LA BELLE DAME SANS MERCI
THE enterprise thus mysteriously designated turned out to be nothing
worse than an afternoon reception, and was the first of many.
Philip, remembering why Peggy had sent him to live with Tim, began
conscientiously to school himself to the rigours of a society life. He
went everywhere and flinched at nothing. He learned to converse with the
modern _ingenue_ without feeling like an infant of five; he learned to
endure the cross-examination of dowagers without looking as if his one
idea was to bolt. He went to balls and crushes. He was introduced to
Ranelagh, and became acquainted with mixed foursomes.
He did the thing thoroughly. It was all a means to an end, he felt. He
was a dull dog: he had no parlour tricks. In Peggy's eyes, although in
her kindness of heart she endeavoured to conceal the fact, he was only
Most Excellent Theophilus, a worthy person. Ergo, he must overcome these
defects in his character and then try his luck again. So he attached
himself to that admitted social luminary, Tim Rendle, as a humble
disciple, acquiring merit by abandoning some of his favourite
recreations and going out at night when he would rather have been in
bed.
It was an ingenuous and characteristic method of procedure, and it
puzzled Peggy more than a little.
"You are becoming quite a butterfly, Theophilus," she said to him one
day. "I thought you did not like gadding about."
"Neither I do, very much," confessed Philip. "Excepting, of course,
when--except at such times as--well, _now_, in fact!" he concluded
bluntly.
They were walking along the Chelsea Embankment together on their way to
the new flat,--completely equipped at last,--where Peggy and Miss Leslie
were to be entertained at a great housewarming tea-party. It was the
first time that they had been alone together for nearly a month.
"Thank you, kind sir," replied Peggy, with a gracious inclination of her
head. "But why don't you like it? Isn't it pleasant to go out somewhere
after a hard, dull day, and meet your friends, and talk about things
that don't matter, and forget all about Oxford Street?"
"Yes," agreed Philip, "I suppose it is. I will confess this much: I know
I should hate to go back to my old life at Wigmore Street now. I have
widened out to that extent. But the worst of these social functions is
that you have to put in a terrible lot of spadework before you get down
to what you came out for."
"You mean supper?" suggested Peggy, with intentional flippancy. She
found it difficult to control Philip's movements in conversation. He had
no small talk. Introduce him to a topic, and in five minutes he had
brushed aside the flimsy superficialities to which we are content to
confine ourselves in our social encounters, and was digging heavily at
the fundamental root of the matter.
"No, not supper," replied Philip gravely. "I mean this. A man usually
regards these gatherings as a means to an end. He doesn't turn out after
a hard day's work, to stand wedged in a hot room for hours on end, just
because he likes it. He does not want to meet a chattering mob in the
least. But he does want to meet one particular person very much, indeed;
and perhaps the only way in which he can achieve his object is by
plunging into a crowded room and talking to fifty bores first. It seems
a terrible waste of energy,--like installing an entire electric light
plant to illuminate one globe,--but sometimes it is the only way. And
usually it is worth it!"
He paused, feeling a little surprised at himself. He could never have
talked like this to Peggy a few months ago. Peggy said nothing.
"I often wonder," continued Philip presently, "when I find myself at one
of these entertainments, how many of the men there have come because
they like it and how many have come simply in the hope of encountering
one particular pair of bright eyes. Women, I suppose, go because they
really do enjoy it--the dresses, and the gaiety, and the opportunity to
sparkle, and because it is the right house to be seen at--"
"Not always," said Peggy. "But why do _you_ go, Philip?"
She repented of the question the moment she asked it, but Philip, who
had planned the lines of this conversation months beforehand, and was
not nearly nimble enough to take advantage of unexpected short cuts,
blundered straight on.
"I go," he said frankly, "to try and get polished up a bit. I think I
confessed to you once before that I was a pretty dull dog. I'm trying to
cure that. So I go out tea-fighting."
"And all the time you would rather be at home with your feet on the
mantelpiece?"
"Not necessarily. Supposing, as I sat with my feet on the mantelpiece,
that some one--some one particular--came into the room and tapped me on
the shoulder, and said: 'Now then, wake up! I have a new frock on, and I
want you to take me out somewhere where I can show it off'--Well, that
would make all the difference in the world. I--I should be proud to go,
then!"
These words were spoken hurriedly and awkwardly, for Philip's heart was
beating furiously. He was getting near the climax of this laboriously
engineered conversation, and it seemed almost too much to hope that he
would be permitted to deliver the grand attack without being headed off.
But he certainly was not prepared for Peggy's next remark.
"I see. Well, Theophilus, there is nothing else for it: we must find you
a wife."
This was said quite deliberately, and needless to say, it entirely
disorganised Philip's plan of campaign. With a sudden cold shock he
realised that the conversation had taken another short cut, and that the
crisis was upon him before he was ready.
"You are the sort of man," continued Peggy, in the same unruffled voice,
"who would get along better in the world with a wife than without one.
There are two kinds of men who marry, you know. One likes to make a
position and then ask a woman to come and share it, and the other cannot
make any position at all unless he has got the woman first. You are the
second kind. Now"--Peggy bent her brows judicially, like a panel doctor
prescribing for an out-patient--"do I know of any one who would suit
you?"
Philip made a desperate attempt to release his tongue, which was
cleaving to the roof of his mouth; but before he could do so Peggy had
resumed her discourse.
"She must be the sort of girl," she said, "who likes being killed with
kindness; because you are that sort, Mr. Philip."
"Don't all girls like being--" began Philip.
"No--not all. There are lots of women who rather despise kindness in a
man. They prefer to be bullied by him, and regarded as tiresome,
inferior creatures. For some mysterious reason it helps them to look up
to him."
"Do you mean to say," exclaimed that simple-minded gentleman, Philip
Meldrum, "that a woman would like a man just because--not although,
mind, but because--he was a brute to her?"
"Yes," said Peggy; "it is true enough of some women. They don't want to
be considered, or studied, or understood: they would rather be swamped
by the man's personality and give up thinking about themselves
altogether."
"But not all women?" persisted Philip, whose conception of the sex was
trembling on its base. "Some of them like being considered and studied
and understood, Peggy, don't they?"
"Oh, yes, most of us do," admitted Peggy, smiling. "Not that we ever
are, poor things!" she added resignedly.
Philip saw an opportunity of getting back to prepared ground again.
"I say, Peggy," he began, "wouldn't you like to be--"
"To be understood? Yes, indeed! Do you want me to practise on, Philip?"
"Yes," said Philip with sudden fire, "I do. And I want to say this--"
Peggy laughed serenely.
"You may study me and consider me as much as you like, Mr. Theophilus,"
she said; "I shall enjoy it. But you won't ever understand me."
"I would have a thundering good try, all the same," replied Philip
doggedly. "I understood you once--when we were children together."
"Yes," agreed Peggy more soberly, "I believe you did. Life was a simpler
business then. As we grow up we grow more complicated--at least, women
do. But you seem to be very much the same as when I first met you,
Philip."
"Is that a compliment?" asked Philip dubiously.
"It is the greatest compliment I have ever paid you," said Peggy,
flushing suddenly. "What a sunset! Look!"
They paused, and leaned over the parapet. The October sun was dropping
low, and the turbid flood of the Thames had turned to crimson. Philip
glanced at his Lady. The hue of the water seemed to be faintly reflected
in her face.
Suddenly something took hold of him--a power greater than himself. For
once the gift of tongues was vouchsafed him.
"You are right, Peggy," he broke out. "I believe I am exactly the same
as when I was a boy; in one thing anyhow; in my views on"--he boggled at
the word "Love," and finally continued--"in my feelings about the
biggest thing of all. Perhaps it is because I have always been shy and
awkward, and have not sought out adventures that would correct my
illusions. Anyhow, I am an idealist--a sentimentalist, if you like. I
believe my father was, too, and even the knowledge that his ideals were
shipwrecked does not discourage me. In my Utopia the men work and fight,
and take all hard knocks and privations cheerfully, and run straight and
live clean. They work because they like it, and not simply to make
money. A man may work for fame, too, if he likes, but not the sort of
thing we call fame nowadays--titles, and newspaper paragraphs, and stuff
of that kind. If one of my knights achieves a big thing he is not
excited about it: he just polishes up his armour and goes and does
another big thing, without hanging about until a reporter turns up. I
think the title of knight is the grandest honour a man can win; and it
makes me mad to-day to see how that title has been stolen from its
proper place and bestowed on men who have subscribed to party funds, or
who happened to be Mayor when Royalty opened a new waterworks. My knight
is a man who has _done_ things, and done them for just one reason--for
the joy of doing them; and who dedicates the glory and the praise,
however great or small, to"--Philip's voice dropped suddenly--"to the
honour of his Lady."
"And what is his Lady like?" asked Peggy softly.
She knew she ought not to do so. If a maid permits herself to embark
with a young man upon a romantic discussion, it is sometimes difficult
to prevent the conversation from taking an uncomfortably personal turn.
But for the moment Philip had carried her off her feet.
"The Lady?" Philip descended from the clouds abruptly, and replied:
"Well, I think you would make a very perfect Lady for a knight, Peggy."
The Rubicon at last! One foot at least was over. Dumbly he waited for
Peggy's next word.
It came.
"Unfortunately," said the girl lightly, "I am not eligible for such a
post. Knights are not for me. You see, Philip," she continued hurriedly,
avoiding his eyes, "times have changed. Knights are too scarce and
Ladies are too numerous. There are about a million women in this country
alone who will have to get along without a knight for the whole of their
lives."
"But not you," said Philip eagerly. "Any man would be proud--"
"Thank you," said Peggy, "for the compliment. But perhaps I prefer to be
one of that million. There are so many things that a woman can do now
which were impossible in the days of chivalry, that she can live her own
life quite happily and contentedly, knight or no."
"It's all wrong, all wrong!" cried Philip passionately. "It's all
against every law of God and man! I won't believe it!"
"Wrong or right," pursued Peggy quietly, "it is a fact that many a woman
nowadays would find a knight rather--what shall we say?--an encumbrance.
For instance, I--"
"Not you, not you!" said Philip.
But Peggy continued relentlessly:--
"If ever I _do_ encounter a man who wants to be my cavalier--which is of
course extremely unlikely--"
She paused.
"You ought to say, 'No, no!' or 'Impossible!'" she pointed out severely.
Philip summoned up the ghost of a smile, and Peggy proceeded steadily:
"If ever I do meet a would-be Knight, I shall tell him that I am greatly
obliged, but that I have other things to occupy me, and that I prefer to
remain independent. So it is no use, my romantic friend," she concluded
with a whimsical smile, "for you to select me as a suitable helpmeet for
one of your imaginary knights. Now we really must get along: the other
two will be wondering what has become of us."
She turned from the parapet to resume her walk. But Philip looked her
straight in the face.
"Is that--final?" he asked.
For a moment they regarded one another unflinchingly, these two reserved
and reticent people. Then Peggy's eyes fell.
"Yes," she said in a subdued voice, "that is final. So don't go hunting
up a knight for me, Philip."
* * * * *
When Peggy returned home after the tea-party she found her parent
sitting in front of a dead fire, wearing his overcoat and a face of
resigned suffering.
"Hallo, Dad!" she remarked cheerfully. "Why have you let the fire go
out?"
"It is of no consequence," replied Montagu Falconer. "I am fairly warm
in this overcoat." He coughed and shivered. "Are we having any dinner
to-night?"
Peggy bit her lip, and kneeling down, began to coax the remnants of the
fire into flame.
"Dinner will be at the usual hour," she said. "If you don't put coal on
a fire it usually goes out, doesn't it?"
"At my time of life and in my state of health," replied her amiable
parent, "I think I have a right to expect a certain modicum of comfort
and attention. This room, for instance, might be kept decently heated,
without--"
"If you don't like putting on coal yourself," Peggy pointed out, "you
can always ring for a servant."
Suddenly the querulous Montagu blazed up.
"Servants! Exactly! I am left to the servants! I have a daughter, a
grown-up daughter, who nominally directs my household. But I am left to
the tender mercies of half-witted domestics, in order that my daughter
may go out to tea--may trapese from one scandal-exchange to another! Do
you ever consider me at all?"
"Yes, Dad,--sometimes," said Peggy, bending low over the smouldering
fire. At the same moment one of the hot cinders sizzled.