CHAPTER XI
The Hon. Fitzroy Bagley had every reason to feel satisfied withhimself. His _affaire de coeur_ with the Senator's daughter wasprogressing more smoothly than ever, and nothing now seemed likelyto interfere with his carefully prepared plans to capture anAmerican heiress. The interview with Kate Roberts in the library,so awkwardly disturbed by Jefferson's unexpected intrusion, hadbeen followed by other interviews more secret and more successful,and the plausible secretary had contrived so well to persuade thegirl that he really thought the world of her, and that a brilliantfuture awaited her as his wife, that it was not long before hefound her in a mood to refuse him nothing.
Bagley urged immediate marriage; he insinuated that Jefferson hadtreated her shamefully and that she owed it to herself to show theworld that there were other men as good as the one who had jiltedher. He argued that in view of the Senator being bent on the matchwith Ryder's son it would be worse than useless for him, Bagley,to make formal application for her hand, so, as he explained, theonly thing which remained was a runaway marriage. Confronted withthe _fait accompli_, papa Roberts would bow to the inevitable.They could get married quietly in town, go away for a short trip,and when the Senator had gotten over his first disappointment theywould be welcomed back with open arms.
Kate listened willingly enough to this specious reasoning. In herheart she was piqued at Jefferson's indifference and she wasfoolish enough to really believe that this marriage with a Britishnobleman, twice removed, would be in the nature of a triumph overhim. Besides, this project of an elopement appealed strangely toher frivolous imagination; it put her in the same class as all herfavourite novel heroines. And it would be capital fun!
Meantime, Senator Roberts, in blissful ignorance of this littleplot against his domestic peace, was growing impatient and heapproached his friend Ryder once more on the subject of his sonJefferson. The young man, he said, had been back from Europe sometime. He insisted on knowing what his attitude was towards hisdaughter. If they were engaged to be married he said there shouldbe a public announcement of the fact. It was unfair to him and aslight to his daughter to let matters hang fire in thisunsatisfactory way and he hinted that both himself and hisdaughter might demand their passports from the Ryder mansionunless some explanation were forthcoming.
Ryder was in a quandary. He had no wish to quarrel with his usefulWashington ally; he recognized the reasonableness of hiscomplaint. Yet what could he do? Much as he himself desired themarriage, his son was obstinate and showed little inclination tosettle down. He even hinted at attractions in another quarter. Hedid not tell the Senator of his recent interview with his son whenthe latter made it very plain that the marriage could never takeplace. Ryder, Sr., had his own reasons for wishing to temporize.It was quite possible that Jefferson might change his mind andabandon his idea of going abroad and he suggested to the Senatorthat perhaps if he, the Senator, made the engagement publicthrough the newspapers it might have the salutary effect offorcing his son's hand.
So a few mornings later there appeared among the society notes inseveral of the New York papers this paragraph:
"The engagement is announced of Miss Katherine Roberts, only daughter of senator Roberts of Wisconsin, to Jefferson Ryder, son of Mr. John Burkett Ryder."
Two persons in New York happened to see the item about the sametime and both were equally interested, although it affected themin a different manner. One was Shirley Rossmore, who had chancedto pick up the newspaper at the breakfast table in her boardinghouse.
"So soon?" she murmured to herself. Well, why not? She could notblame Jefferson. He had often spoken to her of this match arrangedby his father and they had laughed over it as a typical marriageof convenience modelled after the Continental pattern. Jefferson,she knew, had never cared for the girl nor taken the affairseriously. Some powerful influences must have been at work to makehim surrender so easily. Here again she recognized the masterlyhand of Ryder, Sr., and more than ever she was eager to meet thisextraordinary man and measure her strength with his. Her mind,indeed, was too full of her father's troubles to grieve over herown however much she might have been inclined to do so under othercircumstances, and all that day she did her best to banish theparagraph from her thoughts. More than a week had passed since sheleft Massapequa and what with corresponding with financiers,calling on editors and publishers, every moment of her time hadbeen kept busy. She had found a quiet and reasonable pricedboarding house off Washington Square and here Stott had calledseveral times to see her. Her correspondence with Mr. Ryder hadnow reached a phase when it was impossible to invent any furtherexcuses for delaying the interview asked for. As she had foreseen,a day or two after her arrival in town she had received a notefrom Mrs. Ryder asking her to do her the honour to call and seeher, and Shirley, after waiting another two days, had repliedmaking an appointment for the following day at three o'clock. Thiswas the same day on which the paragraph concerning the Ryder-Robertsengagement appeared in the society chronicles of the metropolis.
Directly after the meagre meal which in New York boarding housesis dignified by the name of luncheon, Shirley proceeded to getready for this portentous visit to the Ryder mansion. She wasanxious to make a favourable impression on the financier, so shetook some pains with her personal appearance. She always lookedstylish, no matter what she wore, and her poverty was of toorecent date to make much difference to her wardrobe, which wasstill well supplied with Paris-made gowns. She selected a simpleclose-fitting gown of gray chiffon cloth and a picture hat ofLeghorn straw heaped with red roses, Shirley's favourite flower.Thus arrayed, she sallied forth at two o'clock--a little graymouse to do battle with the formidable lion.
The sky was threatening, so instead of walking a short way upFifth Avenue for exercise, as she had intended doing, she cutacross town through Ninth Street, and took the surface car onFourth Avenue. This would put her down at Madison Avenue andSeventy-fourth Street, which was only a block from the Ryderresidence. She looked so pretty and was so well dressed that thepassers-by who looked after her wondered why she did not take acab instead of standing on a street corner for a car. But one'soutward appearance is not always a faithful index to the conditionof one's pocketbook, and Shirley was rapidly acquiring the art ofeconomy.
It was not without a certain trepidation that she began thisjourney. So far, all her plans had been based largely on theory,but now that she was actually on her way to Mr. Ryder all sorts ofmisgivings beset her. Suppose he knew her by sight and roughlyaccused her of obtaining access to his house under false pretencesand then had her ejected by the servants? How terrible andhumiliating that would be! And even if he did not how could shepossibly find those letters with him watching her, and all in thebrief time of a conventional afternoon call? It had been an absurdidea from the first. Stott was right; she saw that now. But shehad entered upon it and she was not going to confess herselfbeaten until she had tried. And as the car sped along MadisonAvenue, gradually drawing nearer to the house which she was goingto enter disguised as it were, like a burglar, she felt coldchills run up and down her spine--the same sensation that oneexperiences when one rings the bell of a dentist's where one hasgone to have a tooth extracted. In fact, she felt so nervous andfrightened that if she had not been ashamed before herself shewould have turned back. In about twenty minutes the car stopped atthe corner of Seventy-fourth Street. Shirley descended and with aquickened pulse walked towards the Ryder mansion, which she knewwell by sight.
The Lion and The Mouse: A Story Of American Life Page 12
