm would have
another meaning!
Alathea resents every present, those for the body because they suggest
my possession of her, those for the mind because she feels no friendship
for me at all!
Well, well!
What will she do I wonder during the fortnight of our engagement? I feel
that I can afford to wait with patience and certainty. But the thought
that I do not even know my _fiancée's_ address, and that she is
resentful and defiant, and rebellious at everything, and yet intends to
marry me, on the seventh of November, is really almost humorous!
And now it behooves me to put my house in order, and map out exactly
what I mean to do!