"I like Beaulieu, Ronnie, the house is a beauty--perhaps if I hurried
I could go there before mother."
In the hall below Mr. Teddy Williams discussed Canada with the hall
porter. It was one of the two subjects in which he was completely
interested.
The other came down by the elevator, importantly, and they went out
into Knightsbridge together.
"I've been a long time, Teddy," she snuggled her arm in his,
"but--well, first of all, my answer is 'Yes'."
He paused, and in the view of revolted passersby, kissed her.
"And--and, Teddy, we'll go to Beaulieu afterwards. Mr. Morelle has
promised to let us have his house."
"Isn't that grand!" said Teddy. "We've got a town called Beaulieu in
Saskatchewan."
X
"Wasn't it just like Christina not to get excited with the great
news? But really Evie was to blame, because she kept the greater
news to the last.
"I can't believe it. That young man who called on Christina? I
really can't believe it," said Mrs. Colebrook, who could, and did,
believe it.
"Why don't you yell, Chris!" demanded her indignant sister.
"I am yelling," said Christina placidly. "I've been yelling longer
than you, for I knew that it was Ronnie's house when the letter came."
But the announcement of Evie's engagement had an electrifying effect.
"That is the first time I have ever seen Christina cry," said Mrs.
Colebrook with melancholy satisfaction. "There's a lot more in
Christina than people think. If she'd only showed a little more nice
feeling over poor Mr. Sault, I'd have liked it better. But you can't
expect everything in these days, girls being what they are. Well,
Evie, you're the first to go. I don't suppose Christina will ever
marry. She's too hard. Canada won't seem so far if I'm in Bolo,
Boole--whatever they call it."
Evie was sitting with her mother in the kitchen; from Christina's
room came crooning.
"My dear, oh my dear,
Have ye come from the west--"
"Why Christina sings those old-fashioned songs when she knows
'Swanee' and 'The Bull Dog Patrol'--'Bull Frog', is it?--I can't
understand."
A rat-tat at the door made Evie jump.
Mrs. Colebrook's eyes went to the faded face of a clock on the
mantelshelf. Allowing for day to day variation, to which the
timepiece was subject, she made it out to be past eleven.
"Don't open the door," she said. "It may be those Haggins; they've
been fighting all day."
Evie went to the door.
"Who is there?"
"Beryl Merville."
Evie opened the door and admitted the girl. Outside she glimpsed the
tail lamps of a car.
"You are Evie, aren't you?" Beryl was breathless. "Have you any
idea where I can find Ronnie?"
"Is that Beryl?"
It was Christina's voice; she came down in her dressing gown.
"I want to find Ronnie--I have been to his flat, he is not at home.
I must see him."
She was wild with fear, Christina saw that; something had happened
which had thrown her off her balance and had driven her, frantic, to
Ronnie Morelle.
"Come up to my room, Beryl," she said gently.
Mrs. Colebrook looked at Evie as the sound of a closing door came
down.
"It looks to me like a scandal," she said profoundly.
Evie said nothing. She was wondering whether she ought not to have
been indignant at the suggestion that she knew the whereabouts of
Ronnie Morelle. She wished she knew Beryl better--then she might
have been asked upstairs to share the secret. After all, she knew
Ronnie better than anybody.
"Perhaps I am better out of it, Mother," she said. "I am not sure
that Teddy would like me to be mixed up in other people's affairs."
Christina pushed the trembling girl on to the bed.
"Sit down, Beryl. What is wrong?"
Beryl's lips were quivering.
"I must see Ronnie--oh, Christina, I'm just cornered. That
man--Talbot, I think his name is, he is a friend of Ronnie's, has
written to father--the letter came by hand, marked 'Urgent', whilst
daddy was out, and I opened it."
She fumbled in her bag and produced a folded sheet and Christina read:
"_Dear Dr. Merville_: I think it is only right that you should know
that your daughter spent a night at Ronald Morelle's flat.
"Miss Merville, at Morelle's suggestion, told you that she had been
to a ball at Albert Hall. I can prove that she was never at the
Albert Hall that night. I feel it is my duty to tell you this, and I
expect you to inform Mr. Steppe, who, I understand, is engaged to
your daughter."
"How did he know?"
Beryl shook her head wearily.
"Ronald told him--about the ball. When the elevator was going down,
the morning I left the flat, I saw a man walking up the stairs. He
must have seen me. Ronnie told me the night before that Jeremiah
Talbot was coming to breakfast with him. I just saw him as the lift
passed him--he had stopped on the landing below Ronnie's and probably
recognized me. Christina, what am I to do? Father mustn't know. It
seems ever so much more important to me now."
"When do you marry, Beryl?"
"The day after tomorrow. I know Ronnie has quarreled with this man.
I read that story in the newspapers. It was splendid of Ronnie,
splendid. It was a revelation to me."
Christina bit her lip in thought.
"I will see Ronnie--tonight. No, I will go alone. I have been
resting all day. You must go home. Have you brought your car?
Good. I will borrow it. Give me the letter."
Beryl protested, but the girl was firm.
"You must not go--perhaps I am wrong about Ronnie, but I don't think
so. Sir John Maxton has the same mad dream."
"What do you mean?"