LUNCH AT THE LANCASTER
On a day in July, when this wonderful London season was drawing near an
end, and the five hundred pounds had reached about half-way towards
exhaustion, Arthur Lisle gave himself and his friends a treat. He
invited the Syndicate--as they laughingly styled themselves--to lunch at
the Lancaster Hotel. There were some disappointing refusals. Mr.
Sarradet would not come; he was sulky in these days, for Raymond was
neglecting his father's perfumery and spending his father's money; the
integrity of the dowry was threatened, and old Sarradet had a very cold
fit about the prospects of the theatrical speculation. Sidney
Barslow--he was invited thanks to his heroic re-entry--pleaded work. The
author himself wrote that he would be unavoidably detained at "the
office"--Mr. Beverley was never more definite than that about the
occupation which filled the day-time for him. But Marie and Amabel came,
escorted by Joe Halliday, and they made a merry party of four. The girls
were excited at being asked to the Lancaster. Such sumptuous places,
though not perhaps beyond the Sarradet means, were quite foreign to the
thrifty Sarradet habits. Amabel was of the suburbs and patronised
"popular price" restaurants on her visits to town. Joe lived in grill
rooms. The balcony of the Lancaster seemed magnificent, and Emile, the
_maître d'hôtel_, knew Arthur quite well, called him by his name, and
told him what brand of champagne he liked--marks of intimacy which could
not fail to make an impression on Arthur's guests, and which Emile had a
tactful way of bestowing even on quite occasional patrons.
Joe Halliday made his report. Everything was in trim, and going on
swimmingly. The theatre was taken, a producer engaged, the girl who was
Joe's own discovery secured and, besides her, a famous comic actor who
could carry anything--anything--on his back. Rehearsals were to begin in
a month.
"By this time next year lunch at the Lancaster will be an every-day
event. Just now it can't be--so I'll trouble you for a little more fizz,
Arthur," said Joe, with his great jolly laugh.
"Don't count your chickens----!" said cautious Marie.
"A coward's proverb!" cried Arthur gaily. "Why, you lose half the fun if
you don't!"
"Even if we do fail, we shall have had our fun," Joe remarked
philosophically.
The others could hardly follow him to these serene heights. Amabel had
persuaded gold out of her "governor." Marie felt decidedly responsible
to old Sarradet; and the pledge that Arthur had given to fortune was
very heavy.
"If it becomes necessary, we'll try to feel like that," said Arthur,
"but I hope we shan't have to try."
"Of course we shan't," Amabel insisted eagerly. "How can it fail? Of
course it mayn't be quite such an enormous success as _Help Me_----"
"It'll knock _Help Me Out Quickly_ into a cocked hat," Joe pronounced
decisively. "Just see if it don't!" He turned to Marie. "Then what sort
of a smile shall we see on old Sidney's face?" He could not quite
forgive Sidney Barslow (hero as he was!) for having refused to "come
in."
"Sidney's a wise man about business and--and money. Wiser than we are
perhaps!" Marie smiled as she ate her ice.
"Sidney's developing all the virtues at a great pace," laughed Amabel.
"Under somebody's influence!"
Joe laughed too; so did Marie, but she also blushed a little. Arthur was
suddenly conscious of a joke which was new to him--something which the
other three understood but he did not. He looked at Joe in involuntary
questioning. Joe winked. He saw Marie's blush; it caused him a vague
displeasure.
"Yes," Joe nodded. "He is. Works like a horse and goes to bed at eleven
o'clock! I shouldn't be surprised if he turned up one fine day with a
blue ribbon in his coat!"
"Oh, don't be so silly, Joe," laughed Marie; but the laugh sounded a
little vexed, and the blush was not quite gone yet.
"Why, what do you mean?" asked Arthur.
"Joking apart, he has put the brake on. Jolly good thing too! He's such
a good chap--really."
Arthur was not ungenerous, but he could not help feeling that the
apotheosis of Sidney Barslow might be carried too far. The vision of the
scene in Oxford Street was still vivid in his mind; it would need a lot
of heroism, a lot of reformation, altogether to obliterate that, however
much he might agree to a gentler judgment of it.
"No, don't make a joke of it, Joe, anyhow not to Sidney himself," said
Marie, looking a little embarrassed still, but speaking with her usual
courage. "Because it's for our sake--well, mostly so, I think--that
he's--he's doing what he is. I told him that in the beginning he had led
Raymond into mischief, and that he ought to set him a better example
now. And he's trying--without much success, I'm afraid, as far as
Raymond is concerned." Her voice grew very troubled.
"I'm awfully sorry, Marie," Arthur murmured.
"Oh, I've no intention of rotting Sidney about it. If only because he'd
probably hit me in the eye!"
"Yes, we know his fighting powers," laughed Amabel in admiring
reminiscence. Her tone changed to one of regretful exasperation.
"Raymond is a goose!"
"But we mustn't spoil Mr. Lisle's party with our troubles," said Marie,
smiling again.
"Oh, come, I say, I'm not altogether an outsider!" Arthur protested with
a sudden touch of vehemence.
"Oh, no, not that," Marie murmured, with a little shake of her head; her
tone did not sound very convinced. Amabel giggled feebly. Joe covered a
seeming embarrassment by gulping down his coffee and pretending to find
it too hot. A constraint fell upon the party. Arthur wanted to make
himself thoroughly one with them in anxiety and concern over Raymond's
misdeeds--nay, even in admiration for Sidney Barslow's reformation; he
wanted to, if he could. Yet somehow he found no words in which to convey
his desire. Every phrase that came into his head he rejected; they all
sounded cold and unreal, somehow aloof and even patronising. Silence,
however awkward, was better than speeches like that.
It was one of Joe Halliday's chosen missions in life, and one of his
greatest gifts, to relieve occasions of restraint and embarrassment by a
dexterous use of humour. This social operation he now, perceiving it
necessary, proceeded to perform. Clapping his hand to his forehead in a
melodramatic manner, he exclaimed in low but intense tones, "Ask me who
I want to be! Who I want to be in all the world! Ask me quickly!"
He won his smiles. "What's the matter now, Joe?" asked Arthur; his smile
was tolerant.
"No, I'll tell you! Don't speak!" He pointed with his finger, past
Arthur, towards the other end of the room. "There he sits! A murrain on
him! That's the man! And how dare he lunch with that Entrancing
Creature?"
"Which one, Joe? Which one?" asked Amabel, immediately full of interest.
"There--behind Arthur's back. He can't see her. Good thing too! He
doesn't deserve to."
"I suppose I can turn round, if I want to--and if she's worth it. Is
she, Marie?"
"Is it the one in blue, Joe? Yes, she is. Awfully pretty!"
"Never saw such a corker in my life!" Joe averred with solemnity.
"Then round--in a careless manner--goes my head!" said Arthur.
"He woos her, I swear he woos her, curses on his mother's grave!" Joe
rode his jokes rather hard.
"We'd better not all stare at her, had we?" asked Marie.
"She's not looking; she's listening to the man," Amabel assured her.
Arthur turned round again--after a long look. He gave a little laugh.
"It's my cousin, Bernadette Lisle. Joe, you are an ass."
It was Bernadette Lisle; she sat at a little table with Oliver Wyse.
They had finished eating. Bernadette was putting on her gloves. Her eyes
were fixed on Oliver's face, her lips were parted. The scene of the Café
de Paris reproduced itself--and perhaps the topic. She had not seen
Arthur when he came in, nor he her. She did not see him now. She
listened to Sir Oliver.
"Your cousin! That! Introduce me--there may yet be time!" said the
indomitable Joe.
"Oh, shut up!" groaned Arthur, half-flattered however, though
half-peevish.
"She's very beautiful." Marie's eyes could not leave Bernadette. "And
so--so--well, she looks like something very very precious in china."
Arthur looked round again; he could not help it. "Yes, that is rather
it, Marie."
"Look--look at her hat, Marie!" came from Amabel in awed accents. Indeed
the visit to the hat-shop in Paris had not been without its fruit.
"Now is it fair--is it reasonable--for a fellow to have a cousin like
that? He might have a Queen like that, or a Dream like that, and I
shouldn't care. But a cousin! He knows the Vision! He's talked to it!
Heavens, he's probably lunched with it himself! And he kept it all dark
from us--oh, so dark!"
"Is it Mr. Lisle with her?" asked Amabel, quite innocently.
Arthur smiled. "No, I don't think you'd find Godfrey lunching here.
That's a man named Wyse. I've met him at their house."
"He's good-looking too," Amabel decided after a further survey.
A waiter brought Oliver Wyse his bill. When he turned to pay it,
Bernadette rose. The spell which had held her attention so closely was
broken. She looked round the room. Suddenly a bright smile came on her
lips, she spoke a hurried word to her companion, and came straight
across the room towards Arthur's table. She had recognised the back of
his head.
"She's coming here!" whispered Amabel breathlessly.
Arthur turned round quickly, a bright gleam in his eyes. He rose from
his chair; the next moment she was beside him, looking so joyful, so
altogether happy.
"Oh, Arthur dear, I am glad!" She did not offer to shake hands; she laid
her little hand on his coat-sleeve as she greeted him. "Did you see
me--with Sir Oliver?" But she did not wait for an answer. "Do let me sit
down with you for a minute. And mayn't I know your friends?" A waiter
hurried up with a chair, and Bernadette sat down by Arthur. "Why, what
fun this is! Cousin Arthur, I must have another ice." The gloves began
to come off again, while Arthur made the necessary introductions.
"Oh, but I know you all quite well!" exclaimed Bernadette. "You're old
friends of mine, though you may not know it."
Oliver Wyse, his bill paid, followed her with a leisurely step. He
greeted Arthur cordially and included the rest of the table in a bow. "I
gather you intend to stay a bit," he said to Bernadette, smiling. "I've
got an appointment, so if you'll excuse me----?"
"Oh yes, Arthur will look after me." She gave him her hand. "Thanks for
your lunch, Sir Oliver."
"It was so good of you to come," he answered, with exactly the right
amount of courteous gratitude.
As he went off, she watched him for just a moment, then turned joyously
back to her new companions. A casual observer might well have concluded
that she was glad to be rid of Oliver Wyse.
Joe was--to use his own subsequent expression--"corpsed"; he had not a
joke to make! Perhaps that was as well. But he devoured her with his
eyes, manifesting an open admiration whose simple sincerity robbed it of
offence. Bernadette saw it, and laughed at it without disguise. Amabel's
eyes were even more for frock and hat than for the wearer; this it was
to be not merely clothed but dressed. Marie had paid her homage to
beauty; she was watching and wondering now. Arthur tasted a new delight
in showing off his wonderful cousin to his old friends, a new pride in
the gracious kindness of her bearing towards them. And Bernadette
herself was as charming as she could be for Arthur's sake, and in
gratitude for his appearance--for the casual observer would have been
quite right as to her present feeling about Oliver Wyse.
Marie Sarradet revised her notions. She forgave her father his meddling;
even against Mrs. Veltheim she pressed the indictment less harshly. Here
surely was the paramount cause of her defeat! Mrs. Lisle and what Mrs.
Lisle stood for against herself and what she represented--candid-minded
Marie could not for a moment doubt the issue. Her little, firmly
repressed grievance against Arthur faded away; she must have a grievance
against fate, if against anything. For it was fate or chance which had
brought Mrs. Lisle on to the scene just when the issue hung in the
balance. Yet with her quick woman's intuition, quickened again by her
jealous interest, she saw clearly in ten minutes, in a quarter of an
hour--while Bernadette chattered about the farce (valuable anyhow as a
topic in common!) and wistfully breathed the hope that she would be able
to come up from the country for the first night--that the brilliant
beautiful cousin had for Arthur Lisle no more than a simple honest
affection, flavoured pleasantly by his adoration, piquantly by amusement
at him. He was her friend and her plaything, her protégé and her pet.
There was not even a fancy for him, sentimental or romantic; at the idea
of a passion she would laugh. See how easy and unconstrained she was,
how open in her little familiar gestures of affection! This woman had
nothing here to conceal, nothing to struggle against. It was well, no
doubt. But it made Marie Sarradet angry, both for herself and for
Arthur's sake. To take so lightly what had so nearly been another's--to
think so lightly of all that she had taken!
The intuition, quick as it was, had its limits; maybe it worked better
on women than on men, or perhaps Marie's mind was somewhat
matter-of-fact and apt to abide within obvious alternatives--such as
"He's in love, or he's not--and there's an end of it!" Arthur loved his
cousin's wife, without doubt. But, so far at least, it was an adoration,
not a passion; an ardour, not a pursuit. He asked no more than he
received--leave to see her, to be with her, to enjoy her presence, and
in so doing to be welcome and pleasant to her. Above all--as a dim and
distant aspiration, to which circumstances hitherto had shown no
favour--to serve her, help her, be her champion. This exalted sentiment,
these rarefied emotions, escaped the analysis of Marie's intuition. What
she saw was an Arthur who squandered all the jewels of his heart and got
nothing for them; whereas in truth up to now he was content; he was paid
his price and counted himself beyond measure a gainer by the bargain.
Who was the other man--the man of quiet demeanour and resolute face, who
had so held her attention, who had so tactfully resigned the pleasure of
her company? Marie's mind, quick again to the obvious, fastened on this
question.
Bernadette, under friendly pressure, rose from a hope to an intention.
"I will come to the first night," she declared. "I will if I possibly
can."
"Now is that a promise, Mrs. Lisle?" asked Joe eagerly. After all, the
farce was his discovery, in a special sense his property. He had the
best right to a paternal pride in it.
"It's a promise, with a condition," said Arthur, laughing. "She will--if
she can. Now I don't think promises like that are worth much. Do you,
Marie?"
"It's the most prudent sort of promise to give."
"Yes, but it never contents a man," Bernadette complained. "Men are so
exacting and so--so tempestuous." She broke into a little laugh, rather
fretful.
"Now am I tempestuous?" Arthur asked, with a protesting gesture of his
hands.
"Oh, you're not all the world, Arthur," she told him, just a little
scornfully, but with a consoling pat on the arm. "You know what I mean,
Miss Sarradet? They want things so definite--all in black and white! And
if they can't have them like that, they tell you you're a
shillyshallying sort of person without a mind and, as I say, get
tempestuous about it."
Joe had regained some of his self-confidence. "If anybody bothers you
like that, just you send him to me, Mrs. Lisle. I'll settle him!" His
manner conveyed a jocose ferocity.
"I wish you would! I mean, I wonder if you could. They talk as if one's
mind only existed to be made up--like a prescription. One's mind isn't a
medicine! It's a--a--What is it, Arthur?"
"It's a faculty given us for the agreeable contemplation and
appreciation of the world."
"Quite right!" declared Bernadette in emphatic approval. "That's exactly
what I think."
"It would clearly promote your agreeable appreciation of the world to
come to our first night, Mrs. Lisle," urged Joe.
"Of course it would----"
"So you'll come?"
"Yes, I'll come--if I possibly can," said Bernadette.
They all began to laugh. Bernadette joined in. "Back to where we
began--just like a woman!" exclaimed Arthur.
"There--that's just what I mean, Miss Sarradet. He's begun to bully!"
"Well, I must. Because why shouldn't you be able to come, you see?"
She looked at him, pursing up her smiling lips. "Circumstances, Cousin
Arthur!" And she pushed back her chair from the table.
"Oh, rot! And, I say, don't go, Bernadette!"
"I must. I'm awfully sorry to. You're all so nice."
"And if you possibly can, Mrs. Lisle? D.V.? That kind of thing, you
know?"
"Unless circumstances absolutely prevent!" she playfully promised for
the last time, as she turned away, Arthur following to put her in her
carriage.
Joe Halliday drew a long breath. "Well now, girls, how's that for high?"
"Why, her hat alone must have----" Amabel began, with every appearance
of meaning to expatiate.
"I wonder what she's really like!" said Marie thoughtfully.
"She's really like an angel--down to the last feather!" Joe declared
with an emphasis which overbore contradiction.