An Unknown Lover Part 8

I think he might introduce us to some of his friends who _do_ know!

It's the literary people who interest me most. And the artists. It's too tiresome!"

"Keep calm, Sweet One! We'll ask him when he comes back, and," Grizel smiled, a slow, sweet smile, "_I_ might know one or two myself! If we sit here patiently, some one is sure to pa.s.s. I'll keep a bright look-out."

"Oh, do! Yes, of course, you meet all kinds of people. I've lived in a rut. Grizel, do you know, I'm getting _tired_!"

The words were used in their deeper sense, and Grizel's long glance proclaimed her understanding. Grizel always _did_ understand, Katrine acknowledged ungrudgingly, but the deep, contemplative glance aroused a remembrance of the parting of the night before, and to her annoyance she felt the blood once more stain her cheeks. Now if Grizel proceeded to joke, question, insinuate, she felt she could _not_ endure it, but Grizel was silent, and spoke no word. They sat together for a long five minutes without exchanging a remark, then suddenly strolling towards them came a strikingly handsome woman followed at a few yards' distance by a man and a girl, evidently members of the same party, whom for the moment she chose to ignore. She wore a trailing gown of a deep rose pink, and over it a cloak of chiffon, elaborately embroidered in silks.

Her head was swathed in turban-like folds, on the front of which a diamond bosque held the end of a rampant plume. Her expression was as unusual as her appearance, the blankness on most of the pa.s.sing faces being replaced in her case by a radiant audacity which proved her to be no ordinary character. So striking and queenly a figure attracted instant attention, and Katrine's melancholy reflection that this _must_ be one of the many unrecognised celebrities, was followed by a thrill of joy, as Grizel rushed forward with friendly _empress.e.m.e.nt_.

"Grizel Dundas, by all that is charming! And who brought _you_ here, dear person?" enquired the tall lady warmly, at which question Grizel's eyes turned upon Katrine, with a twinkling gleam. One hand still rested on her friend's arm, pressing upon it as with a special significance; with the other she made a sweeping gesture of introduction.

"I drove over from c.u.mly. I am staying with my friends, the Martin Beverleys. Let me introduce you... This is Miss Beverley, and she has been lamenting all afternoon that she does not know Who's Who, and is surrounded by celebrities, whom she can't recognise. Now she's going to have a treat. Providence has been kind in sending you to our aid, for you are one of her special heroines. Prepare yourself, Katrine! You _are_ a lucky girl! If you've had to wait, you've got a big catch at the end... Guess what is the name of this fine, this very fine, this superfine lady whom you now behold before you."

Katrine smiled, blushed, waited, agape with curiosity; so--it would have appeared to the eye of a beholder--did the superfine lady also. Grizel gave another sweep of the small gloved hand, and p.r.o.nounced a name in a tone of triumph:

"Mrs--Humphrey Ward!"

"Oh-h!" an irresistible exclamation burst from Katrine's lips, her att.i.tude became on the moment instinct with deference, with the most transparent and whole-hearted adulation. The lady on her part cast a rapid glance at Grizel, from Grizel to Katrine, simpered, att.i.tudinised, and gently coughed.

"So pleased!" she murmured softly. "So happy; so _braced_! In the midst of this alien throng to meet a Kindred Soul,--that is refreshment indeed!" She held Katrine's hand between both of her own, gazing at her with a fond affection. "Tell me, dear; I am so pining to know,--_which_ of my books do you cherish most?"

That "cherish" struck a jarring note, but Katrine's answer came none the less promptly. She had no hesitation in p.r.o.nouncing her preference for _Eleanor_; it was her hearer who for a moment looked blank and vague.

"Ah-h!" she said thoughtfully, then with a sudden radiant smile, "I call her Nellie! We mothers have pet names for our children. Dear little Nell! She was a sweet thing. Hard on her, wasn't it, while still so young? So dear of you to love her... Well, dear, I shall always remember you, and love you for your sweet sympathy. And you want my autograph, of course? Don't mind asking--I shall be only _too_ pleased!"

Katrine's flush deepened to rose. Bewilderment, embarra.s.sment, and a chilling disillusion seemed for the moment to have deprived her of speech. The gorgeous figure towered over her, the brilliant eyes blazed relentlessly upon her face. Grizel stood meekly in the background, her face all infantile sweetness.

"I,--thank you! I don't collect autographs, but I shall be--honoured to have yours. Miss Dundas can give you my address."

"That's quite all right. I'll send it soon, with an appropriate quotation for your dear little alb.u.m. 'Be good, sweet maid, All lame dogs aid,' With best wishes from Nellie's Mother..."

She smirked once more. Katrine was breathlessly demanding of herself if this could indeed be the woman who had written such masterly books, when the girl who had been standing at a discreet distance during the short interview, came forward and spoke in an apologetic voice:--

"Mrs Singleton! I'm sorry, but father has an appointment to meet a friend in the rose garden, I'm afraid we must really move on."

"Singleton... Incognito! The name she travels by, don't you know,"

naughty Grizel mumbled in explanation, as the little party turned away, but the truth burst upon Katrine in an all-illuminating flash, and she was not to be caught again.

"Grizel, you horror! To make me a laughing stock... What a fool she must have thought me, standing gaping with admiration! 'Nellie's Mother' indeed! An idol toppled at that moment. I _was_ disillusioned, but living in the same house with an author prepares one for so many eccentricities, that I still believed... Well! it came off very well that time, but don't try it again!"

Grizel continued to chuckle in soft, retrospective enjoyment.

"Oh, it was grand! Mrs Singleton is a capital actress, and she played up like a man. It _was_ delicious to see you standing there, all humility and adulation, such a douce, modest, young woman, burning incense to a master mind. If only that tiresome girl had not come up at the wrong moment, I might have faked all the wig bigs in turn, and had the time of my life!"

Katrine's lips twisted in an enigmatical smile. She was feeling gay and young; the p.r.i.c.kly dignity which had made her resent any approach to a joke at her own expense, had given place to a humorous enjoyment.

Mentally she stood beside Grizel, looking on at the little scene which had just been enacted, appreciating the alertness of Mrs Singleton, and enjoying the spectacle of her own credulity.

Meantime each pa.s.sing moment brought with it a fresh picture. Now it was a group of Chinamen, attired in the gorgeous colourings of the East, conversing with friendly cordiality with their black-coated friends; again it was a slender, dark-skinned woman, moving to the jingle of innumerable bangles, her timid eyes alight with childlike curiosity; anon, it was an ecclesiastic of the Church, or a group of court officials. The kaleidoscopic groups streamed in and out of the great house, pa.s.sing each other on the marble staircase of the terrace, while the strains of ma.s.sed bands sounded from a discreetly-arranged distance.

Presently Martin returned, and was duly regaled with an account of the Singleton episode, which being done Grizel laid upon him her own commands.

"Let's go into the house and be fed! Eating is my one solace on these occasions," she said, yawning. "One sees so many better-looking women than oneself.--I rather believe I am going to faint!"

The threat brought her companions to their feet. Martin offered his arm, and Grizel hung upon it with an air of exhaustion, her reed-like form and misty draperies investing her with an almost ghostly air of fragility. She made her way towards the house, followed by eyes of commiserating admiration, but once seated in the great hall she displayed an appet.i.te for, and appreciation of the dainties provided, which put her more robust friends in the shade. Martin hovered around her with a solicitude which provoked Katrine to the bluntness of truth.

"There's not much wrong with her when she can eat those cakes! She's not half so bad as she pretends. I wish I had half her appet.i.te."

"Do you grudge me my humble board!" Grizel grimaced with the air of a cheeky schoolboy, oblivious of the stare of a haughty flunky who was at the moment supplying her with cream. She sipped luxuriously at the delicious coffee, and proceeded reflectively:--

"Last time I was here was at the Ball of the Creases. Such a tragic occasion, Katrine! It was the hour of wool-satins; no other material had a look in, and every mortal woman had clothed herself therein. Most of them had a railway journey, or a long drive across country, and oh, the shock when they alighted, and took off their wraps in the cloak room!!! Creases, creases, nothing but creases! It was a pitiful scene; mothers afume, daughters in tears, rows of dowagers turning themselves before the fire, like turkeys on a spit; plaintive pleadings for flat-irons. When we got upstairs to the ballroom, it was worse than ever, with the great electric chandelier blazing down, and showing up every deficiency. And we revolved beneath them looking like so many rag-bags. I have never seen so many badly-dressed women in my life."

"Serve you right," was Martin's comment. "Sheep! Sheep! Why _will_ you all dress alike? I can never see the fascination of being a replica of a hundred other women, when one might be a woman by oneself."

Certainly the female portion of the crowd which continually surged in and out of the great door formed an admirable ill.u.s.tration of Martin's indictment. Old and young, tall and small, fat and thin, all hobbled within the same tight folds, and hid their hair beneath enormous hats which descended on the shoulder, entirely concealing both hair and neck.

Viewed from the front the costume achieved on occasions a not unbecoming effect, but the back!

"Oh would some power the giftie gie them, To see their backs as others see them!" chanted Grizel softly, as a distinguished party crossed the floor at a few yards' distance. She laughed as she spoke, her deep, gurgling laugh, at the sound of which the colour rose in Martin's cheek.

He looked at her and said quickly:

"Grizel! didn't you want to see the picture gallery? Shall I take you now?" As he spoke, his expression seemed to take a significance apart from the words; delicately but unmistakably his eyebrows rose, asking a secret question, and as delicately Grizel's eyes met his, and signalled a reply.

Katrine saw, guessed, was in the act of defiantly fighting against the suggestion, but Grizel was before her.

"Presently. There's plenty of time. Katrine was wishing, Martin, that you could introduce her to some one who could act as guide, and point out the celebrities. It's dull for her dragging about with us."

"Of course. Certainly! I saw old Deeds a minute ago. There could be no one better. I'll bring him along."

Martin dashed off with a haste seldom characteristic of altruistic enterprises, while Katrine sat rigid on her seat, consumed with anger.

"Us!" That word was the crux of the offence. "Us!" having for its meaning Martin and Grizel, leaving herself coldly outside the pale.

Katrine hardly realised it at the time, but in reality another word had cut almost as deep. "_Old_!" Old Mr Deeds. "No one could be better!"

The first old man who came within reach appeared a fitting companion for her, the while her companions went their unhindered way.

She sat rigid, her lips pressed in a hard, straight line. By her side Grizel cast sorrowful glances. On occasions it is almost as disagreeable to do good, as to be the object of benevolent designs!

CHAPTER EIGHT.

"Lebong, _June 20, 19--_.

"Katrine,

"Very well. Very well indeed. I understand, and I agree. My birthday is next month, so it fits in all right. Rather a special birthday this time, for I shall be twenty-five. Last year I was _thirty-five_. These things happen sometimes; I've heard of them. When it comes to one's own turn, it's jolly good work. You'll just have time to catch that birthday, if you write off at once. Awfully good of you to worry about my sufferings in being obliged to reply to your--problematically--boring letters! I'll risk it, Katrine! I'll do more than that, I'll promise to own up, and tell you straight, not only when I reach the bored stage, but long before it is even approximately approached. If there is no other advantage in this thundering distance, there is at least this, that we can be honest to the verge of brutality, and there's no earthly sense in a correspondence--(beg pardon!--occasional exchange of letters)--if it is not for our mutual pleasure and profit. Wherefore, Miss Sensitive Conscience, kindly understand that so long as I don't say I am bored I am to be the superlative, the other thing!

"As to your first question, you are not only justified, but it's your bounden duty to open your life to every fresh interest which comes along. There's no greater mistake than to believe that any work can be done the better for deliberately closing the shutters on all other claims. You have a duty to yourself, as well as to that precious Martin, and it is even conceivable that he might fare the better for a little less attention!

"So far as I have gathered facts from Dorothea, Martin lost his wife eight years ago. She was his wife for six short months, and she has been dead eight years. He was a boy at that time; since then he has grown into a man, and a reputation. The Martin who came to you in his grief, and to whom you mortgaged your life, is dead too; as dead as the poor little wife! So long as he was alive, you were a big help to him.

He was miserable enough no doubt, poor beggar, but the last extremity of despair was spared him by your love and care. I'd swear to that! But that Martin died, and with him your power.