CONSTANCE'S DIPLOMACY.
Miss Wardour, being Miss Wardour, was apt to succeed in most things, and
it is fair to suppose that her visit to Mapleton, in the character of
intercessor for the erring Sybil, was not a fruitless one. Certainly, it
was not barren of results.
On the day following the call from Constance, Mrs. Lamotte came forth
from her seclusion; her carriage bore her out from the gates of
Mapleton, and straight to Wardour Place. Here she took up the heiress
and Mrs. Aliston, and the three drove ostentatiously through the streets
of W----, bowing smilingly here and there, as calm, serene, and elegant
a trio, to all outward seeming, as ever passed before admiring eyes on
velvet cushions.
This act informed W---- that Mrs. Lamotte was once more visible, and "at
home," and when a day or two later, Constance and her aunt, in splendid
array, drove again into W----, calling here and there, and dropping upon
each hearthstone a bit of manna for family digestion, the result was
what they intended it should be.
"Have you heard the news?" asks Mrs. Hopkins, fashionable busybody,
running in for an informal call on Mrs. O'Meara, who is warm-hearted
and sensible, and who listens to the babblings of Mrs. Hopkins, with a
patience and benignity worthy of a Spartan mother.
"No! Well, I am dying to tell it, then. Sybil Lamotte is coming
back--actually coming back--and that man with her; and--won't it be
queer? We shall have him in society, of course, for I am told, from the
_best_ of sources, that the Lamottes will accept him as Sybil's choice,
and make the best of him."
"But _we_ need not accept him, my dear," comments the Spartan mother,
whose lawyer husband is rich and independent, and does not count fees.
"As for Sybil, she was always a favorite with us; we shall be glad to
have her back."
"Yes, that's very well for you and Mr. O'Meara, who are very exclusive,
and go out little, but we poor society people will have to submit to the
powers that be. Constance Wardour, the Lamottes, the Vandycks, have led
us as they would, and queer as it may seem, the Lamottes are backed up
in this business of forcing John Burrill upon us, by Constance, on one
hand, and the Vandycks, mother and son, on the other."
"And Mrs. Aliston?"
"Mrs. Aliston, of course. When did she ever oppose Constance? It's
making a great furore, I can tell you; but no one is going to step
forward and openly oppose Constance and the Vandycks. I for one am
Sybil's staunch friend, and--well, as Constance says, 'let us take it
for granted that this bear of Sybil's has some good qualities, or he
would never have won her,' and then, too, it's so romantic, about Evan
you know, and how Sybil, in some way, saved him from something, by
marrying this man. I never could get the right end, or any end of that
story, nor have I found any one who knows the plain facts. Well, Mrs.
O'Meara, I must go; I have seven more calls to make, and I really have
talked too long."
"_She'll_ take him up fast enough," mused Mrs. O'Meara, in solitude.
"That's the way of society; they can't oppose wealth and prestige, even
when prestige and wealth command them to fellowship with a grizzly bear;
rather they will whitewash their bear, and call him a thing of beauty,
and laugh in their silken sleeves to see him dance."
It was quite true, that bombshell of Mrs. Hopkins'--Sybil Lamotte was
coming back. Mr. Lamotte went somewhere, nobody could name just the
place, and returned, having done, nobody knew precisely what; and as the
result of that journey, so said W----, Sybil and John Burrill were
coming soon, to breast the waves of public opinion, and take up their
abode in Mapleton.
When this fact became well established, tongues wagged briskly; some
were sorry; some were glad; some eager for the advent of the ill
assorted pair.
The sorriest one of all was unhappy Ray Vandyck, who realized how hard a
task would devolve upon him; and the gladdest of the glad was poor Evan,
who celebrated his rejoicing with one of the wildest and most protracted
of all his sprees.
Constance had won Sybil's battle. In accordance with the hint given by
Dr. Heath, Raymond Vandyck had called at Wardour Place, and the result
of that call was patent to the eyes of all W----. Ray, the rejected, had
gone over to the support of his lost love and taken his mother with him.
At last they came, after the nine days' talk had subsided, after
W---- had become accustomed to the idea, quietly, unostentatiously.
Before their arrival had become known, they were established at Mapleton.
Everybody admitted that they displayed good taste and judgment in the
manner of their home coming, but when, except in the case of this
horrible choice of Sybil's, did not the Lamottes display good taste.
People said "The Lamottes," without so much as recognizing the existence
of poor Evan.
Meantime the days were numbering themselves. It was June when Sybil
Lamotte fled away with her Bear. It is September before they return;
during these three months Constance has heard from Detective Belknap. He
is always afar off, always on the track of her robbers, and she reads
his reports, honors his drafts for "expense money," and troubles her
head no more about the "Wardour robbery" or the "Wardour diamonds."
Of Detective Bathurst there came never a word or sign, either to the
heiress or to Doctor Heath.
But it is time to introduce our Bear.