A Great Success Part 14

There was a pause. Then Lady Dunstable, whose expression had changed, came a little nearer to her.

"And you--I wonder why you took all this trouble?"

Doris said nothing. She fell back slowly in her chair, looking at the tall woman standing over her. Tears came into her eyes--brimmed--overflowed--in silence. Her lips smiled. Rachel Dunstable bent over her in bewilderment.

"To have a son," murmured Doris under her breath, "and then to see him ruined like this! No love for him!--no children--no grandchildren for oneself, when one is old--"

Her voice died away.

"'To have a son'?" repeated Lady Dunstable, wondering--"but you have none!"

Doris said nothing. Only she put up her hand feebly, and wiped away the tears--still smiling. After which she shut her eyes.

Lady Dunstable gasped. Then the long, sallow face flushed deeply. She walked over to a sofa on the other side of the room, arranged the pillows on it, and came back to Doris.

"Will you, please, let me put you on that sofa? You oughtn't to have had this long journey. Of course you will stay here--and Miss Wigram too. It seems--I shall owe you a great deal--and I could not have expected you--to think about me--at all. I can do rude things. But I can also--be sorry for my sins!"

Doris heard an awkward and rather tremulous laugh. Upon which she opened her eyes, no less embarra.s.sed than her hostess, and did as she was told. Lady Dunstable made her as comfortable as a hand so little used to the feminine arts could manage.

"Now I will send you in some luncheon, and go and talk to Lord Dunstable. Please rest till I come back."

Doris lay still. She wanted very much to see Arthur, and she wondered, till her head ached, whether he would think her a great fool for her pains. Surely he would come and find her soon. Oh, the time people spent on lunching in these big houses!

The vibration of the train seemed to be still running through her limbs.

She was indeed wearied out, and in a few minutes, what with the sudden quiet and the softness of the cushions which had been spread for her, she fell unexpectedly asleep.

When she woke, she saw her husband sitting beside her--patiently--with a tray on his knee.

"Oh, Arthur!--what time is it? Have I been asleep long?"

"Nearly an hour. I looked in before, but Lady Dunstable wouldn't let me wake you. She--and he--and I--have been talking. Upon my word, Doris, you've been and gone and done it! But don't say anything! You've got to eat this chicken first."

He fed her with it, looking at her the while with affectionate and admiring eyes. Somehow, Doris became dimly aware that she was going to be a heroine.

"Have they told you, Arthur?"

"Everything that you've told her. (No--not everything!--thought Doris.) You _are_ a brick, Doris! And the way you've done it! That's what impresses her ladyship! She knows very well that she would have m.u.f.fed it. You're the practical woman! Well, you can rest on your laurels, darling! You'll have the whole place at your feet--beginning with your husband--who's been dreadfully bored without you. There!"

He put down his Jovian head, and rubbed his cheek tenderly against hers, till she turned round, and gave him the lightest of kisses.

"Was he an abominable correspondent?" he said, repentantly.

"Abominable!"

"Did you hate him!"

"Whenever I had time. When do you start on your cruise, Arthur!"

"Any time--some time--never!" he said, gaily. "Give me that Capel Curig address, and I'll wire for the rooms this afternoon. I came to the conclusion this morning that the same yacht couldn't hold her ladyship and me."

"Oh!--so she's been chastening _you_?" said Doris, well pleased.

Meadows nodded.

"The rod has not been spared--since Sunday. It was then she got tired of me. I mark the day, you see, almost the hour. My goodness!--if you're not always up to your form--epigrams, quotations--all pat--"

"She plucks you--without mercy. Down you slither into the second cla.s.s!"

Doris's look sparkled.

"There you go--rejoicing in my humiliations!" said Meadows, putting an arm round the scoffer. "I tell you, she proposes to write my next set of lectures for me. She gave me an outline of them this morning."

Then they both laughed together like children. And Doris, with her head on a strong man's shoulder, and a rough coat scrubbing her cheek, suddenly bethought her of the line--"Journeys end in lovers' meeting--"

and was smitten with a secret wonder as to how much of her impulse to come north had been due to an altruistic concern for the Dunstable affairs, and how much to a firm determination to recapture Arthur from his Gloriana. But that doubt she would never reveal. It would be so bad for Arthur!

She rose to her feet.

"Where are they?"

"Lord and Lady Dunstable? Gone off to Dunkeld to find their solicitor and bring him back to meet Miss Wigram. They'll be home by tea. I'm to look after you."

"Are we going to an hotel?"

Meadows laughed immoderately.

"Come and look at your apartment, my dear. One of her ladyship's maids has been told off to look after you. As I expect you have arrived with little more than a comb-and-brush bag, there will be a good deal to do."

Doris caught him by the coat-fronts.

"You don't mean to say that I shall be expected to dine to-night! I have _not_ brought an evening dress."

"What does that matter? I met Miss Field in the pa.s.sage, as I was coming in to you, and she said: 'I see Mrs. Meadows has not brought much luggage. We can lend her anything she wants. I will send her a few of Rachel's tea-gowns to choose from.'"

Doris's laugh was hysterical; then she sobered down.

"What time is it? Four o'clock. Oh, I wish Miss Wigram was here! You know, Lord Dunstable must go to town to-night! And Miss Wigram can't arrive till after the last train from here."

"They know. They've ordered a special, to take Lord Dunstable and the solicitor to Edinburgh, to catch the midnight mail."

"Oh, well--if you can bully the fates like that!--" said Doris, with a shrug. "How did he take it?"

Meadows's tone changed.

"It was a great blow. I thought it aged him."

"Was she nice to him?" asked Doris, anxiously.