As he entered the studio he heard the telephone ringing. Presently
Selinda marched in:
"A lady, sir, who will not giff her name, desires to spik to Mr.
Barres."
"I don't talk to anonymous people," he said curtly.
"I shall tell her, sir?"
"Certainly. Did you make Miss Dulcie comfortable?"
"Yess, sir."
"That's right. Now, take that dress of Miss Dulcie's, go out to some
shop on Fifth Avenue, buy a pretty party gown of similar dimensions,
and bring it back with you. Take a taxi both ways. Wait--take her
stockings and slippers, too, and buy her some fine ones. And some
underwear suitable." He went to a desk, unlocked it, and handed the
maid a flat packet of bank-notes. "Be sure the things are nice," he
insisted.
Selinda, starched, immaculate, frosty-eyed, marched out. She returned
a few moments later, wearing jacket and hat.
"Sir, the lady on the telephone hass called again. The lady would
inquire of Mr. Barres if perhaps he has recollection of the Fountain
of Marie de Medicis."
Barres reddened with surprise and pleasure:
"Oh! Yes, indeed, I'll speak to _that_ lady. Hang up the service
receiver, Selinda." And he stepped to the studio telephone.
"Nihla?" he exclaimed in a low, eager voice.
"C'est moi, Thessa! Have you a letter from me?"
"No, you little wretch! Oh, Thessa, you're certainly a piker! Fancy my
not hearing one word from you since April!--not a whisper, not a sign
to tell me that you are alive----"
"Garry, hush! It was not because I did not wish to see you----"
"Yes, it was! You knew bally well that I hadn't your address and that
you had mine! Is that what you call friendship?"
"You don't understand what you are saying. I wanted to see you. It has
been impossible----"
"You are not singing and dancing anywhere in New York. I watched the
papers. I even went to the Palace of Mirrors to enquire if you had
signed with them there."
"Wait! Be careful, please!----"
"Why?"
"Be careful what you say over the telephone. For my sake, Garry. Don't
use my former name or say anything to identify me with any place or
profession. I've been in trouble. I'm in trouble still. Had you no
letter from me this morning?"
"No."
"That is disquieting news. I posted a letter to you last night. You
should have had it in your morning mail."
"No letter has come from you. I had no letters at all in the morning
mail, and only one or two important business letters since."
"Then I'm deeply worried. I shall have to see you unless that letter
is delivered to you by evening."
"Splendid! But you'll have to come to me, Thessa. I've invited a few
people to dine here and dance afterwards. If you'll dine with us, I'll
get another man to balance the table. Will you?"
After a moment she said:
"Yes. What time?"
"Eight! This is wonderful of you, Thessa!" he said excitedly. "If
you're in trouble we'll clear it up between us. I'm so happy that you
will give me this proof of friendship."
"You dear boy," she said in a troubled voice. "I should be more of a
friend if I kept away from you."
"Nonsense! You promise, don't you?"
"Yes ... Do you realise that to-night another summer moon is to
witness our reunion?... I shall come to you once more under a full
June moon.... And then, perhaps, no more.... Never.... Unless after
the world ends I come to you through shadowy outer space--a ghost
drifting--a shred of mist across the moon, seeking you once
more!----"
"My poor child," he said laughing, "you must be in no end of low
spirits to talk that way."
"It does sound morbid. But I have plenty of courage, Garry. I shall
not snivel on the starched bosom of your evening shirt when we meet.
Donc, a bientot, monsieur. Soyez tranquille! You shall not be ashamed
of me among your guests."
"Fancy!" he laughed happily. "Don't worry, Thessa. We'll fix up
whatever bothers you. Eight o'clock! Don't forget!"
"I am not likely to," she said.
* * * * *
Until Selinda returned from her foray along Fifth Avenue, Barres
remained in the studio, lying in his armchair, still possessed by the
delightful spell, still excited by the prospect of seeing Thessalie
Dunois again, here, under his own roof.
But when the slant-eyed and spotlessly blond Finn arrived, he came
back out of his retrospective trance.
"Did you get some pretty things for Miss Soane?" he enquired.
"Yess, sir, be-ootiful." Selinda deposited on the table a sheaf of
paid bills and the balance of the bank-notes. "Would Mr. Barres be
kind enough to inspect the clothes for Miss Soane?"
"No, thanks. You say they're all right?"
"Yess, sir. They are heavenly be-ootiful."
"Very well. Tell Aristocrates to lay out my clothes after you have
dressed Miss Dulcie. There will be two extra people to dinner. Tell
Aristocrates. Is Miss Dulcie still asleep?"
"Yess, sir."
"All right. Wake her in time to dress her so she can come out here and
give me a chance----" He glanced at the clock "Better wake her now,
Selinda. It's time for her to dress and evacuate my quarters. I'll
take forty winks here until she's ready."
* * * * *
Barres lay dozing on the sofa when Dulcie came in.
Selinda, enraptured by her own efficiency in grooming and attiring the
girl, marched behind her, unable to detach herself from her own
handiwork.
From crown to heel the transfiguration was absolute--from the point of
her silk slipper to the topmost curl on the head which Selinda had
dressed to perfection.
For Selinda had been a lady's maid in great houses, and also had a
mania for grooming herself with the minute and thorough devotion of a
pedigreed cat. And Dulcie emerged from her hands like some youthful
sea-nymph out of a bath of foam, snowy-sweet as some fresh and
slender flower.
With a shy courage born with her own transfiguration, she went to
Barres, where he lay on the sofa, and bent over him.
She had made no sound; perhaps her nearness awoke him, for he opened
his eyes.
"Dulcie!" he exclaimed.
"Do I please you?" she whispered.
He sat up abruptly.
"You wonderful child!" he said, frankly astonished. Whereupon he got
off the sofa, walked all around her inspecting her.
"What a get-up! What a girl!" he murmured. "You lovely little thing,
you astound me! Selinda, you certainly know a thing or two. Take it
from me, you do Miss Soane and yourself more credit in your way than I
do with paint and canvas."
Dulcie blushed vividly; the white skin of Selinda also reddened with
pleasure at her master's enthusiasm.
"Tell Aristocrates to fix my bath and lay out my clothes," he said.
"I've guests coming and I've got to hustle!" And to Dulcie: "We're
going to have a little party in honour of your graduation. That's what
I have to tell you, dear. Does it please you? Do your pretty clothes
please you?"
The girl, overwhelmed, could only look at him. Her lips, vivid and
slightly parted, quivered as her breath came irregularly. But she
found no words--nothing to say except in the passionate gratitude of
her grey eyes.
"You dear child," he said gently. Then, after a moment's silence, he
eased the tension with his quick smile: "Wonder-child, go and seat
yourself very carefully, and be jolly careful you don't rumple your
frock, because I want you to astonish one or two people this
evening."
Dulcie found her voice:
"I--I'm so astonished at myself that I don't seem real. I seem to be
somebody else--long ago!" She stepped close to him, opened her locket
for his inspection, holding it out to him as far as the chain
permitted. It framed a miniature of a red-haired, grey-eyed girl of
sixteen.
"Your mother, Dulcie?"
"Yes. How perfectly it fits into my locket! I carry it always in my
purse."
"It might easily be yourself, Dulcie," he said in a low voice. "You
are her living image."
"Yes. That is what astonishes me. To-night, for the first time in my
life, it occurred to me that I look like this girl picture of my
mother."
"You never thought so before?"
"Never." She stood looking down at the laughing face in the locket for
a few moments, then, lifting her eyes to his:
"I've been made over, in a day, to look like this.... You did it!"
"Nonsense! Selinda and her curling iron did it."
They laughed a little.
"No," she said, "you have made me. You began to make me all over three
months ago--oh, longer ago than that!--you began to remake me the
first time you ever spoke to me--the first time you opened your door
to me. That was nearly two years ago. And ever since I have been
slowly becoming somebody quite new--inside and outside--until
to-night, you see, I begin to look like my mother." She smiled at him,
drew a deep breath, closed the locket, dropped it on her breast.
"I mustn't keep you," she said. "I wanted to show the picture--so you
can understand what you have done for me to make me look like that."
* * * * *
When Barres returned to the studio, freshened and groomed for the
evening, he found Dulcie at the piano, playing the little song she had
sung that morning, and singing the words under her breath. But she
ceased as he came up, and swung around on the piano-stool to confront
him with the most radiant smile he had ever seen on a human face.
"What a day this has been!" she said, clasping her hands tightly. "I
simply cannot make it seem real."
He laughed:
"It isn't ended yet, either. There's a night to every day, you know.
And your graduation party will begin in a few moments."
"I know. I'm fearfully excited. You'll stay near me, won't you?"
"You bet! Did I tell you who are coming? Well, then, you won't feel
strange, because I've merely asked two or three men who live in Dragon
Court--men you see every day--Mr. Trenor, Mr. Mandel, and Mr.
Westmore."
"Oh," she said, relieved.
"Also," he said, "I have asked Miss Souval--that tall, pretty girl who
sometimes sits for Mr. Trenor--Damaris Souval. You remember her?"
"Yes."
"Also," he continued, "Mr. Mandel wishes to bring a young married
woman who has developed a violent desire for the artistic and
informal, but who belongs in the Social Register." He laughed. "It's
all right if Corot Mandel wants her. Her name is Mrs. Helmund--Elsena
Helmund. Mr. Trenor is painting her."
Dulcie's face was serious but calm.
"And then, to even the table," concluded Barres smilingly, "I invited
a girl I knew long ago in Paris. Her name is Thessalie Dunois; and
she's very lovely to look upon, Dulcie. I am very sure you will like
her."
There was a silence; then the electric bell rang in the corridor,
announcing the arrival of the first guest. As Barres rose, Dulcie laid
her hand on his arm--a swift, involuntary gesture--as though the girl
were depending on his protection.
The winning appeal touched him and amused him, too.
"Don't worry, dear," he said. "You'll have the prettiest frock in the
studio--if you need that knowledge to reassure you----"
The corridor door opened and closed. Somebody went into his bedroom
with Selinda--that being the only available cloak-room for women.