by E. F. Benson
Chapter SIX
The door-handle felt icy to fingers already frozen with fright, but hestood firmly grasping it, ready to turn it noiselessly when he hadquite made up his mind what to do. The first expedient that suggesteditself with an overpowering sweetness of relief, was that of lockinghis door, going back to bed again, and pretending that he had heardnothing. But apart from the sheer cowardice of that, which he did notmind so much, as nobody else would ever know his guilt, the thought ofthe burglar going off quite unmolested with his property wasintolerable. Even if he could not summon up enough courage to getdownstairs with his life and a poker in his hand, he must at least givethem a good fright. They had frightened him, and so he would frightenthem. They should not have it all their own way, and if he decided notto attack them (or him) single-handed, he could at least thump on thefloor, and call out "Burglars!" at the top of his voice, or shout"Charles! Henry! Thomas!" as if summoning a bevy of stalwart footmen.The objection to this course, however, would be that Foljambe orsomebody else might hear him, and in this case, if he did not then godownstairs to mortal combat, the knowledge of his cowardice would bethe property of others beside himself.... And all the time hehesitated, they were probably filling their pockets with his dearestpossessions.
He tried to send out a message of love, but he was totally unable to doso.
Then the little clock in his mantelpiece struck two, which was amiserable hour, sundered so far from dawn.
Though he had lived through years of agony since he got out of bed, theactual passage of time, as he stood frozen to the door-handle, was butthe duration of a few brief seconds, and then making a tremendous callon his courage he felt his way to his fireplace, and picked up thepoker. The tongs and shovel rattled treacherously, and he hoped thathad not been heard, for the essence of his plan (though he had yet noidea what that plan was) must be silence till some awful surprise brokeupon them. If only he could summon the police, he could come rushingdownstairs with his poker, as the professional supporters of the lawgained an entrance to his house, but unfortunately the telephone wasdownstairs, and he could not reasonably hope to carry on a conversationwith the police station without being overheard by the burglars.
He opened his door with so masterly a movement that there was no soundeither from the hinges nor from the handle as he turned it, and peeredout. The hall below was dark, but a long pencil of light came from thedrawing room, which showed where the reckless brutes must be, andthere, too, alas! was his case of treasures. Then suddenly he heard thesound of a voice, speaking very low, and another voice answered it. Atthat Georgie's heart sank, for this proved that there must be at leasttwo burglars, and the odds against him were desperate. After that camea low, cruel laugh, the unmistakable sound of the rattle of knives andforks, and the explosive uncorking of a bottle. At that his heart sankeven lower yet, for he had read that cool habitual burglars always hadsupper before they got to work, and therefore he was about to deal witha gang of professionals. Also that explosive uncorking clearlyindicated champagne, and he knew that they were feasting on his best.And how wicked of them to take their unhallowed meal in hisdrawing-room, for there was no proper table there, and theywould be making a dreadful mess over everything.
A current of cool night air swept up the stairs, and Georgie saw thepanel of light from the open drawing-room door diminish in width, andpresently the door shut with a soft thud, leaving him in the dark. Atthat his desperation seemed pressed and concentrated into a moment offictitious courage, for he unerringly reasoned that they had left thedrawing-room window open, and that perhaps in a few moments now theywould have finished their meal and with bulging pockets would stepforth unchallenged into the night. Why had he never had bolts put onhis shutters, like Mrs Weston, who lived in nightly terror of burglars?But it was too late to think of that now, for it was impossible to askthem to step out till he had put bolts up, and then when he was readybegin again.
He could not let them go gorged with his champagne and laden with histreasures without reprisals of some sort, and keeping his thoughtssteadily away from revolvers and clubs and sandbags, walked straightdownstairs, threw open the drawing-room door, and with his pokergrasped in his shaking hand, cried out in a faint, thin voice:
"If you move I shall fire."
There was a moment of dead silence, and a little dazzled with the lighthe saw what faced him.
At opposite ends of his Chippendale sofa sat Hermy and Ursy. Hermy hadher mouth open and held a bun in her dirty hands. Ursy had her mouthshut and her cheeks were bulging. Between them was a ham and a loaf ofbread, and a pot of marmalade and a Stilton cheese, and on the floorwas the bottle of champagne with two brimming bubbling tea cups full ofwine. The cork and the wire and the tin-foil they had, with some showof decency, thrown into the fireplace.
Hermy put down her bun, and gave a great shout of laughter; Ursy'smouth was disgustingly full and she exploded. Then they lay backagainst the arms of the sofa and howled.
Georgie was very much vexed.
"Upon my word, Hermy!" he said, and then found it was not nearly astrong enough expression. And in a moment of ungovernable irritation hesaid:
"Damn it all!"
Hermy showed signs of recovery first, and as Georgie came back aftershutting the window, could find her voice, while Ursy collected smallfragments of ham and bread which she had partially chewed.
"Lord! What a lark!" she said. "Georgie, it's _the_ most rippinglark."
Ursy pointed to the poker.
"He'll fire if we move," she cried. "Or poke the fire, was it?"
"Ask another!" screamed Hermy. "Oh, dear, he thought we were burglars,and came down with a poker, brave boy! It's positively the limit. Havea drink, Georgie."
Suddenly her eyes grew round and awestruck, and pointing with herfinger to Georgie's shoulder, she went off into another yell oflaughter.
"Ursy! His hair!" she said, and buried her face in a soft cushion.
Naturally Georgie had not put his hair in order when he camedownstairs, for nobody thinks about things like that when he is goingto encounter burglars single-handed, and there was his bald pate andhis long tresses hanging down one side.
It was most annoying, but when an irremediable annoyance has absolutelyoccurred, the only possible thing for a decent person to do is to takeit as lightly as possible. Georgie rose gallantly to the occasion, gavea little squeal and ran from the room.
"Down again presently," he called out, and had a heavy fall on thestairs, as he went up to his bedroom. There he had a short argumentwith himself. It was possible to slam his door, go to bed, and be verypolite in the morning. But that would never do: Hermy and Ursy wouldhave a joke against him forever. It was really much better to share inthe joke, identifying himself with it. So he brushed his hair in theorthodox fashion, put on a very smart dressing-gown, and came trippingdownstairs again.
"My dears, what fun!" he said. "Let's all have supper. But let's moveinto the dining-room, where there's a table, and I'll get anotherbottle of wine, and some glasses, and we'll bring Tipsipoozie in. Younaughty girls, fancy arriving at a time like this. I suppose your planwas to go very quietly to bed, and come down to breakfast in themorning, and give me a fine surprise. Tell me about it now."
So presently Tipsipoozie was having his marmalade, which did just aswell as jam, and they were all eating slices off the ham, and stuffingthem into split buns.
"Yes, we thought we might as well do it all in one go," said Hermy,"and it's a hundred and twenty miles, if it's a yard. And then it wasso late when we got here, we thought we wouldn't disturb you, speciallyas the drawing-room window wasn't bolted."
"Bicycles outside," said Ursy, "they'll just have to be out at grasstill morning. Oh, Tipsi-ipsi-poozie-woozy, how is you? Hope he behavedlike the good little Tiptree that he is, Georgie?"
"O yes, we made great friends," said Georgie sketchily. "He was wee bitupset at the station, but then he had a good tea with his Uncle Georgieand played hide and seek."
"Fool-dog," said Hermy, carelessly smacking him across the nose."Always hit him if he shows his teeth, Georgie. Pass the fizz."
"Well, so we got through the drawing-room window," continued Ursy, "andgolly, we were hungry. So we foraged, and there we were! Jolly pluckyof you, Georgie, to come down and beard us."
"Real sport," said Hermy. "And how's old Fol-de-rol-de-ray? Why didn'tshe come down and fight us, too?"
Georgie guessed that Hermy was making a humourous allusion to Foljambe,who was the one person in Riseholme whom his two sisters seemed to holdin respect. Ursy had once set a booby-trap for Georgie, but the mixedbiscuits and Brazil nuts had descended on Foljambe instead. On thatoccasion Foljambe, girt about in impenetrable calm, had behaved as ifnothing had happened and trod on biscuits and Brazil nuts without asmile, unaware to all appearance that there was anything whatevercrunching and exploding beneath her feet. That had somehow quelled thetwo, who, as soon as she left the room again, swept up the mess, andput the uninjured Brazil nuts back into the dessert dish.... It wouldnever do if Foljambe lost her prestige and was alluded to by someoutrageously slangy name.
"If you mean Foljambe," said Georgie icily, "it was because I didn'tthink it worth while to disturb her."
In spite of their ride, the indefatigable sisters were up early nextmorning, and the first thing Georgie saw out of his bathroom window wasthe pair of them practising lifting shots over the ducking pond on thegreen till breakfast was ready. He had given a short account of lastnight's adventure to Foljambe when she called him, omitting the episodeabout his hair, and her disapproval was strongly indicated by hersilence then, and the studied contempt of her manner to the sisterswhen they came in to breakfast.
"Hullo, Foljambe," said Hermy. "We had a rare lark last night."
"So I understand, miss," said Foljambe.
"Got in through the drawing-room window," said Hermy, hoping to makeher smile.
"Indeed, miss," said Foljambe. "Have you any orders for the car, sir?"
"Oh, Georgie, may we run over to the links this morning?" asked Hermy."Mayn't Dickie-bird take us there?"
She glanced at Foljambe to see whether this brilliant wit afforded herany amusement. Apparently it didn't.
"Tell Dicky to be round at half-past ten," said Georgie.
"Yes, sir."
"Hurrah!" said Ursy. "Come, too, Foljambe, and we'll have a three-ballmatch."
"No, thank you, miss," said Foljambe, and sailed from the room, lookingdown her nose.
"Golly, what an iceberg!" said Hermy when the door was quite shut.
Georgie was not sorry to have the morning to himself, for he wanted tohave a little quiet practice at the Mozart trio, before he went over toLucia's at half-past eleven, the hour when she had arranged to runthrough it for the first time. He would also have time to do a fewposturing exercises before the first Yoga-class, which was to takeplace in Lucia's smoking-parlour at half-past twelve. That would make apretty busy morning, and as for the afternoon, there would be sure tobe some callers, since the arrival of his sisters had been expected,and after that he had to go to the Ambermere Arms for his visit to OlgaBracely.... And what was he to do about her with regard to Lucia?Already he had been guilty of disloyalty, for Lady Ambermere had warnedhim of the prima-donna's arrival yesterday, and he had not instantlycommunicated that really great piece of news to Lucia. Should he makesuch amends as were in his power for that omission, or, greatly daring,should he keep her to himself, as Mrs Quantock so fervently wished thatshe had done with regard to the Guru? After the adventure of lastnight, he felt he ought to be able to look any situation in the face,but he found himself utterly unable to conceive himself manly and erectbefore the bird-like eyes of the Queen, if she found out that OlgaBracely had been at Riseholme for the day of her garden-party, and thatGeorgie, knowing it and having gone to see her, had not informed theCourt of that fact.
The spirit of Bolshevism, the desire to throw off all authority and actindependently, which had assailed him yesterday returned now withredoubled force. If he had been perfectly certain that he would not befound out, there is no doubt he would have kept it from her, and yet,after all, what was the glory of going to see Olga Bracely (and perhapseven entertaining her here) if all Riseholme did not turn green withjealousy? Moreover there was every chance of being found out, for LadyAmbermere would be at the garden party tomorrow, and she would be sureto wonder why Lucia had not asked Olga. Then it would come out thatLucia didn't know of that eminent presence, and Lady Ambermere would beastonished that Georgie had not told her. Thus he would be in thesituation which his imagination was unable to face, although he hadthrown the drawing room door open in the middle of the night, andannounced that he would fire with his poker.
No; he would have to tell Lucia, when he went to read the Mozart triowith her for the first time, and very likely she would call on OlgaBracely herself, though nobody had asked her to, and take all the windout of Georgie's sails. Sickening though that would be, he could notface the alternative, and he opened his copy of the Mozart trio with asigh. Lucia _did_ push and shove, and have everything her own way.Anyhow he would _not_ tell her that Olga and her husband weredining at The Hall tonight; he would not even tell her that herhusband's name was Shuttleworth, and Lucia might make a dreadfulmistake, and ask Mr and Mrs Bracely. That would be jam for Georgie,and he could easily imagine himself saying to Lucia, "My dear, I thoughtyou must have known that she had married Mr Shuttleworth and kept hermaiden name! How tarsome for you! They are so touchy about that sort ofthing."
Georgie heard the tinkle of the treble part of the Mozart trio (Luciaalways took the treble, because it had more tune in it, though shepretended that she had not Georgie's fine touch, which made the basseffective) as he let himself in to Shakespeare's garden a few minutesbefore the appointed time. Lucia must have seen him from the window,for the subdued noise of the piano ceased even before he had got as faras Perdita's garden round the sundial, and she opened the door to him.The far-away look was in her eyes, and the black undulations of hairhad encroached a little on her forehead, but, after all, others besidesLucia had trouble with their hair, and Georgie only sympathized.
"Georgino mio!" she said. "It is all being so wonderful. There seems anew atmosphere about the house since my Guru came. Something holy andpeaceful; do you not notice it?"
"Delicious!" said Georgie, inhaling the pot-pourri. "What is he doingnow?"
"Meditating, and preparing for our class. I do hope dear Daisy will notbring in discordant elements."
"Oh, but that's not likely, is it?" said Georgie. "I thought he saidshe had so much light."
"Yes, he did. But now he is a little troubled about her, I think. Shedid not want him to go away from her house, and she sent over here forsome silk pyjamas belonging to her husband, which he thought she hadgiven him. But Robert didn't think so at all. The Guru brought themacross yesterday after he had left good thoughts for her in her house.But it was the Guides who wished him to come here; they told him sodistinctly. It would have been very wrong of me not to do as theysaid."
She gave a great sigh.
"Let us have an hour with Mozart," she said "and repel all thought ofdiscord. My Guru says that music and flowers are good influences forthose who are walkers on the Way. He says that my love for both of themwhich I have had all my life will help me very much."
For one moment the mundane world obtruded itself into the calm peace.
"Any news in particular?" she asked. "I saw you drive back from thestation yesterday afternoon, for I happened to be looking out of thewindow, in a little moment of leisure--the Guru says I work too hard,by the way--and your sisters were not with you. And yet there were twocabs, and a quantity of luggage. Did they not come?"
Georgie gave a respectably accurate account of all that had happened,om
itting the fact of his terror when first he awoke, for that was notreally a happening, and had had no effect on his subsequentproceedings. He also omitted the adventure about his hair, for that wasquite extraneous, and said what fun they had all had over their supperat half past two this morning.
"I think you were marvellously brave, Georgie," said she, "and mostgood natured. You must have been sending out love, and so were full ofit yourself, and that casts out fear."
She spread the music open.
"Anything else?" she asked.
Georgie took his seat and put his rings on the candle-bracket.
"Oh yes," he said, "Olga Bracely, the prima-donna, you know, and herhusband are arriving at the Ambermere Arms this afternoon for a coupleof days."
The old fire kindled.
"No!" exclaimed Lucia. "Then they'll be here for my party tomorrow.Fancy if she would come and sing for us! I shall certainly leave cardstoday, and write later in the evening, asking her."
"I have been asked to go and see her," said Georgie, not proudly.
The music rest fell down with a loud slap, but Lucia paid no attention.
"Let us go together then," she said. "Who asked you to call on her?"
"Lady Ambermere," said he.
"When she was in here yesterday? She never mentioned it to me. But shewould certainly think it very odd of me not to call on friends of hers,and be polite to them. What time shall we go?"
Georgie made up his mind that wild horses should not drag from him thefact that Olga's husband's name was Shuttleworth, for here was Luciagrabbing at his discovery, just as she had grabbed at Daisy's discoverywho was now "her Guru." She should call him Mr Bracely then.
"Somewhere about six, do you think?" said he, inwardly raging.
He looked up and distinctly saw that sharp foxy expression crossLucia's face, which from long knowledge of her he knew to betoken thatshe had thought of some new plan. But she did not choose to reveal itand re-erected the music-rest.
"That will do beautifully," she said. "And now for our heavenly Mozart.You must be patient with me, Georgie, for you know how badly I read._Caro!_ How difficult it looks. I am frightened! Lucia never sawsuch a dwefful thing to read!"
And it had been those very bars, which Georgie had heard through theopen window just now.
"Georgie's is much more dwefful!" he said, remembering the double sharpthat came in the second bar. "Georgie fwightened too at reading it.O-o-h," and he gave a little scream. "Cattivo Mozart to wite anythingso dwefful diffy!"
It was quite clear at the class this morning that though the pupilswere quite interested in the abstract messages of love which they wereto shoot out in all directions, and in the atmosphere of peace withwhich they were to surround themselves, the branch of the subject whichthrilled them to the marrow was the breathing exercises and contortionswhich, if persevered in, would give them youth and activity, faultlessdigestions and indefatigable energy. They all sat on the floor, andstopped up alternate nostrils, and held their breath till Mrs Quantockgot purple in the face, and Georgie and Lucia red, and expelled theirbreath again with sudden puffs that set the rushes on the floorquivering, or with long quiet exhalations. Then there were certainpostures to be learned, in one of which, entailing the bending of thebody backwards, two of Georgie's trouser-buttons came off with a sharpsnap and he felt the corresponding member of his braces, thus violentlyreleased, spring up to his shoulder. Various other embarrassing noisesissued from Lucia and Daisy that sounded like the bursting of stringsand tapes, but everybody pretended to hear nothing at all, or coveredup the report of those explosions with coughings and clearings of thethroat. But apart from these discordances, everything was fairlyharmonious indeed, so far from Daisy introducing discords, she wore afixed smile, which it would have been purely cynical to call superior,when Lucia asked some amazingly simple question with regard to Om. Shesighed too, at intervals, but these sighs were expressive of nothingbut patience and resignation, till Lucia's ignorance of the mostelementary doctrines was enlightened, and though she rather pointedlylooked in any direction but hers, and appeared completely unaware ofher presence, she had not, after all, come here to look at Lucia, butto listen to her own (whatever Lucia might say) Guru.
At the end Lucia, with her far-away look, emerged, you might say, in adazed condition from hearing about the fastness of Thibet, where theGuru had been in commune with the Guides, whose wisdom he interpretedto them.
"I feel such a difference already," she said dreamily. "I feel as if Icould never be hasty or worried any more at all. Don't you experiencethat, dear Daisy?"
"Yes, dear," said she. "I went through all that at my first lesson.Didn't I, Guru dear?"
"I felt it too," said Georgie, unwilling not to share in thesebenefits, and surreptitiously tightening his trouser-strap tocompensate for the loss of buttons. "And am I to do that swayingexercise before every meal?"
"Yes, Georgie," said Lucia, saving her Guru from the trouble ofanswering. "Five times to the right and five times to the left and thenfive times backwards and forwards. I felt so young and light just nowwhen we did it that I thought I was rising into the air. Didn't you,Daisy?"
Daisy smiled kindly.
"No, dear, that is levitation," she said, "and comes a very long wayon."
She turned briskly towards her Guru.
"Will you tell them about that time when you levitated at PaddingtonStation?" she said. "Or will you keep that for when Mrs Lucas getsrather further on? You must be patient, dear Lucia; we all have to gothrough the early stages, before we get to that."
Mrs Quantock spoke as if she was in the habit of levitating herself,and it was but reasonable, in spite of the love that was swirling aboutthem all, that Lucia should protest against such an attitude. Humility,after all, was the first essential to progress on the Way.
"Yes, dear," she said. "We will tread these early stages together, andencourage each other."
Georgie went home, feeling also unusually light and hungry, for he hadpaid special attention to the exercise that enabled him to have hisliver and digestive organs in complete control, but that did notprevent him from devoting his mind to arriving at that which had madeLucia look so sharp and foxy during their conversation about OlgaBracely. He felt sure that she was meaning to steal a march on him, andshe was planning to draw first blood with the prima-donna, and, aslikely as not, claim her for her own, with the same odious greed as shewas already exhibiting with regard to the Guru. All these years Georgiehad been her faithful servant and coadjutor; now for the first time thespirit of independence had begun to seethe within him. The scales werefalling from his eyes, and just as he turned into shelter of hismulberry-tree, he put on his spectacles to see how Riseholme wasgetting on without him to assist at the morning parliament. His absenceand Mrs Quantock's would be sure to evoke comment, and since the Yogaclasses were always to take place at half-past twelve, the fact thatthey would never be there, would soon rise to the level of afirst-class mystery. It would, of course, begin to leak out thatthey and Lucia were having a course of Eastern philosophy that madeits pupils young and light and energetic, and there was a sensation!
Like all great discoveries, the solution of Lucia's foxy look broke onhim with the suddenness of a lightning-flash, and since it had beensettled that she should call for him at six, he stationed himself inthe window of his bathroom, which commanded a perfect view of thevillage green and the entrance to the Ambermere Arms at five. He hadbrought up with him a pair of opera-glasses, with the intention oftaking them to bits, so he had informed Foljambe, and washing theirlenses, but he did not at once proceed about this, merely holding themready to hand for use. Hermy and Ursy had gone back to their golf againafter lunch, and so callers would be told that they were all out. Thushe could wash the lenses, when he chose to do so, uninterrupted.
The minutes passed on pleasantly enough, for there was plenty going on.The two Miss Antrobuses frisked about the green, jumping over thestocks in their playful way, and running r
ound the duck-pond in theeternal hope of attracting Colonel Boucher's attention to their prettynimble movements. For many years past, they had tried to gain Georgie'sserious attention, without any result, and lately they had turned toColonel Boucher. There was Mrs Antrobus there, too, with her ham-likeface and her ear-trumpet, and Mrs Weston was being pushed round andround the asphalt path below the elms in her bath-chair. She hatedgoing slow, and her gardener and his boy took turns with her during herhour's carriage exercise, and propelled her, amid streams ofperspiration, at a steady four miles an hour. As she passed MrsAntrobus she shouted something at her, and Mrs Antrobus returned herreply, when next she came round.
Suddenly all these interesting objects vanished completely fromGeorgie's ken, for his dark suspicions were confirmed, and there wasLucia in her "Hightum" hat and her "Hightum" gown making her graciousway across the green. She had distinctly been wearing one of the"Scrub" this morning at the class, so she must have changed afterlunch, which was an unheard of thing to do for a mere stroll on thegreen. Georgie knew well that this was no mere stroll; she was on herway to pay a call of the most formal and magnificent kind. She did notdeviate a hair-breadth from her straight course to the door of theArms, she just waggled her hand to Mrs Antrobus, blew a kiss to hersprightly daughters, made a gracious bow to Colonel Boucher, who stoodup and took his hat off, and went on with the inexorability of themarch of destiny, or of fate knocking at the door in the immortal fifthsymphony. And in her hand she carried a note. Through his glassesGeorgie could see it quite plainly, and it was not a little folded-upsheet, such as she commonly used, but a square thick envelope. Shedisappeared in the Arms and Georgie began thinking feverishly. A greatdeal depended on how long she stopped there.
A few little happenings beguiled the period of waiting. Mrs Westondesisted from her wild career, and came to anchor on the path justopposite the door into the Arms, while the gardener's boy sankexhausted on to the grass. It was quite easy to guess that she proposedto have a chat with Lucia when she came out. Similarly the MissAntrobuses who had paid no attention to her at all before, ceased fromtheir pretty gambolings, and ran up to talk to her, so they wanted aword too. Colonel Boucher, a little less obviously, began throwingsticks into the ducking-pond for his bull-dog (for Lucia would beobliged to pass the ducking-pond) and Mrs Antrobus examined the stocksvery carefully, as if she had never seen them before.
And then, before a couple of minutes had elapsed Lucia came out. Shehad no longer the note in her hand, and Georgie began taking hisopera-glasses to bits, in order to wash the lenses. For the presentthey had served their purpose. "She has left a note on Olga Bracely,"said Georgie quite aloud, so powerful was the current of his thoughts.Then as a corollary came the further proposition which might beconsidered as proved, "But she had not seen her."
The justice of this conclusion was soon proved, for Lucia had hardlydisengaged herself from the group of her subjects, and traversed thegreen on her way back to her house, when a motor passed Georgie'sbathroom window, closely followed by a second; both drew up at theentrance to the Ambermere Arms. With the speed of a practised opticianGeorgie put his opera glass together again, and after looking throughthe wrong end of it in his agitation was in time to see a man get outof the second car, and hold the carriage-door open for the occupants ofthe first. A lady got out first, tall and slight in figure, who stoodthere unwinding her motor veil, then she turned round again, and with athump of his heart that surprised Georgie with its violence, he beheldthe well-remembered features of his Brunnhilde.
Swiftly he passed into his bedroom next door, and arrayed himself inhis summer Hightums; a fresh (almost pearly) suit of white duck, amauve tie with an amethyst pin in it, socks, tightly braced up, ofprecisely the same colour as the tie, so that an imaginative beholdermight have conjectured that on this warm day the end of his tie hadmelted and run down his legs; buckskin shoes with tall slim heels and astraw hat completed this pretty Hightum. He had meant to wear it forthe first time at Lucia's party tomorrow, but now, after her meanness,she deserved to be punished. All Riseholme should see it before shedid.
The group round Mrs Weston's chair was still engaged in conversationwhen Georgie came up, and he casually let slip what a bore it was topay calls on such a lovely day, but he had promised to visit Miss OlgaBracely, who had just arrived. So there was another nasty one forLucia, since now all Riseholme would know of her actual arrival beforeLucia did.
"And who, Mr Georgie," asked Mrs Antrobus presenting her trumpet to himin the manner in which an elephant presents its trunk to receive abun, "who was that with her?"
"Oh, her husband, Mr Shuttleworth," said Georgie. "They have just beenmarried, and are on their honeymoon." And if that was not anotherstaggerer for Lucia, it is diffy, as Georgie would say, to know what astaggerer is. For Lucia would be last of all to know that this was notMr Bracely.
"And will they be at Mrs Lucas's party tomorrow?" asked Mrs Weston.
"Oh, does she know them?" asked Georgie.
"Haw, haw, by Jove!" began Colonel Boucher. "Very handsome woman. Envyyou, my boy. Pity it's their honeymoon. Haw!"
Mrs Antrobus's trumpet was turned in his direction at this moment, andshe heard these daring remarks.
"Naughty!" she said, and Georgie, the envied, passed in into the inn.
He sent in his card, on which he had thought it prudent to write "FromLady Ambermere," and was presently led through into the garden behindthe building. There she was, tall and lovely and welcoming, and heldout a most cordial hand.
"How kind of you to come and see us," she said. "Georgie, this is MrPillson. My husband."
"How do you do, Mr Shuttleworth," said Georgie to shew he knew, thoughhis own Christian name had given him quite a start. For the moment hehad almost thought she was speaking to him.
"And so Lady Ambermere asked you to come and see us?" Olga went on. "Ithink that was much kinder of her than to ask us to dinner. I hategoing out to dinner in the country almost as much as I hate not goingout to dinner in town. Besides with that great hook nose of hers, I'malways afraid that in an absent moment I might scratch her on the headand say 'Pretty Polly.' Is she a great friend of yours, Mr Pillson? Ihope so, because everyone likes his best friends being laughed at."
Up till that moment Georgie was prepared to indicate that LadyAmbermere was the hand and he the glove. But evidently that would notimpress Olga in the least. He laughed in a most irreverent mannerinstead.
"Don't let us go," she went on. "Georgie, can't you send a telegramsaying that we have just discovered a subsequent engagement and thenwe'll ask Mr Pillson to show us round this utterly adorable place, anddine with us afterwards. That would be so much nicer. Fancy livinghere! Oh, and do tell me something, Mr Pillson. I found a note when Iarrived half an hour ago, from Mrs Lucas asking me and Mr Shuttleworthto go to a garden-party tomorrow. She said she didn't even hope that Ishould remember her, but would we come. Who is she? Really I don'tthink she can remember me very well, if she thinks I am Mrs Bracely.Georgie says I must have been married before, and that I have causedhim to commit bigamy. That's pleasant conversation for a honeymoon,isn't it? Who is she?"
"Oh, she's quite an old friend of mine," said Georgie, "though I neverknew she had met you before; I'm devoted to her."
"Extremely proper. But now tell me this, and look straight in my face,so that I shall know if you're speaking the truth. Should I enjoymyself more wandering about this heavenly place than at her gardenparty?"
Georgie felt that poor Lucia was really punished enough by this time.
"You will give her a great deal of pleasure if you go," he began.
"Ah, that's not fair; it is hitting below the belt to appeal tounselfish motives. I have come here simply to enjoy myself. Go on; eyesfront."
The candour and friendliness of that beautiful face gave Georgie animpulse of courage. Besides, though no doubt in fun, she had alreadysuggested that it would be much nicer to wander about with him and dinetogether than spend the evening
among the splendours of The Hall.
"I've got a suggestion," he said. "Will you come and lunch with mefirst, and we'll stroll about, and then we can go to the garden-party,and if you don't like it I'll take you away again?"
"Done!" she said. "Now don't you try to get out of it, because myhusband is a witness. Georgie, give me a cigarette."
In a moment Riseholme-Georgie had his cigarette-case open.
"Do take one of mine," he said, "I'm Georgie too."
"You don't say so! Let's send it to the Psychical Research, or whoeverthose people are who collect coincidences and say it's spooks. And amatch please, one of you Georgies. Oh, how I should like never to seethe inside of an Opera House again. Why mayn't I grow on the walls of agarden like this, or better still, why shouldn't I have a house andgarden of my own here, and sing on the village-green, and ask forhalfpennies? Tell me what happens here! I've always lived in town sincethe time a hook-nosed Hebrew, rather like Lady Ambermere, took me outof the gutter."
"My dear!" said Mr Shuttleworth.
"Well, out of an orphan-school at Brixton and I would much prefer thegutter. That's all about my early life just now, because I am keepingit for my memoirs which I shall write when my voice becomes a littlemore like a steam-whistle. But don't tell Lady Ambermere, for she wouldhave a fit, but say you happen to know that I belong to the SurreyBracelys. So I do; Brixton is on the Surrey side. Oh, my dear, look atthe sun. It's behaving like the best sort of Claude! Heile Sonne!"
"I heard you do that last May," said Georgie.
"Then you heard a most second-rate performance," said she. "But reallybeing unlaced by that Thing, that great fat profligate beery Prussianwas almost too much for me. And the duet! But it was very polite of youto come, and I will do better next time. Siegfried! Brunnhilde!Siegfried! Miaou! Miaou! Bring on the next lot of cats! DarlingGeorgie, wasn't it awful? And you had proposed to me only the daybefore."
"I was absolutely enchanted," said Riseholme-Georgie.
"Yes, but then you didn't have that Thing breathing beer into yourinnocent face." Georgie rose; the first call on a stranger inRiseholme was never supposed to last more than half an hour, howevermuch you were enjoying it, and never less, however bored you might be,and he felt sure he had already exceeded this.
"I must be off," he said. "Too delightful to think that you and MrShuttleworth will come to lunch with me tomorrow. Half past one, shallwe say?"
"Excellent; but where do you live?"
"Just across the green. Shall I call for you?" he asked.
"Certainly not. Why should you have that bother?" she said. "Ah, let mecome with you to the inn-door, and perhaps you will shew me fromthere."
She passed through the hall with him, and they stood together in thesight of all Riseholme, which was strolling about the green at this asat most other hours. Instantly all faces turned round in theirdirection, like so many sunflowers following the sun, while Georgiepointed out his particular mulberry tree. When everybody had had a goodlook, he raised his hat.
_"A domani_ then," she said. "So many thanks."
And quite distinctly she kissed her hand to him as he turned away....
"So she talks Italian too," thought Georgie, as he dropped littlecrumbs of information to his friends on his way to his house._"Domani,_ that means tomorrow. Oh yes; she was meaning lunch."
It is hardly necessary to add that on the table in his hall there wasone of Lucia's commoner kinds of note, merely a half sheet foldedtogether in her own manner. Georgie felt that it was scarcely morenecessary to read it, for he felt quite sure that it contained someexcuse for not coming to his house at six in order to call on Mr andMrs Bracely. But he gave a glance at it before he rolled it up in aball for Tipsipoozie to play with, and found its contents to beprecisely what he expected, the excuse being that she had not done herpractising. But the post-script was interesting, for it told him thatshe had asked Foljambe to give her his copy of Siegfried....
Georgie strolled down past The Hurst before dinner. Mozart was silentnow, but there came out of the open windows the most amazing hash ofsound, which he could just recognise as being the piano arrangement ofthe duet between Brunnhilde and Siegfried at the end. He would havebeen dull indeed if he had not instantly guessed what _that_signified.
